Evolving Constitution

The notion that the Constitution has to grow with the nation is often seen as an innovation of the twentieth century. Yet, similar arguments were being aired early in the 19th century.

Henry Clay, erstwhile ally of Jefferson and Madison, stated a form of “National Republicanism” that sounded a lot like Hamiltonian Federalism with a populist slant. “A new world has come into being since the Constitution was adopted,” Clay argued during a Congressional debate in the 1820s, “Are the narrow, limited necessities of the ol thirteen states . . . as they existed at the formation of the present Constitution, forever to remain a rule of its interpretation? Are we to forget the wants of our country?”