What Was The First Political Party In The United States
When government was first formed in the United States of America there were no political parties. The first president of the United States, George Washington, was not part of any political party for the entire term that he was in office. The constitution also makes no mention of political parties and most of the people involved in writing the constitution hoped that no political parties would be formed. The United States now has a two party political system and these two parties were originally formed from many of George Washington’s advisers.
The first political party to form in the United States was the Democratic-Republican Party. This party was formed in 1792 to oppose the fiscal proposals of Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. Many people who opposed the adoption of a national constitution joined with others who disliked the policies of Alexander Hamilton united to form the Democratic-Republican Party led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Other people who believed in a strong, united, central government and agreed with Alexander Hamilton’s financial proposals united together to form their own political part called the Federalist Party.
Many splits in parties occurred after the formation of the two party system. At one time the United States had only one dominant political party at the federal level, the Democratic – Republican Party. Even today there are still only two parties in the American political system. Other smaller parties have tried to gain some power within the government, but are never able to gain enough support from the general public to be elected.
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