Formation of Political Parties

THE discussions concerning the national Constitution had, as we have observed, engendered party spirit in the new republic which speedily assumed definite forms and titles, first as Federalist and Anti-Federalist, and then as Federalist and Republican. The Federalist party was composed of those who favored much concentration of power in the national government; the Republican or Democratic party favored State sovereignty and the diffusion of power among the people. Mr. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, was the recognized leader of the Republicans, and Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, was regarded as the head of the Federalists. The lines between these two parties were distinctly drawn, during the second session of the second Congress, and the spirit of each became rampant among the people.

Events then occurring in France had much to do in intensifying party spirit in this country. The British government had sent George Hammond here as full minister, and he had arrived in August, 1791. In December following, our government sent Thomas Pinckney as American ambassador to England; and so a good understanding between the lately belligerent governments was established. With the French government, their ancient ally, the United States held the most friendly relations.

Meanwhile a revolution, violent in its nature and far-reaching in its consequences, had broken out in France. It was the immediate consequence of the teachings of our own revolution. The people of France had long endured almost irresponsible despotism, and were yearning for freedom when the French officers and soldiers, who had served in America during the latter years of our struggle for independence, returned to their country full of republican ideas and aspirations. They began to question the right of a few to oppress the many. The public heart was soon stirred by new ideas, and in the movement that followed, Lafayette was conspicuous for awhile. The rumblings of the pent volcano of passion in the bosom of society were heard on every hand. Legislators assumed to be responsible to the people; and the Parliament of Paris, which for hundreds of years had been a mere court for registering royal edicts, now (1787) refused to do so, and in consequence the new and grievous taxes which the war had rendered necessary, could not be levied. The puzzled king called the States-General together. It was a body which had not met for nearly two hundred years. Like the Long Parliament of England, it soon took all power into its own hands, and very shortly the king was, in effect, a prisoner in his palace, and the representatives of the people proceeded to make society as level as possible. The Bastile, whose history represented royal despotism, was assailed by the citizens of Paris and pulled down. The privileges of the nobility and clergy were abolished, and the church property was seized. The king's brothers and many of the nobles fled in affright across the frontier, and tried to induce other sovereigns to take up the cause of royalty in France and restore the former order of things. The Emperor of Austria (brother of the French queen), and the King of Prussia, entered into a treaty to that effect, at Pilnitz, in 1791.

When this treaty became known, matters were brought to a crisis in France. War followed. English troops were sent to Flanders to watch the movements on the continent. Robespierre and other self-constituted leaders in Paris, held sway for awhile, and the most frightful massacres of nobles and priests ensued. Eighteen hundred were slain in one night. The weak and unfortunate king, who had in vain accepted constitution after constitution as it was offered to him, was now deposed and a republic was established. Lafayette and other moderate men had disappeared from the arena, which had become an awfully bloody one. The king was tried on a charge of inviting foreigners to invade France, was found guilty and beheaded in Jan., 1793. His beautiful queen soon shared his fate. The English troops sent to Flanders were called to fight the French, for the rulers of France had declared war against Great Britain, Spain, and Holland, in February.

When Mr. Jefferson came into the cabinet of Washington, he had just returned from France, where he had witnessed the uprising of the people against their oppressors. Regarding the movement as kindred to the late uprising of his own countrymen against Great Britain, it enlisted his warmest sympathies, and he expected to find the bosoms of the people of the United States glowing with feelings like his own. He was sadly disappointed. The conservatism of Washington and the tone of society in New York, in which some of the leaven of Toryism yet lingered, chilled him. He became suspicious of all around him, for he regarded the indifference of the people to the struggles of the French, their old allies, as an evil omen. He had scarcely taken his seat in the cabinet before he declared that some of his colleagues held decidedly monarchical views; and the belief became fixed in his mind that there was a party in the United States continually at work, secretly and sometimes openly, for the overthrow of republicanism here. This idea became a sort of monomania, and haunted him until his death more than thirty years afterward.