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Comparing The Articles Of Confederation And Anti-Federalism

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Within less than a decade of the founding of the Article of Confederation, the founding fathers gather during the hot summer days in Philadelphia in 1787 to modify the Article of Confederation. Initially, the founding fathers had no plans in replacing the Article of Confederation with the Constitution. The federalist advocated the Constitution; however, the anti-federalist rejected it because it support a strong national government. As a result, the anti-federalist did not approve the Constitution because they fear and had many concerns of a government system based on a strong federal government. From the beginning, the anti-federalist favored a government controlled by the state. The constitution allows the federal government to pass taxes, raise an army, and regulate the nation commerce. This oppose the foundation belief of an anti-federalist. By passing the Constitution to grant the federal government more powers, it defeated …show more content…

Although, the anti-federalist wanted the legislative branch to have more power over among the three branches. Increasing the legislative branch power will increase the state power in the government. Favoring the anti-federalist idea of a strong state ruling government. In addition, the constitution favor a position in the executive branch, the president. The anti-federalist were against the president because it is similar to a king in a monarch. Since the amount of people in congress compare to the people was small, the anti-federalist feared that the congress will only focus on the few elites among the people the congress control. Finally, the congress were against the judicial branch because they feared that the Supreme Court was too powerful. By having a Supreme Court, it feared that it will take away the power from the states and local courts. Which will lead to the government to take away the people’s

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The Anti-Federalists thought that one specific set of rules for the whole population would not fully represent everyone’s rights. Furthermore, the Anti-Federalists thought that if a government took place far from the people, they would no longer represent

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When talk of the Constitution arises it is understandable that colonists were weary of a government that would have that much power after they worked so hard to break away from Great Britain. The Federalists firmly believed that the Constitution would strengthen the Federal union and not give too much power to the central

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The Federalists favored a strong central government and a subordinate state government. They also trusted that a well-educated group of elected officials would act in the best interest of the nation (Document 3). However the Anti Federalists favored the Articles of Confederation, and the weak central government that came with them. Because of their experiences with the brutal King of England, the colonists feared the national government would become too powerful and begin discrediting the individual rights of the colonists. Although the Federalists succeeded in ratifying the Constitution, a Bill of Rights was implemented as a safeguard against

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(This goes before the main argument) The main Argument between the Anti-Federalist and the Federalist was about the amount of control/authority that the government should have. Though the people were now the governing body there was not much protection and liberties that they were entitled to. James Madison did not want to risk the constitution not being ratified; he drafted the Bill of Rights. Even though the Anti-Federalist Failed to prevent the ratification of the U.S. Constitution led to what we know as the Bill of Rights, the ten amendments that protected the

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Federalist’s ideas about functions of the central government encompassed a national appeal that influenced adoption of the constitution. They convinced the delegates that a strong national government was capable of ensuring equitable resource sharing. By quoting the gaps in the Articles of Confederation, the Federalists expressed the concern that passing the constitution would address the highlighted inefficacies to make American a sustainable nation. Also, Federalists were open to new ideas including the consideration of the bill of rights. Contrariwise, the Antifederalists did not prosper in the mission to convince the delegates to oppose the constitution that provided supreme powers to the national government (Hamilton, Madison and Jay 67).

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This led the Anti-federalists to argue that the federal government should be limited to issues of national defense and interstate commerce and all other powers to the state. The Anti-federalists believed this plan granted the national government undue economic power over the states. Anti-Federalists found many problems in the Constitution. They saw no sense in throwing out the existing government.

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They believed this form of government was too distant from the people. To have a republican government, virtuous citizens would be required. They insisted that in a republic the people are sovereign and for those people to make good decisions they would need to be virtuous. And according to Anti-Federalists, it was less likely to have people like this in a large nation than a small state. It was then argued that a president; someone equipped with power to nominate judicial officers, pardon for the offense of treason, and armed forces at his disposal, would resemble a “elective King”.

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It was no longer about states or abroad country, but rather a contract between all Americans under 1 nation. In a meantime, the Federalist Papers provided strong and rational justifications in that every decision should made by the Constitutional Convention, and also persuaded Americans that by arranging less power in people’s hands, the federal government could have a higher chance to protect people. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalist delegates argued that the government gave too much power to the federal government, while seizing too much power away from local and state governments. There were three kinds of Anti-Federalists.

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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.

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It is interesting to see the effect these groups had on the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists had multiple issues with the Constitution getting ratified. One objective they were concerned with was the strength and role of the federal government this would create. They thought that the government would eventually take their rights away and abuse the power.

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After the war against Britain, the people of America hesitant in accepting the new Constitution because many felt they would surrender their liberties to a body not chosen directly by them, and feared it had the ability to become corrupt and oppressive. “Is it to be thought that the people of America, so watchful over their interests; so jealous of their liberties, will give up their all, will surrender both the sword and purse t the same body… they never will. They never ought” (Palmer, 67).Two political parties emerged which were Federalists and Antifederalists. Antifederalists opposed the ratification of the Constitution and wanted the states to have more power than the central government. On the other hand, Federalists advocated for the ratification of the Constitution and wanted the federal government to be superior to state government in some ways.

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If a government became too strong, liberty would be destroyed. Anti-Federalists also did not agree on the Federalists framework for the Congress. They thought there would be too few representatives in Congress to represent the great diverse views of all

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The Federalists wanted a strong central government. The Anti- Federalists claims Constitution gives the central government too much power and, and they worried about the new constitution will not give them any rights. That the new system threatened freedom; Also, threatened the sovereignty of the states and personal liberties; failed to protect individual rights. Besides, some of famous peoples such as " Patrick Henry" and artists have came out against the Constitution. Although the anti-Federalists were unsuccessful in stopping the passage of the Constitution, their efforts have been responsible for the creation and implementation of the Bill of

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The Anti-Federalists ensured the Constitution gave the focal government an over the top measure of imperativeness, and without a Bill of Rights, the general open would be in risk of

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Therefore, the Anti-Federalists purported a government with a weak central government which was to be used solely for the purpose of foreign affairs, foreign trade, and similar matters while the states would be left to govern their territories and their citizens as they saw best. This form of government would have created a federation of states, similar to the government created by the Articles of Confederation, with a marginal increase in the power of the federal government. The Anti-Federalists believed that any power which was exercised by the federal government would need to be in writing and the criteria whereby the federal government could use these powers would also need to be in writing. This school of thought led to the inclusion of enumerated powers in the Constitution. The desires of the Anti-Federalists, as stated by Gordon Lloyd, were, “… Congress was limited to powers expressly granted, the states qua states were represented equally regardless of the size of their population, and the amending of [the constitution] required the unanimous consent of the state legislatures”

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