The Democratic Party emerged in the 1830s, consisting of those who supported Pres Andrew Jackson against his opponents, who then called themselves "National Republicans" and later "Whigs." Democrats often claimed a longer ancestry as supposed heirs of the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson, but this claim is tenuous as many former Jeffersonians became Whigs. The Republican Party emerged in the 1850s when the Whigs broke up over the Slavery issue, and Northern Whigs merged with some antislavery Democrats.
Source: wiki.answers.com...
In my opinion political parties are just like religions... A set of beliefs that a lot of people believe in that is only in place for one reason and that's to keep the people fighting each other over pointless topics instead of working together to make the world a better place.

