WEBVTT

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Prof: On Thursday,
I gave the world's most

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condensed lecture about the
Constitution,

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and I mentioned three
controversies that represented

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long-standing concerns in
Revolutionary America:

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the question of representation,
the problem of slavery,

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and then the question of a
national executive--

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so that really boils down to
the problem of investing power

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in one man.

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Now I did manage to discuss all
three of those things briefly

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before the end of the lecture.

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I did not have time to discuss
one last issue,

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which I do want to talk about
here before I go into the real

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topic of today's lecture.

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I just ran out of time.

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And it actually combines two of
those issues.

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It's the combination of the
problem of representation and

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the problem of slavery,
and it's something you've all

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studied in high school,
I am sure, and that is the

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Three-Fifths Compromise.

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And in a sentence,
the Three-Fifths Compromise is

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the decision to count
three-fifths of a state's slaves

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in apportioning representatives,
presidential electors and

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direct taxes.

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So obviously by doing that--and
that is a compromise of sorts--

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it is trying to grapple with
the problem of slavery and the

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question of representation,
but obviously that's a

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compromise that bolsters
Southern political power.

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Now the great historian of
slavery, Yale professor emeritus

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David Brion Davis,
has this little calculation

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associated with this issue.

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Davis writes that in the
Continental Congress there had

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been five states in which
slavery was a major institution.

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So the Southern states in the
Continental Congress had about

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thirty-eight percent of the
seats in that Congress.

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Because of the Three-Fifths
Compromise, when the first U.S.

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Congress opened under the new
Constitution,

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Southern states now had
forty-five percent of the seats

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in the House,
so thirty-eight to forty-five

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is a significant slide.

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Now that doesn't stay ingrained
that way,

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because population increases in
the North and things change over

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time,
but certainly that's one way in

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which you can see the impact of
that Three-Fifths Compromise.

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Now in a way that
Compromise--it's a great segue

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into my lecture today--
it's a great example of the

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larger dynamic of the period
that we're focusing on here

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toward the end of the course.

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Because, as we've been looking
at in the Constitutional

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Convention--
as we're going to see today

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when we're looking at
ratification--

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at the heart of the political
developments that we're looking

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at in this period is compromise:
compromise between North and

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South;
compromise between big states

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and small states;
compromise between people who

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want to centralize power and
people who want strong state

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governments.

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So basically what we're looking
at in this period is Americans

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deciding where and how to invest
power,

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obviously a highly charged
decision that would have been

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impossible to make without a
string of compromises.

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And in a way,
as we're going to be discussing

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today,
this is sort of a fundamental

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question at the heart of the
Revolution and its immediate

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aftermath.

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Where should the nation invest
power?

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Where does power go?

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So in a way,
if you look back to the

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beginning of the course,
think about the Revolution,

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think about some of the central
issues,

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you could say that the
Revolution certainly was about

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power.

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Right?

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It was a rebellion against what
many perceived as tyrannical

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power,
and that means a lot of things

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but to sum that all up in a
sentence,

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you could say that.

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You could say that the 1770s
and then the 1780s show

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Americans trying to figure out
how to rebalance and reorganize

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power--
the power of state--that they

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strip away the British
administration and now they have

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to figure out where else to
place power and how to balance

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it.

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And we've seen the Articles of
Confederation and now the

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Constitution,
which is again part of this

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ongoing dialogue trying to
figure out the balance of power

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in all sorts of different ways.

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And it's no wonder--if you
think about what I've already

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just talked about as far as the
Constitution is concerned--

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it's no wonder that it demanded
a string of difficult and often

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experimental compromises.

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Creating the Constitution
and--as we'll see

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today--ratifying the
Constitution was a difficult

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process.

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We tend to think of the outcome
and we don't think of the

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process,
And I'm always reminded of this

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fact when I read an exchange of
letters between Jefferson and

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Madison,
and it's actually written not

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long after the Constitution goes
into effect.

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I think it's written in early
1790,

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and at that point Jefferson had
been overseas,

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he'd been in France on
diplomatic duty,

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so he's off in the distance
knowing that they're debating

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the Constitution in the United
States,

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but he's on foreign shores,
lounging in salons,

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chatting about philosophical
issues with the French.

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Meanwhile, Madison is in the
Constitutional Convention

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slaving away,
and then he's outside of it

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sort of hammering away at
ratification,

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so Madison's clawing over the
issue of the Constitution;

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Jefferson's kind of looking
from afar.

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So he writes this letter to
Madison early 1790 saying that

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no generation should be bound to
the actions of any previous

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generation.

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It's one of those Jefferson
letters in which he's like:

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'I have an interesting idea,
let me share it with you,' and

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he starts out with this sort of
idea about generations.

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Each generation is a distinct
thing and should never be bound

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by the one that came before--and
it has this famous line.

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Some of you may have heard it
already: "The earth belongs

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...

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to the living,"
right?--that the living should

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be controlling things;
the dead hand of the past

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should not have weight in the
present.

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In typical Jefferson style he
then calculates what a

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generation is.

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Right?

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It's not enough to say
generations are distinct.

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He says, Well,
how long is a generation

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anyway?

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I will calculate this out.

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Oh, a generation is nineteen
years'--by Thomas Jefferson.

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So he decides a generation is
nineteen years and then says to

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Madison, 'So every nineteen
years we need a new

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Constitution.'

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[laughs] Okay.

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So Jefferson,
writing to the

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slaving-away-Constitution guy,
says, 'Let's do this every

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nineteen years.

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I think that would be much
fairer.

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It wouldn't bind the present to
the past.'

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Now when I read that letter and
then I read Madison's response,

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Madison is really tactful.

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Madison's a tactful guy,
and he's tactful in his

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response,
but when you look beneath the

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surface of Madison's reply,
I always feel like what you see

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there is this sustained howl of
disbelief,

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like: 'What!?

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Yeah, you try that next time,
Teej, and then you come back

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here and tell me you want to do
that in nineteen years.

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[laughter]
No.' So Madison's not happy

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about it but he actually is
tactful,

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and what he says to Jefferson
is, he praises Jefferson's,

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quote, "many interesting
reflections."

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[laughs]
It's like: 'Thank you,

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Mr. Madison'--and then adds,
unfortunately,

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quote, they are "not in
all respects compatible with the

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course of human affairs,"
or in other words,

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real people don't act that way
[laughs]--

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like Jefferson,
nice idea, not going to work in

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implementation.

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That's not for real life.

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For real people,
it doesn't work,

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but cute idea;
keep them coming.

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Like, it's interesting.

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We can just keep the
conversation going;

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we're not doing another
Constitution in nineteen years.

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So that's certainly one
compromise that Madison is not

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willing to sign on to,
but of course the compromises

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don't end with the closing of
the Federal Convention.

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Creating the Constitution is a
major accomplishment.

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Now it has to be ratified.

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There needed to be nine states
to ratify it for it to go into

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effect, and each state would
have its own ratifying

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convention to decide the issue.

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Now things would have been
difficult enough if that was the

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only challenge at hand--
if all that they were facing

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was ratification debates in the
states--

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but the fact is,
there were a slew of things

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that could have gone wrong even
before we got to actual

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ratification.

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For one thing,
the Confederation Congress

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might just disapprove of the
Constitution and refuse to send

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it on to the states.

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It was entirely possible that
the Congress might have said,

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'You know, you didn't just
amend the Articles.

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You wrote a new Constitution.

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I'm sorry.

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We don't consider that valid.

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Nice try.

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We're not going to send it
on'--and that would have been a

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little interesting moment.

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It's just as possible that
individual states might refuse

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to consider it for the same
reason.

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And even if some states did
consider this Constitution and

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did decide to ratify it,
if large influential states

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like Virginia or Massachusetts
or New York rejected the

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Constitution,
their influence might actually

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compel other states to follow
their example and vote against

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it.

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So all of this is sort of
looming out there.

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It's unclear if any of this is
going to happen,

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but for those who are really
supporting this new

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Constitution,
they really knew that they had

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a pretty big challenge facing
them.

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If the Constitution made it to
the states for ratification,

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if the states agreed to
consider it,

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then they had to worry about
the actual debate over whether

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this Constitution was a just,
trustworthy division of power.

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Now, the first horrible
possibility did not take place,

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and the Confederation Congress
passes on the Constitution to

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the states for consideration on
September 28,

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1787, but still,
with the question of

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ratification looming,
clearly the fate of the

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Constitution is left hanging for
a good many months.

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And I mentioned last time I was
going to go back to Ezra Stiles,

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because his diary is useful and
wonderful--

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and I'm going to go right back
here to Ezra Stiles just for a

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few minutes.

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Because his diary shows you one
man--

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certainly one elite,
highly educated,

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influential man with very
high-placed friends--

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but still one man who is
watching events unfold related

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to the Constitution,
and is trying to figure out

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what he thinks about them.

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He's interested to know what's
happening.

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He's not sure what he thinks
and he's trying to figure this

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out.

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So one thing that his diary
shows is that certainly he was

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intensely interested in whatever
the heck was going on in

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Philadelphia.

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He didn't know what was going
on in Philadelphia,

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but he really wanted to know.

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And on June 19,
he apparently asked Yale

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College seniors to debate the
following question:

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"Whether the States acted
wisely in sending Delegates to

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the Gen.

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Convention now sitting in
Philadelphia?"

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I don't know what they're
doing, but Yale students,

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debate amongst yourselves.

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Do you think that was a good
idea?

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In November of 1787,
the question that he poses for

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Yale College seniors has
changed.

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Now he says,
Yale College seniors,

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debate for yourself:
"Whether it is expedient

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for the States to adopt the new
Constitution?"

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In late December,
some of his curiosity gets

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satisfied because he actually
gets to spend the night with

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Abraham Baldwin,
who had been a delegate in the

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Convention,
so this is his chance.

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There's a guy who was there.

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He's going to really sort of
plug away at Baldwin,

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find out what really happened.

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And at the end of the evening
this is what Stiles wrote in his

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diary:
"I have formed this as my

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Opinion.

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1.

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That it is not the most perfect
Constitution yet 2.

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That it is a very good one,
& that it is advisable to

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adopt it.

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However, 3.

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That tho' much of it will be
permanent &

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lasting, yet much of it will be
hereafter altered by future

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Revisions.

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And 4.

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That the best one remains yet
to be investigated."

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And then he goes on to add:
"When the Convention was

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proposed I doubted its
Expediency.

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1.

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"--he's really a guy for
lists--

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"1.

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Because I doubted whether our
wisest Men had yet attained

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Light eno' to see &
discern the best,

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& what ought finally to
prevail.

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2.

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Neither did I think the People
were ripe for the Reception of

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the best one if it could be
investigated.

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And yet 3.

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I did not doubt but Time &
future Experience would teach,

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open & lead us to the best
one.

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And tho' we have got a much
better one than I expected,

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& a very good one,
yet my Judgt still remains as

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before."

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And then he gets very specific,
and he says,

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"I think there is not
Power enough yet given to

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Congress for firm
Government."

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So he thinks about that on the
one hand.

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At the same time he worries
that surrendering too much power

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to this new government will end
up,

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quote, "prostratg the
Sovereignty of the particular

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States."

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On the one hand,
he worries that the President

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might become,
quote, "an uncontrollable

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& absolute Monarch."

12:54.950 --> 12:58.610
On the other hand,
he says, "I think--

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" --First he says,
"I think the last as well

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guarded as possible"
so yeah,

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he might become a monarch,
but I think the Constitution

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did as well as it could to
prevent that from happening,

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and then goes on to say,
"I know not whether it is

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possible to vest Congress with
Laws,

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Revenues, &
Army & Navy,

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without endangering the Ruin of
the interior Powers &

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Liberties of the States."

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And that's a long passage for
someone to put in his own diary,

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but what's interesting about
that to me is you can see Stiles

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going back and forth.

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He says it's good but there's
probably a better one;

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it's better than I expected,
but somehow it's not good

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enough;
it doesn't give enough power to

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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

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out in the 1790s and what that
suggests about the legacy of the

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Revolution overall.

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I will stop there.

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I will see you on Thursday,
our last class.

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