History of Political Parties

• President George Washington had hoped to build a strong, unified nation in which there would be no need for political parties. But Washington’s vision proved to be unrealistic. In the earliest years of our nation’s history, major differences of political opinion made unity difficult to achieve.

Federalists

• Alexander Hamilton, George Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, was the leader of the Federalists. The party supported a strong national government. The party lost power in the early 1800s.

Democratic Republicans

• Thomas Jefferson supported the power of the states and opposed a strong national government. He led the Democratic Republicans. From 1816 to 1828, voters regularly elected Democratic Republicans to the presidency and to Congress.

Whig Party

• In 1828, some members of the Democratic Republicans left that group and formed the Whig Party (first called the National Republicans). During the 1850s, the Whig Party fell apart because of sharp disagreements over the issue of slavery.

Democrats

• After Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828, the group who supported him took on the name Democrats. (Earlier, they had been known as Democratic Republicans). They held their first national presidential nominating convention in 1832, and are the world’s oldest continuing political party.

Republicans

• The Republican Party emerged during the 1850s as an antislavery party. It took the label of the Grand Old Party or GOP. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the first Republican President.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r161cLYzuDI