Page 187 - American Stories, A History of the United States

6.1 Read the Document Publius (James Madison), The Federalist, No. 10 (1788)

6.2 BRITISH NEW HAMPSHIRE
9th
Lake Superior NORTH AMERICA June 21, 1788 MAINE
(CANADA) (part of Mass.)
6.3 MASSACHUSETTS
Lake Michigan Lake Huron Lake Ontario July 26, 1788 Feb. 16, 1788
6th
NEW YORK
11th
RHODE ISLAND
13th
6.4 Lake Erie CONNECTICUT
May 29, 1790
PENNSYLVANIA
2nd 5th
Jan. 9, 1788
Dec. 12, 1787 NEW JERSEY
3rd
Dec. 18, 1787
DELAWARE
Ohio R. VIRGINIA 1st
Dec. 8, 1787
10th
SPANISH June 25, 1788 MARYLAND ATLANTIC
7th
LOUISIANA NORTH CAROLINA Apr. 26, 1788 OCEAN
Mississippi R. SOUTH 0 150 300 miles
12th
Nov. 21, 1789
CAROLINA
8th 0 150 300 kilometers
May 23, 1788
GEORGIA
4th Majority for ratification
Jan. 2, 1788
Disputed with Spain
Majority against ratification
Divided
SPANISH FLORIDA
No returns
Gulf of Mexico 1st Order in which the states ratified
Map 6.3 ratiFicatiOn OF the cOnstitUtiOn Advocates of the new Constitution called themselves
Federalists, and those who opposed its ratification were known as Antifederalists.
While the state conventions sparked angry rhetoric, Americans soon closed ranks
behind the Constitution. An Antifederalist who represented one Massachusetts village
explained that “he had opposed the adoption of this Constitution; but that he had been
overruled . . . by a majority of wise and understanding men [and that now] he should
endeavor to sow the seeds of union and peace among the people he represented.”

Adding the Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are the major legacy of the Antifederalist
argument. In almost every state convention, opponents of the Constitution pointed to
the need for greater protection of individual liberties, rights that people presumably
had possessed in a state of nature. “It is necessary,” wrote one Antifederalist, “that the
sober and industrious part of the community should be defended from the rapacity
and violence of the vicious and idle. A bill of rights, therefore, ought to set forth the
purposes for which the compact is made, and serves to secure the minority against the
usurpation and tyranny of the majority.” The list of fundamental rights varied from
state to state, but most Antifederalists demanded guarantees for jury trial and freedom
of religion. They wanted prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishments. There
was also considerable support for freedom of speech and of the press.
Madison and others regarded the proposals with little enthusiasm. In The Federal-
ist No. 84, Hamilton reminded the American people that “the constitution is itself . . .
a BILL OF RIGHTS.” But after the adoption of the Constitution had been assured,
Madison moderated his stand. A bill of rights would appease able men such as George
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