Anti Federalists Dbq Essay

The Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers were written between 1787 and 1789 after the Constitution had been approved. This was the two-year period after the Constitution was written where the articles of confederation were still used in guiding our Government. At the end of this two year period, the articles of the confederation would be ratified by nine of the thirteen states and a new style of Government would be in effect. (History.com) Simply put, the Federalist were those individuals who supported the Constitution. They were called Federalists because the Constitution called for a federal style government; a distribution of power between the states and the federal government.

On Friday, February 8, 1788, James Madison wrote “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments: Federalist 51”. In this document, Madison discusses in regard to the Constitution the structure of government and its relation to its many parts. How each part should share a relation with the other to keep both part in its’ proper place while respecting the other branch. In the defense of the Constitution, the article states, “shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary barrier of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution” (Madison).

The Federalists supported the constitution, and wanted more power to the central government. The Federalists pushed for the constitution because it would give them more power, mainly because they were the government officials, in the central government. Opposed to the constitution were the Anti-Federalists, who wanted the Bill Of Rights not the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists believed the Senate would be too powerful and they (the others/ Anti-Federalists) would be oppressed. The Anti-Federalists wanted the same power as the Federalists, and those in the government.

I would choose to be an Anti-Federalist because they did not loathe federalism, they just had felt the need to make some improvements. They had strived to put more power into the hands of the states. As the Anti-Federalists believes, I strongly agree with the constitution but I truly believe the bill of rights which was added later was very crucial to the U.S Constitution. The bill of rights has a big part in the citizen’s personal rights that people have all the time. I honestly can’t fathom what our country would be like if we did not have these rights being put into place.

In the 1790s two major parties dominated the political scene. Those parties were people who sided with Alexander Hamilton, known as “Federalists” while the people who supported Thomas Jefferson were the “Anti-Federalists”. During the conclusion of the table, it was quite evident that the Anti-Federalists were considered to be more liberal, or in a broader sense, Democratic than the other party at the time. This can be inferred through the notion that they supported France throughout the French Revolution because they hated Britain because they once controlled everything they did; while on the contrary, the Federalists, which consisted of mostly business people, supported Britain due to their importance in trades. They also were against the

The Federalist Papers contains eighty-five essays that were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under their pen name of “Publius.” The Federalist Papers were written to urge the citizens of New York to ratify the new United States Constitution. The essays were published to the New York newspapers between October 27, 1787 and May 1788. The title was not originally “The Federalist Paper” but just “The Federalist.” Three men that were under the pen name Publius wrote 85 essays and out of three papers, they are generally considered to be one of the most important contributions to the constitution are the Federalist 10, 30, and 51.

In fact, federalists and anti-federalists stood on a totally different ground. Actually, the opposition initially raised from the part of anti-federalists who argued that they could not ratify the Constitution which provided the national government and legislative organs with too much power and decreased the role of local communities. To put it more precisely, they argued that the Constitution gave too much power to the national government at the expanse of the state governments to the extent that the opinion of the local community could be potentially ignored by the central government under certain circumstances.

During the writing of the Constitution there was a group of people who did not agree with the federalist and they were the anti-federalists. They believed in the exact opposite of what the federalists believed. The federalists believed "that the nation might not survive without the passage of the Constitution"(The Ratification Debate). They argued that the government would only have powers that the Constitution would state. They also argued that the separation of the powers of government would help balance out power and help prevent any tyranny.

This group wasn't as organized as the Federalists, but they did, however, have a clear reason as to why they opposed it. This group thought that the Constitution would bring them all back to life under Great Britain, they wanted the power to be within the local and state governments. Stating that the three branches of government threatened their traditional belief in preventing government power. One leader and avid opposer of the Constitution was the Governor of New York at the time, George Clinton, and New York being a powerful state, he didn't want the government to have any of that power because of the document. The group also disliked the electoral system that would alway favor the elite leaders and not the common people.

The Federalists Vs. Anti-Federalists There are two sides to every story, this includes the ratification of the Constitution. There were the people that were for ratification of the Constitution called Federalists, and there were people against it called Anti-Federalists. The Federalist were one first political parties in the United States. They wanted a strong central government, to promote economic development and public improvements.

Though a small republic can 't resist the mischief of faction, there is a way for a large republic to be able to resist. In small republics the number of people is a low amount, as for large republics the number of people is higher and there is a difference of opinions. The fact that large republics have a more numerous amount of people this means that the factions will be numerous as well and will also be smaller and weaker. Because they have so many different factions it is very easy for the government to just ignore them. It is stated in the handout that Madison is refuting, "the Anti-federalists ' argument that a republic would soon crumble under the pressure of factional divisions."

In the Bill Of Rights, there our 10 different Amendments. The different Amendments prove the the Anti-federalists feared the strong central government, and desired a limited government, and had protections of basic freedoms. The Bill Of Rights show that they feared a strong central government because Amendment 9 was included into the Bill Of Rights. Anti-federalists feared a strong central government because Amendment 9 talks about how no ones right will be taken away.

1.) What does Madison mean by the term “Faction”? What is a modern term we would use today? Madison uses the term faction to refer to groups of individuals arguing not for the rights or good of the community as a whole, but rather that which would benefit those who hold similar positions or interests. Different factions represent different ideas, leading to conflict and debate.

These people are known as federalists and antifederalists. The federalists are the people that support the constitution. These people believe that the constitution is the best way for the country to prosper. It is the only way to make sure this country stays the way it is. On the other side of the argument are the anti-federalists.

The main difference between the Federalists and Anti-federalists was their view on the formation of a stronger U.S. Federal Government. This led the Federalists to support ratification of the Constitution and the Anti-federalists to oppose it. The Federalists thought the central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation were weak and wanted a strong central government that would rule the U.S. citizens directly and not through the state government. On the contrary, the Anti-federalists felt that a strong federal government would take a way from individual rights.