The article by Paul D. Moreno came from a digital search tool, Credo Reference, which was brought from the American Governance Encyclopedia. The article covers the topic of American political parties, from the emergence of factions to the contemporary nature of parties. The United States has always had two primary political parties striving for power. Such entities were commonly seen as factions throughout the American Revolution. The struggle over ratifying the United States Constitution may be considered the birth of America’s first-party system, with the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans competing. The latter, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were skeptical of Hamilton’s Federalist plan for centralized national economic growth. The War of 1812 compelled the Republicans to accept many Federalist policies, resulting in a period of goodwill (Moreno par. 6). The next party system was formed during the Civil War when the Republicans were generally pro-Union and anti-slavery. The parties continued to develop afterward, constantly changing their national and economic policies and becoming more progressive. Eventually, the parties are chosen by the voters due to the qualities and programs of their leaders.
After reading the article, I realized that the history of political parties in the US has always been a complicated matter and caused polarization among voters. I have been surprised to learn that a Populist party has taken the Democratic party’s place. The article was informative and exciting to read since it shed light on many branches of American history that are discussed not so often as the Civil War. I would like to continue reading about the propositions to abolish the parties due to their polarization effect on people.
Work Cited
Moreno, Paul D. “Political Party Systems.” American Governance, edited by Stephen Schechter, Macmillan US, 1st edition, 2016. Credo Reference, Web.