Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BUILDING THE
NEW NATION
1776–1860
164
ment? What economic poli- of new lands and new labor
cies would best serve the fed the growth of a market
infant republic? How should economy, including the
the nation defend itself commercialization of agri-
against foreign foes? What culture and the beginnings
principles should guide for- of the factory system of pro-
eign policy? Was America a duction. Old ways of life
nation at all, or was it merely withered as the market
a geographic expression, economy drew women as
destined to splinter into sev- well as men, children as well
eral bitterly quarreling sec- as adults, blacks as well as
tions, as had happened to whites, into its embrace.
so many other would-be Ominously, the slave system
countries? grew robustly as cotton
After a shaky start under production, mostly for sale
George Washington and on European markets,
John Adams in the 1790s, exploded into the booming
buffeted by foreign troubles Southwest.
and domestic crises, the Meanwhile, the United
new Republic passed a States in the era of Andrew
major test when power was Jackson gave the world an
peacefully transferred from the conservative Feder- impressive lesson in political science. Between
alists to the more liberal Jeffersonians in the elec- roughly 1820 and 1840, Americans virtually
tion of 1800. A confident President Jefferson pro- invented mass democracy, creating huge political
ceeded boldly to expand the national territory with parties and enormously expanding political partici-
the landmark Louisiana Purchase in 1803. But pation by enfranchising nearly all adult white males.
before long Jefferson, and then his successor, James Nor was the spirit of innovation confined to the
Madison, were embroiled in what eventually political realm. A wave of reform and cultural vital-
proved to be a fruitless effort to spare the United ity swept through many sectors of American society.
States from the ravages of the war then raging in Utopian experiments proliferated. Religious revivals
Europe. and even new religions, like Mormonism, flour-
America was dangerously divided during the ished. A national literature blossomed. Crusades
War of 1812 and suffered a humiliating defeat. But were launched for temperance, prison reform,
a new sense of national unity and purpose was women’s rights, and the abolition of slavery.
unleashed in the land thereafter. President Monroe, By the second quarter of the nineteenth cen-
presiding over this “Era of Good Feelings,” pro- tury, the outlines of a distinctive American national
claimed in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 that both of character had begun to emerge. Americans were a
the American continents were off-limits to further diverse, restless people, tramping steadily west-
European intervention. The foundations of a conti- ward, eagerly forging their own nascent Industrial
nental-scale economy were laid, as a “transporta- Revolution, proudly exercising their democratic
tion revolution” stitched the country together with political rights, impatient with the old, in love with
canals and railroads and turnpikes. Settlers flooded the new, testily asserting their superiority over all
over those new arteries into the burgeoning West, other peoples—and increasingly divided, in heart,
often brusquely shouldering aside the native peo- in conscience, and in politics, over the single great-
ples. Immigrants, especially from Ireland and Ger- est blight on their record of nation making and
many, flocked to American shores. The combination democracy building: slavery.
165
9
The Confederation
and the Constitution
1776–1790
166
Aftermath of the Revolution 167
democracy was further stimulated by the growth of be barred from purchasing property, holding certain
trade organizations for artisans and laborers. Citi- jobs, and educating their children. Laws against
zens in several states, flushed with republican fervor, interracial marriage also sprang up at this time.
also sawed off the remaining shackles of medieval Why, in this dawning democratic age, did aboli-
inheritance laws, such as primogeniture, which tion not go further and cleanly blot the evil of slav-
awarded all of a father’s property to the eldest son. ery from the fresh face of the new nation? The sorry
A protracted fight for separation of church and truth is that the fledgling idealism of the Founding
state resulted in notable gains. Although the well- Fathers was sacrificed to political expediency. A
entrenched Congregational Church continued to be fight over slavery would have fractured the fragile
legally established in some New England states, the national unity that was so desperately needed.
Anglican Church, tainted by association with the “Great as the evil [of slavery] is,” the young Virginian
British crown, was humbled. De-anglicized, it re- James Madison wrote in 1787, “a dismemberment of
formed as the Protestant Episcopal Church and was the union would be worse.” Nearly a century later,
everywhere disestablished. The struggle for divorce the slavery issue did wreck the Union—temporarily.
between religion and government proved fiercest in Likewise incomplete was the extension of the
Virginia. It was prolonged to 1786, when freethink- doctrine of equality to women. Some women did
ing Thomas Jefferson and his co-reformers, includ- serve (disguised as men) in the military, and New
ing the Baptists, won a complete victory with the Jersey’s new constitution in 1776 even, for a time,
passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Free-
dom. (See the table of established churches, p. 95.)
The egalitarian sentiments unleashed by the
war likewise challenged the institution of slavery.
Philadelphia Quakers in 1775 founded the world’s
first antislavery society. Hostilities hampered the
noxious trade in “black ivory,’’ and the Continental
Congress in 1774 called for the complete abolition
of the slave trade, a summons to which most of the
states responded positively. Several northern states
went further and either abolished slavery outright
or provided for the gradual emancipation of blacks.
Even on the plantations of Virginia, a few idealistic
masters freed their human chattels—the first frail
sprouts of the later abolitionist movement.
But this revolution of sentiments was sadly
incomplete. No states south of Pennsylvania abol-
ished slavery, and in both North and South, the law
discriminated harshly against freed blacks and
slaves alike. Emancipated African-Americans could
Copley Family Portrait, c. 1776–1777 A portrait her; and she provides the focus of activity for the
painting like this one by John Singleton Copley family group. Although Copley had moved to Eng-
(1738-1815) documents physical likenesses, cloth- land in 1774 to avoid the disruptions of war, he had
ing styles, and other material possessions typical made radical friends in his home town of Boston
of an era. But it can do more than that. In the and surely had imbibed the sentiment of the age
execution of the painting itself, the preeminent about “republican motherhood”—a sentiment
portrait painter of colonial America revealed that revered women as homemakers and mothers,
important values of his time. Copley’s composition the cultivators of good republican values in young
and use of light emphasized the importance of the citizens. What other prevailing attitudes, about
mother in the family. Mrs. Copley is the visual cen- gender and age, for example, might this painting
ter of the painting; the light falls predominantly on reveal?
in New York, for example, was sliced into 250 parcels Britain was still reserved for the loyal parts of the
—thus accelerating the spread of economic democ- empire. American ships were now barred from
racy. The frightful excesses of the French Revolution British and British West Indies harbors. Fisheries
were avoided, partly because cheap land was easily were disrupted, and bounties for ships’ stores had
available. People do not chop off heads so readily abruptly ended. In some respects the hated British
when they can chop down trees. It is highly signifi- Navigation Laws were more disagreeable after inde-
cant that in the United States, economic democracy, pendence than before.
broadly speaking, preceded political democracy. New commercial outlets, fortunately, compen-
A sharp stimulus was given to manufacturing by sated partially for the loss of old ones. Americans
the prewar nonimportation agreements and later by could now trade freely with foreign nations, subject
the war itself. Goods that had formerly been imported to local restrictions—a boon they had not enjoyed
from Britain were mostly cut off, and the ingenious in the days of mercantilism. Enterprising Yankee
Yankees were forced to make their own. Ten years shippers ventured boldly—and profitably—into the
after the Revolution, the busy Brandywine Creek, Baltic and China Seas. In 1784 the Empress of China,
south of Philadelphia, was turning the water wheels of carrying a valuable weed (ginseng) that was highly
numerous mills along an eight-mile stretch. Yet Amer- prized by Chinese herb doctors as a cure for impo-
ica remained overwhelmingly a nation of soil-tillers. tence, led the way into the East Asian markets.
Economically speaking, independence had Yet the general economic picture was far from
drawbacks. Much of the coveted commerce of rosy. War had spawned demoralizing extravagance,
Problems of a New Government 171
speculation, and profiteering, with profits for some Philadelphia newspaper in 1783 urged readers to
as indecently high as 300 percent. Runaway infla- don home-stitched garments of homespun cloth:
tion had been ruinous to many citizens, and Con-
Of foreign gewgaws let’s be free,
gress had failed in its feeble attempts to curb
And wear the webs of liberty.
economic laws. The average citizen was probably
worse off financially at the end of the shooting than Yet hopeful signs could be discerned. The thir-
at the start. teen sovereign states were basically alike in govern-
The whole economic and social atmosphere mental structure and functioned under similar
was unhealthy. A newly rich class of profiteers was constitutions. Americans enjoyed a rich political
noisily conspicuous, whereas many once-wealthy inheritance, derived partly from Britain and partly
people were left destitute. The controversy leading from their own homegrown devices for self-govern-
to the Revolutionary War had bred a keen distaste ment. Finally, they were blessed with political lead-
for taxes and encouraged disrespect for the majesty ers of a high order in men like George Washington,
of the law generally. John Adams had been shocked James Madison, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and
when gleefully told by a horse-jockey neighbor that Alexander Hamilton.
the courts of justice were all closed—a plight that
proved to be only temporary.
Creating a Confederation
A major complaint was that the land-blessed states Fertile public lands thus transferred to the cen-
could sell their trans-Allegheny tracts and thus pay tral government proved to be an invaluable bond of
off pensions and other debts incurred in the com- union. The states that had thrown their heritage into
mon cause. States without such holdings would the common pot had to remain in the Union if they
have to tax themselves heavily to defray these obli- were to reap their share of the advantages from the
gations. Why not turn the whole western area over land sales. An army of westward-moving pioneers
to the central government? purchased their farms from the federal government,
Unanimous approval of the Articles of Confeder- directly or indirectly, and they learned to look to the
ation by the thirteen states was required, and land- national capital, rather than to the state capitals—
starved Maryland stubbornly held out until March 1, with a consequent weakening of local influence.
1781. Maryland at length gave in when New York sur- Finally, a uniform national land policy was made
rendered its western claims and Virginia seemed possible.
about to do so. To sweeten the pill, Congress pledged
itself to dispose of these vast areas for the “common
benefit.’’ It further agreed to carve from the new The Articles of Confederation:
public domain not colonies, but a number of America’s First Constitution
“republican’’ states, which in time would be admit-
ted to the Union on terms of complete equality with
all the others. This extraordinary commitment faith- The Articles of Confederation—some have said
fully reflected the anticolonial spirit of the Revolu- “Articles of Confusion’’—provided for a loose con-
tion, and the pledge was later fully redeemed in the federation or “firm league of friendship.’’ Thirteen
famed Northwest Ordinance of 1787. independent states were thus linked together for
A Crippled Confederation 173
consented to the breathtaking leap from the old recorded, contrasted sharply with the chaos south
boycott Association of 1774 to the Constitution of of the Ohio River, where uncertain ownership was
the United States. the norm and fraud was rampant.
Even more noteworthy was the Northwest Ordi-
nance of 1787, which related to the governing of the
Landmarks in Land Laws Old Northwest. This law came to grips with the
problem of how a nation should deal with its
colonies—the same problem that had bedeviled the
Handcuffed though the Congress of the Confedera- king and Parliament in London. The solution pro-
tion was, it succeeded in passing supremely far- vided by the Northwest Ordinance was a judicious
sighted pieces of legislation. These related to an compromise: temporary tutelage, then permanent
immense part of the public domain recently equality. First, there would be two evolutionary ter-
acquired from the states and commonly known as ritorial stages, during which the area would be sub-
the Old Northwest. This area of land lay northwest ordinate to the federal government. Then, when a
of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and territory could boast sixty thousand inhabitants, it
south of the Great Lakes. might be admitted by Congress as a state, with all
The first of these red-letter laws was the Land the privileges of the thirteen charter members.
Ordinance of 1785. It provided that the acreage of (This is precisely what the Continental Congress
the Old Northwest should be sold and that the pro- had promised the states when they surrendered
ceeds should be used to help pay off the national their lands in 1781.) The ordinance also forbade
debt. The vast area was to be surveyed before sale slavery in the Old Northwest—a pathbreaking gain
and settlement, thus forestalling endless confusion for freedom.
and lawsuits. It was to be divided into townships six The wisdom of Congress in handling this explo-
miles square, each of which in turn was to be split sive problem deserves warm praise. If it had
into thirty-six sections of one square mile each. The attempted to chain the new territories in perma-
sixteenth section of each township was set aside to nent subordination, a second American Revolution
be sold for the benefit of the public schools—a almost certainly would have erupted in later years,
priceless gift to education in the Northwest. The fought this time by the West against the East. Con-
orderly settlement of the Northwest Territory, where gress thus neatly solved the seemingly insoluble
the land was methodically surveyed and titles duly problem of empire. The scheme worked so well that
Surveying the Old Northwest Sections of a township under the Land Ordinance of 1785.
36 30 24 18 12 6 16
BRIT ISH
CANADA
e S up e rio r Income from section 16
La k 35 29 23 17 11 5
used to support schools
La 34 28 22 16 10 4
MICHIGAN k e
6 miles
M
is s
n
Hu
La k e Mic h ig a
is s WISCONSIN
ro n
ip
p i 33 27 21 15 9 3
R.
Section
e
S PA NI S H e E ri 32 26 20 14 8 2 640 acres
La k
L OU I SI A N A
31 25 19 13 7 1 Half-section
OHIO 320 acres
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
1 mile
6 miles
Survey
began Quarter- 80 acres
io R . here section
Oh
160 acres 40 40
TENNESSEE VIRGINIA
1 mile
Troubled Foreign Relations 175
i
N.Y.
pp
N.H.
i R.
Detroit Fort Niagara MASS.
Foreign relations, especially with London, remained (U.S. soil) (U.S. soil)
R.I.
troubled during these anxious years of the Confed- PA. CONN.
eration. Britain resented the stab in the back from N.J.
MD.
its rebellious offspring and for eight years refused to St. Louis io
R.
DEL.
Oh
send a minister to America’s “backwoods’’ capital. VIRGINIA
SPANISH
London suggested, with barbed irony, that if it sent LOUISIANA
one, it would have to send thirteen. NORTH
CAROLINA
Britain flatly declined to make a commercial
treaty or to repeal its ancient Navigation Laws. SOUTH
CAROLINA
Lord Sheffield, whose ungenerous views prevailed,
Natchez GEORGIA
argued persuasively in a widely sold pamphlet that
Britain would win back America’s trade anyhow.
Commerce, he insisted, would naturally follow old New Orleans
SPANISH Area disputed by
channels. So why go to the Americans hat in hand? FLORIDA Spain and U.S.
The British also officially shut off their profitable British influence
West Indies trade from the United States, though the Spanish influence
Yankees, with their time-tested skill in smuggling,
illegally partook nonetheless. Main Centers of Spanish and British Influence After 1783
Scheming British agents were also active along This map shows graphically that the United States in 1783
the far-flung northern frontier. They intrigued with achieved complete independence in name only, particularly in
the disgruntled Allen brothers of Vermont and the area west of the Appalachian Mountains. Not until twenty
sought to annex that rebellious area to Britain. years had passed did the new Republic, with the purchase of
Along the northern border, the redcoats continued Louisiana from France in 1803, eliminate foreign influence
to hold a chain of trading posts on U.S. soil, and from the area east of the Mississippi River.
there they maintained their fur trade with the Indi-
ans. One plausible excuse for remaining was the
failure of the American states to honor the treaty of
peace in regard to debts and Loyalists. But the main which the pioneers of Tennessee and Kentucky were
purpose of Britain in hanging on was probably to forced to float their produce. In 1784 Spain closed
curry favor with the Indians and keep their toma- the river to American commerce, threatening the
hawks lined up on the side of the king as a barrier West with strangulation. Spain likewise claimed a
against future American attacks on Canada. large area north of the Gulf of Mexico, including
All these grievances against Britain were mad- Florida, granted to the United States by the British
dening to patriotic Americans. Some citizens in 1783. At Natchez, on disputed soil, it held an
demanded, with more heat than wisdom, that the important fort. It also schemed with the neighbor-
United States force the British into line by imposing ing Indians, grievously antagonized by the rapa-
restrictions on their imports to America. But Con- cious land policies of Georgia and North Carolina,
gress could not control commerce, and the states to hem in the Americans east of the Alleghenies.
refused to adopt a uniform tariff policy. Some “easy Spain and Britain together, radiating their influence
states’’ deliberately lowered their tariffs in order to out among resentful Indian tribes, prevented Amer-
attract an unfair share of trade. ica from exercising effective control over about half
Spain, though recently an enemy of Britain, was of its total territory.
openly unfriendly to the new Republic. It controlled Even France, America’s comrade-in-arms,
the mouth of the all-important Mississippi, down cooled off now that it had humbled Britain. The
176 CHAPTER 9 The Confederation and the Constitution, 1776–1790
French demanded the repayment of money loaned ing duties on goods from their neighbors; New York,
during the war and restricted trade with their for example, taxed firewood from Connecticut and
bustling West Indies and other ports. cabbages from New Jersey. A number of the states
Pirates of the North African states, including the were again starting to grind out depreciated paper
arrogant Dey of Algiers, were ravaging America’s currency, and a few of them had passed laws sanc-
Mediterranean commerce and enslaving Yankee tioning the semiworthless “rag money.’’ As a con-
sailors. The British purchased protection for their temporary rhymester put it,
own subjects, and as colonists the Americans had
Bankrupts their creditors with rage pursue;
enjoyed this shield. But as an independent nation,
No stop, no mercy from the debtor crew.
the United States was too weak to fight and too poor
to bribe. A few Yankee shippers engaged in the An alarming uprising, known as Shays’s Rebel-
Mediterranean trade with forged British protection lion, flared up in western Massachusetts in 1786.
papers, but not all were so bold or so lucky. Impoverished backcountry farmers, many of them
John Jay, secretary for foreign affairs, derived Revolutionary War veterans, were losing their farms
some hollow satisfaction from these insults. He through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquen-
hoped they would at least humiliate the American cies. Led by Captain Daniel Shays, a veteran of the
people into framing a new government at home that Revolution, these desperate debtors demanded
would be strong enough to command respect abroad. cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension
of property takeovers. Hundreds of angry agitators,
again seizing their muskets, attempted to enforce
The Horrid Specter of Anarchy their demands.
Massachusetts authorities responded with dras-
tic action. Supported partly by contributions from
Economic storm clouds continued to loom in the wealthy citizens, they raised a small army. Several
mid-1780s. The requisition system of raising money skirmishes occurred—at Springfield three Shaysites
was breaking down; some of the states refused to were killed, and one was wounded—and the move-
pay anything, while complaining bitterly about the ment collapsed. Daniel Shays, who believed that he
tyranny of “King Congress.’’ Interest on the public was fighting anew against tyranny, was condemned
debt was piling up at home, and the nation’s credit to death but was later pardoned.
was evaporating abroad. Shays’s followers were crushed—but the night-
Individual states were getting out of hand. marish memory lingered on. The outbursts of these
Quarrels over boundaries generated numerous and other distressed debtors struck fear in the
minor pitched battles. Some of the states were levy- hearts of the propertied class, who began to suspect
that the Revolution had created a monster of
“mobocracy.’’ “Good God!’’ burst out George Wash-
ington, who felt that only a Tory or a Briton could
have predicted such disorders. Unbridled republi-
Social tensions reached a fever pitch during canism, it seemed to many of the elite, had fed an
Shays’s Rebellion in 1787. In an interview insatiable appetite for liberty that was fast becom-
with a local Massachusetts paper, instigator ing license. Civic virtue was no longer sufficient to
Daniel Shays (1747–1825) explained how the rein in self-interest and greed. It had become “unde-
debt-ridden farmers hoped to free themselves niably evident,” one skeptic sorrowfully lamented,
from the demands of a merchant-dominated “that some malignant disorder has seized upon our
government. The rebels would seize arms and body politic.” If republicanism was too shaky a
“march directly to Boston, plunder it, and ground upon which to construct a new nation, a
then . . . destroy the nest of devils, who by stronger central government would provide the
their influence, make the Court enact what needed foundation. A few panicky citizens even
they please, burn it and lay the town of talked of importing a European monarch to carry on
Boston in ashes.” where George III had failed.
How critical were conditions under the Confed-
eration? Conservatives, anxious to safeguard their
The Constitutional Convention 177
Hammering Out
a Bundle of Compromises
After bitter and prolonged debate, the “Great partly inspired by the example of Massachusetts,
Compromise’’ of the convention was hammered out where a vigorous, popularly elected governor had
and agreed upon. A cooling of tempers came coinci- suppressed Shays’s Rebellion. The president was to
dentally with a cooling of the temperature. The larger be military commander in chief and to have wide
states were conceded representation by population powers of appointment to domestic offices—
in the House of Representatives (Art. I, Sec. II, para. 3; including judgeships. The president was also to
see Appendix at the end of this book), and the smaller have veto power over legislation.
states were appeased by equal representation in the The Constitution as drafted was a bundle of
Senate (see Art. I, Sec. III, para. 1). Each state, no mat- compromises; they stand out in every section. A
ter how poor or small, would have two senators. The vital compromise was the method of electing the
big states obviously yielded more. As a sop to them, president indirectly by the Electoral College, rather
the delegates agreed that every tax bill or revenue than by direct means. While the large states would
measure must originate in the House, where popula- have the advantage in the first round of popular vot-
tion counted more heavily (see Art. I, Sec. VII, para. ing, as a state’s share of electors was based on the
1). This critical compromise broke the logjam, and total of its senators and representatives in Congress,
from then on success seemed within reach. the small states would gain a larger voice if no can-
In a significant reversal of the arrangement didate got a majority of electoral votes and the elec-
most state constitutions had embodied, the new tion was thrown to the House of Representatives,
Constitution provided for a strong, independent where each state had only one vote (see Art. II, Sec.
executive in the presidency. The framers were here I, para. 2). Although the framers of the Constitution
expected election by the House to occur frequently,
it has happened just twice, in 1800 and in 1824.
Sectional jealousy also intruded. Should the
voteless slave of the southern states count as a per-
One of the Philadelphia delegates recorded son in apportioning direct taxes and in according
in his journal a brief episode involving representation in the House of Representatives? The
Benjamin Franklin, who was asked by a South, not wishing to be deprived of influence,
woman when the convention ended, answered “yes.’’ The North replied “no,’’ arguing that,
“Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or as slaves were not citizens, the North might as logi-
a monarchy?” cally demand additional representation based on its
horses. As a compromise between total representa-
The elder statesman answered, tion and none at all, it was decided that a slave might
“A republic, if you can keep it.” count as three-fifths of a person. Hence the memo-
rable, if arbitrary, “three-fifths compromise’’ (see Art.
I, Sec. II, para. 3).
A Conservative Constitution 181
Most of the states wanted to shut off the African deliberately erected safeguards against the excesses
slave trade. But South Carolina and Georgia, requiring of the “mob,’’ and they made these barriers as strong
slave labor in their rice paddies and malarial swamps, as they dared. The awesome federal judges were to
raised vehement protests. By way of compromise the be appointed for life. The powerful president was to
convention stipulated that the slave trade might con- be elected indirectly by the Electoral College; the
tinue until the end of 1807, at which time Congress lordly senators were to be chosen indirectly by state
could turn off the spigot (see Art. I, Sec. IX, para. 1). It legislatures (see Art. I, Sec. III, para. 1). Only in the
did so as soon as the prescribed interval had elapsed. case of one-half of one of the three great branches—
Meanwhile, all the new state constitutions except the House of Representatives—were qualified
Georgia’s forbade overseas slave trade. (propertied) citizens permitted to choose their offi-
cials by direct vote (see Art. I, Sec. II, para. 1).
Yet the new charter also contained democratic
Safeguards for Conservatism elements. Above all, it stood foursquare on the two
great principles of republicanism: that the only
legitimate government was one based on the con-
Heated clashes among the delegates have been sent of the governed, and that the powers of govern-
overplayed. The area of agreement was actually ment should be limited—in this case specifically
large; otherwise the convention would have speed- limited by a written constitution. The virtue of the
ily disbanded. Economically, the members of the people, not the authority of the state, was to be the
Constitutional Convention generally saw eye to eye; ultimate guarantor of liberty, justice, and order. “We
they demanded sound money and the protection of the people,’’ the preamble began, in a ringing affir-
private property. Politically, they were in basic mation of these republican doctrines.
agreement; they favored a stronger government, At the end of seventeen muggy weeks—May 25
with three branches and with checks and balances to September 17, 1787—only forty-two of the origi-
among them—what critics branded a “triple- nal fifty-five members remained to sign the Consti-
headed monster.’’ Finally, the convention was virtu- tution. Three of the forty-two, refusing to do so,
ally unanimous in believing that manhood-suffrage returned to their states to resist ratification. The
democracy—government by “democratick bab- remainder, adjourning to the City Tavern, cele-
blers’’—was something to be feared and fought. brated the toastworthy occasion. But no members
Daniel Shays, the prime bogeyman, still fright- of the convention were completely happy about the
ened the conservative-minded delegates. They result. They were too near their work—and too
weary. Whatever their personal desires, they finally The American people were somewhat aston-
had to compromise and adopt what was acceptable ished, so well had the secrets of the convention been
to the entire body, and what presumably would be concealed. The public had expected the old Articles of
acceptable to the entire country. Confederation to be patched up; now it was handed a
startling new document in which, many thought, the
precious jewel of state sovereignty was swallowed up.
The Clash of Federalists One of the hottest debates of American history forth-
and Antifederalists with erupted. The antifederalists, who opposed the
stronger federal government, were arrayed against the
federalists, who obviously favored it.
The Framing Fathers early foresaw that nationwide A motley crew gathered in the antifederalist
acceptance of the Constitution would not be easy to camp. Its leaders included prominent revolutionar-
obtain. A formidable barrier was unanimous ratifi- ies like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard
cation by all thirteen states, as required for amend- Henry Lee. Their followers consisted primarily,
ment by the still-standing Articles of Confederation. though not exclusively, of states’ rights devotees,
But since absent Rhode Island was certain to veto backcountry dwellers, and one-horse farmers—in
the Constitution, the delegates boldly adopted a dif- general, the poorest classes. They were joined by
ferent scheme. They stipulated that when nine paper-moneyites and debtors, many of whom
states had registered their approval through spe- feared that a potent central government would force
cially elected conventions, the Constitution would them to pay off their debts—and at full value. Large
become the supreme law of the land in those states numbers of antifederalists saw in the Constitution a
ratifying (see Art. VII). plot by the upper crust to steal power back from the
This was extraordinary, even revolutionary. It was common folk.
in effect an appeal over the heads of the Congress Silver-buckled federalists had power and influ-
that had called the convention, and over the heads of ence on their side. They enjoyed the support of such
the legislatures that had chosen its members, to the commanding figures as George Washington and
people—or those of the people who could vote. In Benjamin Franklin. Most of them lived in the settled
this way the framers could claim greater popular areas along the seaboard, not in the raw backcoun-
sanction for their handiwork. A divided Congress try. Overall, they were wealthier than the antifeder-
submitted the document to the states on this basis, alists, more educated, and better organized. They
without recommendation of any kind. also controlled the press. More than a hundred
newspapers were published in America in the absence of a bill of rights. They decried the drop-
1780s; only a dozen supported the antifederalist ping of annual elections for congressional represen-
cause. tatives, the erecting of a federal stronghold ten miles
Antifederalists voiced vehement objections to square (later the District of Columbia), the creation
the “gilded trap’’ known as the Constitution. They of a standing army, the omission of any reference to
cried with much truth that it had been drawn up by God, and the highly questionable procedure of rati-
the aristocratic elements and hence was antidemo- fying with only two-thirds of the states. A Philadel-
cratic. They likewise charged that the sovereignty of phia newspaper added that Benjamin Franklin was
the states was being submerged and that the free- “a fool from age’’ and George Washington “a fool
doms of the individual were jeopardized by the from nature.’’
184 CHAPTER 9 The Confederation and the Constitution, 1776–1790
The Great Debate in the States of Confederation. The absence of a bill of rights
alarmed the antifederalists. But the federalists gave
them solemn assurances that the first Congress
Special elections, some apathetic but others hotly would add such a safeguard by amendment, and
contested, were held in the various states for mem- ratification was then secured in Massachusetts by
bers of the ratifying conventions. The candidates— the rather narrow margin of 187 to 168.
federalist or antifederalist—were elected on the Three more states fell into line. The last of these
basis of their pledges for or against the Constitution. was New Hampshire, whose convention at first had
With the ink barely dry on the parchment, four contained a strong antifederalist majority. The fed-
small states quickly accepted the Constitution, for eralists cleverly arranged a prompt adjournment
they had come off much better than they expected. and then won over enough waverers to secure ratifi-
Pennsylvania, number two on the list of ratifiers, cation. Nine states—all but Virginia, New York,
was the first large state to act, but not until high- North Carolina, and Rhode Island—had now taken
handed irregularities had been employed by the shelter under the “new federal roof,’’ and the docu-
federalist legislature in calling a convention. These ment was officially adopted on June 21, 1788. Fran-
included the forcible seating of two antifederalist cis Hopkinson exulted in his song “The New Roof”:
members, their clothes torn and their faces red with
Huzza! my brave boys, our work is complete;
rage, in order to complete a quorum.
The world shall admire Columbia’s fair seat.
Massachusetts, the second most populous
state, provided an acid test. If the Constitution had But such rejoicing was premature so long as the four
failed in Massachusetts, the entire movement dissenters, conspicuously New York and Virginia,
might easily have bogged down. The Boston ratify- dug in their heels.
ing convention at first contained an antifederalist
majority. It included grudging Shaysites and the
aging Samuel Adams, as suspicious of government The Four Laggard States
power in 1787 as he had been in 1776. The assembly
buzzed with dismaying talk of summoning another
constitutional convention, as though the nation Proud Virginia, the biggest and most populous state,
had not already shot its bolt. Clearly the choice was provided fierce antifederalist opposition. There the
not between this Constitution and a better one, but college-bred federalist orators, for once, encoun-
between this Constitution and the creaking Articles tered worthy antagonists, including the fiery Patrick
Ratifying the Constitution 185
four states ratified, not because they wanted to but A majority had not spoken. Only about one-
because they had to. They could not safely exist fourth of the adult white males in the country, chiefly
outside the fold. the propertied people, had voted for delegates to the
ratifying conventions. Careful estimates indicate that
if the new Constitution had been submitted to a man-
A Conservative Triumph hood-suffrage vote, as in New York, it would have
encountered much more opposition, probably defeat.
Conservatism was victorious. Safeguards had
The minority had triumphed—twice. A militant been erected against mob-rule excesses, while the
minority of American radicals had engineered the republican gains of the Revolution were conserved.
military Revolution that cast off the unwritten Radicals such as Patrick Henry, who had ousted
British constitution. A militant minority of conser- British rule, saw themselves in turn upended by
vatives—now embracing many of the earlier radi- American conservatives. The federalists were con-
cals—had engineered the peaceful revolution that vinced that by setting the drifting ship of state on a
overthrew the inadequate constitution known as steady course, they could restore economic and
the Articles of Confederation. Eleven states, in political stability.
effect, had seceded from the Confederation, leaving Yet if the architects of the Constitution were
the two still in, actually out in the cold. conservative, it is worth emphasizing that they con-
Chronology 187
Amos Singletary (1721–1806), who described 1775 Philadelphia Quakers found world’s first
himself as a “poor” man, argued against the antislavery society
Constitution:
1776 New Jersey constitution temporarily gives
“We fought Great Britain—some said for a
women the vote
three-penny tax on tea; but it was not that.
It was because they claimed a right to tax us 1777 Articles of Confederation adopted by Second
and bind us in all cases whatever. And does Continental Congress
not this Constitution do the same? . . . These
lawyers and men of learning and money 1780 Massachusetts adopts first constitution
men, that talk so finely and gloss over drafted in convention and ratified by
matters so smoothly, to make us poor popular vote
illiterate people swallow down the pill. . . .
1781 Articles of Confederation put into effect
They expect to be the managers of the
Constitution, and get all the power and 1783 Military officers form Society of the
money into their own hands. And then they Cincinnati
will swallow up all us little folks, just as the
whale swallowed up Jonah!” 1785 Land Ordinance of 1785
VA RY I N G VIEWPOINTS
The Constitution:
Revolutionary or
Counterrevolutionary?
lthough the Constitution has endured over two holdings of the Founding Fathers, Beard deter-
A centuries as the basis of American government,
historians have differed sharply over how to inter-
mined that most of those men were indeed deeply
involved in investments that would increase in
pret its origins and meaning. The so-called Nation- value under the Constitution. In effect, Beard
alist School of historians, writing in the late argued, the Constitution represented a successful
nineteenth century, viewed the Constitution as the attempt by conservative elites to buttress their own
logical culmination of the Revolution and, more economic supremacy at the expense of less fortu-
generally, as a crucial step in the God-given progress nate Americans. He further contended that the Con-
of Anglo-Saxon peoples. As described in John Fiske’s stitution was ratified by default, because the people
The Critical Period of American History (1888), the most disadvantaged by the new government did
young nation, buffeted by foreign threats and grow- not possess the property qualifications needed
ing internal chaos, with only a weak central govern- to vote—more evidence of the class conflict under-
ment to lean on, was saved by the adoption of a lying the struggle between the federalists and the
more rigorous Constitution, the ultimate fulfillment antifederalists.
of republican ideals. Beard’s economic interpretation of the Consti-
By the early twentieth century, however, the tution held sway through the 1940s. Historians like
progressive historians had turned a more critical Merrill Jensen elaborated Beard’s analysis by argu-
eye to the Constitution. Having observed the ing that the 1780s were not in fact mired in chaos,
Supreme Court of their own day repeatedly overrule but rather were hopeful times for many Americans.
legislation designed to better social conditions for In the 1950s, however, this analysis fell victim to the
the masses, they began to view the original docu- attacks of the “consensus” historians, who sought
ment as an instrument created by elite conserva- explanations for the Constitution in factors other
tives to wrest political power away from the than class interest. Scholars such as Robert Brown
common people. For historians like Carl Becker and and Forrest McDonald convincingly disputed
Charles Beard, the Constitution was part of the Rev- Beard’s evidence about delegates’ property owner-
olutionary struggle between the lower classes (small ship and refuted his portrayal of the masses as prop-
farmers, debtors, and laborers) and the upper ertyless and disfranchised. They argued that the
classes (merchants, financiers, and manufacturers). Constitution derived from an emerging consen-
Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Con- sus that the country needed a stronger central
stitution of the United States (1913) argued that the government.
Articles of Confederation had protected debtors and Scholars since the 1950s have searched for new
small property owners and displeased wealthy elites ways to understand the origins of the Constitution.
heavily invested in trade, the public debt, and the The most influential work has been Gordon Wood’s
promotion of manufacturing. Only a stronger, more Creation of the American Republic (1969). Wood
centralized government could protect their exten- reinterpreted the ratification controversy as a strug-
sive property interests. Reviewing the economic gle to define the true essence of republicanism.
Varying Viewpoints 189
Antifederalists so feared human inclination toward novel ideal of an “extensive republic,” a polity that
corruption that they shuddered at the prospect of would achieve stability by virtue of its great size and
putting powerful political weapons in the hands of a diversity. This conception challenged the conven-
central government. They saw small governments tional wisdom that a republic could survive only if it
susceptible to local control as the only safeguard extended over a small area with a homogeneous
against tyranny. The federalists, on the other hand, population. In this sense, Wood argued, the Consti-
believed that a strong, balanced national govern- tution represented a bold experiment—the fulfill-
ment would rein in selfish human instincts and ment, rather than the repudiation, of the most
channel them toward the pursuit of the common advanced ideas of the Revolutionary era—even
good. Alarmed by the indulgences of the state gov- though it emanated from traditional elites deter-
ernments, the federalists, James Madison in partic- mined to curtail dangerous disruptions to the social
ular (especially in Federalist No. 10), developed the order.
For further reading, see page A6 of the Appendix. For web resources, go to http://college.hmco.com.