Anti-Federalists and the First Amendment to the Constitution

Because of the influence they did have, Rhode Island and North Carolina voted against the confirmation of the Constitution. The one point on which the Antifederalists did prevail was the need for a set of constitutional amendments to guarantee individual rights and handsomedoms in America, and it was their gallery that brought around the Bill of Rights (Houghton Mifflin, n.d., p.1).

The branch Amendment to the United States Constitution is a rather brief sentence that guarantees certain liberties. It reads as follows: " social intercourse shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" (Burger, 1992, p.213). The clauses of the amendment provide for the separation of church and state in America. The government female genitalsnot interfere with a person's practice of their religion, and it cannot name a religion that is the state religion. The most basic freedom associated with the initiative Amendment is the right of freedom of speech. The Supreme Court may go along certain speech that causes violence or breach of peace, only in general Americas are free to express themselves as they choose (Legal Information Institute, n.d., p.1). A part of the freedom of spirit is the freedom of the press. Members of the media do not have any

Storing, H.J. (1981). The complete anti-Federalist. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

The deeper problem, the underpinnings of the concerns of the Antifederalists was the concern about aristocrats in the government. They had come from a soil of lords and kings and had a or so faltering faith in responsible government found on representation. Their thinking was in terms of small, homogeneous settlements, and the sentiment of representation was perhaps too abstract, as there was no direct experience with that. There was great fear among the Antifederalists that the U.S. would evidently recreate the British government (Story, 1981, p.58).

At times the Antifederalists went so far as to doubt the theoretical soundness, the feasibility, and the intentions of the overbold government.

With this background of understanding about who the Antifederalists were and what is contained within the First Amendment, one can ask, what did the Antifederalists have in mind with this amendment, the first one in what became known as the Bill of Rights? The most famous spokespersons for the Antifederalists were Patrick heat content and James Monroe (Burger, 1992, p.195). Through the leadership of these men and others, they were able to betoken Federalists such as James Madison that the separate states were watchful to reject the ratification of the Constitution if the document was unamended, a fearful turn of affairs for the new country (Burger, 1992, p.195). What basically occurred was a tug of war between those who favored central precedent and those who favored state power.

Legal Information Institute (n.d.). First amendment: an overview. Retrieved on February 23,

The Antifederalists were actually rather coherent and cohesive in their thinking and in their articulated position. They wanted a new nation, but they did not want domination of the agrarian class by the aristocratic class. They did not want to see titanic amounts of power vested in the hands of the fortunate
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