ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The Loyal Opposition: The Anti-Federalists and the Ratification of the Constitution
Richmond, June 1788. Patrick Henry asks who authorized the men at Philadelphia to write "We, the people" instead of "We, the states" — and warns the convention to "guard with jealous attention the public liberty."
The Constitution's critics lost, and the votes were close: a margin of ten in Virginia, three in New York. They were wrong about monarchy and wrong about how fast power would gather. They were right about where it would go, and right that a government left to read its own powers would read them generously.
Companion to Article 20, published November 1.
From George Mason's objections to the newspaper essays of Centinel, Cato, the Federal Farmer, and Brutus, the opposition's case turned on two words in Mason's warning: "their own Construction." James Wilson answered that under the Constitution "every thing which is not given, is reserved." Brutus warned that federal judges would be "independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven."
The ratification ran from Delaware's unanimous vote through Massachusetts, where John Hancock proposed ratifying and recommending amendments in the same act, to Richmond and Poughkeepsie. Henry promised to be "a peaceable citizen" if he lost. Melancton Smith, who led New York's opposition, concluded that "a conditional adoption is a rejection" and voted to ratify. Less than three years later, the fight over a national bank tested the promise of "few and defined" powers.
The question underneath all of it: did this leave Americans more free, or more governed?
⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 — Patrick Henry in Richmond, June 1788
3:41 — We, the people, or we, the states?
6:30 — George Mason: "There is no Declaration of Rights"
9:45 — Centinel, Cato, the Federal Farmer, and Brutus
18:05 — "Every thing which is not given, is reserved"
21:59 — Nine states, then Richmond
30:59 — Poughkeepsie and Melancton Smith
36:23 — Were they right? The Skeptic's Case and the Liberty Test
📚 Article 20: https://www.consequentialactions.com/post/the-loyal-opposition-the-critics-of-the-constitution-1787-1788
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🎙️ Self-Evident: The Road to 1776 — Episode 20: "The Loyal Opposition"
Next: Episode 20B — Tuesday, November 10. Episode 21, "The Bill of Rights" — Saturday, November 14.
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Consequential Actions is a libertarian, non-interventionist analysis of American constitutional and foreign policy. New episodes weekly.
🌐 https://www.consequentialactions.com
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