Changes

We usually think that today to have a democratic state there need to be political parties. While that is largely true for most democracies today, this was not the case earlier in history when elections and democratic systems developed. Political parties likely developed in England in the 17th century as the country began to transition into a country led by a prime minister. In the United States, political parties were not envisioned when the Constitution was developed, but they soon emerged once controversies on the nature and development of government became evident.

====Development in the United States====

In the United States, similar disputes over the nature and power of leadership led to the eventual emergence of parties. The debate as to how much power the federal government should have relative to state rights became the core issue that led to the emergence of the two-party system in the United States. The Federalists Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, emerged as the first political party in the United States at around 1789, which championed the idea of strong federal government with power over the states and investment and development of manufacturing and trade. This included developing a central bank for the United States. The Democratic-Republican Party soon emerged as its opposition in 1792, although they were usually called the Republican Party (historians though use Democratic-Republican to distinguish from modern Republicans), with the party led by Thomas Jefferson. As the name suggests, their main ideas were Republicanism that opposed a strong, central federalists policy. Hamilton's financial support for a strong, central Bank of the United States was opposed by the party. Its support for state rights became perhaps the most well-known platform, which also became the main issue that eventually sparked the Civil War. The Federalists only lasted until about 1824, while the Democratic-Republican party dissolved in 1825. Both the main modern parties were influenced by the ideals by both these parties, although neither of them can claim descent from these two parties in a direct manner since members of these parties began to join other very different parties after their collapse.<ref>For more on the Federalists and Democratic-Republican, see: Payan, G. (2004). <i>The federalists and anti-federalists: how and why political parties were formed in young America</i>. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. </ref>