Federalist Party
"Seldom in the nation's history has there been a period so extraordinary in accomplishment as the first decade under the Constitution...."
This paper is going to be a step by step evaluation of arguably the most important decade in American History. The time period covered in this paper is 1789-1801. These are the years in which the Federalists had the most influence in the new government. They accomplished an amazing amount in these 12 years.
The Federalist Party was one of the first political organizations in the United States. The members of this party supported a strong central government, a large peacetime army and navy, and a stable financial system.
Although the first president, George Washington, was not a Federalist, his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was the developer and leader of the Federalist party. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution so that the central government could become more powerful. Also Hamilton, along with the other party members, believed that commerce and manufacturing were more important than agriculture.
Financial Dilemma During the first two years of the new federal government the biggest problem was that of raising money. At first the Congress adopted a small tariff on imports. This was a start but not nearly enough. The government needed this money to maintain its own existence and to be able to pay of the debt. The existence of the government was a necessity, but there was a lot of discussion as to whether the debt should be payed off.
The mare magnitude of the debt seemed to compel some measure of avoidance. In 1789, the national debt totaled more than $50 million, $11,700,000 of which was owed to France and Spain and the private bankers of Netherlands, while $40 million was in the form of securities held by citizens of the United States. The interests owed to the bankers were being payed off by loans from the bankers themselves. The government didn't even have enough money to pay the Barbary corsairs for release of captive sailors!
When Congress couldn't come up with a solution that was satisfactory, they turned to Alexander Hamilton with the dilemma. He soon proceeded to draw up a full report entitled "Report on Public Credit." In this paper Hamilton proceeded to show that the only way for a new government to establish credit was to deal honestly with its creditors -for in many cases they would be the people to whom the government must look to for future loans.
America back in 1790, I would want to be part of the Federalist Party. The Federalist Party was created by Alexander Hamilton, and his party wants a strong central government in America with power given to the wealthy and political leaders. The only other party back then was the justly named Anti-Federalist party. The Anti-Federalist party was started by Thomas Jefferson and this party had completely opposite views to the Federalists. Anti-Federalists focused on power among the individual states, as
differences in their viewpoints. Political parties came into existence. Composed of two parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, they took turns to govern the country with their own ideas and principles. They shared different ideas on many aspects and opposed every move the opponent made. As the Constitution of 1787 was introduced, two political parties were present in Congress. One of them was the Federalists and the other was the Republicans. The Federalists were led by George Washington and John
The New Federalist Party Part I As the sole member of the New Federalist party, it is with great honors that I now present to you the very first New Federalist platform. PREAMBLE The growing dissension between the two major political parties today has drawn them away from the public's views. It has been determined that the citizens of the United States cannot get what they want from the current major parties. Because of this, a total reconstruction of the current political structure is in dire
The Federalist Party is the best choice over the Democratic – Republican Party. However; there are many flaws in the Federalist Party being the elite aristocrats, but every citizen desires for a strong united nation. Among our primary aims, national cohesiveness and unity lies at the core of the Federalist Party values. The above aims can only be achieved if a fiscal sound and nationalistic government is developed. Through it, the rule of law by the constitution is achieved. On the other hand, a
Though the two-party system of American politics has been in place since the late 18th century, exactly which two parties are contending for control of the government has occasionally shifted. One of the powerful political entities that formed at the beginning of this period, the Federalist Party, built up a large, well-known presence in the early republic, advocating for centralized government and banking, and a positive relationship with the British as the way forward for the burgeoning United
A political party is a group of people who seek to win elections and hold public office in order to shape government policy and programs. George Washington warned the nation against creating political parties in his famous “Farewell Address”. He feared political parties would divide the country and weaken support of the Constitution (Doc 4). The first major political parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, were created during the term of President George Washington. Despite President Washington’s
There are many differences between the Democratic-Republic party and the Federalist Party. Especially in the last decade of the 18th century which is late 1700’s, early 1800’s. They have different views on foreign relations and their beliefs on the war between France and Britain, their Federal government and vision for America. Their leaders are completely different people. When it comes down to foreign relations, Federalists think the United States should not support the French war. They think the
There were two primary political parties that emerged in the United States during the 1790s - the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans. Each had their own distinct views on the role of the national government, as well as the method in which the Constitution should be interpreted. Due to their differences in opinion in management of the country there were several issues that arose, including the economic plan designed to reboot the country post-war and the nation’s relationship
constituents. By this time Senate was to be a more executive council than a legislative body. If they became more of a executive council they would help advise the President. Senate was an executive council to the President for a while, until the Federalist Party didn't agree on foreign policy, and many more polit...
the Jeffersonian Republican Party was that it had a strict interpretation of the constitution. This is a trait that was very deeply believed and would be the driving force in Thomas Jefferson’s and James Madison’s presidencies. However, the validity of those principles would begin to become questioned during their presidencies and would often contradict their values and employ Federalist ideals in regards to domestic affairs and foreign policies. The Federalist Party first rose to power during the
people would change, leading to controversy. By not assigning specific powers to specific groups/parties, governments, they unintentionally created a vast problem in the years to come. Subsequently following the ratification of the constitution, two leading groups formed; the Federalists and the Antifederalists, each believing in exact opposite interpretations of the Constitution. The Federalist Party was headed by the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who thought the
Acts were passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress in 1798 before America prepared for war against France. The acts increased the amount of time from 5 years to 14 years of living in America to become a citizen of the U.S. It forced the president to imprison or deport illegal aliens because of dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States” and restricted the freedom of speech against the government. These laws were passed to weaken the Democratic-Republican Party. Negative reaction happened
conceived and started “The Federalist” and wrote most of those famous essays which riveted the attention of the country, furnished the weapons of argument and exposition to those who "thought continentally" in all the states, and did more than any thing else toward the adoption of the constitution.”(virtualology, paragraph 20) Hamilton created a system of tariffs which was believed to help relieve national and state debts. He then became the leader of the federalist party. Alexander Hamilton had many
Jeffersonian Republicans were focused on giving power to the people and maintaining a pastoral economy, while the Federalists supported the control of the government by the elite class, and maintaining “positive” democracy. Both parties feared the influence and effect the other party would have on the public. In Linda K. Kerber's article, “The Fears of the Federalists”, the major concerns Federalists held in the early 19th century are described. Ever since the war with and separation from England, the citizens
In 1794 the temporary capital was in an extreme state of political excitement. Federalist Thimas Fitzsimons, was challenged by Republican John Swanwick with vicious charges with the intent to attract voters. Fitzsimons’s supporters called Swanwick an unstable person who was unknown by the political public until he got to know the enemies and made friends with them. John won a syunning victory over Fitzsimons, beating seven of the twelve votes and getting fifty-six percent of the votes. 1789 and 1801