The Anti-Federalists turned out to be right.Our federal government has grown exponentially past what the Founders envisioned and in so doing has limited our civil liberties and rights and abused the citizenry time and time again (Dahlen, 2009).But the Federalists were right, too. The unifying fact of a federal government that could coerce the states to work together is why we are still a nation today; and the protections built into the U.S. Constitution that limited that government power is why we still enjoy significant freedoms today despite an ever-growing canon of laws that put government into our lives in very significant and personal ways.

Think about the U.S. Bill of Rights. Why was that considered a good compromise? Do you think that compromised has worked the way the Anti-Federalists hoped that it would? Why or why not?