Debate About the Constitution
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The debate about the constitution is the debate about the motives of the framers of the Constitution. Understanding these motives is connected to the debate about the causes of the American revolution. Some scholars believe that the creation of federal system was to preserve the ideals of the revolution by eliminating the disorders and contention. Other scholars say that the supporters of the Constitution appear to have protected their own economic interests – even going against the motives of the American revolution. The changing outlook of historians always seems to coincide with the change in the intellectual climate of opinion within America. From the convention of 1787 to the close of the civil war, the constitution was considered a controversial document because the questions it raised about the new federal government. Since the overwhelming pre-position of the historians, this period was considered one with politics – and they interpreted the document into two opposite doctrines which were, state rights vs national sovereignty. constitution preserved the ideals of the revolution according to John Fiske and eliminated the disorder. His book The critical period of American History (1888) he painted a grim picture of the life of the Americans under the articles of confederation such as business depression, weakness of the national government, threats to American territory from Spain and great britain, inability of Congress or state government to fulfill their debts, inter-state jealousy, barriers to trade, widespread use of inflation by producing excessive paper money, lawlessness like Shays Rebellion. He says that the timely adoption of the constitution saved America.
Till 1913, Fiskes observations remained unchallenged. Fiske and George Bancroft belonged to the nationalist school which emerged in the 1870s and 1880s and they were influenced by intense nationalism in America post the civil war. For Bancroft, constitution symbolized capstone of the American revolution. Since America was divinely ordained to create first republic on Earth, the constitution symbolized just that. Nationalist approach is uncritical of the coument and watched it in a light of pious patriotism. The founding fathers, according to this approach, were men who were great and were motivated by principles of justice and rights and their only concern was the welfare of the people of America when they drafted the constitution. Those who objected against the constitution, lacked vision, according to the nationalists, and they were not concerned with welfare. Around the turn of the 20th century, rose two new schools of thought, namely Populist school and Populist school. Progressive rose in urban areas. Populist was in reaction to industrialization in the rural areas because there was a lot of class differentiation. To resolve this problem, reforms in industries, regulated and reforms should be made to fight poverty etc. and remove the conflict