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The Federalist policies called for a national bank and the Jay Treaty to build good relations with Britain. The opponents, who came to be known as "Republicans", denounced most of the Federalist polices, especially the bank, and vehemently attacked the Jay Treaty as a sell-out of republican values to the British monarchy. The Treaty passed, and indeed the Federalists won most of the major legislative battles in the 1790s. They held a strong base in urban New England. The Republicans, with their base in the rural south, won the hard-fought election of 1800; the Federalists never returned to power. The Federalists, too wedded to an upper-class style to win the support of ordinary voters, grew weaker every year. They recovered some strength by intense opposition to the War of 1812; they practically vanished during the Era of Good Feelings that followed the end of the war in 1815. The Federalists left a lasting imprint as they fashioned a strong new government with a sound financial base, and (in the person of Chief Justice John Marshall), decisively shaped Supreme Court policies for another three decades. |