How has the fear of a strong central government influenced the creation of our government, and how does that fear shape contemporary politics?

In the creation of our government, Anti-Federalists (Democratic-Republicans) feared a strong central government. Before the U.S. Constitution was written, the U.S. had the Articles of Confederation which gave too much power to the states. This led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution, which formed our government. Federalists supported this document because they believed it was an effective alternative to the Articles. However, Anti-Federalists were opposed to it because they believed that giving the federal government too much power would be dangerous. So, our Founding Fathers came to a compromise. They added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.