[ek_hornbeck]

If you substitute the name “Hamilton” for “Lincoln,” you get to the basic argument that illuminated the debate over the Constitution and America’s future

According to the article, the gist of the debate between Lincoln (heir to the Federalist tradition) and the Jeffersonian anti-Federalist tradition is whether the US would be a commercial/manufacturing economic power or an agrarian nation. I agree that ultimately it's THIS question, rather than tariffs/free trade or slavery/anti-slavery was the fundamental divide between Federalist and Anti-Federalists, and the ideological difference between Union and Confederacy.

[x]

I agree that ultimately it's THIS question, rather than tariffs/free trade or slavery/anti-slavery was the fundamental divide between Federalist and Anti-Federalists, and the ideological difference between Union and Confederacy.

Except that an awful lot of farmers fought for the Union, and some aspiring industrialists supported the Confederacy.