Hello, and welcome to Western civ. Episode four hundred and eighty six, the Early Republic. When the Treaty of Paris was signed in September seventeen eighty three, the United States was at last recognized as a sovereign nation. The war had ended, soldiers went home. George Washington, in a truly extraordinary act for the time, resigned his commission before Congress in December, saying, quote, having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of action to contemporaries.
His voluntary return to private life evoked the great Roman who I love Cincinnatus, who set down his sword and took up his plowshare when his time was on, and he re ensured Americans that they had not fought to trade one tyrant for another. But what lay ahead was unclear. For America, the thirteen States were bound only by the Articles of Confederation, a makeshift framework drafted during the war. Under the Articles, there was no president, no national judiciary,
and Congress possessed little real power. The states jealously guarded their sovereignty. A Massachusetts delegate captured the mood bluntly, quote, we are not a nation under the Articles of Confederation. Congress could wage war, it could conduct diplomacy, and it could kind of manage Western lands, but it couldn't levy taxes directly or regulate commerce. In other words, what the Articles of Confederation could do were all geared towards one thing,
fighting a war with Great Britain. But that was over. Now the government needed to do different things. But that wasn't necessarily on the table. If money was needed, Congress had to request it from the States, which often refused or potentially delayed. A Rhode Island politician sneered at the request of taxes. Quote we will not give a farthing end. Quote that's good because farthings actually won't be the currency yet. In the early years, there remained moments of a lot
of promise. Congress organized the settlement of Western territories through landmark laws. The Ordinance of seventeen eighty five, which surveyed land into neat little townships for sale. The Northwest Ordinance of seventeen eighty seven, which established a path for new territories to become states, outlawed slavery in the Northwest Territory and guaranteed civil liberties. These ordinances were amongst the articles
of Confederation's greatest achievements. Still they could not disguise deeper troubles. The post war years were hard. Britain barred American ships from the West Indian ports, crippling trade. The new nation, lacking a stable currency, was flooded with paper money of uneven value. Inflation, sword debts mounted, and farmers groaned under taxes they simply could not pay. States often quarreled with
one another like petty medieval fiefdoms. New York taxed goods coming from Connecticut and New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland argued over navigation rights on the Potomac River. Without a central authority to mediate these rivalries petty as they were threatened to fracture the Union foreign powers. Since this weakness, Britain kept troops stationed and forts along the Great Lakes in violation of the Treaty of Paris, claiming unpaid loyalist debts
as justification. Spain closed the Mississippi to American trade, angering Western settlers. A Connecticut farmer would later write, we have won the war, but we cannot govern ourselves. The crisis came to a head in Massachusetts. Farmers in the western counties burdened by debts and taxes, began to revolt in seventeen eighty six. Led by Daniel Schayes, a former Continental Army captain. They closed courts to prevent foreclosures on their lands.
They marched on Springfield, at where the arsenal was in early seventeen eighty seven. The Massachusetts government, unable to rely on federal troops, raised a private militia of merchants and property owners. In January seventeen eighty seven, the militia fired on Shay's men, dispersing the rebellion, but the shock was profound. If veterans of the Revolution could take up arms against
their own government, what did independence actually mean? George Washington, watching from Mount Vernon, wrote, quote, what a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions that we are incapable of governing ourselves. Even before Shay's rebellion leading figures since the articles were inadequate. In seventeen eighty five, Washington had hosted the Mount Vernon Conference to settle the Virginia Maryland
dispute over navigation. This small success encouraged a broader meeting at Annapolis in seventeen eighty six, where Alexander Hamilton issued a cl for a general convention, which would in theory revise the articles, not get rid of them. But of course the real turning point was Shay's rebellion. The fear of anarchy convinced many that the Union would simply dissolve
if there wasn't a central, stronger government. In seventeen eighty seven, in February, Congress reluctantly agreed to a constitutional convention again in Philadelphia, this time again, as I said, quote for the soul and express purpose of revising the articles. But if you know anything about American history, you know that's now what's going to happen now. The Philadelphia Convention, as I said, did not arise out of confidence, but a crisis.
By the mid seventeen eighties, the United States under the Articles of Convention was simply unworkable. We continued to hear words of warning from George Washington, who would lament, we are fast verging to anarchy and confus usion. How melancholy is the reflection that, in so short a space we should have made such large strides towards fulfilling the prediction of our transatlantic foe that we should be no more
than a rope of sand. Now, all the disputes over trade, taxation, and debts, compounded by Shay's rebellion made it clear that the federal government lacked the power to preserve order, and so this revision was necessary. But revision in Philadelphia was not what everyone had in mind. On May the twenty fifth, seventeen eighty seven, after delays due to poor roads and slow travel, delegates from seven states finally formed a quorum
at Pennsylvania State House now Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Over the summer, fifty five delegates would attend at some point, though never all at once. They represented every state but Rhode Island, which boycotted in protest. The room itself were stifling. Philadelphia summers are notoriously hot and humid, and the windows were shut tight to ensure secrecy. James Madison would recall quote, no whisper of the proceedings had transpired. Guards were posted outside.
The secrecy allowed free debate, but also few old rumors outside. The Convention's legitimacy was shaky. At first, they were authorized only to amend the articles, but as Alexander Hamilton later wrote, a bold step was taken. Soon, delegates agreed to scrap the articles entirely. George Washington was unanimously chosen President of the Convention. Obviously, his very presidents, cloaked in dignity and restraint,
gave the proceedings the legitimacy it so badly needed. Governor Morris later remarked, the moment that man opened his lips, we felt ourselves all in fury. James Madison, still in his thirties, arrived prepared with extensive notes on political history, ranging from ancient confederacies to Enlightenment theorists. He would take meticulous records of the debates, later published as his notes on the Federal Convention are single greatest window into the proceedings.
Madison's diligence earned him the title Father of the Constitution. On May the twenty ninth, Edmund Randolph of Virginia introduced the Virginia Plan, based largely on Madison's works, and proposed a strong national government with three branches, a bicameral legislature with representation based on population, an executive chosen by the legislature basically a parliamentary system, and a judiciary with broad powers. Madison was pleased writing, a government without the power to
act is no government at all. Experience has taught us that the existing system is inadequate. We must resort to a national government. Now, this, of course, was revolutionary. Instead of amending the articles, which everyone said they were going to do when they went into that state House, they created an entirely new government, rooted not in state sovereignty this time, but in the keywords we the people. Now. Of course, it wasn't over. The Convention was marked by
heated arguments and a lot of very difficult compromises. Small states recoiled at the idea of the Virginia Plan. William Patterson of New Jersey countered with the New Jersey Plan, of course, which preserved equal representation for each state in a unicameral or one chamber Congress. Patterson would warn, our constituents will never agree to a plan which robs them of their equality. New Jersey will not be swallowed up. Now.
The impasse threatened to collapse the Convention until Robert Sherman of Connecticut proposed the Great Compromise, a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate. On the sixteenth of July. The compromise carried, but only by a single vote, and of course, the question of slavery proved even more explosive. Southern delegates demanded that enslaved people be counted towards their representation. Northerners were appalled and objected.
Governor Morris himself thundered against slavery as a nefarious institution, a curse of heaven. But the northern states needed the Southern ones, and so political necessity prevailed. The three to fifths Compromise counted three out of every five enslaved persons for the purposes of representation and taxation. Again, if you've ever read the Constitution, you know that the Constitution actually makes no reference to slavery. Okay, it simply says other persons. Now,
the issue of the slave trade also arose. Southern states threatened to secede if Congress restricted it, and so the final compromise allowed the importation of slaves until eighteen oh eight, after which point Congress could ban it. But by and large, just kind of foreshadowing, most Southern states had ceased the importation of enslaved persons by that point. How to choose
an executive was another bitter dispute. Fearing both monarchy and mob rule, delegates experimented with ideas ranging from a plural executive to election by Congress, and so Eventually, on actually the last day of the convention, they settled on the electoral College, which to many remains the bane of American political existence to this very day. But it too was a compromise. It balanced state and national interests by assigning
states electors based on their population. So instead of having a popular vote decide the president, you would have different states that I would have different weights, that would be a consequential choice. Hamilton, always the proponent of stronger authority, went so far as to suggest a president that would be elected for life. His proposal was too monarchical to be taken seriously, but it underscored the anxieties of the moment. By late summer, the shape of the new government was
now clear. There would be a national government with three branches, checks and balances to prevent tyranny, and federal supremacy over state laws. The task of polishing the draft fell to the awesomely named Committee of Style. I wish we had one of those still. It was led by Governor Morris, and he was the one who actually wrote that famous opening in the preamble, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquility, and so on and so forth. But this wasn't just a rhetorical flourish. By invoking we the people rather than we the States, Morris was emphasizing a shift from a confederation of sovereign states to a government that was rooted in the people themselves, and so on. The closing days around September seventeenth, seventeen eighty seven, the final Constitution was signed by thirty nine delegates. Franklin Benjamin Franklin that is too weak to stand on his own
urge support despite imperfections. Thus, I consent, sir, to the Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is the best the opinions I have had of its errors. I sacrificed the public good. George Washington would later write, simply, it appears to me a little short of a miracle that delegates from so many different states should unite in forming a system of national government.
Yet still not everyone was convinced. Sinst three men Elbridge, Jerry, who's eventually going to by the way give his name to jerry mandering. George Mason and Edmund Randolph refused to sign, objecting to the absence of a Bill of rights. Mason himself warned this government will either end in monarchy or a tyrannical aristocracy. Couriers carried the new Federal Constitution away from Philadelphia in September seventeen eighty seven like a lightning
bolt in saddle bags. Congruous bowing to the moment, resolved on September the twenty eighth to transmit the document to state conventions elected for the purpose, a quiet but crucial decision that plays sovereignties squarely in the hands of the people of each state. Secrecy gave way to a flood of newsletters and pamphlets. Within days, printers set the constitution
in type, pamphlets appeared, taverns hummed with political activity. A national argument, what one observer called a war of pens began. Two great choruses quickly formed. There were the Federalists, led by intellectually James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, who defended the new constitution in a series of essays signed Publius. Then there were the anti federalists, writing as Brutus, Cato, Sentinel, the Federal Farmer, and others, and they warned that the
proposed government would swallow liberty whole. The lines were pretty sharp. Brutus opened fire in October seventeen eighty seven, writing, history furnishes no example of a free republic anything like the extent of the United States. A nation so large, the writer argued, would slide into consolid and despotism. Publius replied, the scale was the remedy, not the disease. Madison's famous answer in Federalists Number ten ran like a counter melody.
Quote extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests and quote factions, they argued, would check other factions. Liberty like fire, must be contained, of course, but can never be smothered. Madison later sketched the architect of restraint quote if men were angels, no government would be necessary. Now the debate quickly focused on two principles sovereignty federal or national representation, And then a couple of smaller ones. Was there going to be a
standing army? How are tax is going to be collected, and who would run the courts? But above all, the anti federalists' major attack point focused around an absence, the specific absence of a bill of rights. George Mason would refuse to sign in Philadelphia, leveled a devastating charge when he wrote objections, quote there is no declaration of rights end quote. Now. Hamilton responded in Federalist Number eighty four that a list might not only be unnecessary but dangerous.
Quote wide declare that things shall not be done, which there is no power to do. Yet as winter set in, they would be politics and not logic that would decide the issue. Delaware was the first to move unanimously, ratifying the constitution on December seventh, seventeen eighty seven. Pennsylvania followed on December twelfth, after a rather bruising convention, the anti federalist descent of the minority protests the speed and missing
rights again. New Jersey followed on December the eighteenth, Georgia in January of seventeen eighty eight, relatively quickly thereafter Connecticut. So five states were in and they only needed nine. It was critical that those at the convention decided unlike the articles of Confederation, unanimous consent would not be needed. What they needed, of course, was three quarters, and they
were about halfway there. Unfortunately, now the path got rockier. Massachusetts, where the Revolution truly begun and where Shay's rebellion had recently occurred, had only shaken confidence in the idea of a republic. In Boston, the galleries were packed. John Hancock courtly and calculating. Presiding over the affairs Samuel Adams listened to the side county delegates fretted that sixty five representatives
in the new House were just too few. Ministers concerned themselves over federal power over religion, Nearly everyone wanted a declaration of rights. The result was a political invention of lasting consequence. Ratify now, amend later, and so it was
on February the sixth, seventeen eighty eight. Massachusetts ultimately voted one hundred and eighty seven to one hundred and sixty eight to ratify, but it paired its assent with a recommendation that amendments, including protections that become the Bill of Rights, be speedily adopted. This, as it's been called Massachusetts Compromise, gave undecided states a pathway accept the concept except the frame of the Constitution, and then work to improve it.
With Massachusetts in Maryland ratified on April the twenty eighth, and then South Carolina May the twenty third, seventeen eighty eight, the ninth state was within reach, and so all eyes turned to New Hampshire, Virginia and New York, each a giant in terms of population or influence or both. In New Hampshire, the first Convention adjourned to consult the people, then reconvened, followed the Massachusetts model, and so it was ratified on June the twenty first, seventeen eighty eight. That
was the ninth state. By the terms of the constitution, the new government could actually form. But there was a problem with this. If you look at the map of the United States, without Virginia and New York's assent, there's a gaping hole in the middle of the country. Without the those two, the Union would be pretty lopsided and
would lose the majority of its population. So even though nine states had been had, it was very important to proponents of the constitution that both New York and Virginia, the economic powerhouses as well by and large of the New Republic, signed on. And so we turn our attention to Virginia, which debated the issue between June second and twenty fifth and the year seventeen eighty eight. In Richmond,
the hall rang with oratory. Patrick henriesaw on the proposed frame quote a great and mighty consolidated government end quote. George Mason, though, repeated his charge no Bill of rights meant no security for the people. Madiston stood quietly alone, but answering the charges point by point. Representation, Well, that will simply grow with population. The necessary and proper clause,
that's an instant. It's not a blank check. The presidency powerful, yes, but necessary and fenced in by elections, impeachment, and the separation of powers. Madison also offered the most potent concension of all. He would champion amendments in the first ever federal Congress. The vote was close on June the twenty fifth, but it passed eighty nine to seventy nine, with a robust list attached of recommended rights. Madison had won not by crushing his opponents, but by promising to absorb their
best arguments into the Constitution's future. And so it's on to New York. If Virginia was the Order's battlefield. New York was a pamphleteers dream. Hamilton had begun the Federalists there the previous fall. Madison John Jay joined, producing the eighty five Essays by May of seventeen eighty eight. In the Poughkeepsie Malangdon Smith led skilled anti federalists who insisted only a declaration of rights could make the plans safe, and that representation in the House was too thin to
mirror the number of people. And so Hamilton deployed every argument, from national credit to commercial necessity, and every lever, including
the fact of New Hampshire and Virginia's ratifications. New York could not avoid to be isolated between a new federal Union to the south and a ratify New England to the east, and so the Convention adopted Massachusetts's formula ratify now recommend Later, on July the twenty sixth, seventeen eighty eight, New York ratified the Constitution by three votes, thirty to twenty seven, and it issued a circular letter urging other states to support the amendments. And so that brings us
to the holdouts North Carolina and Rhode Highland. North Carolina met in Hillsborough in the summer of seventeen eighty eight and declined to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of rights. The state actually waited until November the twenty first, seventeen eighty nine, after the new Congress had already proposed the
first ten amendments to the Constitution. Rhode Island, wary of centralized power and protective of paper money policies, rejected the Constitution by popular referendum in seventeen eighty eight and stayed out until the pressure Mountain commercial sanctions loomed and the new federal tariff threatened to isolate the little state, and so, by a raiser then two votes on May twenty ninth, seventeen ninety, by thirty four to thirty two, Rhode Island
ratified the Constitution and became the thirteenth star on the federal flag. Now Madison would keep his word. In the first Congress, he sifted state recommendations and bblic anxieties into a coherent set of amendments. In June seventeen eighty nine, he introduced proposals that confirmed, rather than curtailed, the new government's legitimacy. There would be protections for speech, the press, religion, assembly, and petition. There would be a right to keep in
bear arms. There would be safeguards against quartering, unreasonable searches, compelled self incrimination, and cruel punishments. There would be a guarantee of due process and jury trials, and the Ninth Contenth Amendments reserving unenumerated rights and powers. By September seventeen
eighty nine, Congress sent twelve amendments to the States. Ten were ratified by December the fifteenth, seventeen ninety one, and became the Bill of Rights, binding anti federalist fears into the Constitution's fabric and completing the political bargain forged in the ratifying conventions. What did this debate ultimately decide? First, this would be federalism by design. Ratification confirmed a compound republic national where it must be federal where it could
be Madison's phrase actually in Federalists Number thirty nine. Supremacy and necessity in proper clauses survived, and so did the promise, of course, that the states themselves would retain broad powers. It was a clever balancing act and one that persists to this day. There was also representation that was dealt with in a very unique way. Critics of a small house of representatives want and built an expansion. In fact, the very first Congress swiftly passed a law increasing representation.
The People's Branch, in fact, was born pretty small, but it was always meant to grow liberty as architecture, not slogan. The victorious federalists claim was structural separation of powers, checks and balances, extended fear. But the enduring anti Federalist victory was purely textual. It was the Bill of Rights. Together they created a constitution that both dispersed power and declared rights,
which was for the time unbelievable. And so, in April of seventeen eighty nine, amid church bells and cannon salutes, George Washington took the oath of President the First of the United States, on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. The Constitution, born in secrecy, now lived in public view, tempered by the very criticisms that almost undid it. The ratification struggle had not merely approved a document.
It had taught Americans how to argue their republic into being with essays and elections, with concessions and amendments, and with a vigilant Franklin capturing the mood as he left Independence Hall. When he was asked what kind of government America had, he responded, quote, A republic if you can keep it now. Next week we must shift our gaze back to Europe and begin the long and toiling tale that is the French Revolution