Us Constitution Dbq

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Recommended: Members of the federalist versus anti federalist

Leanna Kontos APUSH Per.4 10/14/15 Main Ideas of Unit Two: Question #1 The U.S. Constitution is a set of rules and laws that Americans live by that also protects their freedom and rights. Several events occurred that led up to the formation of this new constitution. One of the first events that occurred was the The Revolutionary War in 1775 between Britain and the colonies. The following year, the Declaration of Independence was written which allowed all of the 13 colonies to come together under one government. Soon after, the central government set up a series of laws called the Articles of Confederation. The Continental Congress wrote these to give the colonists a sense of unity within the government. A few years after the war ended, the …show more content…

The federalists were people who favored the Constitution and explained the weaknesses of the Articles of the Constitution. They wanted to establish and maintain a strong central government. Anti-Federalists were people who opposed the Constitution and declared to have strong state governments. They didn't want a strong national government because they felt that it gave them too much power. Federalists were typically people who came from educated classes, often owners of property, and usually lived in older, coastal areas. Anti-Federalists were usually from less-educated classes, farmers, and lived in frontier areas. The federalists also fought that the Bill of Rights was not needed in the Constitution because the citizens already and their protection and federal power was limited. On the other hand, anti-federalists felt that there was a lack of a Bill of Rights and they wanted it so that they could protect the American citizens against the government and their basic human rights. The major political figures of the federalists group were James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. These leaders wrote “The Federalists’ Papers” to give an explanation of the Constitution. The main political figures of the anti-federalists group were Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson. They has side supporters that consisted of farmers, tradesmen, and the

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