First Party System

Examples of First Party System in the following topics:

• The Transfer of Power between the Federalists and the Republicans

  • The First Party System defined the development of the first U.S. political parties: the Federalists and the Democrat-Republicans.
  • The First Party System describes a model used by political scientists and historians to frame United States politics from approximately 1792 to 1824.
  • The First Party System is not only a tool of analysis for social scientists, but also, bore significance to contemporaries, who analyzed the implications behind this divergence of political organizations.
  • For instance, Thomas Jefferson provided an analytical outline of the party system in 1798:
  • Social scientists label the end of the First Party System during the Era of Good Feelings (1816–1824), as the Federalists shrank to a few isolated strongholds and the Republicans lost party unity.

• The Election of 1828 and the Character Issue

  • The election marked the rise of Jacksonian democracy on the national stage and the transition from the First Party System, of which Jeffersonian democracy was characteristic, to the Second Party System.
  • Historians debate the significance of the election, with many arguing that it marked the beginning of modern American politics and the formation of the two-party system.
  • The nomination of the Democratic Party was Andrew Jackson, former senator from Tennessee.
  • Jackson's supporters called themselves "Democrats," thus marking the evolution of Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party into the modern Democratic Party.
  • Adams supporters called themselves "National Republicans," and were antecedents of the Whig Party of the 1830s and, later, the Republican Party.

• The Election of 1796

  • The election of 1796 was the first contested presidential election between two distinct political factions in the nation's history.
  • The election of 1796 was the first contested American presidential election and the only one in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets.
  • At this point, each man from any party ran alone, as the formal position of running mate on a party ticket had not yet been established.
  • This election marked the formation of the first party system and established a permanent rivalry between Federalist New England and the Republican South, with the middle states holding the balance of power.
  • Despite its contention, the 1796 election marked the first peaceful transfer of power between administrations.

• The Second Party System

  • The Second Party System existed in the United States from about 1828 to 1854.
  • For the first time, politics assumed a central role in voters' lives.
  • The Second Party System reflected and shaped the political, social, economic, and cultural currents of the Jacksonian Era until succeeded by the Third Party System in 1854.
  • This period marked the first time two-party politics were extended to the South and West, both of which had previously been one-party regions.
  • The Second Party System was also the first, and remains the only, party system in which the two major parties remained on about equal footing in every region.

• The Birth of Political Parties

  • During the early years of the U.S. government, the new republic saw the firm and unexpected establishment of a two-party political system.
  • The first two political parties grew out of the early factions that had formed around the debate over ratification of the Constitutions.
  • Partisan rancor in the first decades of the republic can perhaps be partially explained by the dramatic regional, economic, ideological, and cultural differences between the two political parties.
  • The disintegration of the Federalist party seemed to leave only the Democratic-Republican party standing.
  • However, after Monroe left office, new partisan differences flared up, instituting the Second Party System.

• Corruption and Reform: Hayes to Harrison

  • The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in ended the spoils system at the federal level in 1883.
  • A spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for their support and as an incentive to keep working for the party (as opposed to a system of awarding offices on the basis of merit independent of political activity).
  • Proponents denounced the spoils system as corrupt and inefficient.
  • At first it covered very few jobs, but there was a ratchet provision whereby outgoing presidents could lock in their own appointees by converting their jobs to civil service.
  • Before the Civil Service Reform Act (Pendleton Act) was passed in 1883, civil service appointments were given based on a patronage system; that is, those who were loyal to an individual or party were rewarded with government jobs.

• Politics in the Gilded Age

  • Gilded Age politics, referred to as the Third Party System, were characterized by intense competition between the two parties, with minor parties coming and going, especially on issues of concern to prohibitionists, labor unions, and farmers.
  • Financed by the "spoils system," the winning party distributed most local, state and national government jobs, and many government contracts, to its loyal supporters.
  • These votes would be repaid with favors from the government once that candidate was elected; very often, candidates were selected based on their willingness to play along with the spoils system.
  • In 1884, the Democrats won their first national victory since 1856 with the election of Democrat Grover Cleveland to the presidency.
  • "Romanism" referred to Roman Catholics, especially Irish Americans, who ran the Democratic Party in most cities, and whom the reformers denounced for political corruption and the operation of a separate parochial school system.

• Progressive Government: City and State

  • The system whereby a city was governed by a powerful mayor and council was replaced by the council-manager, or the commission system.
  • Under the council-manager system, the council would pass laws, while the manager would ensure their execution.
  • First, the secret ballot was introduced.
  • Prior to the secret ballot, ballots were colored papers printed by the political parties.
  • Before the primary was introduced, the party leaders or party faithful were the only ones allowed to nominate candidates.

• The Know-Nothings and Democrats

  • Immigration during the first five years of the 1850s reached a level five times greater than a decade earlier.
  • For the temperance supporters, the Know-Nothing movement represented a return to Protestant morality and control of the political system to moral, native-born politicians.
  • However, the Know-Nothings were not an uncontested party.
  • President Andrew Jackson was hailed as the founder of the Democratic Party.
  • Examine the political and social issues that gave rise to the Know-Nothing Party

• A New Nation

  • The new American government experienced tensions between the Federalist Party currently in power and the Democratic-Republican Party.
  • He also proposed a novel system of taxes and tariffs to pay for the debt and a Bank of the United States to handle the finances and centralize the fiscal resources of the federal government.
  • Often referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," this transfer of power from one party to another was the first in American history.
  • The animosity between the political parties exploded into open violence in 1804, when Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s first vice president, and Alexander Hamilton engaged in a duel.
  • James Madison was considered the "Father of the Constitution" and was the first author of the Bill of Rights.