Research Paper Assignment
Professor Bryce Woerner
HIUS 390
Brittany Wimmer
October 6, 2025
One of the three states that was left to ratify the Constitution was Virginia. The Federalist party
and Anti-Federalist had several differences, and both wanted their way. The federalist party
supported the Constitution being ratified, and the Anti-Federalist party saw things that were
wrong with it and wanted some changes to be made before it was ratified. This fight between
parties with one wanting a strong government and the other wanting a weak one would
continue way after the Constitution was ratified and on into the twentieth century.
The Federalist and the Anti- Federalist was at the Virginia’s Ratifying Convention that was
located in Richmond, Virginia and took place in 1788. The Federalist wanted to ratify the
document because they supported the new Constitution, they believed that having a strong
Federal government would be for the best and that the Constitution would help this happen.
While the Anti-Federalist thought everything was moving too fast and wanted to slow things
down so they could talk about amendments and some changes to the document.
The argument between the two parties of Virginia was not the only ones having issues. There
were parties all over the country that were having the same issues trying to make a decision. The
Anti – Federalists just wanted a limit on the federal government's power and for most of the
power to be given to individual states. The Constitution would be ratified but this was a way to
have a compromise by letting the Anti-Federalist have a recommendation letter and this was a
way to help them feel like they were at least being heard and taken into consideration.
The list of recommendations that the Anti-Federalist wanted is known as The Bill of Rights. We
have twenty amendments in the Bill of Rights, and they are all very important to us today. The
first ten amendments still play a big part in our lives today, because this is what gave us freedom
of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, and freedom of assembly. Another thing, it
gave us the right to keep and bear arms. None of these things were included on the list in the
Constitution, and thankfully the Anti-Federalist pushed for us to have these, or our life now
could be much different than it is. Some of the most important people of the Anti- Federalist
party at the Convention were James Monroe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason, and of the
Federalist party was John Marshall, Edmun Randolph, George Wythe, and James Madison. The
Anti- Federalist may have lost this fight, and the Constitution was ratified, but the first five
United States Senators picked by the Virginia Assembly was former Anti-Federalist.
The Ratification Convention lasted for twenty-two days, and Patrick Henry spoke on seventeen
of those days. He would speak up to eight times a day and then Federalist like James Madison
would speak against what Patrick Henry was saying. These speeches were so important because
most people split evenly what decision they should be making and when they heard these
speeches it helped them decide what decision to make. For the Constitution to become ratified
one of the three states had to approve it. This was one of the most important turning points for
the United States of America because if all three of the states had refused to ratify the
Constitution, then it would have changed American history dramatically.
We had the same issues into the Antebellum Era because the Federalists and Anti-Federalists still
fought over how much power the federal government and state government should have. The
fight this time was over slavery. The Federal government did not want slavery anywhere in the
nation, so they were trying to ban it everywhere. The issue was that a lot of the states in the
south needed slavery for their economy to survive. Keeping crops going the way they did in the
south required a lot of people to tend to them and they depended on slavery to do this. If they
outlawed slavery, then all the farmers would have to pay people for these jobs and that would
mean a lot of the places would go out of business. This was the mark that caused the start of the
Civil War because of the struggle between what the two governments wanted, and this led to a lot
of states deciding to secede.
Most of the economies depended on agriculture during the Antebellum Era, and Virginia was a
part of the south. The reason farmers relied so heavily on slave labor to keep their crops worked
and harvested is because they did not have harvesters and tractors then like we do now, so that
meant states like Virginia’s economy depended on slaves and the free labor. The biggest crop
grown at this time was Tabacco.
Another issue between the two governments was in the twentieth century when schools began to
integrate due to Brown versus Board of Education. Prince Edward county in Virginia was of the
counties that did not want to do this and instead of integrating they just closed the school. They
were told if they did not integrate, they would have to close, so that is what they decided to do.
It made for a sad situation for some. The black and white students from poor homes was forced
to stay home and try to be taught by their parents while waiting for a public school to reopen,
white children that came from rich families was able to go to a private school near them. So
many children were stuck at home and not getting the education they needed because the federal
government and state government could not come to an agreement.
Even though the first time there was a true disagreement and issues between the Federalists and
Anti-Federalist was during the Ratifying Convention it was a long way from the end of it,
actually it is still present now because there are people that hate the federal government and what
they stand for. It is still in our society today just under different titles.
The rights and wrongs and which side is correct should not matter because even since the
Constitution was ratified, we have learned that when two sides cannot come to a decision it
makes for a bad situation, and it hurts more than it helps. The Civil War is proof of that because
it was the worst time that the United States of America has ever had, and the Civil Rights
movement should have come a lot sooner because way too many people lost. I am sure there
will be a time that the federal government and the people that do not agree comes to blow again,
I just hope people with not be one sided and listen to each other, do research, and rely on
previous documents and research we already have from previous issues.
References
“Richmond, State of Virginia. In convention, Wednesday, the 25th of June, 1788: The convention . . .”
Richmond: Printed by Augustine Davis [1788], Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention
Broadsides Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
Wythepedia (2018) The History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788, The History of the
Federal Convention of 1788- Wythepedia: The George Wythe Encyclopedia.
National Parks Service(no date) Agriculture and Industry, Virginia Main Street Communities
National Parks Service(no date) Agriculture and Industry, Virginia Main Street Communities: A
national registry of historic places travel itinerary, National Parks Service, U. S. Department of
the Interior. Available at: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/vamainstreet/agriculture.htm (Accessed
December 10, 2022)
