Hamilton and Jefferson Fued

Launching the New Nation Part 3

• From the very beginning of Washington’s first term, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton disagreed on the direction the nation should take.

• Hamilton wanted a strong central government. He also called for an economy that helped trade and industry. Jefferson wanted a weak central government.

• The industrial North backed Hamilton. The merchant class wanted a government that would offer economic stability and growth.

• Jefferson also wanted an economy that favored farmers. He felt that farmers and planters were going to bare the brunt of the taxes to aid bondholders and financiers in the cities.

• The differences between Hamilton and Jefferson led to the nation’s first political parties. Hamilton and supporters of a strong central government were called Federalists.

• Jefferson believed these Federalists were warping the Constitution and subverting the rights of the common man. His party, the Anti Federalists favored the States retaining more power over the lives of their citizens. This party would come to be known as the Democratic-Republicans or the Jeffersonian Republicans.

• Members of Congress soon began to take sides. As they did their political philosophies developed. These groups (Federalists and Democratic-Republicans) served as the basis for the nation’s two-party system. Under this system, two main political parties compete for power.