The Founding Fathers of America
Like most political endeavors, the foundation of a national government has many founding fathers. The conflict of federalism in the United States made an intense impact on its history. The Founding Fathers had struggled in a revolutionary battle to rid themselves of a strong centralized type of government. Therefore, the Founding Fathers knew the extent of oppressiveness that could arise in such a strong central government. Additionally, they feared the great scale of power that came with such a strong government. Once the elite in society got powerful positions in the government, they retained it without sharing. The Founding fathers dreaded the tyranny of a strong government that had happened in British. They sensed that there was no guarantee of individual rights in that type of governing. Also, they feared that too much power was being given to The Fathers wanted to encourage democracy without the fear that the central government would only be dominated by the wealthy ( Stawicki, 2019). Most citizens were content with a weak government as long as they had their freedom in the institution. Additionally, most of them could be liberated through a decentralized government. The Founding Fathers simultaneously committed to rule out federalism since they associated a strong central government with tyranny.
The Founding Fathers feared that individual power would be depleted, due to the great power the government would have over the rights of its citizens. With the vast extent of power in the government, the less the citizens had. Consequently, if the citizens held more power, then the government would have less power. The fight for preserving individual rights in the American government fuelled the fear of a powerful government. As Thomas Jefferson stated, “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny” (Kean, 2016). The Fathers believed that that concentrated political power would limit the rights of the citizens. A non-restricted strong government would dictate the habits of the people; therefore, the Founding fathers thought that encouraging decentralization would give state powers to provide more liberation. Moreover, they thought that the central government nullified the powers of the state.
Only the elite in the society would hold power in the federalist government. The fathers believed the tyranny would occur. As John Adams noted, “an aristocratic tyranny would arise in which the great will struggle for power, honor and wealth while the poor become prey to avarice, insolence, and oppression.” The new government in the 1780s was not as cohesive as the citizens wanted. An uprising in Massachusetts convinced the delegates in America to hold a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation (Carswell, 2019). The main aim of the representatives was to oppose the incapability to levy taxes by the centralized government. Therefore, most of the poor farmers were burdened by paying back debts to wealthy bondholders. So, the delegates sought to reform most of the federal state laws to favor the rights of the citizens. Yet, the representatives did not agree, as some delegates such as James Hamilton wanted to retain the government but give it different branches. Some of the Founding Fathers believed that a weak central government was enough to represent all the states. They argued that power had to stay at the local level for the freedom of the citizens. However, Madison projected for a strong central government with three branches. Most of the states wanted a plan that could give the citizens more power over their government.
Some of the people argued that if the federal government was to be given more power, they should immensely represent the common people as they argue that, “No government could long subsist without the confidence of the people. ” The Founding Fathers worried that if the executive branch proposed fell under the control of corrupt people, the citizens’ rights would be depleted. The proposed Constitution by Madison and his supporters were voted down. Most of the Founding Fathers debated that the new government constitution did not guarantee the Americans’ specific rights. Thus, they claimed that the common people would lose individual liberty to the strong central government. Also, there was a possibility that this government would place policies that would hinder future Americans from administrating new rights. Most of the American citizens argued the qualities of the federal government in the paper articles and journals. The Founding Fathers such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton published the Federalist Papers, which debated some of the characteristics of a centralized government danger (Jay et al., 2018). Yet, during the convention, the anti-federalists like George Mason were squared off by the federalists. So, most of the delegates ratified the new Constitution of the centralized Constitution. The Founding Fathers argued that this government would lead to tyranny.
Under the federal government, most of the states in America continued to inhibit the voting of men to only the elite in society. Moreover, slavery ensued in America as this federal government secured and overlooked it. No exceptional protection or guarantees of a place in the government was given to the women. All these compromises in the centralized Constitution were allowed to continue. Slave trade was the worst of these aspects as the wealthy were allowed to import African Americans to increase their political power. Some of the federalists included the regulations that protected the foreign slave trade (Jay, 2016). Moreover, the centralized government protected slavery as it expanded only the rights of white citizens. Thomas Jefferson, who was chosen by George Washington as the secretary of state, devoted himself to limiting federal power. Individuals like Alexander Hamilton believed that the inequality brought about by a federal government was “the great and fundaments distinction in society” Thus, he supported the misuse of citizens in harnessing more wealth for the elite. Additionally, he believed that the central government should be “a Repository of the Rights of the wealthy.” Thus, when he projected a single-minded financial plan to achieve his beliefs as secretary of the treasury. With his ambitions, Hamilton proposed the associating of the whole nation’s economic vitality and federal power. This gave the central government power to make the citizens pay the entire face value of the whole notes. He planned to create a bank for the nation for the federal funds. The anti-federalists such as Jefferson debated that the creation of the bank was not allowed by the Constitution. Yet, the bank was created, and it gave the elite people bestowed attention in the central government. The government and wealthy private investors would own most of the money. Therefore, only the well-off and the centralized government would profit.
Also, the federal government gave the elite excessive power as they widened the status gap boundaries in America. The federalists supported the growth of private businesses. Hence, the central government could form security markets where they borrowed large amounts of capital and under-wrote private businesses. However, the Founding Fathers wanted a limited role in the industry so that those who were not well off were regarded. In addition, Alexander Hamilton projected a federal exercise revenue on goods so as to pay off new bonds ( Keane, 2016). The farmers revolted against the collection of tax on the production of their products. They fought off by attacking some of the tax collectors and burning down federal property. Still, the federal government sent off an army that arrested and tried the rebellious citizens. Moreover, under the federal government, they wanted to negotiate treaties between the United States and Britain. Madison and Jefferson conflicted about the negotiations as they doubted the convention of choosing Britain. Moreover, the end result of this treaty would regard the affluent people from the north than the poor farmers in the south. The attainment of the truce was a great accomplishment for the federalists. However, the Founding Fathers saw this as treason by the central government. The centralized government had sided with the dominion against the rights of the republic. Laws such as Alien Acts and Sedition Acts were passed under a centralized government permitting the violence against citizens who criticized the president. The sedition laws allowed the federalists to punish those found to be publishing or speaking “false or malicious scandalous writing” against the government. These laws show the level of oppressiveness the federal government could bring. Society’s freedom was limited as the federalists argued that “every author is responsible when he attacks the security or welfare of the government” (Bird, 2020). Freedom of speech was denied to many American citizens. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison organized oppositions of the laws that oppressed the Americans.
The Article of Confederation power was delegated to the state governments. The powers given by the state governments and the federal governments were directly stated in the Constitution (Van, 2017). For instance, in 1976, none of the state governments perceived the separation of the state and church. The state governments had the power to make their officeholders recognize different faiths. The federal Constitution did not prevent the regulations that allowed the state governments to restrict the acquisition of positions by people in society. Thomas Jefferson opposed these rights and preferred the disestablishment as the state governments used this bill as a means for persecuting the American citizens. Moreover, the funds of the American citizens were used in support of religion. The dispute of which government has more power can be identified in the Constitution granting the federal government more power. The federal government had the right to raise an army, control interstate commerce, and exercise federal taxes on American citizens. Whereas the state governments had powers such as managing public safety, overseeing trade in the state, and ratifying amendments while sharing some of the powers with the federal government. Most of the states tried to nullify the strong government power as they served as parts of revolution against the oppressiveness of a federal government.
The Founding father, such as Thomas Jefferson, embraced non-federalist governments. Jefferson integrated the politics of the common people. On his election as president of America in 1800, he associated his triumph with the citizens. In his reign, he wanted to prove to the Americans that an unrestricted society could govern itself justly. In contrast to the Federalist government, which was known for the public submission of citizens to the rule of the upper class, Jefferson encouraged the bonds of the freedom of American citizens ( Roscoe, 2018). The election of Jefferson as president defined the citizen’s fear of the federalist government. Their willingness to elect him showed the readiness to have their freedom from a strong central government and state power. Only a balanced separation of power seemed right to the Founding fathers. The majority rule vs. the minority rule
All the Founding Fathers had the same goal of the weaker federal government, but they had ideologies on how to attain their goal. Thus, the conflicts that arose in the process of decentralizing the federal government. The establishment of a strong central government could never resolve most of the conflicting constituencies. The decentralizing of the governments brought forth many wars that did not unify the Americans. Yet, it offered some aspects of democracy as some citizens, such as Thomas Jefferson, fought for the liberty of most American citizens. Some of the states misused their powers as they encouraged the continuity of vices, such as slave trade and inequality. As the founding fathers explored the limits of the democracy of a new nation, confederacy proved to them how American unity was still fragile. In every political convention or procession, the aspect of differences in the governing of the nation. The anti-federalists who had grave concerns about the rights of its people and equality were also defeated by the concept of unity in their oppositions. The balance of power is a concept that still brings the United States at crossroads, as it continues to disturb the unity of the nation. The only way Americans can establish a guarantee to change is to embrace federalism. Through accepting federalism, American citizens can disperse power to promote a liberated country.
References
Bird, W. (2020). Criminal Dissent: Prosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Harvard University Press.
Hall, A. R. (2017). Reframing the Fathers’ Constitution: The Centralized State and Centrality of Slavery in the Confederate Constitutional Order. Journal of Southern History, 83(2), 255-296.
Jay, J., Hamilton, A., & Madison, J. (2018). The federalist papers. BoD–Books on Demand.
Kean, R. G. H. (2016). Inside The Confederate Government: The Diary Of Robert Garlick Kean. Pickle Partners Publishing.
Roscoe, D. D. (2018). The promise of democratic equality in the United States. Routledge.
Stawicki, J. M. (2019). Evolving Our Heroes: An Analysis of Founders and” Founding Fathers” in American History Dissertations (Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University).
Van Cleve, G. W. (2017). We have not a government: The Articles of Confederation and the road to the Constitution. University of Chicago Press.
Carswell, J. (2019). The Insufficiency of the Articles of Confederation. 2019 NCUR.