Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists Quote Throwdown

"I had rather be a free citizen of the small republic of Massachusetts, than an oppressed subject of the great American empire."

“When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born; the other, the mass of people…. The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore the first class

“The powers contained in the constitution….ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good.”

“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.”

“It must be by this time evident to all men…that (the Articles of Confederation) is a system so radically vicious and unsound as to admit….an entire change.”

“Our country is too large to have all affairs directed by a single government.”

“I am not among those who fear the people. They, not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.”

“An elective [monarchy] was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground – that all powers not delegate (given) to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, or to the people….”

“The small landowners are the most precious part of the state.”

“… the power vested in congress of sending troops for suppressing insurrections will always enable them to stifle the first struggles of freedom."