How the first two political parties develop

The first two political parties were the Federalists and the Republicans or the Democratic-Republicans. The conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton gave rise to the two political parties by polarizing factions on opposite political sides. The parties were shaped during the administration of the country's first President George Washington. Issues of disagreement arose from these two politicians in national government versus state government, views on the Constitution, the French Revolution, and Hamilton's economic plans. Through these developments two political parties came to rise and differ on the ratification of the Jay Treaty, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and foreign affairs. The Federalists were led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, while the Democratic-Republicans were led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Under the Washington administration Alexander Hamilton was the Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson was the Secretary of the State and had differing views on government, which fractured the government in two parties. Hamilton believed that the success of the new government depended on its economic stability, and as such favored full funding of the entire federal debt and the assumption of the states' debts by the federal government. The issues of funding and assumption, coupled with other major economic issues such as the charter of the Bank of the United States and an imposition of an excise tax on whiskey, began to divide the government. The opposition party, Democratic-Republicans were organized by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. On the other hand Jefferson who fronted for the Republicans said that Hamilton's economic plans were a scheme to subvert the State governments. Jefferson also didn't believe in the idea of a national bank because he felt it was not necessary and this would profit the rich investors, who were not the base of America. Jefferson thought that the small farmer and agriculture was the base of America. Hamilton and Jefferson had two different opinions on how the government should be run, which was part of the development of these parties. Hamilton and Jefferson's views were completely different on what kind of power of the government had. Hamilton believed in a strong central government with supreme power over the state government to control commerce, taxation, the ability to declare war, and the making of treaties. He favored an industrialized nation and favored a protective tariff and a national bank. Hamilton favored a constitution that would be interpreted broadly, loose construction, so the national government would have more powers as needed. Jefferson thought that the national government's powers should be limited and the supreme power is held in the state governments because it was the states' rights. He believed that the people were the final authority and this would be shown through direct representation of the people in the state government. Jefferson thought that the stability of the new government relied on America's agriculture,and that the United States should be a agrarian nation with most of it's industrial products purchased from Great Britain or other European nations. Jefferson believed in strict construction of the Constitution, meaning that the government could only do what the Constitution specifically says. This was the basic philosophical issue between the two parties that wouldn't be solved until the Cvil War. Philosophies did change though in America when the French Revolution occurred and Britain was brought in the middle of it. When the French Revolution began in May of 1789 the United States was for the revolution because they modeled America's revolution. Things changed though in 1793 when Britain is brought into conflict between them and France and the United States had to choose a side. The 1778 alliance was a permanent alliance, where the United States were suppose to send war ships to protect the French West Indies. Hamilton, who favored the British, wanted Washington to proclaim neutrality and get rid of the alliance. While Jefferson, who had great affirmation for France, wanted to use the alliance as a threat against Britain to get them out of the Northwest. But Washington sides with Hamilton showing the Federalist in him and this was another crack in the wall that helped develop the division into new political facets. Another controversial topic that Hamilton and Jefferson argued about was the Jay Treaty and its relations with foreign affairs.

Under the Jay Treaty it stated that British troops would evacuate a chain of posts on American soil and would pay for damages for recent seizures of American ships. However the treaty never stated that Britain would stop the seizing of American ships in the future and the British decided that the Americans still owed British merchants for pre-revolutionary war debts. The Federalists saw the treaty as beneficial because it bettered relations with Britain. This led Hamilton and the Federalists to develop it's party around the idea of keeping close ties with Britain. While in the eyes of Jefferson it wasn't a beneficial treaty because it wasn't in favor with French relations, who Jefferson and the Republicans supported in foreign affairs. Also the Republicans saw this treaty as an attempt to unload cheap British imports into the American market. This was a further development to the foreign affairs and which party supported which country. The Alien and Sedition Acts were another facet of disagreeing views between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. Now that political parties have formed and each had the desire to gain the upper hand the Alien and Sedition Acts were formed. While a Federalist president, John Adams, was in office with a Congress dominated by Federalists the formation of the Alien and Sedition Acts came to being. The Alien Act said that the government can deport any alien who they felt were a threat in a time of war. The Neutralization Act extended the number of years someone had to live in America before they became a citizen, it went from six years to fourteen years. The Sedition Act stated that anyone who criticizes the United States government or the President is a crime and would be punished. The Federalists wrote up and passed these acts to try to prevent the support of Republican growth, to silence Anti-Federalist, and limit criticism of Federalist officials. This was because many immigrants were very poor and would've voted for Republicans in the upcoming election. Republicans were completely opposed because they thought it was a threat to citizen's individual liberties. Jefferson and Madison were extremely outraged and wrote up the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions to criticize the acts, the doctrine of nullification was first explain in these documents. In the Resolutions it pronounced that the states had the right to deem an act unconstitutional, and define the theory of nullification that the states have a right within their borders to nullify a federal law if they believed the law to be unconstitutional. This development of the acts and the Republican's repercussions to the acts brought great distain between the parties and brought about a close election of 1800. The Alien and Sedition Acts were made to try to stunt the growth of support of Democratic-Republicans, but the political group had many other supports then just immigrants. The political parties differed in support from people in America. The Hamilton and the Federalists were supported by merchants, bankers, and manufacturers. While Jefferson and the Republicans were supported by the southern planters, small farmers, and northern laborers. This led to a very specific division of the "rich, well-born, and able" supported the Federalists, and the "common man" supported Republicans. There were different regional support of each party also, the Federalists were supported by the New England region and the Republicans were supported the the South and the West regions. The Mid-Atlantic states moved from largely Federalist supports to Republican supports after 1798. This developed the parties to grow further apart in ideology of what was best for their country, being industry for the Federalists and farming for the Republicans. The two groups also supported different foreign policies and affairs. The Federalist were in favor of the British, and Republicans were in favor of the French. This brought great tension between the parties when France and Britain were at war with each other. The conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton largely gave rise to the political parties Democratic-Republicans and Federalists. Through their opposing views on Hamilton's economic plans, their interpretations of the Constitution, Jay's Treaty, and their views on foreign policies fractured the government into two factions. These disagreements shaped and developed the United States first political party system.