Political Parties of the Past and Present

            The idea of Democrats as the left leaning party and the Republicans as the right leaning party might be the case today however in our countries past it was not. When the country began Republicans and Democrats weren’t even the main political parties. At the time directly after our countries transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution and Bill of Rights the too main parties were the Federalists and Anti-federalists. Politicians like Alexander Hamilton aligned themselves with the Federalists while a politician like Thomas Jefferson aligned himself with the Anti-federalist. Federalist had a more loose interpretation of the constitution than the Anti-federalists. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist believed that the federal government should be more powerful than the individual states government, also in the creation of a national bank and other bureaucratic offices other than the ones created in the constitution. Thomas Jefferson and the Anti-federalists championed states right above the federal government and only wanted the federal government to do the things the constitution granted it to do.

            Eventually these two parties dissolved and the two to come up in their place were the Democrats and Whigs. The Democrats were pro-states rights, in favor of a small federal government, pro agriculture and the so called democrats were the party of the farmer, while the Whigs were pro-federal government and pro-industry. The Whigs represented the party of Business. In the 1850’s the Whig party began to decrease when a party calling themselves Republicans emerged. They believed they were the party of the middle class and business, and had a platform of a large federal government and keeping the western territories free of slaves.

            In Post Civil War America, The Democratic Party took a hit because the states that seceded were all democratic. In the late 1800’s Republican Party continued its stance as a pro-business party.

            When the country reached the 1920’s and 1930’s the idea of the parties we know today began to form. The Democrats now favored a large government, which would be able to regulate business and offer the people aide. While the Republican Party, believed in less regulation of the economy, therefore a smaller national government, and less government aide.

            Since then these are the platforms that both parties have run on, and each had a time where one political party was more popular than the other? For the Democrats it was the 60’s, with presidents like LBJ, the great society and the civil rights act of 1865 and for the Republicans it was the 80’s, with presidents like Ronald Reagan, cutting of government spending and Reaganomics.

            However it is important to realize that our country has never had two permanent political parties, with a set view on all issues. Our winner takes all elections guarantee that there will be a two party system but nothing else. 50 years from now the Democratic Party could have a totally different platform or may not even exist, as the issues of our country change so do the political parties. When someone asks you what political party you belong to, your response classifies you as a certain person. So what does it really mean to be a democrat or republican? The names of both parties themselves carry such connotation, but each name has been related to every issue at different sides of the spectrum at one point or another, meaning just saying you’re a republican or democrat is not necessarily enough of a description about your beliefs. What should carry the most weight is what each person believes in.