ABSTRACT
After independence from Great Britain had been won and formally recognized, two broad tendencies appeared during the formative period of the Union, — the reactionary and the radical. The theory of the first party is well expressed in the Constitution itself, in the Federalist, and in the writings of John Adams and Alexander Hamilton. The theory of the radical element is best stated by Thomas Jefferson, the central figure in the practical politics as well as in the political philosophy of the democratic school.
