Compare And Contrast Antifederalists And Federalists

The weak power given to the government by the Articles of Confederation caused a rebellion in Massachusetts during the year 1786. The attack of a federal arsenal by Shay’s rebellion caused public outcry for drastic changes for a stronger national government. The discussed ideas on a stronger national government were brought to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, eventually leading to the creation of a constitution much stronger than the Articles of Confederation. With the creation of a new constitution, Federalists and Antifederalists brought up different standpoints of the new constitution… The federalists believed that the states were minors compared to the Federal government, while Antifederalists believed that states should hold more power than the federal government. With the issue of popular sovereignty, Antifederalists feared that the constitution took too much power away from the people,
The Federalists wanted states to act as subordinates to the national government. Meanwhile, antifederalists had strong beliefs that since states were closer with the people, they should hold more power than the federal government.

The Antifederalists brought up the Bill of rights issue, they believed the Bill of Rights was greatly needed, because the bill would protect the American people’s god given rights and limit government powers. On the contrary, Federalists were convinced that since state governments already had bills like the Bill of Rights, it would be irrelevant and not needed. The issue ended when the bill received two-thirds of state vote, leading it to become the first 10 amendments in the constitution of the United States.

State power, popular sovereignty/federal power, and the Bill of Rights were all issues rooted to the ongoing debate of federal v. state powers, causing major riffs between the federalist and