Compare and contrast the political culture of the early decades of the 1800s with the political culture of the late 1700s

Question

What political, economic, and social reasons can be attributed to the similarities or differences of the political cultures of these two distinct eras in American history?

Answer 1

Answer: An ideal answer will:
1. Discuss the emergence of republicanism as the dominant ideology in the United States in the early 1800s, define its key elements, and note that the election of 1800 had demonstrated the waning influence and power of the Federalist ideology in the nation, except in New England.
2. Discuss how Americans viewed equality in terms of both representation and how citizens related to each other as preeminent political values and that independence and equality were far more important than the class separation, deference, and attention that was left over from British colonial rule and which still prevailed in the Federalist 1780s and 1790s.
3. Discuss how, beginning with the election of President Jefferson in 1800 and continuing with his Jeffersonian presidential followers, a political tone was established that emphasized equality, relative informality, and individual freedoms, including religious freedom and pluralism in the White House and in the political culture at large. Contrast the Jeffersonian political tone with the hierarchical, formal, sectarian, and deferential tone set by New England Federalists in the 1790s.
4. Discuss how the emphasis of republicanism on individual freedom in the early 1800s found its manifestation in the valuing of a Jeffersonian vision of independent farmers who could make their own decisions, independent of one another if one preferred. Contrast this vision with the more complex, hybrid, and interdependent economy envisioned by Alexander Hamilton and his Federalists of the 1790s.
5. Discuss and evaluate how, while the emphasis on equality found its way into the removal of most property voting qualifications for white men in the early 1800s, women, free blacks, and slaves found their political rights, religious freedoms, and privileges almost as tightly circumscribed and limited as they were in the 1790s.
6. Discuss how the political tone of electoral contests, ideological conflicts, and personal disagreements in the early 1800s could be seen as more violent, vitriolic, and slanderous than in the late 1700s. Use the examples of the allegations of Jefferson and his sexual relationship with Sally Hemings as one example and the deadly practice of dueling to settle personal disputes between elite men.
7. Write a concise and effective conclusion.