<P> The 1790s were highly contentious, as the First Party System emerged in the contest between Hamilton and his Federalist party, and Thomas Jefferson and his Republican party . Washington and Hamilton were building a strong national government, with a broad financial base, and the support of merchants and financiers throughout the country . Jeffersonians opposed the new national Bank, the Navy, and federal taxes . The Federalists favored Britain, which was embattled in a series of wars with France . Jefferson's victory in 1800 opened the era of Jeffersonian democracy, and doomed the upper - crust Federalists to increasingly marginal roles . </P> <P> The Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, in 1803 opened vast Western expanses of fertile land, that exactly met the needs of the rapidly expanding population of yeomen farmers whom Jefferson championed . </P> <P> The Americans declared war on Britain (the War of 1812) to uphold American honor at sea, and to end the Indian raids in the west . Despite incompetent government management, and a series of defeats early on, Americans found new generals like Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Winfield Scott, who repulsed British invasions and broke the alliance between the British and the Indians that held up settlement of the Old Northwest . The Federalists, who had opposed the war to the point of trading with the enemy and threatening secession, were devastated by the triumphant ending of the war . The remaining Indians east of the Mississippi were kept on reservations or moved via the Trail of Tears to reservations in what later became Oklahoma . </P> <P> The spread of democracy opened the ballot box to nearly all white men, allowing the Jacksonian democracy to dominate politics during the Second Party System . Whigs, representing wealthier planters, merchants, financiers, and professionals, wanted to modernize the society, using tariffs and federally funded internal improvements; they were blocked by the Jacksonians, who closed down the national Bank in the 1830s . The Jacksonians wanted expansion--that is "Manifest Destiny"--into new lands that would be occupied by farmers and planters . Thanks to the annexation of Texas, the defeat of Mexico in war, and a compromise with Britain, the western third of the nation rounded out the continental United States by 1848 . </P>

What president is considered the major mind behind new federalism