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place of a league of states; but it created also, for the first time in America, a theater
for popular politics on a national stage.
To the constitution itself there was no basic opposition. Those who had argued
against it in 1787, while the argument was open, accepted it in good faith after its
ratification, and after adoption of the first ten amendments to protect individual
and state rights. Here again the difference from France and its sister- republics was
pronounced. The divisions that formed in the 1790’s did not prolong earlier differ-
ences over the constitution itself. That the anti- Federalists were unfriendly to the
new constitution was an empty accusation; the chief founder of the Republican
party, James Madison, was himself one of the authors of the new federal docu-
ment, and co- author with Hamilton of the Federalist papers. If Madison and Jef-
ferson, in 1798, toyed with ideas of “nullification,” it was Hamilton and the High
Federalists who, under pressure, were tempted by the thought of scrapping the
constitution altogether. As the constitution itself was not a party issue, neither was
“democracy” in the mere sense of the extent of the suffrage. The issue, as it devel-
oped, was the activation of voters whose right to the suffrage was not in question.
As the decade passed, more men already qualified to vote actually voted.
At first, in 1790 and 1791, there was only Hamilton’s program, and the opposi-
tion to it. Or rather, there were Hamilton’s various measures, and sporadic critiques
in which different individuals, in the new Congress and outside it, objected to
some of these measures while accepting others. Hamilton, supported by Washing-
ton, took the view that the opposition was opposition to government itself. Since
no parties of modern kind yet existed, nor was the idea or need of them even rec-
ognized, the issues soon took on larger dimensions, becoming a question of the
propriety of opposition itself, or the right of citizens to disagree with, criticize, and
work against public officials. In addition, Hamilton’s plans required good relations
with England. It may be that at this time, in the aftermath of the American Revo-
lution, a dislike of England, or rather of its government and social institutions, was
a more positive and more popular sentiment in America than was affection for
France. With France the alliance of 1778 was still in effect, and there were memo-
ries of French aid in the late war with England; but what aroused fellow- feeling in
America was the French Revolution, since the French declaration of rights, the
new constitution, and the vocabulary of debate, vindicating liberty against tyrants,
and equality against privilege, echoed what had been heard in America for some
time. When Adams and Hamilton spoke out against the French Revolution, they
aroused others all the more fiercely to its defense. A feeling spread that the French
Revolution was a continuation of the American, and that the American Revolu-
tion itself was endangered, or unfinished.
In America, as in England and Europe, the year 1792 was a turning point. The
war was seen by some as an outburst of militant and destructive revolutionary cru-
sading, and by others, probably far more numerous, as a defense against a brutal
intervention in French affairs by a league of aristocrats and despots. The proclama-
tion of the French Republic was seen by some as a piece of madness and violence,
and by others, far more numerous, as the dawn in Europe of a light first seen in
America. The French victories at Valmy and Jemappes were enthusiastically hailed.
On February 1, 1793, the French declared war against England; they were now