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Mar 13, 2020 · He also had a plan for the “assumption” of the state debts by the national government. He thought the costs of the war should be shared equally by all and wanted to empower the national government to collect the revenue to extinguish the debt gradually.
- The Constitution's Alleged Deficiencies
- Leaders and Adherents
- Ratification Debate Dynamics
- Legacy
- Bibliography
The Constitution was made public in September 1787 and faced opposition almost immediately. Controversy exists over the primary motivation of the anti-Federalists. Some think they opposed the Constitution primarily for economic reasons. Others argue that they wanted to protect their own political power. Still others find that they were influenced m...
Some of the nation's best-known political leaders were among those who opposed the Constitution. Famed orator Patrick Henry led the anti-Federalists in Virginia, joined by the author of the Virginia declaration of rights, George Mason, who had attended the Constitutional Convention but refused to sign the document. Governor George Clinton organized...
Several practical matters complicated the anti-Federalists' quest to alter or defeat the Constitution. The call to form a convention came from the Federalists. They were interested in making radical changes to the structure of the national government and were highly motivated to attend the Philadelphia Convention. Anti-Federalists wanted less far-r...
Though the Constitution was ratified, the anti-Federalists did not leave the fight empty-handed. They expected that the recommended amendments would be seriously considered even though the push for a second convention failed to have an impact. Yet few anti-Federalists were elected to the new Congress. With massive Federalist majorities in both the ...
Banning, Lance. "Republican Ideology and the Triumph of the Constitution, 1789–1793." William and Mary Quarterly,3rd ser., 31 (1974): 167–188. Cornell, Saul. "The Changing Historical Fortunes of the Anti-Federalists." Northwestern University Law Review84 (1989): 39–73. ——. The Other Founders: Anti-Federalists and the Dissenting Tradition in America...
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Did the Anti-federalists want a stronger central government?
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In a series of reports (1790-91), he presented a program not only to stabilize national finances but also to shape the future of the country as a powerful, industrial nation. He proposed establishment of a national bank, funding of the national debt, assumption of state war debts, and the encouragement of manufacturing.
Even Washington had to be made to believe that only he, and no one else, could give the new federal government the legitimacy it needed for all parties to rally behind it. He reluctantly accepted. The other guarantee accepted was a bill of rights to be later ratified in order to secure specific things the new government could not impede.
The Anti-Federalists did not prevail in the ratification debates and political contests of their time, as the states eventually approved passage of what became the U.S. Constitution. Nevertheless, the Anti-Federalists did have significant victories that shaped the Constitution, and the legacy of their thought and actions can be discerned today ...
And as such, it was very likely the biggest point of contention between those who wanted a strong central government and those who did not: these divisions would form into incipient political parties, the Federalists and Republicans. Hamilton was responsible for settling the issue of the debt accrued from the Revolutionary War.
The Anti-Federalists considered the Federalists to overstress devising governing structures that best control people and their potential worst impulses. By contrast, Anti-Federalist philosophy stressed that small self-governing republics served as natural fonts of virtue, and the abundance of virtue would exert sufficient control on individuals.
