The Jeffersonians believed in the acquisition of territory in the West, and the Federalists did not.

The Jeffersonians believed that the Westerners should be allowed to govern themselves precisely as other citizens of the United States did, and should be given their full share in the management of national affairs.

Too many Federalists failed to see that these positions were the only proper ones to take.

In consequence, notwithstanding all their manifold shortcomings, the Jeffersonians, and not the Federalists, were those to whom the West owed most.
Right of the Westerners to Self-Government.
Whether the Westerners governed themselves as wisely as they should have mattered little.

The essential point was that they had to be given the right of self-government.