What the Anti-Federalists Were For
Protection of individual rights
Republican government
The best instrument for the protection of individual rights.
Status quo
Some change was needed, but it would be much easier to maintain the good things about the system they had than to introduce a new system.
Federalism
The defense of the federal character of the American union was their most prominent position. The Articles of Confederation established a league of sovereign and independent states whose representatives met in congress to deal with a limited range of common concerns in a system that relied heavily on voluntary cooperation. Federalism means that the states are primary, equal, and possess the main weight of political power. The Constitution weakened the states.
A federation of small republics
They believed that free, republican governments could extend only over a relatively small territory with a homogeneous population. In large, diverse states many significant differences have to be ignored for the sake of uniform administration. A national gov't would be compelled to impose a crude uniform rule on American diversity, which would result in hardship and inequity for many parts of the country.
Union
To defend against foreign enemies, to promote and protect American commerce, and to maintain order among the states.
Limited powers
An efficient federal gov't need not imply one so powerful as that proposed in the Constitution.
Prudence dictates granting too few powers, and it is easier to increase power than to lessen it. Nor is it sufficient to say that the exigencies facing the general gov't are in principle illimitable; reasonable estimates can in practice be made and acted upon. It is far more prudent to act upon such judgments than to rush to provide the gov't at once with all the power it may conceivably need. The maxim that unlimited means are necessary to meet unlimited ends is balanced by the maxim "that all governments find a use for as much money as they can raise." Extraordinary needs can be met as they arise. If a national credit and a national treasury are needed in time of war, let them be provided in time of war.
Responsibility to the people
Gov't offices should be occupied by the natural aristocracy of the nation, but they should be selected by democratic means.
Limited responsibilities
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists agreed that gov't is properly directed to the limited end of the security of individual rights.
Separation of powers and checks and balances
They criticized the Constitution as having too little separation and too few checks.
Simple government
"A constitution," one said, "ought to be, like a beacon, held up to the public eye, so as to be understood by every man." But "this government is of such an intricate and complicated nature, that no man on this earth can know its real operation." "[W]here is the man who can see through the constitution to its effects?" another asked.
Common law procedural rights
They insisted that the Constitution should explicitly recognize the traditional procedural rights: to be safe from general search and seizure, to be indicted by grand jury, to trial by jury, to confront witnesses, and to be protected against cruel and unusual punishments. One of the most widely uttered objections against the Constitution was that it did not provide for (and thereby abolished) trial by jury in civil cases.
Liberty of conscience
Many of them favored both governmental encouragement of religion and liberty of individual conscience.
Liberty of the press
The palladium of American liberties, they said.
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