Anti-Federalists

“ Anti-Federalists, the political party in the United States which after the formation of the Federal constitution in 1787 opposed its ratification. Whilst the Federalists were striving to turn the federation into a united nation, and stood for a strong Government and centralizing tendencies, their opponents, the Anti-Federalists, either more democratic, or pretending that a strong Government meant a 'disguised' monarchic power, endeavoured to preserve a loose disintegrated federation. ”

“ There were
among them Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Jay; and there were the
interested and practical advocates of the same, made up of business men
and the wealthy and leisurely classes, who, without intending to be
selfish, were governed in political sympathy and action mainly by their
own interests.
The greatest early Anti-Federalists were Jefferson, Madison, and
Randolph, all of whom had been ardent for the Constitution. The party as
a whole, indeed, not only acquiesced in the re-creation of the general
Government, but was devotedly friendly to the new order. ”

“ It was to be expected that anti-Federalists would become strict constructionists, and so most of them did, though examples were not wanting of such men swinging to the opposite extreme of politics, and advocating an extension of the powers of the Federal government. ”

“ Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the former led by Hamilton, the latter by Jefferson. The strength of the Federalists lay in the cities—Boston, Providence, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston—among the manufacturing, financial, and commercial groups of the population who were eager to extend their business operations. The strength of the Anti-Federalists lay mainly among the debt-burdened farmers who feared the growth of what they called "a money power" and planters in all sections who feared the dominance of commercial and manufacturing interests. ”

“ A Massachusetts preacher roundly assailed "the atheistical, anarchical, and in other respects immoral principles of the French Republicans"; he then proceeded with equal passion to attack Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists, whom he charged with spreading false French propaganda and betraying America. "The editors, patrons, and abettors of these vehicles of slander," he exclaimed, "ought to be considered and treated as enemies to their country.... Of all traitors they are the most aggravatedly criminal; of all villains, they are the most infamous and detestable." ”

“ Federalists and anti-Federalists were alike convulsed by a movement which was the offspring of a genuine and irresistible enthusiasm of that strong, far-reaching kind that makes epochs in the history of politics. The people having cut loosei. ”

“ A good many, besides those who assumed that republicanism and the rights of man were in their special keeping, believed that an unfortunate class had been dealt with hastily, and even cruelly. The clamor, once begun, told heavily against the Federalists. They could be denounced now, not only as the enemies of liberty in France, but as refusing it to men of any nation or any race who should seek it in the United States,—it being, of course, understood that races of black or yellow complexion need not apply. ”

“ The rebels are everywhere using the late anti-Negro riots in the North—as they have long used your officers’ treatment of Negroes in the South—to convince the slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union success—that we mean in that case to sell them into bitter bondage to defray the cost of the war. Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous bondsmen, and the Union will never be restored—never. We cannot conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by northern sympathizers and European allies. ”

“ As a proper consequence of these different views, the Federals considered as a traitor every citizen who opposed the central government, however his individual State may have determined; while the Confederates, after the declaration of war on the part of the Union, looked on the Federalists indeed as enemies, but considered as traitors only those citizens who, in opposition to the vote of their States, yet adhered to the Union. ”

“ The fact is, it is vain to attempt, AS THE CONSTITUTION IS NOW, to keep the question of slavery out of the halls of Congress,—until, by some decisive action, WE COMPEL SILENCE, or alter the constitution, agitation and insult is our eternal fate in the confederacy. ”

“ The cleverest of the rebels refused to lend a hand in the work of Reconstruction, and sat sullenly at home nursing their wrath to keep it warm. They never moved a hand in the work of building up their own country, till they moved as the Ku-Klux-Klan, reached for the shot-gun, and murdered those who ruled the Southern States. The rebel legislatures were now made up of those very men whom the North had put down in the war. ”

“ The Federal Government is probably the only one in the world that forbids a portion of its subjects to participate in the national defence, not from any doubts of their courage, loyalty, or physical strength, but merely on account of the tincture of their skin! To such an absurd extent is this prejudice against color carried, that some of our militia companies have occasionally refused to march to the sound of a drum when beaten by a black man. ”

“ The recipe for an Anti-Federalist essay which indicates in a very concise way the class-bias that actuated the opponents of the Constitution, ran in this manner: "Wellborn, nine times - Aristocracy, eighteen times -Liberty of the Press, thirteen times repeated - Liberty of Conscience, once - Negro slavery, once mentioned - Trial by jury, seven times - Great Men, six times repeated - Mr .Wilson, forty times - put them altogether and dish them up at pleasure." ”

“ You will never consent that loyal Union soldiers and friends, for no crime but the color of their skin, shall be made subjects, if not slaves, to disloyal rebel soldiers and enemies, with no virtue but that of belonging to the "governing race," as the President's North Carolina appointee calls the white faces. ”

“ Your state may disfranchise you with or without law, may mob you; but my hands are so tied that I can't help you at all, although I shall force you to defend my sovereignty with your lives. If you are beset by Klu Klux, White Cappers, Bulldozers, Lynchers, do not turn your dying eyes on me for I am unable to help you.' Such is what the Federal Government has to say to the Negro. The Negro must therefore fight to keep afloat a flag that can afford him no more protection than could a helpless baby. ”

“ They said they would treat him like a wild beast, and not like a human being at all! No doubt but that was done to keep our soldiers from fighting for freedom and the Union; but the threat most signally failed, because our brave men cared not a straw for their black flag; indeed the threats, and even the practices of the rebels in destroying some of our prisoners whom they took in the beginning contributed a great deal in bringing about the downfall of the rebel powers, at least up to the present time; and will no doubt contribute more and more till the last rebel lays down his arms. ”

“ This can be done only by the extermination of its landed aristocracy, that their mothers shall not breed another race of traitors. This is not vengeance. It is justice, it is patriotism, it is the highest wisdom and humanity. Nature, at times, blots out whole communities and races that obstruct progress. Such is the political genius of these people that, unless you make the negro the ruler, the South will yet reconquer the North and undo the work of this war.”
“If the South in poverty and ruin can do this, we deserve to be ruled! ”

“ Do they say the Federalists are patriots and are firm in asserting the rights of their country? No; they call them cowards, a base set; say they are traitors to their country and ought to be hanged like traitors. ”

“ A desperate attack, a gallant defense, the shedding of the blood of gallant men, whose duty it was to defend that intrusted to their keeping, and who yielded only to numbers—the outrage on the United States flag—would create an excitement in the Union which the South, with all its determination and courage, is unwilling to provoke, but which the Government would be forced to use in its own service. ”

“ Whilst I assert for our Government the highest military prerogatives, I am willing to bear in patience that political nonsense of slave-rights, State-rights, freedom of conscience, freedom of press, and such other trash, as have deluded the Southern people into war, anarchy, bloodshed, and the foulest crimes that have disgraced any time or any people. ”

“ Thus, while it is perfectly proper for the slave States to steal, and plunder the nation of its property, to leave the Union at their pleasure, and to do every thing in their power to destroy the unity of the National Government, it is made out that to attempt to recover the property of the Federal Union is unjustifiable aggression upon the slave States. Thus we see eleven States in a confederate capacity openly making war upon the Federal Government, and compelling it either into a disgraceful surrender of its rights as guaranteed by the Constitution, or war for self-defense. ”

“ Talk to me no more of the same race, of the same blood. He is no brother of mine and of no race of mine who crowns the barbarism of treason with the murder of an unarmed husband in the sight of his wife. On the villains who led this rebellion let justice fall swift and relentless. Death to every traitor of the South! Pursue them one by one! Let every door be closed upon them and judgment follow swift and implacable as death! ”

“ We were not in despair, but the South yet retained all her strength, and was proud and defiant. They were also determined to fight on, and did fight on with a valor worthy of a better cause. But how could we expect more success than we had under the circumstances? So great was the prejudice against color that white men were even unwilling to fight side by side with our own people; and then Lincoln and his cabinet were all afraid of affronting the tender and delicate susceptibilities of the South by putting even their little finger on the heinous institution called "Domestic slavery." ”

“ Add to this that, when introducing the 'Federalist' to the public in what purports to be an historical preface, he is silent on the wonderful fruits of the Constitution therein advocated—and fails to indicate, as would any candid critic, the remarkable proofs which time and experience yield of the practical wisdom and patriotic foresight of the men whose honorable prestige he thus indirectly seeks to undermine. ”

“ This state of things has been preceded by acts of treachery on the part of leading men in the States, by seizure of arms, money, and public defences,--the property of the government. A new Confederacy is formed, contrary to oaths and compacts, for the purpose of destroying our Union, and giving perpetuity to slavery. It has attacked our forts, adulterated our coin, stolen our arms, proclaimed piracy against our commerce, set a price on the head of our Chief Magistrate, threatened our Capital, and raised armies to exterminate, if possible, our nationality. ”

“ The rebels had already deprived the United States of its jurisdiction and property in about one-fourth of its inhabited territory, and were rapidly extending their insurrection so as to include within the rebel lines all of the slave States. The lives and property of Union citizens in the insurgent States were at the mercy of traitors, and the National flag was everywhere torn down, and shameful indignities and outrages heaped upon all who honored it. ”

“ I am now confining my argument to negro suffrage in the rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is necessary in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. With them the blacks would act in a body, and it is believed that in each of these States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. ”

“ Everywhere their objects were the same: to recover for the white race their former control of society and government, and to destroy the baneful influence of the alien among the blacks. The people of the South were by law helpless to take steps towards setting up any kind of government in a land infested by a vicious element—Federal and Confederate deserters, bushwhackers, outlaws of every description, and negroes, some of whom proved insolent and violent in their newly found freedom. Nowhere was property or person safe, and for a time many feared a negro insurrection. ”

“ Didn’t the colonies secede from England, and does anybody call Washington a traitor now? I tell you it is success which decides the nature of the thing. If we succeed, future historians will speak of us as patriots, as a persecuted people, who gave our lives in defence of our homes and firesides.”
“You won’t succeed, my poor boy. The Confederacy is gasping its last breath. You will be conquered at the last, and then what have you gained?”
“Nothing,—nothing but ruin!” and the tears poured over the white face of this defender of Southern rights. ”

“ To affix a stigma upon a conquered foe, to brand with infamy a class of their own countrymen—the descendants of the compatriots of Franklin, Hancock, and Adams—and to consign to perpetual obloquy a cause which enlisted the sympathies of five millions of people, are the aims of a malignant and remorseless faction. These are the motives which have instigated the effort to frame an indictment against the Christianity, the morality, and the humanity of the South, and to visit every form of degradation, to practice every refinement of cruelty upon its most distinguished representative. ”