Political Parties in the United States

I

Introduction

Political Parties in the United States, in general, the two-party system that has usually prevailed in the United States.

II

Early Nonpartisanship

The framers of the United States Constitution made no provision in the governmental structure for the functioning of political parties because they believed that parties were a source of corruption and an impediment to the freedom of people to judge issues on their merits. James Madison argued in his The Federalist “No. 10” paper against a system in which “factions” (his word for parties) might be able to seize control of the government (see Federalist, The). George Washington, in accordance with the thinking of his fellow Founding Fathers, included in his Cabinet men of diverse political philosophies and policies, rather than narrow his choices to those of a single political outlook.

III

Federalist and Republican Parties

Within a short time informal parties did develop, even though their adherents still insisted they disapproved of parties as a permanent feature in American politics. One faction, commonly identified with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Vice President John Adams, became known as the Federalist Party. Federalists favored an active federal government, a Treasury Department that played a vital role in the nation’s economic life, and a pro-British foreign policy. It drew especially strong support from merchants, manufacturers, and residents of New England. The other faction, whose central figures were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and fellow Virginian James Madison, was the Democratic-Republican Party, the forerunner of today’s Democratic Party. The Democratic-Republicans advocated a limited federal government, little government interference in economic affairs, and a pro-French foreign policy. They were particularly popular with debt-ridden farmers, artisans, and Southerners.

The structure of government itself in the United States was conducive to the formation of political parties. The carefully elaborated system of checks and balances, established by the Constitution, makes executive and legislative cooperation necessary in the development of policy. Further, the division of legislative powers between the federal and state governments, as provided in the Constitution, makes it necessary for advocates of such policies as the regulation of commerce to seek representation or strength in both the federal and state legislatures. As these ends were too complex and difficult to achieve by impermanent groupings, the formation of permanent political organizations was inevitable.

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The Democratic-Republican Party (whose members also referred to themselves as Republicans or Jeffersonian Republicans) held power for 28 years following the inauguration of President Jefferson in 1801. During this period, the Federalist Party became increasingly unpopular. It ceased functioning on the national level soon after the War of 1812, leaving the Democratic-Republican Party as the only national political organization.

IV

New Political Alignments

Far-reaching changes in the U.S. economy and social structure resulted in the gradual formation of new political alignments within a one-party system. The principal changes behind these developments were westward expansion, the agricultural revolution in the South, and the development of manufacturing and capital accumulation in the North.

The expansion of the country westward led to the development of a large class of pioneer farmers, whose frontier communities represented a type of democratic society never before seen in any country. The agricultural revolution in the Southern states, following the invention of both the cotton gin by Eli Whitney and textile machinery, resulted in the dynamic growth of the slave system that produced cotton. Finally, the wealth and influence of manufacturers, merchants, bondholders, and land speculators in the Northern states grew considerably.

The ideas of limited government that became known as Jeffersonian democracy appealed strongly to the sectional and class interests of the Western frontier and the South, and also to the growing class of urban workers. The policies once advocated by the defunct Federalist Party, however, were still popular with the minority of Americans who favored a more active economic role for the federal government.

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