A word from John Jay

I believe that the idea that the writers of the constitution would be in the Tea Party camp in contemporary American Politics is false. The convention of 1787 came together to reduce the power of the states in favor of a national government. There may have been some discussion about the exact nature of the national government, but there can be little argument, in my view, that they wished to establish a government that would dominate the states. In Federalist #2 John Jay writes:

Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government, and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers. It is well worthy of consideration therefore, whether it would conduce more to the interest of the people of America that they should, to all general purposes, be one nation, under one federal government, or that they should divide themselves into separate confederacies, and give to the head of each the same kind of powers which they are advised to place in one national government

I do not believe that Jay, Hamilton or Madison would be at all upset at how thing turned out!