John Adams vs Thomas Paine by Conner Jett B.;

Author:Conner, Jett B.; [Conner, Jett B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westholme Publishing

Six

The First Federalist?

IN A LETTER WRITTEN FROM PARIS TO RICHARD PRICE IN 1785, Thomas Jefferson had this to say about constitutional problems that had emerged during the war years and after ratification of the Articles of Confederation:

The want of power in the federal head was early perceived, and foreseen to be the flaw in our constitution which might endanger its destruction. . . . The happiness of governments like ours, wherein the people are truly the mainspring, is that they are never to be despaired of. When an evil becomes so glaring as to strike them generally, they arouse themselves, and it is redressed. . . . This truth was obvious on several occasions during the late war, and this character in our governments saved us. Calamity was our best physician. Since the peace it was observed that some nations of Europe, counting on the weakness of Congress and the little probability of a union in measure among the States, were proposing to grasp at unequal advantages in our commerce. The people are become sensible of this and you may be assured that this evil will be immediately addressed, and redressed radically. I doubt still whether in this moment they will enlarge those powers in Congress which are necessary to keep the peace among the States.1

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