The Anti-Federalists

The majority of the United States’ population would describe their nation as a true democracy, but yet the same people from the same population would also argue that their government holds too much power. It is in the nature of man to want to be in complete control of his land and his way of life, but yet he doesn’t want to have to defend it on a daily basis. This universal enigma is why we have established systems of government. The key to this dilemma is to try to achieve a balance of power between the population and government that rules over them. How do you prevent a system of government from eroding the essential liberties that free men have the right to inherit? I would argue that a democratic system of government is best suited to protect, …show more content…
Some of the more notable Anti-Federalists included Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and Richard Henry Lee. These men along with many others, mainly small landowners and farmers, opposed the Constitutions fearing that it would lead to tyranny, similar to what they just experienced with the British. During the time after the final draft of the constitution this group of men wrote a number of papers now called the Anti-Federalist Papers opposing the constitution.
One quote from the Anti-Federalist Papers stated that, “The object of every free government is the public good, and all lesser interests yield to it. That of every tyrannical government is the happiness and aggrandizement of one, or a few, and to this the public felicity and every other interest must submit.” (Brutus #4, Anti-Federalist Papers) The author of this statement strongly believed that a tyrannical government is designed for the sole purpose of benefiting the few while the majority suffers. Anti-Federalists strongly believed that the new constitution would give birth to this style of government and that it would not be a truly democratic and free …show more content…
I would argue yes. The paranoia though was aimed at the political machine that was advocating the idea of a large system of government controlling and being involved in the internal affairs of the states. "I am confident it must be, and that it is, the sincere wish of every true friend to the United States, that there should be a confederated national government, but that it should be one which would have a control over national and external matters only, and not interfere with the internal regulations and police of the different states in the union. Such a government, while it would give us respectability abroad, would not encroach upon, or subvert our liberties at home." (Observer (?), Anti-Federalist Papers #5) This is a great example of how the Anti-Federalists were more concerned with the concept of a federal government controlling the internal affairs of the states. The Anti-Federalists were using the same tactics that the Federalists were using to instill paranoia within the opposing political