Congress Was Just as Chaotic in the 1700′s

I have recently read a few accounts of how Congress acted at the beginning of our country’s history under the new Constitution.

There were so many dynamics. Some people were still loyal to the King in England. We had forged a treaty with England in 1783 after the Revolutionary War that made war with France seem imminent. France had saved us against the British and now we had a treaty with their enemy as Napoleon took on all of Europe.

The Sedition Act passed in the late 1790’s over ran the rights of the First Amendment which were free speech and due process. The supporters were concerned about the French in our country trying to rally the citizens against the treaty. Only Jefferson and Madison saved us.

There was no Supreme Court in place to determine whether Congressional Legislation violated the Constitution. There was no national bank to raise money for the Union because the Constitution said it was illegal.

At the beginning there were no political parties. Those who thought they had a chance to be President ran and the Electoral College decided who was the winner. Then the candidate for President who came in second became the Vice President.

The Federalists believed the general population did not have the intelligence to decide on major issues and loved the Electoral College. The Federalists called the Republicans Democrats because the Republicans believed in the right of the people to make decisions.

The population was still trying to figure out the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. The Federalists liked that only men of property had a vote and the Republicans wanted all men to have a vote even though blacks, Indians, women and foreigners were still excluded.

Somehow we muddled through on our training wheels and a few hundred years later we haven’t gotten any smoother.