The Founding Fathers were the men credited with drafting the United States Constitution and are often seen as a selfless group of men who shared a singular belief in how government should function. The truth about the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention and the different political factions is not as unified and fascinating as this storybook picture of history would have us believe. Their finished product created an enduring framework that defined the structure of our government and established freedom as the cornerstone of our new society. The magnificent achievement should not hide the messy sausage-making process that this massive government overhaul actually was. This short article will discuss why the Anti-Federalists' contribution to the creation of the Constitution cannot or should not be underestimated. In Herbert J. Storing's book, What the Anti-Federalists Were For, he methodically lays out the positions and contributions of the Anti-Federalists to the constitutional compromise and explains why he believes they too should be considered founding fathers. where they were seen as primarily opposing the creation of a new constitution and opposed this proposal on almost every point of the debate. The Anti-Federalists got their name because they were antagonists of the Federalists who supported the adoption of a new constitution and did not have a formal name. The Anti-Federalists also consisted of prominent men who fiercely supported the ideals of the Revolution and protected liberty, even though the Federalists often accused them of abandoning these principles. The debates at the Philadelphia Convention were rooted in principles deeply held by both groups. ...middle of paper ...only a small republic could produce the voluntary obedience of the people to submit to the authority of the new government and its laws. The Federalist believed that a republic, in the truest sense of the term, could not exist in a post-commercial world. Anti-Federalists saw the need for a union among the states to provide defense against foreign enemies, promote and protect commerce, and maintain order among the states. They believed in granting powers to a national government with caution and sacrifices. Their rivals in the constitutional debates falsely named the Anti-Federalists as fundamental principles who turned out to be more “federal” than the Federalists they opposed. A more accurate name for the Anti-Federalists, since they never offered one for themselves, may have been pro-Federalists in deference to their conservative beliefs..