The challenge between Federalists and Anti-Federalists has become a hotly debated issue since early time period of the United States history. The United States was free to British control after the American Revolution. The first attempt at a formal government was a document called the Articles of Confederation. Many agreed that there was no enough power given to the central government, however, on the other hand too much power was given to the state government instead. The convention of the United States was originally called to help strengthen the Articles of Confederation as a result of the Articles of Confederation was called in Philadelphia in 1787, but it was decided the whole new constitution needed to be written. As a consequence, the Constitution of the United States of America was born and came out with two opposing point of views, the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.
The Anti-Federalists were a group of diverse individuals that formed to oppose the passage of the new federal Constitution in 1787. They believed in more rights for the individual than for the state, asserting that the biggest threat to freedom was a powerful federal government. In contrast, the Federalists believed in a strong central government and its proactive involvement in commerce. They were basically elitists who opposed measures to democratize American politics. .
According to the Anti-Federalists position document which was published by Melancton Smith on June 21, 1758, "representatives should be a true picture of the people ". Melancton pointed that the government should understand the real problems between the people, therefore, the members of representatives should include people from every social status level. However, Alexander Hamilton, who was sided the Federalists, considered that it was not true. He claimed that a person who can understand fifty people can understand twenty people as well, which meant that the interests of the people was unnecessary to be understood by a large representation.