Alexander Hamilton, The Federalists, And The Democratic-Republican Party

George Washington was indispensable in launching the U.S government. Although many opposed his political views at the time, Washington's leadership capabilities were unquestionable after his victory in the American Revolution. Our victory over Great Britain would have been doubtful if not for Washington and his judgement. Before becoming president, Washington led in drafting the Constitution, which is the foundation of America. When he became president, Washington believed in unity and a strong central power.

In Federalist Paper number one Alexander Hamilton states, “History will teach us…” He conveys what he is trying to say using words like despotism, emolument, obsequious, and demagogues. In an excerpt Hamilton says, “...their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.” In other words some of the people supporting the constitution are only doing it because they think it will increase their economical and political status and that it is hard to separate those people from the ones who actually believe in the constitution. It’s hard to separate them because they

Politicians for two hundred years have invoked the Founding Fathers to defend their beliefs. It is understandable that as a society we place figures like Washington, Franklin and Jefferson on a pedestal, they were key figures in the United States achieving its independence. Implying that the Founding Fathers ideas were in concurrence with each other though is something that is erroneously done far too often. These men, while intellectual giants in their own right, found little common ground on public policy. Heated debates, slander, and disagreement are as defining of the construction of the country as anything.

In Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Philip Mazzei, he describes the “Aristocratic Party”, he points out the shift of the people in power. He recounts how the ruling body is now mostly controlled by men who don’t support republican ideals, these are the federalist. They are shifting the away from what the war was trying to achieve and instead looking towards Britain. Only the legislative branch still holds the ideals of the revolution and the need for liberty. While the rest of the ruling party forgot what they were fighting for and many were enticed by the treacherous British.

The Federalist Party was one of the first political parties in the new nation, the other being the Democratic-Republican party (also known as the Anti-Federalists). Hamilton’s political party went on to split into the Democratic and Whig parties in the 1820s. The Whig party’s early leaders were believers in Jeffersonian democracy. The idea of factionalism within politics has stretched from the administration of George Washington to the present day (“Federalist Party” 1). The entire political system of the United States would not be the same without the existence of political parties and separate schools of

Alexander Hamilton was a founding father of the United States, chief staff aide to George Washington, and one of the most influential interpreters of the U.S. Constitution. After the American Revolution, Hamilton believed it was necessary to eradicate the debt we owed, and to establish a nationally flowing currency to continue taking in revenue. Thomas Jefferson also believed the national debt should be eliminated. Jefferson, like Hamilton, was a founding father. He also wrote The Declaration of Independence, and was the third president of the United States.

In the early stages of our country, Alexander Hamilton played a key role in developing a unified government which portrayed the early republican conservative values. He aspired to abolish slavery in support of human freedoms, as did many of his colleagues. However his ideas regarding the new government did not gain their full support. Hamilton was not unknown for his political theories; he was a practical man who was able to articulate his ideas into practice. Alexander Hamilton’s ideas of government were morally realistic, grounded in the belief that people prioritized themselves above all else; people are selfish.

This rings true with the presidential election of the 1800’s between republican Thomas Jefferson and federalist John Adam’s. Each felt that if the other was elected that the America that they knew would erupt in a civil war. Although they were once allies and collaborated on the establishment of the Declaration of Independence for the new Americas, during this election they couldn’t see eye to eye due to each other’s political views. The federalist favored a centralized system and form of government with urban manufacturing while the democratic- republican wanted to reduce national power and empower the states while supporting an agrarian society. One of the unique things about the elections of that time was that there were no running mates, the man who came in second got to be vice president, which means your vice president was actually the same person who would be fighting against you in the election.

It is understood that John Locke played a key role of influence on Thomas Jefferson. This influence can be seen through Jefferson’s writing on the nation’s founding document. This document is called the Declaration of Independence. John Locke, the English Enlightenment philosopher wrote his Two Treatises of Government to refute the belief that kings ruled by divine right and to support the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (Doc 1). This piece of political philosophy provided many explanations for the people’s rights and obligations to overthrow a corrupt government.

Historian Allan Mitchell writes that Bonapartism was “a model for Bismarckian politics”. There is evidence that shows that Bismarck was indeed influenced by the way Napoleon III ruled in a fast changing society racked by tension between bourgeoisie and proletariat. Historian classify Bismarckism as Bonapartist as he never founded his own political movement and avoided becoming dependant on retaining confidence of the monarchy. Furthermore, there were some smaller German states that agreed with “Bonapartism” as they saw it as a desire to revise in a reactionary sense the constitution given in 1848. This is significant as Bismarck would have needed to appeal to all German states any by incorporating Bonapartist views into his policy he would be appealing to the smaller states, which in turn would support