Examples Of Pluralism In 1787

Improved Essays
First Short Essay

One thing was clear during the convention of 1787, there were an astonishing number of viewpoints that clashed wherever they could. The main topic for debate was the distribution of control. Who would make the decisions for the people the state government or national government? The worry was that if the state government had primary control over the people's interests, who would police them? The Federalists wanted to make sure that the state government officials did not influence political policy to further their own interests. In this short essay, I will briefly discuss Elitism and how the Federalist argument for a stronger central government uses the idea of pluralism. The way I view the Constitutional Convention and the debate over the ratification of the constitution in 1787 is a struggle between two points of view. On one side you have the Federalists and on the other Anti-federalists. Leading the Federalist enterprise was Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay who wrote eighty-five essays that were to convince the people of New York to vote for the newly written Constitution. The new
…show more content…
To this day, both sides, Anti-Federalist and Federalist, sound persuasive. The Anti-Federalists focused on the American want for local governments that respond directly to popular concerns. The Federalists argued that only a national government could really protect the people’s rights and turn the new nation into a great power. But more than just this are many other issues including that smaller states, who feel that they are operating just fine, will get the short end of the straw. With smaller states, the idea of people governing themselves works. However, they wanted all the benefits of a larger government protection. As it stood before the Constitutional Convention, trade, money system, and property protection were not universally regulated and caused conflict for

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    During the Constitutional Convention, one of the major issues facing the Framers involved the sharing of power between the state and national government. Even after having succeeded in becoming independent from Britain the colonists still viewed themselves as members of separate states. The Nation needed a strong centralized government that also protected the power of the states. Thus the Federalist American form of government was created.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this document, James Madison explains the reasoning of the Continental Congress’s decision to revise the Articles of Confederation. Many events such as national bankruptcy, tension with the British and problems in Massachusetts occurred and showcased the weaknesses of the current Articles. Madison is quick to proclaim the futility of those Articles unless a provision is placed on them. A solution which various leaders, including Madison, supported was the idea of a centralized government rather than the separate ones in each state.…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Opponents, who favored a more decentralized federal system, became anti-Federalists” (Brown and Shi 199).…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Locked up in a convention room in Pennsylvania during the Summer of 1787, doors and windows nailed shut, fifty-five sweaty men in white powdered wigs, cotton stockings, and thick frock coats wrote a document which would change the future of the 13 states and run America for the next 300 years. The “near-perfect” document, coined the constitution, compromised on a system that unified all 13 states and satisfied both the Federalists, and Anti-Federalists. The Constitution formed a large national government and included two houses system where almost everyone was represented, whilst best avoiding dangerous factions. Although the large national government provided in the constitution didn’t ensure that factions would be completely eliminated, it however instilled that factions would have less powers due to how many of them would exist in the government.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Shay's Rebellion

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Anti-Federalists feared a powerful government would oppress the people. They argued that the new constitution was too much like the powerful British Monarchy. Anti-federalist thought the power should remain with the states and local governments.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When the American Colonies declared independence and war on the British Empire, the Continental Congress had the duty of creating the Articles of Confederation which served as the country’s first constitution. The Americans believed the Articles of Confederation would not be suffice to hold the nation together and it was replaced with the American Constitution. Prior to the Constitution being ratified, many of the delegates and citizens publicly expressed their opinions regarding the new U.S. Constitution and its values. During congressional debates, James Madison discusses his analysis on how the debated U.S. Constitution is the best viable option for the creation and unification of the nation.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States constitution was signed and approved by the constitutional convention delegates in 1787, and it needed ratification from nine states as it is required in article VII of the constitution before it could be enforced. States that decided not to ratify the constitution will be considered a different country, and not part of the union. With this knowledge, the urge of the ratification led to a conflict among the delegates that resulted in numerous documents, essays, pamphlets, and articles. The conflict; perhaps debate consists of two opposing sides; the Federalists who wanted the ratification of the constitution, and the Anti-Federalists objected to the ratification. The Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton were in favor of…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the Philadelphia Convention, the federalist constitution was opposed by some representatives of the state because they felt it limited the power of the states. They believed that it gave too much power to the central government. Some arguments that were made for in favor of the federalist constitution was that a central government would better protect the rights of the American people. The Supremacy clause stated “that the national government's authority prevails over any conflicting state or local government’s claims” (Morone & Kersh 118) was self evident in proving the fact that the central government, although permitting states reserved powers, would have more power than the states. The changes from Dual Federalism to New Federalism…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although the Federalist and anti-Federalist parties disagreed as to how much power the national authority needed, both parties agreed that a national authority was needed and that the national authority would require an individual source of income to function as it should. Both the Federalist and the anti-Federalist Parties also agreed that the people needed protection against dictatorship and other forms of tyranny. Even though neither party completely liked every part of the Constitution, both parties could agree that overall the Constitution was the “best document obtainable”. Federalists were the young, educated men who supported the idea of a centralized federal system and the Constitution’s ratification. They liked the fact that the Constitution could have a “broad interpretation” when situations arose that required such flexibility.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anti Federalism Dbq

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to Morris, Paul, Bertram and William 2011, “ Anti-Federalists Those who opposed ratification of the Constitution” ( p. 32). The Federalism represented a transitional point in the history of the United-States of America. This systematic transition created a massive change in the structure of the initiative States. As a result of the first economic system, which was the Federalism, there were loud voices that had a doubt and fought against applying the Federalism all over the States. The Federalism made a great success by achieving the acceptance of most crowds within the first States.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Federalist Papers

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Federalist Papers on Division of Powers “A nation without a national government is, in my view, an awful spectacle. The establishment of a constitution, in time of profound peace, by the voluntary consent of a whole people, is a prodigy, to the completion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety.” After the American Revolutionary War, many Americans were opposed to the idea of a strong central government. They saw the idea of a strong centralized government as a gateway back into the familiar tyrannical government and abuse of power that they had just fought so hard to free themselves of. Nevertheless, a heated debate amongst the elitist groups had begun.…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Anti Federalists Essay

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Two of the major leaders of this group were Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, who was overseas during this time. The Anti-Federalists thought that under the Articles people had the rights that they rightfully deserved. Under the Articles, the poor people benefitted greatly. During the process of trying to get the new Constitution ratified the Anti-Federalists felt that under this new government the rich had all of the power instead of the people (Doc 5). Under the Articles the states had the power to make laws and do whatever they pleased, and to some of the states the idea of changing to a government that the central government had all the power was absolutely absurd.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The History of the Constitutional Convention In 1787, Congress realized that states governing themselves would leave the nation powerless when faced with another war. The United States had adopted the Articles of Confederation a decade prior, but the system wasn’t working. Each state was able to govern itself, and they didn’t have to abide by any regulations set by the federal government. The United States has a federalist government, meaning that the citizens are held to the laws of the state and the nation, but the federal government was left nearly powerless to enforce any type of authority. Congress had no way of being able to regulate commerce and no authority to emplace taxes.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    AJ Siciliano, Federalists Vs. Anti-Federalists Essay Before the ratification of the constitution, two original political parties fell consistent during the 1700’s, Federalists and Antifederalists. In shorter terms, Federalists wanted a stronger central government to have overall power of the states, rather the Antifederalists wanted something similar to the Articles of Confederation, where the states as individuals, had more power than the central government. Both, although strongly contrasting, contained one main similarity, thirst for the creation of a new country, just with different ideas of how it should function.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States Constitution is a document written to embody the fundamental laws of the United States. The first draft of the Constitution was called the Articles of Confederation, but the colonists quickly realized that the form of government the Articles of Confederation created was not going to work well. Consequently, the colonists held a Constitutional Convention, in 1787, the Constitutional Convention was held to amend the Articles of Confederation, they ended up drafting an entirely new Constitution. Some of the people who attended the Convention were Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and more. This new Constitution took a long time to construct, but eventually was ratified in 1788.…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays