Federalist Era - Federalists V. Anti-Federalists

Federalists V. Anti-Federalists

The dynamic force in the Presidency of George Washington was the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton had the vision of a strong national government and a strong national economy, and he devised a complex multi-faceted program to achieve that goal, and simultaneously solve the debt problem of most of the states, create a financial system for national and international stability, pay off the national debt, and lay the infrastructure for further economic development. Hamilton's programs included the assumption of the state's Revolutionary war debts, the payoffs of the debts of the old Continental Congress, the payoffs of loans from foreign treasuries and investors, the creation of a system of taxes and tariffs to pay for the debt, and a First Bank of the United States to handle the finances. Hamilton's programs were approved by Congress over the opposition of the old Anti—Federalists element, which increasingly coalesced under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In order to build a national network in support of his programs, Hamilton created a coalition of supporters—often prominent businessmen and financiers—in every city and state. Hamilton's network of supporters grew into the "Federalist Party", which included most, but not all, of those Federalists who supported the Constitution in 1788. A major emphasis of Hamilton's policies and indeed the general outlook for the Federalist Party was that the federal government was to preside over the national economy.