Hobbes Vs Anti Federalists Dbq

After Shay’s Rebellion proved that the Articles of Confederation were ineffective and unable to manage the states and it’s people. It was evident that a new form of government needed to be crafted. But what kind of government and how should it operate? These were the types of questions that the Federalists and the Anti-Federalist grappled with and argued over, for many years. The Anti-Federalists and the Federalists both took inspiration from men like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes and Locke both thought government was unfortunate, but essential. Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan that without law there would be chaos. He writes “The notions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, …show more content…
A government they deemed abusive pushed them to the point of revolt. Thomas Jefferson and other Anti-Federalist knew the dangers of a big powerful federal government, and were determined to push back. In Anti-Federalist Paper #46 Jefferson perfectly sets the stage with “Congress in its legislative capacity, shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, and excises; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; to fix the rule for naturalization and the laws of bankruptcy; to coin money; to punish counterfeiters; to establish post offices and post roads; to secure copy rights to authors; to constitute tribunals; to define and punish piracies; to declare war; to raise and support armies; to provide and support a navy; to call forth the militia; to organize, arm and discipline the militia; to exercise absolute power over a district ten miles square, independent of all the State legislatures, and to be alike absolute over all forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings thereunto belonging. This is a short abstract of the powers given to Congress”. He then ends the paper with the chilling quote “ And who shall be able to say seven years hence, the members of Congress will be wise and good men, or of the contrary character?”. He’s hauntingly showing the true risk of this giant powerful government. Jefferson is showing that, yeah a government that can do all this stuff sounds pretty cool. But what then if the government stops using this power for the people and starts using the power for the gain of it’s members? What happens if the government loses consent of the governed? Will the government give up it’s power? I mean why should it? Could the people do anything to stop it? Those were the types of questions that plagued the Anti-Federalist minds. That’s why they were so against this large new