Essay On Political Parties

Path of the Political Parties

Since their conception in 1786, political parties have influenced the shaping of our nation. They were formed, destroyed, split, united, and battled amongst one another for superiority. Tracing their progress from conception through the Civil War will reflect on their influence in presidential elections as well as their affect on the controversial issues of the times.

The first official political parties of the United States began in 1786 as the fight of ratification for the Constitution ensued. The Federalists, those who advocated for its acceptance, and the Anti-Federalists, those who opposed, argued over its proponents up until the Constitution was fully ratified by all states in 1790 much to the Anti-Federalists dismay who would soon dissolve. However, the Anti-Federalists would leave their legacy when the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791.

Building on Anti-Federalists principles came the Democratic-Republicans, also known as the Jeffersonians or, more commonly, the Republicans. The

Even so, starting in 1828 the percentage of white males voting increased dramatically as the method of elections changed, further promoting the two-party system which, in the Jacksonian Era, mostly comprised of the Democrats, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs. Although John Quincy Adams would take the presidency in 1824, Jackson would triumph as the first Democratic president in the election of 1828, ushering the nation into an era of mass democracy. Nonetheless, Jackson’s actions in the Bank War would lead to the creation of the Whigs, a collection of anti-Jackson diverse groups in 1834 that would later absorb a third party group, the Anti-Masonic party. Though the Whigs would not win the coming election of 1832, they would triumph in 1840 with the first Whig president, William Henry