Posted on 04/29/2010 7:56:41 AM PDT by Publius
Earlier threads:
FReeper Book Club: The Debate over the Constitution
5 Oct 1787, Centinel #1
6 Oct 1787, James Wilson’s Speech at the State House
8 Oct 1787, Federal Farmer #1
9 Oct 1787, Federal Farmer #2
18 Oct 1787, Brutus #1
22 Oct 1787, John DeWitt #1
27 Oct 1787, John DeWitt #2
27 Oct 1787, Federalist #1
31 Oct 1787, Federalist #2
3 Nov 1787, Federalist #3
5 Nov 1787, John DeWitt #3
7 Nov 1787, Federalist #4
10 Nov 1787, Federalist #5
14 Nov 1787, Federalist #6
15 Nov 1787, Federalist #7
20 Nov 1787, Federalist #8
21 Nov 1787, Federalist #9
23 Nov 1787, Federalist #10
24 Nov 1787, Federalist #11
27 Nov 1787, Federalist #12
27 Nov 1787, Cato #5
28 Nov 1787, Federalist #13
29 Nov 1787, Brutus #4
30 Nov 1787, Federalist #14
Going to CSUN today and taking this along!
Thanks for your work, BTD and P!
War with Great Britain ended after six years in 1781. There should have been a nationwide boom as productive work replaced fear and destruction by the likes of Cornwallis and Tarleton.
The Articles of Confederation were little more than a treaty between independent, sovereign states. They were totally inadequate and the US was saved by our framers and the state ratifying conventions in the nick of time.
There was a deep deflationary depression because of the question of what constituted money and a complete lack of a coin of the realm. In the commentary to Federal Farmer #1, we have an essay expounding on the financial problems of the time.
In the Articles, Congress had the power to regulate “the alloy and value of coin, struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states,” which appeared in the Constitution in simpler form, “To coin Money, regulate the value thereof.” I see little effective difference between the two clauses, yet our economy was a gross failure under the Articles and grew with incredible speed under the Constitution.
As intended, the Constitution promoted the general welfare and secured the blessings of liberty for the people.
We also had a reliable system of credit. When Jackson began his campaign to let the charter of the Second National Bank expire, it was Henry Clay who said, "The United States were built on credit." He was right about that.
This is the latest Federalist/Anti-Federalist thread with links to all the earlier ones.
Copied and reading. Thanks!
~~pinging~~ the group to a masterful series of articles by some of FR's own re the Federalist/Anti-Federalist debate. A bit off topic but I want to make the 10th Amendment Division™ aware of their work. Well done!
The Constitution establishe a necessary uniformity of many elements in the new nation. It missed a very important one: language
IMHO, it is something of a miracle that a committee of politicians, with widely varying backgrounds from distant and mutually suspicious states, hammered out their differences over a summer to produce the greatest governing document ever devised. That they did so is indicative of how perilous the times were under the awful Articles of Confederation.
Happy to have the Tenth Amendment Brigade on board. Just sign up, and I’ll put you in our ping list.
Some governments establish an official language and ignore that law. A California law states that English is the official language of the state government, but that state gives its drivers license test in 34 languages.
This statement in isolation may appear to matter little. It mattered very much.
The problem was that from our colonial beginnings in 1607 up through the time of the Constitutional Convention, France's foreign policy regarding the British colonies was one of containment. French and French inspired indian attacks throughout the 17th and until 1763 kept the colonies huddled along the Atlantic seaboard.
After the Revolutionary War, three nations worked to impede our westward progress, France, Britain and Spain. Our once protector, Great Britain replaced France as the primary impediment to western movement. Why? Well, it was in their interest. But they also fomented indian attacks and refused to turn outposts over to the US in direct violation of the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. They did this because under the Articles, they could not sue American debtors for pre-war British debt. States passed laws that precluded standing for Brit creditors.
Because of the deficient Articles of Confederation, there were no federal courts, no mechanism to implement the treaty. The states were free to conduct their own foreign policies. In retaliation, the Brits retained western outposts and instigated indian wars against us.
The new Constitution took care of this problem, enforced the Treaty of Paris and our western expansion began.
The US is one of the most unlikely countries on the face of the earth.
It was populated largely by people wanting to get the hell out of Europe, with the forms of government of the intrinsic oppression of them.
It was peopled largely by the destitute wanting to build something by their own labor.
Hamilton wants the yoke back on, by force if necessary.
The US was blessed up until the 20th century with the means of unlimited expansion.
Daniel Boone moved deeper into wilderness when the smoke of fires from his neighbors became visible.
We are in a new position, one the US has never faced before...When the government becomes oppressive...there is no new territory to flee too.
I'm very surprised that the Anti-federalists didn't haul Hamilton out and hang him over his coercive model.
By 1800, Hamilton's "High Federalists" were occupying much less political ground due to John Adams' distrust of Hamilton, and the reaction of an angry populace leading to Jefferson's victory.
Hamilton was in bad shape politically after the contested election of 1800 because half his own party didn't trust him any longer. I'm not at all sure what his political career would have looked like had Burr not killed him. He had angered too many people.
Burr did the country a teriffic service.
He really appeared to like the police state model.
I think the suspicions played as much into the ratification as they played against it. Imagine States like Delaware looking at Pennsylvania and New York as independent powers.
There was a greater amount of security in the union.
Shortly after the Constitution was ratified, one of the Websters, I believe it was Noah, pushed for English as the National Language. People said we didn’t need it. Many also said we didn’t need the bill of rights. I hate to think what this President and his party would be like without the first ten amendments.
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