Launching the New Ship of State Essay essays

Launching the New Ship of State Essay essays Many issues have contributed to the development of the two political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. Discuss how their views differed with regard to economic policy, foreign policy, and interpretation of the Constitution. As the national government was slowly trying to improve its self, Jefferson and Hamilton were caught up in a storm of political opposition. Because of this incessant rivalry, both men had their own followings. Jefferson and followers were known as the Jeffersonians or the Democratic Republicans, whereas Hamilton and his following were called the Federalists. In the aftermath of the American Revolution, the Democratic Republics and Federalist parties split politically because of their different positions on economic policy, foreign policy, and interpretation of the Constitution. On the topics of economic policy, foreign policy, and the Constitution, economic policy was a major factor between the political parties. When Hamilton proposed Congress to fund the entire national debt at par and assume the debts acquired by the states in the Revolutionary War, Jefferson was not happy at all. To the Jeffersonians this was unfair because states like Virginia had small debts and so then they would have to help pay for the much larger debts of the northern states. In this case of political opposition, the two sides actually agreed on a compromise. If the states debts could be assumed, then the national capital could be located on the Potomac River. This bargain was carried through in 1790. Besides this assumption, Hamilton wanted to collect customs duties (derived from a tariff). In order to do this, there would need to be a strong amount of foreign trade. Here in the United States, Hamilton did gain revenue, which was used to help the industrious northern stat es. This enraged the Southerners where their taxes on whiskey were thought of as a luxur...