The Federalist Persuasion 1782-1786

I want to recap and rehash some thoughts about the Federalist persuasion. You know, that thing I'm working on.

1) The transition to liberalism (whether or not "from republicanism") is still the most important and open question in the history of the early republic. Which is really also a question of, what is the nature of liberalism?

2) Intuitively (some sort of intuition that developed slowly, so is that really intuition?) I am saying that the transition to liberalism represented a shift from overt, explicit forms of social control to one of invisible or disguised forms. So not necessarily a shift from less freedom to more.

3) This shift became necessary (in America) when the ideology of revolution (republicanism, radical-Whiggism, whatever) made explicit social control - i.e. by the king - illegitimate and untenable. So it's the post-revolutionary moment when the real action happens: what form will the new, post-explicit-control society take?

4) Federalists were people who respected (and benefited from) social order. That is the meaning of values like "virtue" and especially "responsibility." Which is not to say they didn't sincerely and passionately hold those values. Both Enlightenment and religious impulses support those values.

5) Federalists were revolutionaries. In general they recognised and took part in the rise of 'liberty', i.e. the rejection of explicit, overt authority. However they remained committed to social order, i.e. 'rule' in some sense.

6) The Federalist achievment was therefore to construct a (constitutional) system that appeared to remove authority by granting it to 'the people' (and, perhaps, by locating it primarily in more distant central government*), while instituting new forms of hidden social control through institutions like the 'rule of law' (especially contract law and control of money powers) and election of representatives.

7) This achievement was not primarily a conscious swindling of the people or a counterrevolution, but a sincere attempt to square the circle of rejecting authority while maintaining social order. Federalist leaders felt this as their responsibility as revolutionaries.

8) Many of the disagreements within Federalist ranks were over the level of explicit authority embodied in the forms of American government - i.e. the same disagreements as embodied in the ratification debates. One form of disagreement was over what kind of social order was desired: Federalists differed among themselves here too just as much as they did with Antifederalists.

9) Nonetheless Federalists can be identified and divided from Antifederalists by their feelings of responsibility. Whereas the essence of Antifederalism was to defend the successful rejection of authority in the revolution, the essence of Federalism was to reestablish social order and control on new, legitimate grounds.

10) Federalists' concern with education and the form of Federalist educational proposals, as well as their ideas about retirement and the role of civic leaders, offer evidence for a Federalist understanding of responsibility and a way to characterise the Federalist persuasion as a (diverse) whole.