The writers of the American Constitution did not specify or recommend a number of political parties for government. They were counting on the democratic election system to assure that all people were fairly represented in Congress. However, by 1790 two main parties had emerged--the Federalists, who supported a powerful national government, and the Democratic Republicans, who favored states' rights. The two original parties served to balance each other and helped keep the government from sliding to …showed first 75 words of 958 total…

…showed last 75 words of 958 total…were present, leaders were limited by the agreement of their opposition to new policies, and the number of parties was determined by the overall national need. It is to the credit of the writers of the Constitution that only a few political parties have ever existed at the same time in American history, and that the change of power from one to the other has never been in the bloody, revolutionary style of European governments.