While Federalists believe in a strong central government, Anti-Federalists believe in the shared power of the state and national governments to maintain the rights of all Americans. The Anti-Federalist favored a Confederate government in where state and national governments could share power, protect the freedom and independence of citizens. The Anti-Federalists found many problems with the Constitution. Many were concerned that the central government was taking care of all individual rights. The Anti-Federalists consisted primarily of farmers and merchants and were less likely to be part of the wealthy elite than members of their Federalist rival. Many Anti-Federalists were local politicians who feared losing power if the Constitution was ratified and argued that senators who had served too long and represented excessively large territories would cause senators to forget what their responsibilities were for that state . They argued that the Constitution would give the country an entirely new and unknown form of government and saw no reason to oust the current government. Instead, they believed that the Federalists had overestimated the country's current problems and wanted a better characterization of the power afforded to the states. They also argued that the framers of the Constitution had gathered as a discriminatory group under a gag order and had violated the provisions of the Articles of Confederation in hopes of ratification of the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists were sure that the Constitution would take away the rights of American citizens and fought strenuously to prevent its ratification..