e, of
the insufficiency of the present confederation to preserve the existence
of the Union, and of the necessity of the Union to their safety and
prosperity; of course, a strong desire of change, and a predisposition
to receive well the propositions of the convention."

Very soon Hamilton, with other _federalists_, as the supporters of the
constitution were called, found it necessary to put forth all his
intellectual energies in defence of that instrument. Conventions were
speedily called in the several states to consider it, and the friends
and opponents of the constitution marshalled their respective
antagonistic forces with great skill and zeal.

In Virgina, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee, opposed
the constitution with all their power and influence, chiefly because it
would, in a degree, annul state rights, and base the sovereignty too
absolutely upon the popular will. Mason led in the opposition, and Henry
gave him the support of his eloquence. His arguments were those of all
other opponents; and with the leaders in his own and other states, he
raised the cry, which soon became general, that the new constitution had
no bill of rights and no sufficient guaranties for personal liberty.

They cited the experience of the past to show, that of all national
governments a democratic one was the most unstable, fluctuating, and
short-lived; and that despotism, arising from a centralization of power
in the national government on one hand, and anarchy, incident to the
instability of democracy--"the levelling spirit of democracy" denounced
by Gerry as "the worst of political evils"--on the other, were the
Scylla and Charybdis between which the republic would, in the opinion of
their opponents, be placed, with almost a certainty of being destroyed.

These views were ably combated in a series of political essays written
by Hamilton and Madison, with a few numbers by John Jay, which were
published in a New York newspaper, the object being, as stated by
Hamilton in the first number, "A discussion of the utility of the Union;
the insufficiency of the confederation to preserve that Union;" and "the
necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one
proposed, to the attainment of this object." These essays, under the
general title of _The Federalist_, were written with uncommon ability,
exerted a powerful influence, and present an admirable treatise on the
philosophy of our federal constitution.[