Congressional elections: possibly one of the most sizable, key elections to date. One person to represent your state as an entirety, one person to represent you and your opinions. In order to make elections swift and easy, early government founders created the idea of a democracy, where, we the people have the right to elect whomever we choose. The first congressional one, involving running candidates such as, the later election winner, Swanwick, and his running mate, Fitzsimmon. The factors surrounding Swanwick's congressional debut were the Whiskey Rebellion, excise tax and the yellow fever epidemic. Because of its immense amount of growing popularity and the fact that it brought distinction between the first political …show more content…
Founded in 1791, the people of this party believed that the national government had too much control over individuals and that the local government was more in favor of these individual rights. Democrats opposed Alexander Hamilton's plans of aiding Northern states which had not yet paid off their debts. For this would weaken the power of the states as a whole. They also opposed larger armies stating that they could potentially be a threat to citizen’s individual liberties. Swanwick resisted “the excise tax but thought that the Whiskey rebellion was the wrong method” of doing …show more content…
This dreadful epidemic took the lives of over 400,00 men, women and children. The nation was in a panic and people were falling left and right: a perfect situation in need of a leader. The two candidates took advantage of this, pleading their sorrows for the loss of many. When giving one of his debut speeches, Swanwick gives his most sincere condolences, regarding those in poverty as well as loss: “Amidst my namecoins calls two the wealthy and powerful, I do not forget about the poor.” Fitzsimmon also made statements regarding yellow fever referring to the “melancholy time period” the world was living in: “During this melancholy time period, the city lost 10 of its most valuable physicians.” The many deaths that yellow fever took, resulted in strange voting numbers in this election. Another factor was that of the excise tax, resulting in the infamous Whiskey rebellion. This was the very first tax imposed on a domestic product by the federal government, in this case, Whiskey. Because people felt so strongly about this, the running men had to watch what they said if they wanted to lock in