The founders hoped to avoid factions in the government which was the equivalent of the political parties which came into being. The founding fathers goal would become unachievable during George Washington’s presidency which would mark the beginning of the two party systems. This system began with Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, was the Secretary of the Treasury and the antifederalists who became known as the democratic republicans led by Jefferson.
Political parties were very important in the evolution of the way the united states governed itself due to the fact that people with shared conomic and cultural goals joined together to influence policy decisions in America. These parties were able to back candidates for certain positions. Once elected these people would be able to make decisions for the country that would help their parties’ interests. role in the establishment of the country during the early years of the nation’s development prior to the war of 1812.
During George Washington’s administration Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist, was the Secretary of the Treasury and set out to fix the nation’s shaky financial system by using funding at par hich means that the United States would pay off debts to other countries at face value plus interest, this would establish credit for the united states that would help other countries to take the US seriously and loan America money. In addition to paying back countries that the United States owed money to, Hamilton wanted the government to assume the states debts and pay back the people that the states owed money to.
The united states would then pay off this money by initiating import taxes and excise taxes on a few items like Whiskey. The final Politics and power played a key iece of Hamilton’s economic plan was to establish a national bank which would stimulate business by giving out loans. These Federalist ideas were opposed by the Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans who supported antifederalist policies and ideas and unlike Hamilton supported states rights, strict interpretation of the constitution, and agriculture.
Due to the unpopularity of federalist policies like the alien and sedition acts that restricted free speech and immigration that were established during John Adams presidency, Thomas Jefferson was elected in the election of 1800. He affected the development of the United States by having the Louisianan purchase, this purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States and gave America the land needed for future expansion and settlement.
Despite the fact that Jefferson’s political beliefs and as a result of that the beliefs of his party thought that what was not expressed in the constitution was forbidden, he made the treaty for the Louisiana purchase anyway because it was aligned with The policies and decisions the early legislature of the United States made would not have been possible without political parties. Hamilton’s federalist platform allowed for the United States to assert power of the federal government and establish a solid financial system for the country.
The Federalist Party allows for the actions of funding at par, assumption of the state’s debt, and the excise tax to create frustration in farming population due to the fact that these policies benefited the elite and hurt them. These frustrations in federalist policies allow for Jefferson to win the election of 1800. Having the democratic republicans in power allows for the Louisianan purchase to take place this urchase helps Jefferson idea of an agrarian society.
With these original political parties these distinct opposites would not be able to be achieved had political parties not existed at the time. The Federalist political collapsed after the war of 1812 due to the fact that the party was pro British and the war was against Great Britain, in conjunction to that after in 1815 federalist delegates from New England held a secret convention in Hartford Connecticut to discuss dissatisfaction with the Democratic Republican policies and the political power Virginia held at the time.
The idea of succession was also brought up at the convention and despite the fact that it was never really discussed it the idea of succession from the union outraged nationalists that emerged following the war and caused the party to be viewed unpopularly. As a result of the Federalists everyone began making a claim of membership of the Democrat-Republican, caused the one party system to be doomed from the beginning due to the fact that there were too many different competing interests. The supposed era of good feelings represented the presidency of James Monroe and he nationalism that develops after the war of 1812.
During this time Henry Clay develops the American system of a Strong banking system, protective tariffs, and a network of roads and canals this system contributed to the development of the US because it gave us the financial stability needed for industrialization. This system also created conflict between different regional groups who had distinct economic systems that would be affected by the different policy decisions the government would make and would contribute to shaky tensions that would continue through the country’s history.
These differences made inter party conflict take place, these interparty tensions defeated the purpose of political parties of banded together to achieve shared cultural and political goals. This era of the 1 party system ended with the panic of 1819 which was caused due to over speculation of western lands this caused tensions to mount because western farmers hated the bank of the United States because it foreclosed on western farms. The Missouri compromise also makes regional tensions increase between slave and Free states over the addition of
Missouri to the union due to the threat that admitting another slave state posed to sectional balance. During this time the Federalist Party was able to continue to assert the control of the federal government because of the rulings John Marshal made over the rights of the federal government. These conflicts began to create inter party divides in the Democratic-Republican party, which made the reemergence of the 2 party system inevitable, and allowed for peoples goals regarding development and economic goals to continue to take place.
The election of 1828 allows for the return of the 2 party systems. Andrew Jacksons creation of the spoils system was created to reward political supporters with public office was seen as allowing common man into the government but was really it allowed for each political party to have more influence in the government because the political party in power could hire their supporters. The Tariff of abominations was a result of inter party tensions between Jacksonians and the Adams administration.
Despite the fact that Jackson was not a big fan of the tariff but he was opposed to south Carolina threatening nullification even more and passed he force bill which allowed for the military to collect federal funds if need be. Despite the fact that this conflict was solved by henry clay’s compromise of slowly lowering the tariff, the south became even more opposed of the federal government’s power due to their fear of the government getting involved with slavery.
The democratic republicans also affected the development of the United States due to the fact that they elected Andrew Jackson and he was opposed to national bank and believed that it was monopolistic, his opposition caused him to veto the re-charter of the bank and instead deposited overnment funds into state banks that were not regulated. This lack of regulation resulted in ups and downs in the economy which would result in the financial crash of 1837.
Political parties also influenced the United States because in the election of 1840 the Whigs were able to back behind William Henry Harrison and John Tyler by putting the Whig political party in the presidency marked the begging of the common man’s involvement in the government which has became a distinction in American culture and identity and will effect all future developments in the country.
