Federalists

Federalists, a political party formed in the United States in 1788, whose members claimed to be the defenders of the constitution and of the federal government, in opposition to the Republicans or Democrats (q.v.), whom they dubbed Anti-federalists. Besides Washington and John Adams, Hamilton, Jay, and Marshall were among its leaders. Its fate was sealed by the holding of the Hartford Convention (q.v.), and by 1820 the Federalists, as a national party, had disappeared.