The american revolution's democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.
after declaring independence, american political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the role of the state and federal governments while protecting individual liberties and limiting both centralized power and excessive popular influence.
a) many new state constitutions placed power in the hands of the legislative branch and maintained property qualifications for voting and citizenship.
b) the articles of confederation unified the newly independent states, creating a central government with limited power. after the revolution, difficulties over international trade, finances, interstate commerce, foreign relations, and internal unrest led to calls for a stronger central government.
c) delegates from the states participated in a constitutional convention and through negotiation, collaboration, and compromise proposed a constitution that created a limited but dynamic central government embodying federalism and providing for a separation of powers between its three branches.
d) the constitutional convention compromised over the representation of slave states in congress and the role of the federal government in regulating both slavery and the slave trade, allowing the prohibition of the international slave trade after 1808.
e) in the debate over ratifying the constitution, anti-federalists opposing ratification battled with federalists, whose principles were articulated in the federalist papers (primarily written by alexander hamilton and james madison). federalists ensured the ratification of the constitution by promising the addition of a bill of rights that enumerated individual rights and explicitly restricted the powers of the federal government.