Compare And Contrast Democratic-Republicans And Anti-Federalists

Federalists from the pre-Constitutional era remained Federalists, while Jeffersonians named themselves Democratic-Republican. President Washington warned about the dangers of political parties because they would divide the government and the nation into sides. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson led their parties, the Federalist and the Democratic-Republic respectively. As Washington had predicted, the nation was divided between two points of views, but political parties allow people to choose a side upon matters of supporting different ideas. Although Democratic-Republicans favored the common man, Federalists appeared more appealing because they favored the elite and the educated, prefered a strong federal government, and applied a loose construction of the Constitution. When selecting a person to represent the people in the …show more content…
Jefferson, an anti-Federalist, opposed the Constitution, arguing that it will destroy the unalienable rights of man. Federalists interpreted the Constitution with a loose construction, meaning that the government should be allowed to exercise many implied powers for the public good (Hamilton). The National Bank, created by Hamilton, was an example of implementing a loose construction because the Constitution did not specifically mentioned whether the government was allowed to do so. The National Bank provided a safe place for people to deposit money and loans for the states and the government to pay off debts. Democratic-Republicans believed that those implied powers belong to the states or to the people to decide whether laws should be made to prohibit something (Jefferson). The state governments can provide laws that the federal government did not, but those laws are exclusive to the certain states. The federal government still the power to override the state's legislations if the laws affect other