Magnificent Catastrophe Essay

The presidency of George Washington was a difficult pair of terms to follow. John Adams tried to follow the precedent that the first president had set, but the second president only managed to polarize the nation among two parties: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Although his decisions are today looked at with mixed feelings, at the time John Adams fell into popular disfavor. After his singular term due to the opposition of the Jeffersonian Anti-Federalists and the Hamiltonian Federalists (members of Adams’s own party), there was a power vacancy clearly waiting to be filled which would lead to the spot of the third President of the United States. The first twelve years of the nation and its first two presidents had been marred by stirrings of factionalism and tension. However, the two presidents after Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, would do much to lessen these issues due to educated and intelligent policy-making, in addition to a great deal of fortunate circumstances.

During the time period of 1801 to 1817, there were multiple issues in the United States ranging from wars to political boundaries. This time period saw the termination of the Federalist party. The conflicts were between two parties called the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalists. The Federalist party was officially started by John Adams. John Adams was also a loose constructionist just like all the other Federalists. Federalists were in favor of a strong central government. On the other side, was Thomas Jefferson who was in office from 1801 to 1809. Jefferson started the Jeffersonian Republican party. The Jeffersonians were strict constructionists who believed in states rights. They said that anything that is not stated in

George Washington himself wanted to avoid a party system in America. Unfortunately, even when saying this he was part of the beginning of one of the first parties in United States politics. There have been many different parties surface since the beginning of the American political system. They all have different thoughts, policies, and motivations. Each party has come and gone, some have made significant contributions and others have not. The first split, and beginning of the party system, came with the differentiation between the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. These two parties were extremely different in thought, design, and status of people involved. This paper, will deal with

These books were similar to each other, however, he took an entirely different path when writing Everyday Life in Early America. This book is easily accessible to any education level, perhaps even an elementary school teacher could read and paraphrase the sections to their students. For anyone interested in what went on in the lives of people in America during the seventeenth century, this would be a good read. From high school to historical scholars, this book is an “introductory” level type of text. This book can stand alone, but it would also make for a very good text book if the

After the colonies gained independence, the founding fathers soon found that becoming a new independent nation was going to be a difficult task. The biggest task was deciding on the division of power in the government. This issue divided the people into two groups, the federalists and the Jeffersonian republicans. Alexander Hamilton led the federalists and Thomas Jefferson led the republicans. These two important men in history would later show how the challenges of becoming a new nation. In this essay I will be analyzing the ideas of Linda K. Kerber’s “The Fears of the Federalists,” to Drew R. McCoy’s “The Fears of the Jeffersonian Republicans.” Furthermore, comparisons will be made about both essays to gain a better understanding of the struggles of government in early America.

By 1817 the great American experiment was in full swing. America was developing into an effective democratic nation. However as the democracy continued to grow, two opposing political parties developed, the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalists. The Jeffersonian Republicans believed in strong state governments, a weak central government, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. The Federalists saw it differently. They opted for a powerful central government with weaker state governments, and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The seemingly solid divide between Federalist and Republican would begin to blur during the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. For, neither Republican president was able lead

The First Party System refers to a period between 1792 and the 1820’s when the American political system was divided into two parties. Both parties, the Federalist Party, and the Democratic-Republican Party, wanted control of the Congress, the presidency, and the states. The parties were the result of the differences between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on how to solve various national problems such as the economic crisis that was threatening the nation at the time (Dickerson, 2004). However, the roots of these political parties and concerns emerged during the constitution ratification process. On one hand, the Federalists supported the constitution while, on the other hand, the Antifederalists (Democratic-Republican) did not support it due to key issues that had not been considered in the new constitution (rAndon HersHey & Beck, 2015).

Despite the fact the founding fathers advised contrary to the establishment of political factions as the Constitution withstood the ratification process, a rift amongst men in President George Washington’s cabinet instituted the move toward the conception of political party. During the time period between 1791 and 1833, a two-party system had begun that demonstrated the philosophy of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Although these two political groups were unyielding in their original ideas and beliefs, both had to change a few of their initial standpoints on numerous topics as they dealt with the truth of the government.

The Federalists no longer held power in the presidency and in Congress and as a whole, were “destined never to regain national power” (Tindall and Shi 317). The defeat of Adams was the beginning of the Federalists’ decline and their party would gradually fade over time into obscurity. Even more important was that the election of 1800 demonstrated the success of the so-called experimental republican government. Jefferson’s victory showed that it was possible for the government handle the transfer of power from the in-power party to the out-of-power party. Even though the period leading up to the election was filled with conflict between the political parties, after the election the presidency was transferred from Adams to Jefferson without bloodshed or legal issues. Jefferson was unanimously recognized as the president and the government was established as a legitimate political body that could handle change, not just a dynasty of Federalists (Mr. Weisend). The election of 1800 and subsequent deadlock between Jefferson and Burr also exposed a flaw in the U.S. Constitution that the original Founders did not expect. The Founders originally gave each elector in the Electoral College two ballots to cast for a President and a Vice President. They had hoped that the two candidates with the most votes would set aside their differences and assume the roles of President and Vice President,

Adams vs Jefferson, The Tumultuous Election of 1800, describes the events of the infamous United States Presidential Election of 1800, the election that forever changed the landscape of American politics and reestablished the principles of the American Revolution. The election of 1800 was a battle of two political powerhouses: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They were two of America’s founding fathers who were once great friends, but were thrown against each other as adversaries with the future of America in their hands.

The early years of the Constitution of the United States were full of political strife. The two prominent political ideals were complete opposites. The Jeffersonian Republicans were focused on giving power to the people and maintaining a pastoral economy, while the Federalists supported the control of the government by the elite class, and maintaining “positive” democracy. Both parties feared the influence and effect the other party would have on the public. In Linda K. Kerber's article, “The Fears of the Federalists”, the major concerns Federalists held in the early 19th century are described. Ever since the war with and separation from England, the citizens of America were seen to be continually drive to “patriotic rebellion” as a way to

In the book “A Magnificent Catastrophe” author, Edward J. Larson examines all aspects of the events that occurred during the First Presidential Campaign in the 1800s. Larson discusses the Presidential Election rivalry battle between Thomas Jefferson of the Republicans and John Adams of the Federalists. In 1776 both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were sent to Philadelphia as delegates to the second continental congress, they joined a five-member committee, which drafted a Declaration of Independence for the United States. They later then voted to adopt and sign the document their committee drafted which was the Declaration of Independence. Adams was more active when promoting independence and argued the longest and the most effective, but

O’Reilly gives colorful descriptions of what is happening during the Civil War and what effects it has on the nation. It expanded my knowledge on the difficulties that the soldiers in the confederate army had to endure. It also gave me more understanding of the extent of hatred that mankind has shown towards others throughout the course of history. Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly is a must read novel.

On March 11, 2011 two catastrophic disaster struck Japan; a natural disaster in the form of a tsunami that followed an earthquake resulting in a man-made disaster, a nuclear power plant meltdown. The Fukishima nuclear power plant meltdown resulted from multiple system failures. When the tsunami waves struck it was double the size of the height of the plants seawall, which flooded the plant (Edge, 2011). Water ended up in the basement of the power plant rendering the backup diesel generators inoperable and unable to cool the reactors (Edge, 2011). The entire Fukishma plant lost power, causing malfunctioning of the plant and a nuclear meltdown. Initially, the Japanese government ordered an evacuation of everyone within two miles of Fukishima, but after an explosion shook the plant, the government widened the areas to 12 miles forcing more than 100,00 people to flee (Edge, 2011). Interestingly, the United State government advised American in Japan to stay at least 50 miles away from the Fukishima plant (Davis, 2011).

Federalists and Democratic-Republicans offered altogether different dreams of a future America, one business and in view of a concentrating national government, the other decentralized and agrarian. Also, the presidential election of 1800 was a particularly caustic issue, including spread and talk campaigns equaling the most noticeably bad 20 and 21st century elections. Aggravating every one of these matters, the Democratic-Republican possibility for president and vice president wound up tied in the quantity of electoral votes they got because of a characteristic of the Electoral College. The House of Representatives needed to pick the president and did as such just on the 36th ballot, picking Jefferson over his running mate Aaron Burr. In this warmed electoral scene, Jefferson set the point of reference for inaugural addresses that go far in endeavoring to accommodate the two fighting gatherings and to promise the country that its electoral divisions are a quality that need not debilitate their key national unity. Jefferson went so far as to say that all are republicans and that all are federalists. Cutting edge government officials and presidents as often as possible reformulate this idea for their contemporary circumstance and underscore the national unity of the United States notwithstanding