Two political parties know as the Federalists and Republicans began in the United States. Alexander Hamilton led the Federalists. Thomas Jefferson led the Republicans. Each of the parties argued over the policy and future of the United States. Each of the parties had different views on the way our country should be ran. Many of their points were argued between each other. .
One of the many issues the two parties argued was who should have power. The Republicans felt they, as the people, should have power. Republicans consisted of small farmers, craft workers, and some wealth planters. Since the population included most of these people, they felt they should be the ones making the decisions. The Federalists felt differently, they felt only the wealthy and well educated should lead the nation. .
The two leaders also disagreed over the National Bank of the United States. Jefferson had many worries that a national bank would give to much power to the federal government. It would also give too much power to the wealthy investors who helped run it. Jefferson brought up the fact that the law creating the bank was unconstitutional. He stated that nowhere did the Constitution give Congress the power to create a bank. Hamilton viewed the Constitution loosely and felt that they should give the Federal government more power of the National bank. .
A third issue also brought up was government. Hamilton wanted to have greater power as a federal government than the state government. He argued that a strong federal government would also have the power needed to restrain mobs. An example of this would be the protestors of the Whiskey Rebellion. Jefferson hoped to make the government as small as possible. This would allow citizens the freedom to act as they pleased. He had many fears that a strong federal government might take over powers that the Constitution had given to the states. .
Both of the two parties played a major role in the election of George Washington.
