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Essay on American Political Parties

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American Political Parties There have been many different political parties since the beginning of the American political system. A political party is made up of a group of people that share common goals and ideals, and these people work together to help elect people to offices that share these goals to represent them. Political parties work to try to control the government and their ultimate goal is to win as many elections and to gain as many offices as possible. During the time when the Constitution was being debated over the first two political parties surfaced in the United States, the Federalists, and the Anti-Federalists. After the Constitution was ratified the Anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, became the …show more content…

They called themselves National Republicans. The others stood for states' rights, tariffs that were for revenue only, and an independent treasury. They took the name Democrats and elected Andrew Jackson to the Presidency in 1828 and 1832. Those who opposed Jackson questioned his dissolution of the Bank of the United States, his internal improvement policies, his stand against South Carolina during the nullification crisis, and his policies on rotation in office and the spoils system. By the election of 1836 the National Republicans and others opposed to Jackson's policies had come together to form a new party, the Whigs. Since Jackson believed in a strong executive branch, those who opposed him referred to him as King Andrew, and the party got their name since Whigs were usually associated with opposing the King. The Democrats argued that the policies of the Whigs only benefited the upper class of people and imposed on states' rights (www.encyclopedia.com). The Whigs lost to the Democrats that year, but in 1840 they succeeded in getting William Henry Harrison elected President. In 1844 the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, lost to James Polk, but in the next election Zachary Taylor won for the Whigs. The Whigs usually nominated a military hero as their candidate in order to gain support. The Whigs supported a protective tariff, the creation of a new Bank of the United States, using the money from land sales to help states with internal improvements, and were

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