The Federalists who crafted the United States’ 1788 Constitution planned for a republic free of party or faction. By 1793, however, regional and political divides had become acute. The situation was exploited by renegade French ambassador Edmond-Charles Genêt, who cultivated pro-French fervor and personally named a new club network, the Democratic-Republicans. The clubs became accused by Federalists of cultivating sedition with 1794’s Whiskey Rebellion, but by the 1796 election a powerful coalition developed.