Interesting and diverse opinions here. I think Jefferson and his new party were deeply suspicious (and perhaps paranoid) about installing a new centralized government after breaking the chains off the former ruler across the Atlantic. They had valid reason to be wary because in those days it was so common for absolute power to be wielded extensively, and fear of a monarchy being freshly established on our shores was enough to create tension and finger-pointing, especially by way of the press. Then, on the other side you had the Federalists suspicious of these Jacobins, these French sympathizers, and their potential lust for rampant bloodshed evidenced by the carnage of the French Revolution. Indeed, with that parallel, they must have worried about the possibility of maybe losing their own heads if the opposition triumphed in political power!
I think I would probably lean toward Democratic-Republicans and the alluring hope of more freedom. Of course we all know the Hamiltonian model of urban industry trumped Jefferson's hope that the Republic would be comprised of yeoman farmers and a more agricultural way of life. But, like others on here, the Alien & Sedition Acts would have frightened me to the point of wondering just how believable President Adams was in terms of adamantly denying he wanted anything to do with installing a monarchy. Then, you had rumblings about Hamilton and his affinity toward the British and monarchical leanings of being king.
I really look at this from a British vs. French model. Jeffersonians wanted to embrace the French and support them even militarily against the British while Federalists, under Washington's presidential leadership, was committed to keeping the inchoate nation neutral and knew that we were ill-prepared to be taking sides that could destroy everything we worked so hard to accomplish. Throw in the fact that Shays' Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion were put down, or prepared to be put down violently by the administration, I can see how the Democratic-Republicans would be suspicious if the totality of all these events were factored together to create a foreboding fear of tyranny revisited. However, through the benefit of historical hindsight, I do agree that staying neutral during France and Britain's war as well as putting down domestic insurrections were vital for the longevity and survival of the Republic.
All in all, the politics of the 1790s were quite turbulent and arguably the ugliest and most tumultuous ever!
