F. Thornton Miller's Juries and Judges Versus the Law: Virginia's Provincial Legal Perspective, 1783-1828 (UVA 1994) also offers an interesting take on the clash between John Marshall's nationalist views and Spencer Roane's 'old republican' positions. jk > I certainly don't possess the background and expertise in > legal/constitutional history > that Paul (and probably assorted others on this list) can claim, but I > think some > additional caveats are in order. A good book challenging the simple > propositions that > the Antifederalists "lost" and then "simply disappeared" is Saul Cornell's > The Other > Founders. > > Though they were certainly a diverse collection of political thinkers and > practitioners, the Antifederalists did succeed in forcing the issue of a > bill of > rights for the new Constitution onto the agenda of the first federal > Congress. It is > interesting to speculate about what might have happened, and when, if > these > Antifederalist demands had not been heeded. > > Cornell also explains the many ways in which Antifederal thinking and > energies > (suspicion of centralized government, localist vision of politics, > commitment to > emerging "public sphere" for political discourse) fed into the > Democratic-Republican > side of the first party system that took shape in the 1790s. With the > election of > 1800, those ideas and energies were no longer limited to a "loyal > opposition" but were > reflected frequently, if not consistently, in the policies and leanings of > the young > federal government itself. Since then, according to Cornell, much of the > "spirit," if > not the structures of American politics, can be traced back to > Antifederalist roots. I > believe he quotes Martin Van Buren as having said something like this > (don't have his > book in front of me). > > In short, it may make sense to term the Antifeds "losers" (as shorthand), > but only if > we also acknowledge the far-reaching impact they had on American political > values and > the Constitution. > > Doug Deal > History/SUNY Oswego > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial 1250 Red Hill Road Brookneal, Virginia 24528 www.redhill.org Phone 434-376-2044 or 800-514-7463 Fax 434-376-2647 - M. Lynn Davis, Office Manager - Karen Gorham-Smith, Associate Curator - Edith Poindexter, Curator To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html