Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the President of the United States cannot be elected at all." (Rossiter, 287) This is a position which suggests not only that the Federalists felt that significant power had already been entrusted to leaders at the state level, but also that this power is seen primarily as a function of the power of the federal government. Thus, we are given further confirmation that the Constitution was inherently a federal document. In key segments of the debate such as that shown in the Anti-Federalist Paper No. 17, we can see that those who stood in opposition to the empowerment of federal authority derived from the Constitution were a counterpoint to a debate that truly...

In the perception of Hamilton, Madison and other key Federalists, the debate waged here centered not on the form of government being developed, which was clearly of a Federalist disposition, but more it centered on the extent to which compromise would be made to meet the criticisms of the Anti-Federalists.
Works Cited:

Mansfield, Harvey C. Jr., (1979). Selected Writings Jefferson. Harlan Davidson Press.

Rossiter, Clinton. (1961). The Federalist Papers. Signet Classics.

Storing, Herbert J. (1985). The Anti-Federalist. The University of Chicago Press.

The Nation (TN). (2008). The…