HIST 116: The American Revolution
Lecture 24 - Creating a Nation. 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.
(from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 24 - Creating a Nation |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. Introduction: Creating a Nation |
| [00:02:53] | 2. Difficulties in Ratifying the Constitution: Exchanges between Jefferson and Madison, ... and Ezra Stiles's Diary |
| [00:14:20] | 3. Debates on Balance of Power between Anti-Federalists and Federalists |
| [00:22:32] | 4. In Defense of the Constitution: "The Federalist" Essays |
| [00:28:54] | 5. The Anti-Federalists' Push for Bill of Rights |
| [00:36:04] | 6. General Consensus on Experimenting with Republican Government and Conclusion |
| References |
| Lecture 24 - Creating a Nation Instructor: Professor Joanne Freeman. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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