GHIST 225: US History
Kevin R. Hardwick
Spring 2012
LECTURE 11
The “Critical Period:” 1781-1787
Part Two
GHIST 225: US History
Kevin R. Hardwick
Spring 2012
Part One: The Politics of Debt in the 1780s
Part Two: Arguments for a stronger national
government: concerns for property and order
Document: Publius [James Madison], Federalist 51
Contemporary etching of
Daniel Shays and his main
lieutenant, Jab Shattuck.
Note that the artist who
drew this image was hostile
to the rebels.
Map of troop movements in
Shay’s Rebellion, sketched by
Yale President Ezra Stiles in his
diary, Feb. 1787
George Washington to Henry Lee, Oct. 31st, 1786
“The accounts which are published of the commotions…exhibit a melancholy
proof of what our trans-Atlantic foe has predicted; and of another thing
perhaps, which is still more to be regretted, and is yet more unaccountable,
that mankind when left to themselves are unfit for their own Government. I
am mortified beyond expression when I view the clouds that have spread over
the brightest morn that ever dawned upon any Country… To be more exposed
in the eyes of the world, and more contemptible than we already are, is hardly
possible.”
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft of the Articles that a year later
was ratified):
The primary source of weakness in the Articles was:
an excess of the spirit of liberty which has made the
particular states show a jealousy of all power not in
their own hands; and this jealousy has led them to
exercise a right of judging in the last resort of the
measures recommended by Congress, and of acting
according to their own opinions of their propriety or
necessity.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
The confederation itself is defective and requires to be
altered; it is neither fit for war, nor peace. The idea of an
uncontrolable sovereignty in each state, over its internal
police, will defeat the other powers given to Congress,
and make our union feeble and precarious. There are
instances without number, where acts necessary for the
general good, and which rise out of the powers given to
Congress must interfere with the internal police of the
states, and there are as many instances in which the
particular states by arrangements of internal police can
effectually though indirectly counteract the
arrangements of Congress.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
In our case, that of an empire composed of confederated
states each with a government completely organised
within itself, having all the means to draw its subjects to
a close dependence on itself--the
danger is . . .
that the common sovereign will not
have power sufficient to unite the
different members together, and direct
the common forces to the interest and happiness of the
whole.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
A single man, in each department of administration,
would be greatly preferable. It would give us a chance
of more knowledge, more activity, more responsibility
and of course more zeal and attention.
Alexander Hamilton, Letter to James Duane, 1780
(criticizing the draft that a year later was ratified):
Hamilton wanted to replace the Confederation with "a
solid coercive union."
The confederation in my opinion should give Congress
complete sovereignty; except as to that part of internal
police, which relates to the rights of property and life
among individuals and to raising money by internal
taxes. It is necessary, that every thing, belonging to this,
should be regulated by the state legislatures. Congress
should have complete sovereignty in all that relates to
war, peace, trade, finance, and to the management of
foreign affairs, . . .
James Madison, Vices of the Political System, 1787
The Practice of many states in restricting the commercial
intercourse with other States, and putting their
productions and manufactures on the same footing with
those of foreign nations, though not contrary to the
federal articles, is certainly adverse to the spirit of the
Union, and tends to beget retaliating regulations, not
less expensive & vexious in themselves, than they are
destructive of the general harmony.
James Madison, Vices of the Political System, 1787
"A sanction is essential to the idea of law, as coercion is
to that of government."
James Madison, Federalist 51, 1788
"If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal controls on government would be
necessary. In framing a government which is to be
administered by men over men, the great difficulty is
this: you must first enable the government to control
the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control
itself."
James Madison, Federalist 51, 1788
"The great desideratum in government is such a
modification of the sovereignty as will render it
sufficiently neutral between the different factions and
interests, to control one part of the society from
invading the rights of another, and at the same time
sufficiently controlled itself, from setting up an interest
adverse to that of the whole of society."