When Washington took the office of President in 1789 the prevailing mindset of the founders was that political harmony would guarantee freedom and should be maintained, but despite the initial wishes the following decade produced such heated debate on the best course for the new government that it became known as the “age of passions.” These debates reached the people as the struggle to gain power came at the cost of the first protection of the Bill of Rights, the freedom of speech. The Federalist and Democratic Republicans emerged in response to the Hamilton plan and continued throughout the decade, becoming more pronounced, as Federalist impeded the first protection in the bill of rights, the freedom of speech, in their struggle to repress…