Evolution of the Two-Party System in America

Most of the founding fathers of the United States were opposed to the formation of political parties considering them as "quarreling factions" that would foster corruption and hinder the public from freely judging issues on merit. Hence no provision was made in the U.S. Constitution for political parties. Yet a two-party has come to dominate the country's politics, with the Democratic and the Republican parties becoming the two dominant political parties in the U.S. since the mid-19th century.

As early as the 1790s, people with deferring vision of the country's future had started to band together in order to win support for their ideas. The faction that was identified with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Vice President John Adams became known as the "Federalists" while those who supported Thomas Jefferson and James Madison came to be known as the "Democratic-Republicans." (Burke) The Federalists favored a strong central government that supported the interests of commerce and industry while the Republicans preferred a decentralized agrarian republic in which the federal government had limited powers. ("Political Parties" Wickepedia) This was the beginning of the two-party system in the country that has evolved over time into the present system.

The structure of the U.S. government with its elaborate system of checks and balances and division of power among the state and federal governments makes the formation of permanent political organizations (parties) necessary. It is the political parties, having representation in the federal and state legislatures as well as the Presidency, that make the whole complex system workable. A two-party rather than a multi-party system has evolved in the U.S. due to the "winner takes all" rather than a "proportional representation" electoral process in which a vote for a third party is usually a "lost vote."

Works Cited

Burke, Robert E. "Political Parties in the United States." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta. CD-ROM Version, 2003

Politics of the United States" Para on Political Parties. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2004. March 31, 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_States

James Madison argued in his "Federalist Papers" against a system in which "factions" (parties) could seize control of the government

The present Democratic Party traces its roots to the Jeffersonian Republicans.