Trace the Evolution of the American Two Party System

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.