Federalism verses Antifederalist Paper Roberstein Broadwater Kaplan University Before coming into effect, the US constitution required ratification by nine states. It was a long and complex fight before the US ratification. The states were interested in retaining their power and therefore they strongly resisted the ratification of a new strong central government. Those favouring the ratification came to be known as Federalists while those opposing it came to be known as anti-federalists. There existed vast and complex differences between the federalist and the anti- federalists. The federalist views could be better be termed as nationalist. They had remained instrumental in the shaping of the new US constitution. A series of essays that were written by Alexander Hamilton, James …show more content…
… (Madison, 1787)”. James Madison had been trying to defend the weaknesses of the constitution and clarify its strengths which were not strengths in the sight of the anti-federalists. Eventually, the federalists were able to persuade several of the anti-federalists too through their essays and papers. Among all the anti-federalist papers, Brutus 15 is a very important one. It is an antifederalist paper that hits on the weakness of the US constitution and the growing power of the government. In the opening paragraph the author explains, “I said in my last number, that the supreme court under this constitution would be exalted above all other power in the government, and subject to no control. The business of this paper will be to illustrate this, and to shew the danger that will result from it” (Constitutionsociety, 1788). This is what the author does throughout the paper, explaining the ills of the US constitution and the new government to be formed under it. While the antifederalists continued to oppose the new constitution in their essays, the problem was that they could never unite across the