Comparing Federalists and Jeffersonians - Essay Example

Introduction In the world history, the first grass-roots political parties emerged during the era of PresidentGeorge Washington in 1790s. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were the founders of the first political parties, the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans respectively. Washington refused to consider himself a member of any party, although in retrospect, historians usually regard him as a Federalist because of his greater propensity to side with Hamilton than with Jefferson (Wright, para10). Alexander Hamilton started building a nationwide coalition by 1790. His objective was to rally national support for Hamiltons economic programs and creation of a strong national government. He formed acquaintances with like-minded supporters of independence or nationalists on realizing the need for vocal political support in the states. He used his network of treasury agents to bond friends of the government, especially bankers and merchants in the dozen major cities of the new nation. The Federalists Party became popular with businesspersons, mostly people from New England. Its distinguished representatives included Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay and author Noah Webster. The Jeffersonian Republicans on the other hand emerged within three years of the Constitution inauguration. Americans.net records that no longer able to agree to the various policies that President Washington advocated, Thomas Jefferson left the Cabinet in 1793. Together with James Madison and lesser figures in the infant federal government, they formed a coalition that took to the leadership of popular opposition to economic and financial programs of Alexander Hamilton. They feared the intense threat to the American experiment in popular self-governance by the broad interpretation of the Constitution advanced on their behalf, the policies of the first secretary of the Treasury, and the anti-populist reactions that some of Hamiltons supporters expressed. The opposition deepened after 1793 when Britain and revolutionary France entered into twenty years of war. It extended into foreign policy and marshaled a large enough portion of the population such that historians describe Jeffersonian Republicans as the first American political party. By 1792, newspapers started referring to Hamilton supporters as Federalists while they referred to Jefferson’s supporters as Democrats, Republicans, Jeffersonians or Democratic-Republicans. They were generally farmers and opposed a strong central government. The state networks of both Federalist and Republican parties began to operate in 1794. In early 1793, Jefferson furtively prepared resolutions for William Branch Giles, the congressional representative from Virginia, to introduce what would have rejected the Treasury Secretary and shattered the Washington Administration. Hamilton vividly defended his administration of the nations complicated financial affairs, which none of his critics could make out until the arrival in Congress of Albert Gallatin in 1793. The Federalists believed that the best way to keep away from open warfare would be demonstrating that the country was equipped to fight. However, Jeffersonians pressured Washingtons administration to reduce military expenses as a way of trimming down taxes (Wright, para26). Given the brilliance and aggressive personalities of Hamilton and Jefferson, the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans had contrasting ideas and beliefs. Democratic-Republican Party vigorously and even viciously opposed the Federalists. According to Sage, Jefferson and Madison were less interested in constitutional theory than in clarifying the distinction between Federalists and Republicans. In terms of economics, Federalists supported the Hamiltonian notion that in order to become a great power, the United States must engage in commerce and manufacturing. While Republicans favored state banks only, the Federalists supported a strong central bank. Another issue that concerned the parties was the power of the government. The Federalists supported a strong central government characterized by a strong executive and this is what led to Washingtons office as the first president of America. On the other hand, the Republicans, who felt that the best government was one that governed the least, preferred a weaker central government where states had more power. They supported state power in order to prevent authoritarianism from cropping up. They also believed that giving states more power would engender a better rapport between the government and the people, thus allowing them to keep a closer watch on their public servants (Write, para8). The Federalists believed that the best people should rule the country. They felt that common people were too impressionable and out of this fear, they did not trust them. They therefore believed that only the wealthy should have power in government. However, the Republicans felt that well informed agrarian masses should rule, allotting no special privileges to particular classes. They enforced rule by the people, even though this idea extended only to literate and informed men who were willing to work for a better America. Foreign policy was also a decisive issue in the 1790s. Americans.net records that Hamilton’s great concern was on developing the material resources essential for the progression of prosperity and the influence of the government both diplomatically and internally. The federalists therefore, in pursuit of a far-reaching economic policy to render the nation self-sufficient, promoted alliance and trade with Britain especially through the Jay Treaty, which though controversial was approved in 1795. The Federalists accepted a national debt as a blessing while the Jeffersonian Republicans strongly opposed it. Jeffersonians who admired the French Revolution dreaded that close ties with Britain would threaten Republicanism moving the new republic back toward monarchy. Triggered in part by the debt engendered during the recent war in France, they sympathized with the French, who were in the early years of their own revolution. Each party attracted supporters and these national-level disagreements grafted onto local issues providing the basis of political parties in America (Write, para9). Sage points out that although Hamilton’s influence was still very strong within the Federalists Party, he was far too controversial to win the nomination, which he lost in favor of John Adams. Out of fear of offending his predecessor, Adams made an intentional mistake by retaining Washington’s cabinet, which had ties with Hamilton that facilitated his attempts to manipulate the election of May 1796, an action that according to Sage angered the newly elected President John Adams. In addition, until the amendment of the Constitution in 1804, the Electoral College winner became president while the runner-up became vice president. Thomas Jefferson therefore, who was Adams’ opponent in the elections and who by then had spelled out that he opposed many of Adams’s Federalist policies was the Vice President. According to Wright and his co-authors, the Liberalists created a navy with new frigates and a large new army where Washington, the retired President, was in nominal command and Hamilton in actual command. Hamilton took over the control of the army and filled it with officers loyal to him. He proposed that Adams declare war against France. The Federalists intention was to use the army to stifle international opposition since there was no prospect of a French invasion. In order to pay for it, they raised taxes on houses, slaves and land leading to severe unrest (Sage, para5). Both parties had a national network of newspapers by 1796, which attacked each other intensely. The Republican and Federalist newspapers of the 1790s traded nasty barb against their opponents. The Jeffersonians invented many of campaign techniques that Federalists later adopted and became standard American practice. They were particularly successful in building a network of newspapers in major cities to broadcast their statements and editorialize in their favor. The Federalists, with a strong base among merchants, controlled more newspapers with their papers outnumbering the Republicans’ with 4:1 in 1796. Every year more papers began publishing and the good fortune of the Republicans was having within their ranks a number of highly gifted political propagandists and manipulators, some of whom had the ability to see and analyze the problem at hand and to present it in a succinct fashion. In other words, they could fabricate an appropriate phrase, coin a convincing slogan and appeal to the electorate on any given issue in a comprehensible language. Some of these outstanding phrasemakers included Jefferson himself, party leaders Thomas Cooper and Albert Gallatin and of course editor William Duane. Purporting to protect American security, the Federalists passed the Sedition and Alien Acts in 1798 with an aim of silencing Administration critics. The Alien Act empowered the President to deport such aliens as he confirmed to be perilous. The Sedition Act made it a crime to print false, malicious and scandalous criticisms of the federal government, but it noticeably failed to criminalize criticism of Vice President Thomas Jefferson. The Federalists shut down two Republican newspapers and convicted and fined or jailed several Republican newspaper editors under the Act. Republicans hated the courts and not wanting to give them more power, could not take cases to court. During this period, Madison and Jefferson surreptitiously wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions passed by the two states legislatures, that affirmed the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and maintained that the states had the power to abolish federal laws (Sage, para8). Federalists mobilized many clergymen and most conservatives successfully by warning that American Republicans threatened to replicate the awfulness of the French Revolution. On the other hand, the Republicans criticized Washington, Adams and even Hamilton as secret monarchists, as friends of Britain and as enemies of the republican values. The level of rhetoric reached a fever pitch with Federalists now ridiculing Republicans as democrats meaning in favor of mob rule or as Jacobins, a reference to The Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Federalists pulled out all stops in cautioning that Jefferson was a dangerous revolutionary who would weaken the government, get into war with Britain, damage the economy and that he was hostile to religion. The Republicans on the other hand crusaded against the new taxes, the Sedition and Alien laws and confirmed highly effective in mobilizing popular discontent. Despite younger Federalists too-late efforts, the party relied much on prominent elderly elite who were averse to inquire about the voters’ views. This was unlike the Jeffersonians who were better campaigners and more willing to pay attention to the voice of the people. In early 1799, Adams decided to free himself from Hamiltons imperious influence and announced a new peace mission to France, a decision that stunned the country and threw the Federalist Party into disorder. His mission however was successful ending the Quasi-War and restoring good relations between the United States and France. Americans began to regard Hamilton’s army as a useless expense. This led to the disbandment of the new army, which made Hamiltonians to call Adams a failure. The Federalists split between supporters of Adams and supporters of Hamilton, the High Federalists. In turn, Adams fired Hamiltons supporters still in the cabinet. In recoiling from war with France, Adams saved the nation from the High Federalists’ schemes who in return ensured that he lost the election of 1800 (Sage, para12). Wright and his co-authors stated that John Adams, the President, made decisions without consulting Hamilton or other High Federalists. Although he was popular among the Federalist regular members, he neglected building of state or his own local political bases and taking control of his own cabinet, a situation that resulted to his cabinet answering more to Hamilton than to himself. Adams stood a good chance of re-election in 1800 due to popularity from his peace moves but for the enacting of the Three-Fifths Compromise, where many Federalist legislatures removed the right to choose electors from their constituencies in fear of a Democratic victory. Following the hatred between Hamilton and Adams, Hamilton tried to control the Adams administration from the outside and eventually contributed to the Federalist Party’s loss of control of the government. Embittered over his loss of political influence, Hamilton wrote a scathing criticism of Adams Presidential performance in an effort to toss Federalist support to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Accidentally this split the Federalists and helped Jefferson to win the 1800 elections. When the Federalists lost the election, Hamilton went public with a sharp attack on Adams that further weakened and divided the Federalists. During the 1800 elections, there was an incident where Republicans failed to instruct at least one of their electors to vote for Jefferson instead of Burr in the Electoral College making Jefferson and Burr receive 73 votes each and it was therefore up to the House of Representatives to break the tie. Although the Federalists were strong enough to impasse the election throwing their support to elect Burr, Hamilton, who considered Burr as a scoundrel threw his weight into the contest, letting Jefferson to take office, an unintended complication which directly yielded to the proposal and approval of the 12th Amendment (Write, para12). Conclusion It is important to note that the election of 1800 is possibly most remarkable for the serene transition of government leadership from one political party to that of the opposition. It is a clear demonstration that a nation can accomplish such a process without widespread villainy, confusion or violence. Works cited Americans.net. Federalists and Jeffersonians, (2005). Retrieved 12th April, 2009 from: http://www.americanrevolution.com/FederalistsandJeffersonians.htm Sage, H.J. The New Republic: The United States, 1789-1800, Part 2, (2007). Retrieved 12th April, 2009 from: http://www.academicamerican.com/revolution/topics/1790spart2.html Wright, R.K. Jr. et al. Federalists and Jeffersonians, (1987). Retrieved 12th April, 2009 from: http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/ch5.htm Read More