As a response to Clinton’s vicious attacks on the Constitution, New Yorker and future secretary of the treasury Alexander Hamilton initiated The Federalist. In no state was the debate more heated than in New York where ratification was far from guaranteed, and no Anti-Federalist voice was more vocal than New York governor George Clinton. Those in favor of ratifying the document that would consolidate American government were deemed “Federalists.” However, “Anti-Federalist” sentiments emerged by late September, advocating that the nation remain a confederation of states, fearing the loss of states’ rights to a centralized federal government. In September 1787, the product of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia-the yet-to-be ratified Constitution of the United States-sparked controversy throughout the American public. Six years after the Articles of Confederation were adopted as the American bylaws in 1781, representatives met in Philadelphia to decide whether to keep and amend the Articles or to create a newer, stronger document that would establish a newer, stronger American government.
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