INSURRECTION | The Constitution's Writers Feared Tyrants, including Mobs

David Lefer

January 19, 2021—The epiphany of January 6 will be two weeks ago tomorrow, when President Joe Biden will be inaugurated.

It is a good time to remember an event six years ago, long before social distancing put an end for a while to in-person events, that the Harvard Club of New York created a book expo. 

There I became interested in a book by David Lefer on The Founding Conservatives. I wrote about his book afterwards in a post on the Oxbridge Pursuivant blog site.

The book's theme is that in writing the Constitution conservatives like Madison and Hamilton were building in protections against hostile mobs. They had good reason. During the debate over ratifying the document, which took place in Philadelphia, a mob captured and took hostage some members of the state assembly to get them to vote their way.

Conservatives were concerned that they were trading American freedom from tyranny by George III and Lord North for tyranny by  mobs at home. They would have been particularly appalled by a political party or faction, whether on the right or left, trying to overturn the results of an election by appealing to a mob.

I was especially interested in what Lefer had to say about John Dickinson of Delaware. Another person that interested me was William Livingston, who represented New Jersey at the Constitutional Convention.