The Federalist Papers H1061 Activity Introduction Hey, welcome to the party. Grab a chair and come in close cuz I m gonna tell you about a little something called, drum roll please. the Federalist Papers! Reading Passage 1 Introduction Alright, so the Founding Fathers, who were the political leaders in the newly independent U.S., thought a lot about what the new government should be like. I mean, can you imagine getting to decide how your country would be run?! Helllo!! Anyways, read this passage to get the specifics on principles, ideas and such that wound up in the U.S. Constitution, as well as in other early documents. Reading Passage 2 Introduction OK, so now you know all about the important philosophers, sources, and theories that helped shape the underlying principles of the U.S. government. Now, can you name for me the fundamental documents that came out of the colonial and revolutionary period and majorly influenced the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution? No. Not so much? Well, don t worry, because I have a handy dandy reading passage that will tell you all about them. Go on and read up, my friend! Video 1 Introduction Alright, so the framers totally caught the rest of the country off guard when they decided to toss out the Articles of Confederation and write a whole new Constitution. But the framers didn t get to do any old thing they wanted no, no, no before the Constitution could come into play, it had to be approved, or ratified or, as I like to say, rat-tat-tatified.
Anyways, check out the next video to find out the steps they had to take to get the Constitution ratified so that the inauguration of the new government could get a move on. Video 1 Congress authorized the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, not to replace them. The framers went beyond those instructions and emerged from Independence Hall with a new Constitution of the United States, which profoundly changed the central government's structure and authority. Whether the states would approve the document was the crux of the battle for ratification. So what were the preparations for ratification? Well, after a majority of the delegates signed the Constitution, copies were sent to the Confederation Congress. Although Congress was surprised by the new document, it offered no recommendations and sent the document on to the states for ratification. Having anticipated resistance from the state governments, the framers included two measures in the Constitution to improve its chances of passing. First, the framers changed the procedure of ratification. The articles called for amendments to be submitted to state legislatures, which were not usually inclined to favor any changes. Under the Constitution, ratification involved the election of state conventions, expressly called to consider the new document. Secondly, the framers reduced the number of states required for passage. Amending the articles required the unanimous consent of the states, but the Constitution would have to be passed by only nine of 13 states to take effect. That way, resistance by one state wouldn't prevent the Constitution from taking effect. It turned out that the framers were right in assuming that there would be resistance from the states. The two sides of the ratification debate were the Federalists who favored passage of the Constitution and the anti-federalists who opposed the strong central government it set up. The Federalists included prominent speakers and writers who were united by a common, idealogical cause. In contrast, the anti-federalists were an unorganized group of state's rights enthusiasts. Newspapers in New York aided the
Federalist cause by publishing a series of essays called the Federalist written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. The essays addressed specific criticisms and eloquently argued for the Constitution's ratification. This collection is also known as the Federalist Papers. Delaware ratified the Constitution first on December 8th, 1787. Within seven months, New Hampshire had become the ninth state to ratify, the final one needed to approve the new government. The contest for ratification was intense, especially in New York and Virginia, the tenth and eleventh states to ratify. In New York, the Constitution passed by a close vote of 30 to 27, in Virginia 89 to 79. North Carolina and Rhode Island remained unconvinced. They unwillingly ratified the Constitution after the federal government had been in operation for months, recognizing they would not be able to survive as independent countries on their own. During the state conventions, one of the main anti-federalist criticisms was that the Constitution lacked a Bill of Rights to protect citizen's freedoms. After ratification, the Federalists wanted to encourage anti-federalists to support the new government. To that end, James Madison drafted a Bill of Rights to be included as the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights passed both Houses of Congress and was gratefully ratified by the states. Once the states had ratified the Constitution, the Electoral College unanimously supported George Washington as the first President. A Federalist, John Adams, was chosen as Vice-President. Although a cabinet was not specifically mentioned by the Constitution, Washington created three departments and appointed trusted advisors to lead them: Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton; and Secretary of War, Henry Knox. In the first meeting of the U.S. Senate in 1789, a contentious debate arose regarding what to call the new President. Some senators preferred His Elective Majesty. Vice-President Adams suggested His Highness, the President of the United States and protector of their liberties. Those titles embarrassed Washington, who answered simply to Mr. President or President of the United States. Instead of adjusting the Articles of Confederation, the members of the Grand Convention designed a new government outlined in the Constitution. Predicting state resistance, they prepared for ratification by changing the procedures for passage.
When the Constitution went into effect, a government led by George Washington attempted to guide the new nation. Video 1 Recap Those framers were some smart dudes, since, in order to have a better shot at getting their U.S. Constitution ratified, they changed the procedures and reduced the number of states needed for approval. It was a clever and shrewd move on the framers' part; nevertheless, the states were still unsure about signing the new document. Anyways, here s where a splits-ville comes in: the folks in favor of the new Constitution called themselves Federalists, while the guys against the Constitution were creatively called Anti-Federalists. So, after a lot of back and forth debating between the Federalists and the Antifederalists, the Constitution was finally ratified and the new government, led by President George Washington, took center stage. What do you think, are you feeling fine or should we rewind? Video 2 Introduction Alright, so we already know that the guys who called themselves Federalists thought that ratification of the new Constitution was an awesome idea. And since they were so fiery and passionate about convincing everyone to get behind the new document, it seems only fair that we take a little more time to hear their arguments, right? I thought so too roll the video! Video 2 So you would think after all the debates and compromises that went into writing the Constitution, the issue of ratification would be an easy sell. Not the case in history. Some delegates didn't want to take that chance and set out to persuade others to support this new document. These individuals who called themselves Federalists for
their strong support of a central government wrote 85 essays in three local New York newspapers. Now they were The Independent Journal, The New York Packet and The Daily Advertiser. In these papers, they forcefully advocated ratification of the new Constitution, while also pointing out the flaws that had existed in the Articles of Confederation. In other words, they didn't want to go back to what they had, but they really wanted the people to support what they were promoting. So what they did was write under the name Publius, which is a pseudonym, and they called these collection of essays The Federalist. In these essays, they tried to advocate six central points. The six central points that they were looking at was the fact that the new union, or the new government that they were proposing, would guarantee political prosperity. Two, that the Articles of Confederation were too weak to preserve the union. Remember, that was one of the things that they recognized was a flaw, and they didn't really want to go back to that. The third point was the fact that they felt the union could be preserved only by a government at least as powerful as the one that they were outlining in the Constitution. Four, they felt the Constitution conformed to the principles of a Republican government. In other words, something that would allow them to have input and say. Five is they felt the Constitution needed to resemble the state Constitutions. They didn't want to introduce something totally new to the people, but they wanted it to conform and to be what they were used to, and then finally, they wanted the Constitution to preserve state government as well as liberty and property. They didn't want to take away anything that the people were already used to. I mean, they just fought a war to try to preserve what they had. Now there were three people that were involved in writing the Federalist papers. They were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. These three people wrote pretty much passionately about having a strong central government. Now Alexander Hamilton, he had been a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He had been a member of the New York Ratifying Convention, and he had also been a signer of the
Constitution. He was passionate and a strong advocate of a central government. He alone wrote 51 Federalist essays. That shows you that he was serious. You have James Madison. Now he had also been a delegate at the Constitutional Convention. He was a writer of the Virginia Plan. He had been a member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention. He had also led the fight for ratification in his state. It was his notes on all the different events that took place that gives us insight in terms of really what took place at the Constitutional Convention. He alone wrote 29 Federalist essays, and he's also been nicknamed the Father of the Constitution because of his contributions and his passion behind it. And then we have John Jay. He had been a member of the New York Ratifying Convention. He had also been a previously appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the Continental Congress. It was his personal experiences dealing with diplomatic problems under the Articles of Confederation that convinced him for the need for a strong central government. Now he himself wrote five of the Federalist essays, and you're probably wondering why only five. Well, that's partly due to the fact that he was sick. So, again, if you forgot who they were, we have Alexander Hamilton, we have James Madison, and then we also have John Jay. These are the three people that were involved in putting these together. Their essays were published in two volumes under the title The Federalist. Today, these essays are also known as The Federalist Papers. So every time you have someone for it, you're always going to have someone that's against, so you're going to have to tune in next time to learn more about the people that were against. Video 2 Recap Well, well, well it was Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who wrote the Federalist Papers what a bunch of studs! I mean, these guys weren t messing around they wanted the Constitution to be ratified so badly that they wrote EIGHTY-FIVE essays making their case eighty-five!
Just imagine how many quill pens those suckers blazed through! And all the feathers they had to pluck poor birds And with all that ink, they stated some stellar reasons to ratify the Constitution. For example, it guaranteed political prosperity and created a more powerful government. It also followed the principles of republican government, was similar to state constitutions, and lastly but not leastly, it preserved state governments, liberty, and property. Psh, sounds like a convincing argument to this guy! Got it or wanna watch again?