Federalist

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After winning their independence in the American Revolution, America's leaders were hesitant to create a strong centralized government in fear that it would only replace King George III's tyranny. As a result, the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, gave the national government hardly any power over the states, and created chaos within the nation. Because of the Articles' inefficiency, a new document called the Constitution was drafted. The Constitution created a more centralized government with the separation of powers among executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The ratification of this new constitution created a debate among the federalists and the anti-federalists. The federalists were supporters of the ratification and were led by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. These three Federalist leaders wrote "The Federalist Papers", a series of eighty-five essays defending the Constitution, under the name "Publius", and circulated the documents widely. They claimed that the division of powers and the system of checks and balances would protect Americans from the tyranny of centralized authority. Thus people did not need to be protected from the powers of the new government in a formal way. The federalists strongly affirmed that a stronger federal government needed to be instituted. Federalists built on the notions of classical republicanism. They claimed that the nation did not need to fear centralized authority when a carefully structured government would exclude the possibility of tyranny. The Articles of Confederation were approved by the Congress that designed them and sent to state legislators for ratification; the public opinion was disregarded. "When the people of Ameri... ... middle of paper ... .... Those issues included "The utility of the Union to your political prosperity- The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union- the necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed, to the attainment of this object- The conformity of the proposed Constitution to the true principles of republican government- Its analogy to your own State constitution- and lastly, The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property" (No. 1: Hamilton). The federalists claimed that with the institution of the new Constitution, the United States of America would be able to grow stronger and resolve the current problems created under the Articles of Confederation. They asserted that the success of the new nation called for a strong and centralized government.

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