This job compares federalists and anti-federalists.

What was really at stake in the debate between the federalists and anti-federalists? Did the federalists win primarily because of their superior political skills or because they had a clearer view of the meaning of the revolution and the future of the United States?

Why did Hamilton move so quickly to create large financial commitments by the federal government?

Why did Hamilton move so quickly to create large financial commitments by the federal government? Since we normally think of the federal debt as something bad, why did Hamilton think of it as something good and necessary for the national welfare?

Why were political parties viewed as so dangerous by the founding Fathers?

Why were political parties viewed as so dangerous by the founding Fathers? Why did they come into being at all and why did they come to be accepted as legitimate ways to express political disagreement?

Hamiltonian Federalism is discussed.

This job contrasts the Hamiltonian Federalist belief that the "wealthy and well-educated" ought to run the government with the Jeffersonian Republican belief that the common person, if educated, could be trusted to manage public affairs. What are the political implications of each view?

American Demographics are featured.

Symbolic of one of the major changes in American demographics was the large influx of immigrants in the 1840s. In what ways were these new immigrants (primarily Germans and Irish) similar to other immigrants such as the British and the Scots-Irish and in what, ways were they different?