Learning From Previous MistakesA “BUNDLE OF COMPROMISES”

Who are these people?

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/christy/christy/

A “Bundle of Compromises”

The Virginia Plan:

The New Jersey Plan:

The source of the problem:

The Connecticut Compromise (a.k.a The Great Compromise)

The three points of debate at the Constitutional Convention were:

(1) ;

(2) ;

(3) .

The Great Compromise resulted in a legislature where each state had the of representatives in the upper house. The number of representatives in the lower

house was based on . This is reflected in considering Alabama’s current representation in the U.S. Congress:

United States House of Representatives for Alabama: Martha Roby, Gary Palmer, Bradley Byrne, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Terri A. Sewell

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions

Alabama Senator Richard Shelby

Three-fifths Compromise and the Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise

The issue of slavery resulted in the Three-Fifths Compromise wherein every “free person” was counted but “three fifths of all other persons” was counted for purposes of determining the number of representatives in the lower house, as well as the amount of money to be raised in each direct tax by Congress.

Congress was also prohibited from taxing the export of goods from any State, and it was prohibited from acting on the slave trade for a period of twenty years (until 1808 when Congress promptly banned the importation of slaves).

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Ratification debates: Federalists v. Anti-Federalists

Federalists: Anti-Federalists:

How did each side present its argument?

Federalists Essays, speeches, letters and

other commentaries

85 essays were published in various newspapers in New York and signed under the name Publius (Latin word for “Publlic Man”) and which the Constitution. These essays were soon published in book form and as The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States.

Anti-Federalists Essays speeches, letters and

other commentaries

Essays which appeared in the New York Journal and signed under the name “Brutus”

Pamphlets and letters were also authored by Richard Henry Lee (a delegate from Virginia) who used the penname “The Federal Farmer”.

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

-Amos Singleterry

S.B. Harding. “The Contest Over the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in the State of Massachussetts”, 1896, as quoted in Carl Van Doren, The Great Rehearsal, 1948. (p.61)

“These lawyers, and men of learning, and monied men, that talk so finely and gloss over matters so smoothly, to make us poor illiterate people, swallow down the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves; they expect to…get all the power and all the money into their own hands, and then they will swallow up all us little folks…just as the whale swallowed up Jonah.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?“But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

“If the end be clearly comprehended within any of the specified powers, and if the measure have an obvious relation to that end, and is not forbidden by any particular provision of the Constitution, it may safely be deemed to come within the compass of the national authority.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?“In a government possessed of enumerated powers, such a measure would be not only unnecessary, but preposterous and dangerous…The state of New Jersey has no bill of rights. The state of New York has no bill of rights. The states of Connecticut and Rhode Island have no bill of rights. I know not whether I have exactly enumerated the states who have not thought it necessary to add a bill of rights to their constitution; but this enumeration, sir, will serve to show by experience, as well as principle, that even in single governments, a bill of rights is not an essential or necessary measure.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

“This government will commence in a moderate aristocracy: it is at present impossible to foresee whether it will, in its operation, produce a monarchy or a corrupt oppressive aristocracy; it will most probably vibrate some years between the two, and then terminate in the one or the other.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

“it was painful for me, on a subject of such national importance, to differ from the respectable members who signed the constitution. But conceiving as I did that the liberties of America were not secured by the system, it was my duty to oppose it”…I think it has great merit, and by proper amendments, may be adapted to the ‘exigencies of Government’ and preservation of liberty.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

“Another reason weighed particularly, with members from this state, against the insertion of a bill of rights. Such bills generally begin with declaring that all men are by nature born free. Now, we should make that declaration in very bad grace, when a large part of our property consists in men who are actually born slaves.”

Federalist or Anti-Federalist?

“…I will tell you what I do not like. First, the omission of a bill of rights, providing clearly…for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection from standing armies…[and] the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury…Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth…and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference.”

Which side prevailed?

The ratification process for the Constitution was completed in 1788 when Virginia and New York were the last two states required for ratification.

New York City was named the first capital and George Washington was named the President in 1789 when Congress met to count electoral votes.

The Federalists therefore prevailed but not without compromise. This is evident when considering the title commonly used to refer to the first ten amendments of the Constitution in 1791…the Bill of Rights.