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The Federalists, a la Shmoop. Are you fed up with the Feds?

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Once upon a time, in the late 18th century, the United States was a fairytale land without

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political parties or gang alliances... ...where everybody got to wear these awesome wigs.

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Then Alexander Hamilton ruined all of it.

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One night when everybody was asleep... well, he burned all the wigs.

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Actually, Hamilton formed a political party called the Federalists, which focused on a

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strong central government. A strong central government means more taxes,

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but those taxes result in things like public education and paved roads.

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And lots and lots of bureaucrats... okay, so it's not a perfect system.

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The Federalists also believed in a national bank and in maintaining close ties, friendly ones, with England.

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Their political leanings didn't exactly mesh with everyone else's...

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...so their opponents, led by Thomas Jefferson - of coin fame -

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formed a rival party called the Democratic Republicans.

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George Washington did not like the idea of political parties.

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In fact, he listed them among his "pet peeves"

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along with "telling lies" and "people who think it's funny to hide my false teeth."

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Washington worried that political parties would lead to deep

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divisions within the fragile, young nation.

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There was also the pesky little issue that banning political parties might violate the

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first amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

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So, are political parties good or bad for the country? Do you think we would have been

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better off if they were never formed, or are they a necessary way to organize people and

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increase efficiency? While you ponder those questions, let's

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take a look at how the first political parties fared.

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In the election of 1796, Federalist John Adams narrowly defeated Democratic Republican Thomas Jefferson.

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Adams' stunning good looks probably made the difference.

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All of the northern states voted for Adams and all of the Southern states voted for Jefferson.

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It didn't exactly take a psychic to see the Civil War coming somewhere down the road.

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The Democratic Republicans were the small government pro-states-rights party, which

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is who you generally vote for if you're worried the Feds will take away all of your slaves.

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The really crazy thing is that when Jefferson

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defeated Adams in 1800, the state-by-state breakdown was the same...

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... but because the number of slaves in the South had increased, the South surpassed the

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North in electoral votes. Each slave counted for three-fifths of a person

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in the census, but landowning white males were the only people who got to vote...

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... so more slaves meant that more people actually voted against the slaves' interests.

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In the short term, the Democratic Republicans had a big advantage.

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And they had won six elections in a row, while the Federalist Party disappeared completely.

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Oh, and Alexander Hamilton got himself killed in a duel.

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The Federalist vision of an active and involved central government has much more

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in common with the modern United States... ... than the hands-off approach advocated

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by the Democratic-Republicans. Hamilton scores from the grave!

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Another legacy of the Federalists and Democratic Republicans is the two-party system.

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Nowadays, the Democrats and Republicans go head to head every two and four years to see who will

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ruin...er... run the country. If we did away with political parties, would

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the best candidates be more likely to rise to the top...

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...or would we become a model of inefficiency?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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