A Plebian - Melancton Smith's Anti-Federalist Rational
Melancton Smith was arguably the most active of all Anti-Federalist authors during the ratification debates.
A Plebian
Melancton Smith was arguably the most active of all Anti-Federalist authors during the ratification debates.
In addition to writing under the pseudonym Plebian, Smith corresponded closely with other Anti-Federalists. Specifically, he collaborated closely with fellow New Yorkers Robert Yates and George Clinton.
In fact, many historians have argued that he may have had a hand in creating the Papers of Brutus AND Federal Farmer. While it seems unlikely that he would have been writing under three pen names simultaneously, he may very well have helped the actual authors refine their arguments.
Evils Under Confederation Exaggerated
Melancton Smith’s Paper had two main thesis, the first of which was that life under the Articles of Confederation was not so bad.
He specifically asks the reader “What is your Condition?”
Smith was demonstrating that the Federalist writers were attempting to use fear to demand that the Constitution be ratified. However, Melancton points out that life under the Articles was not the wretched hellscape Federalists would have you believe.
Constitution Must Be Drastically Revised Before Adoption
Smith proclaims that the Federalists are in such a rush to ratify the Constitution because they know it needs a lot of work.
Since, in his opinion, life under the Articles were not so bad, there was no need for haste.
Creating a government is something that should be done right and therefore the Constitution should be appropriately considered before being accepted.
Although many of the Federalists had begun to admit amendments were needed, Smith did not believe that the document should be ratified first and fixed later.
Instead, he believed radical change was needed for the Constitution before it was instilled as the law of the land.
If you made it this far you might also enjoy another of my Anti-Federalist articles:
Montezuma’s Sarcastic Approval of the Constitution
The Decent of the Pennsylvania Minority
We Have Been Told of Phantoms - William Grayson’s Constitutional Skepticism
Want to learn more about Anti-Federalist Papers?
The collection by Herbert J. Storing below is the one I am using for most of my Anti-Federalist research. It is a ‘best of’ collection from his teacher’s ‘Complete Anti-Federalist’ which itself is nine volumes and extremely hard to find.
Pick up a copy through the Amazon affiliate link below (you’ll support this site, but don’t worry, Amazon pays me while your price stays the same).
