In the intense political debate that happened, advocates of the Constitution assumed the name Federalists. Opponents, who favored a more decentralized federal system, became anti-Federalists. The two groups strongly disagreed more over means than ends, however. Both sides, for the most part, acknowledged that a stronger national authority was needed and that such an authority required an independent source of revenue to function properly.
Both sides were convinced that the people must erect safeguards against tyranny, even the tyranny of the majority. Once the new government had become an accomplished fact, few wanted to undo the work of the Philadelphia convention. The losers in the debate—the anti-Federalists—graciously accepted defeat; they did not resort to violence. For their part, the winners in the debate over the new constitution acknowledged that the document could be improved by the addition of amendments that came to be called the “Bill of Rights.”