The Jeffersonian Republicans vs. The Federalist Courts

The conflict between Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalistdominated federal courts was the longest-running, most consequential aspect of the party conflict pitting former revolutionary brothers-in-arms against one another.It centered on Virginia, which, not coincidentally, contributed the most significant players to both sides and where some of the key court cases arose.The repercussions of this long-running confrontation have been felt in legislative halls, in courts, on the hustings, and even on battlefields ever since. I. A.Our story begins in pre-Revolutionary Virginia.In 1774, at the climax of the Imperial Crisis of the 1760s-1770s, a member of the House of Burgesses named Thomas Jefferson sat down in his Albemarle County home, Monticello, to draft legislative instructions for the Virginia delegates to the upcoming Continental Congress.Jefferson hoped that Virginia's congressmen, who would be elected by the House of Burgesses, would insist on a highly pugnacious American communication with the king.Jefferson detailed what by that time had come to be the standard Virginia Patriot argument.1 The colonies (Virginia) had been created by the initial settlers through their own effort and with their own money.Their departure from England had been undertaken in exercise of their natural