In opposition to the democratic vision stands another school of thought which is at the origin of the belief that America was never intended to be a democracy. It advocates mainly representation by the elites and a separation of powers, and we shall see what becomes of it in the context of the young republic struggling for independence and trying to establish a government of its own. We analyze these aspects through John Adams' work, Thoughts on Government and the Federalist. The republican vision of government was exemplified by Adams' work. The son of a farmer and deacon also named John; he was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1735. He went to Harvard and became a lawyer, though his father wanted him to become a minister. He married his wife Abigail (1744-1818) in 1764. Among their six children was John Quincy, who became the sixth president of the United States. Also of importance in his family was his cousin Samuel Adams, a political leader in Boston.
[...] Among the tools used by the Federalists to change the minds of the people of the state of New York were the Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 articles written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, and published between October 1787 and August 1788. Why New York? Because it was truly essential to the Union: it had one of the major cities big harbor moreover), it was a large state with a large population, and it was in the very middle of everything (indeed, the only way to get around it would have been to go through Canada or to take a boat). [...]
[...] This derives from the Harringtonian notion that the political power comes from the economic power, and that a man is only free and independent when he has an estate of his own. Otherwise, his vote would be that of his landlord. Hence all the restrictions of the franchise that the different state constitutions were implementing at the time. But here Adams might be speaking more about holding office rather than voting. Since there was the secret ballot, a landlord could not really control the vote of his tenant. [...]
[...] Again, this is not really representation, and one can easily see the elitism inherent in the republican vision of government. But Madison acknowledges it while stating that it will be for the good of the common people. About the extent of the government, Madison argues that a larger electorate will dilute the importance of factions. That is, by increasing the volume of a body (here, by considering the Union instead of viewing the states as separate entities), one reduces the proportion of any given element within it. [...]
[...] Usually these two articles are used to show that the Founding Fathers intended U.S. politics to be non-partisan, something George Washington reminded in his farewell speech at the end of his second term. Together, the Federalist Papers vouch for the Constitution, which is in fact close to the republican mixed government evoked by Adams in Thoughts on Government. Federalist #10 It was published on November and really seems in direct relation with Shays's rebellion. It actually is a sequel to and claims that the Constitution will protect the people from “domestic faction and insurrection.” In this view, “factions” are a group of people with the same interest (p. [...]
[...] Eventually, New York ratified the Constitution on July though the vote had the second smallest margin after Rhode Island, respectively 30-27 and 32-30. In that respect, one can says that the Antifederalists lost a battle, but they won the war with Madison's introducing in Congress a list of amendments that would become the Bill of Rights in 1791. Conclusion In the end, the opposition between advocates of a broad democracy (like Paine) and advocates of a harder republicanism (like Adams) found an embodiment in the opposition between the Federalists and the Antifederalists, but more than a decade later. [...]
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