# First Party System The First Party System (c. 1792–1824) was the original configuration of American national politics, pitting the **[[Federalist Party]]** of [[Alexander Hamilton]] against the **[[Democratic-Republican Party]]** of [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[James Madison]]. Though the Framers had warned against "factions," the parties formed almost immediately over the central cleavage of the early republic: the scope of federal power. Federalists favored a strong national government, a national bank, commercial and manufacturing interests, and warm relations with Britain; Democratic-Republicans favored states' rights, agrarian interests, strict construction of the Constitution, and sympathy with revolutionary France. The system effectively ended in the **Era of Good Feelings**, when the Federalists collapsed after the [[War of 1812]] and the [[Hartford Convention]] tarred them as disloyal, leaving the Democratic-Republicans as the sole national party. That one-party interlude dissolved into the factional contest of 1824, which gave rise to the [[Second Party System]]. ## See Also - [[Federalist Party]] · [[Democratic-Republican Party]] - [[Second Party System]] - [[Realignment]]