The U.S. Constitution

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the nature of the constitutional debates between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists that led to the adoption of the US Constitution. The paper offers an understanding of the history both leading up to and during the period of debate. The paper relates that because of the debate that surrounded the document from the start, the terms of the Constitution are ambiguous, flexible and thus always open to debate.

From the Paper:

"The Constitution of the United States of America is perhaps the world's oldest written national constitution. Adopted on September 17, 1787, the Constitution is the result of a significant and heated debate between who have become known as Federalist and Anti-Federalist. It was largely due to the arguments and propaganda of these two groups that lead to the final form of the document that was adopted. This debate was far reaching in that it occurred physically both in the various forms of the constitutional conventions and in the streets and homes in the form of editorials."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Breyer, Stephen. Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. Knopf Publishing Group, 2006.
• Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James and John Jay. Federalist Papers. (Clinton Rossiter, Ed.) New York: Mass Market Paperback, 2003.
• Gibson, Alan Ray. Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates Over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic. Manhattan: University Press of Kansas, 2006.
• Ketcham, Ralph (Editor). The Anti Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates. New York: Penguin Group, USA, 2003.

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