Governmental Parties essays

Governmental Parties essays The Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties fought for control over the government in the early 1800s. Although these two parties had great differences, they each had many supporters. Hamilton led the Federalist Party. The wealthy people made up the majority or his party's followers, and the businessmen in the cities made up the rest. They were called Hamiltonians. These people lived mostly in the eastern part of the union. On the other hand, Jefferson was the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party. Jeffersonians, or Jefferson's followers, were the common or middle class people. A larger number of these people lived in the west, in the newly settled lands. At this point in history, the Democratic-Republican Party was better suited to govern the states. The union needed a weak central government to allow the nation to grow. The government had to be governed by the people, and with a weak central government, they could have representation in it. Local affairs in the states could be handled easier if the states had a lot of power. The people were afraid of a tyranny or a dictatorship, and felt the central government should be weakened. A strict interpretation of the Constitution was needed in order to weaken the central government. Under the Federalists' rule, the government played partisan politics. The Federalists cared only about strengthening their party. One of the Presidents of this party was Adams. He passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in order to strengthen his party. The Sedition Act said that anyone who spoke against the government could be heavily fined and imprisoned. This directly contradicted the First Amendment of the Constitution. The alien Act dealt with immigrants. It said that immigrants would have to reside in the states for fourteen years to become citizens. Once Jefferson took office, he decided to go against some of his beliefs. Since it was in the best interest of the country. H...