![]() “The basic concept stressed was the evil effect of power. They panicked about the possible implications for personal liberties like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to worship freely, which to many Americans had been the real driving issue behind the revolution. They feared the separation of powers in the Constitution was not strong enough or distinct enough. ![]() They expressed concern that the president, with control of the army, might become a military dictator (“ would be a foetus of monarchy!” said Edmund Randolph). They worried that the centralisation of power would put control into the hands of an urban-based elite. They argued that over time the power and influence of the states would be eroded or ‘drained’ by the federal government. They feared that sovereignty, autonomy and states’ rights would be trampled by the newly-empowered national government. Thomas Jefferson was also sharply critical of the Constitution, though he actively supported some parts of it, and later explained that he was not fully Anti-Federalist but somewhere between the two positions.Īs a group, Anti-Federalists were concerned about several issues. ![]() Others included George Clinton, Richard Henry Lee and Mercy Otis Warren, the female chronicler. Those who did not support the Constitution came to be known as Anti-Federalists or ‘states-rights men’ and their most notable representative was Patrick Henry (who had refused to attend the Convention because of his suspicion of it, declaring “I smell a rat, tending toward monarchy”). ‘The Looking Glass for 1787’, a pessimistic cartoon about the new nation ![]()
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