Final answer:
The Federalist Party supported the centralization of government during the Federalist Era and played a significant role in shaping early American politics alongside the Democratic-Republicans.
Step-by-step explanation:
The early American political faction that emerged in strong support of a centralized government was the Federalist Party. Throughout the Federalist Era, the United States transitioned from a loose confederation of states to a more consolidated national government. The Federalists, including prominent figures such as Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and John Adams, coalesced around the notion of a robust central government to lead the nation's economic and foreign policies.
Despite the efforts of the framers of the Constitution to prevent the emergence of permanent political factions, the Federalists and their opposition, the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, represented the first two-party system in the United States. The ideological divide between the Federalists' support for centralization and the Democratic-Republicans' advocacy for limited government shaped the early political landscape, setting the stage for the nation's first contentious partisan election in 1796.