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The Constitution’s Deep Roots
The Lamp of Experience
The Articles of Confederation, America’s first national constitution, were
hastily drafted in 1776 amidst the turmoil of the American Revolution.
Because of disagreements among the States, ratification was slow in coming. In fact, the Articles did not actually go into effect until 1781. By 1787
there was widespread agreement throughout the country that the Articles had proved to be unsatisfactory and that it was therefore necessary
to change them substantially, or possibly to abandon them altogether
and write a new constitution. In the end, as we shall see, the latter view
prevailed. The members of the Federal (or ‘‘Philadelphia’’) Convention
who met in Philadelphia in 1787 to ‘‘revise’’ the Articles soon came to
the conclusion that the defects were so fundamental that a mere revision would not be practical.
One delegate to the Federal Convention who argued strenuously for a
new constitution, and then later led the fight for ratification of the one
that was finally drafted, was Alexander Hamilton of New York. After the
Convention completed its work on September 17, 1787, Hamilton, joined
by John Jay of New York and James Madison of Virginia, wrote a series
of essays called The Federalist. Written for New York newspapers, and
later distributed in other States, the essays in The Federalist urged the people to support the new Constitution and attempted to explain why it was
preferable to the Articles of Confederation. Seeking to present themselves
as neutral observers, the authors of The Federalist concealed their identity
and wrote under the name of ‘‘Publius.’’ Most other writers, whether favoring or opposing the Constitution, did the same. In New York, for example, one of the most effective critics of the new Constitution was an
anonymous writer named ‘‘Brutus.’’ From New Hampshire to Georgia a
great ‘‘war of pamphlets’’ erupted in the struggle over ratification of the
Constitution. Those favoring adoption called themselves ‘‘Federalists,’’
and those opposing ratification were dubbed ‘‘Anti-Federalists.’’ From
their very inception, the 85 essays in The Federalist, or what are commonly
known as The Federalist Papers, were immediately recognized as superior
to other writings on the Constitution produced during the ratification
struggle. Taken together, they constituted a brilliant exposition of the entire Constitution—profound, insightful, and instructive. To this day, The