The Constitutional Convention and the First Parties

After the American's had won their independence from the British they had been governing themselves under the Articles of Confederation. However, there were many problems with this government under the Articles, the reason mainly being that the government was too weak under the Articles. It gave the government no taxing power, and depended on the generosity of the states to create revenue and give money to the government. It also had no power to force the delinquent states to pay. James Madison had suggested a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786, which called for delegates from each state to attend. This was known to be the Annapolis Convention. Then, they decided to meet in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787 to discuss ways to only improve the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles were not improved, but rather trashed, and made once again from scratch, into what we now call the Constitution. The Constitution was a merging of all the plans that were proposed during the Constitutional Conventions; the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, the Charles Pinckey Plans, Hamilton's plan, and the Connecticut Compromise. Many of the Founding Fathers had greatly appreciated this change, having faith that the 3 branch government, representation methods, and new power given to the government, would being the Colonies into an age of success. However, there were some of the Fathers and other major political figures that did not approve. Patrick Henry, for example, thought that the Constitution would give the central government too much power. He said power should lay in the hands of the states. It was also lacking a Bill of Rights. This was a cause to the separation of people named the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. This was a split in the people, which had defeated the purpose of the Constitution, to be one country, to be equal, and to be unified.
After the Constitution was passed, there was debate as to what kind of people were to run the government. There were some who proposed that well-educated, upper class citizens should run the government, who were called Federalists. This was close to the ruling system in Britain, and made the colonists think of a monarch in our government.The Federalist party was created by Alexander Hamilton. The Federalist party called for a national bank, tariffs, and a good relationship with Britain. The only Federalist president was John Adams. Of course, there was the opposite belief, and this created the Democratic-Republican party, the party which had thought that all citizens should have equal say in the government, and that positions in the government were open to any citizen of the Colonies. The Republicans, as they were also called, favored France over the British, in the war that had occurred between them. They favored farmers and plantation owners to be the backbone of the Colonial economy, which they felt allowed them to hold government positions. This party had also favored a strict interpretation of the Constitution, unlike the Federalists who had believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution.
These two groups had divided the government, another division in the forming of the Constitution. Was this division a good move for the Colonies to make? Would the country be the same today if these divisions had not been made? Were they for the better? or for the worse?
Jefferson, on the topic of parties, says:
"Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, liberals and serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, whigs and tories, republicans and federalists, aristocrats and democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last appellation of aristocrats and democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all." -Thomas Jefferson
Here, Jefferson promotes the Republic party in a subtle way, that gives his view on both sides. It's obvious he is siding with the Republicans, due to his sarcastic, demeaning views of the Federalists.