What issues caused vigorous debate over ratification of the Constitution?

Even with the problems that people clearly saw in the plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation, there was no guarantee the states would ratify the Constitution. One of the biggest issues in the discussion over ratification was the lack of a Bill of Rights that would guarantee people their freedoms. A very big fear many people had about the Constitution was that by giving the government more power, it would have too much...

Even with the problems that people clearly saw in the plan of government created by the Articles of Confederation, there was no guarantee the states would ratify the Constitution. One of the biggest issues in the discussion over ratification was the lack of a Bill of Rights that would guarantee people their freedoms. A very big fear many people had about the Constitution was that by giving the government more power, it would have too much power and begin to abuse it. People were afraid the government would start to infringe on people’s rights, just as the British government did. Thus, some states refused to vote for ratification until a promise was made to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution to protect the rights of the people.

Another concern that existed was that the Constitution gave the federal government too much power in general. They were concerned what would happen to the rights of the individual states. They also believed, that over a period of time, the government would begin to abuse its powers. This could lead to corruption and/or oppression.

Those in favor of ratification tried to reduce the fears of those against ratification. A series of 85 essays supporting the ratification of the Constitution was published. Called The Federalist Papers, these explained all the benefits of ratifying the Constitution. Once the guarantee of adding a Bill of Rights was made, the Constitution was eventually ratified.