Recently I was involved in a discussion about how the current American Republican candidates for president aren't really conservative. This sparked some thinking about how the group of men who constructed the Constitution were the progressives of their day, which, in turn, prompted the question: who were the conservatives who resisted the federalist impulse? We don't tend to hear about them, if they existed.
I can imagine there were the gents who supported a return to a feudal system (probably a tiny minority supporting this, if any). There were probably a few physiocrats, maybe some supporters of mercantile system. But I'd suppose that the democrats supporting something like direct democracy would be pretty prevalent, but my high school history books didn't tell me about them.
Any thoughts?
The Constitution and its ratification was not a universal agreement. Federalists supported strong government; antifederalists like Jefferson wanted strong state power, not a strong national government. Every time you hear "Jeffersonian" government, think agrarian, small, decentralised society... things that modern conservatives are likely to support. I'm wondering on what basis your friends are claiming that current American Republican candidates "aren't really conservative." Why do they say this?
Federalists (would lean modern Liberal) = supported Constitution with strong national government
Antifederalists (would lean modern Conservatives) = opposed the Federalists' position unless the Bill of Rights was ratified alongside the Constitition. In fact, this is the compromise that allowed for the ratification of the Constitution anyway.