The Anti-Federalists Were Right?: Martin, Mason, Gerry, Cato, and the Pennsylvania Dissenters: The Case Against Ratification

The Anti-Federalists Were Right?: Martin, Mason, Gerry, Cato, and the Pennsylvania Dissenters: The Case Against Ratification

The Constitution wasn't born in harmony. Its ratification came out of a fight - bitter and bruising, with delegates to the Convention, veterans of the Revolution, and respected public figures in open opposition. They came to be known as the Anti-Federalists. The Articles of Confederation created a union of sovereign states. The Anti-Federalists saw the new Constitution as something else entirely: a consolidated national government with sweeping power over every individual and every corner of life. This wasn't reform. They saw it as a counter-revolution in disguise. George Mason warned the Constitution was "totally subversive of every principle which has hitherto governed us." The Pennsylvania dissenters said "consolidation pervades the whole Constitution." Elbridge Gerry cut to the core: "The Constitution proposed has few if any federal features; but is rather a system of national government." Luther Martin believed the design was intentional - "calculated and designed… to abolish and annihilate the State governments." And Cato forecast the outcome: "a vile and arbitrary aristocracy or a monarchy." Their warnings were concrete and specific: They warned federal taxation would drain the people until "not a drop more can be extracted." They feared standing armies would enforce laws at bayonet-point. They predicted a federal judiciary would override state courts and make justice unattainable. They saw powers deliberately mixed to destroy checks and balances. This book presents the Anti-Federalist case in their own words - through speeches, essays, and warnings from George Mason, Luther Martin, Cato, Elbridge Gerry, and the Pennsylvania Dissenters. Not as relics. As challenges. To confront the question they left us: Can any government, anywhere, be trusted with such great power?