Good morning my fellow historians;
I'm an avid bookworm, and love all things history related. My specialty is WWII history, and I've recently (after becoming OBSESSED) with the musical HAMILTON by Lin-Manuel Miranda, I have ordered a copy of The Federalist Papers. Being a Canadian, my knowledge of US history is rather limited except for America's WWII era.
Can someone help me understand what I'm reading? What or who were the Federalists and anti-Federalists. I know that the Federalist Papers were written by Hamilton, Jay and Madison to defend the US Constitution but I feel I'm missing out on not fully understanding what each side believed.
Hamilton (I think) wanted a centralized government, what exactly did that mean? Any help understanding this would greatly be appreciated!
Thank you all in advance!
The Federalist Papers were written as a justification for voting for the Constitution and were intended to be read by the people of New York. The Articles of Confederation was the first government framework and it had several problems the Constitution was designed to correct, most of which were the result of a weak Federal government. Hence the Federal part of Federalist Papers. The Continental Congress had been operating and conducting the revolution under very similar rules and actions as found in the Articles of Confederation, which gave them legal justification to continue when the war was over. There were problems with the federal government functioning, as there was no president, no executive agencies, no judiciary and no tax base, just Congress. It was the inability to tax that created the most problems. They couldn't raise money to pay for the revolution, let alone help states with their trade and economic problems. So, they replaced it and these letters attempt to explain why to New Yorker's at the time.