The only party division of any consequence which existed in the United States, as Colonies, and up to the close of the revolutionary war, was that of the supporters and the opponents of the Royal Prerogative, respectively distinguished by the familiar names of Whigs and Tories. The entire prostration of the latter in the war of Independence, and the success of the new government erected by the former upon the ruins of the colonial system, extinguished this division, which has left no traces in the condition or feelings of the people. The most obnoxious and prominent of the Tories retired to England; the rest acquiesced with cheerfulness in the new state of things. The Whigs remained in undisputed possession of the field, and having now no common enemy to contend with, had opportunity and leisure,—as always happens in similar cases, to discover the differences of opinion among themselves. Within three or four years from the conclusion of peace, they were contending with each other throughout the whole country upon new grounds of controversy, with nearly as much zeal as they had before felt in their warfare with the Tories, though it was fortunately displayed in a more pacific shape.

This new division,—the second in the order of time of those which have prevailed among us, and one of which the traces are not yet and probably never will be entirely effaced,— was that of the supporters and opponents of the present Federal Constitution, respectively known by the appellations of Federalists and Anti-federalists. It belongs to the class of those already alluded to, which have their elements in the very nature of the governments of the communities in which they appear. Although our principal concern in the present article is with the parties that grew up after the adoption of the Constitution, yet as those which preceded had a good deal of influence in determining the character and personal composition of the others, it may be proper to make them the subject of a few preliminary remarks….

The parties, since known by the names of Federalists and Anti-federalists, made their appearance for the first time in the Convention which framed the Constitution. The object for which the meeting had been called, was to amend the existing articles of Confederation; but when the members had assembled, it was found to be the opinion of a large number of them, constituting, as it appeared in the sequel, a majority of the whole, that it was more expedient to adopt and recommend to the people an entirely new draft, materially altering the fundamental principles of the former system. The prominent defect of the Old Confederation was obviously the inefficiency and feebleness of the central power, and there was a general feeling that it ought to be strengthened, but in what way, and to what extent this was to be done, were questions upon which there was every variety of individual opinion. Hamilton went so far as to propose that the Senate should be chosen for life, and that the President should name the Governors of the States; others would have left the relations between the States and the essential powers of Congress nearly as they stood before. The division on general principles was between those who were disposed to strengthen the General Government at the expense of the power of the States, on the one hand, and on the other those who wished to maintain the complete independence of the States at all hazards, and to give no authority to the General Government which was inconsistent with it….

It….is creditable to the character of the Anti-federalists, that after the Constitution was finally adopted, they acquiesced in it with cheerfulness….The previous division of opinion upon general principles continued to exist, and the party names were kept up, but the question now turned, not upon the merit of the Constitution, but upon its meaning and the manner in which it ought to be construed. As the real character of a written constitution can hardly be ascertained in any other way than by experience, the ground of controversy, though somewhat narrowed, was still sufficiently extensive. Most of those who had actively supported the Constitution before its adoption, were now disposed to give it in practice the construction most favorable to the power of the General Government. Most of their opponents, including however some prominent persons of the other party, particularly Mr. Madison, were disposed to give it a strict construction. Some even went so far as to contend that the States still retain their independence, or in the popular language, Sovereignty, and that the present Federal Union is nothing more than another league of independent States, like the Old Confederation, under a somewhat different form.