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Laws and International Laws

The Federalist and the Anti-Federalists and Constitutional Compromise

Introduction

In U.S. history, the Federalists were those people who advocated for the for the formation of strong federal government and ratification of the constitution that will help in governing the whole country while anti-federalists were the group that opposed the formation of the federal government as well as ratification of the constitution. Thus, anti-federalists opt the power should remain in hands state and local governments. The debate of federalists and anti-federalists started after the American Revolution. Therefore, in order to come in agreement, there were constitution compromise that federalists agreed to comprise with aim of taking views of anti-federalists. The compromise between Federalists and anti-federalists are what remains to be an issue in America today: the power of federal governments considering the powers of individuals’ states.. After signing of the constitution and the constitution conventions, individual’s’ state had to ratify their constitution in order for it operates. However, anti-federalists forced the federalists in making a compromise. Whereas, the constitution described branch state and federal government, the bill of rights specified rights of a person that the government should not violate. My thesis is the compromises the federalists deed in order to agree with anti-federalists.

The Federalist and the Anti-Federalists and Constitutional Compromise

The compromise between the federalists and anti-federalists is well reflected in the constitution: the issue of the powerful federal government relative to those of individual states. The Federalists’ willingness to address the concerns of anti-federalists is addressed in the bill of rights. The inclusion of the bill of rights into the constitution reflects the willingness of the federalists to address the concerns of the anti-federalists. Bill of rights is referred to the freedom of speech, religion, and press. The bill of rights constitutes the 10th amendments of the constitutions. The 10th amendment is one the consequential compromise federalists made. The 10th amendment in the constitutions reflects the interest of the anti-federalists. The bill of right was the main compromise. The anti-federalists were worried that strong federal government will abuse people’s right. Thus, to address their fears the federalists created a bill of rights in the 10th amendment of the constitution.

Constitutional convection was gathering of different delegates from the states in the United States with aim of creating a new constitution. The purpose of the new constitution was to stipulate how America should be governed. After the constitutional convection created new constitution not everyone agreed with it; thus, it was ratified. The anti-federalist argues that the constitution gave much power to the federal government at the expense of state government. Therefore, in order to agree the Federalists had to make several compromises for the anti-federalists to agree to the new constitution.

One of compromise the federalists made was to outline the role of Congress. Thus federalist formulate article 1 of the constitutions which indicated the power of Congress that would regulate the Federal government. Article 1of the constitution gives the Congress legislative powers and limits. The Federalists used to show that the government should not do whatever it wanted, hence; this indicated that States would reserve their own powers.

Plans involved in the Compromise

The plans that were involved in the compromise include Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan. Virginia plan argued that the Senate representation should be based on the population of each state while New Jersey Plan advocated for equal representation from each state. The Connecticut Compromise adopted the use of both plans.

Federalist and Anti-Federalists Concerns

At the constitution conventional there were two main ideological camps that elicited classical liberalism i.e. federalists and anti-federalists. Classical liberalism is a political ideology that put emphasis on freedom liberty by limiting government powers. One of the major issues that federalist were concern was factionalism. They federalists argued that factions in the republic will result in division and conflicts among the states. Thus, eliminate this threat they advocated for a strong national government which will prevent faction; hence, protecting people’s interest. Also, they argued that large republic would be effective under check and balance systems. James Madison was the fourth president on the United States and was the architect of Bill of Rights in the constitution and he is one of the federalists who argued federal and state government will provide better protection than in single republic. Also, he argued that separation of power between federal and state government would prevent a tyrannical majority. Whereas the anti-federalists had strong concerns about the constitution, they argued that strong national government will abuse people’s right. In the end, federalist won since their offended solution to anti-federalists concerns.

Federalists and Anti-Federalists Constitution Interest

The Bill of rights and article 1 were to erase the fears of anti-federalists. Therefore, an article1 and 10th amendment reflects the interest of anti-federalists in the constitution. The anti-federalists were worried about strong national government and these amendments helped in erasing their fears. Federalists’ paper 51, as well as Federalists paper 10 in the constitution, represents the interest of federalists.

Core Principles of the Constitution

The six core principles of the constitution include popular sovereignty, limited government, checks and balances, separations of powers, judicial review and federalism.

Popular Sovereignty: this principle based on the government is created by the people and it is a subject of the will of people. Thus, this principle means that the citizens are in charge of the government and how its run. People exercise this principle through voting, hence; the people they elect represent their opinions.

Separations of powers: this principle is the embodiment of three branches of the government i.e. Legislative, Executive and Judicial. The separation of powers helps each part of the government to execute its power without interfering with each other. Also, it helps that there no concentration of powers in one branch of government. Therefore, the legislative branch is responsible for enacting laws; the executive branch of government is responsible for law enforcement and the judicial is responsible for punishing the lawbreakers.

Judicial reviews: this principle states that nobody is above the law. It is responsible for deciding the punishment government official deserves for breaking the law.

Limited Government: the principle decides the power the government posses on its citizen. Therefore, determines how the population has given the government authority to work on its behalf. Hence, this the reason the budget must go through Congress.

Checks and balances: the system helps in maintaining a balance between the branches of the government and making sure that one branch has more power than the other. Thus, helps in keeping balance among legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government.

Federalism: the idea of creating political power between the larger group and smaller group i.e. the national government to state government to the county level. Thus, the state government is responsible for the state under its jurisdiction while the national government controls everyone living in the country.

Constitution Amendments

The constitution has lasted over 200 years since it left a room that allowed amendments. The constitution gave states opportunity to propose change or amendment.

The constitution needs to be amended. The constitution should be amended to give federal government some oversight authority over state government. For instance, the some States passed laws that allow the use of Marijuana which is classified as an illegal drug by federal laws (Mark, 2017). Thus, to avoid unparallel laws between the state and federal government, the constitution should be amended to give federal government more authority in scenarios like this.

Conclusion

The Federalists made compromises that made the anti-federalist to agree on the constitution. My thesis is the compromises the federalists made. Therefore, the anti-federalists had strong concerns about the constitution; they argued that strong national government will abuse people’s right. In the end, federalist won since their offended solution to anti-federalists concerns. To erase their fears the federalist formulate article 1 of the constitutions which indicated the power of Congress that would regulate the Federal government. Article 1of the constitution gives the Congress legislative powers and limits. The Federalists used to show that the government should not do whatever it wanted, hence; this indicated that States would reserve their own powers. Also, the federalists created a 10th amendment to carter for the worries of the anti-federalist. There are always chapters in the constitutions that reflect the interest of anti-federalist and federalist. The arising conflicts between the federal laws and state laws should be addressed through constitution amendment.

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