Anti Federalists Dbq Essay

The idea that colonists should have fair rights was revolutionized in the Articles of Confederation. When the first colonies were settled, the monarchy of Great Britain gave charters to groups of people to set up their own government with their own rights. After the French and Indian War, the British government had war debt. As a result, the British taxed the colonists ignoring the rights chartered to them. The British abolished self-government and took control of all the colonies. Making a colonist pay a tax for a valid reason is fine, but only when the colonist’s rights would not be violated. The Articles of Confederation was influenced by insuring each citizen's rights. All the white property owning, tax paying men could vote their state officials. In the Northwest Ordinance,the federal government allowed states to be created when 60,000 free men settled in the territory. After the territory had enough occupants, the government kept their promise by allowing the territory to become a state. Although the state had much more power, people could still fight back. For example, during the depression, the Shay’s Rebellion was a dispute between indebted farmers and the state court. However, the state courts had to pass laws to regulate such rebellions. They abolished a fair trial and grouped gatherings. They deprived some of the colonists of their basic rights. Bad ideas implemented by the British government in the American Revolution may have changed at first, but as the government matured, unfair laws were passed. By viewing the situation of the Shay’s Rebellion, the revolutionary period did not just influence the Articles of Confederation in good

However, an uprising led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays that took place in western Massachusetts in 1786 was the event that got the attention of the founding fathers. The Shay’s Rebellion demonstrated to the founding fathers that the Articles of Confederation brought commercial problems, threaten civil order, and conflicts between states. Likewise, at the constitutional convention the founding fathers crafted and ratified the U.S constitution to address the problem the Articles of Confederation could not tackle. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the divided the powers of the national government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Furthermore, the constitution established a one true currency system and presented the job duties and requirements the three branches and individual states. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the constitution presented the rights of its people (Bill of Rights) and a system of check of balance and separation of powers that the United States as democratic country. The Articles of Confederation was a popular democracy with its chaotic results and the constitution was a responsible democracy with its civilized outcomes.

The Federalists are, no doubt, trying to help to build America’s government in the benefit of the citizens. The government should have a Central department where the power is able to help the country function properly and smoothly. The Federalists have made it possible by providing the Constitution. This piece of document helps describe the roles the Central Government should have. The constitution is an important piece of document to describe major roles of the Central Government. The constitution is a work of art in the views of the Federalists, and it is proven to show how the Constitution is able to convert our country into a beneficial government. The Constitution explains the significance of each section and how the power is distributed between the Central Government. The Federalists had to create the Constitution in order for the weakness of the Article Of Confederation to never occur again.

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.

Hamilton created a financial system and national bank that solved the countries debt problem. The Anti-Federalists held the opposite views. They were a diverse coalition of people who opposed ratification of the Constitution. The party mostly consisted of farmers who lived in the south. They objected the new powerful central government, the loss of prestige for the states, and saw the Constitution as a potential danger to personal liberties. They believed that the greatest threat to the future of the United States lay in the government's potential to become corrupt and seize more and more power until its monarch rule completely dominated the people. Jefferson believed that the Federalists’ acted as monocrats (Doc 5). The Anti-Federalists strongly supported state rights, but were opposed to a national bank because they didn’t want a strong central government (Doc 2). Local control was crucial to Antifederalists’ concept of democracy. The differences in political parties and philosophies led to the opposing opinions on government issues. Disagreements between Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s viewpoints involving a national bank, constitution interpretations, and social differences led to the rise of political parties.

Alexander Hamilton wanted a national government that had complete political authority. Although Hamilton did not like state governments and wanted them to be eliminated, he knew it was not possible. Therefore, he proposed the idea of having the central government to have the most power, but allow the states to control many of their own rights and individuality. In collaboration with James Madison and John Jay, Hamilton wrote 51 essays out of 85 essays called “The Federalist Papers”. These essays explained and defended the new Constitution prior to its approval and with his effort, nine states agreed to ratify the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton led the Federalist Party, who believed in a centralized national government with strong economic roots, unlike Thomas Jefferson, who wanted a limited government. Hamilton also proposed to

After the Shay’s Rebellion, governors felt like the Articles of Confederation needed to be reform and a stronger federal government would be necessary. During the Shay’s Rebellion, farmers tried to stop the judges from going to work and they revolted. The government reacts by sending a state militia,

The Articles of Confederation were like a loose contract between the states. There was deepening debt, no power of the government to levy taxes to pay for the cost of the war, some states had a navy while others did not. Shay’s Rebellion, in which the government raised the taxes against farmers to help pay off war debts, caused the farmers to rebel. Hamilton and Madison decided that something needed to be done and so they called together representatives from each state to draw up a new version of the Articles. Instead of another Articles of Confederation being drawn up the United States Constitution was written. The new Constitution had a “weak” central government with strong state powers. It also ensured each state that they would be equally represented in the national government. In one house the representatives were based on the state’s population and in the other house each state gets two representatives. New ideas to the Constitution included: an executive branch

During the Revolutionary War, colonists believed that they needed a sense of unified government, so this led to the creation of the Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the United States (history.com). Although the Articles of Confederation had its strengths, such as allowing the central government to create treaties and maintain military, it had many weaknesses, such as preventing the central government to levy taxes and regulate trade. It also could not be changed unless there was a unanimous decision and it lacked a stable currency. Since the creation of the Articles of Confederation had many issues and weaknesses, the Continental Congress rewrote the Articles into what is now known as the U.S Constitution. The Constitution established a national government, guaranteed basic rights for the colonists and revised almost everything that was wrong in the original Articles, such as the sovereignty that resided primarily in the states and the lack of power from the national government. The Constitution was later ratified by all 13 states in May 1790, with the support of the Federalist Party. [A] Federalists believed in the commitment to a strong national government and in the practice of a separation of powers. However, Anti-Federalists had the opposite view which was the opposition of a strong national government, the support for small landowners, and the representation of rights of the people. Anti-Federalists believed that a strong national government

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]

The constitution guarded against tyranny by giving us federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, and large vs. small states. The constitution was written in Philadelphia in the year of 1787. This established America’s national government and fundamental laws

The Federalists supports the Constitution as it was and want to change the Constitution immediately. Federalists support a strong central government giving little power to states but ample amounts to federal government. “We may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior.” This was taken from the Federalist Papers No. 39 and it describes how the Federalist think the government should be run. “It has been several times truly remarked, that bills of rights are in their origin, stipulations between kings and their

One of the main movements was the whiskey rebellion that was passed for federal taxes. However this tax mainly targeted the farmers. Who would make the grain into alcohol because it made it easier to move. Yet there was conflict since the United States needed money but the farmers did not want to pay which in Document one in Revolutionary Characters What Made the Founders Different, by Wood Gordon which states, “Congress could not tax and pay its bill… It could not levy tariffs to regulate trade or retaliate against the mercantilism European empires” (D1). Which one can see how it also affected the constitution. The farmers did not want to pay for the tax whic also led to the rebellion.Plus the anti federalists did not support it since it was not stated in the constitution. Plus the government had already sold enough of its western land to pay for the government . Plus the US had made most of its money from the tariffs and Hamilton wanted to make the American industry competitive. Which can be related to Objections to the constitutio by George Mason whole stated his why the constitution should not be ratified, “Nor are the people secured even in the enjoyment . of the benefits of the common law” (D4). One can see it in this instance in which Hamilton was trying to build up America yet people not fond of it and ended up rebelling. Just to be shut down by America's militia, yet it all connects back to the creation of the first party

Though both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson served as members of President Washington’s cabinet, the two held very different views on the newly founded U.S. government, interpretation of its constitution, and the role of the “masses” in that government. These conflicting views would develop in two political parties, the Federalists led by Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson. Although both political parties presented enticing aspects, Hamilton’s views were much more reasonable and fruitful when compared Jefferson’s views; idealistic and too strict in reference to the constitution.