Washington Warning on Political Parties History Lab

Political Parties in the Early Republic Investigation & History Lab

INQUIRY QUESTION: Why did President Washington warn Americans against dividing into political parties?

In this History Lab investigation, students act as history detectives as they investigate the rise of America’s first political parties and why George Washington believed they could threaten the young republic.

Students analyze primary and secondary sources to investigate Washington’s warnings about political parties and then compare his fears to what actually happened as the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans battled for power in the years after his presidency.

60-75 Minute Activity

ANALYZING & CORROBORATING EVIDENCE

Students examine evidence including:

• George Washington’s Farewell Address warning against political parties
• A map of the Election of 1796 showing growing regional political divisions
• The violent fight between Congressmen Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold
• Federalist and Democratic-Republican newspaper attacks from the elections of 1796 and 1800
• Historian Gordon S. Wood’s description of growing political division and hostility in the Early Republic

There is a second set of simplified texts to help struggling readers!

As they work through the sources, students identify Washington’s major fears about political parties and analyze evidence to determine whether those fears actually became a reality. Students practice analyzing primary sources, interpreting political maps, corroborating evidence, and connecting evidence to a historical argument.

DOING HISTORY, Not Just Learning About it!

After analyzing the documents, students evaluate which of Washington’s fears about political parties became the most serious problem in the years after his presidency.

Students then use evidence from multiple documents to write a short historical argument explaining why Washington feared political parties and whether the events of the Early Republic supported his warnings.

This lesson is an engaging way to teach the rise of political parties in the Early Republic while building skills with primary sources, corroboration, political maps, historical interpretation, evidence-based argument, and historical writing. And its a lesson that is relevant today and will help students make clear connections about how politics and parties divide Americans today and what it might take to make us a more united nations.

Answers Keys Available. 100% Editable!