Chapter in Perspective

The heated party battles of the 1790s deeply divided the leaders of the Revolution and caused Americans to fear for the survival of the Republic. In 1801 Thomas Jefferson became the first leader of an opposing party to become president. Jefferson had come to power by opposing Hamilton's and the Federalist party's domestic and foreign policies, and he entered office determined to reverse the policies of the previous decade and preserve an agrarian empire of liberty. Yet once in office he quickly discovered that governing the nation was quite different from leading an opposition party. Jefferson and his successors confronted many of the same problems that had been central to the politics of the previous decade: the government's role in the economy, the West, and American rights and independence in a perilous world of warring superpowers. In the end, they chose policies not so very different from those of the Federalists, policies reflecting a new American consciousness of nationhood.