What the Anti-Federalists Were For

The introductory volume to Storing’s seven-volume The Complete Anti-Federalist. Its argument is in the title: the Constitution’s opponents are usually described by what they were against, and Storing reconstructs the position they were for — that republican government requires a small territory, a relatively homogeneous citizenry and active civic virtue, and that a large commercial republic with a strong executive would hollow all three out. He treats their defeat as producing not a settled question but a permanent second voice in American argument, and credits them with forcing the Bill of Rights.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the curriculum’s American Experiment section, where the list pairs founding documents with their critics — The Federalist Papers appear a few entries above, and Storing’s companion volume with Bessette directly below.

Where I saw it: Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on The American Experiment. The full 211-entry transcription is on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Founding Fathers — the generation on both sides of the argument.
• Democracy — the scale question the Anti-Federalists raised.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.