The War of 1787

The War of 1787


On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified and we became a unified nation as a Republic (not a Democracy or Federation). There were deep divisions among the citizens at the time pertaining to what type of government the new nation would embrace. There was a sizable faction that argued that only a Federation of States could preserve the freedoms and rights of the individual citizens and were vehemently opposed to a Republic because they felt that a Republic would foster a strong central (federal) government that soon would abridge the rights and privileges of free men and the sovereignty of the states. Those who were opposed to a Republic being formed were collectively known as the “Anti-Federalists”. The Federalist Papers were published as a means to answer the concerns of the Anti-Federalists and were authored by Hamilton, Madison and Jay. The Federalist papers codified in print the reasoning and thought of those who championed a Republic and the papers in fact became the foundation for the subsequent Constitution of the United States. The Anti-Federalists lost and the Federalists won and so the first battle was fought, won and lost, in a war that is continuing to this day. The first battle was a political battle fought by the Anti-Federalists (Federation form of Government) and the Federalists (Republic form of Government) and even though the Federalists won the battle, they have not yet won the war. Indeed, the first political battle sowed the seeds for a much larger battle that resulted in an armed conflict that nearly tore this nation apart. That battle was called The Civil War. Make no mistake about it, the civil war was fought to succeed from the Republic and form a Confederation of the several states. Slavery was only one of many issues that sparked the conflict, not the fundamental reason for it. Other issues could have just as well started the inevitable war that was started by ratifying a Constitution for a Republic instead of a Federation. Things such as taxes, individual freedoms, unfair trade, ad infinitum, would eventually produce a fracturing of the Union just as well as the just abolishment of slavery. The right to enslave another human being or any other thing held dear to those in certain states would be allowed in a Federation that the central Government of a Republic would not permit. Even though Slavery was an abomination that had to be outlawed, the seeds for the Civil War were sowed in the political battle fought during the founding of our nation, not the issue of slavery of itself. The Constitutional Convention that produced the Constitution attempted to address the concerns of individual freedoms and states sovereignty that was championed by the Anti-Federalists by immediately including, by amendment, a bill of rights codified in Amendments I-X (1-10) of the Constitution (The Bill of Rights). Of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, the tenth is the most important (The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.) and has been thoroughly trashed by the Supreme Court to become meaningless ink stains upon an ignored treasure. One could say that the concerns of the Anti-Federalists have been realized in our day by the continuous erosion of individual rights as well as anything that resembles the sovereignty of the states (States Rights). The war has continued on with political battles being fought and won by the Federalists in the form of Presidents Wilson, Lincoln and Roosevelt that has enabled the Federal Government to become ever more stronger and stronger by being involved in every aspect of a citizens life and in the operation of every state. And now comes this President, Barack Hussein Obama. Just as the Civil War, WWI, The Depression and WWII provided the means to advance a stronger central federal government, the current economic crisis (see the Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel’s quote, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before”) will present President Obama and Company with the golden opportunity to nearly complete the transition to a Socialist government by using the laws of the Republic and a swooning electorate to do so. I really don’t think the war will be ended by the new battle being waged by the overreaching of President Obama but I do believe a new battle is shaping up as the citizens finally become aware what is happening. I can only hope it will be a political battle and not another armed conflict that will distinguish the upcoming battle. Just like the Anti-Federalists feared would happen is happening as our individual rights and freedoms are vanishing right along side the loss of States Rights because of a central federal government that grows ever stronger with each passing day and crisis.