Federalist or Anti-Federalist

I’ve been doing a lot of reading concerning early American history, specifically the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as I have already started the process of game planning my lessons and handouts, ect. for AP U.S. History.  Here’s the list of books I am reading:

Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution. New York: Vintage, 1991.

—-, The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library Chronicles). Modern Library Chronicles, 2002.

—-, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. Penguin Paperback, 2006.

Edmund S. Morgan,The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 (The Chicago History of American Civilization). Third Edition. University of Chicago Press, 1992.

—-, American Slavery, American Freedom. New York: Norton, 1975.

David Northrup, The Atlantic Slave Trade (Problems in World History). Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.

Joseph J. Ellis, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic. New York: Knopf, 2007.

John Ferling, Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution. University of Oxford Press, 2000.

Carol Berkin, A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. Harcourt,  2002.

Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Knopf, 1997.

God, there are more but I will stop before I lose my train of thought! I have left out the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist papers, and tons more that I have on my reading shelf.  Anyway, I am trying to immerse myself in as much good scholarship that I can. I am sure there is plenty else I could be looking at, but there it is.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about about the debates concerning the Founders and the Constitution. With the current mood of some parts of the nation and now with the new Supreme Court Justice nomination, I found myself contemplating where and who we should be taking our cues from? The Federalists or Anti-Federalists?  At one moment it seems clear that it is Jefferson and the Anti-Nationalists, but then in another moment it is Hamilton and Madison and the Nationalists (Federalists).

I found something that Gordon S. Wood wrote in his The Radicalism of the American Revolution, in which he argues that though the revolution was not as bloody and radical compared with say the French Revolution, it was still radical in the nature of the post-Revolution society it created.  I think he makes a strong argument that the aftermath of the revolution was radical in how it reordered American society, especially in removing paternalism and primogeniture, among other aspects. I am greatly simplifying it here.

But my point is that Wood of course discusses how Americans, generally, viewed government, and I quote:

“Few if any if the common people regarded government as a means by which economic and social power might be redistributed or the problems of their lives resolved.” (p. 87)

That took me back a bit. Though I know that Progressive historians will challenge this comment.

I think if we look at the writings of both Federalists and Anti-Federalists, we will see that both feared a large uncontrollable government; one more so than the other. After all, it is a fact that the Constitution was created first and foremost to limit government by establishing what it could and could not do.

More later…

C