Question 45 of 100 · 2008 civics test
What are the two major political parties in the United States?
From the 100-question list, the version for applications filed before October 20, 2025.
On the 65/20 list: one of the 20 questions for applicants 65 or older with 20 years as permanent residents.
Accepted answer
- Democratic and Republican
Why this is the answer
The two major parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and the answer has to name both. The Constitution created no parties at all, and Washington warned against them, but two political groups formed early anyway: the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. Jackson built the Democratic Party out of the Democratic-Republicans, and the Republican Party replaced the Whigs as a major party in the 1860s, with Lincoln as its first president. Other parties have come and gone, among them the Know-Nothing, Bull-Moose, Reform and Green parties. Joining a party is voluntary. Memory hook: two major parties today, neither of them mentioned in the Constitution.