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The Federalists were led by Alexander Hamilton and were from the wealthy classes, such as merchants and bankers. They were for the British since it benefited them for trade. In addition, the Federalists liked a strong central government run by the elite. On the contrary, the Democratic-Republicans were supported by the poor and common classes.   They were led by Thomas Jefferson who believed that even an uneducated man could make common-sense decisions and thus run himself and his nation through voting. The Republicans favored expanding the vote to more people. Finally they were for the French because France helped U.S. win the revolutionary war against England. The Revolution of 1800 was a peaceful exchange of power between the Federalists and the Republicans enabled by the inabilities of John Adams, and the appeal of Jefferson.
John Adams was the 2nd president of the United States and was also a Federalist. However, because of the Alien and Sedition Acts, and not going to the war, this gave the Republicans much more authority over the Federalists. The Alien acts made it tougher for immigrants to come to the U.S. and become citizens. They had the stated purpose of protecting Americans from foreigners who might come into the country and undermine the U.S. The theory was that the immigrant was more loyal to his home country than the U.S. The Sedition Act limited the speech and writings of critics of the government. The stated purpose was to prevent foreigner from stirring up trouble in the U.S Because of these two acts, the Republicans were furious and came up with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. After these resolutions, John Adams was starting to be not very well liked by the people. Sequentially, what costed Adams his election was when he decided to chose the peace-route and not go to war with France. Thus, because of Adam’s mistakes, he was not well-liked by the Federalists making it easier for the Republicans to have power.
Furthermore, when...