To What Extent Were The Anti-Federalists Really The Bad Guys

Were the Anti-Federalist really the Bad Guys? Many people throughout history often talk about the Federalist, but what about the Anti-Federalist? They are equally important, if not more important because of their contributions to the American people. The Anti-Federalist were adversaries of ratifying the United States Constitution, they had a strong fear for the repercussions of the government having too much power and their main fear was that the government would become an oppressor of the American people. This group of individuals who were lawyers, scholars, politicians and merchants are written down in history as being the opponents of progress as well as enemies of the government but really, they were the good guys. They were branded the

According to Saul Cornell, the struggle between the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist over the constitution is one of the “greatest political struggles in American history”. (Cornell, 2012) From what I gather the men who were called the Anti-Federalist are the real Federalist because they cared about the rights of the people and wanted to protect them from an all-powerful government and give more power to the states to care for their own people. They believed that citizens should be included in decisions and that when they weren’t included into decision making procedures the government would become detached from their citizens. (Borowiak, 2007). The ones who have been called the Federalist throughout time seem more like Nationalist from what I understand. I’ve found that nationalists are members of a political group or party who are advocates for a stronger government, which is exactly what the Federalist wanted from the beginning, they wanted weakened states ruled over by one central government. The first draft of the Constitution included nothing in it that protected the citizens’ rights or gave them a voice or protection from the government. On September 10th, 1787 at the Federal Convention, Edmond Randolph, who was a lawyer stood up and lists twelve different objections that he had to the Constitution and refused to sign it. Two days after Randolph’s list of

They were responsible for the rights and freedoms that we have today, for so long they have been overlooked in history books but I think it is foolish to continue to do so. Without the efforts of the lasting ramifications of the efforts of these men will be felt indefinitely. Even though they have been overshadowed by the winners who eventually ratified their constitution, the Anti-federalist legacy will forever be the Bill of Rights, which is the first 10 amendments of the constitution. Even though the Amendments were passed by The House of Representatives on August 24th in 1789, they were not the original amendments proposed by James Madison on June 8th, 1789, though it still retained rights and freedoms for the American People, it was revised by both the House Select Committee and the House of Representatives. Nonetheless the bill came to be and is still used to help retain the rights and freedoms of millions of people to this very