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The Institutionalization of Power Poli 110J 2.1

Explore the foundation of American political thought during the Revolutionary Era, discussing key concepts, values, and debates that shaped the nation; including the Federalist and Anti-Federalist perspectives. Dive into the ideals of democracy, republicanism, and institutional power as seen through the Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers.

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The Institutionalization of Power Poli 110J 2.1

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  1. The Institutionalization of PowerPoli 110J 2.1 Democracy and Republic

  2. Declaration of Independence (recap) • In the voice of a national people • The Union is a community of belief • Equality the primary political good • State of Nature argument, rights given by “the Creator” • Purpose of Gov’t to protect security & inborn rights of individuals

  3. Articles of Confederation(recap) • Written in the voice of the representatives of the various States • Union a contractual alliance of sovereign states • Loose confederation, central gov’t lacks coercive powers for either draft or taxation • Most powers remain w/states, who retain high levels of internal sovereignty

  4. Articles of Confederation(recap) • needs 2/3 majority for legislations. National laws apply to states, not individuals. • Unanimity required for change • Each state has veto

  5. Democracy and Republic • What is a republic? • Minimally: Head of state chosen by method other than hereditary succession • Traditionally: A strong concern with the defense and moral significance of the community. • Strong concern with political & moral virtues, corruption • Free individuals banded together into a political unit

  6. Democracy and Republic • What is democracy? • “The rule of the people” • At this time, it referred primarily to what we now call direct (i.e. non-representative) democracy • Had a bad reputation for being erratic & lawless

  7. Democracy and Republic • What is liberalism? • Strong political rights • Strong property rights • Rule of law • Usually based in the authority of reason

  8. Democracy and Republic • These 3 political traditions are highly influential at the time of the nation’s founding (1776) and the drafting of the Constitution (1787) • Unresolved questions: • Which is better, a small or a large republic? • What is the ultimate source of authority, the law or the will of the people? • How should the will of the people be mediated?

  9. Federalist Papers • 1787-88 • Authorship: • Usually credited as follows: • Alexander Hamilton: #1, 6–9, 11–13, 15–17, 21–36, 59–61, and 65–85 • James Madison: #10, 14, 37–58 and 62–63 • John Jay: #2–5 and 64

  10. Federalist Papers • Why kept secret? Why attributed to a single pseudonym? • Publius Valerius Publicola • A leader of the Roman revolt, which ended the line of the kings of Rome • Wrote popular series of laws, helped to structure Roman Republic • Called “the friend of the people”

  11. Anti-Federalist Papers • 1787 • Unlike Federalist papers, not an organized project. • “Anti-Federalist” a label that got attached to the position in these essays • Numbers assigned by later researches. We use those of Morton Borden, meant to match roughly w/Federalist Papers • Authorship: • Cato (~George Clinton) • Brutus (~Robert Yates) • Centinel (Samuel Bryan)

  12. Anti-Federalist Papers • Cato: Senator of the late Roman Republic, known for his moral integrity & opposition to the coup by Julius Caesar • Brutus: most famous of Caesar’s assassins • Centinel = Sentinel, guardian

  13. A Revolution Divided • Classical pseudonyms reveal the extent to which Federalists & Anti-Federalists differ in their points of view • Is the republic being born, or threatened with destruction? • Many revolutions, lacking established authority by definition, suffer internal conflict • American political institutions may have helped to prevent American divisions from causing major political violence

  14. A Revolution Divided • Points of conflict • What is America? • One people or many? • Both agree that ultimate source of political authority lies in the people, but is that authority expressed in their laws or in their voices? • To what extent a democracy, to what a republic?

  15. A Revolution Divided • Points of conflict • What should be the nature and the power of American political institutions? • Where should political power be located? • How strong should the Union be?

  16. Federalist and Anti-Federalist • Basic points of disagreement: • Are people fundamentally good or fundamentally bad? • What makes them good or bad? • Which is the greater and more immediate threat, anarchy or despotism? • Is the United States one people or many?

  17. Federalist and Anti-Federalist • Basic points of agreement • Our opponents are blinded by interest and passion • Fed #1: Opponents blinded by “perverted ambition”, “passions and prejudices little favorable to the discovery of truth” • AF #1: “the deceptive mists cast before the eyes of the people by the delusive machinations of its INTERESTED advocates begins to dissipate”

  18. Federalist and Anti-Federalist • Though they take strongly opposed positions, each side of the Constitution debate speaks the same political language. • Thus, this is not an issue of what ideals and principles apply, but of their interpretation.

  19. Federalist • People are fundamentally bad • Fed. #10: “The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.” • Fed. #6: “men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious.”

  20. Anti-Federalist • Humans are fundamentally good • AF #3: “Where the government is lodged in the body of the people, as in Switzerland, they can never be corrupted; for no prince, or people, can have resources enough to corrupt the majority of a nation” • “We make them bad, by bad governments, and then abuse and despise them for being so. Our people are capable of being made anything that human nature was or is capable of, if we would only have a little patience and give them good and wholesome institutions”

  21. Federalist • Anarchy and civil war are the most pressing threats • Fed. #10: Due to the increased freedom found in republics, they are particularly prone to faction. • Fed. #6: “if these States should either be wholly disunited, or only united in partial confederacies, the subdivisions into which they might be thrown would have frequent and violent contests with each other.”

  22. Federalist • Anarchy and civil war are the most pressing threats • Fed. #6: “Has it not, on the contrary, invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interest, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility or justice? Have republics in practice been less addicted to war than monarchies? Are not the former administered by men as well as the latter?”

  23. Anti-Federalist • Despotism is the most pressing threat • AF #2: Democratic republics, ruled by the people, will not make war on one another (a version of the “democratic peace” argument) • AF #3: “Order and security are immediately sought by the distracted people beneath the shelter of equal laws and the salutary restraints of regular government; and if this be not attainable, absolute power is assumed by the one, or a few, who shall be the most enterprising and successful.”

  24. Anti-Federalist • Despotism is the most pressing threat • AF #14: National government unwieldy, threatens state freedom • AF #6: “a continual civil war, which is the most destructive and horrible scene of human discord, is preferable to the uniformity of wretchedness and misery attendant upon despotism; of all possible evils, as I observed in my first number, this is the worst and the most to be dreaded. “

  25. Federalist • The United States is one, national people • Fed. #14: "Shut your hearts against the poison which it conveys; the kindred blood which flows in the veins of American citizens, the mingled blood which they have shed in defense of their sacred rights, consecrate their Union, and excite horror at the idea of their becoming aliens, rivals, enemies."

  26. Federalist • The United States is one, national people • Fed. #23: “If we are in earnest about giving the Union energy and duration, we must abandon the vain project of legislating upon the States in their collective capacities; we must extend the laws of the federal government to the individual citizens of America” • See AF #3: Gov’t affecting individuals is national; affecting states, federal • Fed. #78: The Constitution will be the expression of the will of “the people”.

  27. Anti-Federalist • The United States is an alliance of many peoples • AF #3: The division of American power and identity makes the government slower, less active, and less powerful. This leads to peace, and is a good thing.

  28. Anti-Federalist • The United States is an alliance of many peoples • AF #14: “It may be suggested, …that whoever is a citizen of one state is a citizen of each, and that therefore he will be as interested in the happiness and interest of all, as the one he is delegated from. But the argument is fallacious, and, whoever has attended to the history of mankind, and the principles which bind them together as parents, citizens, or men, will readily perceive it. “ • Local identity and loyalty is stronger than national

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