The United States Constitution and the Debates over the Merits of the Constitution - Research Paper Example

Federalism This is an organization of a nation in such a way that there are two or more levels of government, where the governments have ity over the same people and regions. The federalism mode of government has been in the United States ever since the country gained independence and the founding fathers found a need to unite the vast country. They had several options among them and having a central government was just one of those options. However, a central government alone seemed very far from the people and listening and addressing the issues of the majority would have been hard for that type of the government.1 The presence of a central government simply meant that these individuals would obviously be favorable to those areas where they got the accession support from. The possibility of favorism would usher in the possibility of a tyranny which was one thing that was to be avoided after the tyrannical British rule. So these individuals had to come up with a government that not only stood for the sovereignty of the nation but which listened and acted on people’s worries and grievances. This was no simple role to accomplish and the best minds had to evaluate the main systems around the world to get that which would serve the country. Unfortunately, none represented the actual model that would govern the now vast American nation. 2The government model available to follow was the British one which obviously most readily understood the Britons themselves having introduced aspects of their systems in America. This however presented what these individuals feared would be inequitable distribution of power. However at the time, one thing was obvious; the system chosen for the people had to be representative of the people and had to be a choice of the people. This had been the wave at the time especially after the defeat of the monarchy system in Britain at the beginning of the century through the Glorious revolution which had prompted a parliamentary system in governance of countries. This mystery led to the establishment of a system that besides representing the people at the grassroots there would also be a national system that the people identified the state with. This led to the introduction of the federal system which sought to have overlapping governments, overlapping in the sense that the people at the lowest level would choose their respective leaders who would in turn participate in electing leaders of a higher level. This would translate to the national level; the national level is what was to be referred to as the federal government. The proponents of this kind of government included Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and James Madison Alexander Hamilton Was a strong proponent of the federalist system which among other things sought to establish a central government? This central government would in turn oversee the implementation of the American constitution which was to guide the activities as well as participation and association of people and government. Hamilton was a member of the Continental Congress, this being in the years 1782 and 1783.3 Besides that, he helped spot and organize a forum in which weaknesses within the Articles of Confederation were to be discussed; this forum was later to be known as the constitutional convention. Hamilton was also an active writer having written a total of fifty one papers of the eighty five federalist papers. The papers written by Hamilton regarding the whole idea of federalism were first published in the New York Times and sought to describe to people the need to have a government that represented them and which had been founded through collective evaluation by all citizenry. Hamilton also made a lot of efforts towards giving interpretations of the American constitution especially those points that were misinterpreted by the anti federalists. More importantly, Hamilton sought to give people a new definition of freedom and accorded them power derived from their new found freedom. George Washington Was the founding president of the United States of America; a post mainly bequeathed due to his enormous role in the fight against the colonialists. 4He led an army that was to later ambush the colonialists in Trenton and win in Princeton which was a major step in the achievement of independence. The major federalism contribution was his displeasure with the Articles of Confederation which he said had numerous loopholes and which he dismissed as not a representation of the people’s struggle. He did all he could to ensure that a representational constitution was delivered which would meet up with the weaknesses found within the initial Articles of Confederation. Washington was not part of the most active writers of the federalists’ papers but he made enormous efforts towards ensuring that the Americans got a new constitution.5 He led the delegates and confounded to them what he thought would serve the American State as one whole block different from what the colonialists had done, subdividing the country into states which had no union stable power. His struggle bore fruits as a constitution was delivered and which he governed through in his reign as the first president of the United States of America. James Madison He was an influential politician who served under Washington’s reign and among his most renowned title is the “Father of constitution”. He helped draft the first constitution and was a believer in individuals’ rights which explains his role in writing the bill of rights. Among his steadfast goals, was to ensure that the possibility of a tyrannical government 6was eliminated and only government representation of the people existed. This system was founded on a constitution then referred to as the Articles of Confederation which was the first American constitution. This constitution is the one that first established the union of the American state for the reason of forming the federal government. The Articles of Confederation contained the rules by which the nation would be governed as well as the basic rights of each of the states that constituted the nation. Besides, how to elect the state and national representatives was also noted down in the Articles. Simply, it founded the United States of America making the nation one but with distinct regions under it. Anti federalism The resolutions analyzed were not to go well with people around the country at the time. This was either because they felt left out of the Articles’ formation or had legitimate grounds to worry about the unimplemented constitution.7 These were later on to be referred to as the anti federalists and among them were: Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry. Samuel Adams Was a politician cum philosopher who hailed from Massachusetts and was among the founders of a movement later on renamed as the American Revolution. He served as a representative in the House of Representatives based in Massachusetts and emerged as one of the strongest reformists of the time. He opposed the British rule at the time and this was one of the major reasons that the colonialists positioned armies in Boston; this was later to lead to the Boston massacre.8 Adams was mainly against the clause in the constitution that wanted to bequeath the central power to the central government. This power raged from the authority to rule over the states and taxation rules which Adam greatly differed with. He however did not participate in the writing of the federalists papers as his was mainly opposition of what these individuals had noted down within their recommendations. After the American Revolution, Adam went back to his native land where he became senator and helped draft Massachusetts’ constitution. Patrick Henry Is another of the founding fathers of the United States of America and famous for his speech-“give me liberty, or give me death”, Together with Adams and several other individuals, he played a great role in setting and steering the American Revolution. It is after this that he became the Governor of Virginia. As governor, he opposed the replacement of the Articles of Confederation with the American constitution; a move, he saw as one of the ways of curtailing the much sought freedom and rights of the American populace. This marked him as a strong anti federalist. The main disagreement stemming from Henry and against the constitution was the fact that it lacked the bill of rights which he saw as a way of denying people liberty. In fact, most of his speeches were founded around people’s liberty. Thomas Jefferson Was an anti federalist who never really came to the lime light in comparison to the others discussed above. However, he expressed concern over the American constitution taking over the Articles of Confederation. Of major concern was the bill of rights which he viewed as the only way to safeguard the rights of the American government. He authored the “Declaration of independence” which partially represents his belief in the American state and highlights his major thoughts on the ideal system. Thomas Jefferson was one of the anti federalists who mainly aired his thoughts through writings but most of which were not published mainly due to the influence the federalists had at the time. Though he was later to tow within the constitution that the federalists had fought for, he still held his ground concerning the power of the states and the extent of the power accorded to the central government. Most of his suggestions were later on addressed within the adopted constitution. Some of which are as follows: 1 There was too much accorder to the Legislature, the concerns for this was noted as the inclusion of the Necessary and Proper clause that the Legislature powers were unchecked. 2 The constitution lacked a bill of rights. 3 There was a loss of state sovereignty 4 Direct taxation 5 Discrimination against Southern States in navigation and legislation. These concerns formed the bases of the anti federalists, like Thomas Jefferson. The following is the main argument of the anti-federalists based on the above points of concern. Bill of rights The anti federalists argued that the constitution should have a bill of rights; this would safeguard the individual’s rights against an ill driven government. Such would mean that the government had the obligation of ensuring that the individuals had their security guaranteed as a constitutional right. 9The nation identified the independence of an individual and that he was free to 10make any decisions concerning him in as far as those decisions did not pose a threat to the people around him. The other need for a bill of rights they said was to ensure that incase of a dictator which in the anti federalist view was the president, he would be prevented from exploiting or misusing the people. State sovereignty The anti federalists argued that the presence of a federal government would suffocate the States. This would mean that the states would be inexistent and that they would not be in a position to represent the people. Besides, they raised concerns that the States which they had initially supported as the main political centers would not be able to make decisions as well as pass policies favorable to the people. This they said was not in accordance with democracy which they interpreted as the freedom to choose and make decisions for the immediate people. Besides the issue of representation, they raised concerns that the states would lose their sovereignty and would not be considered as part of the wider nation which the anti federalists thought was important. Direct taxation The constitution granted the power and authority of collection and budget of public revenue which was essentially, the taxation role to the federal government. The anti federalists opposed this as they were for the states collecting taxation from those individuals and submitting a considerable amount to the federal government. These were the main reasons that led to the anti federalism; though they sustained a worthwhile opposition against the Federalists, they later succumbed. Later on though, some of these concerns were addressed especially to do with the bill of rights which was later entrenched in the constitution and which still exists till to date. The Federalists on the other hand did not listen to the concerns raised by the anti federalists in mere silence but defended the constitution at the time. In their defense, they argued that the question of a bill of rights was not a contentious matter as the presence of it would ensure that the whole scope of individual rights was covered. They said that the rights governing individuals were wide and that self founded government (government founded by the very people) would not again violate the rights of the founders. They further said in case such cases were actually existent, the judicial system would address them and ensure individuals rights were not taken for granted. The federalists also defended other decisions such as direct taxation which they favored and supported on the act that wealth would be suitably allocated on bases of actual need if an overall body took control. They argued that the idea behind a federal government is to ensure uniform growth and fair status either economically or socially for individuals in different status. This would not have existed if states were left to collect and administer as well as spend taxes as some were better placed in terms of output and resources than others. 11This would definitely have resulted to inequality within the states, something that would lead to future tension amongst states. The way to prevent such situations was to have an overall government that would collect taxes from individual states and redistribute the same to these state based on need and population. This would promote equality and uniform growth of the nation. On sovereignty, the federalists defended the constitution saying that the distinction between the state rule and the federal rule was to make sure that the state remained sovereign and that the federal government only interfered when necessary. 12Besides, the states role as the representative of the people was not interfered with by the presence of a federal government. The rivalry between these two factions was to continue and climax with the civil wars which led to the suppression of the anti- federalism movement. This saw the federalist government gain fame and required amendments done on it. Since then, the federal system has been the sole American system. Federalism and anti federalism and democracy government The federal systems was mainly founded to ally the fears that a central government would be distant and not address the issues of the people and at the same time tyrannize the people. The other aspects of federalism strongly demonstrated its roots on democracy. Among these benefits were the fact that federalism, by having established states, gave people the chance to participate in political decisions and moves as the state would offer a closer solution and option on political representation. The federalist system also gave the people a chance to air their views to the government either as individuals or through civil or active groupings formed by the pole at the state levels; this ensured that their matters were attended to promptly. Another strong link between democracy and federalism is that federalism gives people the freedom of expression and allows the diversity of opinions irrespective of belief, creed or political affiliation. The democracy tenets also respect the individuals’ opinion. Democracy is also opposed to the idea of conflicts and confrontational scenarios which may contribute to the inefficiency or collapse of the ruling entity. Federalism helped avoid this by introducing two levels of power which represented a chance for people to iron their differences at the lesser involving state level other than the overall national level which would present the country as a failed entity. On anti federalist and democracy, the latter is found as a radical way of democracy. Though the position of being a radical democrat has not been discussed or defined, I would define it for the sole purpose of this study as: the requirement for a system to fully entrench required reforms in the shortest period possible. To explain my case in the view of democracy, anti federalist championed for a rapid implementation of those views they held as the way to seal the gaps that they thought existed in the constitution. This was in disregard of two things; one was the time frame- at the time of the movement, the American nation was still at its infant stage and an internal force coming a short while after the revolution wars which saw America gain independence was not the way to go. 13This presented these individual as radicals though I must say in a democratic context. The second thing they never considered was the practicability of the system. Having there been no other government with a similar formation, they ought to have waited for the practical side and not act as strongly as they did; they took actions founded on mere doubt of the constitution. Simply, anti federalists were radical democrats whose views were based on doubt and need for changes that at the time would have caused more shaky times for the state than the much sought stability for the country. This however does not mean that the two opposing views were always to derive benefits from their strong agreement with democracy.14 This was mainly due to the fact that democracy as a way of governance presented a couple of challenges to those under it. These included: The possibility of the state conflicting is always high mainly due to the fact that democracy accords them the freedom to speak and air their views. Besides the difference in opinions, there is also a chance of conflict due to the fact that there is parity in the level of resources owned by each state. his presents a challenge to the federal government which tries to equate the resources from each state. 15These are just a few of the challenges posed by the existence of democracy and federalism. Conclusion Federalism and anti federalism are actually not an example of differences in political ideologies such as may be illustrated by communism and capitalism opinions. They instead present a difference of opinion on how an agreed opinion should be executed. Federalists believed that a federal government would be best suited for the people given the vastness and available resources of the American nation. On the other hand, anti federalists argued that the federalism system would promote tyranny and that sovereignty of the states would help represent the needs of the people. However, the struggle of the two led to isolation of one in what one may argue as the act of time, where one has been regarded as impractical or the other has been superior to the other. The same passage of time has seen isolation of the anti federalism opinions though they may have contributed a lot towards achievement of a better federalist government. Thus, though the two have presented a struggle which led to the civil wars and consequently loss of life, we can only look at it now as the price to pay for the now reasonably efficient federalism system. References Amar, Akhil Reed, “In the Beginning". Americas Constitution: A Biography. (2005 New York: Random House)  Cornell, Saul, The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788–1828. (1999 The University of North Carolina Press.) Harding, S. B. Contest over the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in … Massachusetts. (1896 Harvard University Studies)  Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. "The Constitution as Counter-Revolution: A Tribute to the Anti-Federalists". Free Life (Libertarian Alliance) 5 (4). http://www.la-articles.org.uk/FL-5-4-3.pdf.  Libby, O.G. Geographical Distribution of the Vote … on the Federal Constitution, 1787–1788. (1894 University of Wisconsin).  Storing, Herbert J. What the Anti-Federalists Were For: The Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution. (1981 University of Chicago Press). Elazar, D Exploring Federalism (1987, University of Alabama) Gerston, Larry, American Federalism: A concise Introduction (2007, M E Sharpe Inc ;) Read More