Political Parties: The Development Of The Democratic Parties

The Development of the Democratic parties.

Political parties have not always existed in America. In fact, our founding fathers created this nation with the intention of having no political parties. However, by the late 1700s, the first political parties emerged due largely to the efforts Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson opposed a strong centralized government and believed in the common man. Based on these ideals the first political party, the Democratic-Republican Party, was founded. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson became the first Democratic-Republican president. The Democratic-Republican Party rapidly grew in popularity. It held the White House all the way through 1829 when Andrew Jackson became president. Jackson’s election marked a new direction in American politics. He was the first westerner elected president, indeed, the first president from a state other than Virginia or Massachusetts. He boldly proclaimed himself to be the "CHAMPION OF THE COMMON MAN" and believed that their interests were ignored by the aggressive national economic plans of Clay and Adams. Democratic party that centered upon three chief qualities closely linked to Jacksonian Democracy. First, it declared itself to be the party of ordinary farmers and workers. Second, it opposed the special privileges of economic elites. Third, to offer affordable western land to ordinary white Americans, Indians needed to be forced further westward.

By the time Andrew Jackson had become president the party had evolved into what is now the Democratic Party. And so, Andrew Jackson became the first president from the Democratic Party, often thought of as one of the founders of the party. In 1832, the party held its first national convention where it nominated Pres...

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...ocrats’ and the south” (www.infoplease.com). However, in the 1994 midterm elections Republicans won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in 50 years. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush became president. In 2001, the Democrats briefly gained control of Congress. However, Bush’s popularity surged after the September 11th attacks and enabled the Republicans to regain the House of Representatives. The growing tension of the Iraq war that started in 2003 allowed the Democrats to gain control of both houses of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections. In the presidential election of 2008, Democrat Barrack Obama became president. During his campaign Obama promised Americans change. The Democratic and Republican parties have come a long way since their founding. Today they are the two dominant parties in our political system.