Reply to Wilson’s Speech: “An Officer of the Late Continental Army”
Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia), November 6, 1787
Following are excerpts from an article with an unknown author, published in response to James Wilson’s speech:
“That of the senate is so small that it renders its extensive powers extremely dangerous: it is to consist only of 26 members, (more…)
Following the War of 1812, President James Madison was proudly touting the status of America. It had mobilized its navy to protect trade in the Mediterranean Sea, it had reestablished commercial relations with Britain, and it had pacified the Native Americans. See Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 80.
Reply to Wilson’s Speech: “Cincinnatus” [Arthur Lee] I
New York Journal, November 1, 1787
Following are excerpts from the article, published in response to James Wilson’s speech:
“Your first attempt is to apologize for so very obvious a defect as—the omission of a declaration of rights. This apology consists in a very ingenious discovery; that in the state constitutions, whatever is not reserved is given; but in the congressional constitution, whatever is not given, is reserved. (more…)
Reply to Wilson’s Speech: “Centinel” [Samuel Bryan] II
Freeman’s Journal (Philadelphia), October 24, 1787
Following are excerpts from Samuel Bryan’s article, published in response to James Wilson’s speech:
“Friends, countrymen, and fellow-citizens, As long as the liberty of the press (more…)
Thomas Paine described the Constitution as “not a thing in name only; but in fact . . . . It is the body of elements, to which you can refer, and quote article by article; and which contains . . . every thing that relates to the complete organization of a civil government, and the principles on which it shall act, and by which it shall be bound.” Paine, Rights of Man, Foner, ed., Writings of Paine, I, 278.
The political theory that emerged from the Revolution and the debates surrounding the Constitution was not “a matter of deliberation as it was a matter of necessity.” Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787, 593.
Benjamin Lincoln wrote a series of articles in the Boston Magazine and Independent Chronicle that would touch on many of the same subjects as John Adams in his Defence of the Constitution. See Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic: 1776-1787, 576.
Despite the optimism surrounding the Revolution, John Adams had taken a different tact.
Reply to Wilson’s Speech: “A Democratic Federalist”
Pennsylvania Herald (Philadelphia), October 17, 1787
Following are excerpts from the article, published in response to James Wilson’s speech: (more…)
The Federalists, in overseeing the creation of the modern political system, culminating in the Constitution, had inadvertently changed not only the structure of government but also the trajectory of American politics.
Last Best Hope of Earth 