Similarities Between The Federalist And Anti-Federalists

Early on in our nation’s history there were two primary political parties that sought to gain the upper hand as it related to implementation of policy and building the government. The two parties were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Each party’s membership held prominent names of individuals who would help build our earliest policies and shape the constitution.
The Federalists sought to build a strong central government. They were concerned over a perceived resistance from the first thirteen states to any changes that they wanted to implement. It was Alexander Hamilton who opined “Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new Constitution will have to encounter may readily be distinguished by the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every state to resist all changes.” (Hamilton, 1787). The Federalist desired to control

“In 1798, Congress approved the Alien and Sedition acts, passed by Federalist Congress to prevent criticism of the national government.” (O’Connor, Sabato, & Yanus, 2015). The Anti-Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed this act on the belief that “The states had the right to nullify any federal law that in their opinion, violated the Constitution.” (O’Connor, Sabato, & Yanus, 2015). We see some parallels today in that the power given to the Supreme Court has led to States rights and decisions being overruled such as laws concerning same sex marriage. The power of the Supreme Court was of particular concern by the Anti-Federalists. It was believed that under the early Constitution “The Supreme Court would be exalted above all other power in the government and subject to no control and that a danger would result from it” (Yates, 1788). It was argued that “In England the judges are under the control of the legislature. But under this American Constitution, the judges will control the legislature.” (Yates,