Federalists (Joan of What?)

The Federalist Party was the first Cygnian political party. It existed from the early 1790s to 1903. The Federalist Party was formed between 1792 and 1794 as a coalition of businessmen and noblemen in support of Robert Hyatt's policy of federalism. The Party called for the maintenance of state power, while balancing it with that of the national government. As the policies of the Federalists were more appealing to the upper class and landowners, the Federalist Party controlled the federal government from its inception until 1813, when it was overwhelmed by the opposition led by.

There were only four Federalist Chancellors –, , and ; although  was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained officially non-partisan during his entire chancellorship. Of the four Federalist Chancellors, only Jenkinson and Lamb led governments with a wholly Federalist majority; Gladstone and Campbell-Bannerman both led Coalition governments with the co-operation of the.

Federalist policies called for a national bank, tariffs, and the maintenance of state power. Hyatt developed the concept of implied powers and successfully argued the adoption of that interpretation of the United States Constitution. Their political opponents, the, denounced most of the Federalist policies, especially the bank and implied powers, and vehemently attacked their platform of state power as a betrayal of the concept of Federation. In spite of this, however, the Federalists won most of the major legislative battles in the 1790s. They held a strong base in most major cities. After the Unitarians, whose base was in the rural north, won the hard-fought election of 1824, the Federalists did not again return to power for another forty years, during which they consistently remained the main opposition party.

After the under  lost the election of 1860 to the Unitarians, now led by, Federalist leader  negotiated a Coalition agreement with the Liberal-Democrats that ultimately propelled them to a sound victory in the subsequent, 1864 election, in a victory so great that it destroyed the Unitarian Party. Although Gladstone lost the 1868 election to a re-organised opposition in the form of the, again led by Russell, the Coalition agreement was maintained, and Gladstone went on to serve a second term as Chancellor eight years later. The last Federalist Chancellor,, led the final Coalition Government; Campbell-Bannerman's successor, , in the summer of 1902–3 negotiated the final merger of the Federalist Party with the Liberal-Democrats to form the modern.