Although history books often portray Jefferson republicans and the Federalists as two very different parties with oppositional views of the constitution, once the Democratic republicans held the presidential office their views of the constitution changed. In the election of 1800 the Democratic republicans kept most of Hamilton’s finical plan in place. The use of the elastic clause was used to both support economic and military decisions of the party in power. Although the two parties originally had opposing viewpoints in the late 1700’s, their ideas reversed as power shifted to Jefferson and Madison. In Jefferson’s presidency loose constructionism became very common in his party starting with Hamilton’s finical plan. In Jeffersons letter to Samuel Kercheval he stated that citizens have to adapt to the constitution depending on the era. (DOC G) So although Jefferson let the alien and seditions acts expire and allowed the repeal of the excise tax, all other programs in the Report on Public Credit stayed in place. Furthermore, Madison enacted the first protective tariff in 1816, which John Randolph references in his speech to the House of Representatives. (DOC F) He continues to accuse Madison of being exactly like John Adams in his loosely interpreted approach of the constitutions commerce compromise to raise money for the federal government. (DOC F) In fact the only aspect of Alexander Hamiltons plan, was one that called for a protective tariff. It was viewed by southern exporters as being a violation of the 10th Amendment which protected state’s rights and disallowed the favoring of one state over another since the south would face protective tariffs from both France and England.
The Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalists were both thought to be different when abiding by the constitution. The Republicans believed that the authority of the Federal