Republican and Democrats: Why Only Two Parties?
When the election occurs in America the whole world knows it. It became the top news of every media. It should be. When the election is happening in the most powerful country in the world, it is normal that everybody all around the world will talk about it. But the thing is why this most powerful country has only two major political parties. When other countries have several political parties and they all participate in elections. When it is about the USA then the number is only two.
Since the 1850s, political parties in the United States are dominated by two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. This two-party system is based on laws, party rules, and customs. United State’s political party system didn’t come here at once. Decade after decade they changed the political party system that brought them here. The party system of the USA changed six times until now.
- The First Party System
The first party system is a model of American politics used in history and political science to periodize the political party system that existed in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824. It featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party, created largely by Alexander Hamilton, and the rival Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party, formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, usually called at the time the Republican Party. The Federalists were dominant until 1800, while the Republicans were dominant after 1800.
- The Second Party System
Historians and political scientists use the second party system to periodize the political party system operating in the United States from about 1828 to 1854 after the First Party System ended. The system was characterized by rapidly rising levels of voter interest, beginning in 1828, as demonstrated by Election Day turnouts, rallies, partisan newspapers, and high degrees of personal loyalty to parties.
- The Third Party System
The third party system is a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to describe the history of political parties in the United States from 1854 until the mid-1890s, which featured profound developments in issues of American nationalism, modernization, and race. This period, the later part of which is often termed the Gilded Age, is defined by its contrast with the eras of the Second Party System and the Fourth Party System.
- The Fourth Party System
The fourth party system is the term used in political science and history for the period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 that was dominated by the Republican Party, excepting the 1912 split in which Democrats held the White House for eight years. American history texts usually call the period the Progressive Era. The concept was introduced under the name “System of 1896” by E. E. Schattschneider in 1960, and the numbering scheme was added by political scientists in the mid-1960s.
- The Fifth Party System
The fifth party system is the era of American national politics that began with the New Deal in 1932 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This era of Democratic Party dominance emerged from the realignment of the voting blocs and interest groups supporting the Democratic Party into the New Deal coalition following the Great Depression. For this reason, it is often called the “New Deal Party System”. It followed the Fourth Party System, usually called the Progressive Era, and was followed by the current Sixth Party System, though the beginning of the Sixth Party System is disputed.
- The Sixth Party System
The sixth party system is the era in United States politics following the Fifth Party System. As with any periodization, opinions differ on when the Sixth Party System may have begun, with suggested dates ranging from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Though American politics have been dominated by the two-party system, there are some exceptions that happened in American political history. Several other political parties have also come to the spotlight throughout the country’s history. The oldest third party was the Anti-Masonic Party, which was formed in New York in 1828. The party’s creators feared the Freemasons, believing they were a powerful secret society that was attempting to rule the country in defiance of republican principles.
The modern political party system in the U.S. is dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress to some extent since at least 1856. There are numerous minor or third parties. The Libertarian, Green, Reform, Independent, and other parties have won elections throughout history at different levels, but the success of those parties is sparse.
Just because of their strong base and history, the Democratic and Republican Party always got the support of the peoples of the united states. Also, their political system is created in the way that it is quite impossible for a party to stand against these two major parties. Also for the short of people, money, and ballots are the major barriers to compete in the presidential election. So the minor parties such as the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party take participation in the federal elections.