Of the following three questions, answer two of your choice.
1. Carefully read The Grand Committee on the Subject of the Northwest Territories (Links to an external site.), Letter from James Madison to General Washington (Links to an external site.), and Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (Links to an external site.), all from the Harcourt Web site.
You are a resident of the new country who is interested in the debate about the future of the Articles of Confederation. Write a letter to George Washington (you do consider him the father of the nation, after all) that explains your position on the matter. Make sure your letter discusses recent positive and negative events before moving on to a clear statement of your position, which you should justify with specific evidence. Also, make sure you state where you are from and what your occupation is. Why might it be important to provide the latter information? You should understand why this information might be important, before you write the letter.
Dear General Washington,
As a citizen of these great United States, it is in my best interest to be sure that these articles of confederation be completed in such a manor that benefits myself and the majority of our citizens. The Articles of Confederation must be revised to provide equal opportunity for current states with the new creation of new states. The sovereignty of each state is precious in its self, but we cannot allow new states to get a leg on the nations key economic producers. As a statesman from Virginia it is important to me that you protect our industries, vineyards and tobacco farms. The articles do a good job of pointing out the voluntary participation of our union and states sovereignty. However the articles must address my concerns of other states coming online and affecting the economy in Virginia. Please take these concerns into consideration.
2. Read Patrick Henry's Speech before the Virginia Convention (Links to an external site.) and Alexander Hamilton's The Federalist (Links to an external site.).
a. Summarize the Federalist position advocated by Hamilton and the Antifederalist stance advocated by Patrick Henry.
Alexander Hamilton’s federalist position advocated a new constitution of the USA that formed a union for the purposes of safety and welfare of the country, as well as government, liberty, and property. Hamilton was also a hard advocate of a national central bank, compared to Thomas Jefferson who knew of the dangers of central bank enslavement.
- Patrick Henry’s speech before the Virginia Convention presented his desires for Virginia to have as strong enough of a say in national matters ad New York and Philadelphia. Henry advocated that the government not grow out of control and that we must remember not to enslave our self’s as the servants of government once again since the country just gained its freedom.
b. Referring to the documents and to your text, what advantages did the Federalists have and use in their campaign to ratify the Constitution? What were the disadvantages that crippled the Antifederalists? Looking specifically at the Henry speech, how did the Antifederalist position shape the
