The ratification of the Constitution in 1789 marked a momentous turning point in American history. The Constitution created a new national government based upon the principle that sovereignty rests upon the people not the states. Although the Constitution did mark a political revolution, it did not initially begin a social revolution.
On May 25, 1787, 55 delegates from every state except Rhode Island meet in Philadelphia. The delegates quickly resolved to abandon the Articles of
Confederation and create a new constitution. During about four months of intense give-and-take negotiations, the delegates seized control of America’s destiny. They skillfully resolved contentious issues between large and small states and between Northern and Southern states. Their compromises distinguished the possible from the impossible.
The Constitution marked a decisive turning point in American political history. In a bold and unprecedented decision, the Framers transformed sovereignty from the states to the people. The new Constitution provided American with a new government that included co-equal executive, legislative, and judicial branches tied together by a complex system of checks and balances.
The Constitution created a durable and flexible model of democratic government. The famous “necessary and proper” clause corrected the limitations of the Articles of Confederation by authorizing Congress to carry “into execution the foregoing powers.” The first Congress responded to Anti-Federalist fears about excessive centralized authority by adopting a historic Bill of Rights.
The new Constitution was not a perfect reflection of the principles of liberty and self-government for which the Revolution had been fought. During the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Hamilton warned his fellow delegates that, “the people are turbulent and changing.” The Convention addressed this concern by creating a bicameral Congress with a House of Representatives chosen by the people and a Senate chosen by state legislators. In addition, the Constitution insulated Supreme Court justices from public opinion by granting them lifetime terms of office.
The Founding Framers were shaped by the prejudices of their culture. The revolutionary rhetoric about equality and natural rights did not change the status of women, Native Americans or enslaved Africans. The Framers failed once again to “remember the Ladies” by refusing to give women new political rights. Native Americans continued to lose their land and autonomy. Enslaved Africans did benefit from new emancipation laws in the North. However, over 90 percent of slaves lived in the South where conditions did not change.
The Constitution did not actually use the words slave or slavery. Afraid of alienating the Southern states, the Framers agreed to the infamous Three-Fifths Compromise, whereby slaves (euphemistically called “other persons”) were treated as three-fifths of a person for purposes of taxation and representation. The Three-Fifths Compromise was later repealed by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The amendment process thus enabled the Constitution to be a living document that could advance the democratic principles stated in its Preamble and in the Declaration of Independence.