Jeffrey J. Prager
The founding generation certainly understood that the colonists of an empire could and would be treated as tax slaves or cannon fodder. This was the history of the Old World, and they had fought a revolution to escape such a fate. But the “nationalists,” led by men like Hamilton and centered in New York and New England, also understood that life could be quite grand for those who managed and ruled over an empire. That’s why his party—the Federalists—fought so hard and long for a much more powerful, consolidated, monopolistic government and for mercantilist economic policies. It should be made clear early on that the Federalists won many of the essential debates and the expanding American Empire is a direct result of the Federalists contributions to the US Constitution. As an example, it’s said that the framers believed in a living constitution, because they made explicit provisions for amending the Constitution of 1787. Yet most countries don’t straitjacket their operations with a single rigid document that can never be changed except through an onerous, time-consuming and ill-conceived amendment process that’s almost never successful and that is, in fact, anti-success at its heart. Therefore, the “living Constitution” is a Federalist society boogeyman. It doesn’t exist. We are confined by a document that can’t be changed by the people and written over 200 years ago by men intent on competing with England, France and Spain on an international or global scale. They were the new “American Aristocracy” and their desires and goals included American Empire and that’s the empire we see clearly today. The Constitution, in large part a Federalist and Hamilton construct, is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Clyde Wilson has also made an important distinction between a “nationalist” and a patriot: “Patriotism is the wholesome, constructive love of one’s land and people. Nationalism is the unhealthy love of one’s government, accompanied by the aggressive desire to put
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