In 1777, the Continental Congress ratified the Articles of Confederation to formalize the new and independent union of American colonies under a single government; it went into effect in 1781. Although the Articles established a national legislature that, at least on paper, could raise armies, conduct foreign policy, and govern new territories, it had little power to do anything without the support of all the states, which furthermore reserved all powers of taxation and regulation of commerce. This governing structure proved perilous during the Revolutionary War, since Congress was entirely dependent on states to provide soldiers, equipment, and funds, and once the war was over, it quickly became evident that such decentralized power was not sufficient to build a national economic base or fend off the threat of foreign powers. The weaknesses of the Articles helped spur the Constitutional Convention, and even those who opposed the Constitution generally recognized that the Articles weren’t working.

This was the term that came to define opponents of the US Constitution, although they often resented the term on the grounds that they were the true “Federalists” with a better plan for balancing national and state power. Including famous figures, such as Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, along with others who wrote under aliases, such as “Federal Farmer,” the Anti-Federalists conducted their own publicity campaign parallel to Hamilton, Madison, and Jay’s Federalist Papers.