1. Federalists
1.1. Who They Were
1.1.1. Merchants & plantation owners, weathier than Antifederalists
1.1.2. They were supporters of the constitution, and believed it was a necessary improvement on the Articles
1.1.3. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay
1.2. What They Thought
1.2.1. Creation of fed. govt. to unite states into a nation
1.2.2. Focused arguments one inadequacies of Articles and benefits of national govt. under const.
1.2.3. Strong central govt. would foster commercial growth
1.2.4. Viewed society as diverse groups, const. would make sure no one group had complete control
1.2.5. Weak union of states = country more vulnerable to internal and external dissension
1.2.6. Problems of factions could be solved by controlling their effects, leaders could put national interest ahead of factional interests
2. Antifederalists
2.1. Who They Were
2.1.1. Opposed to creation of a federal government
2.1.2. Mostly farmers and tradesmen
2.1.3. Believed each state should be own sovereign government
2.1.4. Consisted of local leaders who feared losing power under constitution
2.1.5. Patrick Henry, George Mason, Edmund Rudolf
2.2. What They Thought
2.2.1. Const. would create new, untested form of govt.
2.2.2. Didn't make sense to throw out existing govt.
2.2.3. Federalists overstated current political problems
2.2.4. Framers of const. were an elitist group under a veil of secrecy, violated provisions under Articles
2.2.5. Arguments similar to Revolutionary times
2.2.6. Associated centralized power with tyranny
2.2.7. Const. was step away from Democratic goals of Revolution towards evils of monarchy and aristocracy
2.2.8. Const. would give pres. too much power
2.2.9. Congress would be too aristocratic
2.2.10. Criticized the doc for a lack of Bill of Rights
2.2.11. Centralization of power = decline of political society towards tyranny
2.2.12. One govt. could not control such a large country