American Government Research Project

Your goal for this research project is to understand the ideological framework and political positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the early days of American government and to make an argument for whether either would support the modern American government after centuries of constitutional changes and amendments. Your paper will focus on each branch of government and the changes each has gone through since the writing of the Constitution.

Starter Resources:

• Source 1: Federalists Introduction
  • https://www.mtsu.edu/first–amendment/article/1184/federalists
• Source 2: Anti-Federalists Introduction
  • https://www.mtsu.edu/first–amendment/article/1175/anti–federalists
• Source 3: Overview of Position on Property, Class, and Government o https://csac.history.wisc.edu/document–collections/constitutional–debates/property–class/

Paper Requirements:

Your 2–3-page research project should address the following key topics:

1. Introduction—Provide an overview of both the Federalists’ and Anti-Federalists’ positions on the government. Reference key thinkers and political writings of each position. Briefly state, for each branch of government, whether the Federalists and Anti-Federalists of early America would support its current power and capabilities. Later in your paper, you’ll go into more detail about why they would or wouldn’t.

2. The Executive Branch—How have the powers of the Executive Branch changed since the writing of the Constitution? What was the stance of both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists at that time? Create an argument for the position of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarding the modern-day Executive Branch. Your argument should reference specific amendments, legal cases, or precedents to support it.

3. The Legislative and Judicial Branches—How have the powers of the Legislative and Judicial Branches changed since the writing of the Constitution? What was the stance of both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists at that time? Create an argument for the position of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists regarding the modern-day Legislative and Judicial Branches. Your argument should reference specific amendments, legal cases, or precedents to support it.

Citing Your Sources:

Whenever you use information from research, whether on the internet, or in books or documentaries, you must cite (record) your sources. There are different formats that researchers use to document important things like where the information came from, who wrote the original information, and the date of the information.

This website: https://jefferson.kctcs.libguides.com/c.php?g=204715&p=1351168 contains information about how to make a reference page at the end of your paper that accurately records your sources. Most of your sources should be webpages, following this format for each source: Example 1:

Author, A. A. (2000).  Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Example 2:

Wendland, K. (1999). Navigating the Internet. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from         http://www.uwm.edu/~wendland/internet.htm

NOTE: Sometimes you can’t find the author or the date that the page was created or last updated. At least provide a title, the date retrieved, and the URL. Alphabetize by the first word in your reference.

You should include a reference page by itself at the end of your paper listing each resource. To achieve maximum credit, you should use 3–4 difference sources, including the three provided above.

Formatting: 

Your paper should use 1-inch margins, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman, and be double spaced.

Research Project Rubric