Federalist Challenges in the 1790’s Essay Example
Federalist Challenges in the 1790’s Essay Example

Federalist Challenges in the 1790’s Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (798 words)
  • Published: December 3, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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From the years 1789 through 1800, Federalist went through many harsh conditions. There were many disputes between the Federalist Party, led by Hamilton, and the Republicans, led by Jefferson. The events that created the most trouble for the Federalists and were most significant in the development of the Federalist Party were creating a national bank, how to pay the national debt, and establishing the public credit. Overall, the Federalists faced more of an economic challenge than anything else.

Since raising revenue in the United States was one of the first economic issues the Federalists were up against, a solution to national debt had to be found and agreed upon. During the Federalist’s struggle, James Madison was a federalist who was also known for being Hamilton’s close ally. He imposed taxes to control the government a

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nd to simultaneously raise revenues. At first, the taxing started off rather small, but then quickly grew into more expensive taxes.Madison believed that raising revenues would be better for the economy.

The amount of taxes developed depended on the basis of a ship. If the Americans built the ship then they would pay a small amount; if foreign companies built the ship, then they would pay a greater tax than the Americans. The federalists also believed that the idea of a national bank could be plausible because of a line in the Constitution stating that anything that would benefit the country could be formed by the central government.However, since the national bank was still up for debate, the Federalists saw the Constitution as guidelines as a way of enforcing their idea. Although the Republicans only saw a national bank as a wa

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of giving too much power to the central government, the idea of a national bank was to make the states less dependent on imported manufactured goods. Another thing that the federalists did was challenge the statement that the government shouldn’t to pass taxation on imported goods.

The idea that Hamilton had projected was that the government should start enforcing a tax on liquor. These taxes were controversial because many farmers were very low on finances at the time, and had sold their securities for a fraction of the original value they had bought for. Because of these unfair taxes, a revolt led by farmers who were against the new tax led a revolt against the government called the Whiskey Rebellion. The government compensated them for their victims or they would have to pay the face value for new government funded bonds.In the end, the government would put down the rebellion with ease, but it showed the deficiency of the new tax on whisky at the time. Another issue that was controversial was the establishment of a public credit system and paying the national debt.

Hamilton suggested that citizens who had government bonds should be able to turn them in for new, interest-bearing bonds. However, the simple solution Hamilton thought up had a few drawbacks. Many farmers had sold their bonds at very low prices and lost masses of money.In addition, only the people who purchased bonds from the farmers could trade in all of the bonds they bought at an incredibly low, almost insulting, cost. Another idea presented was for the government to make each state pay ach of their debts to the government.

The national

bank was to be run by congress and maintain a strict inspection. The bank would guarantee money for loans to build up and fund business and commerce. The payment of the national debt was the biggest problem which affected Hamilton and James Madison the most.Madison agreed with Hamilton that the payment of the debt was essential; however, he disagreed with Hamilton about the system of bonds. Madison sided with the public in believing that very few would benefit from this plan.

The national bank caused congress to think hard about the results of how the national bank would affect the economy for better or worse, and for farmers and speculators. Out of all the obstacles that the federalists had faced, the economy was, by far, the most problematic and the most difficult to find a solution for all parties.The country was not in a very stable position because of the recent crises like the whisky rebellion, or money-producing ideas such as bonds. Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson played major roles in establishing the economy of the United States at the time, and also had a large role in the development of today’s government and economy. Without the ideas of these men, the United States economy may have the same problems today that the federalists faced then.

And in the end, even though the idea of a national bank was redundant, that is what removed the United States from debt.

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