Federalists Essay, Research Paper

“Thank God it was Ratified”Description of this essay : Constitution”Thank God it was ratified!” With the Constitution, the elite society protectedrights for every American that would secure and ensure our nation’s existencefor hundreds of years. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States’government was in a state of chaos. To end the existing chaos and build astronger democratic society for the future, the government would need to bemore powerful and centralized. Thus, the elite class established the rules andboundaries that would protect the rights of all citizens from a suppressivegovernment, and the Constitution was created. The Articles created a weak,almost nonexistent national government that was in complete control by thestates. The newly formed government had neither an executive or judicialbranch, which meant that it lacked enforcement powers. There were threeproblems that existed under the Articles of Confederation that would spawn anact of change. First, under the Articles of Confederation the government couldnot protect property and other rights of the citizens. Second, the society createdunder the Articles of Confederation lacked a means of advancing commerce andinterstate trade. Third, government lacked the money and power to provide anadequate national defense. Traders and commercial men found their plans forcommerce on a national scale impeded by local interference with interstatecommerce. The currency of the states and the nation were hopelessly muddled.Creditors everywhere were angry about the depreciated paper money which theagrarians had made and were attempting to force upon those from whom theyhad borrowed specie. Poor, small landowning farmers could not sell or tradegoods that they produced on their land to other states. The “muddled currency”in 1786, led to the loss of land in Massachusetts. During this time Continentalarmy veterans were unable to pay their debts with the paper money that theywere supplied with by the Continental Congress. This bankruptcy led to the lossof land and a great rebellion led by Daniel Shays. The Shay’s rebellion wasended easily enough but it was the lack of national government that frightenedpeople. Had Daniel Shays gathered a larger number of people and had more firepower the small amount of farmers and towns people might not have been ableto squash this rebellion. Anarchy in the States could not be tolerated. However,it was James Madison that stated that the way to abolish the rule by faction is toabolish liberty but that liberty is essential to a faction as air is to fire. Madisoncontinues to state that, “The inference to which we are brought is, that thecauses of faction cannot be removed; and that relief is only to be sought in themeans of controlling its effects.” Madison understood that to take away libertywas to stop a faction and therefore if a hindrance or boundary on liberty wasestablished it would control the rule by faction. Madison was opposed tocomplete abolishment of liberty and therefore the most reasonable decision wasto place boundaries on it. Madison and the elite class noticed how the Articles ofConfederation disrupted the majority of the American people and created asystem of government where liberty was so free that it hindered society. The

decision to create a new system of government was in the best interest of all thepeople in America. In creating the Constitution there were many conflicting viewsof how the newly created government should function. Alexander Hamilton,wanted a strong central government in which a Senate and executive powerwere chosen for life by indirect election; therefore creating an aristocracy.George Mason, an anti-federalist, objected to the final document because of thepossibility that this new government would create an aristocracy. Mason alsoproposed that, “there is no declaration of Rights” and the “Legislature [cannotprohibit] the further Importation of Slaves,” which he felt was destructive of thecountry’s moral fiber. On the Bill of Rights issue, the government did not needregulations that stated what it cannot do because a government cannot actunless it is stated within the law. If there was not a law that stated that they couldcensor the press then it is illegal for them to do so. Madison and many otheranti-federalists were opposed to the Constitution because it allowed theimportation of slaves for at least another twenty years. Without this clause in theConstitution it never would have been ratified because the South would not havevoted for ratification denying the Constitution the three fourths vote that itneeded. Although the importation of slaves in the Constitution was not idealthere was not a way to ratify the Constitution without the South’s vote on thisissue. Charles A. Beard criticizes the creators of the Constitution deeming that,”the direct, impelling motive was the economic advantages which thebeneficiaries expected would accrue to themselves first, from their action.” Beardcontinues his evaluation on the framers by citing that, “Not one memberrepresented in his immediate personal economic interests the small farming ormechanic classes.” Beard cites more of his facts in that, “The overwhelmingmajority of members, at least five-sixths, were immediately, directly, andpersonally interested in the outcome of their labors at Philadelphia.” In his reportBeard seems to cite numerous facts which prove that his statement is correct inthat the framers had personal concerns that outweighed the democratic sincerityof the new government. Beard’s examples are so precise as to say that,”five-sixths were personally interested in the outcome of their labors,” that it isunbelievable that such a fact could be true. Was a poll taken during this time onwhether the framers had personal intents in the creation and ratification of theConstitution? Beard’s thesis seems so ridiculous that it needs to be taken with agrain of salt and as Robert Brown stated that Beard’s thesis if accepted is doneso on ‘an act of faith’ and not an analysis of historical method. There were a fewproblems within the Constitution of the United States of America, but the effectsthat it produced in society were far more positive than that of the Articles ofConfederation. The chaos that was constructed under the Articles were legallybanned under the Constitution. The slave trade and acts of slavery would lastmany more years but finally it was ended very bloody. Although the history of theUnited States has not always been a happy one the ratification of theConstitution still is one of America’s best accomplishments.