Birth of the Bill of Rights
...ton, and Washington begin gaining attention after deciding that there needed to be a group of leaders to lead the country in order to survive, they called themselves and their ideas Federalists. Congress was unable to do anything, in part because not all of the colonies were full hearted into it, the Federalists wanted to be able to trade more with other nations and be free to trade with other nations, they wanted a uniform currency for the colonies. The next important point is the struggle of the ratification. The struggle was mainly between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists argued that the government needed to be kept simple, so as not to abuse its power. At the same time, Federalists were firing back with writings and speeches, countering the Anti-Federalists views, saying that their needed to be a federal government. The Federalists pushed for a vote in the states they knew they would get, while waiting on the other states, hoping to pressure them with the idea that other states have already voted for the ratification. The Final main point of the book is the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise is named for the fact that the delegates settled a major controversy by agreeing that representation in the lower house would be based on each state’s total white population plus three fifths of the black population, even though blacks could not vote or were counted as citizens. The North did not want this because they believed the South would have more representation than they should. Another part of the compromise is that each state will have an equal number of representation in the upper house, known as the Senate. In relating the class lectures to “The Birth of the Bill of Rights”, both the lecture and the book agree on the following, most likely because there are historical records. The country was being governed by the Articles of Confederation and amongst the states there were many squabbles, which leads the wealthier elements of the country the need to reform. In 1787, delegates from the states meet in Philadelphia, from the meeting the Constitution comes about, with particular emphasis on the first ten amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights. The government was aimed at protecting personal liberty, common currency and law and order. The new government was very conservative and establishes relationships between the states. The key was, each amendment had to be ratified by the states, which was a bit of a hassle, which is why it wasn’t until 1781 that the first ten amendments had been ratified, which became known as the Bill of Rights. The colonists needed something to protect their liberty and freedom, especially having just fought a war of Independence with England. In relating the textbook with “The Birth of the Bill of Rights”, both Mr. Rutland and the author’s of our textbook agree on the following paragraph, this is due to the historically accurate information regarding the Bill of Rights. Americans sought to create a new political order and to define government principles due to the states constantly clashing on social and economic issues. In addition, there was an importance at the state and federal level to limit government power and placing responsibility ultimately with the people. Under the Articles of Confederation power was centered in the states, where debates arose over the separation of church an...