Federalists Vs. Republicans

Federalists and Republicans

The United States Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788, taking effect in 1789. The supporters of the Constitution were called Federalists; the opponents were called Anti-Federalists; later to be known as Republicans. Disagreements over the constitution led to the split of political parties as well as key events. But first what are the key differences between Federalists and republicans? And what effect did Jay's treaty and the XYZ affair had on shaping political parties?

Federalists are unified around the constitution and support Alexander Hamilton's policies of a strong nationalist government. They also support loose construction of the constitution and favor mercantile economic policies. Tragically the federalists party reached its climax when john Adams was in office; but later dwindled after Adams defeat in the election of 1800. Later the death of john Adams leads to the decline of the Federalist Party. The Republican Party founed in 1792 by Jefferson and James Madison. Was created in order to oppose the polices of Hamilton and his federalist party. They supported a strict construction interpretation of the constitution, and disagreed with Hamilton on almost anything he said; mainly because they believed it to be unconstitutional. The republicans unlike the federalist favored farming and agriculture over mercantile economic policies. After the decline of the Federalist Party after 1800 the republicans became the majority.

Jay's treaty was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with stopping a potential war between the two. It was aimed at solving the issues that haven't been solved since the revolution. It was written by Alexander Hamilton, john jay, and was supported by George Washington. It was aimed at removing British troops, war debts, and trade. The treaty was strongly disliked by the republicans because they feared closer economic ties with Britain would strengthen Hamilton's Federalist Party. And promote aristocracy. But the treaty was passed which lead to the formation of the first party system in the u.s. with the federalist favoring Britain and the Jeffersonian republicans favoring France.

The XYZ Affair took place between 1797 and 1798, during the administration of John Adams, that Americans interpreted message from France as an insult. It led to an undeclared naval war called the Quasi-War, which raged at sea from 1798 to 1800. The Federalist Party took advantage of the national anger to build an army and pass the Alien and Sedition Acts to damage the Republican Party. The Republican Party opposed the war because they were in favor of France; And feared that the Federalist Party had gained too much power. The XYZ affair helped to farther more shape Americans political parties.

The issues that led to the formation of the federalist and republican