The first American political party system existed from the early 1790’s to 1816 and grew from Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton who favored a strong united national government that promoted economic growth, closed ties with Great Britain to build a friendly relationship, a centralized banking system, …show more content…
Unlike the first party system, the Democrats supported the primacy of the Presidency over the other branches of government, and opposed the Bank of the United States as well as modernizing programs that they felt would build up industry expense of the taxpayer. The Whigs on the other hand, advocated the primacy of Congress over the executive branch as well as policies of modernization and economic protectionism. Central political battles of this era were the Bank War and the Spoils system of federal patronage. The Democratic party was a proponent for farmers across the country, urban workers, and new immigrants. It was especially attractive to Irish immigrants who increasingly controlled the party machinery in the cities. The party was much less attractive to businessmen, plantation owners (text 332). In 1834 political opponents of President Andrew Jackson organized a new party to contest Jacksonian Democrats nationally and in the states. Guided by their most prominent leader, Henry Clay, they called themselves Whigs—the name of the English antimonarchist party—the better to stigmatize the seventh president as ‘King Andrew’(text 380). They were immediately derided by the Jacksonian Democrats as a party devoted to the interests of wealth and aristocracy, a charge …show more content…
The central domestic issues changed to government regulation of railroads and large corporations ("trusts"), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, women's suffrage, and control of immigration. Many things began to change and rearrange in the mid-1960s the New Deal coalition died, the early 1980s the Moral Majority and the Reagan coalition were formed, the early 1990s Third Way emerged among Democrats. Since the 1930s, the Democrats positioned themselves more towards Liberalism while the Conservatives increasingly dominated the GOP. But new voter coalitions emerged during the latter half of the 20th Century, with Conservatives and the Republicans becoming dominant in the South, rural areas, and suburbs; while Liberals and the Democrats increasingly started to rely on a coalition of African-Americans, Hispanics and white urban Progressives. As the world progressed our political parties progressed and