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The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. The first 2 parties came about and they were the Federalists and Anti-federalists.
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The Feds and Anti-feds came about after the First Constitutional Convention. The Feds were rich and well-born and the Anti-feds were more sympathetic to the common man. The feds were led by Alexander Hamilton and wanted a strong government while the Anti-feds were led by Thomas Jefferson and they believed in a strict constructionist view of the Constitution.
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The anti-feds aka the Jeffersonian Republicans/Democratic Republicans were unopposed in gov until the mid 1820s.
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In 1828 Jackson's Democratic party came to power
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Democrats were crippled by war, so Republicans were left to run the country for the next 75 years. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President.
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Democrats were scared the Republicans would give African Americans more rights and thus the Democrats dominated the south for the next 100 years.
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The Great Depression led to a change in the political landscape. In 1932 FDR, a democrat was elected president.
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Republicans are the "conservative" ones now and Democrats are liberal. Since 1968, we have had a gov characterized by neither party consistently holding power-divided gov