Selina Lewis
October 17, 2014
Government
Ms. Bishop Alexander Hamilton vs. Thomas Jefferson During the ratification of the Constitution of 1787, the Federalist and Anti-federalist views created tensions and barriers between the two. Federalists, who supported the making of a new document, the Constitution, differed from Anti-federalists who believed that “the new system threatened liberties and failed to protect individual rights.” Anti-federalist, such as Patrick Henry, James Winthrop and Samuel Adams, believed in state 's rights and only urged the need of alterations to the Articles of Confederation rather than dispose of it. Likewise, several arguments arose including the issue of slavery, the duties of the Supreme Court, but majorly the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the general name for the first ten amendments in United States Constitution. These were proposed to alleviate the fears of Anti-Federalists; furthermore, well-known Founding Fathers disputed that the Constitution should not be ratified because “it failed to protect the basic principles of human liberty.” Contrastingly, Hamilton and Madison alike disagreed with the beliefs of the Anti-federalists and believed that the Constitution did not need a Bill of Rights; “it would create a ‘parchment barrier’ that limited the rights of the people, as opposed to protecting them.” However, they eventually made the decision to willingly establish the said amendments into the Constitution which
Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were key Founding Fathers of America who contributed to its freedom and independence. Both men were influential leaders of their time whose visions for the future of the country were clearly contrasting. Hamilton believed for a strong federal government and an economy based on banking. While Jefferson desired for a nation to be controlled by the states and its people. Their competing visions for the United States are still in debate until this day. Although Jefferson’s ideas were significant to America, many of Hamilton’s philosophy still holds in today’s government.
Why do you suppose that Hamilton was so careful to point out the relative weakness of the judiciary? – I believe Hamilton really stressed the feebleness of the Judiciary branch because he wanted to prove the anti-federalists wrong as this set of papers was meant to get the Constitution ratified. By making the point that the judiciary branch poses no real threat to liberty like Congress and the President can, this proves that the proposed Constitution will protect individual rights like the anti-federalists
Conflicting views and contrasting ideologies have always existed throughout the history of United States politics. Alexander Hamilton, who led Federalist Party, believed that a powerful central government was necessary while Thomas Jefferson, who led the Jeffersonian Republican Party, favored an agrarian nation with most of the power left to the states. Although Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were similar in that they both harbored good intentions and tried to keep the best interests in mind for the future of the United States, their policies were drastically different. Without doubt, both of their contrasting ideas served a vital role in forming the government.
Anti-Federalism, an 18th century political movement led primarily by Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, opposed the ratification of the new United States Constitution for multiple reasons. [B] The new U.S. Constitution was written by a group of delegates selected for the 1787 Constitutional Convention which took place in Philadelphia. A chief reason Anti-Federalists were highly concerned with this document was the amount of power it would give the federal government. They worried that the implementation of a strong centralized government could only be possible at the expense of individual states rights and freedoms. Anti-Federalists were also concerned that smaller states, who had previously held as much weight in national affairs as larger states, may be ignored or trampled upon in regards to passing interstate laws and amending federal documents. Another concern of the Anti-Federalists was the absence of a Bill of Rights, a specific list of personal rights possessed by American citizens, in the Constitution. They feared that without this bill of stated rights, there would be no guarantee that the American government, under the Constitution, would not pass tyrannical laws resembling those implemented by the British just prior to the American Revolution. [A]
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the founders believed it was necessary to hold a National Convention to revise it in order for it to become the Constitution. After the signing of the Constitution, two groups were created. The Anti-federalists who composed a series of essays one known as An Old Whig V (1787) suggests that an inclusion of a Bill of Rights would be more effective in clarifying the limits of the government, while others, the Federalists, opposed to it. To understand the effects of ratifying a Bill of Rights in the Constitution, both sides must be analyzed. This paper examines An Old Whig V’s arguments against the Federalist, mainly letters from Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, to propose that the inclusion of a Bill of Rights allows citizens to verbalize their right of protection in regards to the occasion of being shown in the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments from the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison on December 15, 1791. The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to address the rights of the individuals that the Constitution did not specified correctly and it also was written to protect the rights of the individuals liberties even if the majority wanted to take them away.
"The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.(Wikipedia)" As people during the Bill of Rights we where either on the federalist side or the antifederalsit side. It shaped American identity by proposing ten amendments to help protect American citizens. Then the first ten amendments got ratified and since then American citizenshave better protection from other countries and each other. It help fit the needs of a new changing nation.
In the history of America, Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, and Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, were two of the greatest leaders of our country. Although they both lead the country, that's where the similarities end as they had opposing views on everything. Jefferson was a republican while Hamilton was a federalist. Jefferson had been opposed to all of Hamilton's ideas, such as his financial plan, his interpretation of the powers of the government, his foreign policy, and his vision for the future of America. Jefferson was against Hamilton's views because his financial plan would ultimately destroy democracy in America, his interpretation of the powers of
In 1787, the passage of the Constitution by the states were not by any means certain. There were two sides to the ratification of the Constitution: Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists were against ratifying it, while the Federalists were dead set on trying to ratify the constitution. One of the major issues constantly being debated between these two parties was the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. The Federalists thought this addition was unnecessary, because they believed that the Constitution would only have limitations on the government, instead of limiting the people. While the Federalists thought the inclusion of the Bill of Rights was unnecessary, Anti-Federalists explained how they thought the Constitution gave
A quote from Thomas Jefferson said that "a bill of rights is what a people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference (Schweikart)." One would think that Jefferson was a wise man for saying this. His words were powerful. Many people felt this way and the American people did not want a corrupt government that was only for the rich. During the writing of the bill of right there were the Federalist and the anti-federalist the two were in disagreement of whether the ten amendments should be added. The Federalist felt as if the constitution was already completed and nothing should be added, although the anti federalist felt that the people’s rights should be set in stone, and some things needed to be added to the constitution to reassure the people. The anti Federalist wanted to change the wording of the United States Constitution. The Federalist disagreed and said that no one had the right to change the United States constitution and that the bills should be reviewed and added on to the constitution. “The House voted to accept the Bill of Rights on September 24, 1789, with the Senate concurring the following day. (Bingham)" The bill of rights was there to ensure that the people followed the rules and that the government could not invade their rights. “Apparently, the first 10 amendments officially became part of the Constitution with their ratification by Virginia in late
Anti-Federalists believed that a bill of rights was crucial to keep individual liberties. Congress received the proposed Constitution on September 20. It then voted to send the document to the state legislatures for the ratification process.
In the year 1787 a fierce debate over the ratification of the Constitution took place in the United States. The young nation suffered from a government too weak to handle its problems but with citizens wary and skeptical of strong, central governments. This is where the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists took place, the debate that would set American ideals into stone with the ratification of the Constitution and the later-added Bill of Rights. The Federalists believed in a stronger central government to help overcome the struggles the fledgling nation faced while the Anti-federalists believed that the Constitution did not do enough to secure the rights of the people from a tyranny not unlike that of King George’s. Throughout this
The two most influential leaders in United States history, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, took a significant role in the adoption of the Constitution. These leaders were Founding Fathers, but they took very different approaches to the Constitution and how it should have been perceived. As the United States began to adopt an official Constitution, Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson each had different positions where Hamilton was much more lenient with his position of the constitution, while Jefferson’s ideas were much more logical and stringent with the principles of the Constitution and how people perceived them.
When the original Articles of Confederation was drafted in 1777, a bill of rights was considered unnecessary. The U.S government was not considered a single national government, but an alliance of independent states. Since the national government has no power to restrict people’s rights, there was no need for laws to prevent it from doing so. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the Constitution was passed without a bill of rights. When the constitution was sent to the states for ratification, a debate broke out between the Federalists, who supported a strong national government, and the Anti-Federalists, who supported retaining the spirit of the Articles of Confederation . Although the constitution was passed without a bill of rights, some Anti-Federalists felt that that it would be worthwhile to specifically protect through constitutional amendments such individual rights as free speech, religious exercise, and jury trials. Thomas Jefferson who sided with Anti-Federalists on this matter, sent a letter in 1789 to James Madison to pass the bill of rights . Madison submitted a draft of his proposed bill of rights several months later, and Congress passed it modified version by the end of the year. After ratification by the states, the Final Bill of Rights consisted of ten amendments that covered a wide range of topics, guaranteeing citizens individual rights such as freedom of speech and religious liberty and protecting them from excessive bail, unwarranted searches,