The interest which lay behind Federalism was that of well-to-do citizens in a stable political and social order, and this interest aroused them to favor and to seek some form of political organization which was capable of protecting their property and promoting its interest.

They were the friends of liberty because they were in a position to benefit largely by the possession of liberty; and they wanted a strong central government because only by such means could their liberties, which consisted fundamentally in the ability to enjoy and increase their property, be guaranteed.

Their interests were threatened by the disorganized state governments in two different but connected respects.

These governments did not seem able to secure either internal order or external peace.

In their domestic policy the states threatened to become the prey of a factious radical democracy, and their relations one to another were by way of being constantly embroiled.
Unless something could be done, it looked as if they would drift in a condition either of internecine warfare without profit or, at best, of peace without security.