Poglądy antyfederalistów na kształt Unii w czasie Konwencji Filadelfijskiej i procesu ratyfikacji Konstytucji Stanów Zjednoczonych
Anti-Federalist views on the shape of the Union during the Philadelphia Convention and the ratification process of the U.S. Constitution

Summary/Abstract: RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The article aims to present the main antifederalistic arguments against the U.S. Constitution.THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: Anti-Federalism was the late 18th-century political movement that opposed the formation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The following questions are posed in this article: Why the Anti-Federalists was opposed to U.S. Constitution? Why the new government was too strong? Why a stronger government threatened the sovereignty and liberty of the states, localities, or individuals?THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The critical analysis of the texts of the U.S. Constitution, Federalists and Anti-Federalists’ papers and the most important arguments in the great constitutional debate has been made.RESEARCH RESULTS: The Anti-Federalists criticism of the U.S. Constitution resulted from the fears of a consolidated federal government. Its main arguments became, after the ratification, a tool for defending states’ rights as well as the principles of federalism defined during the debates in Philadelphia and at the state conventions.CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The study makes it possible to formulate the conclusion, that the Federalists created U.S.Constitution, but the Anti-Federalists coopted it from the very beginning. That tension between Federalists and Anti-federalists has continued throughout United States’ history to the present day.

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