After the Founders unveiled the Constitution in 1787, a ratification debate followed that pitted those who supported the new plan — the Federalists — against those who opposed it — the Antifederalists. Most of us today know very little about that debate, and what little we know comes from the musical Hamilton. Some know enough to rightly credit the Antifederalists with the Bill of Rights, an addendum to the original that ultimately guaranteed the ratification of the Constitution. Perhaps ironically, when I ask my students what they know of the Constitution, they nearly always mention the Amendments — the part of the Constitution we enjoy thanks to those who opposed it, and the part that outlines our rights as citizens of the country.
Studies suggest that my students are typical — that most Americans, when asked about it, understand the Constitution as a guarantor of rights. This view is not wrong, but it is incomplete.
The Constitution, and even the Amendments to it, should be seen as enabling self-determination as much as protecting rights. That, at least, was the view of the men who created it…