Federalists Vs Anti Federalism Essay

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After the American War for Independence, the Americans were under the control of the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation set up a weak national government. This system was highly ineffective because the creators of it did not want to restrict the rights of the people as the tyrannical British leaders had in the past. Certain events, such as Shays’ Rebellions, stressed the need for a stronger centralized government. In place of the Articles of Confederation was the US Constitution, the supporters of the Constitution were called the Federalists and the people against it were called the Anti-Federalists. However, the term Federalist and Anti-Federalist changes prior to and after the ratification of the US Constitution. …show more content…
The Federalists are going to invoke the Elastic Clause, which gives Congress all the necessary and proper power to execute its duties. What is “necessary and proper” to some might be unconstitutional to another. The Necessary and Proper Clause is going to be invoked by the Federalists, to do things that the Constitution does not give them the right to do. Republicans are going to have an entirely different take, and they want to restrain the powers of government, and they are not going to invoke the Elastic Clause, but invoke the Reserve Clause. The Reserve Clause suggests that any power not specifically granted to the federal government, nor prohibited by the federal government are reserved for the states of the people. This strict interpretation would restrain the powers of the government. The drawback of strict interpretation is that there could be circumstances in which something that needed to be done, couldn’t be done without a Constitutional amendment. This can be a problem because it is not easy to amend the Constitution, and this can be a problem when there is an urgent matter that cannot wait for an amendment to be passed. Eventually the Republicans loosen their interpretation of the Constitution and become increasingly more

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