Anti-federalists Sentence Examples

Later, the Livingstons, piqued at Wash= ington's neglect to give them the offices they thought their due, joined the Clintons, but the Federal patronage was used against the anti-Federalists or Republicans with such effect that in 1792 John Jay received more votes for governor than George Clinton, although the latter was counted in on a technicality.

For several years the Anti-Federalists or Republicans had contended that the administration at Washington had been exercising powers not warranted by the constitution, and when Congress had passed the alien and sedition laws the leaders of that party seized upon the event as a proper occasion for a spirited public protest which took shape principally in resolutions passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia.

Instead of accepting the Constitution upon the condition of amendments, - in which way they might very likely have secured large concessions, - the Anti-Federalists stood for unconditional rejection, and public opinion, which went against them, proved that for all its shortcomings the Constitution was regarded as preferable to the Articles of Confederation.

The name Federalists (see Anti-federalists) was first given to those who championed the adoption of the Constitution.