As the Articles of Confederation pose more and more challenges to the wellbeing of this country, we can conclusively agree that they are ineffective and it is time for a new system of organizing our government to be decided upon. As a delegate from New York I find it to be appropriate to vote in support the ratification of the Constitution, as the plan laid out by these framers is what is in the best interest of and what will produce results most responsive to the will of people. I believe the Constitution should be ratified because it will strengthen and reconstruct the federal government, ensuring separation of powers to safeguard against tyranny, while still protecting individual liberties, promote economic prosperity, and the safety of the county.
In order to ensure the success of this nation, The Articles of Confederations must be scrapped entirely, rather than be amended. The proposed Constitution remedies the inefficiencies seen under the Articles that have persisted the past decade as a reaction against and fear of an oppressive central government. The most important change that the Constitution makes is the reorganization of power between the state and the federal government. Under the Articles, we have had all but a legislature that has allowed power to exist in the states in an over-concentrated manner. States have remained the seemingly separate and independent entities, functioning similarly to had they did before the Revolution. State governments have had the sovereignty to govern within their own territories. This has allotted the federal government few powers. But regardless, these powers have been allotted to one unicameral legislature, rather than divided them among sections of government in order to prevent the overconcentration of power we seemingly so greatly fear. This has consequently rendered the federal government weak and ineffective. The government as prescribed under the Articles of Confederation has been unable to effectively protect individual liberties because it does not act directly upon the people, and it has no authority to enforce its laws. A unified nation has yet to come into fruition, resulting in an economically ineffective government that cannot ensure the nation’s propensity or common defense. With this lack of unity, competition has ensued between states over land and territorial bounds, problems have persisted on the basis of unregulated inter-state commerce, and the repayment of public debt has been unorganized.
The organization seen under the Articles is not what is conducive to a success and longevity of this nation. The Constitution does not aim to diminish the power of the states but merely bolster that of the federal government so the two may function in unison. It gives the federal government the increase in powers and authority it needs to be effective while dividing these powers between distinct three distinct branches that will provide checks upon one another in order to safeguard freedom. The framers have pulled upon the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers, such as Montesquieu, the influential French political philosopher. As described in The Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu favors a republic based on that of the ancient Roman Empire, in which each branch of government retrains the others, preventing despotism. No one branch can easily gain excessive power and usurp the authority of another. This fear of excessive power carried over from the tyrannical rule seen by King George III over the colonies that motivated much of the actions of the writers of the Constitution. James Madison makes a convincing argument for ratification, expresses this sentiment in Federalist Paper No. 51: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” A stronger federal government framed in this way will not be one that is abusive to personal liberties, but rather one that has the power, and furthermore, the interest in protecting them, for its power rests in the hands of those same people. The separation of powers detailed by Madison in Federalist 51 ensures tyranny will not come as the cost for expanding the abilities of the federal government. Ratification is imperative to certify the protection of these liberties that have been jeopardized by the Articles government.
The nation under the Articles has failed because the responsibility has fallen upon the central government, while the power has been held with the states. There are several powers enumerated to the government in the Constitution that would assuage this fundamental issue. One of these is the federal government’s ability to maintain standing armies. Under the Articles, it has been Congress’ duty to declare war and sign treaties, but the issue of defense has been left primarily to the jurisdiction of the states. Therefore, the federal government must depend on the states for soldiers, with state governors preserving the power to deny such requests for military backing. The uprisings of Shay’s Rebellion have made this inherent weakness glaringly apparent. A population of farmers of western Massachusetts had been in great debt and facing imprisonment and the loss of their land as a result. Many of these men were Veterans of the Revolution, and the Continental Congress has assured them they would receive money for their service. But the central government, devoid of the ability to levy taxes, did not have the funds to pay these men, resulting in 4000 rebels under the direction of veteran Daniel Shay, in revolt against the economic injustice. But many members of Massachusetts’ state militia refused to arrest the rebels in putting down the rebellion, as they sympathized with their protest. The Massachusetts governor requested military aid from Congress, but because of the restrictions placed on them under the Articles of Confederation, they were unable to provide any such support. The uprising did not come to an end until 1787 as the result of a privately funded militia.
Shay’s Rebellion illuminates not only the need for central governments to raise an army, but also for their ability to impose taxes, regulate commerce, and have a role in other economic functions. These provisions are imperative in creating a nation that is able to repay its own debts, and the ratification of the Constitution will allow for their implementation, promoting the welfare and security of the nation. Fear of these powers creating a central government that is too powerful are alleviated by the fact that the role of the legislature is to be a representative of the people. The president, who will serve as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, is given his power through the vote of citizens, limited in the length of his term, and balanced by the judicial branch and the legislative branch, who can conduct checks, such as impeachments, if he fails to uphold the Constitution. The power to declare war is still in the jurisdiction of Congress, but with a new bicameral system, representation of people in urban and rural areas alike is ensured. Additionally, the requirement of a two-thirds majority to make amendments, rather than the unanimous vote necessary under the Articles, will prevent the interests of one state from overshadowing and preventing progress in the rest of the nation. Furthermore, the ability for both the central and state government to levy taxes ensure that both levels of government have the funds necessary to effectively cater to their different needs.
Under the Constitution, the state and federal government work together to create what I and the of New York believe will be a system that serves in the best interest of the American people. The subdivision of authority on these two levels, state and federal, in addition to the central government's division into three branches, offers double the protection against the over-concentration of power with one group.
Powers can be checked not only across levels of government but also between them. The powers that are delegated to the federal government will preserve the personal freedoms of the people by providing a for unified and regulated enforcement of these rights. The state and federal government are not competing for power, but rather working toward a common good. State governments, tasked primarily with the responsibility of internal affairs, will always hold more power than the federal government as a result of the sheer amount of state officials and their close proximity to the people that they’re representing. States preserve their sovereignty but are kept in line by federal power. In Federalist Paper No. 6, Alexander Hamilton makes an argument for ratification, detailing the issue with states themselves having too much power:
If these states should either be wholly disunited, or only united in partial confederacies, a man must be far gone in Utopian speculations, who can seriously doubt that the subdivisions into which they might be thrown, would have frequent and violent contests with each other. To presume a want of motives for such contests, as an argument against their existence, would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious. To look for a continuation of harmony between a number of independent unconnected sovereignties, situated in the same neighborhood, would be to disregard the uniform course of human events, and to set at defiance the accumulated experience of ages.
Hamilton explains how if states maintain too much power and independence they will essentially become thirteen independent countries, and they will then follow suit with the course of history and the nature of governments, eventually entering into inevitable war with one another. For this reason, Hamilton finds it imperative that the states enter into a union together with stronger, centralized leadership, or face the possibility of there being no country to govern at all.
The ratification of the Constitution is will start a monumental new chapter in this nation’s history. Without its adoption by the states, the fate of the country and the liberties of the people lie in question. In order to protect the rights so many Americans fought for during the Revolution, it is important that proceed forward without fear, but rather rationality. The plan for organizing our government outlined in the Constitution will allow for the long-term success of this nation and the people that comprise it, as we herald in a system that answers to the will of the people and thwarts tyrannical rule.