The Constitution Establishes an Aristocracy
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representatives would be far from home, comfortable in their jobs, enjoying a big salary that they set themselves. They would be living in some
distant, yet-to-be-built city far removed from the watchful eye of the people they represented. Under these circumstances, they surely would lose
touch with their constituents. The system was an invitation to despotism.
These fears and suspicions were also confirmed by certain deficiencies in the Constitution itself. The Constitution, for example, made no
provision for recalling elections; and rotation in office, argued the AntiFederalists, was not frequent enough. A common theme in Anti-Federalist
literature was the complaint, as ‘‘A Plebian’’ from New York wrote, that
‘‘the power of the general legislature to alter and regulate the time, place,
The Federal Pillars.
The Massachusetts Centinel published a number of allegorical illustrations in 1788 to
mark the progress of each State’s ratification of the proposed Constitution. This early
one marked the pending ratification of Massachusetts and stressed the advantage of
unity. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)