TOPIC 3.8
The Constitutional Convention
and Debates
over Ratification
THEMATIC FOCUS Politics and Power (PCE)
Debates fostered by social and political groups about the role of government in American social, political, and economic life shape government policy, institutions, political parties, and the rights of citizens.
Learning Objective I
Explain the differing ideological positions on the structure and function of the federal government.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
KC-3.2.II.C.i
Delegates from the states participated in the Constitutional Convention and through negotiation, collaboration, and compromise proposed a constitution.
KC-3.2.II.D
The Constitutional Convention compromised over the representation of slave states in Congress and the role of the federal government in regulating both slavery and the slave trade, allowing the prohibition of the international slave trade after 1808.
KC-3.2.II.E
In the debate over ratifying the Constitution, Anti-Federalists opposing ratification battled with Federalists, whose principles were articulated in the Federalist Papers (primarily written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison). Federalists ensured the ratification of the Constitution by promising the addition of a Bill of Rights that enumerated individual rights and explicitly restricted the powers of the federal government.
Debates fostered by social and political groups about the role of government in American social, political, and economic life shape government policy, institutions, political parties, and the rights of citizens.
Learning Objective I
Explain the differing ideological positions on the structure and function of the federal government.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
KC-3.2.II.C.i
Delegates from the states participated in the Constitutional Convention and through negotiation, collaboration, and compromise proposed a constitution.
KC-3.2.II.D
The Constitutional Convention compromised over the representation of slave states in Congress and the role of the federal government in regulating both slavery and the slave trade, allowing the prohibition of the international slave trade after 1808.
KC-3.2.II.E
In the debate over ratifying the Constitution, Anti-Federalists opposing ratification battled with Federalists, whose principles were articulated in the Federalist Papers (primarily written by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison). Federalists ensured the ratification of the Constitution by promising the addition of a Bill of Rights that enumerated individual rights and explicitly restricted the powers of the federal government.
