ratification of the Constitution?

Question

why was ratification of the Constitution was such a difficult process? my first instinct is because of personal vs. federal rights because they wanted more freedom from the government. Is this correct or is there a bigger reason?

Answer 1

A weak federal government wasn't working by 1787, and you are right--it was an issue of state's rights vs. a larger role for a federal government. A lot of people thought, "wow we just got rid of the British and here we are with these federalists." In addition, we are talking horse and buggy days--it literally took a long time for people to get to even the capitals of each state, debate, return and debate more, etc. Everything was just much slower in those days, so it probably didn't seem like that long to the legislators in the new America. Finally, there was still no real consensus on the slavery issue, although the northern states gave in to get all the constitutional convention delegates to sign on.

Answer 2

The farmer/merchant class did not want the constitution, so much. They tended to be anti-federalist. They had suffered under a king and thought a strong national government would subject them to the same tyrannies.

Answer 3

States rights versus strong central government.some wanted a strong central government, others wanted strong states and a weak central government.
Also representation in government of small states versus big states. (thats why we have two houses of congress, on based on population -good for big states, one based on equal representation - good for small states). And even how to count the population, free states did not want slaves counted, slave states wanted slaves counted, they cam up with counting a slave as 3/5th of a person.

Answer 4

Exactly! Look at the major governments today--individual rights versus collective rights is the key differnce in so many countries...