John Lansing Position Paper Example

Before 1787, New York had been an ardent supporter of the revolutionary war, and New York City served as the capital of the country from 1786-1790. New York was the fifth-most populous state, with approximately 340,120 residents in 1790. New York fell somewhere in the middle of the country in terms of slave ownership, with 6.9% of the state’s population being enslaved. Interestingly, New York had nearly double the number of free women than men. Finally, New York City was the most populous city in the country, with 33,131 residents. 

Overall, the leadership of New York was in support of the formation of a stronger national government. The state’s governor, George Clinton, was especially supportive of the idea. Clinton believed that the current government set up by the articles of confederation was far too weak to deal with the issues facing America, saying “we shall not be able without a Change in our Circumstances, long to maintain our civil Government.” However, Clinton’s views changed in 1783 when congress attempted to introduce a national tariff that would negatively impact New York’s economy. The introduction of the tariff convinced Clinton that the introduction of a more powerful national government would make the states lose all of their power. Clinton then became a critic of the efforts, and along with him his staunch supporter John Lansing.

John Lansing was born in Albany, New York in 1754. He earned a law degree by age 21 and quickly became an extremely wealthy lawyer and landowner. Lansing owned a large estate and had five children with his wife. During the revolutionary war, Lansing was a military secretary for general Phillip Schuyler. He then turned to politics, where he served in the New York state assembly for six terms. In a two-year gap between his fourth and fifth assembly terms, Lansing served in the congress appointed by the Articles of Confederation. He then returned to the New York Assembly and served two more terms as its speaker. Lansing then served four years as Albany’s mayor, from 1786 to 1790. In 1787, Lansing was selected to be one of New York’s three representatives to the continental congress in 1780. He attended the convention under the impression that the intention was to amend the articles of confederation, and was subsequently very surprised at the attempts to create a whole new constitution. 

As a fierce supporter of governor Clinton, Lansing was firmly against the idea of increasing the powers of the national government. He believed that increasing the powers of the national government would lead to an abuse of power. 

Lansing believed that the powers of legislation should remain firmly in the hands of state governments, and was against the idea of the formation of a legislative branch. Lansing believed that congress would abuse the power given to them if they were allowed to legislate. He had two reasons why-- 1.) that there would be a need of capable and intelligent people in congress in order for a national legislature to function properly and 2.) it would also remove power from the people.