Question

1) Does the Constitution create a goverment that is more like a nation, or more like a confederacy? In your answer, draw on the Constitution, Patrick Henry's speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, and Federalist 39.

Answer 1

1) The Constitution creates a government that is more like a nation. By the time the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in 1787, it had become apparent to many American leaders that it was important to have a stronger federal government to deal effectively with the problems facing the young nation.

The central government had neither the power to raise taxes nor the authority to control foreign trade under the Articles of Confederation. Additionally, no process was developed by which states could adjudicate conflicts. Several delegates to the Constitutional Convention recognized that the Articles of Confederation needed to be fully repealed, not merely changed.

While the Articles of Confederation had established the governing structure since the declaration of the American Revolution against Britain, many of the new nation's political leaders agreed that the creation of a stronger central government was necessary to the growth of the United States' power and potential. Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government lacked the power of taxation, had no authority to regulate commerce, and was impotent to resolve conflicts arising between states.

2) The Virginia Ratifying Convention was a convention of 168 Virginia delegates, who assembled in 1788 to ratify or reject the Constitution of the United States. The Virginia Ratifying Convention narrowly approved the accession of the new United States under a Constitution of supreme national law as allowed by the United States' "We, the People." Those opposed were led by Patrick Henry, Delegate to the First Continental Convention, and Governor of Revolutionary Wartime. His anti-government animosity under the Constitution was so intense that he eventually refused to join it, turning down offers to serve as Secretary of State of the United States and as a Supreme Court of the United States. The control of the Virginia legislature by Patrick Henry allowed his supporters to elect in the First Congress the first two anti-Federalist U.S. senators. "Give me liberty, or Give me death " it is a quote attributed to Patrick Henry from his speech to the Second Virginia Convention on 23 March 1775. Henry is credited with flipping the balance in persuading the Convention to pass a resolution supplying Virginian troops for the Revolutionary War.