[KC Burke]

I think Masison was worried about the young Republics survival on a financial and organizational basis. I have read about the post revolutionary debt turmoil leading to Shay’s rebellion and similar incidents. The states were only looking after their own interests and letting the larger republic flounder.

Many felt we would soon fall apart and be devoured piece meal.

[Huck]

I beliebe Madison's intentions were good, for whatever that's worth. The quality of his notes on the Convention demonstrate his integrity. By all accounts they were thorough and fair. He's a tough one to figure out. He seems to have really believed the Constitution would function the way he believed. He seems completely miffed when almost immediately the things he thought wouldn't happen started happening, some of which at the hands of his constitutional allies. Near the end of his life he was still trying to explain to people how he thought it was supposed to work. I just don't get how he could be so brilliant and so blind at the same time.

I often wonder what might have been different if his friend Thomas Jefferson had been in the country for the framing--if he'd been there. Jefferson surely demonstrated a greater mistrust of government than Madison. TJ trusted Madison, and seems to have somehow been a bit of a centrist on the issue of the Constitution, but I wonder if he'd have had a different view if he'd been there. I even wonder if it was an accident or not that he was out of the country at the time.