The Federal Farmer

Constitution Thursday

The one thing that you can say about the federalists is that they were optimistic. They truly hoped that, truly believed that Americans would see it for what it was and grasp their liberties firmly and protect them for generations yet to come. The Anti-Federalists weren't quite so rosy in their outlook. While some were firebrands and dedicated to the idea of State Sovereignty and Confederation, more of them were pragmatic and understood that things had to be changed. But was the proposed Constitution the best way to make that change? Perhaps the most lucid and well spoken of the Anti-federalist was an anonymous writer who went by the pen name "The Federal Farmer." his writings, which began this week in 1787, were a measured consideration of the proposed government. in fact, of the the three possible forms of government that he saw for the nation, the proposed Constitution probably made the most sense. But that didn't mean that there weren't some potential problems that, whoever he was, could foresee...