Federalist_#46

Federalist #46 In 1787 when the Constitution Convention finished its work it faced the task of ratification. This required the approval of 9 states. Many people were concerned that this new constitution gave too much power to the federal government and threatened the liberties of individual citizens. These people became known as the Anti-Federalist. Their fear was that they were trading the tyranny of British King George III for a regime of home grown authoritarians. In response came the Federalist Papers published in the New York Independent Journal under the author Publius. The real authors were Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. There are 85 essays in all each addressing different issues of the time about this new national government. The Anti-Federalist arguments came from the experience with the British. Their belief was that a centralized government and/or power breads tyranny. The only way to assure everyone’s liberties was to spread power to each state. Madison argued that this is what representative democracy stands for. Madison believed that the people’s rights would best be protected in a large, diverse federal government. This would assure that the narrow interest of few would people, government, states, madison, governments, state, national, arms, should, power, one, federal, different, over, never, nation, federalist, every, constitution, british, best, bear, army, until, united, time, powers, own, number, new, militia, men, make, liberties, each