Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans

[Orser67]

I think the Federalists were generally the party I would support at the time, since I would have favored their centralizing policies, investment in infrastructure, and conciliatory policies toward England. However, I also think the Democratic-Republicans probably cared more about the common people and had a lot of foresight in understanding that manufacturing would change the national character.

In real life, I think things worked out pretty well. The Federalists stayed in power long enough to strongly influence the judiciary and establish federal supremacy, but the Democratic-Republicans took power after the Federalists went too far with the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Democratic-Republicans then became more ok with a strong central government once they took power (the Louisiana Purchase being the most obvious example).