Federalism: Yesterday and Today

A Publius Essay | 20 October 2014 | Publius

[Jacquerie]

The term of Federalist for supporters of the constitution was not a ploy at all.

Alexander Hamilton and George Washington had worked to strengthen the Articles of Confederation since the approach of peace in 1783.

Along with Robert Morris, James Madison and others they were known for these efforts to convince the states to grant adequate, real powers to the AC.

They thus earned the reputation as strong 'federal men.'

You can dispute whether the government they designed, which included the states was federal enough, but it was not propaganda at all to claim the title of The Federalist for their New York newspaper columns.

It made a heck of a lot more sense to refer to constitutional supporters as federal than it does today to refer to conservative states today as 'red.'

[Sam Gamgee]

If we define federalists as those of Hamilton's ilk and anti-federalists as Jefferson and others, I think the anti-federalists have been proven right by history. The Executive has been a massive failure. I count 55 years of tyrannical Presidents just for the 20th century. That doesn't include the mediocre and inept. Hamilton's federalism was the backdrop that gave us a big bank and big government. Hamilton himself was little more than a lackey to Great Britain who thought the US should do whatever it could to suck up to their former enemy. I consider him one of the villains of US history.

[Jacquerie]

I think the anti-federalists have been proven right by history.

If you mean defeat of the constitution, and continuance of the Articles of Confederation, the American union would have totally dissolved before 1790.

Had that happened, there is no telling how the European powers would have divvied up North America.

[Publius]

I would recommend Alexander Hamilton: A Biography by Forrest McDonald. It takes a look at Hamilton as a "lawgiver", and it's pretty balanced.

[Jacquerie]

Hamilton himself was little more than a lackey to Great Britain

In a time when a small minority of former colonists took up arms against Great Britain, Alexander Hamilton was among them.

He served as an artillery officer and subsequently on the Staff of General Washington. Like the other senior military and political officers of the new country, he risked possible hanging if captured.

Alexander Hamilton lead an assault on a British redoubt at Yorktown.

He resisted the call for a military takeover of the hapless non-government under the Articles of Confederation.

He was a delegate to the Annapolis convention of 1786 and largely responsible for the constitutional convention the next year.

On June 18th of the federal convention he launched a strategic assault on the minds of deadlocked delegates. His all day speech in support of a parliamentary system as an alternative to the Randolph and Paterson Plans shocked his fellow delegates into making the decision to dump the Articles of Confederation and offer a new plan of government.

[Sam Gamgee]

In addressing the civil war, I have gone back and forth on my opinions on this. But after careful scrutiny I really can't sympathize with a fraction of the union that thinks it has a right to basically loot the freedom of a person due to their race. The way blacks were treated was disgusting and a disgusting piece of American history. Was their racism in the north and was Lincoln a bit of a tyrant, sure? But I still don't see how that excuses the barbarism of the South. Frankly I think they deserved what came to them. Reconstruction as the extreme radicals of the Republican party was draconian, but it never came to fruition. In fact the South reverted back to intense racism and segregation by the end of the 1800s. I mean consider this - people in the South thought it was OK to tell blacks to get to the back of the bus and get their own washrooms right until the mid-1960s! That is only ONE generation ago. How the Southern Church could have defended that is outright Orwellian and definitely not Christian.

[Jacquerie]

Hamilton's federalism was the backdrop that gave us a big bank and big government.

Good grief you don't know of what you speak. Take Pulius' advice in #24 and educate yourself.

[Sam Gamgee]

Well its good to hear about his early years. But he supported the fascism of the central bank, basically approving of confiscatory monetary policy. And wanted to saddle the US up to its former oppressor. I think the other side, who praised the French, were deluded in that instance as well, but saddling up the Brits has never been in the US interest.

[Sam Gamgee]

That was the fear mongering. How has the federation worked out so well? The US saddled with massive debt, a massive entitlement culture, and an Executive that acts like a monarchy. The US would have been better off as a Confederation without an Executive, clearly.

[Sam Gamgee]

How can you trust the biography though? Is it just another whitewash by Federalists?

[Sam Gamgee]

Federalism/Nationalism created big government. What is there to dispute? Did he or did he not thrust a big central bank on Americans?

[Publius]

I wouldn't say his monetary policy was "confiscatory". The country lacked enough gold and silver to go on a strict bimetallic standard. Thanks to the British mercantilist policy toward its American colonies, there was even a shortage of copper for base metal coins.

People used gold and silver coins from foreign mints, but they had been clipped so many times that a merchant had to weigh the coin to figure out how much metal there was in it. They even cut the Spanish Milled Dollar into eight pieces for commerce.

On the frontier, it was even worse. Coins did not circulate far beyond the cities, so the frontier was on a barter system based on brewed and distilled products like beer, ale, porter, stout, whiskies and brandies. The frontier was literally on the Alcohol Standard. A barrel of beer or cask of brandy could be traded at a trading post for gingham or hemp cloth, a side of bacon or machine tools. This was why the whole Whisky Rebellion situation was such a mess. The Brits had taxed brewing and distilling apparatus, and now the new federal entity was doing the same thing. No wonder farmers were up in arms!

Hamilton's paper money scheme was the only thing that would work, especially considering the need to park money in something safe for professional capitalists.

I think you're being unfair to Hamilton. He inherited a mess, and his solution was the only thing that would work until this nation could secur its own source of gold.

[Repeal The 17th]

Thanks.

[Repeal The 17th]

Most excellent essay.

[Publius]

Forrest McDonald is a national treasure. He teaches history at the University of Alabama, and he agonizes over every paragraph to make sure that he gets his point across.

I would also recommend The Young Hamilton, by James Thomas Flexner. His Washington: The Indispensable Man is as definitive a biography of Washington as you'll find.

[Jacquerie]

The confederation was formed to deal with a war, the Revolutionary War. The states barely participated in what passed for a non-government during that awful time. Afterward, after the peace, the states hardly bothered to send delegates to congress at all. Call it what you want, but the AC were not government, and those petty little republics were ripe for eventual picking by European powers. Delegates from Delaware said as much at the constitutional convention.

How has the federation worked out so well?

Our once confederated republic worked out very well, warts and all until 1913.

[PROCON]

Could I have the Cliff notes version...

[Drrdot]

Thank you for the work you put into this. I found it really interesting. I wonder though, do you know the origin of the original use of the word ‘federalist’? At face value, it does seem like it would mean a supporter of more federal power. I had assumed that the modern day usage of the word as applied to conservatives, was referring to a return to the government upon creation. Whatever arguments Hamilton made, surely the federal government in his mind would still be vastly more limited than the one we have today.

[Publius]

I like Madison's use of the term in Federalist #39.

[Jim Robinson]

Absolutely fantastic! Outstanding! Must read!

And that’s how we got to where we are today. The “federalist” tea party rebelling against the nationalist/fascist/socialist/statist/corporatist big government entrenched establishment. One big ass can of worms.