The ratification of the Constitution saw the birth of America's first two parties: the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton, and the Anti-Federalists, who followed Thomas Jefferson, the nation's first secretary of state. In short, the American party system began as a two-party system.
The Federalists were, by large, the party of the "rich and the well-known." Most of them had supported the Constitution. On the other hand, the Anti-Federalists were more sympathetic to the "common man" than were the Federalists. They also favored a very limited role for the new government created by the Constitution.
These two parties first clashed in the election of 1796. John Adams, the Federalists' candidate to secceed Washington as President, defeated Jefferson by three votes in the electoral college. Over the next four years, Jefferson and James Madison worked tirelessly to buikd the Democratic-Republican Party.
In the 1800 elections Jefferson defeated the current officeholder, John Adams; Jefferson's party also won control of Congress. The Federalists never returned power. Thomas Jefferson's election in 1800 maked the beginning of a period of Democratic domination that was to last until the Civil War (1800-1860).
The Civil War marked the beginning of one party-domination. For nearly 75 years, 1860-1932, the Republicans dominated the national scene. The Great Depression, which began in 1929, had a massive impact on nearly all aspect of American life. The landmark election of 1932 brought Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency and the Democrats back to power at the national level and they stayed there until 1968.
