The Federalist Papers
in senses are the federalists properly described as "aristocrats" and the antifederlists as "democrats"?
consider both the social standing of the two groups and their ideas about politics
consider both the social standing of the two groups and their ideas about politics
The Federalists, both the most famous three who authored the Federalist papers and those in the political party that followed the Constitution, argued that the integrity of a central government required it to have strong power. Alexander Hamilton is the best example of an aristocrat Federalist, since his strength was in banking and money management, his work was most focused in what were the Northern Colonies, and mostly because he believed that complete democracy allowed too much control to an uneducated mob that could prove damaging to the new republic. His support of ideas like the Bank of the United States, which gave the government fiscal powers not explicitly detailed in the Constitution, is an example of his federalism. The anti-federalists, most famous for having encouraged the inclusion of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, were concerned that such concentrated power in a central government betrayed the ideals of the Revolution by now honoring sufficiently enough the individual liberties of the citizens. The idea of "mobocracy" would be less attractive to them - democracy was the ideal of the Revolution and they fought to make sure that individual (and by extension, states') rights were honored as a check to the strong central government proposed by the Federalist. Jefferson, as the best known anti-federalist, is distinct from Hamilton in being an agricultural figure associated with the Southern Colonies, and for his strong published beliefs that the people must be represented or else the government will be too strong.