Anti-federalist

 

in American history, opponents of the adoption of the federal Constitution. Leading Anti-Federalists included George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, Patrick Henry, and George Clinton. Later, many of the Anti-Federalists opposed the policies of the Federalist party and of Alexander Hamilton.

Bibliography

See M. Borden, ed., The Antifederalist Papers (1965); C. M. Kenyon, ed., The Antifederalists (1966).

Anti-Federalism was the name given to two distinct counter-movements in the late 18th Century American politics:

• The first Anti-Federalist movement of the 1780s opposed the creation of a stronger national government under the Constitution and sought to leave the government under the Articles of Confederation intact.
• The second Anti-Federalist movement formed in reaction to Alexander Hamilton's aggressive fiscal policies of George Washington's first administration. This movement is sometimes called the Anti-Administration "Party", and it would coalesce into one of the nation's first two true political parties, the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Anti-Federalism of the 1780s

The Federalist movement of the 1780s was motivated by the proposition that the national government under the Articles of Confederation was too weak, and needed to be amended or replaced. Eventually, they managed to get the national government to sanction a convention to amend the Articles. Opposition to its ratification immediately appeared when the convention concluded and published the proposed Constitution.

The opposition was composed of diverse elements, including those opposed to the Constitution because they thought that a stronger government threatened the sovereignty and prestige of the states, localities, or individuals; those that fancied a new centralized, disguised "monarchic" power that would only replace the cast-off despotism of Great Britain with the proposed government; and those who simply feared that the new government threatened their personal liberties. Some of the opposition believed that the central government under the Articles of Confederation was sufficient. Still others believed that while the national government under the Articles was too weak, the national government under the Constitution would be too strong.

During the period of debate over the ratification of the Constitution, numerous independent local speeches and articles were published all across the country. Initially, many of the articles in opposition were written under pseudonyms, such as "Brutus", "Centinel", and "Federal Farmer". Eventually, famous revolutionary figures such as Patrick Henry came out publicly against the Constitution. They argued that the strong national government proposed by the Federalists was a threat to the rights of individuals and that the President would become a king. They objected to the federal court system created by the proposed constitution. This produced a phenomenal body of political writing; the best and most influential of these articles and speeches were gathered by historians into a collection known as the Anti-Federalist Papers in allusion to the Federalist Papers.

In every state the opposition to the Constitution was strong, and in two states — North Carolina and Rhode Island — it prevented ratification until the definite establishment of the new government practically forced their adhesion. Individualism was the strongest element of opposition; the necessity, or at least the desirability, of a bill of rights was almost universally felt. In Rhode Island resistance against the Constitution was so strong that civil war almost broke out on July 4, 1788, when anti-federalists led by Judge William West marched into Providence with over 1,000 armed protesters.

The Anti-Federalists played upon these feelings in the ratification convention in Massachusetts. By this point, five of the states had ratified the Constitution with relative ease, but the Massachusetts convention was far more bitter and contentious. Finally, after long debate, a compromise (known as the "Massachusetts compromise") was reached. Massachusetts would ratify the Constitution with recommended provisions in the ratifying instrument that the Constitution be amended with a bill of rights. (The Federalists contended that a conditional ratification would be void, so the recommendation was the strongest support that the ratifying convention could give to a bill of rights short of rejecting the Constitution.)

Four of the next five states to ratify, including New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York, included similar language in their ratification instruments. As a result, once the Constitution became operative in 1789, Congress sent a set of twelve amendments to the states. Ten of these amendments were immediately ratified and became known as the Bill of Rights. Thus, while the Anti-Federalists were unsuccessful in their quest to prevent the adoption of the Constitution, their efforts were not totally in vain. Anti-Federalists thus became recognized as an influential group among the founding fathers of the United States.

Anti-Federalism in the Early 19th century

With the passage of the Constitution and the Bills, both the first Federalist and Anti-Federalist movement were exhausted. However, a second Federalist movement almost immediately arose, this time to support the aggressive fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton. In turn, this ignited a second Anti-Federalist opposition. The composition of this second movement was different and broader than the first. The Federalist movement gradually showed Broad construction, nationalistic tendencies; the Anti-Federalist movement favored strict-constructionism and advocated popular rights against the asserted aristocratic, centralizing tendencies of its opponent, and gradually was transformed into the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson.

Further reading

• Amar, Akhil Reed (2005). "In the Beginning", America's Constitution: A Biography. New York: Random House. ISBN 1-4000-6262-4. 
• Cornell, Saul (1999). The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788–1828. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4786-0. 
• Harding, S. B. (1896). Contest over the Ratification of the Federal Constitution in … Massachusetts. Harvard University Studies. 
• Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. "The Constitution as Counter-Revolution: A Tribute to the Anti-Federalists". Free Life 5 (4). Libertarian Alliance. 
• Libby, O.G. (1894). Geographical Distribution of the Vote … on the Federal Constitution, 1787–1788. University of Wisconsin. 
• Storing, Herbert J. (1981). What the Anti-Federalists Were For: The Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77574-7. 

External links

• U. of Chicago – Documents relating to founding of US Constitution
• Antifederalist Papers – Antifederalist Papers Constitution Society
• The Antifederalists Were Right – The first Antifederalist Papers were published on September 27, 1789.
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787–1825
• Anti-Federalist - A discussion

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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