070180 GR The Debate on the American Constitution: The Federalist and the Antifederalist. 1787/88 (fspr.) (2007W)

The American Constitution from 1787 is the oldest written constitutional document, and though amended it is still the fundamental law of the United States. The nation-wide debate on the Constitution in all of the 13 states of the Union in 1788/89 which led to its ratification remains of great interest even today, because the arguments used in the debates are relevant in any constitutional debate dealing with federalism as in today's European Union. We will read the text of the American Constitution as a point of departure, and we will then follow the arguments by those who supported the new federal constitution as well as by those who were opponents of the new fundamental law. This late 18th century debate has left us a corpus of extraordinarily interesting and important writings, and at the same time a legacy relevant to this day, like the still famous "Federalist Papers" together with various other collections of articles by both Federalist and Anti-Federalist writers.