Chapter 8 of the Boles Reading

Chapter 8, Southerners as Nation Builders, shows the development of the early Republic, from shortly after the Revolutionary War until 1800. Here, the reader sees the development of the national government, from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, and the role the South played in that transformation.



It was clear by the middle of the 1780s that the Articles of Confederation, while designed to guard against the tyrranies of a strong, overbearing executive, made the national government far too weak and the state governments far too strong. It was delegates from Maryland and Virginia who were among the first to suggest a type of convention to deal with the issues brought forth after years of incoherent government policy.



A Virginian, James Madison, recognized some of the problems that plauged the national government, and his "Virginia Plan" helped to move the meeting in Philadelphia from simply amending the Articles to making a new document that would make the national goverenment stronger. Checks and balances and a strong executive were among Madison's greatest, and most time honored, ideas, and showed a broader pattern among Southern delegates to the Constitutional Convention: an ability to look beyond sectional interests, and to make compromises for the common good of the young country.



Virginia would play a major role in the ratification of the Constitution, being one of the largest states in the country and holding a vote that, while close, would swing in the favor of pro-Constitution, or "Federalist", forces. The South's role in building the young nation can also be seen in the first President, George Washington, who put national interests above sectional loyalty. It can also be seen, however, in the actions by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison -also both Virginians- in creating a national opposition, or party, to oppose Alexander Hamilton's view of a strong, centralized government that was heavily involved in economic policy. These Republicans, led by Jefferson and Hamilton, had appeal across the country, but all agreed that they could not go along with Hamilton's policy. Nonetheless, it was clear by the end of John Adams' only term in office and the ascension of Thomas Jefferson that the South was, in fact, in control of the country's future.