The ancient cry of Liberty reaches back throughout time to people across the globe who desire to be free of tyranny and to enjoy the Liberty the Almighty grants when we follow his Word. We read of these struggles for freedom from passages in the Bible where the LORD himself instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “Let my people go!” so that they could serve God. This has occurred throughout history and is also emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty describing the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.
But, freedom and tyranny don’t work well together. When totalitarian rulers demand strict and tight obedience to themselves and the Almighty of the Bible says, “Let my people go” there is going to be a conflict. That is usually where those who follow after the God of the Bible and those who don’t butt heads, and at times create a revolution.
The founders had had that head butt with King George III and were now having issues with setting up a perpetual and solid governmental base to work from. They started with the Articles of Confederation which included lots of independence and freedom, but lacked what many considered necessary for commerce, taxation, executive leadership and other reasons. Thus, many were not content with this government.
When the U.S. Constitution was up for adoption by the states, the country split into political factions. These factions formed into two political parties: Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and Anti-federalists who didn’t support it. This is very much like today with political parties attracting like minded folk who hold different ideas and mindsets about how to run the government at both federal and state levels. The basis is whether we will follow a centralized government that is all powerful with limited freedom, if any, or a decentralized government with less power and more individual liberty.
The battle lines were drawn as the political parties were formed and have descended to us today. We still have old fashioned federalists and anti-federalists today only under different names.
Federalists included:
John Hancock (Massachusetts)
Alexander Hamilton (New York)
James Madison (Virginia) who was known to often switch between the two sides.
John Jay (New York)
George Washington (Virginia)
John Adams (Massachusetts)
Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote The Federalist Papers in support of the new Constitution. These men worked together to express their ideas supporting ratification of the Constitution in a series of 85 essays published in period newspapers. They were published under the pseudonym “Publius” between 1787 to 1788.
Many of the Founders who framed the Constitution supported ratification. Anti-Federalist’s did not, and included men who had led the way in opposing King George III and separation from Britain, such as:
George Mason (Virginia)
Edmund Randolph (Virginia)
Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts)
Samuel Adams (Massachusetts)
Patrick Henry (Virginia)
Richard Henry Lee (Virginia)
The Anti-Federalist’s wrote a series of essays independently of each other from 1787 until the early 1790’s arguing against a strong central federal government and for a decentralized stronger state government system. The essays displayed a concern or opposition to the new Constitution based on a variety of reasons and were published in New York newspapers of the day under the pen name “Brutus”. In the mid 1960’s the essays were collected into one book as The Anti-Federalist Papers.
These are the leading figures on both sides. Just like today there were many thousands who supported each side and many in the middle.
Thomas Jefferson was not in America, and appears to have supported the Constitution, but on one condition: that a Bill of Rights be added.
George Mason championed the move for a Bill of Rights and refused to sign the Constitution without one. He was one of three founders who refused to sign, the others being Virginian Edmund Randolph and Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts. Mason’s refusal to sign created much animosity between Mason and his friend and neighbor George Washington; their friendship never recovered. After the Constitution was ratified, Congress drew up a Bill of Rights in 1791. George Mason is known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights.”
Michael Reed is Editor of The Standard.
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