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 win the presidency. Jefferson had come to power largely because of his resistance to Hamilton's and the Federalist Party's domestic and foreign policies, and he entered office determined to reverse the programs of the previous administrations and preserve an agrarian empire of liberty. Yet once in office, he quickly discovered that governing the nation posed quite different challenges than leading an opposition party. Jefferson and his successors confronted many of the same problems that had dominated the political disputes of the previous decade: the government's role in the economy, the West, and American rights and independence