Brutus was the pseudonym used by an anonymous Anti-Federalist writer during the debates over ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The authorship is often attributed to Robert Yates, a New York judge and delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
Brutus’s essays warned that the proposed Constitution would create a strong central government that could overpower state authority. He expressed concern about the lack of a Bill of Rights and feared the judiciary would become too powerful, undermining individual freedoms. Brutus believed that a large republic would lead to the erosion of liberty and democratic principles.
Argues that the Constitution dangerously omits a bill of rights, enabling federal overreach into life, liberty, and property without adequate protections.
Criticizes the proposed House and Senate for lacking fair representation, disproportionately empowering elites and slaveholding states while excluding common citizens from meaningful influence.
Warns that the proposed government’s small and elite legislature cannot fairly represent the people, and that Congress’s control over elections endangers voting rights and enables gradual consolidation of power.
Argues that the Constitution must explicitly restrict the government’s power to maintain standing armies in peacetime, as historical precedent shows such forces are tools of oppression, not security.
Argues that Congress’s vast power to tax and pass all necessary laws will lead to total consolidation, destroy state governments, and subject the people to unchecked federal control and endless revenue extraction.
Warns that Congress’s unchecked power to tax and legislate will gradually dissolve state governments, overwhelm private life with intrusive revenue systems, and destroy the balance needed for a federal union.
Argues that without limiting Congress’s taxing power, the federal government will overshadow the states, strip them of necessary revenue, and destroy the balance essential to a functional confederacy.
Warns that unlimited federal powers to tax, borrow, and raise armies—especially in peacetime—invite crushing debt, standing militarism, and the destruction of liberty through centralized coercion.
Warns that history proves standing armies often destroy republics from within, and argues that the Constitution should restrict such forces in peacetime to avoid tyranny masked as preparedness.
Warns that the federal judiciary, empowered to interpret the Constitution broadly and insulated from checks, will steadily expand its authority and erode state sovereignty through precedent and self-interest.
Warns that the federal judiciary will expand legislative and judicial power through broad interpretations of the Constitution, reducing state authority to insignificance by aligning national objectives with judicial precedent and fictional jurisdiction.
Warns that allowing individuals to sue states under the federal judiciary violates state sovereignty, invites financial ruin through enforced debt judgments, and grants Congress unchecked power to execute rulings that could cripple state governments.
Warns that the Supreme Court’s appellate power endangers jury trials, imposes excessive costs on average citizens, and grants judges unchecked authority over both law and fact.
Warns that the Supreme Court, independent and unchecked, will interpret the Constitution beyond the reach of the people or legislature, gradually expanding federal power and eroding state authority without accountability.
Warns that the Senate’s six-year terms, lack of rotation, and blend of legislative, executive, and judicial powers undermine accountability and republican principles, risking consolidation of elite authority beyond public control.
