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Former President James Madison's Ratification Of The Constitution

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Former President James Madison is most known as the Father of the Constitution, but many don’t know that he was instrumental in the ratification of the Constitution with his writing in the Federalist Papers. Federalist 39 and 46 focus on the theme of federalism and the impact it has on the Constitution. Madison’s arguments had the goal of convincing the people of the importance of the Constitution, because the Constitution stood no chance of ratification if the populous did not favor it. Madison starts Federalist 39 by explaining that the Constitution would create a shift toward a republican style of government, where citizens would be represented by a congressman in the legislative branch. Federalist 39, also outlines that this new form of government receive its power to govern from the people and for them to recognize that fact, so the populous recognizes that the government is not an aristocracy. Madison when talking about representation explains that …show more content…

The division between federal and national style governments is seen with the ratification of the Constitution, because it is ratified through each State instead of the people directly. Under the Constitution the choice to join the federal government was left to the states, so they could choose to enter the union voluntarily. Twice throughout Federalist 39 Madison explains his reason for creating a federal government stating, “the Constitution will not be a national but a federal act” and again, “the new Constitution will, it established, be a federal and not a national constitution. In the hopes of achieving ratification Madison wants whoever was reading to recognize the unique system being created. The final piece of Federalist 39 explains how States would have jurisdiction over local governments, but states would not have jurisdiction over the federal

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