Ratification of the United States Constitution by Rhode Island the convention instead set about drafting a new Constitution. Rhode Island was the only state to not participate in its proceedings. By April 1, 1789, the new constitution had entered into force after the required nine states had completed their ratification processes. The First United States Congress had already convened, and the Congress had already passed twelve proposed amendments, but Rhode Island still had not ratified the new Constitution and continued to effectively operate outside the new governmental structure. Opposition was chiefly due to the paper money issued in Rhode Island pounds since 1786 by the governing Country Party, intended
Constitution of Belarus the rights and freedoms of its citizens and to maintain a stable government that is run by the people and based on the rule of law. Section One of the Constitution sets up the governmental framework and specifies that the government is run by the people of Belarus. The government, which has been declared a multi-party representative democracy, forms its own foreign policy and is willing to defend the right to do so when necessary. Section One also establishes that the state protects the rights and freedoms of its citizens, but contains the proviso that a citizen of Belarus ""bears