Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Anti-Federalist papers are a selection of the written arguments against the US Constitution by those known to posterity as the Anti-Federalists. As with the Federalist papers, these essays were originally published in newspapers.
a federalist Antifederalist No. 2 "WE HAVE BEEN TOLD OF PHANTOMS" This essay is an excerpted from a speech of William Grayson, June 11, 1788, in Jonathan Elliot
While scholars still debate the author of the Brutus Essays, most believe that they were written by New York Anti-Federalist Robert Yates. Yates was a New York state judge. He was a close ally of powerful New York Governor George Clinton.
In time, the various opponents to the new Constitution came to be known as the Anti-Federalists. Their collected speeches, essays, and pamphlets later became known as the “Anti-Federalist Papers.”
The essay now known as Antifederalist No. 1 was written in November 1787 and signed by “A. Federalist.” The writer argues that the new Constitution should be examined very closely to see who benefits most from its ratification.
Over the course of six months, Brutus would publish sixteen essays that presented counter-arguments to The Federalist Papers. The first of these essays, Brutus No. 1, seized the initiative, being published about two weeks before Alexander Hamilton published Federalist No. 1 to defend the proposed Constitution under the pseudonym, Publius.
The Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates have left an indelible legacy on American governance. Their arguments about states' rights, individual liberties, and the balance of power continue to inform the United States' constitutional framework and its application in modern society.
Centinel returned in late 1788, after the Constitution had been ratified, with six more essays, aimed at influencing voters as they prepared to elect Pennsylvania’s first officials to the new government.
Among the most important of the Anti-Federalist writings are the essays of Brutus. Although it has not been definitively established, these essays are generally attributed to Robert Yates. The Brutus essays provide the most direct and compelling rebuttal of the Federalist argument.
What the anti-Federalists were for -- v. 2. Objections of non-signers of the Constitution and Major series of essays at the outset -- v. 3. Pennsylvania -- v. 4. Massachusetts and New England -- v. 5. Maryland and Virginia and the South -- v. 6. New York and conclusion -- v. 7. Index.