The Federal Bull-Dog: Luther Martin's Anti-Federalist Beginnings
Last week we discussed Robert Yates and John Lansing’s decision to leave the Constitutional Convention and become staunch Anti-Federalists.
Today, we will look at Luther Martin’s decision to follow suit.
Although I credited Yates and Lansing as the ‘First Anti-Federalists’, that title could also go to Luther Martin. However, instead of leaving early, Martin chose to stay and fight...at least most of the way.
Luther Martin
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Luther Martin had been a role player in Maryland State politics.
By 1787, however, Martin had earned enough respect among his contemporaries that he was chosen to attend the Philadelphia Convention.
Like many of the Delegates at that Convention, Martin was quite surprised when Virginia and Pennsylvania promoted creating an entirely new government instead of just amending the Articles of Confederation as had been expected.
Luther was one of several Delegates that actively fought back against the Virginia Plan.
The New Jersey Plan
Luther Martin joined a small group of Delegates in creating the New Jersey Plan.
Also known as the Paterson Plan (after William Paterson who presented it to the Convention), the goal was to improve the Articles of Confederation.
It did give more power to the Federal Government, but kept the one-State-one-vote set up and restricted access to State militias.
While the New Jersey Plan was largely absent from the final Constitution, its role in the Connecticut Compromise led to the establishment of equal votes in the Senate that we have today.
Anti-Federalist Leader
By early September, Martin had had enough.
He threw his arms up in disgust and left the Convention two weeks before the Constitution was signed.
Luther returned to his home State of Maryland and actively fought against ratification of the new Government.
His speeches in the State Assembly were later published as Genuine Information and railed against the motives and methods used by the pro-Constitution Delegates.
Furthermore, he published articles defending the character and actions of Elbridge Gerry (another Delegate who refused to sign) who had been attacked in the papers. The backlash led to Martin writing pieces defending himself.
Federal Bull-Dog
Luther Martin’s fight against the Constitution, as we now know, was futile.
After it was ratified, Martin slowly drifted to the side of the Federalists. This seems to be, in large part, to his personal animosity toward Thomas Jefferson.
In fact, by the early 1800’s, Martin was pushing Federalist policies so hard that he helped to defend Aaron Burr in his treason trial.
Jefferson ended up giving the former Anti-Federalist the nickname of “federal bull-dog.”
This was just one article in my series on the Anti-Federalist Papers.
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