Yeah, Madison was one of the grownups who saved the US from dissolution.
At one end of the spectrum was William Patterson and Alexander Hamilton was at the other. The end product was, as Madison hoped, in the middle.
If you think the states were universally admired at the time, you are mistaken. They violated property rights, instituted paper money, imposed tariffs on each other, and ensured we would be in a constant state of cold war with Britain in the west. The states were so ill regarded, the Convention came fairly close to acing out the states altogether from the legislature. It was only the threat of a walkout from small states that brought state appointed Senators. Under the Articles, the states were only second to the framework of the Articles as problems that had to be corrected.
Hamilton, Madison, and so many others worked together to ratify the Constitution.
The Constitution was ratified by the States. You know...the States.
Excellent commentary and thoughtful.
I believe that Madison would be shocked and Hamilton stunned to see the size and scope of government. Hamilton is unfairly maligned today.
Too many forget that unity was critical to our success. By 1820 we were still barely a country and very susceptible to outside forces. The Monroe Doctrine was enforced not by Americans, but by the British Navy.
Obviously we’re too far over to one side, but we cannot imagine that our country would last if we had 50 utterly sovereign states. We need a reduction in federal power and control, not the destruction of it. A return to the Constitutional bounds is a sufficient dose, but not more.