Anti-federalists vs. Federalists

A detailed Summary of Anti-federalists vs. Federalists

Essay Question # 7: Federalists v. Anti-Federalists

The Constitution of the United States is the system of fundamental laws of the United States of America. The Constitution was drawn up by 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788. According to Professor Lowi, the Constitution was based on three principles of limitation: federalism--the "vertical" division of power, separation of powers-the "horizontal" division of power, and individual rights- the "concentric" division of power. However this ratification did not come without disgruntlement. The positions of the Federalists, those who supported the Constitution, and the anti-Federalists, those who opposed it, were printed and reprinted by scores of newspapers across the country. The Federalists often referred to the need for "much more energy, stability, and efficiency in the national government (Reader, p.7); and the Anti-Federalists "were apprehensive about unrestrained power, about the great risk of national consolidation rather than a true confederation."(Reader, p.7) The Anti-Federalists and Federalists agreed on issues like governmental tyranny, individual rights, and political representa

On the other side, the Anti-Federalists were more avid about having a Bill of Rights. They did not want an ambiguous interpretation of individual rights that could not be clearly understood by the common man. They wanted specific absolute prohibitions imposed on what government would be allowed to do, written in plain language, meant to protect certain rights each of person possesses simply by virtue of being born a human being.

The ratification debate was, in the end, a political debate. More narrowly it was a debate over the distribution of political power, more specifically, the threat of tyranny- the unjust rule by the group in power. Both sides acknowledged the existence of the individual states and the existence of the wider American republic. Just as the Federalists never entertained the notion of abolishing the states, the Anti-Federalists never denied the need for some type of unity between the states. But how power was to be shared between the two levels and how it was to flow amongst the two formed the basic disagreement between the two sides. "The Anti-Federalists was worried about the possibility that there will be a tendency of all governments to become gradually more and more aristocratic in character."(Ginsberg, Lowi, and Weir; p.102) This caused Anti-Federalists to become critical of those features of the Constitution that separated governmental institutions from direct responsibility to the people.

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Approximate Word count = 967
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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