Ratification of the Constitution 

            It was very difficult to ratify the Constitution for many reasons.  This difficulty was mainly because nine states had to ratify the Constitution in order for it to be official and many were concerned about the possible new form of government.  Those that opposed the Constitution were called antifederalists.  Antifederalists believed that it was wrong to create the Constitution and argued that "the delagates in Philadelphia had exceeded their congressional authority by replacing the Articles of Confederation with an illegal new document" (The Ratification of the Constitution). These beliefs made ratification a somewhat problematic process.  Some people believed that the Constitution was made to benefit only the well-off Philadelphians and that the Constitution "gave too much central power to the central government" (The Ratification of the Constitution).  Most of these allegations were able to be countered by Federalists, who were in favor of the Constitution.  The federalists claimed that "rejection of the constitution would result in anarchy and civil strife" (The ratification of the Constitution).  One of the most significant of convictions was that the Constitution did not include a bill of rights but the federalists, such as James Madison  verified that one would be made promptly after the ratification (The Ratification of the Constitution).  Overall, the ratification process was strenuous for many reasons but the Constitution was eventually effectuated.  

Works Cited: The Ratification of the Constitution (article from class)

Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?

            The Articles of Confederation was basically the first constitution of the United States.  The Articles of Confederation failed for many reasons.  Some of the reasons that contributed to its failure were that it was weak and could not collect taxes nor amend articles with unanimous votes. The Articles of Confederation was too weak because the people of the United States wanted to do everything in their power to prevent a monarchy from occurring at this point.  Because the Articles of Confederation was too weak, it could not accomplish certain things that were necessary such as collect taxes and amend articles with unanimous votes.  Without the ability to collect taxes, the government would always be short of funds.  After the war, many debts needed to be paid and because the government could not collect taxes, paying them became a major issue.  The Articles of Confederation could had trouble amending articles because they could not do so unanimously and without nine out of the thirteen states agreeing with the possible amendment.  Because of these rules, amendments were never made and in a constantly growing and changing nation, that would have been a severe issue. Overall, the Articles of Confederation was considerably weak, leading to its inevitable downfall.

What might life be like if there was no government? Why do you think humans organized governing bodies? 

       If there were no government, life might just be chaotic. There would be no laws, causing society to grow up not knowing basic moral rights and manors. Laws are established by the government, therefore, if there were no government, there would be nothing set in place to decide what is considered worthy of punishment. 

       Murder could occur and most people would not understand why it is not an acceptable thing to do because there would be no legal consequence for such a monstrosity. Aside from having no laws enforcing human behaviors, there would also be nothing regarding how workers would be paid or even how to establish careers so the majority of society could earn money in order to live. 

       Even the earliest of humans created a form of governing leaders, from the Ancient Greek senators to the Native American chiefs because there was a mutual understanding that without this commanding authority, there would be no foundation for a way of living. People would not know how to go about doing the things we believe to be considered common. 

       The average human today wakes up in the morning in some form of dwelling and goes to work or school then attends some form of extra activity for personal enjoyment or other purposes then goes back to their dwelling to sleep and does it all over again. Without a form of government, almost nothing that the average human does on a daily basis would exist. Everything we do is in some way regulated by the government, such as the pricing of a house, the amount of money that is distributed to each person, the amount and type of cash that is printed, how much people have to pay for the good of other people, and a million more ways that decide how out civilization functions. Humans organized governing bodies because there was a mutual understanding that rules need to be set forth in order for humans to have a foundation to build on for the rest of life's opportunities.