Second Party System

The second party system was a short period of time in the United States when two political parties had almost all the power. Before this time, there were many different political parties. But after the election of 1824, two political parties were the most successful: the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay. They were called the second party system because they were the second group of political parties to become powerful in the United States. The first party system, which lasted from 1792 to 1824, was led by the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party. These two political parties had lots of power during the second party system and their ideas led to much of the political change of this time.