The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party were the first two political parties to exist in the United States. They formed the first of America’s few two-party systems. The Federalist Party eventually declined in popularity after the War of 1812, soon after to the point of non-existence. The Democratic-Republican Party survived for several electoral campaigns before splitting during the ascendency of President Andrew Jackson.

A loose constructionist believes that the Judiciary must take into account changes over time when making decisions to amend the Constitution. A strict constructionist is someone who believes the opposite, that the Judiciary should always base its decision off of the original intentions of the founding fathers. The Warren Court is an important example of a loose constructionist Court.

The Pendleton Act was issued in 1883. It stated that it was illegal and immoral to grant civil service jobs on the basis of political favor. According to the act, government jobs should be granted solely on the basis of individual merit.

The North had many advantages over the South throughout the Civil War. Firstly, the North was a much more industrialized society, able to draw on a greater wealth of resources and factories to produce weaponry. Secondly, the North had a national history, unity, collective consciousness and all the institutions that go with these ideas already set up at the time of the outbreak of war—the South had to develop these on the fly. Thirdly, the South struggled to gain international recognition from any European nations because no European country wanted to be seen to support the institution of slavery. Finally, the North had a much more developed navy and this proved to be the difference in the Mississippi River campaign. One of the few advantages that the South had over the North was superior military commanders, like Robert E. Lee, and more than a few battles were won or lost based on this difference. Many historians believe that the South might have won the war on the strength of the Generals and military tactics alone were it not for the overwhelming economic advantages of the North and the dwindling supply of Southern soldiers.

The “Era of Good Feelings” is the name given to the eight-year term of President James Monroe, from 1816-1824. The period of time was marked by an extensive geographic expansion of national territory and mostly sustained economic prosperity. It was also a period with little political maneuvering as the Democratic-Republican Party assumed almost complete control of government. Monroe even ran unopposed for election in 1820.

The 14th Amendment guaranteed the rights of citizenship to freed slaves. In addition, it states that all citizens have equal rights and every citizen is protected by the Constitution.

The Wilmot Proviso, proposed by David Wilmot, argued that any territory acquired from Mexico should be forever closed to slavery. The Bill passed the House, but failed in the Senate – where the South had a much greater proportion of representation. For much of the recent history prior the introduction of this bill, both political parties had sought to keep the issue of slavery out of the national debate. The Wilmot Proviso is considered important by historians because it began a period of national fracturing, that would temporarily be solved by the Compromise of 1850, but would flare up again in the years building up to the Civil War.

The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri, settled mostly by Southerners, to enter the Union as a slave state, but made it the most northern state to allow slavery by creating a line at the 36°30′ north parallel. Every territory entering as a state north of that line would enter as a free state, while a territory entering as a new state south of the line could be a slave state.

William Henry Harrison was elected president in 1840, but only served for about a month after contracting pneumonia after his inaugural address. His Vice President, John Tyler, immediately took the oath of office and assumed the duties of the Presidency. Because the constitution was not very clear about the order of succession, many people viewed Tyler's presidency as illegitimate, a fact made worse by his unpopular policies. While Tyler set a precedent, the official process of which was not codified by the Constitution until the 20th Amendment in 1933.

The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant was marred by scandals almost too numerous to list. Nepotism—the practice of awarding jobs based on personal association and favor—was rampant. The Credit Mobilier scandal is perhaps unfairly attributed to Grant as it began during the Johnson administration and did not involve Grant specifically. To make a very lengthy story simple—the scandal involved the misallocation of government funds by a group of railroad construction companies and individuals in order that they should achieve individual profit. The so-called Salary Grab is perhaps a better indicator of the corruption during Grant’s administration. A bill was proposed to double the President’s salary and to increase the salaries of Congressmen by fifty-percent. The Federal Government’s power to raise its own salary is protected by the Constitution, but allegedly Grant encouraged the Senators to pass the bill in secrecy. He was later exposed by several different journalistic publications and public opinion was not kind.