Philanthropos warns that the Constitution Will Lead to Civil War
Philanthropos was the pseudonym of an Anti-Federalist who warned that the Constitution was a tool of restless men whose thirst for power would lead to a civil war.
“There are men among us...so restless...they must be eternally reforming the state.”
Philanthropos
In December of 1787, an anonymous author publishing under the pseudonym Philanthropos released an article in the Virginia Journal.
Adoption of the Constitution Will Lead to Civil War took an Anti-Federalist stance and argued precisely what its title implied, that civil war would be the outcome of the Constitution.
A quick note, a month after this paper was published, a different person using the pseudonym Philanthropos would publish a pro-Federalist Paper in Pennsylvania. That article is not related to today’s discussion.
Adoption of the Constitution Will Lead to Civil War
The Anti-Federalist Philanthropos (whose identity is still unknown) claimed that the people of the United States were still quite divided from the Revolutionary War.
The main thesis is that any change of government is a dangerous time, and this danger has still not subsided from the war.
Furthermore, people were quite split on the content of the new Constitution.
Therefore, the States would be torn apart by the “civil dissensions which are likely to ensue.”
Eternally Reforming the State
“There are men among us,” Philanthropos said, “so restless...they must be eternally reforming the state.”
He believed that these men were attempting to take advantage of the situation of the States to consolidate power under their own authority.
Resistance to these men (and their new Constitution) would likely lead to civil war, something the author believed the young Union could not handle.
He then goes on to discuss, at length, the horrors of civil war. This anti-civil war discussion continues for almost half of the article.
This was just one article in my series on the Anti-Federalist Papers.
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