MICHIGAN — Hillsdale College of Michigan has been doing courses on the Constitution for a couple of years, now. Their most recent course on the Federalist Papers is available for immediate sign up.

The Federalist Papers course concentrates on the government-approved arguments to ratify the Constitution of the United States. These papers are considered to have been written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and the Father of the Constitution James Madison.

The courses run 10-weeks with an examination at the end of each week. The course has already started so a couple of weeks of courses may be available. It is recommended, however, that you take your time and read all of the course material.

These were not the only papers arguing for and against the new form of government.

Once you sign up, you can find a list of their older courses including a course on great historic literature. You will, of course, receive the inevitable emails asking for donations and a subscription to their Imprimis Magazine. They even give you a certificate suitable for framing when you complete each course.

The course should inspire you to look at all of the arguments surrounding the ratification of the Constitution. I believe they are incorrect in their premise that the anti-Federalist, those opposed to the Constitution, wanted slavery, for example. If you read the anti-Federalist arguments you will find that many of them were written in the North—very much against slavery. Still the online video lectures and reading material provided are all free and give you a good basis for further research on your own.

The biggest contribution by the anti-Federalists was to convince James Madison—formerly against a Bill of Rights in the Federalist Papers—to change his mind and lobby for an inalienable Bill of Rights.