The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 / Edition 1

by Saul Cornell

Overview

Fear of centralized authority is deeply rooted in American history. The struggle over the U.S. Constitution in 1788 pitted the Federalists, supporters of a stronger central government, against the Anti-Federalists, the champions of a more localist vision of politics. But, argues Saul Cornell, while the Federalists may have won the battle over ratification, it is the ideas of the Anti-Federalists that continue to define the soul of American politics.

While no Anti-Federalist party emerged after ratification, Anti-Federalism continued to help define the limits of legitimate dissent within the American constitutional tradition for decades. Anti-Federalist ideas also exerted an important influence on Jeffersonianism and Jacksonianism. Exploring the full range of Anti-Federalist thought, Cornell illustrates its continuing relevance in the politics of the early Republic.

A new look at the Anti-Federalists is particularly timely given the recent revival of interest in this once neglected group, notes Cornell. Now widely reprinted, Anti-Federalist writings are increasingly quoted by legal scholars and cited in Supreme Court decisions—clear proof that their authors are now counted among the ranks of America's founders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807847862
Publisher:	Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
Publication date:	09/20/1999
Series:	Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
Edition description:	1
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Saul Cornell is associate professor of history at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Maps
List of Abbreviations and a Note on the Notes

Introduction. The Other Founders

Part I. Anti-Federalism and the Constitution

Chapter 1. Ratification and the Politics of the Public Sphere
The Dynamics of the Public Debate
The Anti-Federalist Critique
The Rhetoric of Ratification
Reading Politics and the Politics of Reading
Chapter 2. Elite Anti-Federalist Political and Constitutional Thought
Constitutionalism
The Problem of Federalism and Localism
The Theory of the Small Republic
The Public Sphere
Chapter 3. Popular Anti-Federalist Political and Constitutional Thought
Middling Constitutionalism
The Political Sociology of Middling Anti-Federalism
Centinel and Philadelphiensis: Voices of Radical Democracy
Plebeian Populism
The Carlisle Riot: The Constitutionalism of the Crowd
Plebeian Radicalism and the Public Sphere
Chapter 4. Courts, Conventions, and Constitutionalism: The Politics of the Public Sphere
The Oswald Libel Case of 1788
The Aborted Second Convention Movement

Part II. Anti-Federalism Transformed

Chapter 5. The Emergence of a Loyal Opposition
The Debate over the Meaning of Representation
Rats versus Antirats
Anti-Federalism and the Politics of the First Congress
Chapter 6. Anti-Federalist Voices within Democratic-Republicanism
Hamiltonianism and the Democratic-Republican Opposition
Strict Construction and the Original Understanding
Chapter 7. The Limits of Dissenting Constitutionalism
The Democratic-Republican Societies
The Whiskey Rebellion
Federalism versus Localist Democracy

Part III. The Anti-Federalist Legacy

Chapter 8. The Founding Dialogue and the Politics of Constitutional Interpretation
The Irony of the Search for an Original Intent
The Sedition Act and the Transformation of Opposition Constitutionalism
The Principles of '98
Chapter 9. Democratic-Republican Constitutionalism and the Public Sphere
Public Opinion and Dissenting Political Thought
Responses to the Alien and Sedition Crisis
The Anti-Federalist Blackstone: St. George Tucker and a Democratic-Republican Jurisprudence
Chapter 10. The Dissenting Tradition, from the Revolution of 1800 until Nullification
Clinton versus Madison
McCulloch v. Maryland and the Collapse of the Madisonian Synthesis
The Revival of Anti-Fedealism: Robert Yates's Secret Proceedings
Nullification and the Splintering of the Dissenting Tradition
Van Buren and the Anti-Federalist Mind
Epilogue. Anti-Federalism and the American Political Tradition

Appendix 1. Reprinting of Anti-Federalist Documents
Appendix 2. Pamphlet, Broadside, and Periodical Republication of Anti-Federalist Documents
Index

Map 1. Ratification of the Constitution

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

An extremely well-researched and well-written work.—Journal of American Studies



Most novel and important in Cornell's book is what it shows about the Anti-Federalist contribution to the mainstream of American political thought and practice. . . . The work [Cornell] has done . . . is extraordinary and exhausting. All historians of the early republic are in his debt, and they will henceforth turn to The Other Founders as the essential starting point for work on the specific ideas of those who opposed the federal Constitution.—Journal of Southern History



This book is profound, persuasive, and a much-needed taxonomy of Anti-Federalism. . . . The Other Founders notably succeeds in clarifying the importance of dissenting texts in American political culture. This highly readable, comprehensive, and original work deserves to be placed alongside The Federalist Papers on Americans' bookshelves.—Historian



Cornell offers an important reminder that published texts and formal legal treaties are not the only ways to recover constitutional ideals. . . . Cornell also heightens our understanding of Anti-Federalism by placing it in social and intellectual context.—Law and History Review



The Other Founders provides a rich guide through the complexities of the original anti-federalist coalition and clearly establishes the foundations and the limits of legitimate dissent in American politics.—The Historian



With his insistence on the salience of the problem of the public sphere as a defining issue for antifederalism, Cornell provides us with crucial insights into a particular discursive tradition, a set of political events, and the evolution of democratic politics and culture in the early United States.—American Quarterly



All scholarly communities concerned with the Constitution's origins—historians, political scientists, and legal scholars—will find much to ponder in this fine book. Moreover, Cornell's analysis of the role of print culture in the creation of a national public sphere and the shaping of the ratification controversy is a model of interdisciplinary scholarship. Finally, written with grace and verve, The Other Founders is a pleasure to read.—Journal of American History



[A] careful and subtle analysis. . . . [with] a provocative epilogue.—Journal of the Early Republic



A fine piece of work. Cornell's research is prodigious, his analysis is judicious, and his thesis is persuasive.—American Historical Review



A magisterial work. . . . Anyone wishing to understand the meaning and significance of Anti-Federalist writings will have to consult The Other Founders.—Rhetoric & Public Affairs

Editorial Reviews

A rich guide.

"The Historian"

This highly readable, comprehensive, and original work deserves to be placed alongside "The Federalist Papers" on Americans' bookshelves.

"Historian"

"This highly readable, comprehensive, and original work deserves to be placed alongside "The Federalist Papers" on Americans' bookshelves.

"Historian""

An extremely well-researched and well-written work.

"Journal of American Studies"

Cornell . . . heightens our understanding of Anti-Federalism by placing it in social and intellectual context.

"Law and History Review"

Cornell provides us with crucial insights.

"American Quarterly"

From the Publisher