Federalists and Republicans: How Liberty Influenced Political Parties

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton knew that the fate of the new nation would depend on how to implement government with the size and authority that would best suit the 13 states of the new union. What these men did not realize is that the meaning of liberty would become subject to interpretation as it served as a principle of the new government. After the American Revolution, Jefferson and Hamilton no longer shared the same definition of personal and civil liberty, and those differences formed the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. What many may not know is that the majority of the ideas adopted in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution derive from ideas of the Enlightenment Era, a philosophical movement Jefferson and Hamilton both believed in. This capstone project was created in order to determine what happened when the framers were faced with decisions about creating a sustainable government, and how liberty played the major role in the differences of opinion between men like Jefferson and Hamilton. The historiography has yet to pinpoint liberty as a major player in the reasons that created political divisions and shifts in the United States. Historians using political and social lenses to present their own arguments only vaguely reference liberty as an aspect of government, but not as the main reason for why disagreements became as prevalent as they were after the American Revolution. With the assistance of archival repositories such as the Library of Congress, National Archives, and state historical societies, various correspondence and notes taken by the Founding Fathers will be used and displayed as an online exhibit. The exhibit will show how the term liberty and political factions evolved in the men most responsible for the outcome of our government, permanent institutions, and economy.