The Different American Political Parties

The Different American Political Parties

There have been many different political parties since the beginning of the American political system. A political party is made up of a group of people that share common goals and ideals, and these people work together to help elect people to offices that share these goals to represent them. Political parties work to try to control the government and their ultimate goal is to win as many elections and to gain as many offices as possible.

During the time when the Constitution was being debated over the first two political parties surfaced in the United States, the Federalists, and the Anti-Federalists. After the Constitution was ratified the Anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, became the Democratic Republicans. The war of 1812 ended the Federalist Party. The Democratic Republicans began to split over issues and some supported Andrew Jackson’s policies and became known as Democrats. Those who opposed Andrew Jackson’s policies became known as the Whigs. The Whig Party ended over the slavery controversy. The anti-slavery issue led to the creation of the Republican Party, while the Democrats were pro-slavery. Which left us with the two political parties we still have today: the Democrats and the Republicans.

The first two parties that I am going to discuss are the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. The Federalists became a political party in 1787 during the

debate for ratification of the Constitution. They worked to try to get states to ratify the

Constitution. Federalists were those who supported a strong national government, unlike the government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. They encouraged the industries, and they establishment of a well ordered society. The Federalists were a powerful and wealthy party consisting of businessmen, lawyers, bankers and highly educated men and gained a lot of their support from the North, where business was strong. They believed that the most important branch of the government was the executive branch, and a strong president was needed in order to make the country strong. Some important Federalist party supporters were: George Washington, John Adams, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. The Federalists, during John Adams presidency, established the nation’s economy and enjoyed successes with their domestic policies. They also s...

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...ven Democrats were becoming divided among themselves Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president in 1860. The party platform included a high protective tariff, free homesteads, and a transcontinental railroad, all of which gained support from the westerners, farmers, and eastern manufacturing interests. The Republicans emerged from the Civil War with great political strength. They defeated the Confederate armies, the slaves were liberated and the union of the states was preserved. After the war, the republicans supported high tariffs and promoted economic development. The Democrats were seen as the party of slavery, but they did have some northerners support, mainly because of their support of free trade policies (www.encyclopedia.com). Though the Democrat and Republican Parties are still around to this day, the issues they support are very different than they used to be.

There have been many different political parties come and go in American history and there will likely be more in the future. As long as people continue to have

different ideas on the best way to run the nation and the best way to govern the people we will have a multi-party political system.