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HEMP CONSTITUTION
The Articles of Confederation drafted in the early days before the Revolution were idealistic but they were not very practical. In fact, they proved cumbersome and often unworkable — especially when it came to inter-colony (or interstate) commerce — and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was called specifically to address these problems. Alexander Hamilton (who had been George Washington\'s military aide) pushed for the adoption of a whole new founding document, and we got our Constitution as the result.
The years between the defeat of Cornwallis at York town in 1781 and the opening of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a period during which all sorts of people, for all sorts of reasons, were trying to shape America\'s character. Hamilton was the leading proponent for an elitist society that, like everywhere else in the world, would place its reliance on (and serve the interests of) those with the most resources. Today, to suggest that the wealthy are better qualified to run things smacks of elitism. Back then, it was reasonably assumed that only men with money could have access to education and a wider knowledge of the world, and only they would have the leisure to think through and work out larger problems. Success is also, sometimes, a measure of ability, after all. In this spirit. Hamilton and those who thought like him decided to exploit the flaws in the Articles of Confederation and suggest it was beyond repair. In fact, they managed to replace the Articles of Confederation (under which the individual states retained power) with a document that gave power to a central government — the federal government.
Probably because of his influence with the banking and financial leaders, Hamilton attended the convention as a New York State representative. Hamilton was a difficult, ambitious man, and many — includingjohn Adams and Thomas Jefferson — neither trusted nor liked him. Hamilton was later killed in a duel with Aaron Burr, a former Vice President of the United States; but Hamilton had Washington\'s trust.
When Hamilton revealed his proposal, a \\icious debate broke out. (It is still going on.) People generally felt allegiance to their states, not a central government. The delegates quickly fell into two camps and created competing political parties. The Hamilton forces were known as the Federalists (creators of a federal government) and the opposition, led principally by Samuel Adams, became known as the Anti-Federalists. Hamilton, however, had done his homework, and the government he proposed was far better organized than that which was sketched out or hinted at under the Articles of Confederation. After all, the other side had not prepared for such an event as this. In the end, even Sam Adams agreed with the new plan. Under the Articles of Confederation, the ultimate power was in the hands of the people, whereas under the Constitution the three branches of the federal government — the legislative (Congress), judicial and the executive — held the power. One compromise that was made was the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, which essentially protected people\'s rights and set limits on the government\'s power.
The birth of the US Constitution was a long drawn out and very democratic process that lasted from February through September. Many of the delegates would go home for weeks at a time, but they always returned. Near the end of that lengthy and trying process another fight broke out over the issue of slavery, in large part because a number of black slaves had won their freedom fighting side by-side with white colonists for freedom from England. There was some sentiment that the rest of them should be freed as well; but the greatest priority was to keep England at bay, and that meant avoiding any public display of weakness or dissension in the ranks. It was essential to demonstrate that the colonies were able to govern themselves — or perhaps the British would have tried to take back its colonies before 1812! The primary goal now was to craft an agreement on a new form of government which could be sent to the individual states for ratification.
Southern delegates exploded when confronted with the idea of ending slavery. Most of them supported Hamilton\'s vision and considered themselves part of the "Federalist Party "They threatened to walkout. Tt wasn\'t an idle threat. In the late 1780s, slavery was still permitted under British law, and during the Revolutionary War the British found the colonists in Virginia and points .south considerably more hospitable and agreeable than their Massachusetts brethren. And the South stayed closer to Britain for a long, long time. During the Civil War almost one hundred years later, the British bought Southern cotton and probably presided the Confederacy with weapons — a vital support, given that the Southern states had very little industry.
The slavery issue was threatening final passage of the Constitution and the foundation of a viable new nation. That would suggest to England that the colonies were fragmented and perhaps were militarily vulnerable. The Northern delegates abandoned their anti-slavery position, for the moment, because they believed the birth of the United States was more important. Of course, in the ensuing decades the slavery-based cotton industry was increasingly an economic threat to the Northern hemp farmers, and that helped lead to the Civil War.
Not everyone agreed that the Constitution should be ratified, particularly given its provision for shifting power to a central (federal) government.28 Many people saw that as a betrayal that would lead to creating an American aristocracy. In 1792, in fact. Jefferson ran for the presidency as the nominee of the (liberal) A nti-Federalist Party — and did so specifically to counter Hamilton\'s influence on George Washington.
The Federalist Party candidates, Washington and Adams, trounced Jefferson. By the 1796 elections, the A nti-Federalist Party had reinvented itself twice — first, ironically, as the "Republican\' Party, probably reflecting George Clinton\'s influence, and later as the Democratic-Re publican Party, reflecting Jefferson\'s influence. (George Clinton was a member of the Second Continental Congress. During the Revolution he was charged with defending the Hudson River Valley, which he failed to do; he was more successful as governor of the state of New York, where he developed a strong state-based power center in the course of seven terms, and as Vice President under Jefferson and Madison.)
After the Constitution was ratified and Washington was inaugurated as president, the focus quickly changed to the establishment of the government. Washington needed the cooperation of the financial powers to help build and finance the government, and Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury) was essentially his conduit. Hamilton eventually became the de facto leader of the Federalist Part)-. But Jefferson, as Secretary of State, distrusted Hamilton\'s proposals and motives, and suspected that he and others in the emerging Federalist Party were secretly plotting to implant monarchist ideals (an aristocracy) and institutions in the government.
Hamilton also became a political enemy of Aaron Burr; as Treasury Secretary, Hamilton imposed some early regulation on Wall Street brokers like him. Aaron Burr had all sorts of ambitions. He wanted to start a bank but didn\'t want his name associated with it, so he founded a water company and opened a bank through that company. The bank grew to become the Chase Manhattan Bank; Burr went on to become a popular New York Senator.
Washington, fed up with politics and anxious to get home, was reluctant to run for a second term but did so for two reasons. There was still a long way to go in creating the government the Constitution called for. and he believed the country needed both Hamilton and Jefferson, his two most trusted (and most incompatible) advisors. Hamilton probably also encouraged Washington to run for a second term, knowing that without him he would lose his power base. Washington won reelection by nearly a 2-1 margin and Adams again came in second, making him vice president under the rules of the day.
Jefferson and Hamilton did have deep-seated philosophical differences. Jefferson believed the government should operate for the benefit of the average people, and Hamilton believed that those who invested their money in America should be rewarded. Hamilton believed in what we have come to know as "trickle-down economics" and a ruling class.
Jefferson s philosophy was extremely progressive for his rime, and clearly not everyone shared his belief that, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, "all men were created equal" or that the United States government should be created as a "government of the people, by the people and for rhe people." Many of his contemporaries, especially those of wealth, were not willing to give up their advantages They believed that people of means were more capable and more entitled to leadership than others. Obviously, this basically left out the working class, women in general, blacks, and Indians. Of course, among the "non-elite," Hamilton\'s views were not very well received. Average Americans were glad to have gnt the snobbish Brits off their backs; they were not about to foster a new elitism among their own neighbors. Jefferson\'s vision, breaking with that sort of tradition, drew on new notions of equality and rights that were beginning to circulate in Europe in the 1700s.
Washington often sided with Hamilton, which angered a great many people includingjohn Adams. Adams ran as a Federalist, hoping to regain the vice-presidency and to challenge Hamilton\'s growing control of the Federalist Party. Jefferson, George Clinton, and Aaron Burr all ran as Anti-Federalists, directly challenging Hamilton and his cronies. Washington s popularity\' won out, allowing him, Adams, and the Federalists to remain in power Unfortunately for Washington, the bickering continued: it became almost constant. Washington made clear his intentions to return to his Mount Vernon home and live the rest of his life as a private citizen, when his term ended. The search for his replacement revealed that the population was just as ideologically split as were Jefferson and Hamilton, and the opposition between the two political parties became even greater. Upon leaving office. Washington noted that his biggest disappointment was his inability to resolve these ideological differences.
Although Adams and Jefferson liked one another and were not very far apart ideologically, a deep rift developed in their relationship during the election of 1796. when they competed for the presidency. In fact, they did not speak to each other for quite a few years. Adams beat Jefferson by a margin of only three Electoral College votes, which meant Jefferson served as Adam\'s vice-president. This was the first election that Jefferson ran as the nominee of the Democratic-Republican Party. Adams didn\'t like Hamilton and did not invite him to serve in the administration. Hamilton\'s career in "public service" abruptly ended, although he was still very influential within the Federalist Party.
John Adams was a fairly good president, but he simply could not win reelection as the nominee of the Federalist Party, which was now totally controlled by Hamilton and his supporters. In fact, the Federalists never won another election (which is hardly surprising since, during the War of 1812, they supported the British).
After Adams and Jefferson retired from polirics, they renewed their friendship by mail, and that friendship lasted until the day they both died, within a couple of hours of each other, on July 4,1826 — the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the nation.
The presidential election of 1800 ended in a virtual electoral tie between Jefferson and fellow Democratic Republican Aaron Burr; Adams {the Federalist) finished a close third. The House of Representatives decided the winner, and that was Jefferson. Here again, Hamilton played a decisive role as an influential Federalist Party boss. The House Federalists preferred Rurr; but Hamilton, now living in New York, disliked Burr even more than he disliked Jefferson. At least, he respected Jefferson. Burr became Jefferson\'s vice-president; but Jefferson didn\'t trust him and. in fact. Burr did begin cultivating his federalist friends and trying to boost his own position of power. Burr was dropped from the ticket in the 1804 election and he entered New York gubernatorial race. Heavily involved in New York politics, Hamilton did everything possible to undermine Burr\'s political chances. The bad blood between Burr and Hamilton deteriorated into an ongoing exchange of derogatory comments and name calling, and some of Hamilton\'s remarks were printed in New York\'s newspapers. Burr demanded Hamilton retract his comments; Hamilton refused. The confrontation escalated into a duel, and Burr shot and killed Hamilton.
With or without Hamilton, and despite all their money, the Federalists were politically dead. Still, committed Federalists ran presidential candidates against Jefferson\'s enormously popular successors. James Madison and James Monroe; they were soundly defeated. There was really only one viable political party in America and that was Jefferson\'s Democrat-Republican party — which consisted primarily of a coalition of groups who found a common ground in their opposition to Hamilton and his wealthy elitist cronies.
While Jefferson and Hamilton are long gone, the basic class struggle between the haves and have-nots, and the bases of their philosophical differences, are still with us. In his landmark book The Radicalism of the American Rcvolu-lion, historian Gordon Wood points out that "America\'s 1776 Revolution was not seen as radical by the French. It was not a class-based uprising of the downtrodden. The American Revolution was, and continues as, a revolt against the misuse of government by elites to promote their own interests against the people\'s." What\'s that got to do with hemp? The demise of hemp as an essential part of our economy and daily life was also the result of elites promoting their own interests, as will be discussed in later sections. |
