Although every American citizen over 18 years of age is allowed to vote only about half of those turn out to vote on Election Day. For the last 50 years we have never had a higher percentage than 62.8 of eligible Americans voting. The percentage of voters tends to be between 60% and 50% during a presidential election year. Years when only Congressmen are being elected the percentages are even lower. It is very important for Americans to vote because those who are elected to office make the laws and decisions that affect the well being of our country. There are some historical, social, and economical issues throughout our past and today, however that explain why people don't vote.
             After the creation of the Constitution, two factions arose. They were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. The Federalists were for the ratification of the proposed Constitution, because they thought the Articles of Confederation were weak and the new Republic would overcome the difficulties of the Articles of Confederation. The Anti-Federalist were opposed to the ratification of the Constitution because it didn't mention the States and their powers. Plus, it did not contain a Bill of Rights to protect the people. From these two groups grew the parties we have today. The Federalists later became the current day Republicans. The Anti-Federalists lead, by Jefferson, formed the Democratic Republicans which later became known as the Democrats.
             Since the first election there have been three major time periods where one party controlled the government and one era where neither party could gain consistent control of the Executive branch for more than 2 or 3 elections. After the constitutions ratification the Democrats won almost all of the elections. The Democrats were largely supported by small farmers, debtors, frontier pioneers, and slaveholders. As the civil war approached, however the Democrats were split between the North and the South. Then wit...