Democrats

The democratic party started out as the Democratic-Republicans before becoming just the Democrats.  They were first known as the Anti-federalists led by Thomas Jefferson who was more sympathetic to the "common man" than the Federalists were.  Later it became known as the Jefferson Republicans or the Democratic-Republicans until it became the Democrats in 1928.

The Democratic party favors farmers, laborers, labor unions, and ethnic minorites. They have had 15 members hold the office as president with Barack Obama being the most recent.  They are the minority in the House of Representatives but hold the majority in the Senate.  They are also the minority in the State governships and state legislatures.

Republicans

The Republican party is generally known as the Grand Old Party or GOP.  It was founded by anti slavery acitvists in 1854.  The main cause of the party was to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska act, which repealedthe Missouri compromise by which slavery was held out of Kansas. The first meeting where they came up with the name Republicans was held in a little schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Today the Republican party supports capital punishment and other severe punishments to prevent crime. They also supports gun rights and oppose laws that regulate gun ownerships.  Although some Republicans in urban areas have started to favor limited restrictions on guns. Most of the republicans are pro-life and oppose elective abortion.