However, many other factors played a role in the demise of the Parliament such as the fact that they were ill-organised, the lack of popular support and their inability to enforce decisions. Frederick William IV was partially responsible for the failure of the Frankfurt Parliament as he was unwilling to accept the ‘crown from the gutter’. William IV was aware that acceptance of the leadership may lead to war with Austria. Austria had no wish to see a united Germany and wanted to keep it weak and divided in order to dominate. Frederick William shared this view and was unwilling to potentially cause a war with such a powerful state.
Professor of history Gordon S. Wood views the struggle for a new constitution in 1787-1788 as a social conflict between upper-class Federalists who desired a stronger central government and the “humbler” Anti-Federalists who controlled the state assemblies. He says that the writers and supporters of the Constitution were Federalists and they believed that the Constitution was a fulfillment. Which basically means, that those Federalists didn’t see anything wrong with the Constitution. Antifederalists said the Constitution was a denial of the principles of 1776. They were saying that the Constitution was didn’t honor the liberty nor the self-government.
Jefferson knew that American farmers needed more land, and he had to go against his belief of a strict constitution. However during the same time the Federalists became strict constructionists of the constitution. They argued that this transfer of land was unconstitutional. The Federalists said that this new land was worthless and would only put the country even more in debt. Their main reason for that was that the creation of new states would decrease their power in congress.
They knew the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation; as a governing body, it lacked legislative power that was necessary to support a functional democracy. The important factor in the Constitutional Convention of the seventeenth century was powerless America. The United States was incapable of competing in the global economic because of lack of power to enforce laws and decrees in the states. They understood that a national government would definitely limit the power of total democracy. Without a strong central government, democracy was impossible thus America was propelling towards the gallows of failure.
They were far from perfect leaving many people unhappy with them. To resolve the issues brought about by the Articles the Constitution was produced to mend the flaws of its antecedent. Many people felt the changes brought to the government by the Constitution proved to be an extremely radical departure from the old government that had been established by the Articles and proved too weak for the new country.
Some of the most recognizable and debated statements are found in the Declaration. During this time period the colonies were faced with what they felt were serious injustices. and as British citizens, the fact that they did not have the same rights as those living in England itself was a tremendous insult. One of the biggest grievances was that they were not allowed representation in Parliament, or to establish any representative form of local government, When the King did allow government, he appointed men whose loyalty to the Crown seemed to be the only qualification needed, not the ability to govern. Because the British government was not fulfilling Jefferson’s previously mentioned definition of a government’s duties; they were forced to take the very necessary step of removing themselves from the King’s rule and ruling themselves.
Hamilton created his Federalist party to help promote his goals for the United States. Jefferson’s opposition party, the Republicans, “opposed Hamilton's urban, financial, industrial goals for the United States, and his promotion of extensive trade and friendly relations with Britain.” Their interpretation of the Constitution also was very different. Hamilton interpreted it very loosely and used the elastic clause to get what he wanted out of it, while Jefferson read and followed if very strictly. This is a reason Jefferson was against Hamilton’s plans. Thomas Jefferson didn’t like the idea of building a National Bank in the United States.
Such a weak executive could hardly balance the power of the legislature, however. John Locke, addressing this difficulty in his Second Treatise, added a third power to the balance to strengthen the executive. The "federative" power, as he called it, concerned foreign relations (the ability to federate or ally with other countries). While this federative power was theoretically distinguishable from the executive, in practice it was inseparable from the executive, because it, like the executive, presupposed the united power of society. Circumstances would frequently demand that these two powers be exercised for the common good, but in the absence of a standing law and sometimes even against the law.
The Federalist Papers written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were influential in spurring the American people on to the idea of a stronger central government. The major Anti-Federalists were Patrick Henry and Sam Adams, who vehemently opposed a new Constitution being ratified until the Bill of Rights was introduced. All in all the Anti-Federalist argument was weakly put together and failed to convince the public to stick with a revised version of the Articles of Confederation. All of these various factors contributed to the new Constitution because of the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation the strengths of the new Constitution and the Federalists versus Anti-Federalists debate. Though we no longer go by the Articles of Confederation in today’s government this essay shows the many ways it was a major building block in today’s
Then there were the anti-federalists, who had overlapping reasons for opposing the Constitution. Many famous patriots led them. An example is Patrick Henry, who opposed the Constitution because he believed it destroyed the supremacy of the individual states. The biggest supporter of the United States Constitution was the Federalist Party. The Federalists did not have a bill of rights.