05 January 2008
How the Federalist Papers Persuaded a Nation
The Philadelphia convention, following the course set out in the Virginia Plan, proposed having the people elect state conventions to approve the proposed Constitution.
After some hesitation, the expiring Continental Congress forwarded the Constitution to the states for their approval. Once again, as before and during the 1787 convention, James Madison took the leading role. Knowing that ratification in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Virginia was critical, Madison helped orchestrate the convening of the state meetings.
Several small states, Delaware leading the way, acted quickly, but, as time passed, opponents -- known as the anti-Federalists -- began to mount their own campaign. Chief among their complaints were the failure to include a bill of rights and the fear that a "consolidated" government would swallow up the states. In carrying Massachusetts, the Federalists acceded to recommendations for amendments that could be added after ratification was complete.
New York seemed especially fertile ground for the anti-Federalists. Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote a series of essays, published in New York newspapers, making the case for ratification. These essays, subsequently collected and published as the famous Federalist Papers, stand as the classic exposition of the foundations of constitutional government in the United States. In Virginia, Madison, joined by John Marshall and Edmund Randolph, had to fend off a sharp attack on the new Constitution draft led by Patrick Henry and George Mason. The result there was a close one, 89-79. New York, where Governor George Clinton and his allies bitterly opposed the Constitution, ratified by an even closer vote, 30-27. In eight months, all but two states had approved the Constitution.
Eventually, North Carolina (in 1789) and even Rhode Island (in 1790) ratified. In the meantime, in September 1788, the Continental Congress resolved that the new Constitution should be put into effect. In January 1789, the first presidential electors met in the states, and their unanimous choice for president was George Washington. In April 1789, Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States.
Implicit in the Federalists' campaign for the Constitution was an understanding that a bill of rights -- provisions clarifying the rights of individuals in the new nation -- would be added when the new government got under way. As a member of the House of Representatives in the first Congress, Madison moved to redeem that implicit pledge by proposing a list of amendments to be submitted to the states.
Sifting the various proposals that had come out of the ratifying conventions, Madison produced the amendments which, as ratified, became the Constitution's first 10 amendments -- what is called the Bill of Rights. Chief among these are protections for free speech and press, freedom of religion, guarantees of fairness in criminal trials and the admonition that the listing of specific rights was not to be read as precluding the existence of other rights retained by the people -- a reflection of "higher law" thinking, which, in the 18th century, implied that people had certain "natural" rights.
