Excerpt:
The protection of individual liberties is a fundamental debate that has raged throughout the history of the United States from its conception to the present day. Even before the U.S. Constitution was established, debates between Federalists and Anti-Federalists embodied the concern over the protection of the individual from the deprivation of their rights by the state. As Hamiltonian Federalists supported a strong central government, Anti-Federalists insisted on the addition of the Bill of Rights before joining the final ratification of the new U.S. Constitution. Even at that moment, they still feared an arm of the new government reaching too far into the private rights of the individual.
