Anti-Administration Party (United States)

Anti-Administration "Party" is a term used by historians to describe the opponents of the policies of U.S. President George Washington. This was not an actual political party. Rather, it is used as a catch-all term for a variety of political factions. It is a successor to the Anti-Federalists, a faction which had opposed ratification of the U.S. Constitution. However, the Anti-Administration Party was more broadly based than the earlier faction and its leaders were far more prominent.

The party came into existence when James Madison, Henry Tazewell, and others expressed opposition to the First Report on Public Credit issued by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in January 1790. This report, adopted by Congress in July, provided for the assumption of state debt by the federal government. The French Revolutionary Wars, which began in April 1792, hardened the differences between the factions. The Pro-Administration Party supported the British while the Anti-Administration Party supported the French. To contest the elections of 1792, anti-administration forces under the leadership of Madison and Thomas Jefferson coalesced into a party which historians refer to as the Democratic-Republican Party. Along with Hamilton's Federalist Party, this was a part of the First Party System.