U5A1: Political Parties Timeline

The Anti-Federalist Party advocated for a weak central government and strong state governments. The Anti-Federalists consisted of small farmers and landowners, shopkeepers, and laborers. The Anti-Federalist Party fought against the Federalist Party and they demanded a Bill of Rights.

The Federalist Party advocated a strong central government. The Federalist Party organized the national government, fixed the interpretation of the Constitution, established traditions of federal tax integrity and creditworthiness, and initiated the doctrine of neutrality in foreign affairs. The Federalist Party allowed our new country to grow in peace for more than a century.

This party has an alternative title: Jeffersonian Republicans. The Democratic-Republicans composed diverse elements that emphasized local and humanitarian concerns, states' rights, agrarian interests, and democratic procedures.

Also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party. The National Republican Party evolved from faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential election. The National Republicans saw the Union as a corporate, organic whole. The party intended to promote national unity and harmony.

The Democrat Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The party has changed significantly during its more than two centuries of existence. During the 19th century, it supported or tolerated slavery. By the mid-20th century, it had undergone a dramatic ideological realignment and reinvented itself as a party supporting organized labor, the civil rights of minorities, and progressive reform. The party favors grater intervention in the economy and opposes government intervention in the private non-economic affairs of citizens.

This was a major political party that espoused a program of national development but foundered on the rising tide of sectional antagonism. The Whig Party brought together a loose coalition of groups united in their opposition to what party members viewed as the executive tyranny of "King Andrew" Jackson.

The Liberty Party was created by abolitionists who believed in political action to further antislavery goals. Liberty Party supporters hoped to dramatize the antislavery issue, pressure legislators into taking firmer antislavery positions, prevent slavery from extending beyond the states where it existed into the federal territories, and eradicate both the interstate slave trade and the institution itself within the boundaries of the nation's capital.

The Free-Soil Party was a minor but influential political party in the pre-Civil War period of American history that opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories. The Free-Soilers' historic slogan calling for "free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men" attracted small farmers, debtors, village merchants, and household and mill workers, who resented the prospect of black-labor competition--whether slave or free--in the territories.

The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties. During the 19th century, the Republican Party stood against the extension of slavery to the country's new territories and, ultimately, for slavery's complete abolition. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the party came to be associated with laissez-faire capitalism, low taxes, and conservative social policies.

The National Union Party was the temporary name used by the Republican Party for the national ticket in the 1864 presidential election that was held during the Civil War. The temporary name was used to attract War Democrats and border states, Unconditional Unionists and Unionist Party members who would not vote for the Republican Party. The National Union Party supported abolitionism, reconstructionism, and unionism.