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Political Parties in George Washington's Cabinet

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A political party is a group of people who seek to win elections and hold public office in order to shape government policy and programs. George Washington warned the nation against creating political parties in his famous “Farewell Address”. He feared political parties would divide the country and weaken support of the Constitution (Doc 4). The first major political parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, were created during the term of President George Washington. Despite President Washington’s warning, the rise of the two political parties, in the years after his term was inevitable. The Federalists were in favor of a strong central government, while the anti-federalists opposed most their ideas. Over time, the gradual development …show more content…

Hamilton created a financial system and national bank that solved the countries debt problem. The Anti-Federalists held the opposite views. They were a diverse coalition of people who opposed ratification of the Constitution. The party mostly consisted of farmers who lived in the south. They objected the new powerful central government, the loss of prestige for the states, and saw the Constitution as a potential danger to personal liberties. They believed that the greatest threat to the future of the United States lay in the government's potential to become corrupt and seize more and more power until its monarch rule completely dominated the people. Jefferson believed that the Federalists’ acted as monocrats (Doc 5). The Anti-Federalists strongly supported state rights, but were opposed to a national bank because they didn’t want a strong central government (Doc 2). Local control was crucial to Antifederalists’ concept of democracy. The differences in political parties and philosophies led to the opposing opinions on government issues. Disagreements between Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s viewpoints involving a national bank, constitution interpretations, and social differences led to the rise of political parties.
The Whiskey Rebellion influenced the division between political parties. The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their

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