Why did the Anti-Federalists push for the addition of a Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution?
Responses
A there was a precedent set for doing so in Great Britain's Constitutionthere was a precedent set for doing so in Great Britain's Constitution
B they believed the government needed protection from possible uprisingsthey believed the government needed protection from possible uprisings
C they believed the people's liberties needed protection from the governmentthey believed the people's liberties needed protection from the government
D there was already a requirement to do so, but the Federalists were ignoring it
C they believed the people's liberties needed protection from the government
C they believed the people's liberties needed protection from the government
The correct answer is C: they believed the people's liberties needed protection from the government.
To understand why the Anti-Federalists pushed for the addition of a Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, we need to understand the context of the Constitutional Convention. The Anti-Federalists were a group of individuals who opposed the ratification of the Constitution because they feared it would create a strong central government that could potentially infringe upon individual liberties.
During the Constitutional Convention, the Federalists, who supported the Constitution, argued that a Bill of Rights was unnecessary because they believed that the Constitution itself provided sufficient protections for individual liberties. However, the Anti-Federalists were not convinced and wanted explicit guarantees to protect individual rights.
Ultimately, in order to secure the necessary support for ratification, the Federalists agreed to compromise with the Anti-Federalists and promised that a Bill of Rights would be added to the Constitution after ratification. This agreement helped alleviate the concerns of the Anti-Federalists and ensured the protection of individual liberties.
In summary, the Anti-Federalists pushed for the addition of a Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution because they believed that explicit protections were necessary to safeguard individual liberties from potential government infringement.