Lecture 1: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
Lecture 1: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
Objectives
By the end of this lesson students will be able to:
v Describe the competing visions of the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans
v Identify the protections granted to citizens under the Bill of Rights
v Explain Alexander Hamilton’s financial programs as secretary of the treasury
President George Washington and the Federalists
In 1789, George Washington, America’s greatest Revolutionary War hero, was unanimously elected the first president of the United States under the new Constitution. He worked during his first two terms as president to help unify the nation and strengthen the federal government.
Though in his farewell address Washington warned against “the baneful effects of the spirit of party, by that time political factions had already appeared. Members of the Federalist Party tended to be elitist. They were hostile to the extension of the voting rights (to non-landholders, for example) and favored a powerful central government. The Federalist Party won the election of 1796 with its candidate John Adams, who had been Washington’s vice president. One early and divisive difference between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans was how they approached Britain and France. The Federalists believed that American foreign policy should favor British interests, while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to strengthen ties with the French.
Points of disagreement between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
Hamilton and the Federalists wanted a strong central government, run by well-educated property owners. For them, it was the individual states that should hold most of the power in America’s federal system. However, Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans wanted most power to stay with the states and wanted the farmers and the 'common man' to run the nation. The Federalists wanted a strong central government and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The Republicans favored states' rights more than a central government and they had a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Another big difference was that the Federalists encouraged commerce and manufacturing. The debates over “states’ rights” would continue for many years and contribute to the tensions leading to the Civil War, Jefferson triumphed in the presidential election of 1800, and his inauguration proved that it was possible to pass power democratically from one party to another. One of Jefferson’s most significant achievements was his doubling the size of the United States with the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803.
Jefferson Vs Hamilton
Personal Background Jefferson
Jefferson was born in Virginia to an old and respected family. One of ten children, he was gifted with many talents. As a boy, he learned to ride, hunt, sing, dance, and play the violin. Later, he carried a violin with him in all his travels. With land inherited from his father, Jefferson set himself up as a Virginia tobacco planter. Once he was established as a planter, Jefferson entered Virginia politics. As a politician, he could not make stirring speeches. Instead, Jefferson spoke eloquently with his pen. His words in the Declaration of Independence and other writings are still read and admired today.
View of Human Nature
Jefferson’s view of human nature was much more hopeful than Hamilton’s. He assumed that informed citizens could make good decisions for themselves and their country. “I have so much confidence in the good sense of men.” Jefferson wrote when revolution broke out in France, “that I am never afraid of the issue [outcome] where reason is left free to exert her force.” Jefferson had great faith in the goodness and wisdom of people who worked the soil – farmers, and planters like himself. “State a problem to a ploughman and a professor,” he said, and “the former will decide it often better than the latter.”
Best Form of Government
Democratic-Republicans had no patience with the Federalists’ view that only the “best people” should rule. To Democratic-Republicans, this view came close to the monarchy, or rule by a king. Democratic-Republicans believed that the best government was the one that governed the least. A small government with limited powers was most likely to leave the people alone to enjoy the blessings of liberty. To keep the national government small, they insisted on strict construction, or interpretation, of the Constitution. The Constitution, they insisted, meant exactly what it said, no more and no less. Any addition to the powers listed there was unconstitutional and dangerous.
Ideal Economy
Like most Americans in the 1790s, Jefferson was a countryman. He believed that the nation’s future lay not with Federalist bankers and merchants, but with plain, Democratic-Republican farm folk. “Those who labor in the earth,” he wrote, “are the chosen people of God, if ever He had a chosen people.” That idea goes all the way back to Plato’s Symposium, written around 380 BCE. Democratic-Republicans favored an economy based on agriculture. They opposed any measures designed to encourage the growth of business and manufacturing.
Alexander Hamilton Personal Background
Hamilton was born in the West Indies and raised on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. When Hamilton was 13, a devastating hurricane struck the island. Hamilton wrote a vivid description of the storm that impressed all who read it. A few St. Croix leaders arranged to send the talented teenager to New York, where he could get the education he deserved. With no money or family connections to help him rise in the world, he made his way on ability ambition and charm. George Washington spotted Hamilton’s talents early in the Revolutionary War. Washington made the young man his aided-camp or personal assistant. Near the end of the war, Hamilton improved his fortunes by marrying Elizabeth Schuyler. His new wife came from one of New York’s richest and most powerful families. With her family’s political backing, Hamilton was elected to represent New York in Congress after the war. Later, he served as a delegate from New York to the Constitutional Convention.
View of Human Nature
Hamilton’s view of human nature was shaped by his wartime experiences. All too often, he had seen people put their own interests and personal profit above patriotism and the needs of the country. Most Federalists shared Hamilton’s view that people were selfish and out for themselves. For this reason, they distrusted any system of government that gave too much power to “the mob,” or the common people. Such a system, said Hamilton, could only lead to “error, confusion, and instability.”
Best Form of Government
Federalists believed that the country should be ruled by “best people” – educated, wealthy, public-spirited men like themselves. Such people had the time, education, and background to run the country wisely. “Those who own the country,” said Federalist John Jay bluntly, “ought to govern it.” Federalists favored a strong national government, they believed in loose construction – broad or flexible interpretation - of the Constitution. They hoped to use the new government’s powers under the Constitution to unite the quarreling states and keep order among the people. In their view, the rights of the states were not nearly as important as national power and unity.
Ideal Economy
Hamilton’s dream of national greatness depended on the United States developing a strong economy. In 1790, the nation’s economy was still based mainly on agriculture. Hamilton wanted to expand the economy and increase the nation’s wealth by using the power of the federal government to promote business, manufacturing, and trade. In 1790, Hamilton presented Congress with a plan to pay off all war debts as quickly as possible. If the debts were not promptly paid, he warned, the government would lose respect both at home and abroad. Hamilton’s plan for repaying the debts was opposed by many Americans, especially in the South. Most southern states had already paid their war debts. They saw little reason to help states in the North pay off what they still owed.
Summary
While they did not yet constitute distinct political parties, Federalists and Anti-Federalists, shortly after the Revolution, found themselves at odds over the Constitution and the power that is concentrated in the federal government. While many of the Anti-Federalists’ fears were assuaged by the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the early 1790s nevertheless witnessed the rise of two political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. These rival political factions began by defining themselves concerning Hamilton’s financial program, a debate that exposed contrasting views of the proper role of the federal government. By championing Hamilton’s bold financial program, Federalists, including President Washington, made clear their intent to use the federal government to stabilize the national economy and overcome the financial problems that had plagued it since the 1780s. Members of the Democratic-Republican opposition, however, deplored the expanded role of the new national government. They argued that the Constitution did not permit the treasury secretary’s expansive program and worried that the new national government had assumed powers it did not rightfully possess. Only on the question of citizenship was there broad agreement: only free, white males who met taxpayer or property qualifications could cast ballots as full citizens of the republic.
References
Adams, Henry, History of the United States during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson(1889; Library of America ed. 1987).
Adams, Henry, History of the United States during the Administrations of James Madison (1891; Library of America ed. 1986).
Beard, Charles A. Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915).
Brown, Stuart Gerry. The First Republicans: Political Philosophy and Public Policy in the Party of Jefferson and Madison 1954.
Chambers, Wiliam Nisbet. Political Parties in a New Nation: The American Experience, 1776–1809 (1963).
Cornell, Saul. The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788–1828 (1999)
Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Process of Government Under Jefferson (1978).
Dawson, Matthew Q. Partisanship and the Birth of America's Second Party, 1796–1800: Stop the Wheels of Government. Greenwood, 2000.
Elkins, Stanley M., and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1995), a detailed political history of the 1790s.
Ferling, John. Adams Vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (2004)