The Federalist and Antifederalist Debate

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Federalists Vs. the Antifederalists Debate

the Constitution
While the Founders were in broad agreement that the responsibility of government is to protect liberty,
when they began to create a new government, they often disagreed about the best ways to accomplish
that task. The Bill of Rights was created through the kind of debate and exchange of ideas that it still
protects today.
The Declaration of Independence states that the purpose of government is to protect our basic natural
or inalienable rights. The Founders all agreed with this principle. But if they created a great system to
protect rights, why did they disagree about a bill of rights?
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists

The Constitutional Convention prompted the emergence of two groups—the Federalists and the Anti-
Federalists. Both groups wanted to have checks on the power of the government, however they did not
agree on how to do so. The Federalists wanted to limit the power of states. The Federalists explained
that the Constitution created a stronger central government that would be separated into three
branches to provide checks and balances. They believed that the branches would compete against one
another and keep each other from becoming too powerful. The states would then check these branches
in order to keep the national government from growing too powerful. The Anti-Federalists disagreed.
Many Anti-Federalists worried that giving too much power to a central government would limit citizens’
rights. They believed that power should stay with state governments because the states would better
understand their citizens’ needs. Federalists supported the Constitution as it was written and did not
think a bill of rights was needed. They believed the Constitution limited the government’s powers
enough. They also feared that creating a list of rights might lead to other dangers. For example, people
might think the government had more power than it had actually been granted. It would be impossible
to list every right; Federalists did not want certain rights to be ignored or violated just because they
were not listed. Anti-Federalists believed that a bill of rights was needed to prevent the central
government from taking rights from states and citizens. They wanted to protect against a central
government that was too powerful and could take away the freedoms they had fought a revolution to
preserve. They believed a bill of rights was needed so that citizens would be protected from the
government infringing upon [ignoring or taking] their rights.
The Debate is Resolved

The Constitutional Convention ended in late 1787, but the debate went on. Nine states ratified the
Constitution by the summer of 1788. However, New York, Virginia, and Massachusetts sent long lists of
amendments they wanted in order to make sure peoples’ rights were protected. The people wanted a
bill of rights. James Madison asked other Founders—Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Mason, and
President George Washington— for advice. They all supported a bill of rights. Mason, who had written
the Virginia Declaration of Rights to protect the rights of Virginians, suggested using state bills of rights
as a guide. Madison agreed to add a bill of rights and used Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights as a
model. Though Madison first suggested additions and changes to the original text of the Constitution,
Anti- Federalists objected, saying that Congress did not have the power to change the original form of
the Constitution that had been ratified by the states. They decided the Amendments would be added as
a separate list. On August 24, 1789, the House of Representatives sent a list of 17 amendments to the
Senate. The Senate approved 12. Those 12 amendments were sent to the states for ratification, but only
ten were ratified [approved]. On December 15, 1791, Virginia’s state convention became the last state
needed to ratify the ten amendments that protected individual rights and states’ powers. These ten
amendments, the Bill of Rights, joined the Constitution as the governing document of the United States.
The Impact of the Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights only limited actions taken by the federal government against people. The Founders
thought citizens would be protected against state governments by their home states’ constitutions. For
this reason, the Bill of Rights did not strongly affect Americans’ lives until the Fourteenth Amendment
was passed in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the states from violating people’s lives,
liberty, or property without due process. Beginning in the 1920s, the Supreme Court began to apply the
Bill of Rights to states to meet the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “liberty.” Over time, the Supreme
Court has ruled that most of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply as limits on state and local
governments through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Prior to the twentieth
century, the role of the federal government was more limited. In the last hundred years, however, the
role of the federal government has grown. As a result of the federal government’s bigger role, its size
and importance have changed. The change also affected the understanding of the Bill of Rights. The
document that had not affected Americans’ lives often prior to the 1920s now took center stage in
American society, politics, and conversation.
Discussion Questions
1) Why did Federalists think a bill of rights was not needed and could even be dangerous?
2) Why did James Madison change his mind about adding a bill of rights to the Constitution?
3) Why did the Bill of Rights not strongly affect citizens’ lives until after 1920s?

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Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _

Federalists Vs. the Antifederalists Debate

The Federalists and Anti-Federalists

The Debate is Resolved

The Impact of the Bill of Rights

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