Party system refers to the way parties are organized, the balance of powers between and within the parties, and the issues or ideas which the parties are organized around. The Federalist and Jeffersonian Republicans were the first party system to immerge in the seventeen nineties. The federalist focused on the concerns of New England merchants. The wanted to rebuild a relationship with Britain, assumption of debt from the revolutionary war, and programs with encouraged manufacturing. The Jeffersonian republics were run with southern agriculture in mind. They wanted to create a relationship with France, focused on agriculture over commercialism, and free trade. Over time the Federalist party weakened while the Jeffersonian republicans evolved into the Democrats. …show more content…
Despite being the only major political party the Democrats experienced a lot of conflict among themselves Eventfully a party known as the Whigs developed. Both the Democrats and Whigs wanted to expand the numbers of voters. They accomplished this by eliminating several voting restrictions put on white males. Like the Federalist the Whigs supported northern merchants. Besides supporting merchants, the only thing members of the Whig party really had in common was there opposition to the Democratic party. Since focusing on politics would of torn the Whig party apart they instead focused on personal characteristics. In eighteen forty Henry Harrison lead the Whig party to their first presidential victory in a campaign which focused more on his heroic military experience then the issues. During the late eighteen forties and early eighteen fifties slavery had become the major political issue. The disagreements and unwillingness to compromise among the Whig party lead to groups down fall. The Republican party was then created by a large number of former Whig party members and Democrats who did want to support