Who were the first political parties?

Answer 1

The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists who later became known as the Jeffersonians.

Answer 2

The first political parties... where? In Belgium? the USA? In the world? Who knows?

In ancient Rome, they had loose groupings similar to political parties- like the Optimates ("Good Men"), the generally conservative party, and the "Populares" ("in favor of the people"), the liberal party. Julius Caesar was a Populare, and Pompey was an Optimate.

In the US, the first significant political parties were the Federalists (the Founding Fathers who wanted a strong central government) and the Anti-Federalists (who didn't). Eventually the Federalists became a real political party (the Federalist Party, which no longer exists) and the Anti-Federalists mostly became the Democrat-Republicans (now the Democratic Party).

I'm certain ancient nations like the Greek city-states, or even the older civilizations like Egypt, Indus Valley, and China, had things similar to political parties. People always agree and disagree on things, and tend to associate more with other peoplke who agree with their mindset.

Answer 3

The original two parties formed around the election of 1796, after George Washington stepped down. The Federalists wanted a stronger, more involved central government, and favored financial ties with Britain. They were trying to elect John Adams. The Democratic-Republicans wanted a smaller central government, and favored a decentralized, agrarian society. They were trying to elect Thomas Jefferson.

By the 1820's, the Federalists had faded, and the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 split the Democratic-Republicans into the Jacksonian Democrats, and the anti-Jackson Whig party. These two parties lasted roughly until the years leading up to the Civil War, when slavery became the primary political issue.

The Republican Party emerged in 1854 as an anti-slavery party, and adopted many of the economic positions of the Whig Party. Most Southern whites voted Democrat, and most Northerners and Southern blacks (those that were able to vote) voted Republican.

In the late 19th century, the political agenda shifted from slavery and reconstruction to the Progressive movement, and the Republican Party dominated from the 1890s until the Great Depression.

The Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s brought about the party alignment still mostly present today, with the Democrats being the fiscally liberal party, and the Republicans being the fiscally conservative party.

Answer 4

Political parties or factions, as they were once known, emerge naturally as a consequence of any political system that involves holding general elections. Ancient Greek democracy had groups which organized around specific issues, but they did not exist to consolidate voting blocs or to support specific candidates and typically did not last beyond the specific issues around which they were formed.

The first political parties might be traced to the later period of the Roman Republic in which two political factions with opposing ideologies, the populares and the optimates, emerged. However, these were part of a client system of support, rather than a electoral system.

Political parties as we know them appeared in England in the 17th century. The earliest parties were the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, which represented the opposing sides in the English Civil Wars of the 1640s and 1650s. However, those could be viewed as revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries, rather than parties competing for power within a stable republic. In 1679, the Whigs emerged on an anti-Catholic, anti-absolutist platform and were elected to a majority in three successive Parliaments. In response, the Tory Party formed and adopted similar organizing and Propaganda tactics. The Whigs and Tories are generally regarded as the first political parties in a modern sense.

Answer 5

In the U.S., they evolved in the early 1790's. However, there have been political parties as far back as the Greek and Roman republics.