Federalists vs anti federalists
When America found themselves free from British rule after the revolutionary war, they wanted to establish their system of government where oppression would be eliminated. Initially, the Articles of Confederation connected the people. However, the document did not give the central government power. Therefore, many leaders wanted a national government with powers to enforce laws. A document was created to strengthen the role of the central government and ensure the safety of its people; this was the Constitution. The constitution brought division between two groups, the federalists and the anti federalists. The two groups certain philosophies.
The Constitution caused numerous debates on the future of America and its structure. The anti-federalists have been concerned about the role of the national government and its dominance over citizens. The Federalist believed in the Constitution while the anti-federalists believed that the constitution was weak and did not protect the rights of the people. The Federalists are strong believers of the Constitution and always insisted that the Constitution is the only legal document to be used to achieve a just society because people rights are protected, the federalists comprises of wealthy people accused of not addressing the concerns of the local people.
The federalist and antifederalist have stood on different ground, the federalists oppose the ideas of anti-federalists who believes that the Constitution give excessive power to both the national government and legislative arms of government reducing the powers of the local people. Anti-Federalist believe that the national government has expansive powers over the state to the extent that the opinion of ordinary people are ignored resulting to the oppression they have been trying to eradicate. For instance, the anti-federalist argue that the Constitution gives powers to the national government to use military force which is not in the interest of the nation but the interest of the certain states. The anti-Federalist has always been dissatisfied with the power of the legislative arm arguing the Congress had too much power. What the anti-federalist have since been fighting for is the Bill of Rights which, according to them, without its inclusion in the constitutions the American people are not protected.
The anti-Federalist felt that state would retain their rights through The Bill of Rights which included freedom of speech, the right to possess arms, right to privacy from search, right from trial by jury, being declared innocent until proven guilty by the court, the right to representation, a speedy trial and no cruel punishment. Anti-Federalists viewed these rights as essential because none of them were exercised under the British rule. Therefore, power would be transferred from the center to the people. Anti-federalist believed that if the Constitution was ratified without including the Bill of Rights, the central government would exercise its strength and deny people the basic rights.
The Federalist viewed the Bill of Rights as unnecessary because the national government needed to operate within the set guidelines that did not elaborate how people were to be protected from oppressive rule. The Federalist view society from a pluralistic perspective compared to the anti-federalist. Federalists viewed a society not only as one group of people like the anti-federalist; instead, they view society to be dynamic with different interest groups with none of them dominating the system of government. For this reason, the federalists focused on the economic and social changes that were key in transforming the American society.
Even though the American Constitution replaced the article of confederation by expanding the role of the national government the constitution has since been amended but its remains the only law that protects the American people despite the varied views from both the federalist and anti-federalists.
