some states agreed to the constitution very quickly. in other states, many people did not like the constitution because it gave more power to the central government and had no bill of rights. to try and get the constitution passed, madison, hamilton and jay wrote a series of newspaper articles called the "federalist papers". very soon after, the bill of rights was added. this was a set of 10 amendments (changes), that limited the government's power and guaranteed rights to the citizens. like the declaration of independence, the constitution is a social contract between the people and the government. the main idea of the constitution is that the government is a republic (a representative democracy) elected by the people, who all have the same rights. however, this was not true at first, when only white males who owned property could vote. because of state laws as well as the 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th and 26th amendments, almost all american citizens who are at least 18 years old can vote today.