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Constitution: Ratifying the Constitution

The Continental Congress received the proposed Constitution on September 20. It then voted to send the document to the state legislatures for ratification.

The people who supported the new Constitution, the Federalists, began to publish articles supporting ratification. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay eventually compiled 85 essays as The Federalist Papers. These supporters of the Constitution believed that the checks and balances system would allow a strong central government to preserve states' rights.

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