Three months in Philadelphia and some of the greatest minds of the age created a document known throughout history, but what was the real story. That’s the line on the movie poster. The truth lies hidden in Madison’s notes of those days as well as in the writings of others. What is the story between those lines? This is one of the most important stories in our country’s history.
THE RISE OF FEDERALISM (235) Should an ‘aristocracy of talent’ lead the nation? Did property need greater protection? Federalism was one of the answers. It was a political philosophy built around the need for a strong central government ruled by laws, protecting the interests of the few while empowering the many. Your text says that that excessive liberty was a danger. Would anyone in 1775 say that? Federalists saw the vision of an expanding commercial republic. Money. Liberty. Which was more important? Could they be combined? Could a nation be forged by both?
THE GRAND CONVENTION (236) Showtime! So many things said. So many things unsaid. Should we remember the words? Should we remember the people? Should we remember the result? How do we form the stories that build our country’s identity? How do those stories shape our own identity? Hamilton and Madison become the center of the story now against the anti-Federalists.
DRAFTING THE CONSTITUTION (238) The only question is how powerful should the new national government be? Interesting perspective. Power. It’s at the core of principle. “How were the conflicting interests of large and small states to be reconciled? How should the balance of power between national and state governments be struck? How would an executive be created that was strong enough to govern but not so strong as to endanger republican liberty? And what, if anything, would the convention say about slavery and the slave trade, issues on which northerners
and southerners, antislavery and proslavery advocates so passionately disagreed?” Then there were two big compromises. One was about the structure of government. The other was about the heart of the country. Bicameral legislation and the 3/5 compromise changed everything. A balance of power wasn’t just in the separation of powers and checks and balances. It was a deal concerning slaves. That was a balance of power too, just not an ethical one. It was a political reality – one we would have to live with for another 70 years.
How much power would the common people have? This was another tough choice, and we are still living with that balance of power today. It is something we have become accustomed to, as well as with our ability to speak out and transform the nation from the bottom up. A woman’s right to vote, worker’s rights, abolition of slavery, a bill of rights… all of it was from the bottom up.
FEDERALIST VERSUS ANTI-FEDERALIST (242) How did the nation begin? It began with a fight – over ideas. Federalists on one side and anti-Federalists (very original, right?) on the other. Your thematic study guide that I emailed you has a very good comparison between the two. Check it out. How do we evaluate this situation in history? The easy way – who was right? Take a good look at the positions and ask yourselves. Is there a right answer? That all depends on your analysis and interpretation of history. Which position best matches your values for America today? “Government, they (anti-Federalists) insisted, must be kept simple, for complexity only confused the people and cloaked selfish ambition.” “Power, the Federalists argued, was not the enemy of liberty but its guarantor.” Hm. Get it? The best arguments for central government were written by Madison, Hamilton and some by Jay. They became one of the most widely acknowledged political documents in the history of the world – they were the Federalist Papers. What was the response? The Anti-Federalist Papers, of course.
Here’s the best summary I saw in your text. It still holds as an important debate today.
Earlier emphasis on public virtue as the guarantor of political order, Federalists affirmed, had been naive, for few people would consistently put the public good ahead of their own interests. Politics had to heed this harsh fact of human nature and provide for peaceful compromise among conflicting groups. That could be best accomplished by expanding the nation so that it included innumerable factions. Out of the clash and accommodation of social and economic interests would emerge the best possible approximation of the public good. In that argument is to be found the basic rationale for modern democratic politics, but it left the Anti-Federalists sputtering in frustration. Where in the Federalists’ scheme was there a place for that familiar abstraction, the public good? What would become of public virtue in a system built on the notion of competing, private interests? In such a free market of competition, the Anti-Federalists warned, the wealthy and powerful would thrive, while ordinary folk would suffer.
THE STRUGGLE OVER RATIFICATION (244) Look at the votes. It was close, very close, in some of the states. Your text states that most likely a majority of the people opposed the document. Imagine that. Only a few hundred thousand took part in the special conventions. In Virginia, the difference was down to 10 votes. What would have happened if one of the states said no? Would there be a big dent in the eastern seaboard where the nation of Virginia was? Ultimately a bill of rights became the special bargaining chip to bring the rest on board.
THE SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF RATIFICATION (245) What’s social geography? Did support for the Constitution based itself on where an individual lived, or what their occupation was? Your text mentions that most of the Revolution’s major leaders were Federalists. This document finally completes the circle for a struggle that began with British taxes, children’s snowballs in Boston and shots fired in Lexington. Now a new chapter would begin. Would it be a good one?
Here are also some good links for studying and teaching the Constitution: Compromises of the Constitution Study Guide, Flash Card Machine: Constitution Study Cards, Constitution Study Guide and Lessons, The Constitution for Kids, Essentials of the Constitution Unit Plan
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