The Constitution Limits and Distributes Power
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from the Articles of Confederation. Although the Articles were unsatisfactory in a number of ways, they were nevertheless tolerable to a great many
Americans. There had been no popular uprisings anywhere in the country
demanding a new constitution, and many prominent political leaders—
now Anti-Federalists—preferred a modest revision rather than abandonment of the Articles.
The Federalists thus found themselves in the awkward position of defending what appeared to be, at least on the surface, a radical and revolutionary change of government. Many though not all of the delegates to
the Federal Convention had been instructed by their States to seek a
modification of the Articles—not their wholesale elimination. These
delegates were therefore highly vu