Page "Internal improvements" Paragraph 4

While the Federalist strand of republicanism defended internal improvements as agents of the " general welfare " or " public good ," another strand unraveled from the republican tapestry to denounce such schemes as " corruption ," taxing the many to benefit the few.

Critics of individual improvement schemes did not have to dig deep under the veneer of " public good " to uncover self-interest.

Washington's scheme for Potomac River improvement also happened to pass conveniently by his Mount Vernon estate and extend westward toward some of undeveloped land in his possession ).

By the end of the 1790s, leaders of the emerging Republican Party regularly assaulted the " monied gentry " and their improvement plans as visionary and extravagant, and gradually eroded public confidence in government action and authority.

In their assaults on the Federalists ' national agenda, Old Republicans perfected a language of opposition that provided the template for almost all future critiques of federal power: fear of centralized power, burdening taxpayers, taxing one locale for the benefit of another, creating self-perpetuating bureaucracies, distant governments undermining local authority, and subsidizing the schemes of the wealthy at public expense.