ts were segregated
into two great political parties, whose character and views are
sufficiently described by their names. Those who supported the new
Constitution were henceforth known as Federalists; those who were
opposed to strengthening the bond between the states were called
Antifederalists. It was fit that their name should have this merely
negative significance, for their policy at this time was purely a policy
of negation and obstruction. Care must be taken not to confound them
with the Democratic-Republicans, or _strict constructionists_, who
appear in opposition to the Federalists soon after the adoption of the
Constitution. The earlier short-lived party furnished a great part of
its material to the later one, but the attitude of the strict
constructionists under the Constitution was very different from that of
the Antifederalists. Madison, the second Republican president, was now
the most energetic of Federalists; and Jefferson, soon to become the
founder of the Democratic-Republican party, wrote from Paris, saying,
"The Constitution is a good canvas, on which some strokes only want
retouching." He found the same fault with it that was found by many of
the ablest and most patriotic men in the country,--that it failed to
include a bill of rights; but at the same time he declared that while he
was not of the party of Federalists, he was much further from that of
the Antifederalists. The Federal Convention he characterized as "an
assembly of demi-gods."

[Sidenote: The contest in Pennsylvania.]

The first contest over the new Constitution came in Pennsylvania. The
Federalists in that state were numerous, but their opponents had one
point in their favour which they did not fail to make the most of. The
constitution of Pennsylvania was peculiar. Its legislature consisted of
a single house, and its president was chosen by that house. Therefore,
said the Antifederalists, if we approve of a federal constitution which
provides for a legislature of two houses and chooses a president by the
device of an electoral college, we virtually condemn the state
constitution under which we live. This cry was raised with no little
effect. But some of the strongest immediate causes of opposition to the
new Constitution were wanting in Pennsylvania. The friends of paper
money were few there, and the objections to the control of the central
government over commerce were weaker than in many of the other states.
The Antifederalists w