Continuing the discussion about America’s Three Party system.

Thomas Jefferson was elected President in 1800, and that was the beginning of the end for the Nationalist Group (then called the Federalist Party). The Democratic-Republicans (an alliance between Anti-Federalists and Federalists) began its long road to eventually becoming the only political party left in America. This occurred because of the death of Alexander Hamilton who was the main organizer of the Nationalists, and because of the treasonous stand that many New Englanders took during the War of 1812. The Federalist Party disappeared, so that even John Quincy Adams was a Democratic-Republican, although they soon became known as Republicans.

However the divide between the Federalists and Anti-Federalist becomes apparent as both Jefferson and Madison show their Federalist leanings while President. Jefferson does several things to increase the power of the Chief Executive and Madison charters the Second Bank of the US, something he thought unconstitutional while in the House. This leads to a visible break in party unity as John Randolph, a Representative from Virginia and an Anti-Federalist often voted against his party along with a few other Anti-Federalists in Congress. It was the beginning of a long search for a new political alliance for the Anti-Federalists that sadly ended in the Civil War.

With the Presidency of James Monroe the ‘Era of Good Feelings’ began where there was only one party in America. Yet, this one party contained men as diverse as Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and John C. Calhoun. In fact the three most famous Senators of all time illustrate quite well the three party system.

Daniel Webster – A senator from Massachusetts who was an extreme Nationalist. He ended up in the National Republican Party, and then later the Whig party. He argued for a loose construction of the Constitution that allowed the government to fund internal improvements within a state, chartering of a bank of the US, high protective tariffs, and against a state’s right to depart from the Union.

Henry Clay – A Representative and then Senator from Kentucky. He was also more a Nationalist than anything else, but his love for Union could have him considered a Federalist. He favored a loose construction allowing for Internal improvements and a Bank of the US. He also desired Protective Tariffs but was willing to sacrifice them in order to save the Union during the Nullification Controversy in South Carolina. He was against abolitionism because it interfered with State’s rights, but did think Congress had the right to legislate it in the territories, but never pushed it because he knew it was a contested right.

John Calhoun – A representative and then Senator from South Carolina. Calhoun was the model anti-federalist, and most of the South followed his lead. He was a strict constructionist. He argued tariffs were for revenue, not protection, was against government funded internal improvements, against a central Bank of the US, and favored not only a state’s right to leave the union but a state’s right to nullify laws that were unconstitutional.

One could also add to this Andrew Jackson as a better example of a Federalist than Clay. Jackson allowed high tariffs, viewed the Bank of the US as unconstitutional and destroyed it, vetoed internal improvements, did not think a state could nullify Federal laws and was willing to use military force to enforce those laws. But also he thought a state was sovereign over those within its boundaries, which led him to move the Indians to Oklahoma against the attempt at legislating laws from the Supreme Court’s leading Nationalist John Marshall.

This era also regularly had more than three parties on the ticket. Even three Presidential Candidates was a regular occurrence. The Republican Party dies, the Democratic Party and the Whig Party are born. The Free Soil Party is born, as is the American or Know-Nothing Party. The Democratic Party was an alliance between Anti-Federalists and Federalists, while the Whig was an alliance between Federalists and Nationalists. The Free Soil Party and American Parties were mostly Nationalists.

The next post will show how voting for third parties influences and eventually changes all other parties, which is why one should be voting for third parties when they more correctly line up with your beliefs.