ABSTRACT
From the very beginning of the Republic two large, almost equally strong parties have dominated public life in the United States. Until the beginning of the 1820s they were called Federalists and Republicans (or Democratic Republicans); then came the National Republicans (later the Whigs) and Democrats. Since 1856 they have been Republicans and Democrats. This chapter investigates the reasons for the monopolistic position of the two dominant parties and thus accounts for the strong hold that they have. It also discusses what they entail, and why there have always been only two significant parties in the United States. The purely democratic form of government induces the American masses to direct their attention to the success that is within their grasp. In 1904 the votes cast for the social-democratic candidates amounted to half as many as had been given two years earlier.
