government, was that representatives would be conveniently distanced from their constituents, both in physical distance and in class difference. What the opponents of the Constitution generally saw, not only in the participants in the Constitutional Convention, but in politics in general, were men from a higher social class, “aristocratical men…effecting their favourite object (Kammen 266).”Even before pen met parchment, there seemed to exist a shroud of doubt and mistrust over the intentions of those who created the new Constitution. It should not be undervalued that existing prejudices against the wealthy class effected how the general population guardedly viewed those of political power. The anti-Federalists were suspicious of the secrecy surrounding the convention, as well as the fact that they held serious doubts regarding the individual or collective interests that were involved in forming the government. Throughout the anti-Federalist papers, there is a sense of class antagonism between the common man and the rich, aristocratic politicians who were called to represent and serve the country. As the first anti-Federalist paper states, “The hideous daemon of Aristocracy has hitherto had so much influence as to bar the channels of investigation (here he seems to be referring to the secrecy involved in the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention), preclude the people from inquiry and extinguish every spark of liberal information of its qualities.” The anti-Federalists wanted assurance of proper representation, and the options offered to them in the politicians of the time were seriously in question. What was not included in the Constitution, a bill of rights, possibly held more significance to the critics of the Constitution than what was actually included. The fact that such extensive powers were allocated to the central government created an even greater necessity for a bill of rights, and...
