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”). </li> <li>Senate → equal vote ($2$per state). </li></ul></li> </ul> <h3 id="finishedconstitutionsigneddd9171787dd">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

    #	State	Date	Vote Context
    1$</td> <td>Delaware</td> <td>$12/7/1787$</td> <td>Unanimous</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$2$</td> <td>Pennsylvania</td> <td>$12/12/1787$</td> <td>Urban-rural split</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$3$</td> <td>New Jersey</td> <td>$12/18/1787$</td> <td>Commercial backing</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$4$</td> <td>Georgia</td> <td>$1/2/1788$</td> <td>Frontier defense motive</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$5$</td> <td>Connecticut</td> <td>$1/9/1788$</td> <td>“Constitution State”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$6$</td> <td>Massachusetts</td> <td>$2/6/1788$</td> <td>Conditional on future Bill of Rights</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$7$</td> <td>Maryland</td> <td>$4/26/1788$</td> <td>$63{-}11$for</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$8$</td> <td>South Carolina</td> <td>$5/23/1788	Rice & indigo export worries
    9$</td> <td>New Hampshire</td> <td>$6/21/1788$</td> <td>Makes Constitution operative</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$10$</td> <td>Virginia</td> <td>$6/25/1788$</td> <td>Madison vs. Henry; close</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$11$</td> <td>New York</td> <td>$7/26/1788$</td> <td>Swing of$46{-}19$anti → passes by$3 votes; aided by Federalist Papers & massive “Federal Ship Hamilton” parade ( 27\,\text{ft}$long,$13$salutes).</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$12$</td> <td>North Carolina</td> <td>$11/21/1789$</td> <td>Waits for Bill of Rights</td> </tr> <tr> <td>$13$</td> <td>Rhode Island</td> <td>$5/29/1790$</td> <td>Passes by$2$votes; last hold-out</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h3 id="firstfederalgovernment">First Federal Government</h3> <ul> <li>Temporary capital: New York City. </li> <li>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-$972$. </li></ul></li> <li>Madison speech$6/8/1789$: promises “additions…that will not injure the Constitution” but reassure skeptics. </li> <li>Objectives: <ul> <li>Placate Anti-Federalists; convert them into loyal opposition rather than secessionist faction. </li> <li>Clarify that federal power has explicit limits; preserve founding ideals. </li></ul></li> <li>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).