The Role Of A Strong Central Government

Federalism was the first guard against tyranny. The central government and states both had their own powers but also shared a few. They had trading, conducting foreign relations, declaring war, making immigration laws etc. Local state governments got elections, establishing schools, passing marriage and divorce laws, and regulating in-state business. “The different governments will control each other and at the same time it will be controlled by itself,” said James Madison in the federalist paper #51.

The Anti-Federalist Papers recognized that the people one in power “can seldom or never resume it again but by force”. The establishment of a single law that would be equally applied to all states and where the power would be vested in a central government represented, for the anti-federalists, the condition of the lives, the liberty, and property of every man in the United States. “Nor the constitution or laws of any state, in any way prevent or impede the full and complete execution of every power given”. Anti-Federalist Papers established their fear on having a judicial branch that would overrule over the state courts without attending to the necessity of the local people, as well, the congress would be able to limit the decisions of the national state if it would affect the well-being of the whole nation, again, limiting the purpose of the national government on the pursuit of happiness of its own

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

Federalism was needed in the Constitution to make sure that the national government did not gain too much power. After the revolution, many people feared a monarchy or any form of government in which the central ruling body had

The writers of the federalist papers addressed this issue and many more. They knew that the newly formed union was in danger of breaking apart, and it needed a firm and fair central government to keep it intact. Knowing that the federalist and anti-federalist were largely supported by two different groups and different interests, the federalist papers included the idea to set up a system of checks and balances that we still see in today constitution. Opposing interests both economically and politically could be worked out by using a representative form of congress. There legislation could be vetoed by judicial review and presidential veto, thus setting up our current three branches of government. The system that the federalist wanted to place also helped anti-federalist see the good that could come from a new constitution. Checks and Balances would set up clear powers of what the federal government could and could not do while protecting states rights and individual rights. Madison also had a plan for the Bill of Rights included in the federalist papers, but it would not be passed until

The Federalists believed that a strong national government would be most efficient in leading the country, and would put an end to the challenges that America was currently facing. As described in Document 3, and efficient, protecting and new government was needed to end the distress and complaints of American citizens. The Federalists also believed that the independence that they had just fought for would be lost without a stronger government, with Document 4 describing independence as a blessing that would cease to exist without a strong and efficient government. The Federalists promoted the ratification of this new constitution by explaining that it originated from common citizens. John Jay explains that “The constitution comes reccomended to you by men and fellow citizens who...love their liberty and their country.” (Doc 5). Jay encouraged others to support the ratifcation of this new constitution by appealing to citizen’s love for their country, and that if you love your country and liberty, then this constitution would help to preserve

The Articles of Confederation were seen by the Anti-Federalists as a solution to finding a government binding document instead of the Constitution. Although the Articles of Confederation could draw up treaties, borrow money, and produce money they could not enforce treaties, repay the money that was borrowed, and it could not stop certain states from the attempts of issuing their own money. These were just some of the reasons the Federalists believed that the Articles of Confederation could no longer be used to run a country. The Constitution was believed to solve all of these problems with the states as a whole but also give the states the power that they longed for. In order for all of the power to be divided, three branches of government were made; executive, legislative, and judicial.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” (Federalist No. 51) This is only a small part of the many essays the Federalists created in order to create a new government. It was well known that a stronger government was necessary for the prosperity of a nation, but two parties had different ideas for the nation. The Constitution was introduced by a group called the Federalists. It would provide a new stable government, unlike the previous Articles of Confederation, which provided a weak central government. This sounded like a great plan for the nation; however, there was a group of people that opposed the idea called the Anti-Federalists.

The Federalist believed there should be a strong central government in which the power of the government is divided equally between the state and federal government, while the anti-federalists wanted to have a weak federal government and a strong state government. Both sides provided good arguments, but without the federalist, we wouldn't have the constitution which

Anti-Federalists were strong believers that states should be able to manage their own revenue and spend their money as they, the state, felt necessary. Anti-Federalsits proposed and favored the Bill of Rights, whereas Federalists were against it. Federalists believed that economic struggles and overall national weaknesses were caused by many individual fiscal and monetary policies that acted in different ways. The Federalists were successful in their effort to get the Constitution ratified by all thirteen states, and later established a party known as the Federalist Party, which backed the views of Hamilton and was a strong force in the early United States. After the ratification of the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists worked within the Constitutions bounds, as they expected the Federalists to do as well, holding Federalists to the pledge that the Constitution granted the national government only the powers that were specifically listed. Federalists and Anti-Federalists had very strong yet different views and goals on the position on monetary policy, position on the constitution, and the overall goal - serving as official laws for the

Anti-Federalists is a group of people in the early U.S. who opposed ratification of the U. S. Constitution, because they feared a strong national government would oppress the people. They believed the governments should be rightly balanced, the different branches of legislature should be unconnected, and that the legislative and executive powers should be separate (Regent, Word Doc., 2017). Their concerns were within the national government; the legislative and executive branches were to powerful. They were also concerned that the Constitution gave too much power to the national government at the expense of the state governments. However, they believed that a bill of rights was essential to protection the people from the federal government.

After the American Revolution our nation was in major debt and suffering from an ecumenic depression throughout the colonies. The debt and other fiscal issues our nation was facing made some of the founding political members to want a more focused federal power. The opinions of two groups known as the Federalists and Anti-Federalists were divided about the new proposed Constitution. The founding members known as the Federalists wanted a strong central government and weak state governments were in favor of keeping the newly proposed Constitution,whereas the opposing group of men were known as the Anti-Federalists were opposed to it. The Anti-Federalists had believed that the power should belong to the states and not the central government, and that the nation should keep the Articles of Confederation despite the fact that it had failed. In the time period of 1787-1788 the views and ideas of the Federalists would have been better than those of the Anti-Federalists for more than one reason.

The federalist wanted the state government to have less powers than the central government because they thought it was the best way to keep the States together. The anti-federalist on the other hand were more in favorite of the states having more power in order to prevent any kind of tyranny. George Bryan an anti-federalist said this " to declare that each state retains it sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right,which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled." If more power was given to the states we could be sure that our rights would not be infringed. Another reason the anti-federalist didn’t like the constitution and wanted to stay with states having more power is the the Constitution did not give a bill of rights. Some of the people who wanted the states to have more more power was Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John

In the eyes of a federalist, a central government was a bright choice to keep the nation strong and sustainable. The Federalists were aware that that the problems of the country came from the weaknesses of the central government which was created by the Articles of Confederation (Independence Hall Association). The federalist political philosophy focused on freedom of the people with a ruling body supporting them. The problems that stemmed from the Articles of Confederation would no longer be problematic with a strong central government regulating what is socially acceptable. Adams was strongly behind the federalist party because of this argument for a central government.

While the anti-Federalists believed the Constitution and formation of a National Government would lead to a monarchy or aristocracy, the Federalists vision of the country supported the belief that a National Government based on the Articles of the Confederation was inadequate to support an ever growing and expanding nation.