The Anti-Federalists

The Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution while the Anti Federalists were against it. This boiled down to simple beliefs held by both groups. Anti Federalists believed that the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and left state governments powerless. Anti Federalists were in favor of a weaker central governments and stronger local state governments. They believed that central government was too far removed from the people, and that the nation was too large, for it to serve them on a local state basis. This resulted in the fear that people’s voices would be taken away; this fear of oppression was only increased by the fact that the Constitution didn’t include a Bill of Rights. However, Federalists believed that a strong central government, accompanied by the Constitution, was needed after the Article of Confederation failed or the nation wouldn’t survive. In the eyes of the Federalists, a Bill of Rights was not needed because the Constitution did not put any limits on the rights of the citizens; however

Antifederalists, in the other hand, feared strong central government, tyranny, and dictatorship, and wanted strong state governments, individual liberties and opposed ratification of the Constitution (until a bill of rights was added). Federalists’ supporters were merchants, skilled workers, laborers, cities and small states. Antifederalists’ supporters were large states and rural areas. Both sides believed in the principles of limited government but had different ways of how to limit the government. Antifederalists feared that the national government would take away all the powers of the state government so that is why they wanted the powers of national government to be limited and specified. They also claimed that the bill of rights should be added to the Constitution to limit government’s powers over

n the history of the United States, the Anti-federalists were the individuals who opposed the implementation of a central federal government which would seek to oversee different operations in the country along with the ratification of the constitution. Instead, they advocated that power ought to remain within the hands of the local and state governments. Conversely, the Federalists advocated for a stronger government that would oversee the operations of all states. They also wanted the ratification of the existing constitution in order to help the government in managing its debts along with the tensions that were developing in particular states. The Federalist movement was formed by Alexander Hamilton, and it functioned as the first

Most Americans did not trust the new government that was in place, but the Anti-Federalist was really skeptical of the government in general and strong national government. So in not trusting the government they did not approve of the new constitution. They were afraid it created a government that the people could not manage. Many notable Americans were Anti-Federalists. Some of the creators of the Anti-Federalist papers included George Mason and Elbridge Gerry. Both were present the Philadelphia Convention but had declined to sign the constitution. The Anti-Federalist believed that the Constitution had many imperfections. The Anti-Federalist believed the Constitution should have been constructed in a more public place and not behind closed

The Anti-Federalist put up a long and hard fight, however, they were not as organized as the Federalists. While the Anti- Federalist had great concerns about the Constitution and National government, the Federalist had good responses to combat these concerns. The Federalist were and for the Constitution and feel the Article of Confederation were not worth ratifying, these should be scrapped altogether. They felt that the Articles limited the power of congress, because congress had to request cooperation from the states. Unlike the Anti-Federalist, the Federalist organized quickly, had ratifying conventions, and wrote the Federalist papers to rebut the Anti- Federalist arguments.

Federalists or Anti-federalists are both fair sides, and each side has an arguable amount of supporters. I am an Anti-federalist, or someone who opposes the Constitution. Moreover, we believe that the Constitution takes too much power away from the people. The Federalists on the other hand are those who support the Constitution. They link themselves with the idea of federalism, and federalism is when power is divided and shared between a central government and local governments. In addition, the Constitution gives the national government too much power, it doesn’t provide for a republican government, and in the end, it doesn't provide a Bill of Rights which is vital.

The Anti-Federalist party was made up of people who, for the most part, lived in the country. They were opposed to developing a federal government, and they did not want to ratify the Constitution, which, they claimed, threatened each free person’s liberites, until the authors included the Bill of Rights. (This granted individual rights of citizens. The Anti-Federalists wanted to write down these so that they could not be taken away from the people by the government like England had done.) Instead, they wanted the state governments to keep the power to prevent monarchies and dictatorships. Famous members of this party were Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Mercy Otis Warren, George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, and James Monroe. They favored the Articles of Confederation. However, the Articles of Confederation had a few flaws: if a law was to pass, it would need a majority rule (9/13); it lacked a court system (nationally); and it was missing an executive branch. The Bill of Rights was appreciated because they wanted to make sure that individual rights could not be taken away. The Anti-Federalists may not have been a group that agreed with one another all the time, but as their opinions varied, more rights were thought of and protected. For example, one part of the group held the view that the sovereignty of states could be endangered

The federalist supported the constitution with the idea of having a strong central government with limitless power, which the federalist believe would create liberty and power. At the time, the states needed a way to recover themselves after the American revolution and need a way to recover financially. The federalists believe with a powerful central government they can distribute power and money as they see fit to the states. These ideas lead many to believe, the united states were heading into the same type of government the British had. The Anti-Federalists believed the constitution would eventually take away the liberty and remind them of the consequences the document might lead to. They feared that “the government would be controlled by the wealthy, with the constitution only effecting small communities” (lecture 3/3/16). With the constitution the states had to surrender their power to the central government, with no guarantees of the central government abusing the

In the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s, America was still brand new and just starting to evolve its government. George Washington had been elected President in 1789 and had set many precedents for future Presidents to come. Two years prior to that political parties started to form. The first political party ever were the Federalists. The Federalist were the people that supported the Constitution and believed in a strong central government. Soon after that a new group formed called the Anti-Federalists who also supported the Constitution, but a stricter interpretation of it focused towards strong states governments. The Anti-Federalists rallied behind Thomas Jefferson and soon changed their name to Democratic-Republicans. Political parties were bad for early America because they symbolized the opposite of what America was supposed to be founded on--people relied on deceit, often turned to violence, and the country divided over

Anti-Federalists believed that aspects such as the “necessary and proper” clause and the supremacy clause gave too much power to the central government and violated state’s rights. The Anti-Federalists also had issues that were specific to each branch. The Constitution gave the President the power to pardon, the Anti-Federalists believed this awarded the executive branch too much power and created a leader similar to Britain’s monarch. They argued that legislature had too few of seats, and that senators’ term limits were too long. The judicial branch was granted the right to review the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists thought the branch would manipulate and interpret the Constitution to benefit themselves.

They wanted power in the state government rather than the central government and believed a central government would have the potential to take unlimited power. Richard Henry Lee wrote the proposed Constitution "appears to be a plan retaining some federal features, but to be the first important step, and to aim strongly, to one consolidated government of the United States." By this quote Richard Henry Lee meant that eventually the central government could destroy the state governments. Anti-federalists favored the Articles of Confederation and believed the Constitution would lead to monarchy. Antifederalist were afraid the Constitution would affect our freedom and liberties. They thought there were loopholes in the Constitution that could lead to a wealthy and powerful group taking over. Richard Henry Lee wrote, "All wise and prudent people, in forming constitutions, have drawn the line, and carefully described the powers parted with and the powers reserved." He believes it needs to be clearly written in the constitution about what powers the government has and doesn’t

The Federalist, who tended to be younger and better prepared?, supported the ratification of the Constitution because they believed the Constitution was good? (Creating A Government). In the “Federalist Papers: No. 51,” Madison and Hamilton, who were Federalists, were trying to convince people that the constitution properly balances power and that it is right. For example, the Hamilton and Madison are implying that the legislature will be divided into the 2, the house and senate when they say, “In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of government into distinct and separate departments.” (FEDERALIST PAPERS NO. 51). The authors continue to support their claim when they propose that power will be divided between both the federal and state governments when they say,“In the compound of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments.” (FPNO51). Contrastingly to the Federalists, on the other end of the spectrum, the Antifederalists, who tended to be older and more afraid of oppressive federal government, opposed ratification of the Constitution. The Antifederalists opposed ratification of the Constitution because they were afraid

After the Constitution was composed and signed in 1787, there was still the pressing need for ratification. Nine of Thirteen states had to agree to its terms before the document would become binding. In the months that followed, the people who staunchly opposed the new constitution, and the people who supported began to write articles defending their positions. They were named the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists, however, were incredibly displeased with the name that the Federalists had coined for them. In that time, Federalism was synonymous with Confederation, which was what the Anti-Federalists were fighting to protect. The arguments were varied, and consisted of valid points from both sides. One of the major arguments of the Anti-Federalists was the supposed validity of a large scale republic. They were skeptical that such a thing could be successfully executed. They wrote about their concerns, worrying about liberty, state and individual, and delegation. James Madison, in Federalist 10, refuted their claims about these issues, and brought about solid reasoning for his desired large republic. While the Anti-Federalists made sound arguments for small republics in terms of liberty and representation, Madison provided better evidence on the sustainability of a large republic.

The Antifederalists were obviously opposed to the Constitution, and they were in full support of the Articles of Confederation. The Antifederalists leaders, like Patrick Henry, believed the Constitution challenged individual’s liberty. The Antifederalists acted in factions. As the Federalists believed in a strong central government, the Antifederalists thought this would get in the way of state sovereignty. Furthermore, other factions within the Antifederalists believed a strong, central government would reflect the government of Great Britain, in which they were trying to get away from. Patrick Henry publicly spoke out against the Constitution claiming it would give the States very limited power. The Constitution was to contain a president, army, and the power to tax. Henry and others viewed this as basically Great Britain. They were afraid that the

The Anti-Federalist oppose the proposed constitution because the anti -federalists felt as though i gave too much of the power to the national government. The anti-federalist believed that if the y gave the national government got too much power then they would end up like the British monarchy