That's why the first amendment to the Bill of Rights is so important wherein the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and petition are protected. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Hamilton & Madison, 1787)
The leaders of the anti-federalists' movement, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson purported that the constitution of the United Stated should not be ratified. The basis of their argument was contingent upon, in their opinion, ratification gave too much power to the national government; pre-empting state authority; there was no bill of rights; the executive branch would be too powerful; congress, due to the "necessary and proper clause" provided too much power, and the national government could maintain an army even in times of peace (Storing, 1981)
45). This collection of essays was called The Federalist Papers (Genovese, 2009)
Primary Source Analysis On September 17, 1787 the Constitution of the United States was signed by 39 delegates from 12 states in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after spending the summer debating the final form in the first Constitutional Convention. The Constitution represented in part an attempt to prevent the dissolution of the confederacy of states formed by the shared goal of independence, by forming a strong federal government (Rhodenhamel, 1987, p
Also, the issue of representation was decided by the Great Compromise, which combined the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan into a Congress with a House of Representatives based on a state's population, and the Senate in which each state got equal representation. Slaves counted as three-fifths of a person (Estes, 2011, p
The Articles of Confederation was one of the major impetuses for the Federalist viewpoint. The Articles provisioned states rights and explicitly called for a unanimous decision on the part of all states for any substantial federal measures to take place (Rowland, 1977, p
One of the chief points that Anti-Federalists differed with Federalists on was a centralized bank, which Alexander Hamilton was largely responsible for founding during George Washington's tenure as president. Most states had banks at the state level (Van Cleve, 2014, p
The reason for the failure of the Articles of Confederation was its purpose, which did not promote the creation of a strong national government. The goal of the Articles of Confederation was to develop an amalgamation of states where every state would retain her autonomy, liberty, and sovereignty whereas every jurisdiction and power that was not directly delegated to the United States assembled in Congress (Kelly, n
The authors sought to also show why it was vital to merge these principles in a new constitutional mechanism i.e. The 1787 Constitution (Peacock, n