Parties In The Pre-Progressive Era

The party system has long been rooted in American society, beginning with early political strife between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists engaged in heated constitutional debates and the first official parties with the Democratic-Republicans and Federalists, where the contentious issue of government authority divided the two sides. When it was first established, these parties represented specific views of people. The Federalists long believed in a strong central government and a society favoring the wealthy, and the Democratic-Republicans believed that the liberties of the common people were at risk and that it was vital to protect them against the threat of an unfairly aristocratic government. Therefore, the original purpose of the American party system was to protect a variety of people and
Along with this, monopolies and large corporations–also known as political machines–were able to pick convention delegates and continually sway elections. While it was the party’s job to rally voters through campaigns, voting was largely restricted to wealthy, white males. Therefore, in the 19th century, wealthy white people were the most powerful in the political circle. Political machines dominated politics, and the voices of the common people were stifled, sparking outrage against corporations and industries. As a result, the Progressives sought to break up the concentration of power and wrest control back to the people. They sought to fight against the patronage systems prevalent at the time, proposing merit-based appointments as a way to crack down on the political machines that offered positions in exchange for party support. To empower democracy, they reformed various aspects of elections by implementing direct primaries and the initiative and referendum systems, giving people more control over