WI: The Federalists become dominant in the early US?

[Z00M3R]

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking recently about the first party system in the United States. The big government and industrial Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton faced off against the small government and agrarian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson. In our timeline, after a few elections, the Federalists slowly faded from public office and the Democratic-Republican Party became dominant in government and it got to choose how the country would evolve. The American political parties are results of the offshoots of this original Jeffersonian party. However, what if this didn't happen? What if it was the D-Rs who faded into obscurity and were forced to join the Federalists and compromise between Federalist and D-R beliefs? Looking at American history in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it seems like the government was really held back from developing the country to its full potential, leading the US to only emerge as a superpower after 1945. If the Federalists (with some Jeffersonian influence) were the basis for the political system in the US, would we see things like the federal reserve, FBI, a standing professional army, and the Industrial Revolution happen earlier? There were a lot of American inventors and industrialists in the late 1700s and early 1800s, so it would be interesting to see what happens in a timeline where the government is powerful enough and willing to support them financially. Early industrialization, the government resembling the modern federal government earlier, and early urbanization are things I can see happening. Anybody else have any thoughts or ideas about this?

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

One problem you'd have is the Fedrralist wing of Hamilton was too elitist. You might run into the problem of a real backlash against it that could damage of the country in the long run.

Now, in this timeline I did where Washington wins at Brandywine, I have John Jay as president after Things are pushed forward several years because of the quick quick win and Washington serves 2 terms ending in 1791, then John Adams and Thomas Jefferson each serve one.

There are probably other ways to hold Jefferson to 1 term and thus discredit the Democrat-Republicans a little, most notably if he beats Adams in 1796. I think then what you would see is as I have in my time line, the parties come closer together and the more radical parts are sidelined. The Federalists can easily morph into the Whigs then. Madison was willing to compromise more than Jefferson, while James Monroe was of the no large government at all group.

My scenario, the United States just draws closer to Britain right away, which I think does help. As someone noted in an earlier thread on Brandywine, an American victory that fast, the British would look at them as a second rate European army like that of the Netherlands, not up to their level but one that would bear respecting,. Maybe with that inspiring some to create a professional army faster.

John Quincy Adams remains a Whig then. Henry Clay can also be president. One or both are involved in the slow morphing of the Federalists. And when the common people have someone to champion their cause, it is not as drastic as when Jackson did it.

Edit: I put the younger Adams on the Supreme Court.. But instead of Aaron Burr succeeding Madison and the panic of 1819 being a bit earlier meaning that burr is discredited and the Federalists/Whigs come back in the person of Henry Clay, you could also have Adams after Madison with a bigger government helping those hurt by the panic, then someone like DeWitt Clinton who is a moderate helping with more popular rule, which then helps the federalist move a little further toward that in the person of Henry Clay. (Clinton died 8n 1828 OTL If it's confusing that could come with a deceased vice president, vice president, allow the elections to elections to happen every 4 years starting in 1828 like our time line.)

So, there are a lot of ways to at least nudge things, and I think having a Federalist/Whig as president during the panic of 1819 and using a bigger government to help people would help a lot as far as precedent.