american government help?

Question

compare the arguments of federalist and antifederalists please help

Answer 1

Self government and decentralization are the main issues of the federalists as against the anti-federalists.

Answer 2

Federalists wanted strong central government that promoted commerce. They felt that local factions could too easily dominate state politics...but the nation would be protected by a NATIONAL government. No faction would be strong enough to dominate the entire nation. This was Hamilton's way of thinking.

Anti-Federalists, on the other hand, wanted a government that was stronger than the one under the Articles of Confederation...but not much stronger. They didn't want to give up too many State's rights. They feared the tyranny of a ruling class in the nation's capitol. They distrusted business (and preferred the wisdom of the yoeman farmer). This was the vision of Jeffersonian democracy

Washington was sort of a Federalist. After the election of 1796 where Adams, a Federalist (at least a believer in their ideology via the Federalist Papers authored by Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay), came in first and Jefferson, not a Federalist, came in second...Adams became President and Jefferson became VP. It became clear that the VP should be from the same way of thinking as the President.

Political parties coalesced around each way of thinking. Followers of Jefferson became the forerunners of today's Democratic Party. Followers of Hamilton, etc became Federalists. Eventually, the Federalists were replaced by the Whig Party and after that faded, the Republican Party (initially an abolitionist party) rose to take its place.

However, with the advent of the New Deal, the Democrats became the party that favored a strong central government and Republicans became more anti-Federalist. Civil rights legislation also showed that Democrats favored a strong central government while Republicans bristled at the intrusion of the feds into state's business.