Lesson 46: Bill of Rights

Some of the states were afraid that the Constitution would take away some of their freedoms from them.
 The Bill of Rights was a document of amendments to the Constitution created to address this matter.
 It contained certain rights that the people were allowed to keep. Such as, freedom of speech and religion;  the right to bear firearms,  and protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

 I think that the states were right to hold off on ratifying the Constitution until their freedom in these matters was more sure.

Lesson 45: Washington is Elected President

George Washington was the only president to be elected unanimously.  John Adams came in second place for presidency and was elected as the first Vice President.
 Later, Washington chose Thomas Jefferson as head of the Department of State and Alexander Hamilton as Treasury Secretary.

These were the beginning of his staff that would help govern the United States.

Lesson 44: Ratification of the Constitution

The Constitution was completed by the Philadelphia Convention but they were afraid that the states would wouldn't accept it.  Some states did resist the idea of of the Constitution.  But the framers of the document felt that they didn't need the vote of all the states to ratify it, rather they thought that 9 votes of the 13 states would be sufficient.

"In June of 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify, meeting the criteria required to adopt the Constitution."

Eventually the rest of the thirteen states accepted the Constitution.

Lesson 43: Compromise Reigns

Through the Great Compromise came a bicameral legislature that used different ideas from both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans.  There would be "two houses"  the lower and upper.

The lower house later became known as the House of Representatives.  Representatives in this house were elected directly by the people of America.  The upper house became the Senate, the election of senators was done by the legislatures of each state.

"The President was granted the power to appoint officials, including judges, the power to veto legislation, and the role of Commander-In-Chief of the military."

Lesson 42: States' Plans

Since the Articles of Confederation had been gotten rid of, a new structure for government was needed.
The Virginia Plan, created by James Madison and Edmund Randolph, proposed that population of the individual states would influence their representation in electing the president and officials.

Smaller states resisted this plan for fear of not having any real power in the government.  William Paterson, a delegate from New Jersey created a different plan in which each state had one vote. Under this plan Congress would have the most power.

"The Philadelphia Convention came to a stand still." Until after the summer of 1787 when things cooled down the delegates started to set aside their differences.

Lesson 41: Organizing the Convention

The Articles of Confederation were an ineffective form of government. The people didn't respect its authority. Six of the states encouraged Congress to revise the Articles.

Eventually the Philadelphia Convention decided to just get rid of the Articles of Confederation and start with a new document, the U.S. Constitution.

Question: Which of the following states had ALL of their delegates sign the Constitution?

Delaware, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.