Federalist party (United States)
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Federalist Party
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| Leader |
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, John Adams, Charles C. Pinckney, DeWitt Clinton, Rufus King |
| Founded | 1789 |
| Dissolved | 1824 |
| Ideology | Federalism Hamiltonianism Centralization Classical Conservatism Modernization Monetarism |
| Colors | Black and white |
The Federalist Party was the first American political party. It existed from the early 1790s to 1816; its remnants lasted into the 1820s. The Federalists called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain, as well as opposition to revolutionary France. The party controlled the federal government until 1801, when it was overwhelmed by the Democratic-Republican opposition led by Thomas Jefferson.
The Federalist Party came into being between 1792 and 1794 as a national coalition of bankers and businessmen in support of Alexander Hamilton's fiscal policies. These supporters developed into the organized Federalist Party, which was committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The only Federalist president was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained officially non-partisan during his entire presidency.
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 United States Constitution. Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas 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. After the Democratic-Republicans, whose base was in the rural South, won the hard-fought election of 1800, the Federalists never returned to power. They recovered some strength by their intense opposition to the War of 1812, but they practically vanished during the Era of Good Feelings that followed the end of the war in 1815.
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