Federalists Vs. Republicans notes 8/28/15

Notes from August 28th 2015

American Strengths/Weakness

• Moral advantage
• Leadership (to some degree)
• Defensive Posture
• Fighting on own ground
• Opportunities for strategic partnerships
• Definition of victory
• Organization
• Resources/Supplies
• Manpower
• Political Weakness

British Strengths/weakness

• Manpower
• Imperial Economy
• Military “superpower” of its time: Navy and Army
• Motivation
• Logistics
• Imperial commitments
• Foreign rivals
• Organization
• Definition of victory

(AFTER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR)

Federalists vs. Antifederalists

• Federalists (for the Constitution)
• Antifederalists (against the Constitution)
• The Federalists Papers (Hamilton, Madison, and few by Jay)
• Antifederalists were not able to stop ratification by 1788, but they did eventually get the Bill of Rights

Federalists vs. Republicans

• Federalist vision = strong central government, urban, commercial, strongly involved in foreign affairs
• Republican vision - weaker central government, rural and agrarian in nature

Reflections on Federalists vs. Republicans

The Federalists program was led by Alexander Hamilton. He felt that there should be a ruling class of elites, because everyone who was under them was unworthy of ruling. He was also a loose Constructionist regarding the Constitution. I don't agree with the ideals of Loose constructionists. The Constitution was drafted and written in a certain way for a reason. You can't just take the words of the Constitution and impress your own beliefs and opinions upon then, and then say that's what the Constitution really means. Your interpretation cannot be what the Constitution actually means. The Federalists also believed that in order for America to succeed, it needed to be centralized in urban centers. Manufacturing and industry were also going to help the country go far. The Federalists wanted to make a national banking system that makes a national currency. I think this is a really great idea because it seems like the colonies were a bit disjointed while the Constitution was being drafted. A national currency would do a lot to encourage trade and bring the colonies together.

Federalists vs Republicans

With the newly written Constitution, there were two main ways to go forth interpreting the document.  This was the very beginning of the United States having political parties with differing ideas and beliefs.

Federalist Party

Alexander Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution.  This meant that the Constitution could be interpreted to have rights not strictly written in writing.  Hamilton and the Federalists believed in a strong central government.  Trading and business within the states and also with foreign countries were strongly favored.  The Federalists were not huge fans of the French Revolution.  With the idea of loose construction of the Constitution, a centralized banking system would be permitted.  

Republican Party

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson believed differently.  This meant that the Constitution said what was written and only what was written were rights given to the government and individuals.  Jefferson and the Republicans liked the idea of focus on agriculture and individual power.  This meant a weaker central government than the Federalists had in mind.  These followers believed in the ideas of the French Revolution and the democratic ideals associated with it.  

My Thoughts

I think that the original beliefs and thoughts of the federalist papers would be way too ambitious for today because they were writing these ideas for people that were used to being completely controlled by their government. Also the amount of people that are in America today has increased tenfold compared to the amount that was found in that day. Another issue that they would have is a lot of people, the majority, today will always be questioning their government, whether it be by demonstrating or even political protests, which would cause issues.

Religious Influences on Democracy by Bryan Guerrero

During early colonial life, many aspect of religion were controlled by the colonies respective leaders, carrying over the tyrannically ways of ruling that the Catholic church in England followed. One of these aspects included having everyone in a colony "conform" to the religion in play and abide by whatever rules the leaders. This eventually gave way for individuals to rise against these aspects in the attempt to create a set of irrevocable rights that would apply to everyone in the colonies, later to become the United States of Merica. One of these seekers was Thomas Jefferson. He was the one of the first that strove to create these irrevocable rights, mainly one that would grant religious freedom, free of law restrictions.
Another person who challenged these influences was Mary Wollstonecraft. She supposedly received a message from God. After this, she began to teach others that one shouldn't conform or abide to the restrictions set by others. This began to raise questions about what the true way is to get to heaven, thus challenging the power of those who managed and led the religion, such as from the Protestants.

The First Ammendment

The First Amendment outlines that there should be a separation of church and state.  One of the reasons that this amendment came about was due to the Baptists and the Anglican church.  During the 1770's, the Baptists came to Virginia to spread their beliefs by preaching.  The Baptists started to draw people away from the Anglican church, which threatened their power and influence.  To prevent this from happening, they required preachers to get a license to preach in the colony.  The problem with this was that the government, which was all Anglican, would only give these licenses to Anglican preachers.  Many Baptists preachers still preached without licenses, which got them thrown in jail.  One Baptist man that got put in jail was John Moore, and he decided to do something about the unfair law.  In October 1776, he brought a petition to the Virginia assembly demanding for the right to preach without persecution, but they needed an advocate to go to court to make their case.  Their advocate was Thomas Jefferson.  Jefferson proposed that church and state should be separate.  He dafter a bill stating this, and the bill eventually got passed in January 1786.  This is essentially where the first amendment came from.

Federalists vs. Republicans

Today in class (8/28/15), we learned about the Federalists and the Republicans. 

• Federalist vision = Strong central government, urban, commercial, strongly involved in foreign affairs (IN FAVOR OF THE GOVERNMENT) -Alexander Hamilton
• Republican vision = Weaker central government, rural and agrarian in nature (GOVERNMENT GET OUT OF THE WAY) -Thomas Jefferson 
• Federalist and the Republicans → Groups formed after the Declaration of Independence