Ratification of Constitution

                The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article VII:  “The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.”  This provision in the Constitution made it more likely that the Constitution would be ratified rather than expect all thirteen colonies to approve of it.

                “The Founders felt it was a mistake to follow the requirements of the Articles of Confederation which prevented any changes in government without unanimous consent.  Such a provision gave any one state a unilateral veto over all of the other states.

                “By allowing the Constitution to go into effect as soon as nine states had ratified it, the Founders took a chance on the possibility that one or more of the states might repudiate its earlier covenant of `perpetual union’ and remain outside the Union.  Nevertheless, they were willing to take this chance in order to get on with the highly volatile business of trying to set up a new government.”  (See W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America – The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 668.)

                Charles Kesler of The Heritage Foundation wrote of the Ratification Clause:  “This laconic sentence, the last and shortest of the Constitution’s articles, was the key to the legal and political process that replaced the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution of the United States.  In one stroke, Article VII expressed the Constitution’s view of the Union and echoed the Declaration of Independence’s view of the relation between positive and natural law.  Seldom has so much political import been conveyed in so few words.”  (See The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, p. 298).