Domestic Affairs In The 1790s Essay

The 1790s marked a time of rebirth for the American government. With first President George Washington at its helm, the decade brought into effect the many facets of the recently ratified Constitution as well as the institution of federal laws, banking policies, and taxes. As the country sought to establish itself as an organized world power, turmoil was ensuing in Europe with the eruption of the French Revolution, presenting the nascent United States with its first foreign dilemma. Within the borders, however, a much larger problem was brewing. Nearly every piece of legislation tested the balance between centralized government and individual freedom. With supporters on both sides, these domestic issues polarized the nation, leading to the

Various issues, such as economical rebuilding, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Alien and Sedition Acts triggered a split between two different ideologies. Some, identifying themselves as Federalists, were in support of unified federal government. One of the men at their forefront, Alexander Hamilton, defined the Federalist viewpoint in a speech at the New York Ratifying Convention, “The local interest of a State ought in every case to give way to the interests of the Union. For when a sacrifice of one or the other is necessary, the former becomes only an apparent, partial interest,” (Hamilton 1788). These men deemed state’s rights as trivial when compared to the country as whole. Furthermore, they interpreted the Constitution loosely; what it did not forbid was allowed. As the decade progressed a faction against the Federalists developed, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Jeffersonians, as they came to be called, felt that a strong federal government stripped power away from the people; only the states had the knowledge to act in the best interests of their individual citizens. By the end of the 1790s these groups had been torn apart in a way that would forever change the politics of the

These laws gave the power to the President to imprison or deport those that endangered national security and made it illegal to slander the government. They were passed with the goal of protecting the federal government, and, in turn, the people, from enemies. However, Jefferson, Madison, and the Democratic-Republican Party were outraged, and they accused the Adams administration of taking advantage of power to silence enemies of the Federalist party. The tension between the two parties was only amplified because Jefferson was Adams’ Vice President. There was a general sense of mistrust, and Adams’ rarely consulted Jefferson on national matters. Eventually, it was not the differing views that made the two men political enemies, but simply the fact that their parties were at