Political Parties in the United States:
Definitionof Political Parties
Definition of
Political Parties: United States Political parties are formed
by groups or collections of people who share the same ideas, beliefs
or views about the way the United States should be governed.
The United States Political parties work to influence government
policies and to introduce new laws to the Constitution and to make
amendments to existing laws.
History of Political Parties in the United States - The
Independent President
The
political affiliation of President George Washington was termed as
Independent. Although members of the government had very different
ideas they wanted to give
new Constitution a fair trial and they supported George
Washington as an independent and impartial President.
History of Political Parties in the United States - The Federalist
and Anti-Federalists
The
differing ideas of the politicians and statesmen resulted in the
formation of the Federalist Political Party and their opponents were
called the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists believed that the new
central government should be in the power of the wealthy,
well-educated classes. The Anti-Federalists, who would emerge as the
Democratic-Republican Party, believed that the vast majority of
ordinary, less educated people, had the life experience, skills and
common sense required to run the new government. For detailed facts,
history and information refer to the
Federalist and
Anti-Federalists.
History of Political Parties in the United States - The
Democratic-Republican Party
The
Democratic-Republican
Party was the
political party founded by Thomas
Jefferson in opposition to the
Federalist Party which had monarchical
tendencies. Some refer to the
party as the Jeffersonian Republicans. The beliefs and views
of the Democratic-Republican Party
were based on civic duty encompassing
allegiance to the government and the protection
of its citizens. The
Democratic-Republican Party strictly
adhered to the Constitution in order to
limit the powers of the federal
government. The Democratic-Republican
Party strongly opposed to aristocracy,
monarchy, corruption and elitism and was
supported by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John
Quincy Adams.
History of Political Parties in the United States - Demise of the
Federalist Party
The History of Political Parties in the United States
continued to evolve during the history of the American Political
parties.
The secrecy of the
Hartford
Convention totally discredited the Federalists and the
Federalist party was destroyed. The demise of the Federalist Party
was politically significant. The Democratic-Republicans split into the northern-dominated
Republicans and the southern-dominated Democrats and established the
political alignment of the 19th century. As the Federalist
Party had been destroyed there was only one
political party during the presidency of James Monroe which led to are more stable government
during the presidency of James Monroe and heralded
the "Era of Good Feelings".
History of Political Parties in the United States - The National
Republicans
In the Era of Good Feeling there
was only one political party - the Democratic-Republican party.
Starting in 1824 the Democratic-Republican party split into several
factions. The factions took the names of their party leaders: the
Adams men (supporting John Quincy Adams), the Jackson men
(supporting Andrew Jackson), the Clay men (supporting Henry Clay).
Soon the Adams and Clay factions began to act together and to call
themselves National Republicans, because they wished to build up the
nation's resources, especially the military following the
War of 1812.
History of Political Parties in the United States -
The Democrat Party
The Jackson men
called themselves Democratic Republicans, because
they upheld the rights of the people. Before long the
Democratic Republican party of Andrew Jackson
dropped the word "Republican" and simply called themselves
simply Democrats and so began the formation of the
Democrat Party. The first presidents to support the
Democrat Party were Andrew Jackson and Martin Van
Buren.
History of Political Parties in the United States -
The Whig Party
The National
Republicans dropped the whole of their name and
adopted the name of the great English liberal party
emerging as the Whig
Party. They favored the name because, like the
English Whig party, they favored reform and so began
the formation of the US Whig Party.
The
Whig party was
created in 1832 when President Andrew Jackson vetoed the re-chartering of
the Second Bank of the United States sparking the
Bank War.
The Whig Party was led by Henry Clay and before long
consisted of all the political opponents of Andrew
Jackson who disliked his high-handed conduct as
president. The Whig Party saw two of its candidates,
William Harrison and John Tyler, elected
as president but both died in office before being
able to make the party's impact on the nation.
Zachary Taylor followed. President Millard Fillmore
was the last Whig president and his policies led to
division in the party. The anti-slavery faction
successfully prevented the re-nomination of its own
incumbent and destroyed the Whig Party.
History of Political Parties in the United States -
The National Union Party and the Republican Party
The
Free Soil Party
and the National
Union
Party was formed to further the beliefs of national
interest above sectional interests and states'
rights. It was organized in 1854 in opposition to
the extension of slavery. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln
was elected as its first leader. Upon Abraham Lincoln's death in
1865, Andrew Johnson became the only other National
Union President. The 'National Union Party'
then changed its name to the
Republican Party. Party
politics changed to the familiar contest of
Democrats versus Republicans.
History of Political Parties in the United States -
The Republican Party and the Democratic Party
The history of
the political parties ended with a political
landscape producing the Democrats versus Republicans
major Party alignment, a two party system, which
continues to modern day. The United States therefore
has only two major political parties: the Democrats
and the Republicans who share almost all the
political power in the country.
Political Parties in the United States -
Video of
the US Presidents
The article
on the History of the Political Parties in the
United States provides a fast overview of the
history of the US Government. The following
Presidents of the USA video enables you to sit back and listen to the
history of all the Presidents of the USA - a useful
educational resource for kids, children and schools
that complements the information found in the
History of the Political Parties in the United
States. |