The Idea of a Party System by Richard Hofstadter

John Adams, the second president of the United States and Founding Father of the Constitution once said, “a division of the republic into two great parties…[sic] is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution” (2). He and other Founding Fathers, both Republican and Federalist, believed that political parties would breakdown the system of this new country. However, this notion did not remain. In The Idea of a Party System, Richard Hofstadter …

…growing nation. If political parties never existed, then the history of the United States could have been changed drastically. In addition, I believe that President Washington may have been hypocritical in his beliefs on political parties since he had become significantly Hamiltonian. Personally, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to all American history majors as required reading. Works Cited Hofstadter, Richard. The Idea of a Party System. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.