The Most Important Events Of The Late 18th Century

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.

After the colonies gained independence, the founding fathers soon found that becoming a new independent nation was going to be a difficult task. The biggest task was deciding on the division of power in the government. This issue divided the people into two groups, the federalists and the Jeffersonian republicans. Alexander Hamilton led the federalists and Thomas Jefferson led the republicans. These two important men in history would later show how the challenges of becoming a new nation. In this essay I will be analyzing the ideas of Linda K. Kerber’s “The Fears of the Federalists,” to Drew R. McCoy’s “The Fears of the Jeffersonian Republicans.” Furthermore, comparisons will be made about both essays to gain a better understanding of the struggles of government in early America.

Many people chose to support the Constitution and those people were often called Federalists. The name Federalists comes from the word Federalism, which means a powerful central government. Nationalists seemed to be a more appropriate name for the supporters of the Constitution, but during the 1780s the name would have been a political responsibility. The most important role of a Federalist was their ability to defend the popular gains of the Revolution. Many Federalists were well educated in national-level work and very gifted. Among those gifted Federalists were Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Furthermore, the Federalists were also well regulated, well financed, and used the printed word very wisely. Most of the newspapers were in favor of the Federalists and the articles were

In the late 1700s, the United States had began to split into two factions: Federalists and Antifederalists. Factions are groups of citizens united by a common interest. The reasoning behind the differing views of how the government works across the world was best said by Locke “Men are equal in a natural sense, but society establishes many dimensions that are unequal”. (Barbour and Wright, 2017). In the states, Federalists wanted a strong central government while anti-federalists wanted a weak one. “The Georgians, for example, wanted a strong central authority to provide military protection for their huge, underpopulated state against the Creek Confederacy; Jerseymen and Connecticuters wanted to escape from economic bondage to New York; the Virginians hoped to establish a system which would give that great state its rightful place in the councils of the republic” (Roche, 800). The one thing they agreed on was having George Washington as president. George Washington tried to be a neutral leader of the United States and suggested for the states to stay together rather than divide into factions. “Thomas Jefferson is credited as stating: “North and South will hang together if they have you to hang on””(Jamison, 2016).

During the last decade of the eighteenth century, the Federalists were in control of the country and its policies. They passed laws to make a strong central government and some of them even desired for there to be a kind of landowner aristocracy. Their power soon began to erode from within as different factions headed by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton greatly weakened the party's effectiveness and power. They alienated themselves in the eyes of the population by passing the Alien and Sedition acts. This led to the election of Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800, who described his election as a second revolution. Jefferson and his supporters were now able to try to bring about their dream of making America an agrarian republic of small

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 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 early years of the Constitution of the United States were full of political strife. The two prominent political ideals were complete opposites. The Jeffersonian Republicans were focused on giving power to the people and maintaining a pastoral economy, while the Federalists supported the control of the government by the elite class, and maintaining “positive” democracy. Both parties feared the influence and effect the other party would have on the public. In Linda K. Kerber's article, “The Fears of the Federalists”, the major concerns Federalists held in the early 19th century are described. Ever since the war with and separation from England, the citizens of America were seen to be continually drive to “patriotic rebellion” as a way to

In the year 1787, early America, officials and delegates came together to form a constitution that would restore the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation was the attempt at creating a government for the newly independent America. But, it soon became clear that the document was not strong enough to govern America. Therefore, delegates who came to be known as Federalists and Anti-Federalists issued major arguments on the ratification of the U.S Constitution. Federalists were individuals who wished to unify the 13 states in negotiation, and

The Federalist were aware of the people’s fears, but they were just hungry for a strong central government. The danger of a strong central government is a threat to the state governments, and is a threat against citizens own rights. During the 1780’s to 1790’s the U.S. was still in a trial and error period. These were the building years of the U.S. government.

From the Articles of Confederation to the creation of the Constitution, people were divided as to whether or not the central government should have more power. In the Articles of Confederation, Anti-Federalists, such as Patrick Henry, believed that tyranny would pursue if the government was stronger than the states and did not want to repeat what happened with Parliament and the king. However, the Federalists, such as George Washington, thought that the states would be able to defend themselves from rebellions, like Shay’s Rebellion, and the government could keep the states organized with trade and economy. This debate is similar to the debate of the Constitution’s ratification. With the U.S Constitution, the opposers, such as Mercy Otis Warren, thought that “the executive and legislat[ure] [were] so dangerously blended that they give just cause for alarm…”

The election of 1800 was a major event in the history of the United States of America. This elections marks the end of the Federalists as the leaders of this great newly independent small power. The Federalists had always wanted a strongly unified government and opposed having two political parties whereas the Republicans opposed giving too much power to the national government. Having for leader the great and venerated George Washington, the Federalists had a lot of influence; after all he is the first President of the United States and also became the commander of the U.S. Army under John Adams' presidency. The issue started when a cold war was happening with the French, the Federalists wanted a war against the French while the Republicans were against it.

Moving towards the other side of the argument, during the period of debate over the ratification of the Constitution, famous revolutionary figures such as Patrick Henry, Samuel Bryan, George Clinton, and Robert Yates came out publicly against the Constitution. They became known as the Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists were concerned about the amount of power the Constitution would grant the national government, they were apprehensive about representation at the national level, and they were disturbed over the lack of safeguards for citizens’ rights. Phrases in the Constitution led the Anti-Federalists to believe that the power of the national government would be virtually unlimited, which is why they considered extensive national power

By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of

In the 18th century a lot happen but major socialist movements such as equal rights for African Americans, women's rights and emancipation, focus on the environment and focus of new culture all began to create positive impact’s for social America at the time.