Greetings and Gobble, Gobble! I hope you enjoy your holiday and get to spend some quality time with family, fun, and good food!
You spent time reading Benjamin Franklin's and Patrick Henry's opinions of the U.S. Constitution. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists contributed significantly to our political discourse, and even though debate over the Constitution subsided, political parties were here to stay--despite President Washington's best efforts to warn us away in his Farewell Address!
The Federalists were ultimately successful in part because their proactive campaign blanketed the country with essays supporting ratification of the Constitution. Yet even with the support of such notables as George Washington, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, ratification was a slow and uncertain process. Let's not overlook how important the Anti-Federalists were!
Question:
Which side was really most persuasive? Explain which side and which argument did the most to support its views. What were the long-lasting effects of this argument? Use what you know from the text, from the Franklin and Henry pieces, from The Federalist No. 10, and from other primary sources. (I have provided some primary sources for you!)
Extra “Stuff” for you:
Who were the Anti-Federalists and what did they believe?
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/creating-new-government/essays/antifederalists-other-founders-american-constitutional
What primary sources can I look at?
Go to our class website and look at the Homework link :) https://sites.google.com/site/macklinshistoryminions/assignments/tobeafederalistorantifederalistthatisthequestion
The Federalist were most persuasive.Leaders of the Federalist party like Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and James Madison created persuasive papers to boost the campaign. James Madison made over 80 Federalist paper explaining to the people why to side with them. He shared the ideas of how to remove faction like in the Federalist No.10 and how there should be divisions of classes in Federalist No.51. These customs have had a long term effect to even modern day today. Alexander Hamilton influenced George Washington by his ideas to assume national and state debts, pass tax laws, and create a central bank. When supporting the constitution Benjamin Franklin worked hard for its ratification. He believed that government should be ruled by people and that the reason there is a government is to protect the rights of life, liberty and property. These laws, and ways of life have still stuck with us today.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The Federalists had ideas that would help the country progress. The Anti-federalists were still focused on an agrarian economy, one that would surely end in failure. The Federalist's ideas paved the way for America.
DeleteJames Madison was actually a Republican but ended up suporting the Constitution.
DeleteYes. The federalists like Madison wanted to open people's mind and have the anti-federalists see that nothing would be set out of line. The checks and balances in the constitution would actually offer a way of help to keep the taxes and banks in place. The anti-federalists, like anyone else, did not want to be over ruled by someone with different views when in actuality weren't too off.
DeleteI support Ale's opinion on how the Federalists were the most persuasive.
DeleteHowever, your statement about Madison writing over 80 Federalist Papers is incorrect. Madison, in fact, only wrote 28 of the "papers", essays. He was one of a group of three who collectively wrote essays to show support for a federal government.
The Federalists were the most persuasive side of the argument. They believed that in order for our country to prosper and succeed, we needed a strong central government and also further our economic development. While the Anti-federalists held their beliefs that our economy depended on farming, it was ultimately the ideas of the Federalists that helped move our country forward.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Federalists were the most persuasive because leaders like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Adams wrote papers and gave speeches, and anything you could think of to promote the importance of having the Constitution ratified. It is funny to see how James Madison a person who was a Republican the opponent of the Federalist Party came to support the ratification of the Constitution and wrote the Federalist Papers which turn out to be very crucial on the the decisions of many people to support the ratification. Also, Federalists like George Washington worked along side his Vice President very hard to ratified the Constituion and was heavily influenced by Alexander Hamilton's ideas. And last, but not least inventor, philosopher, whatever you want to call him Benjamin Franklin worked a lot to promote the ratification of the Constitution while on foreign affairs.
ReplyDeleteJust by having the constitution today, it is easiest to say that the Federalists had the most influence. The Federalists were able to address most of the problems that had been going on. Although the anti-federalists believed it would end in tyranny, Benjamin Franklin thought it was as close to perfect that the government could get. A checks and balances was involved very much in the constitution for the people like anti-federalists to see that everything would have their limits and people would have restraints. Patrick Henry, for example, didn’t see it as such. In his article, it is obvious on how little he actually comprehended from reading the constitution. The constitution did in fact take many views into consideration for the most part which adds on to the fact that it took a while for the ratification of it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Federalists were the more persuasive of the two groups, Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Collectively, the Federalists tried to emphasize the pros of nationalism and unity under a republic. Benjamin Franklin supported the idea of ratifying the Constitution, although he did not necessarily agree with every statement in the document. He believed that this proposed form of government was as good of a chance of a fair national government as they were going to get. The signers of the Constitution were moved by his speech at the Constitutional Convention. They were most likely moved by his speech, enough to reconsider some of the present men's opinions on the Constitution. James Madison's Federalist papers, too, inspired and accumulated to the idea for choosing republicanism. His papers and Franklin's speech affect today's government, for it now is today's standard. We follow the rules of their favored form of government.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Federalist party was the most persuasive out of the two groups. The Federalists were able to address current issues like supporting a central government and ratifying the Constitution.they also had strong leaders like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin to help persuade the people to support them through speeches and papers. Franklin did not support some the ideas presented in the Constitution, but he said that it was the closest they were going t be able to get to a great form of government. If the Federalists had not been persuasive, then we would not currently have the Constitution as the form of government.
ReplyDeletethe federalist were the most pursuasive. i think the james madison "Federalists number 10" was a great piece that had a great amount of impact because he addressed the importance of factions and how it will tear our nation apart.
ReplyDeleteThough the anti federalist were able to hold off the constitutions ratification for quite some time, the federalist were ultimitly the most persuasive, givin the fact that we have the constitution now. Not only did the federalist have a much cleaner understanding of the document, but they were able to adress every aspect of it very well. Just as Franklin explained it, it wasnt perfect since perfection can never be achivied, but it was very close. He described how it was made with almost every view in mind and well established with a good foundaton. In the end, their argument won.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Franklin believed that the checks and balance was working pretty well for the government because it didn't give to much power to the branched and it separated the powers in 3 branches . Patrick Henr y really didn't know his constitution. So
ReplyDeleteFederalists had the most influence in our government. And influenced the constution not the Anti-federalist even if they believed the federalist were going to destroy.