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Hamilton & Jefferson on the American Constitution The merits of the new American Constitution wer

The merits of the new American Constitution were presented and defended by "Publius" in The Federalist Papers, written during 1787-1788 (Hampsher-Monk 198-199). Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay alternatively assumed the role of Publius, and together rebutted criticisms made of the Constitution by other American patriots. The men who opposed the Constitution's unconditional ratification became known as the Anti-Federalists. Though the Anti-Federalists generally agreed that the Constitution was well conceived, they were unprepared to accept the document so long as it lacked a national Bill of Rights (Dry). By 1791 the first ten amendments to the Constitutionùthe prevailing Bill of Rightsùhad been ratified by the states. In the years that followed, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson would stand in opposition to one anotherùmuch the way the Federalists and Anti-Federalists had doneùon issues concerning the strength of the Federal government, and the individual citizen's need for protections from that strength. The legacy of these debates over proper governance in the United States extends to this day.

The "great unresolved issue of American political life," writes Ethan B. Kapstein in the World Policy Journal, is "that of the relationship between the national and state governments (35)." The ideological gulf separating the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists concerned this issue, as did the debate that occupied Jefferson and Hamilton for the remainder of their political lives. Alexander Hamilton, though a Federalist from the start, favored a strong national government, headed by a powerful chief executive (Hampsher-Monk 199). The Anti-Federalists were too quickly reminded of the tyranny that they had recently bled on the battlefield opposing, and were skeptical of this approach. Placing too much power in the control of any one branch of government, let alone in the hands of any one man, seemed mad...

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Hamilton & Jefferson on the American Constitution The merits of the new American Constitution wer. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:43, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1703294.html