The 2016 Election Starts with America's 1st Constitution
In July 12th 1776 (yes, I’m going back that far), the US wrote it’s 1st constitution, the Articles of Confederation. Hold on a minute. 1776? 1st Constitution? That’s just 4 days after signing the Declaration of Independence, and are you saying there was more than one constitution? Yes, I am. There were two, the Articles of Confederation ratified in 1777 and the United States Constitution written in 1787 and ratified in 1789. (The Revolutionary War ended in 1783.) So, for all the time of the Revolutionary War and 4 years after, American was a Confederacy, not a Federacy. For, us to understand where we are today, we have to remember that at the time of the founding, we were not Americans. We were Virginians, New Yorkers, Georgians, Philadelphian, etc.
However, the Confederacy was not working. We soon understood that divided, we lacked effective foreign affairs, ability to handle an inter-state economy, a strong defense against threats, and more. So, the United States Constitution was a compromise between those who wanted each state to have autonomy against those who wanted a stronger central government.. As is the nature of comprise, both sides left not fully satisfied. The argument was not truly settled until the Civil War, but that comes later. Even today, the argument still surfaces in under the idea of “State’s Rights”.
At the top of the conflict between Confederates and Federalists was, you guessed it, slavery. Now, let just start by saying that slavery is an evil institution gladly scourged (mostly[1]) from the face of the Earth. However, for us to understand the struggle of today, we cannot confused explaining the rationality of slavery as excuse or justification. We need to understand that at this time, those in governments had grown up under the rule of a monarchy where human inequality was the expected norm. More importantly, we have to understand that the leaders of the Slave States, we’re only rich and powerful man because of slavery. Not that they did not understand how slavery contradicted the founding principles of the country, However, if slavery were to be abolished, not only would the leaders of Slave States become poor and powerless, the states they were responsible for would be driven to economic collapse. For the leaders of Free States, ending slavery was a matter of morality. For the leaders of Slave States, ending slavery was an existential crisis.
And, let us not be too focused on the issues of slavery. Slavery is the top of a pyramid of issues that go back to the first walled city, rural versus urban. Walk down the streets of a big city like New York, and think about what it takes for everyone to live so close together. Imagine how you would feel about guns and pollution. How would you feel about fire regulations when a burning building can take out a city. You need rules and government to handle all those small issues that turn big when so many people live close together.
Now imagine, you live on a farm, when your nearest neighbor is at least a mile away. What others do is of little concern to you, but it takes government hours to reach you if something goes wrong. You need your gun to defend yourself, and if trouble happens your pretty much on your own. In fact, rules and regulations, especially if made for a city, can cause you to lose your farm. Those fire and fuel regulations add expenses you can ill afford, if there is a bad crop year. But for the rural dwellers matters are worse. Population and the seats of powers center in cities, not the country. A government base on city life is less likely to meet the needs of the country.
For most of human history, country folk could do little but complain. The king ruled from his castle, and you had little to say about. But, America was introducing a new form of government where the humble farmer could have as much say as a city dweller, as long as the country was not “too much democratic". That was the trick for the more agricultural Southern States. Some democracy meant no longer a king ruling from up high. Too much democracy, and those that lived in Southern States would always be subject to the whims of the more populace Northern States. So, there were compromises. The Senate, the Electoral College, and even the hypocritical and infamous three-fifths rules became compromises with the Southern States. The overall and intentional effect was to give rural voters slightly more voice than city voters.
There were many ways this struggle between rural and urban took from, and much politics that didn’t. But two ways would surface that shaped American history through to today. The first as we already mentioned was slavery, and the second was what is always fought over in politics, taxes. At the time of the founding, the main form of income for the federal government was tariffs.[2] Which tariffs you want depended on how you make your money, but in general Southern States exported and imported more than Northern States, and so would often want lower tariffs.[3] In fact, until 1913, when the 16th Amendment was passed allowing income tax, tariffs were one of the major issues that often defined politics. We’re talking about money here. That’s where the action is. And if you think, I’m exaggerating, tariffs is one of the main ways the government favor domestic products over international ones. If anti-globalism really does become one of the main goals of our current president, tariffs will again be part of the discussion.
So, there you have it. At the very beginning, the country was founded with two sides at conflict. One wanted lower taxes, less federal government, more “State’s Rights”, and attention to parochial (conservative) values. The other wanted higher taxes, more federal government, less “State’s Rights”, and more attentions to cosmopolitan (liberal) values. Is any of this sounding familiar.
And from the beginning, the system was rigged, giving a slight advantage to politicians that appealed to the rural “conservative” voter.
This is just the beginning of the story so “stay tuned”.
