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Essay / Essay on Ratification of the Constitution - 1213
While Federalists believe in a strong central government, Anti-Federalists believe in the shared power of state and national governments to maintain the rights of all Americans. favored a confederate government where the state and national governments could share power, protecting the freedom and independence of citizens. Anti-Federalists found many problems in the Constitution. Many feared that the central government would only consider individual rights. The Anti-Federalists were composed primarily of farmers and merchants and were less likely to be part of the wealthy elite than members of their rival the Federalist. Many Anti-Federalists were local politicians who feared losing power if the Constitution was ratified and argued that senators who served too long and represented too large territories would cause senators to forget their responsibilities to that state. They argued that the Constitution would give the country an entirely new and unfamiliar form of government and saw no reason to overthrow the current government. Instead, they believed that Federalists had overestimated the country's current problems and wanted a better characterization of the power allowed to the states. They also argued that the framers of the Constitution had met as a discriminatory group under orders of secrecy and had violated the stipulations of the Articles of Confederation in hopes of ratification of the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists were sure that the Constitution would strip away the rights of American citizens and fought hard to prevent the treaty from being ratified..