Two Parties Emerge
Political parties - we either love them or hate them. But where exactly did they come from?
All of the founding fathers tended agree on one thing: factions were not a good thing for the country. But as I explore in this episode, the very men who were adamantly opposed to the formation of parties - Alexander Hamilton & James Madison - were two of the most active and influential individuals in the development of the first political parties.
This episode explores why these parties emerged and why only two major parties get all the attention.
Sources Used This Episode:
The Troubled Elections of 1796 and 1800. Bill of Rights in Action. Constitutional Rights Foundation. Vol. 32, No. 1. Fall 2016. (LINK)
Dortmund, Lee. “America is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared.” The Atlantic. January 2, 2020. (LINK)
Political Parties. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. (LINK)
Democratic-Republican Party. Ohio History Central. (LINK)
Fry, Micha L. “Why America is Stuck with Only Two Political Parties.” The New Republic. Feb 2, 2018. (LINK)
Electoral Systems in the United States. Fair Vote. (LINK)
Washington, George. George Washington Papers, Series 2, Letterbooks -1799: Letterbook 24, April 3, 1793 - March 3, 1797. 1793. Manuscript/Mixed Material. (LINK)
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