The United States Constitution Vs. Anti Federalism

There are ten Amendments in the Constitution, they are called the Bill of Rights. Each one of the Amendments protects a different right that people liveing the United States have. The Constitution was created in 1791. It took many drafts, but after 116 days on September 17, 1787 the members of Congress finally signed the Constitution (Constitutional FAQ Answer #87, usconstitution.net). James Madison wrote the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights (U.S Founding Fathers, constitution facts.com). Each Amendment, of the Bill of Rights, is important for a different reason. The first Amendment states,” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (1st Amendment, cornell.edu). The first Amendment is very important because it protects the U.S. citizen's freedom of religion, freedom of press, and freedom of speech.

The creation of the US constitution was prompted my many different things going on. What established America’s national government and fundamental laws is the U.S constitution. It also guarantees basic rights for its citizens. The U.S constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pa. The first document before the U.S constitution was the Articles of Confederation, with that the government wasn’t very strong and the states didn’t act like they do today. In 1787, at the 1787 convention, delegates made a decision to make a stronger federal government that consisted of the executive, legislative, and the judicial branches. That wasn’t it either, it also had a system of checks and balances because they did not want one branch to be able to overpower another branch. The ten amendments of the Bill of Rights guarantees protections for people like religion and freedom of speech. In total, there are twenty-seven constitutional amendments.

On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was signed by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, who were directed by George Washington. The 1787 convention was called to draft a new legal system for the United States now that the states were free and colonized. This new Constitution was made to increase federal authority while still protecting the rights of citizens. It established America’s National Government. In 1971, the Bill of Rights were added to Constitution containing the 10 amendments guaranteeing protection for citizens. The first commandment consisting of freedom of speech and religion. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

During the Constitutional Convention, the Federalists and Anti Federalists disagreed on many aspects of the Constitution.The Federalists wanted a strong central government while the Anti Federalists were more for state rights. That is just a small fraction of the many arguments that these two factions disagreed upon. The Constitution was eventually ratified with the Federalists compromising with the Anti Federalists by adding The Bill of Rights, a list of the general rights that a citizen was entitled to. Although the Bill of Rights gives us our inalienable rights, the government has compromised our rights to a significant extent many times in history due to fear, corruption, and control.

A quote from Thomas Jefferson said that "a bill of rights is what a people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference (Schweikart)." One would think that Jefferson was a wise man for saying this. His words were powerful. Many people felt this way and the American people did not want a corrupt government that was only for the rich. During the writing of the bill of right there were the Federalist and the anti-federalist the two were in disagreement of whether the ten amendments should be added. The Federalist felt as if the constitution was already completed and nothing should be added, although the anti federalist felt that the people’s rights should be set in stone, and some things needed to be added to the constitution to reassure the people. The anti Federalist wanted to change the wording of the United States Constitution. The Federalist disagreed and said that no one had the right to change the United States constitution and that the bills should be reviewed and added on to the constitution. “The House voted to accept the Bill of Rights on September 24, 1789, with the Senate concurring the following day. (Bingham)" The bill of rights was there to ensure that the people followed the rules and that the government could not invade their rights. “Apparently, the first 10 amendments officially became part of the Constitution with their ratification by Virginia in late

The Bill of Rights and the 14th amendment are very important aspects of our government and the way it functions. The Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments, was ratified in 1791. The 14th amendment was ratified 77 years later, in 1868. Thesel 11 amendments were created to protect the rights of the people. Before the Constitution was ratified, the anti-federalists demanded a Bill of Rights be attached. Afraid of the government gaining too much power like Britain had before, the anti-federalists would not support the Constitution until a Bill of Rights was guaranteed. Eventually, the Founding Fathers ensured the people that a Bill of Rights would be added directly after the Constitution was ratified. James Madison wrote the list of ten amendments

On the other hand, Anti-Federalists were against the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Unlike the Federalists, many of the Anti-Federalists were not included in the deliberations on the new constitution; they were not selected as delegates to the constitutional convention. Anti-Federalists were in favor of a confederacy; a system where the central government exercises no control over subunit governments (i.e. states) and acts for the subunits. Therefore, their name, Anti-Federalists, is not a good depiction of what they actually supported. Unlike the Federalists, they Anti-Federalists did not have as much time to prepare and organize for the ratification debates because many of them were not included in the U.S. Constitutions

On September 25, 1789, Congress transmitted to the state Legislatures twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Numbers three through twelve were adopted by the states to become the United States (U.S.) Bill of Rights, effective December 15, 1791.

When the original Articles of Confederation was drafted in 1777, a bill of rights was considered unnecessary. The U.S government was not considered a single national government, but an alliance of independent states. Since the national government has no power to restrict people’s rights, there was no need for laws to prevent it from doing so. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the Constitution was passed without a bill of rights. When the constitution was sent to the states for ratification, a debate broke out between the Federalists, who supported a strong national government, and the Anti-Federalists, who supported retaining the spirit of the Articles of Confederation . Although the constitution was passed without a bill of rights, some Anti-Federalists felt that that it would be worthwhile to specifically protect through constitutional amendments such individual rights as free speech, religious exercise, and jury trials. Thomas Jefferson who sided with Anti-Federalists on this matter, sent a letter in 1789 to James Madison to pass the bill of rights . Madison submitted a draft of his proposed bill of rights several months later, and Congress passed it modified version by the end of the year. After ratification by the states, the Final Bill of Rights consisted of ten amendments that covered a wide range of topics, guaranteeing citizens individual rights such as freedom of speech and religious liberty and protecting them from excessive bail, unwarranted searches,

The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, headed over by George Washington. Under America’s first governing document, the Articles of Confederation, the national government was weak and states operated like independent countries. At the 1787, delegates planned a plan for a stronger government with three branches executive, legislative and judicial with this no branch has more power than the others. The Bill of Rights 10 amendments guaranteeing basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion became part of the Constitution in 1791. Then after that the American Revolution, after that they realize that they needed to retain this law so everything can be “normal” for them.

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.

Rather than wanting power concentrated in the central government, Anti-Federalists wished to give more power to the state governments since they were closer to the people. The Anti-Federalists consisted of small farmers and laborers who viewed the elites as dishonest, wanting greater protection for their individual rights. Instead of representation in the form of a two-house legislature that the Federalists favored, the Anti-Federalists preferred a unicameral legislature to allow for more class and occupational representation in government. The Bill of Rights was the first ten amendments to the Constitution. It was written by James Madison as a response to the states for the need of greater protection over individual rights.

With all of the problems in America during 1788, the talk about a new constitution was the top of that list. The challenges that followed after the victory of the Revolutionary war made America a weak and unstable country. Having so little authority in our national government was something that the Americans wanted. The government was set by the articles of confederation, which made the thirteen states governments strong. It developed a loose association among the states and set up a federal government with very limited power. After a while they started to notice that without a central government, America was weak and that they needed to revise the Articles. This then led to the federalist vs. anti-federalist debate. In this paper I will show

Citizens did not want to ratify the constitution without a bill of rights that would guarantee them their rights and would not be violated by the government. The proposition for the bill came during the wake of declarations made by Federalist and Anti-Federalist representatives that the ratification of the original U.S. Constitution must be postponed because it did not adhere to the principles of liberty. One of the many points of contention between Federalists and Anti-Federalists was the Constitution’s lack of a bill of rights that would place specific limits on government power. Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. Anti-Federalists held that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty (The Bill of Rights Institute, 2016). In response to this, On June 8, 1789, Representative James Madison introduced a series of proposed amendments to the newly ratified U.S. Constitution. That summer the House of Representatives debated Madison’s proposal, and on August 24 the House

Originally the Constitutional framers did not include a list of specific liberties. These liberties later would become a Bill of Rights. Many of the founding fathers did not believe it was necessary to spell out these individual liberties because they felt that the U.S. Constitution already made it clear what the limits on the government’s powers were. Soon it would become more evident that the Constitution didn’t go far enough in addressing the issue of national power. As the ratification debates began, numerous issues arose. The framers realized the pressing need for a specific Bill of Rights.