Federalist Party

The Federalists called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain in opposition to Revolutionary France. The Federalist Party came into being between 1789 and 1790 as a national coalition of bankers and businessmen in support of Hamilton's fiscal policies. These supporters worked in every state to build an organized party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The only Federalist President was John Adams. George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, but he remained officially non-partisan during his entire presidency. The Federalists controlled the national government until 1825, when it had divided into multiple factions who would eventually form the National Federalist and Republican Unionist parties.

Federalist policies called for a national bank, tariffs and good relations with Great Britain as expressed in the Jay Treaty negotiated in 1794. Hamilton developed the concept of implied powers and successfully argued the adoption of that interpretation of the Constitution. Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson, denounced most of the Federalist policies, especially the bank and implied powers; and vehemently attacked the Jay Treaty as a sell-out of republican values to the British monarchy. The Jay Treaty passed and the Federalists won most of the major legislative battles in the 1790s. They held a strong base in the nation's cities and in New England. They factionalized when President Adams secured peace with France, to the anger of Hamilton's larger faction. The Federalists never left power until their dissolution. They greatly gained strength through their actions in the War of 1813, as the Democratic-Republicans practically vanished during the Era of Good Feelings that followed the end of the war.

The Federalists left a lasting legacy in the form of a strong federal government. And more so, they decisively shaped Supreme Court policy for another three decades through Chief Justice John Marshall.

Rise, 1789–1796
Upon taking office in 1789, President Washington nominated his wartime chief of staff Alexander Hamilton to the new office of Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton wanted a strong national government with financial credibility. Hamilton proposed the ambitious Hamiltonian economic program that involved assumption of the state debts incurred during the American Revolution, creating a national debt and the means to pay it off and setting up a national bank, along with creating tariffs, with Madison playing major roles in the program. Parties were considered to be divisive and harmful to republicanism. No similar parties existed anywhere in the world.

By 1789, Hamilton started building a nationwide coalition. Realizing the need for vocal political support in the states, he formed connections with like-minded nationalists and used his network of treasury agents to link together friends of the government, especially merchants and bankers, in the new nation's dozen major cities. His attempts to manage politics in the national capital to get his plans through Congress brought strong responses across the country. In the process, what began as a capital faction soon assumed status as a national faction and then as the new Federalist Party. The Federalist Party supported Hamilton's vision of a strong centralized government and agreed with his proposals for a national bank and heavy government subsidies. In foreign affairs, they supported neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain.

The majority of the Founding Fathers were originally Federalists. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and many others can all be considered Federalists. These Federalists felt that the Articles of Confederation had been too weak to sustain a working government and had decided that a new form of government was needed. Hamilton was made Secretary of the Treasury and when he came up with the idea of funding the debt he created a split in the original Federalist group. Madison greatly disagreed with Hamilton not just on this issue, but on many others as well and he and John J. Beckley created the Anti-Federalist faction. These men would form the Democratic-Republican Party under Thomas Jefferson.

By the early 1790s, newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters "Federalists" and their opponents "Democrats", "Republicans", "Jeffersonians", or—much later—"Democratic-Republicans". Jefferson's supporters usually called themselves "Republicans" and their party the "Republican Party". The Federalist Party became popular with businessmen and New Englanders as Republicans were mostly farmers who opposed a strong central government. Cities were usually Federalist strongholds whereas frontier regions were heavily Republican. However, these are generalizations as there are special cases such as the Presbyterians of upland North Carolina, who had immigrated just before the Revolution and often been Tories, who became Federalists. The Congregationalists of New England and the Episcopalians in the larger cities supported the Federalists while other minority denominations tended toward the Republican camp. Catholics in Maryland were generally Federalists.

The state networks of both parties began to operate in 1794 or 1795. Patronage now became a factor. The winner-takes-all election system opened a wide gap between winners, who got all the patronage; and losers, who got none. Hamilton had many lucrative Treasury jobs to dispense—there were 1,700 of them by 1801. Jefferson had one part-time job in the State Department, which he gave to journalist Philip Freneau to attack the Federalists. In New York, George Clinton won the election for governor and used the vast state patronage fund to help the Republican cause.

Washington tried and failed to moderate the feud between his two top cabinet members. He was re-elected without opposition in 1792. The Democratic-Republicans nominated New York's Governor Clinton to replace Federalist John Adams as vice president, but Adams won. The balance of power in Congress was close, with some members still undecided between the parties. In early 1793, Jefferson secretly prepared resolutions introduced by William Branch Giles, Congressman from Virginia, designed to repudiate Hamilton and weaken the Washington Administration. Hamilton defended his administration of the nation's complicated financial affairs, which none of his critics could decipher until the arrival in Congress of the Republican Albert Gallatin in 1793.

Federalists counterattacked by claiming the Hamiltonian program had restored national prosperity as shown in one 1792 anonymous newspaper essay: "To what physical, moral, or political energy shall this flourishing state of things be ascribed? There is but one answer to these inquiries: Public credit is restored and established. The general government, by uniting and calling into action the pecuniary resources of the states, has created a new capital stock of several millions of dollars, which, with that before existing, is directed into every branch of business, giving life and vigor to industry in its infinitely diversified operation. The enemies of the general government, the funding act and the National Bank may bellow tyranny, aristocracy, and speculators through the Union and repeat the clamorous din as long as they please; but the actual state of agriculture and commerce, the peace, the contentment and satisfaction of the great mass of people, give the lie to their assertions."

Jefferson wrote on February 12, 1798: "Two political Sects have arisen within the U. S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are stiled republicans, whigs, jacobins, anarchists, disorganizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons."

Religious dimension
In New England, the Federalist Party was closely linked to the Congregational church. In 1800 and other elections, the Federalists targeted infidelity in any form. They repeatedly charged that Republican candidates, especially Jefferson, were atheistic or nonreligious. Conversely, the Baptists, Methodists and other dissenters as well as the religiously nonaligned initially favored the Republican cause. Jefferson told the Baptists of Connecticut there should be a "wall of separation" between church and state.

Effects of foreign affairs
International affairs—the French Revolution and the subsequent war between royalist Britain and republican France—decisively shaped American politics in 1793–1800 and threatened to entangle the nation in wars that "mortally threatened its very existence". The French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI in January 1793, and subsequently declared war on Britain. The King had been decisive in helping the United States achieve independence, but now he was dead and many of the pro-American aristocrats in France were exiled or executed. Federalists warned that American republicans threatened to replicate the horrors of the French Revolution and successfully mobilized most conservatives and many clergymen. The Republicans, some of whom had been strong Francophiles, responded with support even through the Reign of Terror, when thousands were guillotined, though it was at this point that many began backing away from their pro-France leanings. Many of those executed had been friends of the United States, such as the Comte D'Estaing, whose fleet had fought alongside the Americans in the Revolution (Lafayette had already fled into exile, and Thomas Paine went to prison in France). The republicans denounced Hamilton, Adams and even Washington as friends of Britain, as secret monarchists and as enemies of the republican values. The level of rhetoric reached a fever pitch.

In 1793, Paris sent a new minister, Edmond-Charles Genêt (known as Citizen Genêt), who systematically mobilized pro-French sentiment and encouraged Americans to support France's war against Britain and Spain. Genêt funded local Democratic-Republican Societies that attacked Federalists. He hoped for a favorable new treaty and for repayment of the debts owed to France. Acting aggressively, Genêt outfitted privateers that sailed with American crews under a French flag and attacked British shipping. He tried to organize expeditions of Americans to invade Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Florida. When Secretary of State Jefferson told Genêt he was pushing American friendship past the limit, Genêt threatened to go over the government's head and rouse public opinion on behalf of France. Even Jefferson agreed this was blatant foreign interference in domestic politics. Genêt's extremism seriously embarrassed the Jeffersonians and cooled popular support for promoting the French Revolution and getting involved in its wars. Recalled to Paris for execution, Genêt kept his head and instead went to New York, where he became a citizen and married the daughter of Governor Clinton. Jefferson left office, ending the coalition cabinet and allowing the Federalists to dominate.

Jay Treaty
The Jay Treaty battle in 1794–1795 was the effort by Washington, Hamilton and John Jay to resolve numerous difficulties with Britain. Some of these issues dated to the Revolution, such as boundaries, debts owed in each direction and the continued presence of British forts in the Northwest Territory. In addition, the United States hoped to open markets in the British Caribbean and end disputes stemming from the naval war between Britain and France. Most of all the goal was to avert a war with Britain—a war opposed by the Federalists, that some historians claim the Jeffersonians wanted.

As a neutral party, the United States argued it had the right to carry goods anywhere it wanted. The British nevertheless seized American ships carrying goods from the French West Indies. The Federalists favored Britain in the war and by far most of America's foreign trade was with Britain, hence a new treaty was called for. The British agreed to evacuate the western forts, open their West Indies ports to American ships, allow small vessels to trade with the French West Indies and set up a commission that would adjudicate American claims against Britain for seized ships and British claims against Americans for debts incurred before 1775. One possible alternative was war with Britain, a war that the United States was ill-prepared to fight.

The Republicans wanted to pressure Britain to the brink of war (and assumed that the United States could defeat a weak Britain). Therefore, they denounced the Jay Treaty as an insult to American prestige, a repudiation of the American-French alliance of 1777 and a severe shock to Southern planters who owed those old debts and who would now be never compensated for their escaped slaves who fled to British lines for their freedom. Republicans protested against the treaty and organized their supporters. The Federalists realized they had to mobilize their popular vote, so they mobilized their newspapers, held rallies, counted votes and especially relied on the prestige of President Washington. The contest over the Jay Treaty marked the first flowering of grassroots political activism in the United States, directed and coordinated by two national parties. Politics was no longer the domain of politicians as every voter was called on to participate. The new strategy of appealing directly to the public worked for the Federalists as public opinion shifted to support the Jay Treaty. The Federalists controlled the Senate and they ratified it by exactly the necessary ⅔ vote (20–10) in 1795. However, the Republicans did not give up and public opinion swung toward the Republicans after the Treaty fight and in the South the Federalists lost most of the support they had among planters.

Whiskey Rebellion
The excise tax of 1791 caused grumbling from the frontier including threats of tax resistance. Corn, the chief crop on the frontier, was too bulky to ship over the mountains to market unless it was first distilled into whiskey. This was profitable as the United States population consumed per capita relatively large quantities of liquor. After the excise tax, the backwoodsmen complained the tax fell on them rather than on the consumers. Cash poor, they were outraged that they had been singled out to pay off the "financiers and speculators" back in the East and to pay the salaries of the federal revenue officers who began to swarm the hills looking for illegal stills.

Insurgents in western Pennsylvania shut the courts and hounded federal officials, but Jeffersonian leader Albert Gallatin mobilized the western moderates and thus forestalled a serious outbreak. Washington, seeing the need to assert federal supremacy, called out 13,000 state militia and marched toward Washington, Pennsylvania to suppress this Whiskey Rebellion. The rebellion evaporated in late 1794 as Washington approached, personally leading the army (only two sitting Presidents have directly led American military forces, Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion and Madison in an attempt to save the White House during the War of 1812). The rebels dispersed and there was no fighting. Federalists were relieved that the new government proved capable of overcoming rebellion while Republicans, with Gallatin their new hero, argued there never was a real rebellion and the whole episode was manipulated in order to accustom Americans to a standing army.

Angry petitions flowed in from three dozen Democratic-Republican Societies created by Citizen Genêt. Washington attacked the societies as illegitimate and many disbanded. Federalists now ridiculed Republicans as "democrats" (meaning in favor of mob rule) or "Jacobins" (a reference to the Reign of Terror in France).

Washington refused to run for a third term, establishing a two-term precedent that was to stand until 1940 and eventually to be enshrined in the Constitution as the 22nd Amendment. He warned in his Farewell Address against involvement in European wars and lamented the rising north–south sectionalism and party spirit in politics that threatened national unity: "The party spirits serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

Washington never considered himself a member of any party, but broadly supported most Federalist policies.

Adams administration: 1797–1805
Hamilton distrusted Vice President Adams—who felt the same way about Hamilton—but was unable to block his claims to the succession. The election of 1796 was the first partisan affair in the nation's history and one of the more scurrilous in terms of newspaper attacks. Adams swept New England and Jefferson the South, with the middle states leaning to Adams. Adams was the winner by a margin of three electoral votes and Jefferson, as the runner-up, became vice president under the system set out in the Constitution prior to the ratification of the 12th Amendment.

The Federalists were strongest in New England, but also had strengths in the middle states. They elected Adams as president in 1796, when they controlled both houses of Congress, the presidency, eight state legislatures and ten governorships.

Foreign affairs continued to be the central concern of American politics, for the war raging in Europe threatened to drag in the United States. The new president was a loner, who made decisions without consulting Hamilton or other "Hamiltonian Federalists". Benjamin Franklin once quipped that Adams was a man always honest, often brilliant and sometimes mad. Adams was popular among the Federalist rank and file, but had neglected to build state or local political bases of his own and neglected to take control of his own cabinet. As a result, his cabinet answered more to Hamilton than to himself. Hamilton was especially popular because he rebuilt the Army—and had commissions to give out.

Alien and Sedition Acts
After an American delegation was insulted in Paris in the XYZ affair (1797), public opinion ran strongly against the French. An undeclared "Quasi-War" with France from 1798 to 1800 saw each side attacking and capturing the other's shipping. It was called "quasi" because there was no declaration of war, but escalation was a serious threat. At the peak of their popularity, the Federalists took advantage by preparing for an invasion by the French Army. To silence Administration critics, the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The Alien Act empowered the President to deport such aliens as he declared to be dangerous. The Sedition Act made it a crime to print false, scandalous and malicious criticisms of the federal government, but it conspicuously failed to criminalize criticism of Vice President Thomas Jefferson.

Several Republican newspaper editors were convicted under the Act and fined or jailed and three Democratic-Republican newspapers were shut down. In response, Jefferson and Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions passed by the two states' legislatures that declared the Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional and insisted the states had the power to nullify federal laws.

Undaunted, the Federalists created a navy, with new frigates; and a large new army, with Washington in nominal command and Hamilton in actual command. To pay for it all, they raised taxes on land, houses and slaves, leading to serious unrest. In one part of Pennsylvania, the Fries' Rebellion broke out, with people refusing to pay the new taxes. John Fries was sentenced to death for treason, but received a pardon from Adams. In the elections of 1798, the Federalists did very well, but this issue started hurting the Federalists in 1799. Early in 1799, Adams decided to free himself from Hamilton's overbearing influence, stunning the country and throwing his party into disarray by announcing a new peace mission to France. The mission eventually succeeded, the "Quasi-War" ended and the new army was largely disbanded. Hamiltonians called Adams a failure while Adams fired Hamilton's supporters still in the cabinet.

Hamilton and Adams intensely disliked one another and the Federalists split between supporters of Hamilton (Hamiltonian Federalists) and supporters of Adams (Adams Federalists). Hamilton became embittered over his loss of political influence and wrote a scathing criticism of Adams' performance as president in an effort to throw Federalist support to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. This would be a prelude to the rivalry which wouldn’t be resolved until 1825.

Election of 1800
Adams's peace moves proved popular with the Federalist rank and file and he seemed to stand a good chance of re-election in 1800. Jefferson was again the opponent and Federalists pulled out all stops in warning that he was a dangerous revolutionary, hostile to religion, who would weaken the government, damage the economy and get into war with Britain. Many believed that if Jefferson won the election, it would be the end of the newly formed United States. The Republicans crusaded against the Alien and Sedition laws as well as the new taxes and proved highly effective in mobilizing popular discontent.

The election hinged on New York as its electors were selected by the legislature and given the balance of North and South, they would decide the presidential election. Aaron Burr brilliantly organized his forces in New York City in the spring elections for the state legislature. Unfortunately Alexander Hamilton, knowing the party had one shot at the election, went public with a sharp attack on Jefferson and Burr that united and strengthened the Federalists.

Members of the Republican Party planned to vote evenly for Jefferson and Burr because they did not want for it to seem as if their party was divided. The party took the meaning literally and Jefferson and Burr tied in the election with 53 electoral votes. The Federalists were united enough this time around to elect Adams and Pinckney as President and Vice President easily.

The main factor that is said to have led to the Federalist victory was the Létombe-Jefferson Controversy which severely damaged Jefferson's reputation and actually led to him being tried for treason, though ultimately Adams gave him a presidential pardon as he saw the execution of a former Vice President as setting a horrible precedent. The unintended complications back in 1796 alongside this controversy led directly to the proposal and ratification of the 12th Amendment. "We are all federalists", proclaimed Adams in his second inaugural address.

By the time of Adam's second inauguration, Americans had settled as far west as the Mississippi River. Many in the United States, particularly those in the west, favored further territorial expansion, and especially hoped to annex the Spanish province of Louisiana. In early 1803, Adams dispatched Thomas Pinckney to France to join ambassador Gouverneur Morris on a diplomatic mission to purchase New Orleans. To the surprise of the American delegation, Napoleon offered to sell the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million. After Secretary of State Samuel Dexter gave his assurances that the purchase was well within even the strictest interpretation of the Constitution, the Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House immediately authorized funding. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States, and Treasury Secretary Eager Howard was forced to borrow from foreign banks to finance the payment to France. Though the Louisiana Purchase was widely popular, some Hamiltonian Federalists criticized it; Congressman Fisher Ames argued that "We are to spend money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much."

Pinckney's presidency, 1805–1813


By 1804, Vice President Pinckney had thoroughly cemented himself as Adam's successor, while Adams left the office as a popular president his faction was severely hurt due to the Hamiltonian backlash against Jefferson, because of those in the 1804 Federalist nominating caucus the Hamiltonians under Pinckney and Hamilton were able to come on top against Adamite John Jay they ended up nominating Charles C. Pinckney and Alexander Hamilton for President and Vice President, meanwhile the Democratic-Republican presidential nominating caucus chose Jefferson, they then selected George Clinton as Jefferson's running mate for the 1804 presidential election. Still hurt by his controversy and the recent uptick support of the federalists, Jefferson lost the 1804 election in a tight election over Federalist Pinckney. By 1807, as the Napoleonic Wars continued, the British announced the Orders in Council, which called for a blockade on the French Empire. In response to subsequent British and French attacks on American shipping, the Democratic-Republicans and southern Federalists passed the Embargo Act of 1807, which cut off trade with Europe which president Pinckney would then veto, leading to the more moderate Non-Intercouse Act of 1807 which while still vetoed was able to get congress united in overturning Pinckney's veto. The act proved unpopular and difficult to enforce, especially in Hamiltonian Federalist-leaning New England, and expired at the end of Pinckney's first term. Pinckney would seek a second term in the 1808 presidential election, meanwhile James Madison and George Clinton we’re nominated on 1808. Madison lost the general election solidly to Pinckney.

During Pinckney's second term, Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr, this action severely hurt the Hamiltonian Federalists and after Pinckney they would never again hold the presidency but as the trial of Burr went on, tensions with the British continued to rise as American ships and sailors continued to be harassed, with a war in the horizon Pinckney and the Anglophile Hamiltonian Federalists began negotiations with the British leading to the Pickering-Wellesley Treaty that would allow the British to harbor in American ports and in exchange the British would leave American ships alone, this treaty was greatly opposed by the Democratic-Republicans and it was their main campaign point in the next election. Pinckney would not seek a third term in the 1812 presidential election and Former Secretary of State Samuel Dexter managed to defeat Thomas Pickering in a very tight race for the candidacy, selecting Rufus King as his running mate, meanwhile Elbridge Gerry and John Langdon were selected by the Democratic-Republicans. Gerry lost the general election solidly to Dexter.

Dexter's presidency, 1813–1817
As attacks on American shipping continued even after Pinckney's treaty, Dexter took a more pragmatic approach as he took office, he began to move towards war. Popular anger towards Britain led to the election of a new generation of Democratic-Republican and Federalists leaders, including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who championed high tariffs, federally funded internal improvements, and a belligerent attitude towards Britain. On July 11, 1813, Dexter asked Congress for a declaration of war. The declaration was passed largely along sectional and party lines, with intense opposition coming from the Hamiltonian Federalists and some other congressmen from the Northeast. For many who favored war, national honor was at stake; John Quincy Adams wrote that the only alternative to war was "the abandonment of our right as an independent nation." This also led to Secretary of State William Jones to resign from office due to his British sympathies.

Dexter initially hoped for a quick end to the War of 1813, but the war got off to a disastrous start. The United States had more military success in 1814, and a force under William Henry Harrison crushed Native American and British resistance in the Old Northwest with a victory in the Battle of the Thames. The British shifted soldiers to North America in 1814 following the abdication of Napoleon, and a British detachment surrounded Washington in August 1814. In early 1815, Dexter learned that his negotiators in Europe had reached the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war without major concessions by either side. Though it had no effect on the treaty, General Andrew Jackson's victory in the January 1815 Battle of New Orleans ended the war on a triumphant note. Napoleon's defeat at the June 1815 Battle of Waterloo brought a final end to the Napoleonic Wars and attacks on American shipping. With Americans celebrating a successful "second war of independence" from Britain, the Democratic-Republican Party slid towards national irrelevance, especially as it’s new leader in the Randolphian Republicans had opposed the military expansion that won the war even during the war to the chagrin of former Democratic-Republican supporters in the army like Jackson. The subsequent period of virtually one-party rule by the Federalist Party is known as the "Era of Good Feelings."

In his presidential term, Dexter and his allies had largely lowered the Hamiltonian levels of control lowering taxes and pushing for a reduction of the national debt, and Congress allowed the national bank's charter to expire during Dexter's term. The challenges of the War of 1813 led many Democratic-Republicans to reconsider the role of the federal government. When the 14th Congress convened in December 1815, Dexter was able to get the Moderate Democratic-Republicans to support the proposed re-establishment of the national bank, increased spending on the army and the navy, and a tariff designed to protect American goods from foreign competition. This proposals were strongly criticized by strict constructionists like John Randolph, who argued that the Democratic-Republicans that voted for those programs had "out-Hamiltons Alexander Hamilton." Responding to Dexter's proposals, the 14th Congress compiled one of the most productive legislative records up to that point in history, enacting the Tariff of 1816 and establishing the Second Bank of the United States. At the 1816 Federalist nominating, Adamite Rufus King defeated Hamiltonian Pickering and chooses John E. Howard as his running mate. The Federalist would go on to win the 1816 presidential election in an absolute landslide.

King and Era of Good Feelings, 1817–1825


King believed that the existence of political parties was harmful to the United States, and he sought to usher in the end of the Democratic-Republican Party by avoiding divisive policies and welcoming ex-Democratic-Republican like DeWitt Clinton, James Monroe and Henry Clay into the fold. King favored infrastructure projects to promote economic development and, despite some constitutional concerns, signed bills providing federal funding for the National Road and other projects. Partly due to the mismanagement of national bank president William Jones (the banker not the Rhode Island governor), the country experienced a prolonged economic recession known as the Panic of 1819. The panic engendered a widespread resentment of the national bank and a distrust of paper money that would influence national politics long after the recession ended. Despite the ongoing economic troubles, the Democratic-Republicans failed to field a serious challenger to King in the 1820 presidential election, and King won re-election essentially unopposed.

During the proceedings over the admission of Missouri Territory as a state, Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York "tossed a bombshell into the Era of Good Feelings" by proposing amendments providing for the eventual exclusion of slavery from Missouri. The amendments sparked the first major national slavery debate since the ratification of the Constitution, and instantly exposed the sectional polarization over the issue of slavery. Federalists formed a coalition across partisan lines with the remnants of the Northern Democratic-Republican Party in support of the amendments, while Southern Democratic-Republicans were almost unanimously against such the restrictions. In February 1820, Congressman Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed a compromise, in which Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, but slavery would be excluded in the remaining territories north of the parallel 36°30′ north. A bill based on Thomas's proposal became law in April 1820.

Factions
Historian Sean Wilentz writes that, after the feud between Hamilton and Adams festered, the Federalists began to factionalize into three main groups: moderates, hardliners, and much later on compromisers.

Adams Federalists
The moderate or Adamite faction consisted of many early federalists and supporters of the ratification of the Constitution who followed Washington and Adams, including John Adams, Samuel Dexter, and Rufus King, who wrote down the Federalist economic programs and while they supported Hamiltonian economics they were moderate on it.

Hamiltonian Federalists
The hardliner or Hamiltonian faction consisted of many supporters of the ratification of the Constitution and followers of the Hamiltonian economic system, including Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the authors of the Federalist economic programs other prominent members include Timothy Pickering, Charles C. Pinckney and later on Philip Hamilton. They were very influential on foreign policy until the war of 1813 where they were forced to denounce Britain or face extinction within their own party.

Clintonian Federalists
The compromiser or Clintonian, led by DeWitt Clinton, was a more disorganized faction that formed later on and was mainly composed of former Democratic-Republicans like Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Clinton himself, this group was mixed with the Federalist economic system with some wanting to adopt it and others wanting to limit it. The Panic of 1819 sparked a backlash against the economic policies of the Hamiltonians, and many former Democratic-Republicans and southern federalists rallied around the Clintonians. After the 1824 election, some of Clinton's followers, gravitated towards Martin Van Buren, forming a major part of the coalition that would form the Republican Unionist Party, the rest coalesced into the National Federalist Party with Henry Clay.

Newspaper editors at war
The spoils system helped finance Federalist printers until 1801 and Republican editors after that. Federalist Postmasters General, Timothy Pickering (1791–94) and Joseph Habersham (1795–1801) appointed and removed local postmasters to maximize party funding. Numerous printers were appointed as postmasters. They did not deliver the mail, but they did collect fees from mail users and obtained free delivery of their own newspapers and business mail.

To strengthen their coalitions and hammer away constantly at the opposition, both parties sponsored newspapers in the capital (Philadelphia) and other major cities. On the Republican side, Philip Freneau and Benjamin Franklin Bache blasted the administration with all the scurrility at their command. Bache in particular targeted Washington himself as the front man for monarchy who must be exposed. To Bache, Washington was a cowardly general and a money-hungry baron who saw the Revolution as a means to advance his fortune and fame; Adams was a failed diplomat who never forgave the French their love of Benjamin Franklin and who craved a crown for himself and his descendants; and Alexander Hamilton was the most inveterate monarchist of them all.

The Federalists, with twice as many newspapers at their command, slashed back with equal vituperation. John Fenno and "Peter Porcupine" (William Cobbett) were their nastiest penmen and Noah Webster their most learned. Hamilton subsidized the Federalist editors, wrote for their papers and in 1801 established his own paper, the New York Evening Post. Though his reputation waned considerably following his death, Joseph Dennie ran three of the most popular and influential newspapers of the period, The Farmer's Weekly Museum, the Gazette of the United States and The Port Folio.

Ceremonies and civil religion
The Federalists were conscious of the need to boost voter identification with their party. Elections remained of central importance, but the rest of the political calendar was filled with celebrations, parades, festivals and visual sensationalism. The Federalists employed multiple festivities, exciting parades and even quasi-religious pilgrimages and "sacred" days that became incorporated into the American civil religion. George Washington was always their hero and after his death he became viewed as a sort of demigod looking down from heaven to bestow his blessings on the party. At first, the Federalists focused on commemorating the ratification of the Constitution and organized parades to demonstrate widespread popular support for the new Federalist Party. The parade organizers incorporated secular versions of traditional religious themes and rituals, thereby fostering a highly visible celebration of the nation's new civil religion.

The Fourth of July became a semi-sacred day—a status it has maintained for much of American history. Its celebration in Boston emphasized national over local patriotism and included orations, dinners, militia musters, parades, marching bands, floats and fireworks. By 1800, the Fourth of July was closely identified with the Federalist Party. Republicans were annoyed and staged their own celebrations on the same day—with rival parades sometimes clashing with each other, which generated even more excitement and larger crowds. After the collapse of the Democratic-Republicans starting in 1815, the Fourth of July became a nonpartisan holiday.

Interpretations and Legacy
Intellectually, Federalists were profoundly devoted to liberty. As Samuel Eliot Morison explained, they believed that liberty is inseparable from union, that men are essentially unequal, that vox populi ("voice of the people") is seldom if ever vox Dei ("the voice of God") and that sinister outside influences are busy undermining American integrity. British historian Patrick Allitt concludes that Federalists promoted many positions that would form the baseline for later American conservatism, including the rule of law under the Constitution, republican government, peaceful change through elections, stable national finances, credible and active diplomacy and protection of wealth.

In terms of "classical conservatism", the Federalists had no truck with European-style aristocracy, monarchy, or established religion. Historian John P. Diggins says: "Thanks to the framers, American conservatism began on a genuinely lofty plane. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Marshall, John Jay, James Wilson, and, above all, John Adams aspired to create a republic in which the values so precious to conservatives might flourish: harmony, stability, virtue, reverence, veneration, loyalty, self-discipline, and moderation. This was classical conservatism in its most authentic expression".

Federalists led the successful battles to abolish the international slave trade in New York City and the battle to abolish slavery in the state of New York. The Federalists' approach to nationalism was coined "open" nationalism in that it creates space for minority groups to have a voice in government. Many Federalists also created space for women to have a significant political role, which was not evident on the Democratic-Republican side.

The Federalists were dominated by businessmen and merchants in the major cities who supported a strong national government. The party was closely linked to the modernizing, urbanizing, financial policies of Alexander Hamilton. These policies included the funding of the national debt and also assumption of state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War, the incorporation of a national Bank of the United States, the support of manufactures and industrial development, and the use of a tariff to fund the Treasury. While it has long been accepted that commercial groups are in support of the Federalists and agrarian groups are in support of the Democratic-Republicans, recent studies have shown that support for Federalists was also evident in agrarian groups. In foreign affairs, the Federalists opposed the French Revolution, engaged in the "Quasi War" (an undeclared naval war) with France in 1798–99, sought good relations with Britain and sought a strong army and navy. Ideologically, the controversy between Republicans and Federalists stemmed from a difference of principle and style. In terms of style, the Federalists feared mob rule, thought an educated elite should represent the general populace in national governance and favored national power over state power. Republicans distrusted Britain, bankers, merchants and did not want a powerful national government. The Federalists, notably Hamilton, were distrustful of "the people", the French and the Republicans. In the end, the nation synthesized the two positions, adopting representative democracy and a strong nation state. Just as importantly, American politics by the 1820s accepted the two-party system whereby rival parties stake their claims before the electorate and the winner takes control of majority in state legislatures and the Congress and gains governorships and the presidency.

As time went on, the Federalists won more appeal with the average voter and began favoring popular participation more and more. For economic and philosophical reasons, the Federalists tended to be pro-British—the United States engaged in more trade with Great Britain than with any other country. However, they lost all of that advance in foreign relations gains during the war.

After 1816, the Federalists had all of the national power from the presidency to John Marshall's Supreme Court. They had massive local support in New England, New York, eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. After the collapse of the Democratic-Republican Party in the course of the 1824 presidential election, most Hamiltonian and Adamite Federalists (including Daniel Webster) joined a few Clintonians like Henry Clay to form the National Federalist Party. By then, nearly all remaining Federalists joined the National Federalist. However, some former Clintonians like James Buchanan, Louis McLane, Roger B. Taney and Martin Van Buren became Republican Unionists.

The name "Federalist" came increasingly to be used in political rhetoric as a term of endearment and nostalgia and was used multiple times by both the National Federalists and Republican Unionists.

The Federalists had a weak base in the South, with their main base in the Northeast and especially New England, although there were some prominent southern Federalists like Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who had served as President from 1805 to 1813.

Congressional representation
The affiliation of many Congressmen in the earliest years is an assignment by later historians. The parties were slowly coalescing groups; at first there were many independents. Cunningham noted that only about a quarter of the House of Representatives up until 1794 voted with Madison as much as two-thirds of the time and another quarter against him two-thirds of the time, leaving almost half as fairly independent.