The Structure of the Constitution

US History – Ratification, the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights, 1787-91

In this course, Professor Woody Holton (University of South Carolina) discusses the ratification of the US Constitution, along with the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights. We start by looking at the structure of the Constitution - the preamble and each of its articles. After this, we turn to examine how ratification was achieved in the so called "easy" states - Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Georgia. We then turn to look at the process of ratification in the "harder" states and how the Federalist Papers were used as a tool to achieve this. In the final module, we'll explore the arguments of the Anti-Federalists and the Bill of Rights.

The Structure of the Constitution

In this module, we look at the structure of the Constitution. The Constitution is made up of eight parts: (i) the preamble; (ii) description of Congress; (iii) description of Presidency; (iv) description of the court system; (v) relationship of the states and federal government; (vi) process of amendments; (vii) the oath and supreme law; (viii) description of ratification process.