Existing comment:
The Democrats:
The Democratic Party formed in the late 1820's around Andrew Jackson. He believed in an America based on agriculture and the independent craftsman, and opposed the rise of cities, industrialization, and the centralization of government.
Although originally a national party, by the 1850's the Democratic Party's arguments for strict adherence to the Constitution, states' rights, and limited federal government merged into a single issue: the protection of slavery. With this shift, the party became more regional, and its region was the slaveholding South. |