WEBVTT 00:01.280 --> 00:05.950 Prof: On Thursday, I gave the world's most 00:05.949 --> 00:10.229 condensed lecture about the Constitution, 00:10.230 --> 00:14.100 and I mentioned three controversies that represented 00:14.096 --> 00:17.656 long-standing concerns in Revolutionary America: 00:17.660 --> 00:22.070 the question of representation, the problem of slavery, 00:22.074 --> 00:25.594 and then the question of a national executive-- 00:25.590 --> 00:29.450 so that really boils down to the problem of investing power 00:29.445 --> 00:30.305 in one man. 00:30.310 --> 00:34.610 Now I did manage to discuss all three of those things briefly 00:34.614 --> 00:36.914 before the end of the lecture. 00:36.910 --> 00:39.380 I did not have time to discuss one last issue, 00:39.379 --> 00:42.619 which I do want to talk about here before I go into the real 00:42.618 --> 00:44.208 topic of today's lecture. 00:44.210 --> 00:45.710 I just ran out of time. 00:45.710 --> 00:48.530 And it actually combines two of those issues. 00:48.530 --> 00:51.840 It's the combination of the problem of representation and 00:51.842 --> 00:54.652 the problem of slavery, and it's something you've all 00:54.647 --> 00:57.147 studied in high school, I am sure, and that is the 00:57.152 --> 00:58.512 Three-Fifths Compromise. 00:58.510 --> 01:01.420 And in a sentence, the Three-Fifths Compromise is 01:01.420 --> 01:04.640 the decision to count three-fifths of a state's slaves 01:04.635 --> 01:08.905 in apportioning representatives, presidential electors and 01:08.905 --> 01:10.035 direct taxes. 01:10.040 --> 01:14.070 So obviously by doing that--and that is a compromise of sorts-- 01:14.069 --> 01:17.189 it is trying to grapple with the problem of slavery and the 01:17.194 --> 01:20.174 question of representation, but obviously that's a 01:20.168 --> 01:23.318 compromise that bolsters Southern political power. 01:23.319 --> 01:28.059 Now the great historian of slavery, Yale professor emeritus 01:28.055 --> 01:31.725 David Brion Davis, has this little calculation 01:31.729 --> 01:34.259 associated with this issue. 01:34.260 --> 01:37.840 Davis writes that in the Continental Congress there had 01:37.836 --> 01:41.806 been five states in which slavery was a major institution. 01:41.810 --> 01:45.410 So the Southern states in the Continental Congress had about 01:45.407 --> 01:48.637 thirty-eight percent of the seats in that Congress. 01:48.640 --> 01:52.010 Because of the Three-Fifths Compromise, when the first U.S. 01:52.010 --> 01:54.530 Congress opened under the new Constitution, 01:54.530 --> 01:58.800 Southern states now had forty-five percent of the seats 01:58.796 --> 02:01.116 in the House, so thirty-eight to forty-five 02:01.115 --> 02:01.985 is a significant slide. 02:01.989 --> 02:04.599 Now that doesn't stay ingrained that way, 02:04.599 --> 02:07.609 because population increases in the North and things change over 02:07.608 --> 02:09.918 time, but certainly that's one way in 02:09.919 --> 02:13.779 which you can see the impact of that Three-Fifths Compromise. 02:13.780 --> 02:17.290 Now in a way that Compromise--it's a great segue 02:17.290 --> 02:21.020 into my lecture today-- it's a great example of the 02:21.019 --> 02:24.809 larger dynamic of the period that we're focusing on here 02:24.806 --> 02:27.006 toward the end of the course. 02:27.008 --> 02:30.148 Because, as we've been looking at in the Constitutional 02:30.145 --> 02:32.505 Convention-- as we're going to see today 02:32.512 --> 02:34.642 when we're looking at ratification-- 02:34.639 --> 02:38.759 at the heart of the political developments that we're looking 02:38.756 --> 02:42.866 at in this period is compromise: compromise between North and 02:42.872 --> 02:45.802 South; compromise between big states 02:45.799 --> 02:49.059 and small states; compromise between people who 02:49.060 --> 02:52.670 want to centralize power and people who want strong state 02:52.672 --> 02:53.642 governments. 02:53.639 --> 02:58.439 So basically what we're looking at in this period is Americans 02:58.443 --> 03:01.753 deciding where and how to invest power, 03:01.750 --> 03:05.740 obviously a highly charged decision that would have been 03:05.736 --> 03:09.576 impossible to make without a string of compromises. 03:09.580 --> 03:12.630 And in a way, as we're going to be discussing 03:12.626 --> 03:14.846 today, this is sort of a fundamental 03:14.849 --> 03:17.939 question at the heart of the Revolution and its immediate 03:17.942 --> 03:18.662 aftermath. 03:18.658 --> 03:20.638 Where should the nation invest power? 03:20.639 --> 03:22.779 Where does power go? 03:22.780 --> 03:25.420 So in a way, if you look back to the 03:25.420 --> 03:28.680 beginning of the course, think about the Revolution, 03:28.677 --> 03:30.527 think about some of the central issues, 03:30.530 --> 03:33.110 you could say that the Revolution certainly was about 03:33.111 --> 03:33.511 power. 03:33.508 --> 03:33.858 Right? 03:33.861 --> 03:37.331 It was a rebellion against what many perceived as tyrannical 03:37.330 --> 03:39.230 power, and that means a lot of things 03:39.228 --> 03:40.928 but to sum that all up in a sentence, 03:40.930 --> 03:42.190 you could say that. 03:42.190 --> 03:46.390 You could say that the 1770s and then the 1780s show 03:46.394 --> 03:51.424 Americans trying to figure out how to rebalance and reorganize 03:51.423 --> 03:53.723 power-- the power of state--that they 03:53.724 --> 03:56.324 strip away the British administration and now they have 03:56.322 --> 03:59.072 to figure out where else to place power and how to balance 03:59.065 --> 03:59.445 it. 03:59.449 --> 04:02.669 And we've seen the Articles of Confederation and now the 04:02.671 --> 04:05.261 Constitution, which is again part of this 04:05.258 --> 04:08.738 ongoing dialogue trying to figure out the balance of power 04:08.741 --> 04:10.821 in all sorts of different ways. 04:10.818 --> 04:13.938 And it's no wonder--if you think about what I've already 04:13.935 --> 04:17.385 just talked about as far as the Constitution is concerned-- 04:17.389 --> 04:21.809 it's no wonder that it demanded a string of difficult and often 04:21.805 --> 04:23.725 experimental compromises. 04:23.730 --> 04:26.480 Creating the Constitution and--as we'll see 04:26.483 --> 04:29.633 today--ratifying the Constitution was a difficult 04:29.632 --> 04:30.422 process. 04:30.420 --> 04:34.290 We tend to think of the outcome and we don't think of the 04:34.288 --> 04:36.658 process, And I'm always reminded of this 04:36.656 --> 04:39.766 fact when I read an exchange of letters between Jefferson and 04:39.766 --> 04:41.706 Madison, and it's actually written not 04:41.711 --> 04:43.811 long after the Constitution goes into effect. 04:43.810 --> 04:46.550 I think it's written in early 1790, 04:46.550 --> 04:51.010 and at that point Jefferson had been overseas, 04:51.009 --> 04:53.779 he'd been in France on diplomatic duty, 04:53.779 --> 04:56.729 so he's off in the distance knowing that they're debating 04:56.730 --> 04:58.890 the Constitution in the United States, 04:58.889 --> 05:01.339 but he's on foreign shores, lounging in salons, 05:01.338 --> 05:03.948 chatting about philosophical issues with the French. 05:03.949 --> 05:07.129 Meanwhile, Madison is in the Constitutional Convention 05:07.129 --> 05:09.459 slaving away, and then he's outside of it 05:09.459 --> 05:11.539 sort of hammering away at ratification, 05:11.540 --> 05:15.040 so Madison's clawing over the issue of the Constitution; 05:15.040 --> 05:17.360 Jefferson's kind of looking from afar. 05:17.360 --> 05:21.750 So he writes this letter to Madison early 1790 saying that 05:21.754 --> 05:26.304 no generation should be bound to the actions of any previous 05:26.302 --> 05:27.462 generation. 05:27.459 --> 05:29.419 It's one of those Jefferson letters in which he's like: 05:29.423 --> 05:31.863 'I have an interesting idea, let me share it with you,' and 05:31.858 --> 05:34.298 he starts out with this sort of idea about generations. 05:34.300 --> 05:37.800 Each generation is a distinct thing and should never be bound 05:37.803 --> 05:41.253 by the one that came before--and it has this famous line. 05:41.250 --> 05:44.280 Some of you may have heard it already: "The earth belongs 05:44.281 --> 05:44.531 ... 05:44.529 --> 05:47.269 to the living," right?--that the living should 05:47.266 --> 05:50.376 be controlling things; the dead hand of the past 05:50.375 --> 05:53.175 should not have weight in the present. 05:53.180 --> 05:56.670 In typical Jefferson style he then calculates what a 05:56.673 --> 05:57.773 generation is. 05:57.769 --> 05:58.009 Right? 05:58.012 --> 06:00.002 It's not enough to say generations are distinct. 06:00.000 --> 06:02.340 He says, Well, how long is a generation 06:02.343 --> 06:02.903 anyway? 06:02.899 --> 06:04.079 I will calculate this out. 06:04.079 --> 06:07.479 Oh, a generation is nineteen years'--by Thomas Jefferson. 06:07.480 --> 06:11.250 So he decides a generation is nineteen years and then says to 06:11.249 --> 06:14.139 Madison, 'So every nineteen years we need a new 06:14.139 --> 06:15.269 Constitution.' 06:15.269 --> 06:18.379 [laughs] Okay. 06:18.379 --> 06:20.019 So Jefferson, writing to the 06:20.021 --> 06:23.431 slaving-away-Constitution guy, says, 'Let's do this every 06:23.425 --> 06:24.575 nineteen years. 06:24.579 --> 06:25.909 I think that would be much fairer. 06:25.910 --> 06:28.170 It wouldn't bind the present to the past.' 06:28.170 --> 06:31.290 Now when I read that letter and then I read Madison's response, 06:31.290 --> 06:32.700 Madison is really tactful. 06:32.699 --> 06:35.189 Madison's a tactful guy, and he's tactful in his 06:35.185 --> 06:37.915 response, but when you look beneath the 06:37.920 --> 06:41.410 surface of Madison's reply, I always feel like what you see 06:41.411 --> 06:43.391 there is this sustained howl of disbelief, 06:43.389 --> 06:45.609 like: 'What!? 06:45.610 --> 06:48.740 Yeah, you try that next time, Teej, and then you come back 06:48.740 --> 06:51.870 here and tell me you want to do that in nineteen years. 06:51.870 --> 06:54.440 [laughter] No.' So Madison's not happy 06:54.444 --> 06:57.164 about it but he actually is tactful, 06:57.160 --> 07:01.690 and what he says to Jefferson is, he praises Jefferson's, 07:01.689 --> 07:04.599 quote, "many interesting reflections." 07:04.600 --> 07:06.320 [laughs] It's like: 'Thank you, 07:06.319 --> 07:09.069 Mr. Madison'--and then adds, unfortunately, 07:09.069 --> 07:12.449 quote, they are "not in all respects compatible with the 07:12.454 --> 07:15.394 course of human affairs," or in other words, 07:15.389 --> 07:18.489 real people don't act that way [laughs]-- 07:18.490 --> 07:21.510 like Jefferson, nice idea, not going to work in 07:21.512 --> 07:22.632 implementation. 07:22.629 --> 07:24.269 That's not for real life. 07:24.269 --> 07:25.939 For real people, it doesn't work, 07:25.935 --> 07:27.355 but cute idea; keep them coming. 07:27.360 --> 07:28.620 Like, it's interesting. 07:28.620 --> 07:30.110 We can just keep the conversation going; 07:30.110 --> 07:33.180 we're not doing another Constitution in nineteen years. 07:33.180 --> 07:36.580 So that's certainly one compromise that Madison is not 07:36.584 --> 07:40.524 willing to sign on to, but of course the compromises 07:40.519 --> 07:44.859 don't end with the closing of the Federal Convention. 07:44.860 --> 07:47.460 Creating the Constitution is a major accomplishment. 07:47.459 --> 07:49.369 Now it has to be ratified. 07:49.370 --> 07:53.710 There needed to be nine states to ratify it for it to go into 07:53.709 --> 07:57.329 effect, and each state would have its own ratifying 07:57.327 --> 07:59.857 convention to decide the issue. 07:59.860 --> 08:03.710 Now things would have been difficult enough if that was the 08:03.711 --> 08:07.171 only challenge at hand-- if all that they were facing 08:07.172 --> 08:09.712 was ratification debates in the states-- 08:09.709 --> 08:12.839 but the fact is, there were a slew of things 08:12.843 --> 08:16.783 that could have gone wrong even before we got to actual 08:16.779 --> 08:18.019 ratification. 08:18.019 --> 08:20.239 For one thing, the Confederation Congress 08:20.237 --> 08:23.507 might just disapprove of the Constitution and refuse to send 08:23.509 --> 08:24.839 it on to the states. 08:24.839 --> 08:28.189 It was entirely possible that the Congress might have said, 08:28.194 --> 08:30.974 'You know, you didn't just amend the Articles. 08:30.970 --> 08:31.800 You wrote a new Constitution. 08:31.800 --> 08:32.520 I'm sorry. 08:32.519 --> 08:33.619 We don't consider that valid. 08:33.620 --> 08:35.160 Nice try. 08:35.158 --> 08:37.508 We're not going to send it on'--and that would have been a 08:37.513 --> 08:38.673 little interesting moment. 08:38.668 --> 08:43.048 It's just as possible that individual states might refuse 08:43.047 --> 08:45.937 to consider it for the same reason. 08:45.940 --> 08:50.270 And even if some states did consider this Constitution and 08:50.269 --> 08:54.469 did decide to ratify it, if large influential states 08:54.467 --> 08:58.767 like Virginia or Massachusetts or New York rejected the 08:58.765 --> 09:02.345 Constitution, their influence might actually 09:02.346 --> 09:06.716 compel other states to follow their example and vote against 09:06.724 --> 09:07.174 it. 09:07.168 --> 09:10.058 So all of this is sort of looming out there. 09:10.058 --> 09:12.068 It's unclear if any of this is going to happen, 09:12.070 --> 09:14.390 but for those who are really supporting this new 09:14.389 --> 09:16.999 Constitution, they really knew that they had 09:17.001 --> 09:19.191 a pretty big challenge facing them. 09:19.190 --> 09:23.310 If the Constitution made it to the states for ratification, 09:23.308 --> 09:28.048 if the states agreed to consider it, 09:28.048 --> 09:30.828 then they had to worry about the actual debate over whether 09:30.832 --> 09:34.702 this Constitution was a just, trustworthy division of power. 09:34.700 --> 09:38.520 Now, the first horrible possibility did not take place, 09:38.519 --> 09:42.439 and the Confederation Congress passes on the Constitution to 09:42.440 --> 09:45.630 the states for consideration on September 28, 09:45.629 --> 09:49.489 1787, but still, with the question of 09:49.494 --> 09:53.744 ratification looming, clearly the fate of the 09:53.736 --> 09:57.576 Constitution is left hanging for a good many months. 09:57.580 --> 10:00.520 And I mentioned last time I was going to go back to Ezra Stiles, 10:00.519 --> 10:02.679 because his diary is useful and wonderful-- 10:02.678 --> 10:05.718 and I'm going to go right back here to Ezra Stiles just for a 10:05.720 --> 10:06.430 few minutes. 10:06.428 --> 10:10.608 Because his diary shows you one man-- 10:10.610 --> 10:12.500 certainly one elite, highly educated, 10:12.500 --> 10:14.860 influential man with very high-placed friends-- 10:14.860 --> 10:18.240 but still one man who is watching events unfold related 10:18.240 --> 10:21.400 to the Constitution, and is trying to figure out 10:21.403 --> 10:23.133 what he thinks about them. 10:23.129 --> 10:24.609 He's interested to know what's happening. 10:24.610 --> 10:27.540 He's not sure what he thinks and he's trying to figure this 10:27.537 --> 10:27.837 out. 10:27.840 --> 10:30.810 So one thing that his diary shows is that certainly he was 10:30.812 --> 10:33.732 intensely interested in whatever the heck was going on in 10:33.732 --> 10:34.622 Philadelphia. 10:34.620 --> 10:37.060 He didn't know what was going on in Philadelphia, 10:37.056 --> 10:38.626 but he really wanted to know. 10:38.629 --> 10:40.719 And on June 19, he apparently asked Yale 10:40.722 --> 10:43.302 College seniors to debate the following question: 10:43.298 --> 10:46.518 "Whether the States acted wisely in sending Delegates to 10:46.519 --> 10:46.949 the Gen. 10:46.948 --> 10:49.738 Convention now sitting in Philadelphia?" 10:49.740 --> 10:51.740 I don't know what they're doing, but Yale students, 10:51.740 --> 10:52.860 debate amongst yourselves. 10:52.860 --> 10:54.860 Do you think that was a good idea? 10:54.860 --> 10:59.290 In November of 1787, the question that he poses for 10:59.288 --> 11:02.388 Yale College seniors has changed. 11:02.389 --> 11:04.189 Now he says, Yale College seniors, 11:04.193 --> 11:06.873 debate for yourself: "Whether it is expedient 11:06.873 --> 11:09.883 for the States to adopt the new Constitution?" 11:09.879 --> 11:12.159 In late December, some of his curiosity gets 11:12.160 --> 11:15.180 satisfied because he actually gets to spend the night with 11:15.184 --> 11:17.654 Abraham Baldwin, who had been a delegate in the 11:17.645 --> 11:19.665 Convention, so this is his chance. 11:19.669 --> 11:20.869 There's a guy who was there. 11:20.870 --> 11:23.000 He's going to really sort of plug away at Baldwin, 11:22.999 --> 11:24.389 find out what really happened. 11:24.389 --> 11:28.389 And at the end of the evening this is what Stiles wrote in his 11:28.389 --> 11:31.159 diary: "I have formed this as my 11:31.155 --> 11:31.805 Opinion. 11:31.808 --> 11:31.978 1. 11:31.980 --> 11:36.410 That it is not the most perfect Constitution yet 2. 11:36.408 --> 11:41.768 That it is a very good one, & that it is advisable to 11:41.774 --> 11:42.834 adopt it. 11:42.830 --> 11:44.970 However, 3. 11:44.970 --> 11:46.840 That tho' much of it will be permanent & 11:46.835 --> 11:49.345 lasting, yet much of it will be hereafter altered by future 11:49.351 --> 11:49.961 Revisions. 11:49.960 --> 11:51.350 And 4. 11:51.350 --> 11:55.250 That the best one remains yet to be investigated." 11:55.250 --> 11:58.840 And then he goes on to add: "When the Convention was 11:58.841 --> 12:01.151 proposed I doubted its Expediency. 12:01.149 --> 12:01.249 1. 12:01.250 --> 12:03.210 "--he's really a guy for lists-- 12:03.210 --> 12:03.730 "1. 12:03.726 --> 12:07.346 Because I doubted whether our wisest Men had yet attained 12:07.349 --> 12:10.259 Light eno' to see & discern the best, 12:10.259 --> 12:12.869 & what ought finally to prevail. 12:12.870 --> 12:12.980 2. 12:12.980 --> 12:16.300 Neither did I think the People were ripe for the Reception of 12:16.297 --> 12:18.727 the best one if it could be investigated. 12:18.730 --> 12:20.500 And yet 3. 12:20.500 --> 12:23.610 I did not doubt but Time & future Experience would teach, 12:23.610 --> 12:25.530 open & lead us to the best one. 12:25.528 --> 12:28.128 And tho' we have got a much better one than I expected, 12:28.131 --> 12:30.591 & a very good one, yet my Judgt still remains as 12:30.590 --> 12:31.410 before." 12:31.408 --> 12:32.938 And then he gets very specific, and he says, 12:32.940 --> 12:35.880 "I think there is not Power enough yet given to 12:35.878 --> 12:38.008 Congress for firm Government." 12:38.009 --> 12:39.079 So he thinks about that on the one hand. 12:39.080 --> 12:42.670 At the same time he worries that surrendering too much power 12:42.673 --> 12:44.993 to this new government will end up, 12:44.990 --> 12:47.750 quote, "prostratg the Sovereignty of the particular 12:47.746 --> 12:48.496 States." 12:48.500 --> 12:50.900 On the one hand, he worries that the President 12:50.898 --> 12:53.188 might become, quote, "an uncontrollable 12:53.190 --> 12:54.950 & absolute Monarch." 12:54.950 --> 12:58.610 On the other hand, he says, "I think-- 12:58.610 --> 13:00.430 " --First he says, "I think the last as well 13:00.434 --> 13:01.714 guarded as possible" so yeah, 13:01.710 --> 13:04.070 he might become a monarch, but I think the Constitution 13:04.072 --> 13:06.612 did as well as it could to prevent that from happening, 13:06.610 --> 13:09.170 and then goes on to say, "I know not whether it is 13:09.169 --> 13:11.019 possible to vest Congress with Laws, 13:11.019 --> 13:12.969 Revenues, & Army & Navy, 13:12.970 --> 13:15.940 without endangering the Ruin of the interior Powers & 13:15.941 --> 13:17.641 Liberties of the States." 13:17.639 --> 13:20.689 And that's a long passage for someone to put in his own diary, 13:20.693 --> 13:23.703 but what's interesting about that to me is you can see Stiles 13:23.697 --> 13:24.947 going back and forth. 13:24.950 --> 13:27.340 He says it's good but there's probably a better one; 13:27.340 --> 13:30.080 it's better than I expected, but somehow it's not good 13:30.075 --> 13:32.055 enough; it doesn't give enough power to 13:32.056 --> 13:35.086 Congress, but maybe it gives too much power and the states will 13:35.087 --> 13:37.157 be prostrated; maybe the President is too 13:37.155 --> 13:40.005 powerful, but if we give some of that power to congress maybe 13:40.009 --> 13:42.529 Congress will end up really destroying the states. 13:42.529 --> 13:45.129 So you can see him there sort of reasoning through what he 13:45.133 --> 13:48.283 thinks about the Constitution, and in one way or another, 13:48.279 --> 13:50.989 it's boiling down to the balance of power; 13:50.990 --> 13:52.390 where should power be. 13:52.389 --> 13:54.799 He's not exactly sure where power should be. 13:54.798 --> 13:57.688 He knows it's the issue, but he's not quite sure how to 13:57.692 --> 13:58.712 find his way out. 13:58.710 --> 14:02.970 So clearly--and Stiles is an example of this-- 14:02.970 --> 14:07.310 although the delegates of the Constitutional Convention had 14:07.312 --> 14:10.162 agreed on a new form of government, 14:10.158 --> 14:14.148 there was certainly not some huge, sweeping national 14:14.152 --> 14:18.852 consensus on the best kind of government for the new American 14:18.847 --> 14:19.707 nation. 14:19.710 --> 14:23.500 So the ratification debates throughout the states-- 14:23.500 --> 14:26.690 except for Rhode Island, which is not having a debate-- 14:26.690 --> 14:29.020 but in the rest of the states, the ones that are actually 14:29.022 --> 14:33.222 having big ratification debates, these are really real debates. 14:33.220 --> 14:37.670 And often, these debates focused on the question of 14:37.668 --> 14:38.378 power. 14:38.379 --> 14:41.769 As suggested by Stiles, one big question along these 14:41.772 --> 14:45.362 lines was: how do you divide power between the national 14:45.364 --> 14:47.364 government and the states? 14:47.360 --> 14:50.490 Patrick Henry of Virginia had this to say about the 14:50.489 --> 14:52.989 Constitution, even before he got past its 14:52.993 --> 14:54.373 first three words. 14:54.370 --> 14:56.890 Patrick Henry is upset by the first three words of the 14:56.894 --> 14:57.614 Constitution. 14:57.610 --> 14:59.690 This doesn't bode well for the Virginia debate. 14:59.690 --> 15:02.240 Henry says, "My political curiosity, 15:02.240 --> 15:05.580 exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public 15:05.575 --> 15:07.405 welfare, leads me to ask, 15:07.410 --> 15:10.560 who authorized them to speak the language of, 15:10.558 --> 15:12.758 We, the People, instead of We, 15:12.761 --> 15:13.751 the States? 15:13.750 --> 15:17.580 States are the characteristics and the soul of a confederation. 15:17.580 --> 15:21.260 If the states be not be agents of this compact, 15:21.259 --> 15:24.539 it must be one great consolidated national 15:24.538 --> 15:26.218 government." 15:26.220 --> 15:29.720 Samuel Adams is more concise, but has the same idea. 15:29.720 --> 15:32.460 He also--those first three words--He can't get past the 15:32.462 --> 15:33.482 first three words. 15:33.480 --> 15:36.460 He says, "As I enter the Building I stumble at the 15:36.456 --> 15:37.446 Threshold." 15:37.450 --> 15:40.440 Constitution--We, the people? 15:40.440 --> 15:41.610 We, the people? 15:41.610 --> 15:42.600 What is that? 15:42.600 --> 15:44.720 What does that suggest about this government? 15:44.720 --> 15:47.900 They're both basically asking, what kind of a government is 15:47.895 --> 15:48.275 this? 15:48.279 --> 15:51.239 It's not a league of states, a confederation of states. 15:51.240 --> 15:53.820 It doesn't seem to be about the states. 15:53.820 --> 15:57.160 It appears to be some kind of new powerful national government 15:57.155 --> 16:00.105 linking itself with the American people and potentially 16:00.110 --> 16:02.900 dismissing the importance of individual states. 16:02.899 --> 16:06.689 In the minds of men like Henry and Adams, 16:06.690 --> 16:10.100 if this was a really federal constitution surely the document 16:10.102 --> 16:12.612 should begin with "we, the states" 16:12.610 --> 16:15.790 as opposed to "we, the people." 16:15.788 --> 16:18.258 What they're getting at--Henry and Adams-- 16:18.259 --> 16:22.109 in those kinds of statements is one of the most unique aspects 16:22.110 --> 16:25.700 of the proposed Constitution, and I think in a sense its most 16:25.702 --> 16:26.822 brilliant compromise. 16:26.820 --> 16:30.080 And that's the idea of federalism: the idea that both 16:30.078 --> 16:33.458 the states and the national government could have large 16:33.464 --> 16:36.914 areas of power with the federal courts sort of acting as 16:36.910 --> 16:40.610 arbiters about the limits of state and federal power. 16:40.610 --> 16:44.460 The real brilliance of federalism is that it suggested 16:44.458 --> 16:48.378 that sovereignty could be divided between two levels of 16:48.379 --> 16:49.469 government. 16:49.470 --> 16:50.970 That was an interesting idea. 16:50.970 --> 16:53.940 It was one that many people didn't believe could actually be 16:53.941 --> 16:55.651 put into play, but it's a brilliant 16:55.653 --> 16:57.973 suggestion, a really brilliant compromise. 16:57.970 --> 17:01.750 For a population of people who were worried about the birth of 17:01.745 --> 17:05.395 some kind of tyrannical centralized national government, 17:05.400 --> 17:09.080 the concept of federalism at least had some potential. 17:09.078 --> 17:13.768 On the other hand, the idea of nationalism was a 17:13.772 --> 17:16.072 lot more frightening. 17:16.068 --> 17:16.568 Right? 17:16.569 --> 17:20.659 Nationalism suggests one big national blob and the 17:20.660 --> 17:24.250 obliteration of states, or as Stiles put it, 17:24.248 --> 17:27.168 the prostration of the states. 17:27.170 --> 17:29.100 It's interesting to note that in the Constitution, 17:29.098 --> 17:32.858 the word "national" does not appear-- 17:32.858 --> 17:34.258 and as a matter of fact, not only is the word 17:34.258 --> 17:35.498 "national" not in the original 17:35.497 --> 17:37.287 Constitution, but during the debates when 17:37.292 --> 17:39.972 someone put it in, somebody else always took it 17:39.972 --> 17:40.292 out. 17:40.288 --> 17:40.518 Right? 17:40.520 --> 17:42.140 No, no, we're not talking about national. 17:42.140 --> 17:43.120 It's federal. 17:43.119 --> 17:44.249 It's all federal. 17:44.250 --> 17:45.820 It's not the scary big national thing. 17:45.819 --> 17:47.509 It's a federal Constitution. 17:47.509 --> 17:49.789 And that's why, of course, the people who are 17:49.790 --> 17:52.800 defending the Constitution call themselves Federalists, 17:52.798 --> 17:56.058 not nationalists, and thus the opponents call 17:56.064 --> 17:58.294 themselves Anti-Federalists. 17:58.288 --> 18:02.718 So federalism is a really brilliant compromise in this 18:02.718 --> 18:05.808 battle over where to invest power, 18:05.808 --> 18:09.268 but obviously it did not solve all questions, 18:09.269 --> 18:13.589 and for some people it didn't even solve any of the questions. 18:13.588 --> 18:16.488 The ongoing ratification debate was actually really fierce. 18:16.490 --> 18:20.910 And since by default we end up sort of all siding with the 18:20.914 --> 18:23.814 Federalists, let's look for a moment at the 18:23.808 --> 18:27.378 Anti-Federalists and the sorts of things that they were arguing 18:27.384 --> 18:30.214 in these debates throughout all of the states. 18:30.210 --> 18:32.080 For one thing, like everyone else, 18:32.080 --> 18:34.860 they are concerned with the placement of power. 18:34.858 --> 18:38.288 They worry that this new national executive is going to 18:38.290 --> 18:40.580 be a tyrant and eventually a king. 18:40.578 --> 18:44.328 They worry that state rights, state boundaries, 18:44.327 --> 18:48.477 state constitutions will be violated by a tyrannical 18:48.483 --> 18:50.443 national government. 18:50.440 --> 18:53.640 They fear that the Constitution's going to foster 18:53.644 --> 18:57.384 the creation of a standing army, which everyone of course 18:57.384 --> 18:59.994 believes to be the tool of tyranny. 18:59.990 --> 19:03.750 They fear that some kind of overbearing aristocracy is going 19:03.750 --> 19:06.430 to take over and repress the common man. 19:06.430 --> 19:09.880 They fear a lack of proper representation. 19:09.880 --> 19:13.150 They fear that they're not going to have the right sort of 19:13.153 --> 19:15.743 a voice, or any voice, in this new centralized 19:15.738 --> 19:16.598 government. 19:16.598 --> 19:20.308 When you read about these fears in their original form-- 19:20.308 --> 19:22.858 and of course throughout this period and throughout all of 19:22.857 --> 19:25.047 these debates they're writing newspaper essays; 19:25.049 --> 19:26.529 they're writing pamphlets; they're giving speeches. 19:26.528 --> 19:29.828 This is a literal debate in print and in person, 19:29.828 --> 19:32.908 and when you read some of these Anti-Federalist essays and 19:32.906 --> 19:35.866 pamphlets, you can really see how some of 19:35.866 --> 19:40.376 them are directly relatable to the Revolution just fought and 19:40.381 --> 19:41.661 hopefully won. 19:41.660 --> 19:43.910 I guess in their mind maybe it hadn't been won yet because it 19:43.907 --> 19:45.667 depends on what happens with this government. 19:45.670 --> 19:46.910 They're talking about tyranny. 19:46.910 --> 19:48.230 They're talking about monarchy. 19:48.230 --> 19:50.260 They're talking about violated liberties. 19:50.259 --> 19:52.039 They're talking about aristocracy. 19:52.038 --> 19:54.198 They're talking about unjust representation. 19:54.200 --> 19:59.100 You could sort of draw a line and understand where these fears 19:59.096 --> 20:00.056 come from. 20:00.058 --> 20:02.118 Just listen to how some Anti-Federalists actually 20:02.118 --> 20:03.148 expressed these fears. 20:03.150 --> 20:05.520 One writer wrote that the Constitution was, 20:05.523 --> 20:08.863 quote, "the most odious system of tyranny that was ever 20:08.858 --> 20:09.988 projected." 20:09.990 --> 20:12.360 Patrick Henry, who is always useful for 20:12.355 --> 20:15.345 wonderful quotes, in the Virginia Convention says 20:15.354 --> 20:18.754 that by giving so much power to a new national government, 20:18.750 --> 20:21.270 quote, "the tyranny of Philadelphia-- 20:21.269 --> 20:25.169 the Federal Convention--may be like the tyranny of George 20:25.173 --> 20:26.013 III." 20:26.009 --> 20:26.279 Okay. 20:26.284 --> 20:28.754 You can't draw a more direct link than that. 20:28.750 --> 20:29.190 Right? 20:29.190 --> 20:32.710 Okay, Constitution, George III, tyranny--directly 20:32.714 --> 20:35.804 harkening right back to the Revolution. 20:35.798 --> 20:39.128 And for many people these arguments really rang true. 20:39.130 --> 20:43.370 Now of course, in the end the Federalists 20:43.365 --> 20:47.245 proved successful, this despite the fact that they 20:47.252 --> 20:50.582 really were promoting a pretty radical change of government, 20:50.578 --> 20:53.428 and there are a good number of reasons why they're successful. 20:53.430 --> 20:55.530 I'm just going to mention a few here, 20:55.529 --> 20:58.979 and one of them in a sense is really obvious but makes a lot 20:58.980 --> 21:01.320 of sense that it acts in their favor, 21:01.318 --> 21:03.548 and that is: the Federalists are really 21:03.553 --> 21:06.403 national-minded, so they're actually thinking 21:06.396 --> 21:09.786 beyond the bounds of their states and it makes them much 21:09.790 --> 21:13.550 more likely to be able to create some kind of united publicity 21:13.554 --> 21:17.134 campaign to argue on a national level in a way that perhaps 21:17.133 --> 21:19.913 Anti-Federalists couldn't or wouldn't. 21:19.910 --> 21:23.730 Also one reason why the Federalists prove successful is 21:23.728 --> 21:27.258 partly because the Anti-Federalists don't offer any 21:27.263 --> 21:29.813 alternative to the Constitution. 21:29.808 --> 21:33.858 They critique what's there but they don't offer an alternative 21:33.859 --> 21:36.569 suggestion, so the debate is criticism and 21:36.565 --> 21:39.105 the Federalists defending and countering, 21:39.108 --> 21:42.458 criticism and the Federalists defending and countering. 21:42.460 --> 21:44.320 That's a very particular kind of debate. 21:44.318 --> 21:46.798 If the Anti-Federalists had come forward with another 21:46.798 --> 21:49.898 suggestion, it would have been a very different kind of debate. 21:49.900 --> 21:54.660 In some ways you might argue that the Federalist victory was 21:54.660 --> 21:58.050 something of an Anti-Federalist default. 21:58.048 --> 22:00.458 As South Carolina Anti-Federalist Aedanus Burke 22:00.464 --> 22:03.094 put it after the fact, "We had no principle of 22:03.090 --> 22:04.510 concert or union." 22:04.509 --> 22:09.179 We were sort of all objecting on our own and we didn't have 22:09.184 --> 22:11.044 any unified campaign. 22:11.038 --> 22:13.518 Or, as Madison put it, I think in a little bit of an 22:13.522 --> 22:15.182 exaggeration, the Anti-Federalists, 22:15.179 --> 22:17.029 quote, "had no plan whatever. 22:17.028 --> 22:19.068 They looked no farther than to put a negative on the 22:19.068 --> 22:20.548 Constitution and return home." 22:20.548 --> 22:20.798 Okay. 22:20.798 --> 22:22.748 So maybe that's a little exaggerated, 22:22.750 --> 22:26.340 but in fact there was no obvious concrete alternative 22:26.340 --> 22:29.660 presented by the Anti-Federalists and that really 22:29.655 --> 22:33.035 was a fundamental weakness in their position. 22:33.038 --> 22:35.918 This does not mean, however, that there were no 22:35.923 --> 22:38.623 good arguments against the Constitution, 22:38.618 --> 22:42.398 and the best proof of that is the Federalist essays, 22:42.400 --> 22:44.370 which you're going to be reading this week, 22:44.368 --> 22:47.748 because those essays aren't just explaining the 22:47.748 --> 22:50.638 Constitution; they're defending the 22:50.636 --> 22:51.826 Constitution. 22:51.828 --> 22:55.348 And they're defending it against this sea of fears and 22:55.352 --> 22:59.272 accusations and all these sort of wild ideas floating around 22:59.273 --> 23:02.603 about what might happen or what's implied or what's 23:02.597 --> 23:06.517 suggested or what's allowable in this new government. 23:06.519 --> 23:10.889 The Federalist essays were Hamilton's idea, 23:10.890 --> 23:13.580 and Hamilton invited his nationalist buddy, 23:13.578 --> 23:16.288 James Madison, to join him in the effort and 23:16.285 --> 23:18.985 they also invited John Jay to take part-- 23:18.990 --> 23:20.390 and John Jay ended up getting sick, 23:20.390 --> 23:22.810 so he wrote a few essays and then he dropped out so, 23:22.808 --> 23:25.468 as I'm sure you well know, most of them are written by 23:25.472 --> 23:26.632 Madison and Hamilton. 23:26.630 --> 23:31.530 The Federalist was not the only printed defense of the 23:31.526 --> 23:32.746 Constitution. 23:32.750 --> 23:33.860 There were lots of them. 23:33.858 --> 23:37.678 There was obviously--As I said, it's a big print debate, 23:37.680 --> 23:40.980 but the Federalist was something that was written with 23:40.977 --> 23:44.437 really big ambitions because its authors really essentially were 23:44.440 --> 23:46.680 creating a broad, comprehensive, 23:46.681 --> 23:49.851 step-by-step defense of the Constitution, 23:49.848 --> 23:54.548 and they really hoped that by swaying the state of New York in 23:54.551 --> 23:58.641 favor of ratification, maybe they would bring other 23:58.636 --> 24:01.716 states like Virginia along in its wake. 24:01.720 --> 24:04.820 The essays were all signed "Publius." 24:04.818 --> 24:08.048 The authors all wrote under the same pseudonym because they 24:08.051 --> 24:11.011 actually wanted the essays not to seem like the crafty 24:11.006 --> 24:14.406 arguments of two really leading nationalists who were going to 24:14.405 --> 24:17.745 say anything to get us to sign on to the Constitution. 24:17.750 --> 24:21.170 They wanted to suggest that these were just even-handed, 24:21.173 --> 24:24.853 rational ideas that were sort of generally out in the public 24:24.845 --> 24:25.525 sphere. 24:25.528 --> 24:28.268 Now of course among insiders, people figured out who the 24:28.269 --> 24:30.459 authors were, even though supposedly no one's 24:30.462 --> 24:31.512 supposed to know. 24:31.509 --> 24:32.389 It's Publius. 24:32.390 --> 24:33.200 Who can that be? 24:33.200 --> 24:37.060 People figured it out pretty quickly and sometimes the 24:37.056 --> 24:39.236 authors helped people along. 24:39.240 --> 24:41.400 And there's an anecdote about Hamilton-- 24:41.400 --> 24:43.870 I went digging to see if I could find ultimate verification 24:43.865 --> 24:45.645 and I can't find ultimate verification, 24:45.650 --> 24:47.990 but I'm going to offer it anyway because there is a 24:47.987 --> 24:51.217 supposed witness to the story, but people aren't sure whether 24:51.218 --> 24:52.568 to believe the witness. 24:52.568 --> 24:55.968 At any rate, Hamilton--supposedly the day 24:55.967 --> 24:59.447 before his fatal duel with Aaron Burr-- 24:59.450 --> 25:02.870 paid a call on a friend, a good eighteenth-century name, 25:02.869 --> 25:04.269 Egbert Benson. 25:04.269 --> 25:06.779 He went to visit Egbert Benson, who was a lawyer, 25:06.778 --> 25:10.728 and supposedly one of Benson's law clerks answered the door, 25:10.730 --> 25:13.400 said that he would go find Benson, walked off to find 25:13.396 --> 25:15.136 Benson, and as he came back, 25:15.144 --> 25:18.604 he said he saw Hamilton in Benson's library put something 25:18.599 --> 25:21.439 in a book and put the book up on the shelf. 25:21.440 --> 25:23.770 And the clerk said, 'Mr. Benson's not here,' and 25:23.772 --> 25:25.812 Hamilton said, 'Thank you,' and left. 25:25.808 --> 25:28.128 So of course the guy is like: I wonder what that was? 25:28.130 --> 25:28.310 Right? 25:28.309 --> 25:30.029 So he goes over to the shelf and he pulls down the book. 25:30.029 --> 25:31.879 He wants to see what it is. 25:31.880 --> 25:34.810 And supposedly what it was is a piece of paper in Hamilton's 25:34.814 --> 25:37.654 handwriting in which he'd written all of the Federalist 25:37.648 --> 25:39.438 essays that were his. 25:39.440 --> 25:41.540 So supposedly, the night before the duel when 25:41.538 --> 25:44.448 he's like: 'got my checklist of things I'd better do in case I 25:44.448 --> 25:45.878 die tomorrow: number one, 25:45.880 --> 25:48.460 get credit for Federalist essays. 25:48.460 --> 25:51.580 [laughter/laughs] Now it's unclear whether that 25:51.579 --> 25:53.889 actually happened or didn't happen. 25:53.890 --> 25:58.630 The guy--The fellow who saw it in later years said he did see 25:58.634 --> 26:00.344 it, and said he saw the piece of 26:00.337 --> 26:01.997 paper, and said the piece of paper at 26:02.003 --> 26:04.373 some point was given to the New York Public Library, 26:04.368 --> 26:06.818 but then nobody quite knows where it is in the New York 26:06.818 --> 26:07.588 Public Library. 26:07.588 --> 26:09.378 So it's unclear whether it really happened. 26:09.380 --> 26:12.410 People--Some people at the time insisted it really did. 26:12.410 --> 26:15.580 Whether or not it really did, the fact is that actually the 26:15.575 --> 26:18.575 people who wrote it did care about it and did care about 26:18.576 --> 26:22.516 which ones they wrote, and we don't entirely know who 26:22.518 --> 26:24.738 wrote which in some cases. 26:24.740 --> 26:26.380 We know some are Hamilton essays and some are Madison 26:26.375 --> 26:28.045 essays, and then there are some where 26:28.051 --> 26:29.791 it's blurrier and historians argue-- 26:29.788 --> 26:32.358 give one guy credit or the other guy credit over who-- 26:32.358 --> 26:33.858 And I think that's partly--well, 26:33.858 --> 26:35.598 partly because they were rushing, 26:35.598 --> 26:39.308 but also partly because in some cases they probably were working 26:39.309 --> 26:41.489 together on some or sharing things. 26:41.490 --> 26:43.790 The humbling thing to remember when you read the 26:43.790 --> 26:47.480 Federalist this week-- and this actually should really 26:47.480 --> 26:52.330 mean something to any student-- is that many of them are first 26:52.325 --> 26:53.015 drafts. 26:53.019 --> 26:55.149 Okay. Those are rough drafts. 26:55.150 --> 26:57.200 That just makes me want to cry as a writer. 26:57.200 --> 26:58.500 It's like oh, [laughs] 26:58.496 --> 27:01.146 why can't my rough drafts look like that? 27:01.150 --> 27:05.050 These guys were writing for newspapers, 27:05.048 --> 27:07.558 so they were in a hurry, sometimes literally dashing 27:07.563 --> 27:10.523 something off and getting it to the newspaper immediately. 27:10.519 --> 27:13.119 So they're writing these in a hurry. 27:13.118 --> 27:14.438 They don't have time for a lot of revision. 27:14.440 --> 27:19.030 That to me is an amazingly humbling thought. 27:19.028 --> 27:22.848 All told, there were eighty-five Federalist 27:22.847 --> 27:26.437 essays. As I said, they're published in 27:26.435 --> 27:27.655 New York newspapers. 27:27.660 --> 27:32.210 The thought is they're going to sway the New York ratification 27:32.214 --> 27:36.924 debate, and they appear between October 1787 and May of 1788. 27:36.920 --> 27:39.260 And then later, in June of 1788, 27:39.261 --> 27:41.681 they get put out in book form. 27:41.680 --> 27:45.860 And then obviously they migrate wherever they migrate to. 27:45.858 --> 27:47.478 Lots of other people read the Federalist. 27:47.480 --> 27:52.460 Now, as suggested by its title, the Federalist -- 27:52.460 --> 27:55.500 while it did demonstrate a lot of things about the new 27:55.500 --> 27:57.840 Constitution-- it did have one overriding 27:57.838 --> 27:59.578 argument, and that was: 27:59.580 --> 28:02.040 the benefits of federalism. 28:02.038 --> 28:02.278 Right? 28:02.277 --> 28:04.567 Not nationalism--and they're sure to stress that throughout 28:04.568 --> 28:06.588 all of the essays; we're not talking about 28:06.594 --> 28:07.274 nationalism. 28:07.269 --> 28:10.529 Federal--federal--states are still important--the subtext of 28:10.525 --> 28:13.775 the calming component of the Federalist essays. 28:13.778 --> 28:16.948 A federal government would energize the government without 28:16.953 --> 28:19.563 prostrating the states or trampling on the American 28:19.557 --> 28:21.237 people; that's the compromise of 28:21.242 --> 28:21.802 federalism. 28:21.798 --> 28:24.858 And, as I mentioned at some point earlier, 28:24.858 --> 28:27.588 in an earlier lecture, to demonstrate just how badly 28:27.589 --> 28:29.839 this government needed to be energized, 28:29.838 --> 28:33.378 the Federalist essays show again and again the 28:33.375 --> 28:37.085 disaster that would reign if the Articles of Confederation were 28:37.090 --> 28:38.530 allowed to continue. 28:38.529 --> 28:40.949 And at some point, I did talk about the sort of ax 28:40.953 --> 28:43.583 job that the Federalist essays do on the 28:43.575 --> 28:45.055 Articles of Confederation. 28:45.058 --> 28:47.198 They really want to, because they have to prove that 28:47.202 --> 28:49.812 the Articles are so bad that of course this new Constitution is 28:49.806 --> 28:50.726 the perfect thing. 28:50.730 --> 28:51.410 It makes sense. 28:51.410 --> 28:53.410 You have to move in this direction. 28:53.410 --> 28:58.920 So in New York and elsewhere, the ratification debates wore 28:58.922 --> 29:03.012 on, states proceeding at different paces. 29:03.009 --> 29:07.179 But there is one thing that emerged from these debates on 29:07.179 --> 29:09.859 the part of the Anti-Federalists, 29:09.858 --> 29:13.428 and this actually is a specific suggestion on their part, 29:13.430 --> 29:16.430 a specific idea about something that has to be there. 29:16.430 --> 29:19.490 Basically, throughout the states one thing that 29:19.491 --> 29:23.091 Anti-Federalists consistently demanded was some kind of 29:23.086 --> 29:27.826 guarantee of personal liberties, some kind of a declaration of 29:27.830 --> 29:32.630 rights like those that existed in many state constitutions-- 29:32.630 --> 29:36.180 something that would protect personal liberties in the same 29:36.178 --> 29:39.538 document that seemed to be investing this new government 29:39.541 --> 29:40.951 with so much power. 29:40.950 --> 29:44.560 So in essence, the Anti-Federalists want a 29:44.555 --> 29:46.045 bill of rights. 29:46.048 --> 29:48.888 Now from our vantage point, a bill of rights just seems 29:48.894 --> 29:50.794 like an unquestionably good thing. 29:50.788 --> 29:50.928 Right? 29:50.929 --> 29:51.579 We love our Bill of Rights. 29:51.579 --> 29:53.359 The Bill of Rights is good. 29:53.358 --> 29:56.748 Why would the Federalists not want a bill of rights? 29:56.750 --> 29:59.420 But the problem is, some Federalists did have 29:59.423 --> 30:02.223 problems with this idea of a bill of rights. 30:02.220 --> 30:07.120 For one thing, they claimed that the entire 30:07.122 --> 30:10.992 Constitution, by providing a well-framed 30:10.987 --> 30:15.287 government that had checks and balances and government by 30:15.290 --> 30:17.870 election, in a sense you could argue that 30:17.874 --> 30:20.944 that document was so framed and the government was so checked 30:20.941 --> 30:23.911 and balanced that it was in and of itself a sort of bill of 30:23.905 --> 30:25.795 rights; it was a controlled government. 30:25.798 --> 30:28.598 They also said, the federal government has 30:28.601 --> 30:31.131 enumerated powers in this document. 30:31.130 --> 30:33.830 So in other words, a power that is not given to 30:33.830 --> 30:36.650 the government is not owned by the government. 30:36.650 --> 30:39.430 Why do we need a bill of rights saying well, we need to protect 30:39.428 --> 30:40.368 power of the press? 30:40.368 --> 30:42.728 We haven't given power of the press to the national 30:42.726 --> 30:45.596 government, so why do we need suddenly to mention it in a bill 30:45.599 --> 30:46.259 of rights? 30:46.259 --> 30:50.429 Some Federalists even argued that if we start to write things 30:50.426 --> 30:54.106 down--put rights into writing--we might actually imply 30:54.108 --> 30:57.298 something bad; we might actually imply--If we 30:57.303 --> 30:59.703 try to define the freedom of press, 30:59.700 --> 31:01.730 freedom of religion and put it into words, 31:01.730 --> 31:04.850 maybe the implication will be that in some way or another the 31:04.845 --> 31:07.905 national government actually does have some power over those 31:07.907 --> 31:08.477 things. 31:08.480 --> 31:10.210 Maybe once we get into the sea of rights, 31:10.210 --> 31:13.560 we might lead people to be able to conclude things about that 31:13.558 --> 31:17.298 government down the road that we might not want them to conclude. 31:17.298 --> 31:21.778 But the Anti-Federalists had a pretty powerful argument in 31:21.778 --> 31:23.978 favor of a bill of rights. 31:23.980 --> 31:26.650 It was a multileveled argument, but one part of it was 31:26.647 --> 31:29.357 particularly hard to argue with, and that is: 31:29.355 --> 31:32.465 any republican government, any small "r" 31:32.474 --> 31:35.434 republican government, ought to do everything that it 31:35.430 --> 31:39.030 could do to keep its citizens aware of their rights, 31:39.029 --> 31:43.139 including something like listing them as amendments to 31:43.144 --> 31:44.624 the Constitution. 31:44.618 --> 31:46.128 In other words, the Anti-Federalists say, 31:46.132 --> 31:48.022 'Well, in a republic, the people need to know their 31:48.022 --> 31:48.442 rights. 31:48.440 --> 31:50.750 They need to have them in writing. 31:50.750 --> 31:54.400 So of course we should have a bill of rights so that the 31:54.400 --> 31:57.520 American public knows what their rights are.' 31:57.519 --> 32:00.929 In the end, it was only with the promise that a list of 32:00.926 --> 32:04.516 rights would be amended and added to the Constitution that 32:04.522 --> 32:06.482 it was ultimately ratified. 32:06.480 --> 32:08.950 And so one by one, the states debated, 32:08.950 --> 32:12.690 and then over time decided to ratify the Constitution. 32:12.690 --> 32:15.600 I think again, as with so many things about 32:15.595 --> 32:18.565 this period and the Constitution debate, 32:18.568 --> 32:22.668 we don't tend to think of it as a real fight or debate or 32:22.673 --> 32:23.703 controversy. 32:23.700 --> 32:26.250 We sort of see things churning along and we imagine: 32:26.250 --> 32:28.700 ratification of the Constitution equals a bunch of 32:28.700 --> 32:31.350 guys in a room signing pieces of paper like: ah, 32:31.348 --> 32:33.448 it's ratified, the end, now let's have a 32:33.446 --> 32:34.196 government.' 32:34.200 --> 32:37.090 But in fact, people were really anxiously 32:37.086 --> 32:39.176 watching this--and curious. 32:39.180 --> 32:41.180 And are states going to ratify? 32:41.180 --> 32:42.140 How many will ratify? 32:42.140 --> 32:43.060 Is this going to happen? 32:43.059 --> 32:43.699 Won't it happen? 32:43.700 --> 32:45.540 What happens if only half of them ratify? 32:45.538 --> 32:48.508 This is something that people all over the United States were 32:48.507 --> 32:50.977 watching and wondering what was going to happen. 32:50.980 --> 32:55.030 Here Ezra Stiles helps us out one more time because he put in 32:55.028 --> 32:58.938 his diary every time he heard that a state had ratified the 32:58.942 --> 33:00.092 Constitution. 33:00.088 --> 33:02.068 So in the midst of everything else in his diary, 33:02.068 --> 33:06.628 you'll see--like, on January 9,1788, 33:06.630 --> 33:10.500 he writes that a courier raced from Hartford to New Haven and 33:10.496 --> 33:14.036 made the entire trip in a mere hour and six minutes, 33:14.038 --> 33:16.428 which--Actually, since it takes--what?-- 33:16.430 --> 33:17.760 like 45 minutes by car to go to Hartford, 33:17.759 --> 33:21.049 an hour and six minutes is pretty good for a horse I think, 33:21.048 --> 33:23.138 [laughter] so that guy really raced to 33:23.138 --> 33:26.188 announce to New Haven that Connecticut had ratified the 33:26.189 --> 33:27.149 Constitution. 33:27.150 --> 33:27.410 Right? 33:27.407 --> 33:29.727 He puts that down and he clearly was impressed with the 33:29.731 --> 33:30.681 speed of the rider. 33:30.680 --> 33:35.000 On February 11, New Haven gets the news that 33:34.998 --> 33:37.508 Massachusetts ratified. 33:37.509 --> 33:40.119 Stiles puts this in his diary and he adds: Bells were rung 33:40.123 --> 33:42.463 throughout the city and cannon were discharged" 33:42.461 --> 33:44.601 So now clearly, Connecticut has signed on; 33:44.598 --> 33:47.448 they're watching to see who else is signing on and when 33:47.449 --> 33:50.139 someone else does sign on, there's a celebration. 33:50.140 --> 33:53.150 At the end of June, Stiles noted that at about 1:30 33:53.154 --> 33:55.704 in the afternoon-- and I love when they note the 33:55.696 --> 33:57.476 precise time, because then you know it's 33:57.481 --> 33:59.291 something they believed to be significant. 33:59.288 --> 34:02.728 At 1:30 this afternoon, New Haven received the news 34:02.727 --> 34:05.817 that New Hampshire had ratified--and that--New 34:05.820 --> 34:08.090 Hampshire is the ninth state. 34:08.090 --> 34:13.250 So what that means is that now the Constitution could go into 34:13.246 --> 34:14.016 effect. 34:14.018 --> 34:16.138 And as Stiles described it, "As soon as the News 34:16.137 --> 34:18.457 arrived the four Bells in the City were set a Ringing, 34:18.460 --> 34:21.400 & the foederal Flag displayed and foederal 34:21.400 --> 34:23.230 Discharges of Canon." 34:23.230 --> 34:26.520 What is actually a federal discharge of cannon? 34:26.518 --> 34:28.258 I don't know what a federal--I never -- I typed that out 34:28.260 --> 34:30.350 without stopping to think what a federal discharge of cannon is. 34:30.349 --> 34:32.539 But there was a federal discharge of cannon "-- 34:32.539 --> 34:34.049 & Rejoycing"-- [laughs] 34:34.050 --> 34:35.790 general rejoicing in New Haven-- 34:35.789 --> 34:37.469 like: 'yay, the Constitution has kicked in; 34:37.469 --> 34:39.259 thank you, New Hampshire.' 34:39.260 --> 34:42.560 Meanwhile, throughout this period, Stiles still had Yale 34:42.559 --> 34:45.499 College seniors debating constitutional issues. 34:45.500 --> 34:46.850 [laughs] If you were not interested in 34:46.851 --> 34:48.861 politics at this point at Yale College, you were in deep 34:48.860 --> 34:49.300 trouble. 34:49.300 --> 34:51.610 He had them debate: "Whether it had been 34:51.612 --> 34:54.452 better to refer the new Constitution to the Ratificn by 34:54.451 --> 34:57.601 Town Meetings or a Plurality of the personal Votes of all the 34:57.603 --> 34:59.763 Freemen of the United States?" 34:59.760 --> 35:01.110 Now that's kind of interesting, actually. 35:01.110 --> 35:03.450 That's kind of a radical thing for him to ask the students to 35:03.449 --> 35:03.799 debate. 35:03.800 --> 35:07.120 Or whether the President of Congress--the President of 35:07.115 --> 35:09.365 Congress?--"the President ... 35:09.369 --> 35:12.589 ought to be visited with an independt Power of Commandg the 35:12.588 --> 35:13.808 American Army?" 35:13.809 --> 35:17.399 If you're curious about what other things Stiles has people 35:17.400 --> 35:20.870 debating in addition to random constitutional issues, 35:20.869 --> 35:24.009 I just have a little sampling here to give you a sense of what 35:24.010 --> 35:27.150 it would have been like to be a senior at Yale College in 1788 35:27.150 --> 35:27.820 and 1789. 35:27.820 --> 35:30.010 They debated: "Whether the Breakg up of 35:30.014 --> 35:33.134 the Roman Empire by the Goths & Vandals was prejudicial to 35:33.130 --> 35:35.020 the Progress of Literature?" 35:35.018 --> 35:36.718 [laughter] Can you imagine doing that one 35:36.724 --> 35:38.524 day and then the next day: and now [laughs] 35:38.516 --> 35:40.006 let's talk about the President. 35:40.010 --> 35:42.380 They debated: "Whether the Scriptures 35:42.384 --> 35:44.184 are divinely inspired?"; 35:44.179 --> 35:46.769 "Whether good Policy is ever inconsistent with 35:46.768 --> 35:47.648 Justice?"; 35:47.650 --> 35:50.700 and "Whether all mankd descended from Adam?" 35:50.699 --> 35:50.959 Okay. 35:50.963 --> 35:53.933 That's a wide-ranging bunch of things they're debating. 35:53.929 --> 35:57.009 I love the fact that Stiles always puts that in his diary, 35:57.010 --> 36:00.970 so it's actually fascinating just to read through and see 36:00.965 --> 36:04.635 what students were set to discuss at a given time. 36:04.639 --> 36:05.149 Okay. 36:05.150 --> 36:10.980 So we've seen a national debate over a new Constitution. 36:10.980 --> 36:14.880 We've seen a debate taking place between people who by no 36:14.884 --> 36:19.074 means had an absolute consensus about what kind of government 36:19.068 --> 36:21.088 should be put into place. 36:21.090 --> 36:25.720 Given that this was a national debate, what does it show us 36:25.717 --> 36:29.227 about the state of the nation at the time? 36:29.230 --> 36:32.680 What does it really suggest about the new nation and its 36:32.675 --> 36:33.485 principles? 36:33.489 --> 36:36.839 Well, certainly for one thing, underneath all of the 36:36.840 --> 36:39.860 disagreement and the wrangling and the arguing, 36:39.864 --> 36:41.774 there was some consensus. 36:41.768 --> 36:43.878 So certainly, both Federalists and 36:43.880 --> 36:47.020 Anti-Federalists agreed that a small "r" 36:47.016 --> 36:50.596 republican government was the general aim and goal-- 36:50.599 --> 36:53.489 a government based on popular sovereignty, 36:53.489 --> 36:57.769 on the will of the people--a government that placed the 36:57.771 --> 37:01.261 ultimate power in the hands of the people. 37:01.260 --> 37:04.080 So that's a general consensus. 37:04.079 --> 37:06.579 I'm going to talk in a moment about what that means, 37:06.583 --> 37:09.533 but certainly in a general way people could agree on that. 37:09.530 --> 37:12.470 Americans also could generally agree that this was an 37:12.465 --> 37:16.345 experiment in government; that it was something unique; 37:16.349 --> 37:20.639 that they were experimenting in the possibility of having people 37:20.637 --> 37:24.787 sit down and deliberately create a just government grounded on 37:24.788 --> 37:27.508 the rights and will of the populace. 37:27.510 --> 37:30.220 And to communicate this, to get this across, 37:30.219 --> 37:32.109 I'm going to read something. 37:32.110 --> 37:33.470 I don't think I've read this before. 37:33.469 --> 37:35.839 Have I--I don't think I've read the first paragraph or the first 37:35.838 --> 37:38.018 couple sentences from the first Federalist essay. 37:38.018 --> 37:40.058 I went digging back into other lectures and I don't think I've 37:40.057 --> 37:41.547 done it yet, and if I have you're going to 37:41.554 --> 37:44.114 have to listen to it twice, but I don't think I have. 37:44.110 --> 37:48.250 And I tend to read these couple sentences in a lot of my classes 37:48.246 --> 37:51.526 because I think they really capture this idea about 37:51.530 --> 37:55.470 experimentation that's looming over what they're doing at the 37:55.471 --> 37:57.691 time, this sense that they really are 37:57.692 --> 38:00.442 deciding something major, not just in the Constitution 38:00.436 --> 38:03.696 that they're creating but also in the process by which they're 38:03.695 --> 38:05.555 creating it-- that the fact that they're 38:05.563 --> 38:07.573 deliberating, debating, and then creating, 38:07.565 --> 38:10.345 and then stepping back to allow it to go into effect, 38:10.349 --> 38:12.949 that also is something that they see as major. 38:12.949 --> 38:17.089 So this is from within the first paragraph of Federalist 38:17.085 --> 38:17.585 No. 38:17.585 --> 38:20.745 1 by Hamilton: "It has been frequently 38:20.751 --> 38:22.951 remarked, that it seems to have been 38:22.945 --> 38:25.235 reserved to the people of this country, 38:25.239 --> 38:28.549 by their conduct and example, to decide the important 38:28.545 --> 38:31.075 question, whether societies of men are 38:31.076 --> 38:34.346 really capable or not, of establishing good government 38:34.346 --> 38:37.636 from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever 38:37.641 --> 38:41.011 destined to depend for their political constitutions, 38:41.010 --> 38:44.070 on accident and force.... 38:44.070 --> 38:47.250 The crisis, at which we are arrived, may with propriety be 38:47.246 --> 38:50.586 regarded as the aera in which that decision is to be made; 38:50.590 --> 38:54.260 and a wrong election of the part we shall act, 38:54.255 --> 38:55.065 may, ... 38:55.070 --> 38:58.690 deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of 38:58.686 --> 38:59.796 mankind." 38:59.800 --> 39:01.070 Okay. "Boom." 39:01.070 --> 39:02.320 That's a big statement. 39:02.320 --> 39:05.010 He is literally saying: the United States is deciding 39:05.010 --> 39:08.060 for all time if you can sit and deliberate and create a just 39:08.061 --> 39:11.081 government-- or not, and if we do something 39:11.081 --> 39:14.561 stupid, the answer would appear to be 39:14.561 --> 39:16.411 not--for all time. 39:16.409 --> 39:18.709 So this experiment is not just an experiment, 39:18.713 --> 39:21.493 but it's one that to people at the time actually means 39:21.487 --> 39:22.217 something. 39:22.219 --> 39:24.319 They feel that they're proving something in this experiment 39:24.320 --> 39:25.300 that they're undertaking. 39:25.300 --> 39:27.130 It has real consequences. 39:27.130 --> 39:29.970 Now that said, of course even with the 39:29.972 --> 39:32.742 ratification of the Constitution, 39:32.739 --> 39:37.849 all kinds of questions are still looming about exactly how 39:37.851 --> 39:41.531 this experiment was going to play out, 39:41.530 --> 39:44.530 or indeed if it would survive at all. 39:44.530 --> 39:47.580 And wrapped up in this question about what's going to happen 39:47.577 --> 39:50.517 with the government is a deeper question about whether the 39:50.523 --> 39:53.833 promise of the Revolution is actually going to be fulfilled. 39:53.829 --> 39:56.699 The Revolution has all of this promise attached to it. 39:56.699 --> 39:59.949 There's all of this debate about how to bring that kind of 39:59.945 --> 40:00.965 promise to life. 40:00.969 --> 40:01.959 Here is one try. 40:01.960 --> 40:02.860 It's a constitution. 40:02.860 --> 40:04.200 We're going to put it into effect. 40:04.199 --> 40:07.189 And people now have to step back and see if it's going to 40:07.192 --> 40:08.962 work-- and many, many people are 40:08.963 --> 40:12.143 absolutely not convinced that it's going to fulfill all that 40:12.137 --> 40:14.717 promise that was unleashed by the Revolution. 40:14.719 --> 40:17.319 It's one thing to assign power in a document, 40:17.318 --> 40:20.508 and it's another thing to really bring that document to 40:20.507 --> 40:21.037 life. 40:21.039 --> 40:22.949 If you think about our Constitution, 40:22.949 --> 40:25.879 it's a pretty short document; it's pretty brief. 40:25.880 --> 40:27.160 It's a framework. 40:27.159 --> 40:29.109 It doesn't go into lots of detail. 40:29.110 --> 40:33.110 So there's a lot of things that had to be fleshed out and worked 40:33.112 --> 40:35.912 out once that government went into effect. 40:35.909 --> 40:40.059 And in Thursday's lecture, I'm going to touch on some of 40:40.061 --> 40:40.591 that. 40:40.590 --> 40:44.450 I'm going to talk a little bit about how this begins to play 40:44.452 --> 40:48.512 out in the 1790s and what that suggests about the legacy of the 40:48.512 --> 40:50.022 Revolution overall. 40:50.019 --> 40:51.019 I will stop there. 40:51.018 --> 40:54.898 I will see you on Thursday, our last class. 40:54.900 --> 41:01.000