EXHIBITS

The looking glass for 1787. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Mat. chap. 13th verse 26 

During the American Revolution, the most important political distinction was whether you were a Loyalist or a Patriot. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, the majority of those with Loyalist, Royalist, or other kinds of Tory sympathizers either moved to Canada, to England, or decided to keep their heads down for a while. Their political stance had become obsolete.

Rather than achieving unity through this lack of binary opposition, the states fell into a period of stewing political turmoil. While no true parties had yet formed, countless regional, economic, and philosophical factions flourished, and the weak government under the Articles of Confederation lacked any real power necessary to keep the states operating as a single nation. 

By the late 1780s, “postcolonial unity seemed genuinely under threat.”[1] The young nation was plagued by debt and the nationalistic patriotism was waning as contrasting local groups within the states “became more assertive in articulating their grievances in the state assemblies.” As tensions grew, some feared that their new nation which they had fought for would soon collapse into separate, squabbling states that could be easily overrun either by the rule of mob or by a foreign power such as Great Britain. Out of this fear came the Constitutional Convention.

Two opposing forces entered the political debate over the Constitution—the federalists and the anti-federalists, meaning those in favor of the establishment of a federal government and those who were opposed to changing the current form of government. A third, generally forgotten section of the populace[2], were supportive of the Constitution as long as a Bill of Rights was put in place to protect them. These factions were not yet fully-formed parties, though they did demonstrate some of the ideological differences that would divide the country into parties.

Three of the supporters of the Constitution banded together to write a series of essays, which they eventually called The Federalist Papers. Their names were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Together they wrote eighty-five essays and while the essays were designed as a political tool to explain the document to the populace, in the hopes that it would encourage people to ratify the Constitution, the documents became a crucial interpretive tool which turned the legal document of the Constitution into a living, breathing government. 

The political cartoon above portrays a set of federalists on the left and anti-federalist on the right of a heavily-laden cart labeled “Connecticutt.” The gentleman sitting on the cart warns that the two sides might pull the “machine” apart if they continue to move in different directions. The political cartoon is packed with details, but perhaps the most telling is that the federalists are moving towards the sun, and the anti-federalists are moving towards a raging storm. The second most important detail may be that the cart “Connecticutt” is filled with paper to signify debt—the young nation’s biggest problem. This seems to imply that the engraver believed that a national government would be the best option and that the national government would be able to help relieve the state of their monetary burden. Political cartoons in the 18th century were very difficult to create and very expensive to publish, but the situation roused some strong emotions. The engraver seems to have vented some of his emotions on the subject by portraying political figures either making fools of themselves or worse: two of the figures in the foreground on the right are spraying urine at each other. The effect is not all that dissimilar from modern political memes.