The Federalists and Anti-Federalists:

1. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists: The Federalist Papers! Standard 8.2.4 Describe the political philosophy underpinning the Constitution as specified in the Federalist Papers and the role of such leaders….

2. Who were the Federalists? • The Federalists supported the Constitution. They liked to explain what it was about and strongly defended it. • Three of the most famous Federalists were James Madison, of course, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay

3. Who were the Anti-federalists? • They believed that the Constitution created a national government that was too powerful. • Men like Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and Patrick Henry also opposed the Constitution because there was no bill of rights to protect individual freedoms and felt it gave the president too much power

4. The Federalist Papers • What were they? A series of essays that explained and supported the U.S. Constitution • Who wrote them? Madison, Hamilton, and Jay wrote them, but James Madison was the primary author

5. The Federalist Papers • What were the main arguments? • A republican form of government would work well in the U.S., a very large territory • Federalism allowed national and state governments to share power • The Articles of Confederation created a weak government