The Constitution Establishes a Consolidated Empire
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Elliot added them as a fifth volume to his Debates in 1840. Taken together,
these works—Madison’s Notes, Elliot’s Debates, The Federalist, and Storing’s The Complete Anti-Federalist, represent the principal, though by no
means the entire, source material of original documents on the framing
and adoption of the United States Constitution.
a. the anti-federalist persuasion
On the eve of the Federal Convention, the Anti-Federalists were basically in agreement with the Federalists that the Articles of Confederation needed to be changed. They admitted that the Articles were weak
and that the powers of Congress, at least those respecting domestic and
foreign commerce, needed to be strengthened. But they did not sense a
need to abandon the Articles entirely and substitute a new system.
Above all, the Anti-Federalists opposed any fundamental change in the
existing relationship between the Confederation government and the
States. They were strong advocates of States’ Rights who believed that
self-government, independen