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The Federalists 1813 Views


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Description:

The Federalists were a political party formed by Alexander Hamilton. Well, sure. That guy had to do something to get his face on the ten-dollar bill.

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Transcript

00:08

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

00:14

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

00:19

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

00:24

Then Alexander Hamilton ruined all of it.

00:27

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

00:31

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

00:36

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

00:41

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

00:45

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

00:50

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

00:57

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

01:00

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

01:04

formed a rival party called the Democratic Republicans.

01:07

George Washington did not like the idea of political parties.

01:10

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

01:13

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

01:19

Washington worried that political parties would lead to deep

01:22

divisions within the fragile, young nation.

01:24

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

01:27

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

01:31

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

01:35

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

01:39

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

01:43

take a look at how the first political parties fared.

01:45

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

01:52

Adams' stunning good looks probably made the difference.

01:55

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

01:59

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

02:04

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

02:08

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

02:13

The really crazy thing is that when Jefferson

02:15

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

02:20

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

02:25

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

02:29

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

02:34

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

02:40

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

02:44

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

02:49

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

02:52

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

02:56

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

03:01

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

03:05

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

03:10

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

03:15

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

03:20

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

03:23

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

03:26

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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