The First The First Political PartiesPolitical Parties

Match the term to its description

1. implied powers

2. caucus

3. French agents

4. sedition

5. nullification

a. meeting at which a national party selects candidates

b. activities aimed at weakening a government

c. idea linked to states’ rights

d. helped justify a national bank

e. X, Y, and Z

6. Conflicts between Jefferson and Hamilton during President Washington’s first administration led directly to the

a. end of the Era of Good Feelings

b. decision to replace the Articles of Confederation

c. addition of the elastic clause to the Constitution

d. start of the first political parties

7. The Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans disagreed on

A. slavery.

B. whether ordinary people could be trusted in government.

C. indentured servitude.

D. whether the American people should be taxed.

8. Democratic-Republican policies appealed to

A. people in the Northeast.

B. plantation owners.

C. small farmers.

D. women.

9. What military branch was created as a result of the XYZ Affair?

a. Army

b. Navy

c. Marines

d. Air Force

10. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions displayed the idea of ___________ in their challenge to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

a. Republicanism

b. Individual Rights

c. Federalism

d. State’s Rights

Opposing Views• As political issues arose in the new

country, Americans began taking sides, becoming partisan—favoring one side of an issue.

• By the mid-1790s, two political parties had taken shape: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Federalists stood for strong U.S. government and policies favoring businesses.

• Opposition to the Federalists began when Philip Freneau began publishing a newspaper.

• Opponents to Hamilton came together and called their party Democratic-Republicans.

• They favored limited central government and policies favoring farmers and urban workers

• Hamilton and the Federalists believed the federal government had implied powers, powers that were suggested but not directly stated in the Constitution.

• Jefferson and Madison disagreed with Hamilton.

• Federalists supported representative government; Republicans believed that liberty was safe only if ordinary citizens participated in government.

• Washington tried to ease tensions between the two groups, but Jefferson and Hamilton ended up resigning their posts.

XX

• Candidates sought office for the first time as members of a political party in 1796.

• To prepare for the election, Federalists and Republicans held caucuses, or meetings.

• John Adams represented the Federalists in the election, and Thomas Jefferson represented the Republicans.

• Adams won the election, and Jefferson became vice president.

Exit Question 1

• How did Jefferson become vice president when Adams’s running mate was Charles Pinckney?

President John Adams

• John Adams had much experience in government.

• Abigail Adams, his wife, had actively supported the American cause.

• The French resented Jay’s Treaty as an attempt to help Britain.

• They began to seize American ships that carried cargo to Britain.

• Adams sent a delegation to France to settle the dispute, but French foreign minister Charles de Talleyrand would not meet with the Americans.

• Instead, three French agents were sent who asked for a bribe and a loan from the Americans to France.

• The Americans refused, and Adams told Congress to prepare for war.

• This incident became known as the XYZ affair.

• In response, Congress established the Navy Department in April 1798 and increased the size of the American army.

• Although war was not officially declared, French and U.S. naval ships clashed several times between 1798 and 1800.

• Many Americans felt France was an enemy. Republicans, who had been friendly with France in the past, did not condemn the French.

• Subsequently, some Republicans were voted out of office.

• Americans became more suspicious of aliens—immigrants who were not citizens but were living in the United States—because many aliens were anti-British.

• The Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts to protect the nation’s security.

• Sedition refers to activities aimed at weakening established government.

• Many Federalists believed that the Alien and Sedition Acts would weaken the Republican Party.

• Instead, the laws hurt the Federalists more.

• An even larger number of immigrants gave their support to the Republicans.

• Newspaper editors jailed for sedition were hailed as heroes in the cause of freedom of the press.

• The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799 claimed that the Alien and Sedition Acts could not be put into action because they were unconstitutional.

• The Kentucky Resolutions also suggested that the states could nullify, or legally overturn, federal laws considered unconstitutional.

• The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions affirmed the principle of states’ rights—limiting federal government to those powers clearly assigned by the Constitution.

• In 1800 the French agreed to a treaty with the United States and stopped attacks on American ships.

Exit Question 2

How did the Alien and Sedition Acts negatively affect the Federalists?