Federalist and Anti-Federalists
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Liberalism and republicanism were both involved in the creation of the American government and the development of the Constitution that would be the framework for that government, and the two approaches were discussed, compared, and argued in the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The basic issue both faced was the ratification of the Constitution, with the Federalists supporting this document and the federal form of government it would represent and the Anti-Federalists opposing the document and the underlying philosophy. Yet, ultimately, both points of view were represented in some degree in the final document and in the government it created. The Federalist Papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison as a defense of the developing Constitution. Madison and Hamilton were clearly allies in this endeavor, but they diverged on a number of points concerning their philosophies of government and what they wanted to see in the Constitution. Over the next several years, they diverged even more on the issue of centralization. Both advocated a strong national government at the time of ratification, but Hamilton wanted an even stronger central government, while Madison favored a middle course between centralization and states' rights. The differences between the two constitute a debate that has continued to this day over federal power and states' rights.A republic in strictest terms is a form of government in which the people e
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se representatives would always to be responsible to their electors; and 2) it would, in turn, screen the central government from the detrimental force of popular passion. In No. 39 of The Federalist Papers, Madison asked whether the new government would be strictly republican: "It is evident that no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the revolution; or with that honorable determination, which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments in the capacity of mankind for self-government" (59). Madison concluded that the proposed government was indeed republican in form, modified for the size of the territory: "The proposed Constitution therefore is in strictness neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both" (63).
Madison was always concerned about the issue of faction and how it might affect the new government. He discussed this issue in Federalist Number 10 and stated that a well constructed Union would be able to break the power of faction. He supported a republican form of government for this purpose: ". . . we behold a republican remedy form the diseases most incident to republican government" (
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Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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