The development of political parties between 1790-1810: Why did the first parties arise? Who were their leaders? What impact did the parties have on America.

George Washington himself thought it would be in America's best interest to avoid forming political parties. But even having said this Washington was already involved in the formation of one of the first political parties in America. In the beginning, before the Washington Administration, there were no parties; you were either for or against Congress and or independence. When the Constitutional Convention was called we see the first major political party split. The two parties …

…David H. Oshinsky, Jean R. Soderlund Published by Wadsworth Publishing, a division of Thomson International 2. http://history.wadsworth.com/passages2e : Book Companion Website 3. "Political Parties in the United States," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 4. "First Party System," Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. This page was last modified 15:34, 24 June 2006.