ANTI-FEDERALISTS VS FEDERALISTS

Anti-federalists vs. Federalists

Anti-federalists vs. Federalists

Introduction

After independence, it was necessary for United States to create a political system and government that meets the goals and ideals of Americans, for which Americans fought the war. Understanding shortly after the separation, that merely Articles of Confederation cannot meet all the needs of society and could not solve the growing problems then representatives from all states gathered in Philadelphia to introduce a constitutional amendment. However, the associated issues become much more difficult, than anticipated. The amendments lead to the debate of Federalist and Anti-Federalist. The federalist wants to ratify the constitution but anti-federalist was opposing the amendment. Federalist thought there was a need for strong central government whereas, anti-federalist were caught by the fear that it would provision more power to the national governments while limiting the role of state governments.

Discussion and Analysis

In light of the passionate political debates in American politics (e.g. health-care, debt, immigration etc.) which have reflected the dysfunctional nature of the American federal government, I would like to draw parallels between the current debacle with the historical divide between the Federalists and Anti-federalists. The history of the divide between the two factions is too extensive, to detail in its entirety so I will keep it as short as possible. The divide between Federalists and Anti-federalist was really fomented during the formation of the (current) United States Constitution in 1787, as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of 1777 (which was the original constitution by which the US was governed) (McWilliams & Gibbons, 1992).

Generally, Federalists favored a stronger, more centralized federal government than what the system under the Articles of Confederation had originally produced. Under the Articles, the federal government had very little authority to act in any functional capacity (Kaminski & Leffler, 1989). ...