U.S HISTORY

U.S History

U.S History

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the rise of the two parties in the United States due to the amendment to the U.S constitution. According to diverse sources, the political system of the United States split into two segments after the amendment to the constitution; the Democratic-republicans and the Federalist. The U.S Democratic Party's origins are as opposition to the dominant Federalist in the early days after the adoption of the U.S Constitution. Confusingly, at that time, called the Republican Party, later the Democratic-Republican Party, before taking its present name under Andrew Jackson in 1828. Jackson represented a populist political force opposed to the centralizing views of the followers of Thomas Jefferson, who favored much stronger federal control at the expense of the autonomy of the individual states. To this day the Democratic Party stresses states' rights more strongly than the Republican Party.

On most issues, and in a very broad sense, the Democrats are to the left of the Republicans, or, in the American usage, are more 'liberal'. At least since the Second World War, it has been the party of blacks, of organized labor, and has mainly attracted the votes of the civil liberties oriented and more egalitarian members of the upper-middle class. Another party that formed after the amendments to the U.S constitution consisted federalists. The supporters of this party were the individuals that were in favor of the federal authority and its influence over matters of government. According to diverse sources, the followers of Federalist Party consists slender focus that refers to an American political faction or party which emerged at the beginning of the Republic's history and advocated a strong national government for the USA.

Discussion

The Federalist

Federal Convention of 1787 advocates the ratification in the U.S constitution. The Federalists were moved by the perceived inefficacy of the Articles of Confederation (the original framework for the union) and by what they took to be the threat to property implicit in disorders like Shays's Rebellion, an uprising in 1787 by debtors in western Massachusetts. With their greatest strength among mercantile interests, the upper classes, and officers of the Continental Army, Federalists shared the traditional ideal of rule by gentlemen (Currie, 1997).

The core strength of the Federalist Party lay in the North, and its emphasis on the need for trade expansion made it the natural party of trading and manufacturing classes. Its opponents advocated a weaker role for the national government and supported by agricultural interests (Potter, 2002). The Federalist Party was dominant during the administrations of George Washington and John Adams (1789-1801), but after Thomas Jefferson's election to the presidency in 1800, the Federalists declined, and the party ceased to be important.

The most important statement of Federalist thinking is The Federalist, a collection of eighty-five essays addressed to the citizens of New York during the ratification debate. Other leading Federalists included George Washington, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris. There was a strong, but imperfect, correlation—Madison was a visible exception to the rule—between Federalists ...