The First Party System, a term of periodization used by some political scientists and historians to describe the political system existing in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824, features two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party (created by Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republican Party (created by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison).The First Party System ends during the Era of Good Feelings (1816-1824), as the Federalists shrink to a few isolated strongholds.

In 1824-28, as the Second Party System emerges, the Democratic-Republican Party splits into the Jacksonian faction, which becomes the modern Democratic Party in the 1830s, and the Henry Clay faction, which is largely absorbed by Clay's Whig Party.