Federalist and anti Federalist debates - Essay Example

According to Montesquieu (1748), Federalism is “confederate republic. This form of government is a convention by which several petty s agree to become members of a larger one, which they intend to establish. It is a kind of assemblage of societies that constitute a new one, capable of increasing by means of further associations, till they arrive at such a degree of power as to be able to provide for the security of the whole body” (www.intellectualtakeout.org, Founders). It was in 1780s in colonial America when federalism developed a political movement.

The American Federalist proposed the Articles of Confederation, later altered and ratified on June 21, 1788 into the Constitution of the United States of America, as America’s first constitution (Rose, 2010). The Federalist Party, founded by Alexander Hamilton, became the first major political party founded in resistance to the Anti-Federalists who fought for the small national government without national debt (Rose, 2010). The debate for Federalism is whether to choose a large state that controls smaller states which allows homogeneity through separation of powers or a small state that has each power without being controlled and overruled by a central or large state (Follesdal, 2010).

I believe that we are still facing some of the challenges today especially determining composition, distribution of powers and power sharing. Until this day, I think there are still challenges to boundaries of the units of each member, allocation of powers to executive, legislative and judiciary, and especially the influence each state can contribute in the central government. A famous and insightful Anti-Federalist named Robert Yates, delegate to Constitutional Convention and a New York judge, withdrew in the Convention saying that it was exceeding its powers and instructions and the Supreme Court would soon become a source of over-reaching and unlimited federal powers (Galles, 2006).

References: Galles, Gary. The Anti-Federalists Were Right, (2006). Web. 18 September 2011. Føllesdal, Andreas. "Federalism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Web. 18 September 2011.“Founders and 18th Century Quotes on Federalism and States Rights.” www.intellectualtakeout.org. N.d. Web. 18 September 2011.Rose, Alicia. Federalism: A Political Movement of the 18th Century, (2010). Web. 18 September 2011.