Anti-Administration Party
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Anti-Administration Party
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|---|---|
| Leaders |
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Tazewell |
| Founded | 1789 |
| Dissolved | 1792 |
| Succeeded by | Democratic-Republican Party |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Newspaper | National Gazette |
| Ideology |
Anti-Federalism Independent Treasury |
The "anti-Administration party" (1789–1792) was an informal faction led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson that opposed policies of then United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton in the first term (1789–1792) of President George Washington. This was not an organized political party, but an unorganized faction. Most had been Anti-Federalists in 1788, meaning they opposed ratification of the Constitution of the United States. However, the situation was fluid, with members moving in and out.
Although contemporaries often referred to Hamilton's opponents as "Anti-Federalists", historians prefer not to use this term, because several leaders supported ratification, including Virginia Congressman James Madison. Madison joined with former Anti-Federalists to oppose Hamilton's financial plans in 1790.
After Jefferson took leadership of the opposition to Hamilton in 1792, the faction became a formal party, Jefferson's "Republican Party" (often called by historians and political scientists the "Democratic-Republican Party").
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and during the ratifying process in 1788, Madison was one of the two or three most prominent advocates of a strong national government. He wrote The Federalist Papers, together with Hamilton and John Jay. In 1789–1790, Madison was a leader in support of the new federal government.
At this time, the concept of a loyal opposition party was novel. But in January 1790, Madison joined with Henry Tazewell and others to oppose Hamilton's First Report on the Public Credit. The creation of this coalition marked the emergence of the anti-Administration party, which was almost exclusively southern at this time. Madison argued that repaying the debt rewarded speculators. His proposal to repay only the original bondholders was defeated by a vote of 36 to 13. Hamilton's report also provided for the assumption of state debt by the federal government. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and South Carolina owed nearly half of this debt, so other states resented assumption. The United States House of Representatives passed the bill without assumption, but the Senate included this provision. This deadlock was broken by a deal (Compromise of 1790) between Madison and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson on the one hand and Hamilton on the other which included both assumption and a decision to locate the national capital in the South, in what became the District of Columbia.
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