History of US Political Parties
There are many pages that give a full detailed history of US Political Parties: Wikipedia, Government-and-Constitution.org, and more. So why are we making another page about it? It is important to know the history of US political parties to some extent. You do not need to be an expert in all the timelines of each party. However, many people take for granted that we currently have the Republicans and Democrats. They just assume that it will always be this way. The United States has primarily always been a 2-party system. It has not always been the Republicans and Democrats, though. We feel that we are on the verge of another shift in US political parties. It just takes those of us that are frustrated with the system to take action. Vote for something different! Maybe in the long run, we will see a shift towards parties that actually represent our interests. Let’s look at a brief overview of these other parties.
The first US political parties to control the government were the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans (Anti-Federalists). These political parties led the country for approximately 32 years. After these parties, came the Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs were the powerful parties. These parties ran the US government for approximately 26 years. Finally, the Republicans joined the Democrats in leadership of the United States. These political parties have controlled the United States for over 160 years. There have been 2-3 major shifts during these years, though. These shifts changed what issues were the main focus of each party. It also changed the dynamics of which groups of voters were drawn to each party.
In the end, when enough people vote for 3rd parties and independent candidates we will see change. It may be that a new party comes to power. It may simply cause the main parties to shift to position that appeals to more voters. Either of these options is an improvement to where we are today. We hope to see true change, and we think it’s important to remember that these parties have changed multiple times throughout history. Do not be discouraged, and do not feel defeated. Fight for what you believe in, and encourage people that are frustrated with the system to vote for change.
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