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Civics 101

Founding Documents: The Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers

Civics 101

NHPR

History, Government, Society & Culture

4.22.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ten days after the Constitution was signed at the Old Philadelphia State House, an anonymous op-ed appeared in the New York Journal. Signed by "Cato," it cautioned readers of the new Constitution to take it with a grain of salt. Even the wisest of men, it warned, can make mistakes. This launched a public debate that would last months, pitting pro-Constitution "Federalists" against Constitution-wary "Anti-Federalists." It was a battle for ratification, and it resulted in a glimpse into the minds of our Framers -- and a concession that would come to define American identity.  CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Civics 101 is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

0:04.5

Hey Nick, did you ever have to write one of those what I did over my summer vacation essays in

0:09.3

grade school? Yeah, all the time. In fact, might find us some vacation playing Sam Gamgee

0:15.9

in an eight-hour production of Lord of the Rings. Okay, I wasn't expecting that. That's really

0:21.4

that's ambitious. But still, your thing is not as ambitious as designing a new system of government.

0:29.8

Yeah, nowhere near as ambitious as that. No, right because that's totally insane. You can't

0:34.1

pull that off in four months. And yet, that is how we got our current system of government.

0:41.6

A bunch of guys in the stifling heat in Philadelphia in this airless room with the windows

0:46.8

nailed shut in the middle of the summer wrote our constitution in four months. And then they

0:52.5

stepped outside and showed the world there, you know, what I did on my summer vacation essay.

0:58.4

By essay, you mean the Constitution. I do.

1:05.6

The delegates to the convention published their constitution in newspapers throughout the 13 states.

1:11.2

And they were probably hoping for a pretty positive response. But that is not what they got.

1:17.3

A mere 10 days after the constitution is signed. I mean, the ink is barely dry on this thing.

1:23.6

Some guy named Kato writes this op ed, basically saying, I know that it's really exciting that

1:29.0

this new constitution was signed by people like George Washington. But just be careful about it.

1:35.6

It might not be all it's cracked up to be. What? Someone's already constitution

1:39.8

fashion? What is this Kato guy know? Who is Kato anyways? Has he even read the constitution?

1:45.7

Well, he has. But before we get into that, introductions, I am Hannah McCarthy.

1:51.3

I'm Nick Kepadiche. And this is civics 101. And today we are diving into one of the most high

1:56.9

stakes, eloquent, intense, public battles in the history of the United States. The battle that

2:03.6

pitted the pro-constitution federalists against the anti-constitution anti-federalists.

...

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