Arriving late to Philadelphia, Luther Martin makes a two day speech against the Virginia Plan; he has been vilified ever since. Who were the "Anti-federalists" and what were their objections? Textbooks and many historians celebrate the compromises that created our structure of government. But many compromises were ugly and unfortunate - the multiple protections for slavery are highlighted here.

. . . has made me, a professional historian, want to rush to the nearest library, read the historians’ books in full, and contemplate anew how a country originally organized around opposition to tyranny and coercion rather quickly made the watershed move at the Constitutional Convention to lay the groundwork for a country now characterized by authoritarianism and disregard for democracy. - Rev. Ellin Jimmerson, PhD