Answer:
The main difference between the earliest political parties of the United States, the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party, were regarding the size, powers and duties of the federal government.
The Federalist Party was one of the political parties that were formed after the United States was founded. The federalists included mostly wealthy merchants and bankers from the north and northeast of the Union, most military officers, and generally educated people. The party pushed for a stronger federal government, and the transformation of the US into an industrialized country as quickly as possible. Federalist Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton developed a financial program according to which the government should support merchants and bankers.
The Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1792 and was the dominant political party in the United States from 1800 to 1828 when the party split and the victors within the party decided to change its name to the Democratic Party. The party fought primarily against the Federalists in the field of foreign policy. For example, the party opposed the Treaty of Jay and the pro-British policy of the Federalists. Another point of contention between the two parties was in which rights the individual states of the union could retain for themselves instead of ceding to the central government. The Democratic Republicans were in favor of more rights for the states.
