World History

From the late 17th century to the early 18th century two opposing political philosophies went to battled with the development of the American Constitution. America’s best political minds gathered in the Northeast in order to find common ground in a governmental structure. The federalists strongly supported the Constitution as it was written and did not think a bill of rights was needed. The anti-federalist felt as though a bill of rights would prevent the central government from threatening states’ authority and oppressing citizens. Federalists did not think there was a need for the bill of rights because they felt the Constitution itself limited the government’s powers. According to the beliefs of the Anti-Federalists, if a bill of rights was created, it would diminish the fears of the federal government being able to violate the people’s rights and it would remind the people of the fundamental rights they have in our political system. Anti-Federalist thought that creating a list of rights would help protect the freedoms they had fought a revolution to preserve. Both the federalists and anti-federalists had political thoughts that they agreed as well as disagreed about. However, both parties would have to compromise and ultimately come together.

James Madison, and then Alexander Hamilton ultimately led the Federalist Party. The Federalists were a group of people who desired to get the constitution ratified. They were in favor of the newly formed Constitution and did not think any changes needed to be made. The federal constitution was in place to secure the union, improve the infrastructure, and aim for the safety of each individual state. Federalist believed that the Constitution would provide for an effective government. The rights and welfare of citizens would be protected by the complex system of representation, separation of powers, and checks and balances mentioned in the new constitution. In the federalist point of view, the government’s elaborate system of different branches would make it impossible for any one person to take absolute control of the government and violate citizens’ rights by pursuing their own selfish needs. Although the Federalists argue that a bill of rights was not necessary, they eventually had to compromise with the Anti-Federalists by agreeing to draft a bill of rights when congress first met in order to gain the support needed for the ratifying conventions.

Anti-Federalists were a group of people who disliked the new constitution and believed it shouldn’t be ratified because it was missing several key parts. The anti-federalists saw the constitution as a threat to the rights and liberties recently won from England. Anti-Federalist opposed the creation of a stronger national government under the constitution. Led by George Mason and Patrick Henry, anti-federalist formulated arguments based on the weaknesses they found in the new constitution and used them against the Federalists in order to gain support. Because the House of Representatives was the only group of governmental officials elected directly by the people, they believed the government was too far removed from the people to care for those whom it was said to be representing. A concern of the Anti Federalists was the infinite amount of power given to the government. The “necessary and proper” clause was one example of the government’s vague powers, which gave the legislative body the ability to