Comparison Of George Washington And The First Party System

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During the first presidency with George Washington, there were no political parties. It was not until 1796 until voters broke into factions and started to vote for towards their ideological leanings. George Washington feared this, and even spoke about his ideas in his Farewell Address in 1796. George Washington was opposed to different political parties because he feared that once one party got elected into office, it would take over too much power and neglect the other party. Against Washington’s wishes, voters formed the first party system with the Federalists versus the Democrat-Republicans with the election of 1796. Eventually the First Party System ended and the Second Party System was created with the Whigs versus the Democrats. Each of these parties varied vastly and had many different …show more content…

The Democrat-republicans were led by Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson. This party was opposed to Hamilton’s financial plans because they believed his plans were seen as aiding the northern states who had not paid off their debts. The Democratic-Republicans viewed this plan in a way that would generally weaken the power of the states. This party followed Andrew Jackson ideas of not having a national bank, which was completely opposite of the federalists who supported Hamilton and his idea of the national bank. The Democrat-Republicans favored a weak government and held a strict interpretation of the Constitution in contrast to the Federalists who had a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Democrat-Republicans sought to limit the power of the government and favored local control as seen in their rejection of Hamilton’s financial plans. Despite their opposition, the Democrat-Republicans were considered a more successful party because they won the election of 1800 and 1804 with Thomas Jefferson and then the next four elections with James Madison and James