Compare And Contrast Political Parties

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Political parties, like interest groups, are organized groups that effort to influence the government by electing their associates to important government offices. The first party system appeared in the 1970s and pitted the federalist beside the Jeffersonian Republican. Over the years, the federalists progressively weakened and disappeared altogether after the pro-British sympathies of some Federalist leaders for the duration of the War of 1812 led to charges of betrayal against the party. From the collapse of the federalist until 1830s, American had only one political party, the Jeffersonian Republicans, who gradually came to be known as the Democrats. There was strong factional conflict within the Democratic Party, principally between the …show more content…

Democrats and Whigs built party organizations throughout the nation, and both sought to enlarge their bases of support by growing the right to vote. In some measure, the Whigs were the successors of the federalists. Yet conflict between the two parties revolved more around personalities than policies. The Whigs were a diverse group united more by opposition to the democrats than by agreement on programs. During the late 1840s and early 1850s, conflicts over slavery produced sharp divisions within both the Whig and the democratic parties, despite the efforts of party leaders to develop compromises. By 1856 the Whig party had all but disintegrated under the strain, and many Whig politicians and voters, alongside with antislavery Democrats, joined the new Republican Party. In the 1860 the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. During the course of the wars, President Lincoln depended heavily on republican governors and state legislatures to raise troops, provide funding, and maintain popular support for a long and bloody military

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