SOURCE: Dry, Murray. “Anti-Federalism in The Federalist: A Founding Dialogue on the Constitution, Republican Government, and Federalism.” In Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding, edited by Charles R. Kesler, pp. 40-60. New York: The Free Press, 1987.

In the following essay, Dry analyzes The Federalist Papers as a response to particular Anti-Federalist arguments. Quoting from the Anti-Federalist tracts “Letters of Brutus” and “Letters of the Federal Farmer,” Dry highlights passages in The Federalist Papers that respond to them directly, focusing on issues of the definition of federalism, and limitations on Congressional powers of taxation and war.

The Federalist is usually studied standing alone, as the definitive account of the Constitution. After all, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, the two major authors, were both members of the Federal Convention, and Madison is generally regarded as the “Father of the Constitution.” Moreover, The Federalist's full explanation...