The Anti-Federalists Argument Analysis

The Anti-Federalists argued that their form of government was more effective. They argued many points that were reasonable. Brutus wrote that he feared that our government would be controlled by a group of elites, and he thought that these elites would abuse the people’s rights by just doing what would only benefit them. Brutus thought once the elites started running our country, that they would be in power for a long time and no one could change their minds on certain views. (Brutus 1).

Establishing an effective system of government has proven to be an obstacle for centuries. Fortunately, the Founding Father recognized the common flaws of governments, as did many common men in the colonies. Consequently, the ratification of the constitution was vital for a healthy governmental system, though it did bring about much debate and persuasion. There were two main positions which people took during the ratification, those being the Anti-Federalist and the Federalist. The Anti-Federalist were a diverse assembly involving prominent men such as George Mason and Patrick Henry, and also the most unlikely of individuals, those being Farmers and shopkeepers. The chief complaint about the Constitution was that it confiscated the power from the sates, thereby robbing the people of their power. Oppositely, the Federalist believed in removing some control from the states and imparting that power to the national government, thus making America partially national. Throughout this debate, many letters were shared between the two sides, and eventually, it led to the federalist winning over the colonies.

It all started with the Declaration of Independence. Under British rule, the 13 American colonies were incredibly displeased with the governing of the king and his tyranny. Consequently, Thomas Jefferson and a group of four other men (Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and John Adams) gathered to compose a document declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain. The Declaration states that everyone is born with a set of natural rights, or rights that a person is born with and cannot be taken away by the government, and if any government infringes upon these rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish it”. These words became the basis of Republican Ideals, or standards the people

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.

When the United States declared itself a sovereign nation, the Articles of Confederation were drafted to serve as the nations first Constitution.Under these Articles, the states held most of the power; but due to an almost absent centralized government, colonists were ill-equipped to deal with such practices as regulating trade both between states and internationally, levying taxes, solving inter-state disputes, negotiating with foreign nations, and most importantly enforcing laws under the current notion of "Congress". Realizing that there were several deficiencies in the current system of self-government, the states appointed delegates to ratify the situation and come up with a way to attain the aforementioned practices they needed to

The Federalists believed that it was necessary after the Articles of Confederation completely failed. In the debate over the ratification the major arguments took place over power, rights of the people, and publicity. The Anti-Federalists thought that the constitution would take away power from the national government and would severely limit the rights the people had. First,

For the Constitution to become the nationally followed series of rule, nine of thirteen states would have had to approve it. To gain this approval, the people of America had to be convinced that a stronger government was needed to create a successful country; while being assured that this government would not take away their liberties and would not give power to only those who were more privileged than others. Small states, who approved the unity, were the first to ratify the Constitution unlike large states who found the individual governments adequate.

The Constitution, when first introduced, set the stage for much controversy in the United States. The two major parties in this battle were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists, such as James Madison, were in favor of ratifying the Constitution. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists, such as Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, were against ratification. Each party has their own beliefs on why or why not this document should or should not be passed. These beliefs are displayed in the following articles: Patrick Henry's "Virginia Should Reject the Constitution," Richard Henry Lee's "The Constitution Will Encourage Aristocracy," James Madison's "Federalist Paper No. 10," and "The Letters to Brutus." In these

The real dilemma the Anti-Federalists had with the constitution, when the constitution was signed it did not contain a Bill of Rights to protect citizen’s rights. The Anti- Federalist feared a national government would strip citizens of their individual rights. The Anti-Federalists did not want a repeat of the Revolutionary War.

Transitioning from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution was anything but flawless. When the Founding Fathers signed the Constitution in 1787, the document could still not go into affect until it was ratified by nine of the thirteen states. There were two conflicting sides to this debate, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. These groups were primarily concerned with one major issue: whether or not to include the Bill of Rights.

This document was adopted by the Congress(the central government) it was the first constitution of the United States, on November 15,1777. However, the Articles of Confederation was ratified by all thirteen states. As being new Americans the people decided on what form their new government will take. Articles of Confederation was not perfect, it required Congress to regulate the military.

When the members of the Constitutional Convention, after several months of vigorous debating, finally finished their work, many of the members still objected to this document. The Federalists were the group of people who desired to get the finished new constitution ratified and the Anti-Federalists were the group of people who disliked the new constitution and believed it shouldn't be ratified because it was missing several key parts. The Anti-Federalists formulated arguments based on the weaknesses they found in the new constitution and used them against the Federalists in order to gain support, while the Federalists convinced citizens of the righteousness of the new constitution in order to gain their support.

The Federalist Papers present a series of essays written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. This volume of eighty-five essays, written between October 1787 and May 1788, is perhaps the most famous, and at the same time the most important newspaper column ever published. These essays are considered to be among the most important documents of the Founding period, together with the Constitution and Civil Rights Act. In these essays the authors provided facts and justification for the Constitution, with also raising and discussing some of the most important political issues of the time. The sole purpose for writing the essays was to convince people of the State of New York to ratify the U.S. Constitution. People of New York and its political leaders were strongly against the Constitution and they firmly opposed new government. The main reason for that is the fact that the State of New York gain independence under the Articles of Confederation and was becoming rich trough the trade. The citizens of this state believed that they have no interest in ratifying the Constitution and joining the Union.

Delaware was the first state who voted, unanimously, to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787 and Rhode Island was the last state to ratify it almost three years later on May 29, 1790 (archives.gov, 2016). The document was able to go into effect earlier because ratification only required nine votes for it from the states, which only took 10 months through New Hampshire (archives.gov, 2016). Many states who approved ratification later did so under the requirement that the Framers added a declaration of rights to the Constitution. Throughout the ratification process, before the first state even ratified the Constitution and through 1790, several people wrote The Federalist Papers under the pseudonym “Publius.” They were a collection of papers supporting the ratification of the new Constitution and the formation of a more democratic republic. Federalist Paper #10 was written by James Madison in 1787 and contains one of the best arguments for the formation of the new

The first constitution of the United States was called the Articles of Confederation. It was drafted in 1777 and adopted in 1781 by the same Continental Congress that passed the Declaration of Independence. The scope of the Articles include thirteen states which were called under the