The Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of the US.

The perceived need for a more powerful and complete federal government led, in 1787, to the calling of a convention, to consider revising the Articles. The Constitutional Convention, meeting in Philadelphia, during the Summer of 1787 chose, instead, to write a Constitution. In 1789, the Constitution of the United States was put into operation. The Constitution proposed by the Convention, called for a federal government, limited in scope. Federalism - division of powers b\n the states and the national government. The Constitution, itself, had to be ratified by State conventions, specially elected for the purpose. But, in New York and Virginia, the matter became one of controversy. The New York ratification convention became the focus for a struggle over the wisdom of adopting the Constitution. Those who advocated the Constitution took the name Federalists, and quickly gained supporters throughout the nation. (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay). Opponents of the plan for stronger government took the name Antifederalists (Patrick Henry and George Mason.) Technically, the Constitution of the United States went into effect with the ratification of New Hampshire, June 21, 1788. George Washington was chosen as first President, and John Adams, as first Vice-President.

Under the leadership of James Madison, the first Congress proposed to the States, twelve amendments, ten of which were speedily adopted, and are known as the Bill of Rights:

1. protected the freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion from federal legislation.

2-3. guaranteed the right to bear arms.

4-8. defined a citizen’s rights in court and when under arrest.

9. the enumeration of these rights did not endager other rights.

10. powers not granted the nat. governm. by the Const-n remained with the states, citizens.

10. The Revolution: Winners and losers. Federalists and Antifederalists.

The results of the Am. Revolution for Am. slaves were ambiguous. On the one hand, it created an independent nation in which slaveholders had real power. On the other hand, the ideology of natural rights that was fundamental to the Revolution was difficult to contain. Many whites, particularly in the North, came to see emancipation as a logical outcome of the Revolution. Thus American independence was a short–term disaster for the slaves, but at the same time, it set in motion a chain of events that would destroy American slavery. The Constitution makes no mention of political parties, and the founding fathers regularly derided political "factionalism," which characterized government in many of the States. The struggle over the ratification of the Constitution, however, suggested the first outlines of the system of political parties, which was to later emerge.

The Federalists (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay), who had advocated the Constitution, enjoyed the opportunity to put the new government into operation, while after the adoption of the Constitution, the Antifederalists, (Patrick Henry and George Mason.) never as well-organized, effectively ceased to exist. However, the ideals of states' rights and a weaker federal government, were in many ways absorbed by the growth of a new party, the Republican or Democratic-Republican Party, which eventually assumed the role of loyal opposition to the Federalists, and finally took control of the Federal government in 1800, with the election of Thomas Jefferson as President.

The American Civil War.

With two fundamentally different labor systems at their base, the economic and social changes across the nation's geographical regions – based on wage labor in the North and on slavery in the South – underlay distinct visions of society that had emerged by the mid-nineteenth century in the North and in the South. The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the United States – forces coming mostly from the 23 northern states of the Union – and the newly-formed Confederate States of America, which consisted of 11 southern states that had declared their secession. The Confederate Army did well in the early partof the war, and some of its commandersespecially General Robert E. Lee, werebrilliant tacticians. But inthe summer of 1863 Lee took agambleby marching his troops north into Pennsylvania.He met a Union army at Gettysburg, and the largest battle ever fought on American soil ensued. After three days of desperate fighting, the Confederates were defeated..

Two years later, after a long campaign involving forces commanded by Lee and Grant,the Confederates surrendered. But it resolved two matters thathad vexed Americans since 1776. It put an end to slavery, and it decided that the country was not a collection of semi-independent states but an indivisible whole. Significant Southern leaders included Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, etc.

Northern leaders included Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George G. Meade,etc