Early American History Federalists and Republican-Democrats

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History 121

June 20, 2011

            American political parties were largely divided by whether or not the federal government should encourage economic development. The federalists felt that America needed to encourage greater manufacturing and build more of a diverse market economy. The Republican-Democrats believed government should not play a role in the economy they supported more of an agricultural based economy. Federalists felt that the educated and wealthy should be the leaders while Republican-Democrats felt that every male citizen should be play a part in the government.

            As America emerged as more of an industrial nation many of the people who supported an agricultural based economy saw the benefits of having the ability to send their goods to markets easier as well as the ability to sell to manufacturers nearby. The debate went from industry versus agriculture to how do we grow both. It also caused issues with slavery the largely industrial north saw slavery in the south as wrong. With more people in the north going to work in factories, they could have looked at slavery in the south as a threat to their jobs, why hire someone when you could make a slave do it.    The view of the southern slaveholders in the north also brought back images of British monarchs.

            The changes in America created changes in the American political landscape. The north and south were becoming more distant from each other in culture, this lead to the north and south competing for influence in new states. If one state was admitted as a slave state there would be a push for a free state. The political parties were largely separated by north and south or free and slave states. Because of this when a new state was added to the union there was a worry that one party would gain control of the federal government and solidify their view points in the American government.

            Slavery became a major issue between the north and south, with the north pushing for it to be ended. This meant that there would be a pro-slavery party as well as an anti-slavery party largely separated between north and south. These two parties would compete for more power in congress as new states are added and then try to force their view on the other group. Slavery was an important factor in the creation of the different parties during that time. Its role makes sense since it was such a clear cut either you are for or against slavery there really cannot be a middle ground. In the south slavery was such a major part of their lifestyle they couldn’t just give it up it was part of their economy, it had been a part of them since they were born. The people of the south would not accept the idea of people from outside of their society forcing them to change something that has defined their society for so long. The North saw slavery as wrong and as  anti-American. The parties clearly would have formed along the lines of slavery because of the passionate viewpoints on both sides of the issue.