History Of Political Parties

The political party is an organization of people who share similar ideas about the way the country should be governed. Political parties perform important tasks in government. First role of political parties is selecting candidates. Second role of political parties is checking the other party. Political parties also informing the public. Most importantly, they organize the government (Ushistory org). The history of U.S political parties begins with the Federalists and their opponents the Anti-Federalists who became the Democratic-Republicans. Two major political parties in the United States today, however, are Democrats and Republicans.

Of the two current major political parties, the one with oldest roots is the Democratic Party.
The first two presidents of the US George Washington and John Adams were Federalists. The Anti-Federalists evolved into the Democrat-Republican part. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States was the first Democrat-Republican to be elected President. Democratic-Republicans James Madison and James Monroe were also subsequently elected. By 1820 the Federalist Party had faded from national politics, leaving the Democratic-Republicans as the countries sole major party and allowing Monroe to run unopposed in that year’s presidential election.

The Republicans were born in 1854 with the support of people against slavery and those who supported a strong federal government at a convention in Jackson, Michigan.
And it was no accident that two years later, the first Republican National Convention took place in Philadelphia, where the constitution was written. Abraham Lincoln was the first republican to be elected President. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in rebelling states to be “Forever Free” and welcomed them to join the Union’s armed forces. But it was the entire Republican Party who freed the slaves. The 1864 Republican National Convention called for the abolition of slavery, and Congressional Republicans passed the 13th Amendment unanimously. Also, Republicans worked to pass the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans (GOP). In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women’s suffrage, playing a leading role in securing women’s right to vote. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it was it were under Republican control. During most of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century, a number of Presidents were Republicans. The white house was in Republican hands under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, George H. and George W. Bush
(BCRO).

There are some core differences between the two based on very strong political belief.
First, both parties favor tax cut, but each party takes a different view on where those tax cut should be applied. Democrats are generally in favor of large government and progressive tax system in which the wealthy pay a larger share than the poor. However, republicans are generally in favor of a smaller government and there should be tax cuts for everyone.

Second, in their views toward social issue, Republican tend to be conservative and Democrats tend to be more progressive. Democrats favors abortion that a woman should always have the right to choose to have an abortion but Republicans oppose abortion. Also, Democrats tend to support the right for same –sex couples to marry while Republicans tend to oppose the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Third, when it comes down to national defense and security, these two parties have very different opinions. Democrats tend to cut the military budget while Republicans believe in a strong military and are willing to pay for it with government money. In the approach to combating terrorism, 2/3 of republicans believe that use of overwhelming force is best, while an even larger proportion of Democrats think that, although our armed forces should be used when our nation’s security is threatened, excessive use of military action tends to increase animosity against our country and breed more
terrorist.

Democrats across the board believe that government should provide social programs such as health care, welfare, food stamps, unemployment benefits to support the poor and others. They think American should have affordable health insurance. They try to expand coverage and cut healthcare cost to make sure everyone has access to affordable health care. Republicans, however, support less funding for the poor and private business organizations. They reject any notion of government-run universal health care and they believe that government-run health care can lead to inefficiencies.

The Parties have different view on the education system of the country. Democrats favoring giving students more money in the form of loans and grants while Republicans favor promoting the private sector giving loans and not the government. Democrats will continue to strengthen schools and work to expand public school options for low-income youth. To help expending opportunity to provide every child with a strong foundation of education, they double investment in Pell Grants and more tax credits. Republicans’ opinion is very different. The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loan but it should serve as an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they offer loans to students. They also promote school choice initiatives that give parents more control over their children’s education.

The U.S is one of the very few countries with only two dominant parties. Then, why is so much attention focused on only two parties in the United State? The two party system in the U.S is largely due to what is called plurality voting in single-member districts. Also means, winner takes all voting system. Also, the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, have essentially crowded out the other minor parties. It makes extremely difficult for someone from one of those parties to become elected. The goal of uniting a group of people with similar views under one political party is to ensure that a majority of voters ally to allow a party to win office. Even though the two party coalitions overlap on some issues, the core of each system is significant different. As a result, the Republican and Democratic coalitions cover a very board range of idea from nearly every camp of thinking and the issue at heart that divides the two main parties today is the extent to which government should be involved with solving social and moral issues (Why Only Two Parties). The two party system helps people decide whom to vote, make it easier for worthy candidates to run for public office and makes the government more effective. The two-party system is easier to grasp, promotes common positions and it makes organizing elections simpler