Many will read and reference The Federalist Papers which were an organized series of essays written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison in support of ratification by the citizens of New York for the proposed U.S. Constitution.  However, too often people are unaware of the less organized but just as important Anti-Federalist Papers written by many framers and founders who were against the ratification of the proposed form of government.

Rather than attempting to place these essays here we are linking you to Constitution.org.  Their presentation of these documents is clean and easy to follow.  It is important for any student of our heritage to include these in order to understand all sides of the debate for and against the U.S. Constitution.  From Constituion.org;

During the period from the drafting and proposal of the federal Constitution in September, 1787, to its ratification in 1789 there was an intense debate on ratification. The principal arguments in favor of it were stated in the series written by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay called the Federalist Papers, although they were not as widely read as numerous independent local speeches and articles. The arguments against ratification appeared in various forms, by various authors, most of whom used a pseudonym. Collectively, these writings have become known as the Anti-Federalist Papers. We here present some of the best and most widely read of these. They contain warnings of dangers from tyranny that weaknesses in the proposed Constitution did not adequately provide against, and while some of those weaknesses were corrected by adoption of the Bill of Rights, others remained, and some of these dangers are nowcoming to pass.

The Anit-Federalist Papers

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