Federalist Party

The Federalist Party was an early United States political party that favored a strong national government and dominated national politics during the 1790s.

United States Constitution: The supreme law of the United States, establishing the federal government and defining its powers. Ratification disputes over the Constitution helped organize Federalists as a political force.
Report on Manufactures: Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 proposal for federal policies to encourage American manufacturing. The report extended the party’s program from public credit toward economic development.
John Adams: The second president of the United States and a leading Federalist during the party’s period of national influence. Adams’s presidency exposed divisions within the party over diplomacy and dissent.
Alien and Sedition Acts: Four federal laws enacted in 1798 that restricted immigrants and criminalized certain criticism of the government. The acts intensified opposition and damaged the Federalists’ public standing.
Anti-Federalist: An opponent of ratifying the proposed United States Constitution who feared excessive central power. Anti-Federalist arguments supplied the opposition against which Federalists first took shape.
First Bank of the United States: A federally chartered bank established in 1791 to manage government funds and support national finance. Hamilton’s bank plan tested the party’s broad interpretation of congressional powers.
John Jay: An American statesman who served as the first chief justice and negotiated the Jay Treaty. Jay’s treaty became one of the most contested achievements of Federalist foreign policy.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Resolutions adopted in 1798 and 1799 asserting that states could challenge unconstitutional federal laws. These protests answered the Sedition Act and deepened conflict over federal power.
Federalist Papers: A series of essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay defending ratification of the Constitution. These essays articulated the constitutional case associated with the party’s founders.
Assumption of state debts: The federal government’s 1790 decision to take responsibility for debts states incurred during the Revolutionary War. Assumption strengthened federal credit and tied influential creditors to the national government.

Linked from 20 pages