Editing Federalist Party (section)

===Rise (1793–96)===
By the early 1790s, newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters "Federalists" and their opponents "Republicans", "Jeffersonians", or "Democratic-Republicans". Jefferson's supporters usually called themselves "Republicans" and their party the "Republican Party".<ref>"Democrat" became a negative term after 1793, with the Terror in the French Revolution; this lasted until the middle of Madison's presidency, and the Federalists continued to use it to describe their opponents. Dahl, Robert A. (2005). "James Madison: Republican or Democrat?". ''Perspectives on Politics''. 3#3: 439–448. Malone, Dumas. ''Jefferson''. 3:162.</ref> The Federalist Party became popular with businessmen and New Englanders, as Republicans were mostly farmers who opposed a strong central government. Cities were usually Federalist strongholds, whereas frontier regions were heavily Republican.<ref>Manning J. Dauer, ''The Adams Federalists'', chapter 2.</ref> The [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregationalists]] of New England and the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalians]] in the larger cities supported the Federalists, while other minority denominations tended toward the Republican camp. Urban Catholics were generally Federalists.<ref>Renzulli, L. Marx (1973). ''Maryland: The Federalist Years''. p 142, 183, 295.</ref>

The state networks of both parties began to operate in 1794 or 1795, and patronage became a factor. The winner-takes-all election system opened a wide gap between winners, who got all the patronage, and losers who got none. Hamilton had many lucrative Treasury jobs to dispense—there were 1,700 of them by 1801.<ref>White, Leonard D. (1948). ''The Federalists. A Study in Administrative History''. p 123.</ref> Jefferson had one part-time job in the State Department, which he gave to journalist [[Philip Freneau]] to attack the Federalists. In New York, [[George Clinton (vice president)|George Clinton]] won the election for governor and used the vast state patronage fund to help the Republican cause.

Washington tried and failed to moderate the feud between his two top cabinet members.<ref name="ReferenceA">Miller, ''The Federalist Era 1789–1801'' (1960).</ref> He was re-elected without opposition in [[U.S. presidential election, 1792|1792]]. The Democratic-Republicans nominated New York's Governor Clinton to replace Federalist [[John Adams]] as vice president, but Adams won. The balance of power in Congress was close, with some members still undecided between the parties. In early 1793, Jefferson secretly prepared resolutions introduced by Virginia Congressman [[William Branch Giles]] designed to repudiate Hamilton and weaken the Washington Administration.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2947173|title = Thomas Jefferson and the Giles Resolutions|journal = The William and Mary Quarterly|volume = 49|issue = 4|pages = 589–608|last1 = Sheridan|first1 = Eugene R.|year = 1992|doi = 10.2307/2947173}}</ref> Hamilton defended his administration of the nation's complicated financial affairs, which none of his critics could decipher until the arrival in Congress of Republican [[Albert Gallatin]] in 1793.

Federalists counterattacked by claiming that the Hamiltonian program had restored national prosperity, as shown in one 1792 anonymous newspaper essay:<ref>''The Gazette of United States'', 5 September 1792 in Beard, Charles A. (1915). ''Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy''. p. 231.</ref> 
<blockquote>To what physical, moral, or political energy shall this flourishing state of things be ascribed? There is but one answer to these inquiries: Public credit is restored and established. The general government, by uniting and calling into action the pecuniary resources of the states, has created a new capital stock of several millions of dollars, which, with that before existing, is directed into every branch of business, giving life and vigor to industry in its infinitely diversified operation. The enemies of the general government, the funding act and the National Bank may bellow tyranny, aristocracy, and speculators through the Union and repeat the clamorous din as long as they please; but the actual state of agriculture and commerce, the peace, the contentment and satisfaction of the great mass of people, give the lie to their assertions.</blockquote>

Jefferson wrote on 12 February 1798: 
{{blockquote|Two political Sects have arisen within the U. S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are stiled republicans, whigs, jacobins, anarchists, disorganizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1833690|title = A Letter of Jefferson on the Political Parties, 1798|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 3|issue = 3|pages = 488–489|year = 1898|doi = 10.2307/1833690}}</ref>}}

====French Revolution====
The [[French Revolution]] and the subsequent war between royalist Britain and republican France decisively shaped American politics in 1793–1800 and threatened to entangle the country in wars that "mortally threatened its very existence".<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, ch 8; Sharp (1993) p. 70 for quote</ref> The French revolutionaries [[Execution of Louis XVI|guillotined]] King [[Louis XVI]] in January 1793, and subsequently declared war on Britain. The French king had been decisive in helping the United States achieve independence, but now he was dead and many of the pro-American aristocrats in France were exiled or executed. Federalists warned that American republicans threatened to replicate the horrors of the French Revolution and successfully mobilized most conservatives and many clergymen. The Republicans, some of whom had been strong Francophiles, responded with support even through the [[Reign of Terror]], when thousands were guillotined, though it was at this point that many began backing away from their pro-France leanings.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick pp. 314–16 on Jefferson's favorable responses.</ref> Many of those executed had been friends of the United States, such as the [[Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing|Comte D'Estaing]], whose fleet had fought alongside the Americans in the Revolution ([[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]] had already fled into exile, and [[Thomas Paine]] went to prison in France). The republicans denounced Hamilton, Adams and even Washington as friends of Britain, as secret [[monarchism|monarchists]], [[aristocracy|aristocrats]] and as enemies of the republican values. The level of rhetoric reached a fever pitch.<ref>Marshall Smelser, "The Federalist Period as an Age of Passion," ''American Quarterly'' 10 (Winter 1958), 391–459.</ref><ref name = "Smelser">Smelser, "The Jacobin Phrenzy: Federalism and the Menace of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," ''Review of Politics'' 13 (1951) 457–82.</ref>

In 1793, Paris sent a new minister, [[Edmond-Charles Genêt]] (known as ''Citizen Genêt''), who systematically mobilized pro-French sentiment and encouraged Americans to support France's war against Britain and Spain. Genêt funded local [[Democratic-Republican Societies]] that attacked Federalists.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, ''Age of Federalism'', pp 451–61</ref> He hoped for a favorable new treaty and for repayment of the debts owed to France. Acting aggressively, Genêt outfitted [[privateer]]s that sailed with American crews under a French flag and attacked British shipping. He tried to organize expeditions of Americans to invade Spanish Louisiana and Spanish Florida. When Secretary of State Jefferson told Genêt he was pushing American friendship past the limit, Genêt threatened to go over the government's head and rouse public opinion on behalf of France. Even Jefferson agreed this was blatant foreign interference in domestic politics. Genêt's extremism seriously embarrassed the Jeffersonians and cooled popular support for promoting the French Revolution and getting involved in its wars. Recalled to Paris for execution, Genêt kept his head and instead went to New York, where he became a citizen and married the daughter of Governor Clinton.<ref>Eugene R. Sheridan,  "The Recall of Edmond Charles Genet: A Study in Transatlantic Politics and Diplomacy". ''Diplomatic History'' 18#4 (1994), 463–68.</ref> Jefferson left office, ending the coalition cabinet and allowing the Federalists to dominate.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, pp. 330–65.</ref>

The [[Jay Treaty]] battle in 1794–1795 was the effort by Washington, Hamilton and [[John Jay]] to resolve numerous difficulties with Britain. Some of these issues dated to the Revolution, such as boundaries, debts owed in each direction and the continued presence of British forts in the [[Northwest Ordinance|Northwest Territory]]. In addition, the United States hoped to open markets in the British Caribbean and end disputes stemming from the naval war between Britain and France. Most of all the goal was to avert a war with Britain—a war opposed by the Federalists, that some historians claim the Jeffersonians wanted.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, pp. 375–406.</ref>

As a neutral party, the United States argued it had the right to carry goods anywhere it wanted. The British nevertheless seized American ships carrying goods from the [[French West Indies]]. The Federalists favored Britain in the war and by far most of America's foreign trade was with Britain, hence a new treaty was called for. The British agreed to evacuate the western forts, open their West Indies ports to American ships, allow small vessels to trade with the French West Indies and set up a commission that would adjudicate American claims against Britain for seized ships and British claims against Americans for debts incurred before 1775. One possible alternative was war with Britain, a war that the United States was ill-prepared to fight.<ref>Elkins and McKitrick, pp. 406–50.</ref>

The Republicans wanted to pressure Britain to the brink of war (and assumed that the United States could defeat a weak Britain).<ref>Miller (1960) p. 149.</ref> Therefore, they denounced the Jay Treaty as an insult to American prestige, a repudiation of the American-French alliance of 1777 and a severe shock to Southern planters who owed those old debts and who would now be never compensated for their escaped slaves who fled to British lines for their freedom. Republicans protested against the treaty and organized their supporters. The Federalists realized they had to mobilize their popular vote, so they mobilized their newspapers, held rallies, counted votes and especially relied on the prestige of President Washington. The contest over the Jay Treaty marked the first flowering of grassroots political activism in the United States, directed and coordinated by two national parties. Politics was no longer the domain of politicians as every voter was called on to participate. The new strategy of appealing directly to the public worked for the Federalists as public opinion shifted to support the Jay Treaty.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3125063|title = Shaping the Politics of Public Opinion: Federalists and the Jay Treaty Debate|journal = Journal of the Early Republic|volume = 20|issue = 3|pages = 393–422|last1 = Estes|first1 = Todd|year = 2000|doi = 10.2307/3125063}}</ref> The Federalists controlled the Senate and they ratified it by exactly the necessary two-thirds vote vote (20–10) in 1795. However, the Republicans did not give up and public opinion swung toward the Republicans after the Treaty fight and in the South the Federalists lost most of the support they had among planters.<ref>Sharp 113–37.</ref>

====Whiskey Rebellion====
{{Main|Whiskey Rebellion}}
The [[excise tax]] of 1791 caused grumbling from the frontier including threats of [[tax resistance]]. Corn, the chief crop on the frontier, was too bulky to ship over the mountains to market unless it was first distilled into whiskey. This was profitable as the United States population consumed per capita relatively large quantities of liquor. After the excise tax, the backwoodsmen complained the tax fell on them rather than on the consumers. Cash poor, they were outraged that they had been singled out to pay off the "financiers and speculators" back in the East and to pay the salaries of the federal revenue officers who began to swarm the hills looking for illegal stills.<ref>Miller (1960) pp. 155–62</ref>

Insurgents in western Pennsylvania shut the courts and hounded federal officials, but Jeffersonian leader [[Albert Gallatin]] mobilized the western moderates and thus forestalled a serious outbreak. Washington, seeing the need to assert federal supremacy, called out 13,000 state militia and marched toward [[Washington, Pennsylvania]] to suppress this [[Whiskey Rebellion]]. The rebellion evaporated in late 1794 as Washington approached, personally leading the army (only two sitting Presidents have directly led American military forces, Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion and Madison in an attempt to save the White House during the [[War of 1812]]). The rebels dispersed and there was no fighting. Federalists were relieved that the new government proved capable of overcoming rebellion while Republicans, with Gallatin their new hero, argued there never was a real rebellion and the whole episode was manipulated in order to accustom Americans to a [[standing army]].

Angry petitions flowed in from three dozen [[Democratic-Republican Societies]] created by Citizen Genêt. Washington attacked the societies as illegitimate and many disbanded. Federalists now ridiculed Republicans as "democrats" (meaning in favor of [[Ochlocracy|mob rule]]) or "[[Jacobins]]" (a reference to the [[Reign of Terror]] in France).

Washington refused to run for a third term, establishing a two-term precedent that was to stand until 1940 and eventually to be enshrined in the Constitution as the [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|22nd Amendment]]. He warned in his [[Washington's Farewell Address|Farewell Address]] against involvement in European wars and lamented the rising north–south sectionalism and party spirit in politics that threatened national unity: <blockquote>The party spirits serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.</blockquote>

Washington never considered himself a member of any party, but broadly supported most Federalist policies.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Federal Judiciary|url=http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_sedbio_fr.html}}</ref>