The Anti-Federalist Papers
During the period from the drafting and proposal of the federal Constitution in September, 1787, to its ratification in 1789 there was an intense debate on ratification.
The principal arguments in favor of it were stated in the series written by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay called the Federalist Papers, although they were not as widely read as numerous independent local speeches and articles.
The arguments against ratification appeared in various forms, by various authors, most of whom used a pseudonym. Collectively, these writings have become known as the Anti-Federalist Papers.
We here present some of the best and most widely read of these. They contain warnings of dangers from tyranny that weaknesses in the proposed Constitution did not adequately provide against, and while some of those weaknesses were corrected by adoption of the Bill of Rights, others remained, and some of these dangers are now coming to pass.
The Anti-Federalist Authors
A COLUMBIAN PATRIOT : Mercy Warren
A COUNTRYMAN : DeWitt Clinton A CUSTOMER A DEMOCRATIC FEDERALIST A FARMER A FARMER AND PLANTER A FEDERALIST A FEDERAL REPUBLICAN A GEORGIAN A NEWPORT MAN A REPUBLICAN FEDERALIST : James Warren AGRIPPA : James Winthrop ALFRED AN AMERICAN AN OBSERVER AN OFFICER OF THE LATE CONTINENTAL ARMY : William Findley AN OLD WHIG AMICUS ARISTOCROTIS BRUTUS : Robert Yates BRUTUS JUNIOR CANDIDUS : Benjamin Austin CATO : George Clinton CENTINEL : Samuel or George Bryan CINCINNATUS DELIBERATOR HAMPDEN |
HELVIDIUS PRISCUS : James Warren
JOHN HUMBLE LEONIDAS MASSACHUSETTENSIS MONTEZUMA PHILADELPHIENSIS PHILANTHROPOS PLEBIAN : Melancthon Smith REPUBLICUS SYDNEY : Robert Yates THE FEDERAL FARMER : Richard Henry Lee THE PLAIN DEALER : Spencer Roane THE YEOMANRY OF MASSACHUSETTS VOX POPULI WILLIAM PENN Consider Arms Samuel Field William Grayson Patrick Henry John Lansing Gilbert Livingston Luther Martin George Mason Malichi Maynard Eleazer Oswald John F. Mercer Joseph Taylor |
The Anti-Federalist Papers
See individual topic discussions here
