I want to venture too far into modern politics, but I'm curious about whether the US faced similar problems to what we see all the time in developing democracies today. Were there oligarchs who were beyond the reach of contemporary law and who leveraged their wealth with impunity? Corrupt courts and other civil servants? Non-state actors with credible force of arms who governments had to appease? Hidden (or not-so-hidden) power brokers behind the scenes of the nation's governance?
It truly varied from state to state for example Rhode Island was for the most part run by a few wealthy families, in fact it was due to their stubbornness to not attend any meetings to reform the articles of confederation "which required all states to amend" that forced a convention to form our modern constitution. Now in the early days we see midnight judges put in place by Adams in 1801 who created new judgeships in order to further federalists when they realized Jefferson would become the next president. A midnight judge is a judge put into power while the power at be was on the way out. This would lead to major legal opinions such as Marbury v. Madison which would determine judicial review. Now as far a lower level bureaucratic corruption which didn't really become a big thing until after the civil war with such notorieties as boss Tweed. This of course is not to say that there was no lower level corruption prior to Tweed, he just happens to be the most infamous of the 19th century.
Early? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I know, I know [deleted]
Early? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
I know, I know [deleted]