Initially the leaders of the American Revolution did not consider the thought of political parties and battles between them. After the retirement from civil life, George Washington advised the Americans against the political parties in the year 1796. On the other hand, James Madison desired the idea of having political parties as a necessity; however, he did not approve them. Alexander Hamilton who liked the political and financial system of the British felt that faction was a frailty. Being an aristocrat, he favored the rich and the educated only, and considered the rest of the population as a great beast. On the contrary, Thomas Jefferson was a classic liberal who declared in 1789 that the Americans are wise enough to vote for their desired leaders. He considered the diffusion of wealth to the entire population; while Hamilton’s fiscal policies favored only a few.
During 1790-91, when Hamilton submitted his reports regarding public credit, the manufactures and the bank similar to the British, Jefferson felt that it would limit the concentration of power into the hands of only a few people and strengthen the central government substantially. Jefferson did not like the concentration of power to go beyond the control of Congress as he felt that it would go beyond the states’ rights. Hamilton’s agrarian philosophy also became detrimental to the states. Jefferson believed that it is the man’s duty to farm, and industrialization would ruin the concept of a Utopian Agrarian society. While Hamilton was an advocate of a strong government at the central level, Jefferson preferred a limited government at the national level as allocating more powers to the central government would destroy the states.
The Whiskey rebellion, which took place in the year 1794, reasserted that the Federal government secured support to obtain the legitimacy it required in eyes of the public. The rebellion was a result of the protests and threats of the farmers in Pennsylvania to halt the execution of the excise tax imposed by Hamilton's Fiscal Program on Whiskey. The rebellion periled to cause a breakdown of the revenue laws imposed by the Federal government. In the month of May, 1794, Washington issued a Proclamation, in accord with the 1792 Act, controlling all the rebels to submit to Federal authority within a time frame of three weeks. When the rebels failed to do so, he called out 13,000 military personnel from the state of Pennsylvania as well as the nearby States to subjugate the rebellion. The uprising disintegrated within no time after the trial of leading rebel. The Whiskey rebellion demonstrated that the new Federal government had plenteous power to impose its authority over individuals, including the stubborn ones.
Between 1788 and 1799, the concept of Federalism was merely a state of mind rather a coordinated political party. However, the ratification of the Constitution implied that only a limited denomination of the public was trustworthy in the management of national affairs. Furthermore, the most serious weakness of the Federalist government was their power grounded on a concretion of the businessmen in the north and the planters in the south. Very soon, it became inevitable that the alliance gave in to the tensions generated by the divergent interests of the southerners and northerners in terms of economic, social and political attitudes. Hamilton insured the dissolution in 1790 with the launch of the first fiscal and economic programs. He admitted that the foundation for the split of the Federal Party was due to his differences of opinion with Madison in regards to the unfair treatment between the buyers of government securities and the actual holders.
In spite of Hamilton's objective to promote unity and national power of the country, his actions led to the emergence of two political parties constituting the two significant economic groups in the United States, namely the mercantileshippingfinancial interest and the planting-slaveholding-farmer interest. By the year 1792, those who opposed Hamilton adopted the name Republican, and left him with the denomination of the Federalists. The economic and ideological differences based on which the parties broke up was more than those which generally exist between important political parties. The members of the Republican Party were those who opposed the ratification of the Constitution. They conceded fervent devotion to the Constitution and balance established by it between the national and the state governments. James Madison became the leader of the Republican Party who gave logical reasons for the Federalists to deplore his desertion from their ranks.
On the other hand, the members of the Federalist Party were mostly lawyers, landowners and merchants. Though Washington was the first to cause success to the Federalists, it was Hamilton who laid the foundation for making the party philosophy. He was the chief spokesman of the party under the guidance of Washington in transforming the economy of America. Washington favored the internal programs of the Secretary of Treasury and expected Hamilton to promote the wellbeing of the United States. However, the Federalist Party did not possess enough confidence in the wisdom of the Americans and became an elitist in its style of politics. The formation of political parties was a storming creation from a constitutional perspective, however, in regards to the framers of the Constitution, there was no such anticipated development. The parties were an extension to the republican representation and a demonstration of sovereignty, which transformed the idea of the government by consent into an active and continual process.
On several occasions, the members of the Republican Party stood against the Federalist Party for their policies. One such example is Hamilton's report on Public Credit to Congress, which he issued in the year 1790. Madison stood up and led the opposition against the report, which stated that the states with low debts will help those with higher debts. The first feud between the parties laid a foundation for the parties to emerge. On another occasion, the Report on Manufactures and the conflict over the Bank brought Thomas Jefferson into the Camp of Madison in the year 1791. Jefferson and his members debated for a stringent structure of constitutional powers. On the other hand, Hamilton stated the doctrine of broad construction of Federal powers under the Constitution. This conflict associated the Republicans with the agrarians of the south and the Federalists to the merchants of the north.
Between the years 1791 and 1793, the United States saw the development of rival newspapers called ‘The Gazette of the United States and the National Gazette’. The Gazette of the United States belonged to Madison, while the National Gazette belonged to Jefferson. Both the newspapers began a series of wars to damage the reputation of each other and characterize the development of a party spirit. On several occasions, the National Gazette stated Hamilton as a monarchical serpent who dwells in a republican paradise. On the other hand, the Gazette of the United States declaimed Jefferson as a disunionist. The conflicts between the two parties were neither for the transformation of the principles, not ideological differences, but for the struggle for power and authority over one another. Hamilton started focusing on Virginia as a leader instead of attacking Jefferson and damaging his reputation, which let an opportunity for Jefferson to stand forth as a champion.
After the election of Albert Gallatin to the Congress, the Federalists went into deep trouble because Gallatin guided the Republican forces in the Congress and started challenging Hamilton. The Jay Treaty gave the Republican Party a platform and proved costly to the Federalists. The Republicans opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 on the grounds of Unconstitutionality of the acts as they violated the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. They proposed the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions to bring forth the Compact theory of the States. Moreover, Hamilton enlarged the army, which feared the Republicans, especially Jefferson that he might use the army to establish a constitutional monarchy. The Federalists saw a great failure in the 1800 elections due to the heavy expense incurred due to the undeclared naval war with France, which increased the imposition of new taxes and increased the national debt.
The Federalists feared the unpopularity of the Alien and Sedition Acts as they might play into the hands of the Republicans. When Hamilton tried to promote Adams from the Presidency, it led to the breach between Adams and Hamilton. The Judiciary Acts of 1801 and 1802 established new circuit courts in the country with 16 new circuit judges. The reform was necessary to combat the decline of the Federalists. The act called for the reduction of Supreme Court judges, which the Republicans opposed. The new judiciary made sure that the Federalist judges were anti-democratic and arrogant, which led the Republicans to attack William Marbury, one of the judges of peace nominated by John Adams. The Republicans decided to impeach several radical judges, who favored Federalism. One of the most significant events is the Chase trial, which removed political opponents from the judiciary.
