[BillM]

Yes, but the cost to the federalists of getting the states to ratify the Constitution was the integration of the ‘Bill of Rights’. It was achieved using the amending formula.

[Huck]

That's true. But it's idiotic to lump them all together and give them blanket credit. There were three basic groups,same as today. You had the big government federalists, the small government antifeds, and the mushy middle.

It was the mushy middle that agreed to sign on to the massive expansion of national power in exchange for a bill of rights. Any antifederalist worth his salt opposed the Constitution tooth and nail.