In the 1790s, the people of a new nation that was on a journey to build a central government were worried about the new government and had considerable doubts and fears about the developing political parties. However, with events such as Philadelphia's 1794 federal congressional election, the Federalist party was sure to die out, and eventually the government would evolve without Alexander Hamilton's factions. The reasoning behind Democratic-Republican John Swanick's victory over Federalist Thomas Fitzsimons is revealed through the differences in the candidates, how those differences affected and involved the qualified voters, and how the two men viewed and dealt with the issues of the time.
             Fitzsimons, who held positions in the Continental Congress and strongly supported Hamilton's policies, represented a group that "generally advocated a strong central government, a broad interpretation of the Constitution, full payment of national and state debts, the establishment of the Bank of the United States, encouragement of commerce, and a pro-British foreign policy" (97 Wheeler/Becker). Swanick, on the other hand, broke from his Tory father to support patriotism and worked his way up to become a wealthy merchant. He stood for people who "generally favored a central government with limited powers, a strict interpretation of the Constitution, and a pro-French foreign policy; they opposed the Bank" (97 W/B). These two parties first appeared in Congress in the 1790s, planting the "seeds of what would become by the 1830s America's first political party system" (97 W/B).
             Fitzsimons helped draft the legislation charting the Band of the United States in 1791, and he was a Roman Catholic. Swanick became an officer in Philadelphia's Democratic Society, and he was a Protestant Episcopalian. Although few voters belonged to either candidate's specific religion, "most of Philad...