Federalists In The 1790s

The Federalists papers were essays written in the 1780s by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to newspapers. They were written to defend the newly created constitution, in which at least nine of the thirteen colonies had vote yes for it to pass. It started with Alexander’s passion for wanting to fix the economic system. He saw that there were issues in the system that could be solved through enabling the federal government to work together and strictly, to solve them. He knew there were problems because the lack of treasury or a set bank. Meaning there was no real financial management, it couldn’t operate smoothly nor did they have any real credibility for people to entrust their money with. They also couldn’t afford to pay for

The goal was to strengthen the economic system, lower the foreign debt and to support the ratification of the constitution. Political and economic differences were to be settled through congress, who could veto the president, be reviewed by the judiciary branch, or override certain laws that differed from the constitution. Hamilton had suggested that they tax whiskey and since most products were imported, installed a tariff on those goods. But the whiskey tax became quickly unpopular because whiskey had been the most sold beverage of the 18th century so people began protesting. Hamilton had to lead an army to Pennsylvania to fight the whiskey rebellion. The people protested brutally and even tried scaring off officials from taking money from them. And when the resistance became too much, they went to fight but ended up leaving before the army had arrived. And though there were differences in his choices, congress still approved all his ideas and they worked to start getting rid of the nation’s debt. The tariffs were debated hesitantly back and forth in congress but was eventually put into place to help industries and also became popular through merchants and manufacturers and won support from the government. Following ratification Washington appointed Hamilton as the

His first essay (Federalist No. 10) is easily the most popular for its “advocacy for democracy.” In this, he talked about how to keep an eye on factions, or groups, and explained that as long as people have some kind of differences about them, they’ll group up with people who have similar views and keep opposing “public interest.” In the beginning of the election, Madison didn’t want to be chosen because of the Virginia convention, but ended up running because of how poorly things were going. Which helped immensely in Virginia getting ratified and led to the success of the constitution. When debating for the constitution, Madison was up against anti-federalist, Edmund Randolph, who was completely against endorsing the constitution. Historians assume he’s the cause of the constitution’s unpopularity and drawing to the end it looked like the anti-federalists were going to win. In order to improve its chances of becoming passed, Madison had promised some anti-federalists a Bill of Rights, to limit government authority. Upon winning, Madison won the title “Father of the Constitution,” but he stayed humble through it all and said it was “a credit to which I have no claim…” A proposal was made to have a declaration of independence be sent to other states, so they can consider the ratification as well.