In July 1776, delegates from the 13 British colonies in North America unanimously declared their independence from Great Britain, asserting that each of the united colonies was “and of right ought to be free and independent states.” Within months, on the recommendation of those delegates, each of the 13 colonies established state governments. The delegates also directed a committee to formulate a plan for a national government. That committee proposed a confederation of the several states. The national government would have limited control of the foreign policy of the member states, and significant taxation would be possible only on the unanimous approval of all states. After considerable debate, all the states approved creation of that government, which we know as the Articles of Confederation.
It was a weak vessel for a national government, and it soon showed its impotence. A group of concerned leaders, fearing that the new nation would not survive rancorous competition among the several states and also the Articles of Confederation government’s inability to quell separatist movements, moved to form a new, stronger government. Among them were George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson. The convention of elected delegates generated by their concern produced the U.S. Constitution of 1787, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the states, “in Order to form a more perfect Union” established a strong central government.
But ratification was by no means assured, for strong cohorts in nearly every state opposed establishing a strong, central government. These people feared a virile government with significant power. Some knew they would lose powerful positions in their states. Others worried that certain basic rights would be disregarded. For many of the others, their opposition reflected a visceral aversion to any constraint on their freedom to do as they chose. This strain of rejection of any potential limit on individual freedom would live throughout the history of American political culture right down to today.
Supporters of ratification, calling themselves Federalists, worked tirelessly to persuade a majority of their fellow citizens to accept the new Constitution. Hamilton, Madison and John Jay wrote supporting essays in various newspapers explaining and justifying virtually every aspect of the document; we know these today as the Federalist Papers. But it was touch-and-go. Rhode Island was the only state to outright reject the Constitution, though eventually voters there did change direction and ratified. But in the most critical states, ones without which the new nation would not have been tenable, the vote was extremely close: in Massachusetts 187-168; in Virginia 89-79; in New York 30-27. For a good many Americans, a strong, central government was a fearful thing, and always would be.
In the 1820s, for example, Andrew Jackson won the presidency in large part by attacking the leadership of the government for having too much power, and once in office, made war against the central bank Congress had created. Later, determination that the central government should not dictate that individuals could not own slaves nearly broke the nation, leading to the secession of southern states and the Civil War of the 1860s. Industrialization in the decades after the Civil War generated extraordinary fortunes for bankers and corporate magnates who jealously guarded their right to do as they wished, including exploiting labor and endangering consumers with impure food and drugs. Most national wealth was concentrated in a small percentage of the population while many struggled to afford basic food, shelter and clothing. Reaction to such individualism led to Progressive reform at the turn of the 20th century, reforms fought by those who objected to federal power.
The 1920s saw renewed individualism as bankers and financial entrepreneurs speculated wildly with consumer deposits and borrowed capital. The Great Depression that resulted brought privation and suffering to huge numbers of Americans, leading to New Deal legislation to rescue and protect ordinary citizens.
After World War II, those fearing big government and international cooperation sought to undo the New Deal reforms. But Republican President Dwight Eisenhower mandated that those reforms would stay in place, including Social Security and protection of bank deposits, and such post-war institutions as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Today, those determined to destroy the power of the central, national government and exercise a freedom insensitive to the chaos and suffering their freedom has imposed on others are in the ascendency. We should remember, though, that each resurgence of unfettered individualism in our history has generated confusion and disarray, and has led to a renewed effort to empower government to provide protection and services for ordinary Americans.
There is every reason to expect the same renewed empowerment again as people regather their strength and support new government safeguards that “to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
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