Federalist Vs Anti Federalists

The process of ratifying the constitution created a basis for feverish debate amongst the founding fathers. The delegates differing ideologies and beliefs created one of the first political parties in the new nation—the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Due to this political factionalism the inclusion of the bill of rights were ultimately added to the constitution and thus ratified by the minimum required of votes—nine out of thirteen states—in 1788. To understand how the constitution became to be, one must grasp the ideals that the federalist and anti-federalist stood for, how key figures such as Patrick Henry and James Madison contributed to the constitution, and why their contributions were significant. To begin, the Federalists were those who favored the ratification of the

The opposing viewpoints of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists created lengthy debates on how the newly found country would run the government and what rules would be considered the supreme law of the land. The anti-federalists thought the government held too much power and wanted the inclusion of the Bill of Rights (Young, slide 30). Patrick Henry, one of the most ardent anti-federalist, advocated extensively for the inclusion of the bill of rights (Young, “Found Fathers…”). Henry constantly voiced his discontent with the constitution and questioned aloud why the inclusion of the Bill of Rights were not added. As the delegate of Virginia, he led the people of Virginia to reject the ratification of the constitution and promised them that by his efforts and their rejection that the Bill of Rights would be included (Young, “Found Fathers…”). Henry, along with other founding fathers, was very influential in the adoption of the bill of rights in the final version of the