Evolution Of Political Parties

Modern political parties weren't a spontaneous creation made over Many years were taken to figure out exactly what each party defines themselves by. It seems as though, today, parties are getting their ideas out of thin air. From the childish debates to the mudslinging, elections and political parties seem to be degenerating into something many Americans can’t agree with. Getting elected nowadays seems to require the candidate to stoop to insulting opponents and limiting talk about legitimate political problems. The candidates ideas don't matter as much as their literal appeal to voters. This change seems to many to be something that happened in the 2017 election; however, all of the mudslinging and the ideas of both parties were essentially

In 1817, after the Anglo-French war, America's geographic landscape was shifting greatly. Six new states had been formed in the west, and the population was spreading out. New ways of transporting goods, like the Erie Canal, were being invented. All of this development was happening at the same time as the development of societies intellectual, social, and economic landscape. People were becoming more aware of the political scene in America. For the first time, turn outs for elections was increasing greatly. From 1800 to 1812, an increase of around seventy eight percent was found in

People's increased participation in elections made the candidates focus more on appealing to certain groups, as the population had a much larger impact on the results of the election compared to prior years. Adams and Jackson both chose different demographics to appeal to, and those choices ended up becoming the standard for each respective party. Democrats would support the common man, and work for the improvement within individual lives. Republicans would focus on the upper class, to focus on business and the accumulation of power. Essentially the Democrats utilize power in numbers to win elections, while Republicans utilize social power and money to win elections. At the most basic level, the parties formed to demonstrate two different beliefs of how government should be run. Democrats want a strong government, one which supports the common man, and individual rights. Republicans favored a limited government, focused on helping those who already hold power and influence. From 1828 on, the ideas of all Republicans and Democrats could be defined by a few simple and moldable ideas. To this day, Democrats and Republicans remain true to the baseline developed around the election of 1828. Spontaneity did not spawn the two party system, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams planted the seeds that would later sprout into a, arguably, beautiful competition of