The 1798 constitutional debate hinged on the source of federal sovereignty.

Evidence

The debate arose over the fundamental question of the source of federal sovereignty. Did the Union derive its authority from the states, or the people acting through the states, or the people acting directly, or from its predecessor (the Confederation or the British Crown)? … Historians have drawn the connection between the Republican and Federalist sides of this debate to the older Country and Court parties of eighteenth-century English politics, but it is Powell who, with characteristic legal insight, links this debate with the choice of constitutional interpretive modes. Republican partisans campaigned for a stringently textual approach to constitutional interpretation, construing grants of congressional authority narrowly vis-Avis the states and more broadly against the Executive. — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 192

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to debates over originalism vs. living constitutionalism and the Country/Court party distinction familiar from Anglo-American political history. — connects to: The debate arose over the fundamental question of the source of federal sovereignty. Did the Union derive its authority from the states, or the people acting through the states, or the people acting directly, or from its predecessor (the Confederation or the British Crown)? Historians have drawn the connection between the Republican and Federalist sides of this debate to the older Country and Court parties of eighteenth-century English politics, but it is Powell who, with characteristic legal insight, links this debate with the choice of constitutional interpretive modes. Republican partisans campaigned for a stringently textual approach to constitutional interpretation, construing grants of congressional authority narrowly vis-à-vis the states and more broadly against the Executive.; The 1798 naturalization delay was Federalist entrenchment against Jeffersonians. — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 309

Related

• The debate arose over the fundamental question of the source of federal sovereignty. Did the Union derive its authority from the states, or the people acting through the states, or the people… (similarity 0.90)
• The 1798 naturalization delay was Federalist entrenchment against Jeffersonians. (similarity 0.81)
• Early American jurisdiction disputes were battles between nationalists and states’ rights advocates. (similarity 0.78)