Even though Democratic-Republican presidents
held the White House for twenty-four of the United States’ first
thirty-six years, the Federalists had a much greater effect on the
formation of the new nation. The Federalists pushed for the ratification
of the Constitution and then bolstered the federal government by
providing solid economic and legal infrastructure. Their influence
put in place the systems that have kept the United States stable
and unified throughout its history.
Had the Anti-Federalists had their way, the Constitution
might never have been ratified. Patriots like Patrick Henry and
Samuel Adams believed that the new federal government would be too
powerful and too constricting. They feared that the new office of
president was too much like a monarch and did not think that Congress should
have the right to tax all Americans. Like many political philosophers
of their day, they thought that republicanism would never survive
in a large country because the government would be too distant from
the hearts and minds of the people it represented.
Federalists, however, disagreed. In the Federalist Papers,
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison argued that republicanism
would work for the United States. The republic would be so large,
with so many conflicting constituencies, that no single faction would
ever be able to dominate the others. Moreover, safeguards inserted
into the Constitution, such as the separation of powers and the
system of checks and balances, would prevent the government from
ever becoming too powerful. These Federalist arguments helped convince
the states to ratify the Constitution.
Other major Federalist contributions came through Secretary
of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s economic policies, which bolstered
the federal government and put the nation on sound financial footing.
Despite protests from Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans,
Hamilton urged President Washington and Congress to support the
development of American manufacturing, pass an excise tax to fund
the government, assume all state and federal debts, fund those debts
at par, and create a Bank of the United States. The assumption of
debt and funding at par gave the country credibility and encouraged
speculators to invest in American enterprises. The excise tax filled
the federal treasury, and the Bank of the United States helped stabilize
the economy. Perhaps most important, the Federalists’ loose interpretation
of the Constitution justified strong centralized government.
The Federalists also influenced the U.S. legal infrastructure through
the decisions of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall.
Most of Marshall’s rulings during his years as chief justice bolstered
the federal government’s power vis-à-vis the individual states.
In Marbury v. Madison, for example, he secured
the power of judicial review for the Supreme Court. In subsequent
cases, he also defended the Court’s superior position to state courts.
In doing so, Marshall legitimized the federal government and gave
it strong legal precedents.