My old grad school compatriot Scott Trask argues we should rethink the Articles of Confederation, asking the question, was the Constitution such a good idea?
There is ample evidence that northern manufactures supported the federal Constitution because they hoped through uniform national tariffs to capture the southern market. Alexander Hamilton's early correspondence as treasury secretary under Washington is full of complaints that Americans continued to buy from abroad and pleas for duties. Thus, while the Constitution set up a free-trade zone within the states, it also created a closed or captive market, in which Americans would be free to buy within but not without.
When I was an undergrad in Lance Banning's history of the New Republic period, we had a mock Constitutional ratifying convention. I was an anti-federalist, and without a doubt we won the debate, defeating the pro-Constitution side. It was interesting that when the class actually voted the Constitution was "ratified" narrowly. All our good Americans in the class couldn't conceive of actually choosing a different direction, even in theory.
Sadly, it is such a lack of moral imagination that has stifled the political and cultural debate in our nation.
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