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U.S. History 1877-Present 1: Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists 589 Views
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Description:
Today we'll be learning about Anti-Federalists and how adamant they were about protecting rights. We here at Shmoop are going to stick up for lefts. Everyone in U.S. History seems to forget about them.
Transcript
- 00:03
The delegates fought about Congress, they fought about slavery, [2 men fighting with each other]
- 00:07
but in the end, they wrote a constitution...
- 00:09
that they all loved and agreed upon.
- 00:11
Oh wait, except, it didn't even [a paper rolled with a sign - We The People]
- 00:14
remotely happen like that.
Full Transcript
- 00:16
True, the Constitution was finally written,
- 00:18
but it was nothing more than a piece of paper until... [someone writing on a piece of paper]
- 00:20
it was ratified, meaning
- 00:23
and
- 00:24
the Constitution would only take effect...
- 00:26
if it were approved by nine out thirteen states. [few states highlighted in yellow on a map]
- 00:29
This, if possible, was...
- 00:31
even harder than it sounds.
- 00:33
States are kind of ornery like that.
- 00:35
Well, get ready to rumble, Shmoopers, [two men and a woman dancing at a concert]
- 00:39
because we've got another battle for ya.
- 00:41
Federalists, supporters of the Constitution,
- 00:43
versus the Anti-Federalists, [two aggressive boxers in a boxing ring]
- 00:45
opponents of the Constitution.
- 00:47
Yeah, there's a smack-down in there, somewhere.
- 00:49
Well, the Anti-Federalists weren't...
- 00:51
just a bunch of antisocial crazies. [a group of men discussing]
- 00:54
Actually, they had some pretty good points.
- 00:56
They had issues with a lot of stuff: [a man dancing in excitement]
- 01:05
and what they called the
- 01:08
They also feared that the new government would be...
- 01:10
dominated by economic elitists...[a man holding a bowl in his hand]
- 01:12
who would ignore the concerns of the...
- 01:14
average citizen.
- 01:15
Seems like all the talking heads on every news..
- 01:18
network are still bickering about the exact same things. [multiple small screens in the background]
- 01:21
But the main problem raised by the Anti-Federalists....
- 01:23
had to do with what the new constitution... [a group of men discussing something]
- 01:25
was missing: a bill of rights.
- 01:28
The Anti-Federalists argued that without...
- 01:30
a list of specific protections, [a man asking for help]
- 01:32
individual liberties would be held hostage by...
- 01:34
a newly powerful government.
- 01:36
Now it's not like that idea never crossed the Federalists'... [image of a newspaper holding a bomb]
- 01:38
minds. In fact, the delegates to...
- 01:40
the Constitutional Convention set aside a day...
- 01:42
to talk about a bill of rights. [delegates discussing about something]
- 01:44
Of course, it was on the Convention's very last day...
- 01:47
and, like the last day of school, not much got done.
- 01:49
They probably watched a movie or something. [kids playing and throwing things at each other]
- 01:51
Okay, it wasn't just because of laziness that a bill of...
- 01:53
rights was left off the final draft of the Constitution.
- 01:56
The framers believed that putting... [a boy trying to take a nap]
- 01:58
specific protections in writing...
- 02:00
could actually give the government more room to abuse people.
- 02:04
Reason? [a man holding a base ball bat and hitting people on their head]
- 02:05
Well, a government might take a written...
- 02:07
list of no-nos as an excuse...
- 02:09
to do anything that was left off... [someone writing on a piece of paper]
- 02:11
the list. Like if the Bill of Rights...
- 02:13
didn't specifically say that everybody has the...
- 02:15
right to not be forced to wear...
- 02:17
tutus on Tuesday, [image of multiple color tutu's on a table]
- 02:19
the government might make Tu-tu Tuesday...
- 02:21
a requirement for all. For some, that'd be a bigger...
- 02:24
imposition than for others. [two men and a woman dressed in a tutu]
- 02:26
Well, both arguments seemed convincing...
- 02:28
so there was a big to-have or not-to-have...
- 02:30
a bill of rights debate. [two men hitting each other with a sack of mud]
- 02:32
The Federalists got their way on most points.
- 02:34
But in the end, they decided a bill of rights wasn't...
- 02:36
such a bad idea. So we can all thank...
- 02:38
the Anti-Federalists the next time we...
- 02:40
use out right to free speech to make... [a man wearing a tutu using his phone]
- 02:42
snarky tweets.
- 02:43
We do that at Shmoop here all the time.
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