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Independent Party
George Washington becomes the 1st President of the United States. He was not formally affiliated with any Political Parties during his two terms in office and therefore classed as an Independent. All members of the new government supported him as an impartial president and wanted to give the Constitution a fair trial. -
Federalist Party
President of the Federalist Party, John Adams, believed that the new central government, and the well-educated, wealthy classes, should be given the greatest power of government. The Federalist Papers explained the Constitution to the American people and promoted the concept of Federalism. -
Anti-Federalist Party
Adams and the Federalist party were opposed by the Anti-Federalist Party who believed that the vast majority of ordinary, less educated people, had the skills and common sense required to run the government. -
Republican Party
The Anti-Federalist party was re-named as the Republican Party reflecting the ideals of Republicanism supporting states’ rights and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. -
Democratic-Republican Party
The Democratic-Republican Party adhered to the Constitution in order to limit the powers of the federal government and was strongly opposed to aristocracy, monarchy, corruption and elitism. -
Fall of the Federalist Party
The Federalists bitterly opposed the rising power of the Democratic-Republicans and held secret meetings at the Hartford Convention to air their views reproaching Madison's administration and the War of 1812, some delegates favored secession. The War of 1812 ended with a sense of victory and sealed the destruction of the Federalist party. The secrecy of the Hartford Convention discredited the Federalists who were seen as too extreme and disloyal and even branded as "traitors". -
Jacksonian Republican Party
The two-party system began in the Jacksonian era, and Jacksonian Democrats battled Whigs for supremacy. Jackson believed in a democracy ruled by the common man, and his policies of extended suffrage and anti-banking demonstrated this belief. -
The Party of Lincoln (Republicans)
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 and eventually emerged as the Republican party. Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860 as the first leader of the National Union Party. Upon Abraham Lincoln's death in 1865, the 'National Union Party' changed its name to the Republican Party. -
Period: to
Two-Party System
United States has two major political parties: the Democrats and the Republicans who share almost all the political power in the country to the present day. (1869-now) -
Roosevelt Democracy
Since Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s, the party has also tended to favour greater government intervention in the economy and to oppose government intervention in the private noneconomic affairs of citizens. The logo of the Democratic Party, the donkey, was popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s; though widely used, it has never been officially adopted by the party. -
Modern Democrats
The election of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan brought the Democrats into power. (1853) -
Modern Republicans
Ulysses Grant was elected President and the first leader of the re-named Republican Party. (1869)