Federalist

Federalist
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Founder	Alexander Hamilton
Founded	1789
Dissolved	1828
Headquarters	Washington D.C.

The Federalist Party was the first political party in the United States. Founded in 1789 by Alexander Hamilton during George Washington's first term, the Federalist Party dominated early U.S. politics, having controlled the federal government until 1801. Many of the parties supporters came from cities, who wanted a fiscally sound, strong nationalistic government.

Hamilton and some others published a series of newspaper essays in 1787 and 1788, which later became known as the Federalist Papers.

The party was eventually defeated by the Democratic-Republican party in the 1800 presidential election, and gradually lost power in the following elections. After making a brief comeback by opposing the War of 1812, by 1816 the party had no national power at all besides John Marshall's Supreme Court, though they still had some local power in New England.

The party collapsed following the 1824 presidential election, and most surviving Federalists moved on to form the National Republican Party, which later merged into the Whig Party in 1833.