“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
One of the most influential Anti-Federalist essays against the Constitution didn’t come from a single writer. It came from a group of delegates at the Pennsylvania ratifying convention. Their warnings – about centralization of power, corruption, and more –...
Liberty is doomed where power is united – consolidated in the same hands. That’s the warning Montesquieu gave us about separation of powers. This was one of the biggest battles between Federalists and Anti-Federalists But here’s the twist: both sides used the...
Repealing the 17th Amendment is the right move to help restore federalism – but is it enough? The Anti-Federalists warned us about dangers in the Senate’s structure long before the 17th came along, and without understanding those warnings, we could still end up...
This government “will swallow the liberties of the people, without giving them previous notice.” That’s the stark warning Patrick Henry gave us in 1788. In a series of fiery speeches, he laid out some of the most powerful anti-Federalist arguments against the...
“A vile and arbitrary aristocracy or monarchy” – that’s what the Anti-Federalist writer Cato warned we’d get. In a series of seven essays, he laid out his strongest arguments against ratification of the Constitution, predicting all kinds...