Decline Of Political Parties

The presidency of George Washington was a difficult pair of terms to follow. John Adams tried to follow the precedent that the first president had set, but the second president only managed to polarize the nation among two parties: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Although his decisions are today looked at with mixed feelings, at the time John Adams fell into popular disfavor. After his singular term due to the opposition of the Jeffersonian Anti-Federalists and the Hamiltonian Federalists (members of Adams’s own party), there was a power vacancy clearly waiting to be filled which would lead to the spot of the third President of the United States. The first twelve years of the nation and its first two presidents had been marred by stirrings of factionalism and tension. However, the two presidents after Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, would do much to lessen these issues due to educated and intelligent policy-making, in addition to a great deal of fortunate circumstances.

The form in which political parties campaign has changed over time. And, there are many explanations historians provide describing the evolution of campaigns over time. In the present days, there is no doubt social media such as Facebook and Twitter has changed the game; these tools allow presidential nominees to reach far more people than ever before. It also allows the candidate to talk to people without filtration. In the last decade, the goal of the campaign focuses more on demoralizing the contestants than addressing real issues.

According to the first draft of the Constitution, electors voted for two presidents, at least one of which was from a different state than the elector was representing. Whichever candidate received the most votes would become president and the runner-up would be vice-president. This method worked for several years until, in 1800, the unforeseen effect of political parties resulted in a tie for the presidency between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, both of the same party. The resulting dispute over who the president would be led to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

The election of 1800 was a fight between the democratic-republicans and the federalists party for presidency. It also became the first time in American History where there was a peaceful shift in the political party, from the federalists party to the democratic-republicans party (Jeffersonians). The election of 1800 consists of five candidates, each believing that victory by the other side would ruin their nation. The candidates were, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson in the democratic-republican party, and John Adams, Charles Pinckney, and John Jay in the federalist party;

He lost in 1796 to John Adams, defecting to the vice president position. While his first run at president was uneventful, the election of 1800 was one of the most controversial in United States history. Thomas Jefferson ran against fellow Democratic-Republican Aaron Burr. Miraculously, in an unprecedented decision, the vote was a tie. The House of Representatives was asked to break the draw, of which Alexander Hamilton, a firm Federalist, was the deciding vote. Although he often opposed Jefferson in many political stances, Hamilton cast his vote for Thomas. Burr—even though he had been campaigning against Jefferson—became the vice president. Later, Vice President Burr shot and killed Hamilton over more political discrepancies.

The two parties were formed by alexander hamilton and thomas jefferson,thomas jefferson was born april 2 1743 in virginia he had gone the the college of william and mary and he was on the side of the federalists and he supported the constitution,but

The Democratic-Republicans representative was Thomas Jefferson, whom was at the time the Vice President of the states. Jefferson, who was born on April 13, 1743 in Goochland County, Virginia, died on July 4, 1826. The representative on the ballot for the Federalists was John Adams, whom was born on October 19, 1735 in Braintree, Massachusetts, and coincidentally died on July 4, 1826, which was the same death time of Jefferson. Aaron Burr whom was Jefferson’s running mate, and Adams running mate was Charles C. Pickney. Two extremely powerful political parties backed different candidates for president, this created

The Federalists no longer held power in the presidency and in Congress and as a whole, were “destined never to regain national power” (Tindall and Shi 317). The defeat of Adams was the beginning of the Federalists’ decline and their party would gradually fade over time into obscurity. Even more important was that the election of 1800 demonstrated the success of the so-called experimental republican government. Jefferson’s victory showed that it was possible for the government handle the transfer of power from the in-power party to the out-of-power party. Even though the period leading up to the election was filled with conflict between the political parties, after the election the presidency was transferred from Adams to Jefferson without bloodshed or legal issues. Jefferson was unanimously recognized as the president and the government was established as a legitimate political body that could handle change, not just a dynasty of Federalists (Mr. Weisend). The election of 1800 and subsequent deadlock between Jefferson and Burr also exposed a flaw in the U.S. Constitution that the original Founders did not expect. The Founders originally gave each elector in the Electoral College two ballots to cast for a President and a Vice President. They had hoped that the two candidates with the most votes would set aside their differences and assume the roles of President and Vice President,

John Ferling, the author, began by describing the events that occurred just prior to the election, and painted the picture of John Adams travelling to Washington D.C. from his Massachusetts farm and Thomas Jefferson from his hilltop lair of Monticello in Virginia—symbolizing the differences among Adam’s northeastern simple farming roots and Jefferson’s extravagant southern slave-owning background. From the start, the author explains (without tipping his hat to the debacle the system would cause in the 1800 election) how in the 1796 and 1800 elections, the Constitution required the practice of each political party nominating two presidential candidates, with the candidates with the most votes becoming President and the second most becoming Vice-President. The Federalists nominated Adams and Charles Pinckney from South Carolina;

The creators of the Constitution wanted a one party system, but during the election of 1796 the one party system started to split. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the candidates for the election; Adams won president and Jefferson as vice president.

When the election of 1808 began, James Madison was going to run for president and represent the Democratic-Republican party. For James’s campaign, he was supported by Thomas Jefferson. His opponent for the election was Charles C. Pinckney who represented the Federalist party. After having to deal with the hardships of the election, the results were in; James Madison won the election of 1808 and was the fourth president of the United States. He won 122 electoral votes and carried over twelve states. Charles only won forty four votes and carried five states. In the beginning of James’s presidency, he pursued many policies of Thomas Jefferson. Many thought he was a methodical and practical president. During the first four years of his presidency, nothing drastic had occurred. The only problem that

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were both very important political figures in the early years of our nation and their paths led them to two different political factions, The Federalist Party and the Democratic Republican Party, respectively.

It would seem that the founding fathers were a lot smarter than we give them credit for in 1792. This was the year the College, as we call it today the Electoral College, ratified in the Constitution of the United States of America by the colonies. This would also start the longest continuous debate our nation has ever experienced over a single political issue that continues even today. This debate came center stage during the election of 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (Jefferson’s Vice President running mate)received the same number of electoral votes for President even though they were running mates (http://www.ushistory.org/us/20a.asp). This tie would lead to changes to the Electoral College of their day and the foundation for the 12th Amendment to our Constitution.

In 1790, the United States had just recently broke free from the British crown and united under the cause of liberty. But in spite of this, Americans saw political rifts brought about by the rise of political parties. The rise of political parties in 1790 was caused by general distrust, disagreements on policies, and constitutional disagreements between the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, which were led by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, respectively.

Do you have a favorite president? Have you ever voted for president? The United States election process was created in 1787 and went into action in 1789 by the founding fathers (“Presidential Elections”). In the first election, two candidates that ran for office included George Washington and John Adams. Through the original election process, George Washington ended up taking office (“Electoral College”). The election process has changed many times since 1789 to become the current election process. Our election process is fair because the candidates and voters have beneficial requirements, the candidates give a valid preview of their government ideas, and the candidate votes are determined by both the public and experienced politicians.