3rd November 2010, 11:45 AM
Yes. Some did oppose the constitution, though, because they didn't want a strong federal government, but the majority supported it, and all of the states voted for the constitution -- though sometimes narrowly.
Of course from the beginning in the South one big issue was slavery, they didn't want a strong federal government that might take away their right to own other people... but the Southern states ended up passing the Constitution anyway, so they did accept at least some federal oversight was needed.
On the other hand, some anti-federalists opposed the constitution because there was no guarantee of rights -- the Bill of Rights isn't in the Constitution, it was added later. There was enough of a protest about the lacking guarantee of rights that Madison and co. eventually had to promise that the first thing they'd do was pass one, because otherwise enough states wouldn't pass the Constitution. On this issue they were right, those rights were badly needed...
Still though, yes, the issue of how big the government should be has been one of the biggest issues in American political debate since the beginning, and obviously still is. Government has expanded a lot over the years, to cover more things, but we're still constantly arguing about how big it should get. It definitely gets annoying sometimes, there are things we need so badly (like universal health care) but probably never will have because of it. I mean, being skeptical is good, the government most certainly is not all good (spying on the American people, illegal wiretapping, invading other countries for bad reasons, etc.), but the idea that somehow we should be scared of and hate the government isn't something that makes any sense to me, particularly when you compare that to the atrocious record of American big business (the Republicans' chief constituents) when not properly regulated!
Of course from the beginning in the South one big issue was slavery, they didn't want a strong federal government that might take away their right to own other people... but the Southern states ended up passing the Constitution anyway, so they did accept at least some federal oversight was needed.
On the other hand, some anti-federalists opposed the constitution because there was no guarantee of rights -- the Bill of Rights isn't in the Constitution, it was added later. There was enough of a protest about the lacking guarantee of rights that Madison and co. eventually had to promise that the first thing they'd do was pass one, because otherwise enough states wouldn't pass the Constitution. On this issue they were right, those rights were badly needed...
Still though, yes, the issue of how big the government should be has been one of the biggest issues in American political debate since the beginning, and obviously still is. Government has expanded a lot over the years, to cover more things, but we're still constantly arguing about how big it should get. It definitely gets annoying sometimes, there are things we need so badly (like universal health care) but probably never will have because of it. I mean, being skeptical is good, the government most certainly is not all good (spying on the American people, illegal wiretapping, invading other countries for bad reasons, etc.), but the idea that somehow we should be scared of and hate the government isn't something that makes any sense to me, particularly when you compare that to the atrocious record of American big business (the Republicans' chief constituents) when not properly regulated!
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