Antifederalists Against the Constitution

During the time the United States Constitution was ratified (1787), there were two dominant groups of American citizens: the Federalist party and the Antifederalist party. The Federalists and the Antifederalists could not have had more conflicting views. The Federalists were very pro Constitution, whereas the Antifederalists were not. The Federalists were opposed to the idea of having the rules of their country be very uncertain, as those in Great Britain were. There were many reasons that the Antifederalists did not support the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, some more significant than others. First, the Antifederalists were dissatisfied that the early version of the constitution did not have a Bill of Rights. The Federalists disagreed with the Antifederalists because they believed that with a Bill of Rights, the Americans would be very limited in their liberties. The Federalists believed that the Bill of Rights would grant citizens only the listed rights and deny citizens of many desired ones. The Federalists and Antifederalists finally made a compromise and added a Bill of Rights to the Constitution that displayed a basic set of guidelines protecting the most critical rights of citizens. The Antifederalists also objected to the Constitution because they thought it would weaken the power of the states and the individual liberties of the U.S. citizens. The Antifederalists believed that the Federal government should have equal or less power than the state governments. By leaving the fate of our country's common law in the hands of the Federal government, Antifederalists believed the Federal government would have kept gaining power until there is no power left with the states.