1 68 THOMAS JEFFERSON 



actuated by a desire to represent both parties and 

 have a non-partisan government. On all sides Wash- 

 ington has been praised for this breadth of view, al- 

 though it has sometimes been suggested that it was 

 not characterized by his customary sagacity. It seems 

 to me that this statement is wanting in historical 

 accuracy, as it overlooks the fact that it was during 

 Washington's administration, and not before it, that 

 the definitive divisions between political parties grew 

 up. It is true that Jefferson represented the type of 

 opinions likely to prevail among the agricultural so- 

 cieties of the Southern states, while Hamilton repre- 

 sented the type of opinions likely to prevail among 

 the commercial and manufacturing centres in the 

 Northern states ; but it is hardly correct to say that 

 in 1789 these two men belonged to opposite political 

 parties. The earliest division of American parties on 

 a national scale began in the autumn of 1787, when 

 the federal Constitution was submitted to the peo- 

 ple of the thirteen states for their approval. Then 

 the friends of the Constitution were known as Fed- 

 eralists, and its enemies were called Anti-federalists. 

 At that time Hamilton and Madison were foremost 

 among the Federalists, while George Clinton and 

 Patrick Henry were the foremost Anti-federalists. 

 Samuel Adams has sometimes been spoken of as 

 an Anti-federalist, but this is utterly and grossly in- 

 accurate. Samuel Adams was slow in coming to a 

 final decision, but when he made up his mind, it was 

 in favour of the Constitution with such amendments 

 as to be equivalent to a bill of rights, such amend- 

 ments as the first ten, which were soon afterward 

 annexed to that instrument. When he decided in 



