, but a summer's worth of work instead produced a blueprint for a strong national government that featured three branchesùexecutive, legislative, and judiciary. A proposal to include a bill of rights, like those found in state constitutions, was rejected as redundant and unnecessary because Congress had ônone of the powers such a bill would seek to deny.ö In addition, the motion enjoyed little support because it was made on September 12, 1787, after a long, hot summer of work and as the convention was winding down. The delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, then submitted it to the states for ratification.
State ratifying conventions began to meet in late 1787. The Anti-Federalists, most of whom were ardent republicans, objected to the Constitution on several grounds. First, they argued that republican government could not succeed in a nation as large as the U.S. Second, they claimed that the government proposed by the Constitution would be so powerful that it would threaten the republican governments of the states. Third, Anti-Federalists objected because the Constitution did not include a bill of rights. Republicans insisted on the extra guarantees afforded by a bill of rights because they viewed politics as a ôstruggle between power and liberty, and the Constitution as a contract between rulers and ruled.ö
The Anti-Federalists' last argument proved to be the most effective, yet the claim was motivated more by political gain than conviction. ôThe cry for a Bill of Rights came loudest from state-minded politicians who hoped to defeat the Constitution altogether, or had dreams of a second convention in which Congress would be denied the power to lay taxes or to regulate commerce.ö Supporters of the Constitution, the Federalists, did not want to appear to be less ardent protectors of liberty, so they quickly endorsed the call for a bill of rights. In several large states, where ratifi...