Directions: Read the given text carefully and fill in the blank with the most appropriate option that would complete the text:

Keane argues that the political conditions during the early years of the United States were, if anything, inimical to the formation of a nation united by one document: the Constitution. Rather, had it not been for a few men - Keane invokes the triumvirate of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison - to champion the Constitution, despite the ________________ of anti-Federalists, the central government would have had to cede matters of rule to the individual states.