PARTIES AND PARTY SYSTEMS| 165the opposite positions based on their preference for concentrating power at the
state level. These political parties were quite diff erent from their modern coun-
terparts. In particular, there were no national party organizations, few citizens
thought of themselves as party members, and candidates for offi ce did not cam-
paign as representatives of a political party.
THE SECOND PARTY SYSTEM, 1829–56
The second American party system began with the disintegration of the Feder-
alist Party. Many Federalist legislators had opposed the War of 1812 and sup-
ported a politically unpopular pay raise for members of Congress.^5 Ultimately,
Federalist politicians were either defeated for reelection or switched their party
affi liation, thereby eliminating the Federalist Party as a political force in Ameri-
can politics.
The demise of the Federalists gave way to the so-called Era of Good Feelings, a
period when there was only one political party, the Democratic-Republicans. Fol-
lowing the election of President Andrew Jackson in 1828, the organization that
elected Jackson was transformed by him and by then-senator (later president)
Martin Van Buren into the Democratic Party, the ancestor of the modern-day
organization. At the same time another new party, the Whigs, was formed, and
the Democratic-Republican Party dissolved, with most of its politicians becoming
Democrats.
The new Democratic Party embodied two important innovations. First, it cul-
tivated electoral support as a way of strengthening the party’s hold on power in
Washington. The party built organizations at the state and local levels to mobi-
lize citizens to support its candidates. These eff orts helped to bind citizens to the
party, encouraging them to think of themselves as party members and creating
the fi rst American party in the electorate. The Democrats’ second innovation
was what Van Buren called the party principle, the idea that a party is not just
party principle The idea that a
political party exists as an organiza-
tion distinct from its elected offi cials
or party leaders.FOLLOWING HIS ELECTION IN 1 828,
President Andrew Jackson
strengthened the Democratic
Party by encouraging party
organizations at the state and
local level and by creating the
spoils system to reward loyal
party members. Here, Jackson
makes a speech while on his way
to Washington to take offi ce.