The Federalist Party evolved from the core of Federalists, like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, who wrote and defended the US Constitution in 1787–1788. The new political party advocated a strong central government and supported a liberal construction of the Constitution. John Adams, elected in 1796, served as the only Federalist Party president, and the party held little power after 1801.

Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814) served in the Massachusetts General Court, the provincial congress, and committee of safety, and as chairman of the state committee of supply before he attended the Continental Congress in 1776–1780 and 1783–1785. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, Gerry refused to sign the Constitution because he feared that it invested too much authority in the central government. He was a member of Congress from 1789 to 1793, a two-term Massachusetts governor, and vice president under James Madison. The eponymous term...

James Madison (1751–1836) was born in Port Conway, Virginia. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in two years rather than the usual four with concentrations in theology, history, and law. In 1776, he drafted Virginia’s first constitution and bill of rights, which later became a model for the Bill of Rights amendments to the US Constitution. Madison supported religious toleration and the separation of church and state. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1779 and the Constitutional Convention in...

In February 1778, Timothy Pickering Jr. received word from Massachusetts that his...