Federalists and
Anti-Federalists
The Constitution
• The Electoral College
• In what way was the Electoral College a
compromise?
-Question Ch.9 Study Guide, II.4
How was slavery addressed in the
Constitution?
• -in apportioning direct taxes and in according
representation in the House of
Representatives, slaves would count as threefifths of a person (three-fifths compromise).
•
the slave trade could not be touched until
1807 (at that time, Congress banned it).
Table 9-2 p173
In what ways did the Constitution seek
to erect barriers against “mobocracy?”
• federal judges were appointed for life
• the president was to be indirectly elected by
the Electoral College
• senators were to be chosen indirectly by state
legislatures
What democratic elements existed in
the Constitution?
• it was based on two main principles of
republicanism- government was based on the
consent of the governed and the powers of
government should be limited
•
the virtue of the people, not the authority
of the state, was to be the ultimate guarantor
of liberty, justice, and order: “We the people”
Who were the Federalists and AntiFederalists?
Map 9-4 p174
Federalists
• Generally lived along the seaboard
• Generally wealthier, more educated, and
better organized than the Anti-Federalists.
Anti-Federalists
• Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee
• Generally states’ rights proponents,
backcountry people, small farmers
• Generally the poorest classes
Anti-Federalist
Arguments
• the Constitution was written by aristocratic
elements of society and was undemocratic
• sovereignty of the states were being submerged
• freedoms of the individual were jeopardized by
the lack of a bill of rights
• loss of annual elections for congressional
representatives, the creation of a federal
stronghold (later D.C.), the creation of a standing
army, the omission of any reference to God, and
the procedure of ratification with only two-thirds
of the states.
• The promise to add a bill of rights swayed
some Anti-Federalists
• June 1788 the Constitution was officially
adopted
Table 9-3 p175
p176
What do the authors mean when
they say, “The minority had
triumphed- twice”?
• -a militant minority of American radicals and
engineered the military Revolution. Now a
minority of conservatives (embracing some of
the earlier radicals) had engineered a peaceful
revolution that overthrew the Articles of
Confederation.
What do the authors mean by
“Conservatism was victorious?”
• Can the Constitution be considered both a
radical departure from the Articles of
Confederation and a conservative document
at the same time?