CARD 12 - Federalist Essays
Anti-Federalist Papers
In addition to the Federalists Papers arguing for adoption of the Constitution, many papers were written that stated the reasons for not adopting the Constitution. One set of papers, writings by "Brutus" and "A Federal Farmer" and collectively called the Anti-Federalist Papers, argued against adoption. They warned of the dangers of tyranny and that the Constitution did not provide adequate protection. They saw threats to rights and liberties so recently won from England. Some of the weaknesses of the Constitution were corrected by the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Other weaknesses remained and some of the dangers expressed in the Anti-Federalist papers have materialized. The "necessary and proper" clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18) was not intended to be a blanket grant of power to the Federal government. All three branches of the federal government have assumed things that simply do not exist in the Constitution. States have forgotten how to be a check against a Congress. Other issues were raised in the Anti-Federalist Papers: Should the members of the government be elected by direct vote of the people? Does slavery have any place in a nation dedicated to liberty?
