The Anti-Federalist: Writings by the Opponents of the Constitution

Herbert J. Storing’s Complete Anti-Federalist , hailed as “a civic event of enduring importance” (Leonard W. Levy, New York Times Book Review ), indisputably established the importance of the Anti-Federalists’ writings for our understanding of the Constitution. As Storing wrote in his introduction, “If the foundation of the American polity was laid by the Federalists, the Anti-Federalist reservations echo through American history, and it is in the dialogue, not merely in the Federalist victory, that the country’s principles are to be discovered.” This one-volume edition presents the essence of the other side of that crucial dialogue. It can be read as a genuine counterpart to the Federalist Papers , as an original source companion to Storing’s brilliant essay What the Anti-Federalists Were For (volume I of The Complete Anti-Federalist , available as a separate paperback), or as a guide to exploring the full range of Anti-Federalist writing. The Anti-Federalist makes a fundamental source of our political heritage accessible to everyone.