Hunter Winstead

Hunter Winstead

Mr. Fogg

11 October 2011

3rd Period

The First Parties

During the administration of Presidents Washington and Adams, the dilemmas which led to the evolution of the first party systems were geographical discrimination, differences in constitutional interpretations, and differences in leadership and war strategies.

Geographical discrimination played a major role in the evolution of the first party systems. This discrimination was divided according to the views between the North and the South. The Northern states were primarily federalist and supported the views of Alexander Hamilton while the Southern States were primarily Democratic-Republicans supporting the views of Thomas Jefferson. This division was because of the different lifestyles between the North and South, for instance the South consisted of mostly farmers and the North consisted of mostly manufacturers who want big money and a big government.

The different interpretations of the Constitution between the North and South were also a reason for the establishment of the first parties. The southern states, being Democratic-Republicans, had a very strict interpretation of the Constitution based on the views of Thomas Jefferson. The northern states, being Federalists, had a much looser interpretation of the Constitution based on the views of Alexander Hamilton. It was this interpretation difference that assisted the differentiation of the northern and southern states.

The last problem that led to the creation of the first parties was the differences of in leadership and war strategy. The Democratic-Republicans were definitely more in favor of going to war. For example, they had an extreme drive to go to war and assist France with their revolution. They believed they should assist the French in their revolution just as the French assisted them in the American Revolution. The Federalists were more passive it seemed and believed in being neutral with regards to the French revolution. They, along with Washington, believed they were too busy with their own problems to assist another country at this time.

The problems of geographical discrimination, differences in Constitutional interpretation, and differences in war strategy and leadership were all explicit reasons for the creation and establishment of the first American political parties. These problems were also the first signs of great separation between the North and the South and eventually lead to further dilemmas in the United States.