The Birth of Political Parties
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he framers of the Constitution had not prepared their plan of government with political parties in mind. They hoped that the "better sort of citizens" would debate key issues and reach a harmonious consensus regarding how best to legislate for the nation's future. Thomas Jefferson reflected widespread sentiments when he declared in 1789, "If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."
Yet
despite a belief that parties were evil and posed a threat to enlightened
government, the nation's first political parties emerged in the mid-1790s.
Several factors contributed to the birth of parties:
The
Federalists, under the leadership of George Washington, John Adams, and
Alexander Hamilton, feared that their opponents wanted to destroy the Union,
subvert morality and property rights, and ally the United States with
revolutionary France.
The Republicans, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, feared that the Federalists were trying to establish a corrupt monarchical society, like the one that existed in Britain, with a standing army, high taxes, and government-subsidized monopolies.