political parties

1. The federalists believed that there should be a loose interpertation of the constitution while the republicans there should be a strict interperatation of the constitution. The federalists are less in favor of democracy then the republicans. The federalist believe that the common man cannot make political decision. They believe more power should be given to the government because they belive that "The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right." The Republicans believed that power and freedom should be given to the "mass of the people." They belive that the government should help the farmers, not put a debt on them like the Federalists planned to. Republicans do not consider working in factories as a good job. Thomas Jefferson says ,"While we have land to labor then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff...." He believes that manufacturing should be left to England and America should the raw material.

2. The Republicans are more idealistic then the Federalists. The Republicans want America to be a perfect union where all men are truly considered to be equal. The federalist know that is not possible. Alexander Hamilton says," All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born, the other the mass of the people.... " As Hamilton said, it is hard to consider everyone to be equal if society divides people into different social classes. Republican views and ideas are solely based on the Revolutionary ideals. From the Articles of Confederation, America found out that they cannot create a government only based on revolutionary ideas. The Republicans realize this so, their ideas are based on the present situation and the present countries debt.

3. The purpose of Hamilton's program was to create a strong and prosperous nation. Hamilton's job as the secretary of Treasurer was to clear America's war debt. Hamilton believe that in order for a country to success it had to gain trust of foreign nation to invest in America. To do this he proposed a plan to excise taxes on whiskey and to create a Bank of United states. He did not want to bind the wealthy class loyalties to the government. He believed that wealthy class already had a major tax burden so, he proposed that the common people should also have tax burden on them.

4. After the election of 1800 the federalist gave up the government to the Republican. Since then, for a while there has not been a federalist president. Also Hamiliton died soon after the election. With his death the strenght of the Federalist also died out. Also with the election of 1800 the Federalist reputation was ruined. The Republicans attacked the Federalist by calling John Adams a monarchist.

5. The significance of the presidential election of 1800 was that it created a positive role for political parties. Also, it was one of harshest election in U.S. history. The Republicans were saying that "John Adams is an avowed Monarchist...." The Federalist responded by saying that Jefferson was a political radical. Jefferson was winning people over by talking about the major revolutionary ideal such as protecting states' rights and civil liberties. Jefferson won this election put the Republicans in power of the government. This made the federalist party an opposing party. The election of 1800 made the Federalist party a loyal opposition. The Federalists disagreed with the ruling party but stayed loyal to the Constitution.

1. James Monore favored a one party system. During his presidency he proposed a fusion policy. He wanted all American to be united under the Republican party. During his reelection there was not even a Federalist nominee. He believed that there should not be more then one party to a free government. Martin Van Buren favored the opposite of Monore. Buren believed in a loyal opposition party or the two party system. He believed that for each political view there should be a political party. While Monore believes two parties shouldn't be in free government, Buren believes that opposing parties and free government are entwined together. I agree with Van Buren because when there is only one political party then the government doesn't portray the views of everyone in the country. Having two political parties makes the government equal.

2. The constitution provided for an Electoral college system, in the election of the president instead of popular vote because there won't be a popular majority vote for any president if election was done by popular vote. It would be very hard to inform all the population of the United States about the credentials of the various candidates. Without sufficient information about the candidates the population would just choose that came from their states or just likes in general. The vote of the population wouldn't be based on character or intellect but on just appearance. The electoral college should stay the same because it is a balance between federal and state power. In the Electoral College system the people choose their electors and then the electors choose the president. If the senate chose the president then it destroys it destroys the balance of power between the three branches of government. If the state governments chose the president then the state would influence the government grealty and the states might rise against the federal government.