For the first few years of Constitutional government, under the
             leadership of George Washington, there was a unity, commonly called
             Federalism that even James Madison (the future architect of the Republican
             Party) acknowledged in describing the Republican form of government-- "
             And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being
             republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting
             the character of Federalists." Although legislators had serious
             differences of opinions, political unity was considered absolutely
             essential for the stability of the nation.Political parties or factions
             were considered evil as "Complaints are everywhere heard from our most
             considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and
             private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are
             too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival
             parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the
             rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior
             force of an interested and overbearing majority_" Public perception of
             factions were related to British excesses and thought to be "the mortal
             diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished." James
             Madison wrote in Federalist Papers #10, "By a faction, I understand a
             number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the
             whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of
             interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and
             aggregate interests of the community." He went on to explain that faction
             is part of human nature; "that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and
             that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS."
             The significant point Madison was to make in this essay was that the Union
             was a safeguard against factions in...