National Gazette and political parties (1792)

“The most interesting state of parties in the United States may be referred to three periods. Those who espoused the cause of independence and those who adhered to the British claims formed the parties of the first period; if indeed, the disaffected class were considerable enough to deserve the name of a party…

• The Federal Constitution…gave birth to a second and most interesting division of the people…Among those who embraced the Constitution, the great body were unquestionably friends to republican liberty, tho’ there were…[those] who hoped to make the Constitution a cradle for these hereditary establishments.

• The establishment of the federal government in 1788…has arisen a third division, which…is likely to be of some duration in our [society]…One of the divisions consists of those who…are more partial to the opulent [luxurious] than to the other classes of society…having debauched themselves into a persuasion that mankind are incapable of governing themselves…The other division consists of those who, believing, in the doctrine that mankind are capable of governing themselves…are naturally offended at every public measure that does not appeal to the understanding and to the general interests of the community…

• National Gazette, September 1792

1. What is the National Gazette’s point of view regarding parties in the passage? How does this help to understand attitudes in the early Republic toward divisions in American society?

2. From paragraph I, what is meant by the ‘disaffected class’? What happened to this ‘party’ following the Revolution?

3. From paragraph II, provide TWO specific examples from the Convention or Ratification debate that would lead the National Gazette to conclude some ‘hoped to make the Constitution a cradle for these hereditary establishments.’