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Chapter 2 o The Federalists, 1789–1801 Alexander Hamilton and Congress With New York’s ratification of the Constitution, the country moved into an uneasy phase during which one government lapsed while another came to life. Many Americans continued to fear that the nation was too large and diverse to be ruled by a single entity. Fearful that the new government would exercise too much power, Virginia called for another constitutional convention , as did New York—the latter in February 1789, less than a month before the new regime came into existence. Fear of federal power proved so great that almost as soon as the first Congress met, legislators offered amendments designed to further limit the authority of the new government. Much of the work had been completed during the ratification process—nine states issued more than eighty amendments along with their ratification resolutions. Almost all proposed further limitations of federal authority. Only three ideas appeared in the proposals of each state. The first two limited congressional authority in the areas of taxation and elections. The third, echoing Wilson’s Stateyard speech, provided that the federal government could exercise only those powers granted to it. 1 When the House of Representatives met in the spring of 1789, the task of boiling the proposed amendments down to a more manageable figure fell to James Madison. He reduced them to twelve, the last being James Wilson ’s proviso regarding the limitation of federal authority to those areas list36 1. Forrest McDonald, The Presidency of George Washington (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973), 35. For the resolutions of Virginia, North Carolina, and Massachusetts declaring that Congress could exercise only those powers granted to it, see Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions, 3:56, 4:249, and 2:177. ed in the Constitution. Madison tried to extend some of the rights protected by the proposed amendments—freedom of the press and worship as well as jury trials in criminal cases—to the state governments. 2 The Senate rejected the idea and Congress sent the amendments to the states for ratification. Ten—the “Bill of Rights”—became law in late 1791 when Virginia became the tenth state to ratify them. 3 James Madison had to agree to work for passage of a bill of rights before his fellow Virginians would send him to Congress. Alexander Hamilton did not have to trim his sails in order to secure a place in the new regime . Throughout the struggle of 1787–88, Hamilton held fast to his own unique vision for American government. At the Constitutional Convention, he proposed a highly ambitious plan that all but called for the abolition of the states. 4 The Convention ignored the proposal and Hamilton—infuriated —almost went home. Although he decided to remain until the end and became the lone delegate from New York to sign the Constitution, it still struck him as inadequate—it left too much power in the hands of the states. 5 Contempt did not stop Hamilton from becoming one of the charter ’s leading advocates during the ratification struggle. He realized that if the states rejected the Constitution and devised a new government, it would be weaker than the one devised in Philadelphia. Hamilton wrote almost half of the newspaper articles that later became known as The Federalist, thus securing his place in history as one of the chief advocates of a framework of government he originally dismissed. Alexander Hamilton would have enjoyed a prominent place in American history had he never involved himself with the events of 1787 and ’88. During the Revolutionary War he served as George Washington’s aidede -camp; at Yorktown he led a crucial assault on British positions. The loyalty and limitations of his former commander ensured that Hamilton would the federalists, 1789–1801 37 2. See U.S. Congress, Annals of the Congress of the United States, 1789–1824, 42 vols. (Washington , D.C.: Gales & Seaton, 1834–56) (hereafter Annals of Congress), 1st Cong., 1st sess., August 17, 1789, 1:783–84. 3. Article V required that proposed amendments be ratified by three-quarters of the states in order to become part of the Constitution. All twelve of the amendments submitted to the states in September 1789 are contained in Statutes at Large of the United States of America, 1789– 1873, 17 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1845–74) (hereafter Stats at Large), vol. 1, 97–98. 4. Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention, 1:287. 5. Hamilton to Gouverneur...

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