Task 2A.When George Washington was elected president, it was a unanimous decision by the ElectoralCollege.While he was in office and worked to interpret and abide by the constitution,disagreements began to arise resulting in the emergence of two distinct parities: the Federalistsand Antifederalists.The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, supported the Constitution andwere for big, strong national government.The Antifederalists, led by James Madison andThomas Jefferson, were for individual and states’ rights.There were two major events thatdivided the people and caused the formation of the parties with opposing views.The first wasthe Whiskey Rebellion.Hamilton decided to start taxing whiskey in an effort to repay themassive war debt. This led to violent protests and the harassing of tax collectors.Washingtoncalled up thousands of militiamen to stop the resistance and prove that the government would notstand for this type of rebellion.The antifederalists viewed the tax as an abuse of public powerand feared that this was just the beginning of government overstepping its bounds.The secondevent was the French Revolution.Because of the Treaty of Alliance with France, America wasbound to them as an ally indefinitely.Rather than side with France and abide by the treaty,Washington decided to remain neutral, so as to not ruin the relationship with England.Thisaction fueled a greater divide between the parties because the Antifederalists believed thegovernment took a cowardly approach by not backing the French and honoring the treaty.(Norton, 2015)B1The Second Party System consisted of two parties, the Democrats and the Whigs.One of thebiggest differences between the two parties was their view on economics.The Democratsbelieved in limited government and states’ rights, while the Whigs pushed for a powerfulgovernment that was involved in economic and social affairs.The Whigs also supported a strongnational bank and paper currency, but the Democrats opposed the national bank and thought itwas unconstitutional.The Democrats were for the lower class, working people and supportedthe expansions west and thought it would open up opportunities for individuals to own land.TheWhigs were against the expansion westward because they would rather have the development forbusinesses happen in their current occupied space.Lastly, the Whigs believed that the wealthyhad risen to the top by sheer hard work and determination, but the Democrats disagreed andinstead felt that the wealthy had special concessions made for them.(Norton, 2015)B2The Whigs and Democrats had such expansive range of beliefs in their coalitions because of thedifferent types of people that each party attracted.The Whigs appealed to the evangelicalProtestants, and alienated all other religions. Because the Whigs were against westwardexpansion, they appealed to the slave owners in the Upper South that wanted to protect theirbusinesses from what could be cheaper labor and competition in the west.This belief also
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