The Federalist Party, along with the Democratic-Republican Party, was one of the first two political parties in the United States, and hence in the world. It arose in the executive and congressional branches of government during George Washington's first administration (1789–1793) and dominated the government until John Adams's failed bid for reelection to the presidency in 1800. After that, the party never again held the White House, although it continued as a force in Congress until after the War of 1812, and in some states until the 1820s. Its remaining members then joined both the Democratic and Whig parties.
Among leading Federalist figures such as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and John Marshall, George Washington was the greatest. Although he disdained political parties and disclaimed party loyalty, his policies and inclinations were those of a Federalist. The party's leading men had headed the movement in 1787 for a new, more effective constitution. Yet because their eventual opponents, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, had also backed the constitution and joined the government formed under it, Federalists cannot be considered direct descendants of the pro-constitution group, who were also called "federalists," of the 1780s. The Federalist Party, like its opposition, arose under fresh conditions around fresh issues in the 1790s.
The Federalist Party attracted those who wanted to strengthen national power by establishing a national banking system, protecting American commerce, exercising authority over the states, and employing military might against both domestic and foreign threats. The party's style was generally elitist, and its leaders opposed the spread of political and social democracy. Its centers of power were the commercial northeast, Delaware, parts of Virginia and North Carolina, and South Carolina. But it never appealed to slave-owning plantation owners or small farmers in the South and West. Its policies, ideology, and geographic limitations led to its defeats and demise.
The party formed around the successful 1790 proposals of Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary, that the federal government assume the states' revolutionary war debts, pay those debts at par rather than at their depressed market value, and charter a national bank. Secretary of State Jefferson and Congressman Madison led opposition to the plan. But it was only when the administration ordered troops to quell the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794 and later when Congress debated the ratification and implementation of Jay's treaty with Great Britain in 1795 and 1796 that two political parties took public shape. With Hamilton's leadership, the Federalist Party became champion of a strong national government under executive leadership and judicial oversight, firm links with Britain, opposition to the French Revolution (or at least to a foreign policy that might favor France), and internal order imposed if necessary by military force. The classic statement of the party's philosophy, prepared with Hamilton's help, was Washington's celebrated Farewell Address of 1796 that deplored partisan division and urged avoidance of all permanent alliances with foreign powers (a veiled attack on the 1778 wartime alliance, still in force, with France). Washington's views now became firm party doctrine.
Succeeding Washington as an avowed Federalist in 1797, vice president John Adams became the first person to gain the presidency as a partisan. Adams at first maintained Washington's cabinet and policies. Adams engaged the United States in an undeclared naval war with France, the nation's first external military action since the revolution. Adams also supported the infamous Alien and Sedition acts after congressional Federalists, gaining control of both the House and Senate in the 1798 elections, introduced them. This marked the apogee of Federalist power.
A public storm greeted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which curbed free speech and made immigrants suspect. Also weakening the party, Hamilton's wing attacked Adams's priorities when in 1799 Adams opened negotiations with France to end the quasi war. The Hamiltonians finally broke with Adams when he reorganized his cabinet with men under his own control. Despite these actions, which Adams took in part to shore up his own political position, they were not enough to gain Adams's reelection. Before leaving office, however, he concluded peace with France and secured confirmation in the Senate of John Marshall, his choice for chief justice. While the party never regained the presidency, Marshall's court embedded its principals in constitutional law.
Now in the minority, Federalists at last accepted the need to create a system of state party organizations and democratic electoral tactics to parallel those of the Democratic-Republicans. Even so, they became in effect a sectional minority party whose greatest strength was now found in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. By opposing Jefferson's popular 1803 purchase of Louisiana as too costly in funds and dangerous to northern influence in government, the party again lost to Jefferson in 1804.
The presidential defeat and Hamilton's death the same year threatened to derail the party permanently. But Jefferson's 1807 embargo on all foreign trade revived it, although the party's candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, could not defeat Madison for the presidency the next year. Not even Madison's declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, when Federalists carried New York, New Jersey, and much of Maryland as well as its normal New England strongholds, could help the Federalist Party regain the presidency.
When Federalists followed up their opposition to declaring war with outright obstruction of the war effort, their newfound popularity quickly waned. The Hartford Convention of 1814, unjustly accused of secessionist and treasonous intentions, was a setback from which the party never recovered. Rufus King carried only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware against James Monroe in 1816.
After that, the party never regained a national following. By 1828 it became the first American political party to die out because it could not adjust to an increasingly democratic national spirit, especially in the nation's towns and cities. And among most Americans, mainly farmers suspicious of government, its policies of strong federal involvement in the economy kept it un-popular. Inconsistency in its stance toward military action (first undertaking a naval war with France, then treating for peace with that same nation, then actively opposing war with Britain) made the Federalist Party's true intentions suspect and laid it open to charges that it was nothing but an opposition party without consistent foreign or military policies of its own and was unwilling to defend the national interest.
Yet the party's contributions to the nation were extraordinary. Its principles were the foundations of the new government. Its leaders defined a national economy, created the judicial system, and gave voice to enduring principles of American foreign policy, chief among them a wariness of involvement in troubles overseas.
Among leading Federalist figures such as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and John Marshall, George Washington was the greatest. Although he disdained political parties and disclaimed party loyalty, his policies and inclinations were those of a Federalist. The party's leading men had headed the movement in 1787 for a new, more effective constitution. Yet because their eventual opponents, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, had also backed the constitution and joined the government formed under it, Federalists cannot be considered direct descendants of the pro-constitution group, who were also called "federalists," of the 1780s. The Federalist Party, like its opposition, arose under fresh conditions around fresh issues in the 1790s.
The Federalist Party attracted those who wanted to strengthen national power by establishing a national banking system, protecting American commerce, exercising authority over the states, and employing military might against both domestic and foreign threats. The party's style was generally elitist, and its leaders opposed the spread of political and social democracy. Its centers of power were the commercial northeast, Delaware, parts of Virginia and North Carolina, and South Carolina. But it never appealed to slave-owning plantation owners or small farmers in the South and West. Its policies, ideology, and geographic limitations led to its defeats and demise.
The party formed around the successful 1790 proposals of Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary, that the federal government assume the states' revolutionary war debts, pay those debts at par rather than at their depressed market value, and charter a national bank. Secretary of State Jefferson and Congressman Madison led opposition to the plan. But it was only when the administration ordered troops to quell the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794 and later when Congress debated the ratification and implementation of Jay's treaty with Great Britain in 1795 and 1796 that two political parties took public shape. With Hamilton's leadership, the Federalist Party became champion of a strong national government under executive leadership and judicial oversight, firm links with Britain, opposition to the French Revolution (or at least to a foreign policy that might favor France), and internal order imposed if necessary by military force. The classic statement of the party's philosophy, prepared with Hamilton's help, was Washington's celebrated Farewell Address of 1796 that deplored partisan division and urged avoidance of all permanent alliances with foreign powers (a veiled attack on the 1778 wartime alliance, still in force, with France). Washington's views now became firm party doctrine.
Succeeding Washington as an avowed Federalist in 1797, vice president John Adams became the first person to gain the presidency as a partisan. Adams at first maintained Washington's cabinet and policies. Adams engaged the United States in an undeclared naval war with France, the nation's first external military action since the revolution. Adams also supported the infamous Alien and Sedition acts after congressional Federalists, gaining control of both the House and Senate in the 1798 elections, introduced them. This marked the apogee of Federalist power.
A public storm greeted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which curbed free speech and made immigrants suspect. Also weakening the party, Hamilton's wing attacked Adams's priorities when in 1799 Adams opened negotiations with France to end the quasi war. The Hamiltonians finally broke with Adams when he reorganized his cabinet with men under his own control. Despite these actions, which Adams took in part to shore up his own political position, they were not enough to gain Adams's reelection. Before leaving office, however, he concluded peace with France and secured confirmation in the Senate of John Marshall, his choice for chief justice. While the party never regained the presidency, Marshall's court embedded its principals in constitutional law.
Now in the minority, Federalists at last accepted the need to create a system of state party organizations and democratic electoral tactics to parallel those of the Democratic-Republicans. Even so, they became in effect a sectional minority party whose greatest strength was now found in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. By opposing Jefferson's popular 1803 purchase of Louisiana as too costly in funds and dangerous to northern influence in government, the party again lost to Jefferson in 1804.
The presidential defeat and Hamilton's death the same year threatened to derail the party permanently. But Jefferson's 1807 embargo on all foreign trade revived it, although the party's candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, could not defeat Madison for the presidency the next year. Not even Madison's declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, when Federalists carried New York, New Jersey, and much of Maryland as well as its normal New England strongholds, could help the Federalist Party regain the presidency.
When Federalists followed up their opposition to declaring war with outright obstruction of the war effort, their newfound popularity quickly waned. The Hartford Convention of 1814, unjustly accused of secessionist and treasonous intentions, was a setback from which the party never recovered. Rufus King carried only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware against James Monroe in 1816.
After that, the party never regained a national following. By 1828 it became the first American political party to die out because it could not adjust to an increasingly democratic national spirit, especially in the nation's towns and cities. And among most Americans, mainly farmers suspicious of government, its policies of strong federal involvement in the economy kept it un-popular. Inconsistency in its stance toward military action (first undertaking a naval war with France, then treating for peace with that same nation, then actively opposing war with Britain) made the Federalist Party's true intentions suspect and laid it open to charges that it was nothing but an opposition party without consistent foreign or military policies of its own and was unwilling to defend the national interest.
Yet the party's contributions to the nation were extraordinary. Its principles were the foundations of the new government. Its leaders defined a national economy, created the judicial system, and gave voice to enduring principles of American foreign policy, chief among them a wariness of involvement in troubles overseas.
Banner, James M., Jr. "Federalist Party." Americans at War. Ed. John P. Resch. Vol. 1: 1500-1815. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 65-67. U.S. History in Context. Web. 10 June 2015.