Federalists Vs Anti-Federalists

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The arguments of federalists and antifederalists definitely are most evident today in the united states’ two party system. Traditionally the federalists advocated for a strong central government whereas the anti-federalists argued for more state rights. These anti-federalists were worried that the Federalists would create a strong central government and do away with giving the states power (Anti-Federalist Papers). They believed that the Federalist system would have too much power and rule over the citizens like King George III ruled over them. Ironically these two groups both hated political parties but eventually became the Democrats(Federalists) and the Republicans(Anti Federalists).

The Articles of Confederation adopted during the Revolutionary War by the Continental Congress established, as the name says, a confederacy: a league of friendship between sovereign political entities—in this case, the 13 states. The federal government, which consisted of a single-house Congress, did not impinge on the sovereignty of these states very much: it was authorized to handle foreign policy, national defense, disputes between states, interstate commerce, and legislating for new territories under U.S. control but not yet organized into states.
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Populist state governments were making zealous proclamations/warnings about maintaining their sovereignty, and it seemed increasingly likely that if the U.S. did face an external threat, like war with Britain or Spain, the federal government would be powerless to stop each individual state from going its own way—making separate peace treaties, or joining blocs of states that followed different policies, or refusing to pay federal taxes needed to levy an army in favor of prepping its own militia to defend its own borders and nothing

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