The
Federalist Party (or
Federal Party) was an American political party in the period 1792 to 1816, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801. The party was formed by
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
, who, during
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban, to support his fiscal policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party, which wanted a fiscally sound and strong nationalistic government and was opposed by the Democratic-Republicans. The United States' only Federalist president was
John AdamsJohn Adams was an American politician and the second President of the United States , after being the first Vice President for two terms. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States.Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution...
; although
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire term.
The Rise of the Federalist Party
President George Washington nominated his former
Aide-de-campAn aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
, Alexander Hamilton, to the office of
Secretary of the TreasuryThe United States Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, concerned with finance and monetary matters, and, until 2003, some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the...
. Hamilton wanted a strong national government with financial credibility. Hamilton proposed the ambitious
Hamiltonian economic programThe Hamiltonian economic program was the set of measures that were proposed by American Founding Father and 1st Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in three notable reports and implemented by Congress during George Washington's first administration....
that involved assumption of the state debts incurred during the
Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War , also sometimes known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies in North America, and concluded in a global war between several European great powers...
, creating a national debt and the means to pay it off, and setting up a national bank.
James MadisonJames Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States , and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States....
, Hamilton's ally in the
fight to ratifyThe Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
the United States Constitution, joined with
JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
in opposing Hamilton's program
By 1790 Hamilton started building a nationwide coalition. Realizing the need for vocal political support in the states, he formed connections with like-minded nationalists and used his network of treasury agents to link together friends of the government, especially merchants and bankers, in the new nation's dozen major cities. His attempts to manage politics in the national capital to get his plans through Congress, then, "brought strong responses across the country. In the process, what began as a capital faction soon assumed status as a national faction and then, finally, as the new Federalist party."
By 1792 or 1794 newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters "Federalists" and their opponents "Democrats", "Republicans", "Jeffersonians" (people who supported Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president), or "Democratic-Republicans". The Federalist party became popular with businessmen, mostly people from New England, and Democratic-Republicans were mostly farmers who opposed a strong central government. The Congregationalists and the Episcopalians approved the Federalist mingling of church and state; the Presbyterians,
BaptistA Baptist is a Christian who subscribes to a theology and may belong to a church that, among other things, is committed to believer's baptism and, with respect to church polity, favors the congregational model...
s, and other minority denominations tended to oppose them. These are generalizations; there are special cases: the
Presbyterians of upland North Carolina, who had immigrated just before the Revolution, and often been Tories, became Federalists.
The state networks of both parties began to operate in 1794 or 1795. Patronage now became a factor. The
winner-take-allThe plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies....
election system opened a wide gap between winners, who got all the patronage, and losers, who got none. Hamilton had over 2000 Treasury jobs to dispense, while Jefferson had one part-time job in the State Department, which he gave to journalist Philip Freneau. In New York, however,
George ClintonGeorge Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
won the election for governor and used the vast state patronage fund to help the Republican cause.
Washington tried and failed to moderate the feud between his two top cabinet members. He was re-elected without opposition in 1792. The Democratic-Republicans nominated New York's Governor Clinton to replace Federalist
John AdamsJohn Adams was an American politician and the second President of the United States , after being the first Vice President for two terms. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States.Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution...
as vice president, but Adams won. The balance of power in Congress was close, with some members still undecided between the parties. In early 1793, Jefferson secretly prepared resolutions for
William Branch GilesWilliam Branch Giles was an American statesman, long-term Senator from Virginia, and Governor of Virginia...
, Congressman from Virginia, to introduce what would have repudiated the Treasury Secretary and destroyed the Washington Administration. Hamilton brilliantly defended his administration of the nation's complicated financial affairs, which none of his critics could decipher until the arrival in Congress of the brilliant
Albert GallatinAbraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was a Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, politician, diplomat, Congressman, and the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. He was also a founder of New York University....
in 1793.
Federalists immediately claimed the Hamiltonian program had restored national prosperity, as shown in one 1792 anonymous newspaper essay:
To what physical, moral, or political energy shall this flourishing state of things be ascribed? There is but one answer to these inquiries: Public credit is restored and ESTABLISHED. The general government, by uniting and calling into action the pecuniary resources of the states, has created a new capital stock of several millions of dollars, which, with that before existing, is directed into every branch of business, giving life and vigor to industry in its infinitely diversified operation. The enemies of the general government, the funding act and the National Bank may bellow tyranny, aristocracy, and speculators through the Union and repeat the clamorous din as long as they please; but the actual state of agriculture and commerce, the peace, the contentment and satisfaction of the great mass of people, give the lie to their assertions.
Party strength in Congress
Many Congressmen were hard to classify in the first few years, but after 1796 there was less uncertainty.
|
Election year |
| House |
1788 |
1790 The U.S. House election, 1790 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1790 which occurred in the middle of President George Washington's first term...
|
1792 The U.S. House election, 1792 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1792 which coincided with the re-election of President George Washington. While Washington ran for president as an independent, his followers formed the nation's first organized political party, the...
|
1794 The U.S. House election, 1794 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fourth Congress during President George Washington's second term. Voting in the various states took place between August 1794 and September 1795 . Congress was convened on December 7, 1795...
|
1796 The U.S. House election, 1796 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fifth Congress which coincided with the election of President John Adams. Voting in the various states took place between August 1796 and October 1797 . The first session was convened on May 15,...
|
1798 The U.S. House election, 1798 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the sixth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1798 and August 1799...
|
1800 The U.S. House election, 1800 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the seventh Congress which coincided with the election of President Thomas Jefferson and met in Washington, D.C. on December 7, 1801....
|
1802 The U.S. House election, 1802 was an election to the United States House of Representatives for the eighth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1802 and December 1803 with the Congress, convened by a proclaimation of President Jefferson, meeting on October 17, 1803.With...
|
1804 The U.S. House election, 1804 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the ninth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1804 and August 1805 with the Congress meeting on December 2, 1805....
|
1806 The U.S. House election, 1806 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the tenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1806 and August 1807 with the Congress meeting on October 26, 1807....
|
1808 The U.S. House election, 1808 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the eleventh Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1808 and May 1809 with the Congress meeting on May 22, 1809....
|
1810 The U.S. House election, 1810 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the twelfth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1810 and August 1811 . Louisiana elected its first representative in September 1812...
|
1812 The U.S. House election, 1812 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the thirteenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between August 3, 1812 and May 1, 1813...
|
1814 The U.S. House election, 1814 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fourteenth Congress. Voting in the various states was held between April 1814 and August 10, 1815 . The Congress met on December 4, 1815...
|
1816 The U.S. House election, 1816 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fifteenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1816 and August 14, 1817 . The Congress met on December 1, 1817...
|
1818 The U.S. House election, 1818 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the sixteenth Congress. Voting in the various states was held between April 1818 and September 1819...
|
1820 The U.S. House election, 1820 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the seventeenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between July 3, 1820 and August 10, 1821 . In four states the election coincided with the taking of the 4th Census...
|
| Federalist |
37 |
39 |
51 |
47 |
57 |
60 |
38 |
39 |
25 |
24 |
50 |
36 |
68 |
64 |
39 |
26 |
32 |
| Democratic-Republican |
28 |
30 |
54 |
59 |
49 |
46 |
65 |
103 |
116 |
118 |
92 |
107 |
114 |
119 |
146 |
160 |
155 |
| % Democratic-Republican |
43% |
43% |
51% |
56% |
46% |
43% |
63% |
73% |
82% |
83% |
65% |
75% |
63% |
65% |
79% |
86% |
83% |
| Senate |
1788 |
1790 The U.S. House election, 1790 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1790 which occurred in the middle of President George Washington's first term...
|
1792 The U.S. House election, 1792 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1792 which coincided with the re-election of President George Washington. While Washington ran for president as an independent, his followers formed the nation's first organized political party, the...
|
1794 The U.S. House election, 1794 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fourth Congress during President George Washington's second term. Voting in the various states took place between August 1794 and September 1795 . Congress was convened on December 7, 1795...
|
1796 The U.S. House election, 1796 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fifth Congress which coincided with the election of President John Adams. Voting in the various states took place between August 1796 and October 1797 . The first session was convened on May 15,...
|
1798 The U.S. House election, 1798 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the sixth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1798 and August 1799...
|
1800 The U.S. House election, 1800 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the seventh Congress which coincided with the election of President Thomas Jefferson and met in Washington, D.C. on December 7, 1801....
|
1802 The U.S. House election, 1802 was an election to the United States House of Representatives for the eighth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1802 and December 1803 with the Congress, convened by a proclaimation of President Jefferson, meeting on October 17, 1803.With...
|
1804 The U.S. House election, 1804 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the ninth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1804 and August 1805 with the Congress meeting on December 2, 1805....
|
1806 The U.S. House election, 1806 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the tenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1806 and August 1807 with the Congress meeting on October 26, 1807....
|
1808 The U.S. House election, 1808 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the eleventh Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1808 and May 1809 with the Congress meeting on May 22, 1809....
|
1810 The U.S. House election, 1810 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the twelfth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1810 and August 1811 . Louisiana elected its first representative in September 1812...
|
1812 The U.S. House election, 1812 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the thirteenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between August 3, 1812 and May 1, 1813...
|
1814 The U.S. House election, 1814 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fourteenth Congress. Voting in the various states was held between April 1814 and August 10, 1815 . The Congress met on December 4, 1815...
|
1816 The U.S. House election, 1816 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the fifteenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between April 1816 and August 14, 1817 . The Congress met on December 1, 1817...
|
1818 The U.S. House election, 1818 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the sixteenth Congress. Voting in the various states was held between April 1818 and September 1819...
|
1820 The U.S. House election, 1820 was an election for the United States House of Representatives to the seventeenth Congress. Voting in the various states took place between July 3, 1820 and August 10, 1821 . In four states the election coincided with the taking of the 4th Census...
|
| Federalist |
18 |
16 |
16 |
21 |
22 |
22 |
15 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
8 |
12 |
12 |
9 |
7 |
| Democratic-Republican |
8 |
13 |
14 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
17 |
25 |
17 |
28 |
27 |
30 |
28 |
26 |
30 |
37 |
44 |
| % Democratic-Republican |
31% |
45% |
47% |
34% |
31% |
31% |
53% |
74% |
71% |
82% |
79% |
83% |
78% |
68% |
71% |
80% |
92% |
Source: Kenneth C. Martis,
The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789–1989 (1989); the numbers are estimates by historians.
The affiliation of many Congressmen in the earliest years is an assignment by later historians. The parties were slowly coalescing groups; at first there were many independents. Cunningham noted that only about a quarter of the House of Representatives, up until 1794, voted with Madison as much as two-thirds of the time, and another quarter against him two-thirds of the time, leaving almost half as fairly independent.
Effects of foreign affairs
International affairs — the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
and the subsequent war between royalist Britain and republican France — decisively shaped American politics in 1793–1800, and indeed threatened to entangle the nation in wars that "mortally threatened its very existence." The French revolutionaries
guillotinedThe guillotine was a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which a blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head from their body...
King Louis XVILouis XVI of France ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. Suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason, and executed by guillotine on 21...
in January 1793, leading the British to declare war to restore the monarchy. The King had been decisive in helping America achieve independence. Now he was dead and many of the pro-American aristocrats in France were exiled or executed. Federalists warned that American republicans threatened to replicate the horrors of the French Revolution, and successfully mobilized most conservatives and many clergymen. The Republicans, some of whom had been strong Francophiles, responded with support, even through the
Reign of TerrorThe Reign of Terror , also known as the The Terror was a period of violence that occurred four years and two months after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the...
, when thousands were guillotined. Many of those executed had been friends of the United States, such as the
Comte D'EstaingJean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing was a French general, and admiral, in the American Revolutionary War, who was killed during the Reign of Terror.-Biography:...
, whose fleet defeated the British at
YorktownThe Battle of Yorktown can refer to:*Siege of Yorktown , last major battle during the the American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence...
. (
LafayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette was a French aristocrat and military officer born in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
had already fled into exile, and
Thomas PaineThomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in England, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution...
went to prison in France.) The Republicans denounced Hamilton, Adams, and even Washington as friends of Britain, as secret
monarchistsMonarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
, and as enemies of the republican values. The level of rhetoric reached a fever pitch.
Paris in 1793 sent a new minister,
Edmond-Charles GenêtEdmond-Charles Genêt , also known as Citizen Genêt, was a French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution.-Early life:Genêt was born in Versailles in 1763...
(known as
Citizen Genêt), who systematically mobilized pro-French sentiment and encouraged Americans to support France's war against Britain and Spain. Genêt funded local
Democratic-Republican SocietiesDemocratic-Republican Societies were local political organizations formed in the United States in 1793-94 to promote republicanism and democracy and to fight aristocratic tendencies...
that attacked Federalists. He hoped for a favorable new treaty and for repayment of the debts owed to France. Acting aggressively, Genêt outfitted privateers that sailed with American crews under a French flag and attacked British shipping. He tried to organize expeditions of Americans to invade Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Florida. When Secretary of State Jefferson told Genêt he was pushing American friendship past the limit, Genêt threatened to go over Washington's head and rouse public opinion on behalf of France. Even Jefferson agreed this was blatant foreign interference in domestic politics. Genêt's extremism seriously embarrassed the Jeffersonians and cooled popular support for promoting the French Revolution and getting involved in its wars. Recalled to Paris for execution, Genêt kept his head and instead went to New York, where he became a citizen and married the daughter of Governor Clinton. Jefferson left office, ending the coalition cabinet and allowing the Federalists to dominate.
The
Jay TreatyThe Jay Treaty, also known as Jay's Treaty and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain which averted war, solved many issues left over from the American Revolution, and opened ten years of largely peaceful trade in the midst of the French Revolutionary...
in 1794–95 was the effort by Washington and Hamilton to resolve numerous difficulties with Britain. Some of these issues dated to the Revolution; such as boundaries, debts owed in each direction, and the continued presence of British forts in the
Northwest TerritoryThe Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States. The Ordinance unanimously passed on July 13, 1787...
. In addition America hoped to open markets in the British Caribbean and end disputes stemming from the naval war between Britain and France. Most of all the goal was to avert a war with Britain — a war opposed by the Federalists, that some historians claim the Jeffersonians wanted.
As a neutral party, the United States argued, it had the right to carry goods anywhere it wanted. The British nevertheless seized American ships carrying goods from the
French West IndiesThe term French West Indies refers to the four territories presently under French sovereignty in the Caribbean: the two overseas departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique, plus the two overseas collectivities of Saint Martin and Saint-Barthélemy...
. The Federalists favored Britain in the war, and by far most of America's foreign trade was with Britain; hence a new treaty was called for. The British agreed to evacuate the western forts, open their West Indies ports to American ships, allow small vessels to trade with the French West Indies, and set up a commission that would adjudicate American claims against Britain for seized ships, and British claims against Americans for debts incurred before 1775. One possible alternative was war with Britain, a war that America was ill-prepared to fight.
The Republicans wanted to pressure Britain to the brink of war (and assumed that America could defeat a weak Britain). Therefore they denounced the Jay Treaty as an insult to American prestige, a repudiation of the French alliance of 1777, and a severe shock to Southern planters who owed those old debts, and who were never to collect for the lost slaves the British captured. Republicans protested against the treaty, but the Federalists controlled the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
and they ratified it by exactly the necessary ⅔ vote, 20–10, in 1795. The pendulum of public opinion swung toward the Republicans after the Treaty fight, and in the South the Federalists lost most of the support they had among planters.
Rebellion
The excise tax of 1791 caused grumbling from the frontier including threats of
tax resistanceTax resistance is the refusal to willingly pay a tax because of opposition to the institution that is imposing the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies....
. Corn, the chief crop on the frontier, was too bulky to ship over the mountains to market, unless it was first distilled into whiskey. This was profitable, as the United States population consumed,
per capitaPer capita is a term adapted from Latin phrase pro capite meaning "per head" with pro meaning "per" or "for each", and capite meaning "head." Both words together equate to the phrase "for each head."...
, relatively large quantities of liquor. After the excise tax, the backwoodsmen complained the tax fell on them rather than on the consumers. Cash poor, they were outraged that they had been singled out to pay off the "financiers and speculators" back East, and to salary the federal revenue officers who began to swarm the hills looking for illegal stills.
Insurgents shut the courts and hounded federal officials, but Jeffersonian leader
Albert GallatinAbraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was a Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, politician, diplomat, Congressman, and the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. He was also a founder of New York University....
mobilized the western moderates, and thus forestalled a serious outbreak. Washington, seeing the need to assert federal supremacy, called out 13,000 state militia, and marched toward Pittsburgh to suppress this
Whiskey RebellionThe Whiskey Rebellion, less commonly known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a popular uprising that had its beginnings in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Monongahela Valley. During George Washington's presidency, the government decided to tax...
. The rebellion evaporated in late 1794 as Washington approached, personally leading the army (only two sitting Presidents have directly led American military forces, Washington during the whiskey rebellion and Madison in an attempt to save the White House during the war of 1812 ). The rebels dispersed and there was no fighting. Federalists were relieved that the new government proved capable of overcoming rebellion, while Republicans, with Gallatin their new hero, argued there never was a real rebellion and the whole episode was manipulated in order to accustom Americans to a
standing armyA standing army is an army composed of full-time career soldiers who 'stand over', in other words, who do not disband during times of peace. They differ from army reserves who are activated only during such times as war or natural disasters. Standing armies tend to be better equipped, better...
.
Angry petitions flowed in from three dozen
Democratic-Republican SocietiesDemocratic-Republican Societies were local political organizations formed in the United States in 1793-94 to promote republicanism and democracy and to fight aristocratic tendencies...
created by Citizen Genêt. Washington attacked the societies as illegitimate; many disbanded. Federalists now ridiculed Republicans as "democrats" (meaning in favor of mob rule) or "Jacobins" (a reference to The Terror in France).
Washington refused to run for a third term, establishing a two-term precedent that was to stand until 1940 and eventually to be enshrined in the Constitution as the
22nd AmendmentThe Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for the President of the United States. The Congress passed the amendment on March 21, 1947. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 27, 1951...
. Washington warned in his Farewell Address against involvement in European wars, and lamented the rising North-South sectionalism and party spirit in politics that threatened national unity. The party spirit, he lamented:
serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
Washington refused to consider himself a member of any party, although in retrospect he is usually regarded as a Federalist because of greater tendency to side with Hamilton than with Jefferson.
Newspaper editors at war
To strengthen their coalitions and hammer away constantly at the opposition, both parties sponsored newspapers in the capital (Philadelphia) and other major cities. On the Republican side, Philip Freneau and
Benjamin Franklin BacheBenjamin Franklin Bache son of Richard and Sarah Bache and the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, was an American journalist who headed the openly Jeffersonian publication, the Philadelphia Aurora which is notable for being some of the impulse behind the Alien and Sedition Act.As a young boy, Bache...
blasted the administration with all the scurrility at their command. Bache in particular targeted Washington himself as the front man for monarchy who must be exposed. To Bache, Washington was a cowardly general and a money-hungry baron who saw the Revolution as a means to advance his fortune and fame, Adams was a failed diplomat who never forgave the French their love of
Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier, and diplomat...
and who carved a crown for himself and his descendants, and Alexander Hamilton was the most inveterate monarchist of them all. The Federalists, with twice as many newspapers at their command, slashed back with equal vituperation;
John FennoJohn Fenno , was a Federalist Party editor and major figure in the history of American newspapers. His Gazette of the United States played a major role in shaping the beginnings of party politics in the United States in the 1790s.Fenno was born in Boston, the son of Ephraim Fenno, leather-dresser...
and "Peter Porcupine" (
William CobbettWilliam Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
) were their nastiest pensmen, and
Noah WebsterNoah Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, word enthusiast, and editor. He has been called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education.” His “Blue-Backed Speller” books were used to teach spelling and reading to five generations of American children...
their most learned; Hamilton subsidized the Federalist editors, wrote for their papers, and in 1801 established his own paper, the
New York Evening PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
. Though his reputation waned considerably following his death,
Joseph DennieJoseph Dennie was an American author and journalist who was one of the foremost men of letters of the Federalist Era. A Federalist, Dennie is best remembered for his series of essays entitled The Lay Preacher and as the founding editor of Port Folio, a journal espousing classical republican values...
ran three of the most popular and influential newspapers of the period,
The Farmer's Weekly Museum, the
Gazette of the United StatesThe Gazette of the United States was an early American partisan newspaper first issued on April 15, 1789, as a biweekly publication friendly to the administration of George Washington, and to the policies and members of the emerging Federalist Party...
and
Port Folio.
John Adams administration, 1797–1801
Hamilton distrusted Vice President Adams (and Adams felt the same way about Hamilton), but was unable to block his claims to the succession. The election of 1796 was the first partisan affair in the nation's history, and one of the more scurrilous in terms of newspaper attacks. Adams swept New England and Jefferson the South, with the middle states leaning to Adams. Thus Adams was the winner by a margin of three
electoral votesThe Electoral College consists of the popularly elected representatives who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...
, and Jefferson, as the runner-up, became Vice President under the system set out in the Constitution prior to the ratification of the
12th AmendmentThe Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure by which the President and Vice President are elected. It replaced the procedure of the Electoral College under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which demonstrated problems in the elections of 1796 and 1800...
.
Foreign affairs continued to be the central concern of American politics, for the war raging in Europe threatened to drag in the United States. The new President was a loner, who made decisions without consulting Hamilton or other High Federalists. Benjamin Franklin once quipped that Adams was a man always honest, often brilliant, and sometimes mad. Adams was popular among the Federalist rank and file, but had neglected to build state or local political bases of his own, and neglected to take control of his own cabinet. As a result his cabinet answered more to Hamilton than to himself.
Alien and Sedition Acts
After an American delegation was insulted in Paris in the
XYZ affairThe XYZ Affair is a diplomatic scandal that lasted from March of 1797 to 1800. Three French agents, originally only publicly referred to as X, Y, and Z, but later revealed as Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy and Lucien Hauteval, demanded enormous concessions from the United States as a...
(1797), public opinion ran strongly against the French. An undeclared "
Quasi-WarThe Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought almost entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Undeclared War with France, the Undeclared Naval War, the Pirate Wars, or the...
" with France from 1798 to 1800, saw each side attacking and capturing the other's shipping. It was called "quasi" because there was no declaration of war, but escalation was a serious threat. The Federalists, at the peak of their popularity, took advantage by preparing for an invasion by the French Army.
To silence Administration critics, the Federalists passed the
Alien and Sedition ActsThe Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams...
in 1798. The Alien Act empowered the President to deport such aliens as he declared to be dangerous. The Sedition Act made it a crime to print false, scandalous, and malicious criticisms of the federal government, but it conspicuously failed to criminalize criticism of Vice President Thomas Jefferson. Several Republican newspaper editors were convicted under the Act and fined or jailed, and three Republican newspapers were shut down. During this period, Jefferson and Madison secretly wrote the
Kentucky and Virginia ResolutionsIn United States history, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were political statements in favor of states' rights and Strict Constructionism. They were written secretly by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison....
passed by the two states' legislatures, that declared the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional, and insisted the states had the power to
nullifyNullification is a legal theory that a U.S. State has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional. The theory is based on a view that the sovereign States formed the Union, and as creators of the compact hold final authority regarding the limits...
federal laws.
Undaunted, the Federalists created a
navyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
, with new
frigateA frigate is a warship. The term has been used for warships of many sizes and roles over the past few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and manoeuvrability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s, and a large new army, with Washington in nominal command and Hamilton in actual command. To pay for it all they raised taxes on land, houses and slaves, leading to serious unrest. In one part of Pennsylvania the
Fries' RebellionJohn Fries's Rebellion, also called the House Tax Rebellion, the Home Tax Rebellion or the Hot-Water Rebellion because hot water was used to drive tax assessors from houses, is traditionally considered to have been an armed tax revolt led by a Pennsylvania farmer between 1799 and 1800.-John...
broke out, with people refusing to pay the new taxes. John Fries was sentenced to death for treason, but received a pardon from Adams. In the elections of 1798 the Federalists did very well, but the tax issue started hurting the Federalists in 1799.
Early in 1799, Adams decided to free himself from Hamilton's overbearing influence, stunning the country and throwing his party into disarray by announcing a new peace mission to France. The mission eventually succeeded, the "Quasi-War" ended, and the new army was largely disbanded. Hamiltonians called Adams a failure, and in turn Adams fired Hamilton's supporters still in the cabinet.
Hamilton and Adams intensely disliked one another, and the Federalists split between supporters of Hamilton ("High Federalists") and supporters of Adams. Hamilton became embittered over his loss of political influence and wrote a scathing criticism of Adams' performance as President of the United States in an effort to throw Federalist support to
Charles Cotesworth PinckneyCharles Cotesworth Pinckney , was an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was twice nominated by the Federalist Party as their presidential candidate, but he did not win either election.-Early life and...
; inadvertently this split the Federalists and helped give the victory to Jefferson.
Election of 1800
Adams' peace moves proved popular with the Federalist rank and file, and he seemed to stand a good chance of reelection in 1800. If the
Three-Fifths CompromiseThe Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted for enumeration purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the...
had not been enacted, he most likely would have won reelection since many Federalist legislatures removed the right to select electors from their constituents in fear of a Democratic victory. Jefferson was again the opponent and Federalists pulled out all stops in warning that he was a dangerous revolutionary, hostile to religion, who would weaken the government, damage the economy, and get into war with Britain. The Republicans crusaded against the Alien and Sedition laws, and the new taxes, and proved highly effective in mobilizing popular discontent.
The election hinged on New York: its
electorsThe Electoral College consists of the popularly elected representatives who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...
were selected by the legislature, and given the balance of north and south, they would decide the presidential election.
Aaron BurrAaron Burr, Jr. was an American politician, Revolutionary War participant, and adventurer. He served as the third Vice President of the United States , under Thomas Jefferson....
brilliantly organized his forces in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in the spring elections for the state legislature. By a few hundred votes he carried the city—and thus the state legislature—and guaranteed the election of a Democratic-Republican President. As a reward he was selected by the Republican
caucusA caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States. The exact definition varies among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
in Congress as their vice presidential candidate. Hamilton, knowing the election was lost anyway, went public with a sharp attack on Adams that further divided and weakened the Federalists.
Because the Republicans failed to plan by instructing at least one of their electors to vote for Jefferson but not Burr in the electoral college, Burr and Jefferson received the same vote, 73 each, so it was up to the House of Representatives to break the tie. There the Federalists were strong enough to deadlock the election, with some talk of their throwing their support to elect Burr. Hamilton considered Burr to be a scoundrel and threw his weight into the contest, allowing Jefferson to take office. (This unintended complication led directly to the proposal and ratification of the
12th AmendmentThe Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure by which the President and Vice President are elected. It replaced the procedure of the Electoral College under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, which demonstrated problems in the elections of 1796 and 1800...
.) "We are all republicans—we are all federalists," proclaimed Jefferson in his inaugural address. His patronage policy was to let the Federalists disappear through attrition. Those Federalists such as
John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States from March 4, 1825 to March 4, 1829. He was also an American diplomat and served in both the Senate and House of Representatives...
(John Adams' own son) and
Rufus KingRufus King was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
willing to work with him were rewarded with senior diplomatic posts, but there was no punishment of the opposition.
Jefferson had a very successful first term, typified by the
Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of the French territory Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
, which was ironically supported by Hamilton but opposed by most Federalists at the time as un-constitutional. Shortly before Hamilton's death, some Federalist leaders (see
Essex JuntoThe Essex Junto was a group of lawyers and merchants from Essex County, Massachusetts. These Federalists supported Alexander Hamilton and the Massachusetts radicals. When Hamilton was offered a place in the plot to secede New England from the Union, he denied the offer. Consequently, the Essex...
) began courting Jefferson's Vice-President and Hamilton's arch-nemesis Aaron Burr in an attempt to swing New York into an independent confederation with the New England states, which along with New York were supposed to secede from the United States after Burr's election to Governor. However, Hamilton's influence cost Burr the governorship of New York, a key in the Essex Junto's plan, just as Hamilton's influence had cost Burr the Presidency nearly 4 years before. Hamilton's thwarting of Aaron Burr's ambitions for the second time was too much for Burr to bear. Hamilton had known of the Essex Junto (whom Hamilton now regarded as apostate Federalists), and Burr's plans and opposed them vehemently. This opposition by Hamilton would lead to his fatal duel with Burr in July, 1804.
The thoroughly disorganized Federalists hardly offered any opposition to Jefferson's reelection in 1804, after his successful first term (by this point, the Federalists were now largely without a strong leader after the untimely death of
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political philosopher...
and with Aaron Burr now a fugitive of the law). In New England and in some districts in the middle states the Federalists clung to power, but the tendency from 1800 to 1812 was steady slippage almost everywhere, as the Republicans perfected their organization and the Federalists tried to play catch-up. Some younger leaders tried to emulate the Democratic-Republican tactics, but their overall disdain of democracy along with the upper class bias of the party leadership eroded public support. In the South, the Federalists steadily lost ground everywhere.
Jefferson administration
The Federalists continued for several years to be a major political party in New England and the Northeast, but never regained control of the Presidency or the Congress. With the death of Washington and Hamilton (the latter losing to Burr in a
duelAs practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines. In the modern application, the term is applied to aerial warfare between fighter pilots...
), and the retirement of Adams, the Federalists were left without a strong leader, and grew steadily weaker. A few younger leaders did appear, notably
Daniel WebsterDaniel Webster was a leading American statesman during the nation's Antebellum Period. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
. Federalist policies favored factories, banking, and trade over agriculture, and thus became unpopular in the growing Western states. They were increasingly seen as aristocratic and unsympathetic to democracy. In the South the party had lingering support in
MarylandMaryland is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east. It is comparable in size to the European country of Belgium. According to the U.S...
, but elsewhere was crippled by 1800 and faded away by 1808.
Massachusetts and Connecticut were the party strongholds. One historian explains how well organized the party was in Connecticut:
It was only necessary to perfect the working methods of the organized body of office-holders who made up the nucleus of the party. There were the state officers, the assistants, and a large majority of the Assembly. In every county there was a sheriff with his deputies. All of the state, county, and town judges were potential and generally active workers. Every town had several justices of the peace, school directors and, in Federalist towns, all the town officers who were ready to carry on the party's work. Every parish had a "standing agent," whose anathemas were said to convince at least ten voting deacons. Militia officers, state's attorneys, lawyers, professors and schoolteachers were in the van of this "conscript army." In all, about a thousand or eleven hundred dependent officer-holders were described as the inner ring which could always be depended upon for their own and enough more votes within their control to decide an election. This was the Federalist machine.
After 1800 the major Federalist role came in the judiciary. Although Jefferson managed to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801 and thus dismiss many Federalist judges, their effort to impeach Supreme Court Justice
Samuel ChaseSamuel Chase , was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryland. Early in life, Chase was a "firebrand" states-righter and revolutionary...
in 1804 failed. Led by the last great Federalist,
John MarshallJohn Marshall was an American statesman and jurist who shaped American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a center of power. Marshall was Chief Justice of the United States, serving from February 4, 1801, until his death in 1835...
as
Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States...
from 1801 to 1835, the Supreme Court carved out a unique and powerful role as the protector of the Constitution and promoter of nationalism.
President Jefferson imposed an embargo on Britain in 1807; the
Embargo Act of 1807The Embargo Act of 1807 was a bill that barred trade between the United States of America and other nations. It was created at the request of President Thomas Jefferson in an attempt to prevent American involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. The bill proved unpopular and unenforceable and was repealed...
prevented all American ships from sailing to a foreign port. The idea was that the British were so dependent on American supplies that they would come to terms. For 15 months the Embargo wrecked American export businesses, largely based in the Boston-New York region, causing a sharp depression in the Northeast. Evasion was common and Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Gallatin responded with tightened police controls more severe than anything the Federalists had ever proposed. Public opinion was highly negative, and a surge of support breathed fresh life into the Federalist party. The Republicans (slowly assuming the name "Democratic-Republicans") nominated Madison for the presidency in 1808. Federalists, meeting in the first-ever national convention, considered the option of nominating Vice President
George ClintonGeorge Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
as their own candidate, but balked at working with him and again chose
Charles Cotesworth PinckneyCharles Cotesworth Pinckney , was an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He was twice nominated by the Federalist Party as their presidential candidate, but he did not win either election.-Early life and...
, their 1804 candidate. Madison lost New England but swept the rest of the country and carried a (Democratic-)Republican Congress. Madison dropped the Embargo, opened up trade again, and offered a carrot and stick approach. If either France or Britain agreed to stop their violations of American neutrality, the U.S. would cut off trade with the other country. Tricked by Napoleon into believing France had acceded to his demands, Madison turned his wrath on Britain, and the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
began.
Madison administration
Thus the nation was at war during the
1812 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1812 took place in the shadow of the War of 1812. It featured an intriguing competition between incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison and a dissident Democratic-Republican, DeWitt Clinton, nephew of Madison's late Vice President. The...
, and war was the burning issue. In their second national convention, the Federalists — now the peace party — nominated
DeWitt ClintonDeWitt Clinton was an early American politician who served as United States Senator and Governor of New York. In this last capacity he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal...
, the dissident Democratic-Republican
mayor of New York CityThe Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The Mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
, and an articulate opponent of the war. Madison ran for reelection promising a relentless war against Britain and an honorable peace. Clinton, denouncing Madison's weak leadership and incompetent preparations for war, could count on New England and New York. To win he needed the middle states and there the campaign was fought out. Those states were competitive and had the best-developed local parties and most elaborate campaign techniques, including nominating conventions and formal
party platformA party platform, also known as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said party's candidates voted into office. This often takes the form of a list of support for, or opposition to, controversial...
s. The
Tammany SocietyTammany Hall , was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s...
in New York City went all out for Madison; the Federalists finally adopted the club idea in 1809. Their
Washington Benevolent SocietiesThe Washington Benevolent Societies were grass-roots political clubs set up 1800-1816 by the Federalist Party in the U.S. to electioneer for votes. They helped pioneer electioneering techniques in a democracy...
were semi-secret membership organizations which played a critical role in every northern state in holding meetings and rallies and mobilizing Federalist votes. New Jersey went for Clinton, but Madison carried Pennsylvania and thus was reelected with 59% of the Electoral votes.
Opposition to the War of 1812
The
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
went poorly for the Americans for two years. Even though Britain was concentrating its military efforts on its
war withThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
, the United States still failed to make any headway on land, and was effectively blockaded at sea by the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
. The British raided and burned
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
in 1814 and sent a force to capture
New OrleansNew Orleans is a major U.S. port and the largest city in the state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, the largest metro area in the state....
.
The war was especially unpopular in New England: the New England economy was highly dependent on trade, and the British blockade threatened to destroy it entirely. In 1814, the British finally managed to enforce their blockade on the New England coast, so the Federalists of New England sent delegates to the
Hartford ConventionThe Hartford Convention was an event in 1814–1815 in the United States during the War of 1812 in which New England's opposition to the war reached the point where secession from the United States was discussed...
in December 1814.
During the proceedings of the Hartford Convention, secession from the Union was discussed, though the resulting report listed a set of grievances against the Democratic-Republican federal government and proposed a set of Constitutional amendments to address these grievances. It also indicated that if these proposals were ignored, then another convention should be called and given "such powers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis may require". The Federalist Massachusetts Governor had already secretly sent word to England to broker a separate peace accord. Three Massachusetts "ambassadors" were sent to Washington to negotiate on the basis of this report.
By the time the Federalist "ambassadors" got to Washington, the war was over and news of
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . He was military governor of Florida , commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans , and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy...
's stunning victory in the
Battle of New OrleansThe Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815, and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory America had acquired with the Louisiana Purchase...
had raised American morale immensely. The "ambassadors" slunk back to Massachusetts, but not before they had done fatal damage to the Federalist Party. The Federalists were thereafter associated with the disloyalty and parochialism of the Hartford Convention, and destroyed as a political force. They fielded their last presidential candidate (
Rufus KingRufus King was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He also attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
) in 1816, and their last serious vice-presidential candidate (Richard Stockton) in 1820. With its passing partisan hatreds and newspaper feuds on the decline, the nation entered the "
Era of Good FeelingsThe Era of Good Feelings describes a period in United States political history in which partisan bitterness abated. The phrase was coined by Benjamin Russell, in the Boston newspaper, Columbian Centinel, on July 12, 1817, following the good-will visit to Boston of President James Monroe.- Overview...
", marked by the absence of all but one political party. After the dissolution of the
final Federalist congressional caucusThe Eighteenth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1825, during the last two years of...
in 1825, the last traces of Federalist activity came in
DelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named.Delaware is located in...
state politics in the late 1820s, where in 1826 Governor
Charles Polk, Jr.Charles Polk, Jr. was an American farmer and politician from Big Stone Beach, in Milford Hundred, Kent County, Delaware...
was elected, the last significant Federalist office holder in the United States, and as late as 1828 won control of the
legislatureThe Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 Senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 Representatives...
.
Interpretations
The Federalists were dominated by businessmen and merchants in the major cities who supported a strong national government. The party was closely linked to the modernizing, urbanizing, financial policies of Alexander Hamilton. These policies included the funding of the national debt and also assumption of state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War, the incorporation of a national
Bank of the United StatesThe First Bank of the United States was a bank chartered by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. The charter was for 20 years. The Bank was created to handle the financial needs and requirements of the central government of the newly formed United States, which had previously been...
, the support of manufactures and industrial development, and the use of a tariff to fund the Treasury. In foreign affairs the Federalists opposed the French Revolution, engaged in the "Quasi War" (an undeclared naval war) with France in 1798–99, sought good relations with Britain and sought a strong army and navy. Ideologically the controversy between Republicans and Federalists stemmed from a difference of principle and style. In terms of style the Federalists distrusted the public, thought the elite should be in charge, and favored national power over state power. Republicans distrusted Britain, bankers, merchants and did not want a powerful national government. The Federalists, notably Hamilton, were distrustful of "the people," the French, and the Republicans. In the end, the nation synthesized the two positions, adopting representative democracy and a strong nation state. Just as important American politics by the 1820s accepted the two-party system whereby rival parties stake their claims before the electorate, and the winner takes control of the government.
As time went on, the Federalists lost appeal with the average voter and were generally not equal to the tasks of party organization; hence, they grew steadily weaker as the political triumphs of the Republican Party grew. For economic and philosophical reasons, the Federalists tended to be pro-British – the United States engaged in more trade with
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
than with any other country – and vociferously opposed Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 and the seemingly deliberate provocation of war with Britain by the Madison Administration. During "Mr. Madison's War", as they called it, the Federalists attempted a comeback but the patriotic euphoria that followed the war undercut their pessimistic appeals.
After 1816 the Federalists had no national influence apart from
John MarshallJohn Marshall was an American statesman and jurist who shaped American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a center of power. Marshall was Chief Justice of the United States, serving from February 4, 1801, until his death in 1835...
's Supreme Court. They had some local support in New England, New York, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. After the collapse of the Democratic-Republican Party in the course of the 1824 presidential election, most surviving Federalists (including
Daniel WebsterDaniel Webster was a leading American statesman during the nation's Antebellum Period. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
) joined former Democratic-Republicans like
Henry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He served as Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829....
to form the
National Republican PartyThe National Republicans were a political party in the United States. The party, and its precursor factions of Adams supporters and Anti-Jacksonian politicians, existed from approximately 1825–1833....
, which was soon combined with other anti-Jackson groups to form the
Whig PartyThe Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from 1833 to 1856, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party...
. Some former Federalists like
James BuchananJames Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States from 1857–1861 and the last to be born in the 18th century...
and
Roger B. TaneyRoger Brooke Taney was the eleventh United States Attorney General. He also was the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864, and was the first Roman Catholic to hold that office. He is most remembered for delivering the majority opinion in...
became Jacksonian Democrats. The name "Federalist" came increasingly to be used in political rhetoric as a term of abuse, and was denied by the Whigs, who pointed out that their leader
Henry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. was a nineteenth-century American statesman and orator who represented Kentucky in both the House of Representatives and Senate. He served as Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829....
was the Democratic-Republican party leader in Congress during the 1810s.
The "Old Republicans," led by
John Randolph of RoanokeJohn Randolph , known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was a leader in Congress from Virginia and spokesman for the "Old Republican" or "Quids" faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that wanted to restrict the role of the federal government.-Biography:He was born at Cawsons, Virginia , he was the...
, refused to form a coalition with the Federalists and instead set up a separate opposition since Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin, Monroe,
John C. CalhounJohn Caldwell Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States and a leading Southern politician from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun was an advocate of slavery, states' rights, limited government, and nullification...
and Clay had in effect adopted Federalist principles by purchasing the Louisiana Territory, chartering the Second national bank, promoting internal improvements (like roads), raising tariffs to protect factories, and promoting a strong army and navy after the failures of the War of 1812.
See also
- List of political parties in the United States
- Democratic-Republican Party (United States)
The Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792. Supporters usually identified themselves as Republicans, but sometimes as Democrats. The term "Democratic Republican" was also used by contemporaries, but mostly by the party's opponents...
- First Party System
The First Party System is a term of periodization used by political scientists and historians to describe the political system existing in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824...
- Federalist Era
The Federalist Era was a time period in American history from roughly 1789-1801 when the Federalist Party was dominant in American politics. This period saw the adoption of the United States Constitution and the expansion of the federal government. In addition, the era saw the growth of a strong...
- Essex Junto
The Essex Junto was a group of lawyers and merchants from Essex County, Massachusetts. These Federalists supported Alexander Hamilton and the Massachusetts radicals. When Hamilton was offered a place in the plot to secede New England from the Union, he denied the offer. Consequently, the Essex...
- Blue light federalists
Blue-light Federalist was a derogatory term used by those who believed certain Federalists to have made friendly signals to British ships in the War of 1812 to warn the British of American blockade runners, the specific event supposedly happening in 1813, in New London, Connecticut, when Commodore...
External links