In 1787, when the newly formed United States of America were confronted with economic depression and financial crisis, the young country was in a dilemma on whether or not they will revise or replace their confederate Constitution. The confederate Constitution gave the independent states independent powers while the proposed Constitution wanted to centralize the government. The delegates who were in favour of changing the Constitution named themselves the Federalists and those against were called the Anti-Federalist (Berkin et al. 181).
The Anti-Federalists were quick to dismiss the idea that the new Republic was in turmoil. However, the Federalists were successful in proving that the USA was in the brink of collapse. Given the clear and present danger and the palpable plan of the Federalists to solve it, why were the Anti-Federalist afraid of the replacement of the old Constitution? One was their elitist view against the Federalist. They argued that the sorrowful ideas were just made to cover the true intentions of the Federalists. The intent was that the powerful economic and political local elites wanted to take over the country. An evidence of this was the lack of written guarantee provided in the proposed Constitution. With the lack of the written protection of the rights of the people came another fear of the Anti-Federalist, which was the destruction of the republican principles and the inevitable elite rule.
Unfortunately for the Anti-Federalists, their fears were not justified. The Federalist were able to prove that regardless of the omission of the Bill of Rights in the proposed Constitution, the rights of the people to assemble or to worship as they saw fit, and the right of a trial by jury in civil cases or the right to bear arms were all guaranteed in state constitutions. Furthermore, the Federalist properly argued that the proposed Constitution will be able to safeguard the principles of the Republicans and will in fact do a better job of promoting the ideals of the Revolution compared to the confederate Constitution. Notable Americans such as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, were able to explain those points properly when they resulted on printing their arguments through newspapers. Ultimately, the Federalists gained the upper hand, and it was vivid when the Federalists overwhelmed the Anti-Federalists and passed the new Constitution.
Works Cited
Berkin, Carol. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston, MA: Cengage, 2008.
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