DBQ Federalist vs Antifederalist
It can be argued that the Federalists were the first political party in the United States. Their goal was simple; to unite the states and form a strong central government. There were various attempts at uniting the states, the first of which was the Articles of Confederation. These articles were not effective due to the fact that they did not have the power to tax the States or the power to enforce a uniform commercial policy. This caused the government to basically go bankrupt, and when this occurred, it was evident that the Federalists had failed in their plan of union. Their next attempt, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, was successful in uniting the States, but still lacked the necessary acceptance of the people. Due to the failure of the Articles, the people did not trust the Federalists who created them, and in effect, would not allow those same men to gain supreme power of the country by creating a strong central government. The Federalists were not successful in handling the problems that faced this newly created nation because they lacked the power of a strong central government. The people of the United States were not satisfied with the way that the government was handling matters wh
People did not feel that this treaty was just, because ceasing their alliance with France, who helped them in the war, and starting a "friendship" with the Native Americans who fought against them in the war, was not a smart thing to do (Document C). The way that they resolved this was with the Judiciary Act of 1789 (Document B) which made it so that all crimes which infringed on federal laws, would be heard in district courts, which were placed in each state, and all crimes which were not related to federal law, but rather to state law, would be held in the states courts. These groups had conflicting opinions on many, if not all, of the issues that were discussed while they were in session. The Republican's argument against these acts was explained in the Virginia Resolutions and the Kentucky Resolutions (Document I). One of their arguments was based on the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were created and passed by the largely Federalist government of the time. Although the Federalist government was not efficient in handling most problems facing the nation, there were some areas in which they succeeded in fixing certain problems, which in turn helped the nation as a whole. The Whiskey Tax was implemented due to the fact that the federal government needed to raise money to pay off state debts. It is clear that this government is more successful then it was under Federalist rule because for the thirty years after the Federalists lost their political power, the nation prospered more then it did when they did have the power. This is shown in the case of the Whiskey Rebellion (Document D). This treaty, as well as the Whiskey Rebellion, are examples of the Federalist government being selfish, and putting their own personal beliefs over those of the people. These acts gave the government power that was clearly unconstitutional, but since the Federalists were in charge and the acts benefited them, they were passed. While the Republicans were in power, there were many leaps and bounds that this nation went though, and most of them were for the better. These resolutions explained that the power being given to the federal government by these acts was unconstitutional, and the power which was in fact constitutional, was constitutionally that of the states. One aspect of this situation was the problem of who has power in court trials.
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Acceptance Essays
