Essay II HISTORY

The constitution convection of the 1787 marked the shift from the articles of the confederation to the United States constitution. The endorsement debate led to the disagreements between the federalists who wanted to approve the constitution and with the anti federalists who were on the opposing side as they did not want to endorse the constitution. The anti-federalists were an important presence in the nation and thus they believed that the new system forced by the constitution failed in protecting the citizens rights and threatened on their liberty. This paper, therefore, will discuss on some of the major reasons as to why the anti-federalists failed to ratify the US constitution.

The primary arguments that the anti-federalists used in their debate with the United States’ constitution were the verity that the constitution bestowed so much authority to the national government and that the human rights of the citizens were not assured in a bill of rights (Cross et al 54). Therefore they failed to endorse the constitution and thus they had an important force in the establishment and the execution of the bill of rights. Another reason as to why the anti-federalists opposed the ratification of the constitution was the fact that the constitution threatened to drive the nation down to the rod of political corruption. They also believed that the constitution once it would be imposed it would lead into lack of protection for personal liberties (US History. Org n.p).

However, despite the efforts that were made by all these anti-federalists on opposing the endorsement of the constitution, they failed in preventing the constitution from being approved. However, they managed to set in motion the establishment and the implementation of the bill of rights which assured the citizens of the right of protection on all of them.

References

                Cross, Frank B. The Failed Promise of Originalism. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Law Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, 2013. Internet resource.
US History. Org. Anti-Federalists. Retrieved from:  http://www.ushistory.org/us/16b.asp