23. Creating a Constitution

The American Revolution (HIST 116)
Professor Freeman discusses the national debate over the proposed Constitution, arguing that in many ways, when Americans debated its ratification, they were debating the consequences and meaning of the Revolution. Some feared that a stronger, more centralized government would trample on the rights and liberties that had been won through warfare, pushing the new nation back into tyranny, monarchy, or aristocracy. The Federalist essays represented one particularly ambitious attempt to quash Anti-Federalist criticism of the Constitution. In the end, the Anti-Federalists did have one significant victory, securing a Bill of Rights to be added after the new Constitution had been ratified by the states.
00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: The Constitution was Not Inevitable
08:48 - Chapter 2. State Fears of Monarchy: Attendees of the Constitutional Convention
22:24 - Chapter 3. Initial Plans to Revise the Articles and Madison's Virginia Plan
29:11 - Chapter 4. The New Jersey Plan and Hamilton's Praise of British Governance
34:56 - Chapter 5. Debates on State Representation, Slavery, and the Executive Branch
44:44 - Chapter 6. Conclusion
Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: open.yale.edu/courses
This course was recorded in Spring 2010.