From Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution & Bill of Rights

Crisis Under the Articles of Confederation

• Post-war decade ( $1780\text{s}$ ) marked by:
  • National debt, collapsing credit, worthless Continental currency.
  • Inter-state quarrels over tariffs, river tolls, western lands, & citizenship rights.
  • No executive branch, no independent judiciary, Congress unable to tax or enforce its own measures.
• Alexander Hamilton’s summary in Federalist No. $15$ ( $1787$ ):
  • “We may indeed with propriety be said to have reached almost the last stage of national humiliation…”
  • Wheels of government "arrested," the edifice "ready to fall upon our heads."

Philosophical Re-evaluation

• Early Revolution inspired by John Locke → minimal government, optimistic view of human nature.
• Federalists’ $1780\text{s}$ experience produced a darker, Hobbes-like outlook:
  • Human “passions” need constraint or society devolves into “war of all against all” (Hobbes, Leviathan).
  • Liberty requires order; order requires a capable central authority.
• Key distinction:
  • Jeffersonian / Lockean camp = trust voluntary virtue, fear central power.
  • Federalist camp = trust structure & checks, fear unregulated passion.

Early Steps Toward Reform

• Mount Vernon Conference ( $1785$ ): VA & MD coordinate Chesapeake navigation, hosted by Washington.
• Annapolis Convention ( Sept. $1786$ ): only $6$ states; Alexander Hamilton calls for a general convention.
• Shay’s Rebellion ( $1786{-}87$, not detailed in transcript but context) dramatizes need for change.
• Philadelphia Convention summoned for May $1787$ to “revise” Articles—quickly decides to scrap them.

Players at Philadelphia ( May–Sept. $1787$ )

• President of Convention: George Washington.
• Intellectual engine: James Madison (library of histories from Jefferson; “history is the great oracle of truth”).
• Aged statesman & conciliator: Benjamin Franklin ( $81$ ).

The Virginia Plan ( Large-State Plan )

• Authored by Madison, presented by Edmund Randolph.
• Proposals:
  • $3$ distinct branches—legislative, executive, judiciary.
  • Bicameral congress:
  • Lower House chosen directly by proportional population districts.
  • Upper House chosen by Lower House.
  • Federal negative on state laws that violate the Constitution.
  • Federal officials paid from a national treasury.

The New Jersey Plan ( Small-State Plan )

• Author: William Paterson.
• Retains unicameral legislature with equal state vote.
• Accepts separate executive & judiciary but safeguards state sovereignty.

Hamilton’s “British Model” Speech

• Wants lifetime president & senators, presidential appointment of governors, full veto of state laws.
• Too monarchical → ignored but highlights spectrum of opinion.

Core Debates Inside the Convention

• Representation: people vs. states, large vs. small.
• Term lengths:
  • Madison initially proposes $3$-year representatives, $7$-year senators; New Englanders favor annual elections.
• Popular participation:
  • Roger Sherman (CT) – distrusts mass politics (“people constantly liable to be misled”).
  • George Mason (VA) – insists lower house be “grand depository” of democratic principle.
• Executive election: by Congress → reconsidered → Electoral College compromise; talk of one-term $7$ yrs → ends at $4$-yr term, re-eligible.
• Federal power over commerce & interstate disputes.

The Slavery Question & Compromises

• Moral & economic divide:
  • VA & MD tobacco regions have excess slaves → support banning importation (George Mason, Luther Martin).
  • Deep South (SC, GA) demands perpetual slave trade.
• Outcomes:
  • Atlantic slave trade untouchable by Congress for $20$ yrs (ban ultimately enacted $1808$).
  • Word “slavery” excluded from text for moral optics.
  • $\frac{3}{5}$ Compromise: census counts $60\%$ of enslaved population for representation & taxation → boosts Southern seats & Electoral College weight.

The Great (Connecticut) Compromise

• Brokers: Roger Sherman & Oliver Ellsworth.
• Bicameral solution:
  • House of Representatives → proportional to population, sole originator of bills (“no taxation without representation”).
  • Senate → equal vote ( 2 per state).

Finished Constitution ( Signed 9/17/1787 )

• All delegates sign except:
  • Elbridge Gerry (MA)
  • Edmund Randolph (VA)
  • George Mason (VA)
• Franklin’s tempered endorsement: accept “with all its faults” because good administration > perfect form; warns of eventual despotism if people become corrupt.
• Madison departs uneasy—lacks explicit federal veto on state laws; hopes judiciary will fill gap.

Ratification Mechanics

• Strategy: bypass state legislatures; use special popular conventions → Constitution derives authority directly from “We the People,” not from states.
• Required threshold: 9$of$13 states.

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

• Federalists (Hamilton, Madison, Jay, Washington, Franklin, Adams):
  • Union essential for liberty & security.
  • U.S. geographically blessed—rivers, ports, resources, mostly Protestant English-speakers (Jay).
  • Need taxing power, single currency, regular army & navy.
• Anti-Federalists (Patrick Henry, George Clinton, Samuel Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, many frontier farmers & some planters):
  • Fear consolidated national power & potential aristocracy.
  • Object to no Bill of Rights, possible standing army, federal courts over states, indirect representation (Senate, Electoral College).
  • Local elites protective of state prerogatives.

Ratification Timeline

First Federal Government

• Temporary capital: New York City.
• George Washington unanimously elected, inaugurated 4/30/1789 on Federal Hall balcony.
• Congress quickly organizes executive departments & judiciary (detailed next lecture).

Birth of the Bill of Rights

• Political back-story:
  • VA Governor Patrick Henry gerrymanders district to block James Madison.
  • Madison campaigns against James Monroe; pledges to sponsor amendments protecting civil liberties.
  • Wins election 1,308$-to-$972.
• Madison speech 6/8/1789: promises “additions…that will not injure the Constitution” but reassure skeptics.
• Objectives:
  • Placate Anti-Federalists; convert them into loyal opposition rather than secessionist faction.
  • Clarify that federal power has explicit limits; preserve founding ideals.
• Drafted 17$House amendments → Senate refines to$12$→ States ratify first$10$as the Bill of Rights (effective$12/15/1791$$).

Key Takeaways & Significance

• Articles’ failure nudged leaders from Lockean optimism to pragmatic (almost Hobbesian) federalism.
• Philadelphia Convention produced an innovative mixed republic via layered compromises—representation, sovereignty, slavery.
• Ratification battle fostered America’s first national political communications campaign (Federalist Papers, broadsides, parades).
• Adoption of Bill of Rights demonstrated capacity for peaceful amendment & reconciliation among fierce ideological foes.
• Foundations now set for emerging party politics & constitutional interpretation (to be explored in subsequent lecture).