Introduction: The Bill of Rights was created as a compromise between the Federalist and Anti-Federalist. Due to how old the document is the Supreme Court often has to reinterpret their meaning when adjusting the laws to better fit the ever changing landscape of modern day America. Woot-woot. Feds believed in strong government while Anti-Feds believe in a more local government. Instructions: SOLO: Please THINK about a short list of words or maybe a sentence you believe represents freedom. All answers can be totally silly if you truly believe it means freedom. Please do include one silly answer in your list. As a GROUP: Once a list has been created in your mind, DISCUSS with your group what they wrote. Choose three items and WRITE
The United States Constitution when first introduced was focused only on what powers the Federal Government would have. For many states who had just gained, their freedom from England there needed to be a guarantee that the newly formed government would not impose on people’s rights. The Bill of Rights was written for that purpose it was to apply to the federal government only. When different states started to pass laws that contradicted what the states had requested from the federal government when they added the Bill of Rights, which unfortunately prevented the federal Supreme Court from intervening in the states business.
Therefore, the anti-federalist proposed the Bill of Rights to be added along with the Constitution. The Anti-federalist felt secure with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution because it protects citizens liberty and freedom. In the end, the founding fathers gathered and agreed to add the Bill of Rights when ratifying the Constitution. Furthermore, Anti-federalists were mainly farmers and they feared that under the Constitution economic policies their business will be endanger.
The main debate was about individual rights. Originally, the Constitution lacked a bill of rights. Anti-federalists insisted that a bill of rights be added to the Constitution to expressly grant freedoms to the country. On the other hand, federalist James Madison believed the Constitution was enough, and adding a bill of rights was unnecessary. As southern states did with slavery, antifederalists refused to ratify the Constitution without a bill of rights.
When writing the Constitution, the Federalists, which included Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, had stated the rights and liberties of the civilians within the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton, a federalist, believed that if a Bill of Rights was to be created then the whole idea of republican government would fall apart. As stated in a federalist letter, " [the constitution] would contain various exceptions to powers not granted, and on this very account would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted”(Federalist No. 71, Alexander Hamilton). The Constitution stated that all free people had equal rights. Rights that were implicit, which connected to fixing all the problems within the government and the people.
It took the convincing of the Anti-Federalists to explain how the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and did not state the rights and freedoms of the people, therefore lacking a Bill of Rights. The Federalists agreed to a Bill of Rights, and later the Constitution was ratified with nine out of thirteen votes on June 21 of 1788. Soon after the Constitution was ratified, the separation of powers was understood in the United States government. The separation of powers separated each branch of government.
After the Declaration of Independence in 1787, the Federal Government turned to the creation of the Constitution in which delegates from 13 states convened to make compromises on their beliefs for the betterment of a nation. Although the Bill of Rights was initially not a part of the Constitution, the Federalists thought that it was crucial to ensure ratification of the Constitution. This ratification was one of the main reasons why the Bill of Rights needed to be added. Federalists feared a strong, central government, and created a Bill of Rights in order to prevent government abuse. Others believed that a dominating Government could prohibit rights in the future, which would not necessarily be expressed in the Bill of Rights.
Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.
When our founding fathers first created the Constitution it was found unworkable and had to have some changes before the ratification. In that process people began to have some differences such as the Federalist saw that the enhanced Constitution alone would protect all basic human rights. While Antifederalist saw that we needed an extra addition to the document that would genuinely give the basic rights, liberties, and limit the government from denouncing these rights and liberties from the people. The Bill of Rights was a necessary addition that has and will continue to protect the people from injustice in the government with the help of the Supreme Court.
Another reason for this belief was people didn't have guaranteed rights. In conclusion this belief among others led to the Anti Federalists fighting against the constitution. The Federalists and Anti Federalists thoughts on the bill of rights like everything else was different. The Federalists believed that the bill of rights was useless. Anti-Federalists thought it was essential to making sure that peoples rights were kept safe.
The Federalists believe that there is no need for a Bill of Rights to be written in the Constitution. Unalienable rights, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and all rights and responsibilities were already spelled out in detail in the Constitution. By creating a Bill of Rights, it would put too much power in the hands of the states; which would just create another confederacy type of government with little power to act. If each state had its own government, they would be very weak and they would probably be eliminated within a year.
The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791 written by James Madison. The Bill of Rights was written and added into the Constitution in order to protect the rights of the citizens. The Bill of Rights was added into the Constitution by a compromise between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists. Federalists were citizens who supported the new Constitution. While Anti-Federalists were another group of citizens who were scared to have another king or a abusive government, basically did not support the Constitution.
But the most important piece is the Bill of Rights. The idea of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution was originally debated because the Constitution, as written, did not enumerate or protect the rights of the people; rather it listed the powers of the government and left all that remained to the states and the people. The Constitution was
That was called the Bill of rights, the first 10 amendments were establish in 1791. The 10 first amendments are important to the people but the one that standout the most is the first amendment that consist in congress shall make no law respecting religion, freedom of speech and of the people peaceably to assemble. What this means is that people can really choose what political they want, and have the free to say what they want. Before it was created the federalist believe that we didn’t need a bill of rights because the state and the people kept a power not giving to the federal government. The anti- federalist believed that having a bill of rights was necessary to have individual safely liberty and have protection as
The Anti- Federalists claimed the Constitution gave the central government an excessive amount of power, and while not a Bill of Rights the folks would be in danger of oppression. Both Hamilton and Madison argued that the Constitution did not want a Bill of Rights, that it might produce a "parchment barrier" that restricted the rights of the folks, as critical protective
The constitution and the Bill of Rights have made drastic changes in how this country has developed over these short years. The people on both sides of the arguments have their own opinions. The antifederalists are not use to equal rights. They want one ruler and no equality. The federalists want the