Description

The delegates, who later became known

as the Founding Fathers, disregarded their instructions and proceeded to formulate a completely new constitution. The new con-stitution was remarkable for the balance it established between the powers of the cen-tral government (which were necessary to manage the new nation) and the interests of the individual states (which had their own traditions of self-government). Within a year, the United States Constitution was ratified by nine state legislatures and came into effect. The first United States Con-gress met in March 1789, and its first act was to elect George Washington as presi-dent. It also resolved to impose heavy tar-iffs on North Carolina and Rhode Island unless they ratified the Constitution and joined the Union, which they soon did.zol

The Constitution provided for amend-ments, and several states only ratified it in the expectation that a Bill of Rights would be added. This took the form of 10 amend-ments adopted in 1791, including the right to free speech (the First Amendment), the right to bear arms and the right not to incriminate oneself (as in, 'You have the right to remain silent').

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