In tumultuous 1787 fifty-five men got together in order to create the United States Constitution. This was a time when the most important debate in America’s history took place. Federalists were for the adoption of the Constitution while Anti-Federalists were against of it. The Federalists differ from the Anti-Federalists in terms of social, political and economic spheres.
Social sphere
Many differences between these two ideologies are related to social statue issues. First of all, the antifederalists were mostly from the lower classes. They mainly consisted of uneducated people and working class (small farmers, rural folks, debtors, etc.). Federalists, however, were people from upper, more …show more content…
The federalists supported the idea of stronger power concentrated at the federal government. They believed in a strong central government that would rule the people of the United States directly, have great power and control almost all issues within the country. They perceived it as the most effective way to keep order and to protect citizens’ rights. The idea of weak central government and different sets of rules for every state seemed to them disastrous as the nation would not be united and people’s right can be easily infringed.
Anti-federalist ideas of running the country were extremely different. They disagreed with the idea of a strong central government and claimed the greater power to the state governments. Anti-federalists supported the idea that concentration of all power in one central government would not be the best way to maintain the order and provide all needs in nationwide scale. They believed that every state needs different sets of rules as they have their own needs that cannot be fully satisfied by one federal …show more content…
Federalists believed that the Constitution was sufficient to protect individual rights. They thought that the Constitution was structured well enough to guard citizen’s rights and liberties and there is no need in Bill of Rights. Anti-federalists, however, supported Bill of Rights as essential and claimed that the absence of a Bill of Rights is a real threat to individual citizens’ freedoms. They felt that Constitution is not enough as it can not grant rights to the public properly. They insisted that rights need to be explicitly and separately stated.
The third political issue was related to the courts power. Federalist supported the idea of a system of strong federal courts. It seemed to them that it is the most effective way to preserve all citizens’ rights and to provide fair justice. Anti-federalists stood for limits on the federal courts. As they were the supporters of different set of rules for every state, they claimed that judicial suits will be about the laws of the state and should be heard by the courts of the state.
Economic