American History: A Survey 10/e   Alan Brinkley
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Summary

The period between 1785 and 1800 was one of the most politically productive in American history. During these fifteen years, the nation, guided by some of the most talented men in history, reorganized itself under a new framework of government and then struggled to define (for itself as well as for others) just what had been created. It was a period marked by the rise of a party that called itself Federalist, although the philosophy it espoused was, as its opponents were quick to point out, more "nationalist" in emphasis. Arguing that to prosper, the United States had best follow the economic and political example of Great Britain, these Federalists, led by Hamilton, interjected foreign policy into domestic differences and set the stage for one of the earliest and most serious government assaults on individual civil liberties. Seeing their less elitist, proagriculture, Republican opponents as supporters of France in an undeclared conflict between that nation and the United States, the Federalists set out to suppress dissent and those who promoted it. This assault brought a swift response and so heightened tensions that many feared that the nation could not survive. It was against this background that a shift of power occurred, and by the end of the decade, the Federalists, who had been the moving force for so many years, were clearly losing ground to the Republicans. This meant that if wounds were to be healed and divisions mended, it would have to be done by the man many believed to be the personification of all that separated the two groups--Thomas Jefferson.

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