They were passionate that the Constitution created a strong executive authority and that the president could easily become king by being reelected pver and over again. They also wanted a Bill of Rights specifically protecting citizens from the national government. Anti-federalists wanted fewer limits on political participation by all citizens. They didnt want the Constitution to go into effect, hoping that nine states wouldnt ratify it. Federalist and Anti-federalist depended on Virginia's vote since it was a big powerful state and smaller states would follow behind.
How do you convince some newly independent citizens of the benefits of ratifying a constitution? According to Alexander Hamilton, through writing, and lots of it. In 1787, Hamilton, along with James Madison and John Jay, published a series of documents, addressing concerns the people might have about the Constitution drafted by the Congressional delegates. The Constitution was being sent to the states for ratification, but in New York, many were opposed to the ideas put forth. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote eighty-five documents which would later be named The Federalist Papers, as they voiced the common opinion of the Federalist party, which was in favor of ratification.
These folk were known as, ‘federalists’. Delaware ratified the Constitution on December 7th, 1787, with a vote of 30-0. An editor of the Massachusetts Sentinel newspaper wrote about the Articles of Confederation in the paper. He proclaimed “Let us look and behold the distresses which prevail in every part of our country… and then say that we do not require a new, a protecting, and efficient federal government if you can.” (Document 1)
The Federalists of the convention were in favor of the ratification of the Constitution. They believed that the national government must be strong in order to function and to control uncooperative states, which could protect the rights of the people. They also believed that the Constitution and state government protected individual freedoms. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists opposed a strong central government, particularly a standing army. They believed it threatened state power along with the rights of the common people.
To them, it was clear that the Articles of Confederation were not upholding America, and therefore, America could not succeed. While they did to some extent listen to the fears of the Antifederalists—as is evidenced by the passing of the Bill of Rights—they altogether tended to be more optimistic when it came to the Constitution. One of the founding principles of the Federalist Party was their support of a strong central government. A strong central government would provide needed stability, more so than the Articles of Confederation ever could. The Federalists were also generally less concerned with ensuring individual’s rights, as many of them felt it was the government’s duty to serve the people, and such rights did not need to be formally written because they should already be in place.
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787, but there was a grapple for its ratification that went on until about two decades after the ratification. Members of Congress believed that the first government of the United States or the Articles of Confederation, needed to be adjusted while others did not want anything to change. After the Revolutionary War, the people did not want a strong central government, because it reminded them too much of what they were trying to escape from. Under the Articles, each state had their own laws, and the need for a new Constitution was desired by many. The Constitution of 1787 created huge debates, arguments and splits in the nation that lasted for several year after its ratification between people who
In the late 1770s, the Constitution caused much controversy and pitted the Federalists and Anti-Federalists against each other even further (“Brief History”). The Constitution created a stronger central government and weaker state governments which Anti-Federalists were not in favor of. (“Brief History”). The Constitution also included three branches of government: executive, judiciary, and legislative and included checks and balances. The new constitution caused many to speak out in opposition and for it and among those people were James Madison and Mercy Otis Warren.
After the Constitution was written by the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, all the individual states of America had to be convinced for its ratification. But, opponents, named "Anti-Federalists" opposed against the Constitution's ratification for multiple reasons: some thought that the Constitution would "take away the power from individual states", others desired "an even more centralized government with a single popularly elected government" and finally, some seeked for a Bill of Rights to "protect individuals liberties", in fear of undermining "the claims of slaveholders or other property owners". James Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison therefore wrote the Federalist Papers, eighty-five anonymous essays , in order to reduce the fears of Anti-Federalists and promote the Constitution's ratification. These papers described the importance
Although this group had valid reasons as to why they did not favor the Constitution, they had to alternative to the document. The Anti-Federalists preferred to be governed under the Articles of Confederation and let the states control their own
The Anti-Federalist’s structure of the government was the right way the government should have been shaped. Their efforts clearly showed that the protection of our individual rights, and prevention of the government having too much power over the states was their main goal. Though it was viewed that the Anti-Federalists “lost” in the debate with the Federalists, they achieved a lot. The Anti-Federalists favored pure democracy, wanting a federal system where the states had more power than the government.
The Constitutional Convention was a meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Constitution. During this convention, the thirteen original states or colonies were the first to ratify this document. Under the Articles of Confederation, many leaders believed that the central government did not have enough authority. Therefore, instead of amending the Articles of Confederation, delegates, from different states, drafted a new written document with rules and regulations for a new federal government. In this government, three branches of government were formed: legislative, judicial and executive.
They felt the Government would be too strong under the Constitution. They felt it weakened the states too much. One of three main reasons to be against the Constitution was that they felt a President was too much like the King they just left. Significant Anti-Federalists were George Mason, and Patrick Henry. In the end, the Federalists won and the Constitution was
. Even if the American people had rejected the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and 1788, the ratification process would have forged a closer union. The debate over ratification, carried out in thirteen state conventions and in newspapers and pamphlets, was the first national public debate in America. The decision for independence had been made in closed session by Congress in 1776; Americans in the individual states and towns then decided to affirm it, but gradually. In contrast, the decision to ratify the Constitution was made in public conventions, and both supporters and opponents of ratification made their case with appeals to public opinion.
Finally, the New Constitution needed to be ratified but had difficulties being passed. The Federalist, newspapers, were in support of ratification. These areas expressed the importance of the new Constitution. Antifederalist, on the other hand, believed that the Constitution would give too power to the central government while states would have little to none. In the end, anti-federals lost and federalist, those in favor of the new Constitution, added a bill of rights to satisfy anti-federalist.
In order for America to succeed as a nation both the anti-Federalists and Federalists had to agree about the future of the nation and the Constitution. The Federalists believed that the republican government proposed by the Constitution was likely to be successful and efficacious while the anti-Federalists were not convinced and believed that the power should remain at the hands of the state and local governments. One of the reasons that the Federalists believed that the republican government was likely to be successful and efficacious, as presented in the Constitution, was because the larger government meant more power to control the transatlantic force. The Federalists believed that only a union would be strong enough to secure favorable
