Articles of Confederation

• After the Revolutionary War many feared the creation of another monarchy.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  The Articles of Confederation were a first attempt at creating a U.S. Constitution. The articles created strong state governments and a weak federal government. After the Revolutionary War, it was decided that the Articles of Confederation should be replaced with a new governing document that would shift more power to the national government. Supporters of this shift came to be known as Federalists while objectors were known as Antifederalists.
  
  

Executive Power

• Antifederalists objected to the amount of power that the executive branch was to have. This was based on a fear of the United States repeating what it saw as the problems with the British monarchy. The president's power to veto decisions of representatives of the states created the most dissent among Antifederalists. Coming to terms on issues of executive and state power was one of the most difficult challenges facing the founding fathers.
  
  

The Federalist Papers

• Fearing the same tyranny they had incurred at the hands of the British both Virginia and New York refused to ratify the new Constitution.To get these two important states on board, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay composed the Federalist Papers. This set of newspaper articles explained the new Constitution in detail. They also helped win over Virginia and New York by making clear the separation of government powers.
  
  

Bill of Rights

• Citizen's rights are only expressly stated in the Bill of Rights.Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Delegating power fairly was a central challenge to the new Constitution but not the final challenge. After the necessary majority of states ratified the new Constitution and appointed the first president there were still two holdouts. North Carolina and Rhode Island refused to ratify the Constitution until a bill of rights of the people was added.