anti-Federalist

An opponent of the ratification of the US Constitution, submitted to the state governments in 1787. Although the Constitution was ratified by the necessary number of nine states in 1788, coming into force in 1789, Rhode Island was the last to ratify in 1790. There was no single anti-Federalist position. Most anti-Federalists' letters and essays were written under pseudonyms, such as ‘Centinel’, ‘Agrippa’, ‘Brutus’, ‘Federal Farmer’, ‘An Old Whig’, and ‘Cincinnatus’. Although individual anti-Federalists attacked various aspects of the Constitution, most arguments coalesced around the absence of guarantees of personal liberty.