The Anti-Administration party was an informal faction led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson that opposed policies of then Secretary of the TreasuryAlexander Hamilton in the first term of President George Washington. This was not an organized political party, but an unorganized faction and most had been Anti-Federalists in 1788, meaning they opposed ratification of the Constitution of the United States. However, the situation was fluid, with members moving in and out. Although contemporaries often referred to Hamilton's opponents as "Anti-Federalists", that term today is seen as imprecise, due to several Anti-Administration leaders having supported ratification, including Virginia Congressman James Madison. Madison joined with former Anti-Federalists to oppose Hamilton's financial plans in 1790. After Jefferson took leadership of the opposition to Hamilton in 1792, the faction became a formal party, Jefferson's Republican Party.
History
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and during the ratifying process in 1788, Madison was one of the two or three most prominent advocates of a strong national government. He wrote The Federalist Papers, together with Hamilton and John Jay. In 1789–1790, Madison was a leader in support of the new federal government. At this time, the concept of a loyal opposition party was novel. However, Madison joined with Henry Tazewell and others to oppose Hamilton's First Report on the Public Credit in January 1790. The creation of this coalition marked the emergence of the Anti-Administration party, which was almost exclusively Southern at this time. Madison argued that repaying the debt rewarded speculators. His proposal to repay only the original bondholders was defeated by a vote of 36 to 13. Hamilton's report also provided for the assumption of state debt by the federal government. Massachusetts, Connecticut and South Carolina owed nearly half of this debt, so other states resented assumption. The House of Representatives passed the bill without assumption, but the Senate included this provision. This deadlock was broken by a deal between Madison and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson on the one hand and Hamilton on the other which included both assumption and a decision to locate the national capital in the South in what became the District of Columbia. In the summer of 1791, Jefferson and Madison brought journalist Philip Freneau to Philadelphia to start an Anti-Administration newspaper, the National Gazette. Jefferson only had one State Department patronage job, which he gave to Freneau. In the 2nd United States Congress, the Anti-Administration elements were more numerous and included about 32 House members. In 1791, Madison and Hamilton again clashed when the latter proposed the creation of a national bank. Southern planters were opposed, but urban merchants supported the idea. Madison said the Bank was unconstitutional, but Hamilton successfully argued that the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution allowed for it. The French Revolutionary Wars, which began in April 1792, hardened the differences between the factions. The Pro-Administration party generally supported the British side while the Anti-Administration party supported the French side. Jefferson joined the party in 1792 and it contested the election that year under the name Republican. Politics now became more stable, with well-defined parties, thereby creating the First Party System which lasted two decades.
