Crossword

enough, in fact, to create a federal government with legitimate authority. This change can probably be partly explained by the work of Madison and Hamilton in raising enthusiasm for a federal government, and George Washington’s attendance at Philadelphia, but it also seems likely that the occurrence of the two most dramatic instances of democratic despotism (Shays’ Rebellion and the Paper Money Riot) between these two conventions contributed to the increased attendance at Philadelphia. John Jay also wrote at this time that he was uneasy, ‘more so than during the war’, which might suggest that these feelings were current among the political elite.

Wood also suggests that, while 1776 was a populist revolution, the writing of the Federal Constitution represented an elitist counter-revolution. He sees the Constitution as an effort to protect the elite’s interests and to contain the social forces released in 1776, and writes that the quarrel between federalists and anti-federalists was ‘fundamentally one between aristocracy and democracy’. Although this seems plausible, it is very difficult to understand the motives of the federalists. This is because anything they said or wrote could be what they perceived to be the most palatable argument in support of their cause, and not their real personal reasoning. For example, the federalists’ dislike of ‘new men’ – men lacking pedigree who were becoming increasingly involved in politics after 1776 – seems on the surface to be a political concern. Madison wrote that these new men tended to have a ‘narrowness of interest and vision’, while he wanted to foster ‘an attention to the interest of the whole society’ in government. This would indicate that the federalists were trying to preserve the advantages of elite rule, such as broad policy vision, not elite rule itself. However, Wood would see their dislike of new men as a social concern, and would say that this rhetoric from Madison was intended to cover his real motive, which was keeping government somewhat aristocratic. The protection of minorities’ rights against tyrannical majorities can also, in this case, be seen as elitist as elite minorities had suffered the most from the democratic despotism after 1776. However, other minorities, such as merchants, had suffered at the hands of majorities, so the federalists’ concern can also be seen to be about equal rights more broadly.

Wood’s work is certainly one of the most, if not the most, comprehensive accounts of the evolution of American political thought in this period. While other works, such as Bernard Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, have had a narrower focus (Bailyn focuses on political pamphlets during the Revolution), Wood seems to have left no stone unturned. This has resulted in a formidable and enlightening book of over 600 pages, and an essential read for anyone studying the political thought of the American Revolution.

(Not so) Historical News Stories

Jerome Wilton (D)

THE COLLOSEUM 60AD

WE WANT YOU: Martyrs

Lost out in the job market? Need easy fame? Martyrs are dying out, and you could be the one to fill their place!

If you’re really successful, you can even become a saint worshipped by an odd cult that really like the meek.

Experts can’t explain the sharp decline in the martyr population in Rome, but demand is certainly still high.

Short-term employment only. Required qualities: flammable

The London standard 1850

French do not revolt

In a shock move last year the French people decided that they were tired of revolutions and thought that they’d be nice to the aristocracy for once.

Across

3. Pub name recalling Charles II's hiding place (3, 5, 3) 4. World's Oldest Known Writing Script (9) 5. Last Plantagenet Monarch (7) 7. Shortest Reign of Henry VIII's wives (4) 10. Armstrong, Aldrin & _______ (7) 13. World's Oldest Known Board Game (5) 15. 'Amelia _______' - Pilot (7) 17. 15th March 44B.C. (4, 2, 5) 18. August 1819, Manchester (8) 19. Treaty signed in 1920 between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Forces (6) 20. Gettysburg Address Deliverer (7)

Down

1. 'Birth of a Nation' (abbr.) (3) 2. Third President of the U.S.A. (9) 6. 'George _______' - O.W.; Bishop of Southwell; Informator (7) 8. "Gloriana" (9) 9. 'Simon _______' - " The Liberator" (7) 11. Roman Shield-Wall Formation (7) 12. Queen of England in 1141? (7) 14. Corsica, Elba then Saint Helena (8) 16. East Germany, (abbr.) (3)

Answers to previous crossword:

Across: 5. Shakespeare; 8. Genoa; 10. Augustus; 12. Hadrian; 15. Blackbeard; 16. Tubman; 19. Genghis; 20. Kamikaze. Down: 1. Crimea; 2. Leningrad (only 9 long - oops); 3. Roberts; 4. Thomas Edison; 6. Abdul; 7. You; 9; Nightingale; 11. Saint Helena; 13. Allen; 14. September; 17. Booth; 18. Rice.