Kauffman’s account does not end with ratification. Martin lived another four decades, served twice as Maryland’s attorney general, and before his death managed to make himself infamous a few more times. Most notably, he served as Aaron Burr’s counsel when the former vice president was tried for treason. More obscurely—but characteristically—he got into a feud with a man who eloped with one of his daughters. He eventually turned his animus into a 163-page rant of a book that Kauffman describes as “tiresome, browbeating, nasty: Martin at his worst.”
The Consitution was a risky undertaking and some of its risk have lately become manifest. But the former colonies needed to present the outside with an image of unity. Without it, foreign powers would have picked them off. Life is made of trade offs, and tends to go in one directional. The Antifederalist criticisms of the Constitution deserve serious consideration and adjustments in law ought to made accordingly. But it is unrealistic to think that the country is going to revert to a confederation anytime soon.
A very odd duck. I should have thought that his role in defending Justice Chase counted for more than his defending Burr.
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