10 Main Points
Chapter 5, Section 4
Ratifying the Constitution
- Anti-Federalists were those that opposed the constitution while Federalists were those that were for it. The Federalist were mainly wealthy, while the Anti-Federalists were mainly poor; this, however, did not always hold true.
- Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams were both strong Anti-Federalists. Paul Revere was a Federalist.
- Hamilton Jay wrote some of the Federalists most important papers which were known as the Federalist Papers.
- Only nine states needed to pass the constitution, however, if each state ratified it, national unity would be preserved.
- Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution while New Hampshire was the last.
- Riots had occurred in New York when the constitution's draft was released to the public.
- Many of the other states only ratified the constitution when they were promised that another bill, one protecting individual rights, would be added to it.
- Amendments are official changes to the constitution. This right of the people was added in article five.
- When writing the Bill of Rights, legislators took ideas from the Virginian Declaration of rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the English BIll of rights.
- The Bill of Rights, a bill designed to protect the people's individual rights, was ratified by 1791.