160 Chapter 5 The Federalist Era: Nationalism Triumphant
emerged after the ratification of a Constitution that
made no provision for such organizations is a ques-
tion that has long intrigued historians. Probably the
main reason was the obvious one: By creating a
strong central government the Constitution pro-
duced national issues and a focus on national discus-
sion and settlement of these issues. Furthermore, by
failing to create machinery for nominating candidates
for federal offices, the Constitution left a vacuum,
which informal party organizations filled. That the
universally admired Washington headed the govern-
ment was a force limiting partisanship, but his princi-
pal advisers, Hamilton and Jefferson, were in sharp
disagreement, and they soon became the leaders
around which parties coalesced.
In the spring of 1791 Jefferson and James
Madison began to sound out other politicians about
forming an informal political organization. Jefferson
also appointed the poet Philip Freneau to a minor state
department post and Freneau then began publishing a
newspaper, theNational Gazette, to disseminate the
views of what became known as the Republican party.
The Gazette was soon describing Jefferson as a
“Colossus of Liberty” and flailing away editorially at
Hamilton’s policies. Hamilton hit back promptly,
organizing his own followers in the Federalist party,
the organ of which was John Fenno’sGazette of the
United States.
The personal nature of early American political
controversies goes far toward explaining why the party
battles of the era were so bitter. So does the continu-
ing anxiety that plagued partisans of both persuasions
about the supposed frailty of a republican govern-
ment. The United States was still very much an exper-
iment; leaders who sincerely proclaimed their own
devotion to its welfare suspected that their opponents
wanted to undermine its institutions. Federalists
feared that the Jeffersonians sought a dictatorship
based on “mob rule,” and Republicans feared that the
Hamiltonians hid “under the mask of Federalism
hearts devoted to monarchy.”
At the start Hamilton had the ear of the presi-
dent, and his allies controlled a majority in Congress.
Jefferson, who disliked controversy, avoided a direct
confrontation as long as he could. He went along
with Hamilton’s funding plan and traded the assump-
tion of state debts for a capital on the Potomac.
However, when Hamilton proposed the Bank of the
United States, he dug in his heels. It seemed designed
to benefit the northeastern commercial classes at the
expense of southern and western farmers. He sensed a
dastardly plot to milk the producing masses for the
benefit of a few capitalists.
The growing controversy over the French
Revolution and the resulting war between France and
Great Britain widened the split between the parties.
After the radicals in France executed Louis XVI and
instituted the Reign of Terror, American conserva-
tives were horrified. The Jeffersonians were also
deeply shocked. However, they continued to defend
the Revolution. Great southern landlords whose
French counterparts were losing their estates—some
their heads—extolled “the glorious successes of our
Gallic brethren.” In the same way the Federalists
began to idealize the British, whom they considered
the embodiment of the forces that were resisting
French radicalism.
This created an explosive situation. Enthusiasm
for a foreign country might tempt Americans, all
unwittingly, to betray their own. Hamilton came to
believe that Jefferson was so prejudiced in favor of
France as to be unable to conduct foreign affairsAfter 1791 farmers in western Pennsylvania, outraged over Hamilton’s tax on liquor, rose up in rebellion against tax collectors. Their banners
included the slogan of the French revolutionaries: “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity!” Washington crushed the rebellion in 1794.