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During the 17th and 18th centuries, the American colonies developed, for the most part, independently of each other. Each of the colonies had a distinctive character, distinctive customs and traditions, and a different style of government. Though geographically united and all colonies of Great Britain, they existed in isolation, the majority ignorant of the needs and desires specific to other colonies. However, as the colonies underwent similar experiences subjected to British oppression, they began to see the need for unity. Communication between the political leaders of the separate colonies increased and, gradually, political interaction followed. The First Continental Congress convened in 1774, uniting the colonies in political resistance to the British, and symbolizing the first step toward unified national government. Still, political leaders and common colonists alike found it difficult to define their citizenship and interests beyond the borders of their towns and colonies.
On July 4, 1776, the American colonies declared their independence from Britain and began in earnest the Revolutionary, which would win them that independence. Primary among the many concerns facing the new nation was the creation of a united national government out of the thirteen disparate governments of the states. This was officially accomplished by the adoption of the Articles of Confederation. However, during the war there was little time to devote to establishing the institutions and functions of government and the Second Continental Congress ruled under an uncertain set of rules, basically concerning itself with matters of diplomatic and military concern on an as-needed basis.
Once the war ended, however, the need for a well-defined national government was clear. The government organized according to the Articles of Confederation and the nation began the effort of defining its government, a process that took many twists and turns during the early years of American history. This early founding period resulted in the ultimate failure of the Articles and left the nation with a new document that has served as the framework of US government for more than 235 years since its drafting, the Constitution. The period also ended with the details of many of the functions of the national government solidified through precedent. In fact, many of the precedents set by the first Congress, the newly established Supreme Court, and by the nation's first president, George Washington, still endure as standard operating procedure for the national government.
That so many enduring precedents were set during the 1790s is all the more remarkable because this was a rocky period for the United States. The new government functioned well, but the new nation was also confronted with problems involving France at war with Britain, Spain and Britain both encroaching on the western frontier, and confrontations with Native American tribes in the West as well. Just as disruptive and contentious were the disputes that raged about how the government should act in situations in which the Constitution was vague. The foremost of these disagreements involved the question of whether or not the federal government had the right to found a national bank. “Strict constructionists” such as Thomas Jefferson interpreted the Constitution literally, believing that the document forbade everything it did not expressly permit. “Loose constructionists” such as Alexander Hamilton believed that the Constitution’s “elastic clause” permitted everything the document did not expressly forbid—such as the founding of a bank.
Hamilton and Jefferson disagreed often during George Washington’s presidency, and eventually their ideas spread through the country and coalesced into the nation’s first two political parties, the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans. Although Washington begged Americans not to separate into dangerous political factions—for he believed that factions and political parties would destroy the republican spirit and tear the Union apart—the party system developed. Indeed, Washington’s successor, the Federalist John Adams, tried to ruin the opposition party with his 1798 Sedition Act, which ultimately only made the Democratic-Republicans stronger.
More than anything, the period that saw the building of the nation under the new Constitution left much room for the nation to grow and evolve, and established the conditions under which this evolution would take place. Washington left office with the international situation uncertain, the fate of westward expansion unknown, and the powers of the national government still contested. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the party emerged from the conflicts arising from the central issues of building the state, the evolution of the government into two major political parties, a system which still prevails today. The existence of both a majority and opposition party determined the course of the United States as it grew into what it is today. Additionally, the problems faced by the early national government of reconciling the interests of geographically and ideologically varied states hinted at the emergence of sectionalism, the defining political reality of the first half of the 19th century.
