What Form of Government do You Want?
In about 70 days each of us will be called upon to exercise our right to vote for the candidates of our choice. But 233 years ago, a different choice faced the American people. On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine courageous men signed the U.S. Constitution, the document they had worked on forming all summer long. Now their challenge was to convince the American people what they had done was correct and best for the inhabitants of America’s thirteen sovereign states. To “form a more perfect union” each of the state legislatures would need to ratify the Constitution. How best to convince the citizenry that ratification was in their best interests? Education, education, education!
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay set about to provide facts, sound-logical arguments, and intelligent reasoning for establishing a Constitutional Republic form of government. They published a series of 85 articles in newspapers throughout the thirteen states to convince their fellow Americans that ratification was the right thing to do.
The vote to ratify the Constitution established a new nation, the miraculously successful American Republic, which showed the world new possibilities for liberty and prosperity and set a standard still unmatched by any country in the history of the world!
It has been suggested if Americans were to read and study the essays that make up The Federalist-Papers – they would be reminded of what the Founding Fathers gave to us and why it is so important to the preservation of freedom and liberty. May we recommend to the Utah Society Sons of the American Revolution a goal that each of us, between now and November 3rd, read The Federalist-Papers. If we start reading now, one or two essays a day, this goal is very doable. The essays are brief and were written for the common citizen to understand. Thomas Jefferson described The Federalist as “the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written.” That’s still true!
Here is the link to the Library of Congress and the complete text of The Federalist-Papers:
https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text
Many book outlets carry The Federalist-Papers and a paperback book can be bought for a nominal fee.
Some of you might remember our Constitution Day banquet in Ogden, several years ago, which featured Dr. Anthony Peacock. His book, How To Read The Federalist-Papers is a helpful companion to The Federalist-Papers.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Federalist_(1st_ed,_1788,_vol_I,_title_page).jpg) – Cropped