24. Creating a Nation

The American Revolution (HIST 116)

Professor Freeman discusses the national debate over the proposed Constitution, arguing that in many ways, when Americans debated its ratification, they were debating the consequences and meaning of the Revolution. Some feared that a stronger, more centralized government would trample on the rights and liberties that had been won through warfare, pushing the new nation back into tyranny, monarchy, or aristocracy. The Federalist essays represented one particularly ambitious attempt to quash Anti-Federalist criticism of the Constitution. In the end, the Anti-Federalists did have one significant victory, securing a Bill of Rights to be added after the new Constitution had been ratified by the states.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction: Creating a Nation
02:53 - Chapter 2. Difficulties in Ratifying the Constitution: Exchanges between Jefferson and Madison, and Ezra Stiles's Diary
14:20 - Chapter 3. Debates on Balance of Power between Anti-Federalists and Federalists
22:32 - Chapter 4. In Defense of the Constitution: The Federalist Essays
28:54 - Chapter 5. The Anti-Federalists' Push for Bill of Rights
36:04 - Chapter 6. General Consensus on Experimenting with Republican Government and Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.