In 1777, in the midst of the War of Independence, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, a document of a constitutional nature, which defined the United States as a confederation and fixed the powers of the central bodies. However, the document made a central government very weak, as well as giving a veto to each state. George Washington figuratively called the Articles of Confederation as 'ropes of sand'. Therefore, quickly began to emerge proposals to amend the Articles.
The process of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States began September 17, 1787 In his closing speech to the Congress Benjamin Franklin insisted that the Constitution comes into force only after ratification by all thirteen states. Article 13 of the Confederation also stipulates that to change the Articles required the adoption of a decision by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequent ratification by all the states. However, Article VII of the Constitution was made with a provision stating that the Constitution enters into force after ratification of the Conventions of nine States, but only for those states that have ratified it. This rule effectively meant that in case of failure of any state to ratify the Constitution this state to seceded.
The Confederate Congress approved the Constitution and passed it to the states for ratification. During the discussions that accompanied the ratification of the Constitution, there were two "parties" - "Federalists" (who advocated ratification) and "anti-Federalist." Antifederalists argued that since the adoption of the Constitution and the approval of the central government, the rights of states and the rights of individuals would be infringed, and the president would get a power comparable to the tyrannical power of the British king before the War of Independence. Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym Publius (after the Roman consul of the Republic period Publius Valerius Publicola) began to publish a magazine Federalist Papers, where they justified the need to adopt a new constitution and a new system of government. Federalist (all published 85 issues) is considered to be a valuable source for interpretation of the Constitution, as there are provisions of the Constitution explained by the authors.
The first state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware (7 December 1787) and New Hampshire was the ninth (21 June 1788). Thus in some states ratification passed unanimously, while the others had a close contest during the voting in the convention. In New York originally against the ratification were two-thirds of the convention; Hamilton personally managed to convince many deputies, and other supporters of the Constitution in the convention of the state threatened that New York City will separate from the state, if the constitution would not be adopted. As a result, July 27, 1788 New York convention ratified the Constitution by a margin of three votes and with the recommendation to adopt the Bill of Rights. A similar recommendation was adopted in Massachusetts and other several states. September 13, 1788, the Continental Congress passed a resolution about the introduction of the Constitution in effect. March 4, 1789 (even before the Constitution was ratified by North Carolina and Rhode Island) new federal authorities established in accordance with the new Constitution began their work.
Sources:
Alden, John Richard. George Washington: A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1984. Print.
Furtwangler, Albert. The Authority of Publius: A Reading of the Federalist Papers. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1984. Print.
