When Did Dew Democratic Party Form? The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous operation in the United States and is one of the oldest political parties in the world.[4] Barack Obama is the 15th Democrat to hold the office of President of the United States.
As of the 112th Congress following the 2010 elections, the Democratic Party currently holds a minority of seats in the House of Representatives but holds a majority of seats in the Senate. It currently holds a minority of state governorships as well as a minority of state legislatures.
History
Main article: History of the Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party evolved from Anti-Federalist factions that opposed the fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison organized these factions into the Democratic-Republican Party. The party favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; it opposed a national bank and wealthy, moneyed interests. The Democratic-Republican Party ascended to power in the election of 1800.
After the War of 1812, the party's chief rival, the Federalist Party disbanded. Democratic-Republicans split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe, and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the Democratic Party. Along with the Whig Party, the Democratic Party was the chief party in the United States until the Civil War. The Whigs were a commercial party, and usually less popular, if better financed. The Whigs divided over the slavery issue after the Mexican–American War and faded away. In the 1850s, under the stress of the Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas–Nebraska Act, anti-slavery Democrats left the party. Joining with former members of existing or dwindling parties, the Republican Party emerged.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29
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