What the Anti-Federalists Were For: The Political Thought of the Opponents of the Constitution

The Anti-Federalists, in Herbert J. Storing's view, are somewhat paradoxically entitled to be counted among the Founding Fathers and to share in the honor and study devoted to the founding. "If the foundations of the American polity was laid by the Federalists," he writes, "the Anti-Federalist reservations echo through American history; and it is in the dialogue, not merely in the Federalist victory, that the country's principles are to be discovered." It was largely through their efforts, he reminds us, that the Constitution was so quickly amended to include a bill of rights. Storing here offers a brilliant introduction to the thought and principles of the Anti-Federalists as they were understood by themselves and by other men and women of their time. His comprehensive exposition restores to our understanding the Anti-Federalist share in the founding its effect on some of the enduring themes and tensions of American political life. The concern with big government and infringement of personal liberty one finds in the writings of these neglected Founders strikes a remarkably timely note.… (more)

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LibraryThing member thcson

This is the introductory essay to the author's own edited collection of anti-federalist writings. The most revelatory parts of the essay show that the anti-federalists' views of their nation's political challenges agreed with the views of the federalists on surprisingly many accounts. Their

distrust in the efficacy of the separation of powers was the main differentiator. The federalist - anti-federalist debate is also interesting because it's one of the few real-world situations where the optimal size of a political unit became a topic of discussion. In the concluding chapter, the author writes that "the anti-federalists lost the debate over the constitution not merely because they were less clever arguers or less skillful politicians, but because they had the weaker argument".

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