Vision for a Nation: Ratification Strategy
It is one thing to get Convention delegates to agree on the Constitution; it's quite another matter to get states and opponents to go along with it. Perhaps the most revolutionary move of the Convention is the adoption of a ratification clause which...
Vision for a Nation: Controlling Federal Power
Historian Bernard Bailyn characterizes the construction of the Constitution as "something of a miracle." Delegates to the Constitutional Convention create a system for governing the country's large geographic area while maintaining the ideals of ind...
Vision for a Nation: Delegates Gather for Constitutional Convention
By the mid 1780s, the United States is a young nation in trouble. It is impossible to get all 13 states to agree on issues of national policy. Even the Annapolis convention to modify the Articles of Confederation fails to attract enough delegates. A...
Vision for a Nation: States Consider Constitutional Ratification
On September 17, 1787 thirty-nine delegates sign their names to the Constitution of the United States. All but one of the states hold ratifying conventions in which more than 1200 people examine the details and the principles of the document. Federa...
Vision for a Nation: Apportionment of Slave Populations
The separate economic interests of Northern and Southern states becomes the basis for the second major debate. The South seeks some credit for its slaves and make it known that there will be no union without recognition of a way of life they conside...
Vision for a Nation: Debate over Representation
A major challenge for the delegates is how to devise a system of representation that will work effectively over country of such vast size. There is no model to follow in the 18th century. Madison and other large-state delegates want representation i...