The Constitution Goes into Effect.—When the ratification of the Constitution had been assured, the old Congress of the Confederation enacted that the new government should go into effect on March 4, 1789. In the meantime senators and representatives were elected as the first members of the new Congress, and George Washington was chosen President. Thus the old Confederation passed away and the new Republic entered upon its great career.
The System of Government Created.—The government created by the Constitution is federal in character; that is, it consists of a system of national and state government under a common sovereignty. It is a republic as contradistinguished from such a limited monarchy as the British; that is, it is a government having a popularly elected executive rather than a titular executive who holds his office for life by hereditary tenure, who is politically irresponsible, and who governs through ministers who are responsible to the Parliament for his acts. It is also distinguished from confederate government or that form in which the states are practically sovereign and in which the general government is nothing but the agent of the states for the care of a very few things of common concern, such as defense against foreign aggression. Finally, the American system is one of popular rather than of aristocratic government, that is, it is government by the masses of the people instead of government by the favored few.
References.—Andrews, Manual of the Constitution, ch. ii. Beard, American Government and Politics, ch. iii. Bryce, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), ch. ii. Fiske, Critical Period of American History, chs. vi-vii. Hinsdale, American Government, chs. vii-xi.
Documentary Material.—1. The Articles of Confederation. 2. The Constitution.
Research Questions
1. Trace the steps leading up to the meeting of the convention which framed the Constitution.
2. How were the delegates to the convention chosen? What, in general, was the nature of their instructions? Who was the oldest delegate? the youngest? the most distinguished? Who of them were signers of the Declaration of Independence? Who acted as president of the convention?
3. Name the members of the convention who refused to sign the Constitution.
4. Why did Hamilton, the author of the resolution calling the convention, take so little part in the work of making the Constitution?
5. Why did not New York send its ablest men to the convention?
6. Did the convention organize itself into committees for the transaction of business?