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First Constitutional Convention
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. -
Feds Vs. Anti-feds
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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Democratic Republicans
The anti-feds aka the Jeffersonian Republicans/Democratic Republicans were unopposed in gov until the mid 1820s. -
Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party
In 1828 Jackson's Democratic party came to power -
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Democrat Downfall
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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Republicans
Democrats were scared the Republicans would give African Americans more rights and thus the Democrats dominated the south for the next 100 years. -
Roosevelt
The Great Depression led to a change in the political landscape. In 1932 FDR, a democrat was elected president. -
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Modern times
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