anti-federalists
States' rights advocates
Anti-federalists were Americans who opposed ratification of the U.S.
Constitution in 1787-1788, fearing it would create an overly powerful central government at the expense of state sovereignty and individual liberties.
Their objections led directly to the Bill of Rights being added to the Constitution.
The term now applies more broadly to anyone skeptical of strong federal authority.
Anti-federalists argued that the Constitution gave too much power to the president.
Formal approval by authority
- ConstitutionGoverning principles document
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
- amendmentsFormal changes to documents
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
republic · decentralization · tyranny · consolidation · representation · delegation · compact · nullification
Thin informational booklets
- newspapersPrinted daily publications
- essaysShort nonfiction prose pieces
- rhetoricArt of persuasive language
- argumentsDisputes or reasoning chains
propaganda · persuasion · discourse · dissent · opposition · warnings · predictions · concerns
Preference for nearby things
- agrarianismDoctrine valuing farm life
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
- yeomanIndependent cultivator or naval clerk
distrust · centralization · taxation · elite · aristocracy · corruption · representation · accountability
Roman who killed Caesar
- CatoRoman political name
- foundersThose who begin institutions
- VirginiaMid-Atlantic American state
- MassachusettsNortheastern colonial state
Pennsylvania · delegates · pamphleteers · orators · statesmen
ratification
Formal approval by authority
- ConstitutionGoverning principles document
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
- amendmentsFormal changes to documents
sovereignty · republic · decentralization · tyranny · consolidation · representation · delegation · compact · nullification · republicanism
pamphlets
Thin informational booklets
- newspapersPrinted daily publications
- essaysShort nonfiction prose pieces
- rhetoricArt of persuasive language
arguments · propaganda · persuasion · discourse · dissent · opposition · warnings · predictions · concerns · objections
localism
Preference for nearby things
- agrarianismDoctrine valuing farm life
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
yeoman · distrust · centralization · taxation · elite · aristocracy · corruption · representation · accountability · self-governance
Brutus
Roman who killed Caesar
Massachusetts · Pennsylvania · delegates · pamphleteers · orators · statesmen
- federalismstates' rights, enumerated powers, limited government, supremacy clause, reserved powers
- Political Groupsfaction, Republican Party, caucus, Democratic Party, wing
anti-federalistsfederalists
Pro-strong-government faction
Alexander Hamilton · James Madison · John Jay · Publius · nationalists