During the Federalist Era, the two major political parties which rose to prominence in National Politics were the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party.
The US's relations with Britain were formalised with the Jay treaty, which most historians credit with maintaining peace between the US and the United Kingdom, and this was a major point of contention between the two major parties.
During the American Revolutionary War, France provided vital military support to the American Revolutionaries, and was arguable the US's greatest ally of the era.
Consequently, the Republican Party was opposed to the Jay treaty, and they argued that any understanding between Britain and the United States would undermine the US's relations with their chief ally, France.
