ANTICYCLONE

an atmospheric pre ure system in which the pre ure diminishes from the center. In N. hemisphere air moves, in a. system, clockwise spirally outwards, in S. hemisphere counter-clockwise. river, Maryland; joins Potomac near Sharps burg, where Federalists under M’Clellan defeated Confederates under Lee, 1862. ners of the present Democratic party, and the first political group formed in the United States after the revolution. The party dominated the country under the triumphant leadership of Jefferson (q.v.), in the elections of 1800. As its name implies, the anti-Federalists opposed the so-called Federalists, who, represented by the superior cla es, ecommerce and capital, favored a unified system of government, as established at present, rather than the decentralized form advocated by their opponents. The anti-Federalists contended that the federalism contemplated meant a disguised oligarchy and restraints on the liberties of states and on popular government. In the early political eonflicts between these opposing forces, however, the Federalists won, securing the adoption of the national Constitution as then framed, but ‘suffered in popular esteem by the policy they pursued in office notably in the pa age of the Alien and Sedition acts, which were deemed to bear out the antiFederalists’ claim that the Federalists encroached on state jurisdiction and individual liberties. The victory of the lowed. The party underwent a change of attitude on taking office, discarding its ‘original creed, which aimed at restricting the powers of the national government. The Federalists never recovered from their defeat and their basic principles were adopted by the anti-Federalists. The latter’s objection to the constitution were removed by subsequent amendments, whose adoption they effected. They became known as the Republican party, then Democratic-Republican and later grew into the Democratic party as it exists today.