Madison, a protege of General Washington and a staunch Federalist at the time, sought to finesse the argument by noting that the Constitution's drafters in 1787 had capitulated to the South's insistence on its institution of human enslavement. Though Henry and Mason struck a chord with their slavery-is-in-jeopardy argument, Madison ultimately carried the day, albeit narrowly with Virginia's convention approving the Constitution on an 89-to-79 vote.
But the Anti-Federalists didn't disappear. Instead, they organized as a political force to harass, deplete and ultimately destroy the Federalists.
The Rise of Jefferson
In another parallel between the modern Right and the Constitution's opponents, the Anti-Federalists in the South "posed as plucky populists, even though their ranks included many rich slaveholders," as historian Ron Chernow noted in his 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton.
These days, "small-government" conservatives also pose as "plucky populists" though they are funded and promoted by self-interested billionaires like the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch. In both movements, there also has been an undercurrent of racism, pro-slavery then, and hostility to the nation's demographic changes -- and African-American president -- now.
What the Anti-Federalists needed after their defeat in 1788 was a charismatic leader and they found him when Thomas Jefferson returned from France in 1789. A critic of the Constitution but not an outright opponent, Jefferson couched his resistance to a strong central government in his desire to keep the United States an agriculturally based society with states allowed to nix federal policies if they wished.
Appointed by President George Washington as Secretary of State, Jefferson was quickly at loggerheads with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton who moved energetically to create the framework for an effective federal government that could collect taxes, pay its bills, establish credit and encourage the development of American industries.
Like Washington, Hamilton had experienced through his service in the Continental Army the chaos of the Articles of Confederation and the failure of states to meet their financial commitments to support soldiers in the field.
Born out of wedlock in the West Indies, Hamilton's early life was one of Dickensian deprivation. Abandoned by his father and losing his mother to illness, the self-taught teen-age Hamilton scratched his way to some success working for a merchant and excelling as a writer. His talents were such that community leaders sent him to school in New York as a charity case.
Amid the rising turmoil of revolutionary America, Hamilton distinguished himself as a passionate advocate for independence and -- when war broke out -- recruited his college classmates into an artillery unit that performed bravely in the battles around New York. Hamilton's courage and skills brought him to General Washington's attention, and the French-speaking Hamilton soon became the Commander-in-Chief's indispensable aide-de-camp.
Though Lt. Col. Hamilton represented General Washington in high-level contacts with French commanders and American generals, the young officer remained eager to prove himself on the battlefield. Eventually, he convinced Washington to give him a military command and he led the American bayonet charge against the final British redoubt at the battle of Yorktown in 1781.
The First Americans
So, like Washington, Hamilton had developed a uniquely American perspective on the young country, having fought across much of its territory with other young men from various states and backgrounds.
As Chernow wrote in Alexander Hamilton:
"People continued to identify their states as their 'countries,' and most outside the military had never traveled more than a day's journey from their homes. But the Revolution itself, especially the Continental Army, had been a potent instrument for fusing the states together and forging an American character."Speaking of the effect that the fighting had on him, John Marshall probably spoke for many soldiers when he said, 'I was confirmed in the habit of considering America as my country and Congress as my government.' During the war, a sense of national unity seeped imperceptibly into the minds of many American diplomats, administrators, congressmen, and, above all, the nucleus of officers gathered around Washington."
Washington and Hamilton were among the military veterans who understood, viscerally, the failings of the Articles of Confederation in which "sovereignty" and "independence" were bestowed on the 13 states, causing them to look to their own needs, not those of the country.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
