USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Federalists opposed including a bill of rights on the ground that it was unnecessary. The Anti-Federalists, who were afraid of a strong centralized government, refused to support the Constitution without one. In the end, popular sentiment was decisive.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Anti-Federalists opposed the ratification of the 1787 U.S. Constitution because they feared that the new national government would be too powerful and thus threaten individual liberties, given the absence of a bill of rights.

Detailed explanation-3: -The authors of The Federalist Papers, including James Madison, argued for ratification of the Constitution without a bill of rights. They thought no list of rights could be complete and that therefore it was best to make no list at all.

Detailed explanation-4: -Many Anti-Federalists preferred a weak central government because they equated a strong government with British tyranny. Others wanted to encourage democracy and feared a strong government that would be dominated by the wealthy. They felt that the states were giving up too much power to the new federal government.

Detailed explanation-5: -When challenged over the lack of individual liberties, the Federalists argued that the Constitution did not include a bill of rights because the new Constitution did not vest in the new government the authority to suppress individual liberties.