Anti-Federalist Sympathies: Britain Over France

Early U.S. Foreign-Policy Leanings

During the ratification debates (1787–88), the Anti-Federalists—who opposed the new Constitution—generally favored Britain (Option C) over revolutionary France. They admired Britain's mixed constitution (monarchy, aristocracy, commons) as a better guardian of liberty than what they saw as the chaotic radicalism of the French Revolution. This contrasted with the Federalists' pro-British commercial stance and the Jeffersonian Republicans' Francophile tilt.