Discuss the differences between the types of national government favored by Federalists and Antifederalists.

Emerging out of the Constitutional Convention, the
emergence of two visions of national government threatened to divide the delegates.  For
their part, the Federalists favored a type of government that was able to hold national
power and enforcement strength.  The Federalists were concerned with a weakened central
government.  They saw Shays' Rebellion and the Articles of Confederation.  They
understood that the need for a national government that had enforcement power and the
ability to control the affairs of the nation was of vital interest if the new nation was
to succeed.  The Federalists were convinced that the nation can only find peace, law,
and order with a strong national government.

The vision of
national government that Antifederalists held was a minimal one.  Coming off of the
nightmare of King George that sparked the revolution in the first place, the
Antifederalists were determined to not exchange one oppressive form of government with
another one.  For their part, they wanted national government to be able to be checked
by the state government.  It was important for them to advocate a form of nationalized
government that would be limited by the states and by individuals, allowing individual
freedom to be the most important element in national government.