American Governemnt - Essay Example

On the other hand, the Federalists were comprised of people who were quite well educated and resided in the regions alongside the eastern coastline. Moreover, they were also quite wealthy, and it is possible that their main motivation was to protect their newfound leadership of the federation at all costs. On the other hand, the Anti–federalists represented the people who were not so well off as well as those who lived in the interior, away from the seaboard; these were campaigners for the ascendancy of the individual states over the federal administration.

When one considers the different arguments put forward by these two factions, one realizes that the arguments made by the Federalists are much more convincing than those made by the Anti– federalists are. Therefore, in this paper we shall discuss some of the ideas proposed by the Federalists as opposed to those presented by their opponents. The Federalists believed that the power of the confederation was too weak to function effectively either domestically or when dealing with foreign powers.

They felt that a strong federal government would be able to take care of the needs of all the states in matters of foreign policy and would be able to control the states from taking steps, which were deemed excessive. It can be argued that the stance of the Federalists was exceedingly much aware of the advantages that could be brought to the United States if it indeed had a strong national government. One of the benefits that happened in later years was when President Jefferson ordered the United States navy to deal with the Barbary pirates.

Not only did the navy do so, but it also managed to break the power of these pirates, hence ensuring that the American trade in the Mediterranean was secured. The Anti vehemently opposed the proposal for a strong federal government – federalists who believed that the Federalists, who were made up of the propertied class, wanted to monopolize power in the new nation. Instead, they proposed that the power of the federal government be kept weak and that state power was to remain supreme (Howe 1383).

If such proposals had been implemented then the United States would have been just a loose federation, without a single military force to defend it, and a leader who was not decisive because he would have been at the mercy of the state governments. Among the proposals made by the Federalists, concerning the new state was that it was to be governed by men who had talent and experience. They felt that if the government were to be placed in the hands of just anyone, then it would jeopardize the security of the state as well as the lives and property of those within it.

Men with experience in governance would be more appropriate because they would know how to handle different situations as they occurred. It would therefore, be better that the government remained in the hands of the educated and propertied class because they had the experience to lead the nation wisely. This turned out to be a true assessment of the situation as the first presidents of the United States came from this class. The success of this young nation can be attributed to them for it is because of their strict management of its affairs that the foundation was set for its