During the period of debate over the ratification of the Constitution, numerous independent local speeches and articles were published all across the country. Initially, many of the articles in opposition were written under pseudonyms, such as “Brutus”, “Centinel”, and “Federal Farmer”. Eventually, famous revolutionary figures such as Patrick Henry came out publicly against the Constitution. They argued that the strong national government proposed by the Federalists was a threat to the rights of individuals and that the President would become a king. They objected to the federal court system created by the proposed constitution. This produced a phenomenal body of political writing; the best and most influential of these articles and speeches were gathered by historians into a collection known as the Anti-Federalist Papers in allusion to the Federalist Papers.
Listen or download the audio book here: http://www.loyalbooks.com/book/the-anti-federalist-papers-by-patrick-henry
Much appreciated Bill!
I’ve been doing a little research into how the Constitution came to be. Haven’t finished it yet but I have gotten as far as the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and how they were elected.
If the Constitution is a Contract between We the People and handful of folks calling themselves “civil servants”, then I would have to say that the Constitution is an Unconscionable Contract.
Near as I can tell, the VAST majority of We the People back then never got to vote as to whether they wanted this Contract or not. How can you have a Contract when the first party never had the chance to agree to it?
I’ll give an example. New Jersey. New Jersey had this law in effect that said in order to vote you had to have 50 pounds proclamation money.
For those that don’t know, proclamation money were English pounds minted when Queen Anne, in 1704, issued a proclamation for these coins to be created.
So, in New Jersey, in order to vote you had to have money. Not just any kind of money but a specific, certain kind of money.
Who would have 50 pounds or more of proclamation money just laying around?
The wealthy. The rich folk. Wealthy landowners and business men.
The numbers of the people who voted for delegates in New Jersey went something like this:
200 from this county
300 from that county.
And so on. There were an estimated 140,000 people living in New Jersey in 1787. Which means that only a handful of wealthy folks voted to decide who the delegates from New Jersey would be. And since the wealthy really wanted to stay wealthy they voted for the Federalist delegates.
The delegates from New Jersey voted 38-0 for the Constitution.
I haven’t researched the other States yet but I would assume that they all had a similar law in place as to who could vote and who couldn’t.
The rich got to vote. The poor folks were left out of the decision.
When the Constitution refers to We the People, it’s referring to the rich, wealthy people. It did back then and still does to this day. Poor folk need not apply.
Which is why we see the system set up the way it is today. Rich people have Rights.
The poor folk do not.