Before and after 1789 there were many causes, which caused a political division. The change from the Articles of confederation to the Constitution in 1788 brought a division as to what kind of government should be set up in American, and some of its laws. Hamilton's financial plan which was to better the U.S. economy but only for some, the wealthy, and not very much for the farmers and lower class. French revolution, which made the U.S choose sides, thought their neutrality act, divided the Federalist and the Democratic-Republican favoring the British or the French. .
The articles of confederation were the first constitution written for the newly formed nation in 1776. In 1787 though, congress made a call for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation. They ended up not revised but transformed, which the final result came known as the Federal Constitution. Some people wanted to replace the articles of confederation with the constitutions, but others didn't they wanted to leave things the way they were. This became a political division, those who wanted to keep the articles of confederation and were against the constitution became known as the antifederalist, and those who supported the constitution were federalist. Federalist wanted a strong central government, which the antifederalist feared because they didn't want a government that would become too powerful and unfair, since it didn't contain a bill of rights. .
Alexander Hamilton was the secretary of treasury during Washington's presidency (1789-1796), which mostly favored the wealthy people in his actions. Being a financial wizard, he wanted to correct the economy that was used under the articles of confederation. His financial plan was to "fund" the national debt, to assume all state debts as national debts, to impose a protective tariff and an excise tax, the making of a national bank. Jefferson who represented the poor (most who were in the south) was the secretary of state during Washington's presidency.