1. Discuss the rise of political parties in the United States. Did the Constitution provide for political parties? If not, when and why did the first two parties develop? Who led and supported each party?
2. Discuss the economic and financial programs of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. What did they include? What was Hamilton trying to accomplish? How and why did his programs politically divide Americans?
3. Discuss the deteriorating positions of African-Americans and Native Americans in the post-Revolutionary War period. How do you account for the deterioration? What were the major changes or events that marked the declining status of each group?
4. Explain how differences over foreign policy in the period 1789-1800 encouraged the development of political parties and partisanship.
5. Discuss the dangers the nation faced during the Federalist era (1789-1800) and how it overcame or survived them. In your answer be sure to include conflict among social, economic, and sectional interest groups; challenges from foreign nations; and threats to individual liberties and the Bill of Rights.