The Judiciary Act of 1801 was designed primarily to expand the Federal court system; specifically it was designed to increase the number of judges in the lower levels of the court. It also led to the famous “Midnight Appointments,” where President Adams, realizing he was about to be replaced by a President with a different ideology, sought to fill as many of the vacancies with Federalist minded Judges as quickly as possible. 

The Election of 1816 came immediately after the end of the War of 1812. Although the war had hardly resulted in an overwhelming victory for the United States, it had also not resulted in defeat. The Democratic-Republican Party took national credit for the outcome and the Federalist Party, with their opposition to the war and secessionist rhetoric, had become decidedly out of favor with the majority of the American voting population.

Perhaps understanding their own inevitable demise, the Federalist Party hardly bothered to have a nominating convention and allowed a weak candidate by the name of Rufus King to run for them. King won only a few New England states and Monroe and the Democratic-Republicans carried the election in a landslide victory. 

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 "Second Party System" developed in the wake of Andrew Jackson's victory in the 1828 Election. The Federalist Party had died out after the War of 1812, and saw a general one party system for slightly over a decade. Jackson generated a great deal of anger and opposition in his call for populist economics and politics. Those following Jackson retained the name "Democrats," as Thomas Jefferson used at the turn of the century. Jackson's opponents, led by Henry Clay, slowly coalesced into a cohesive opposition, and used the name "Whig" to describe themselves, after the more liberal British political party.

The Marshall Court was the name given to the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall. John Marshall is the longest serving Chief Justice in American history, serving for more than thirty years. During that time his court did a great deal to expand the powers of the Federal government at the expense of the states. His most important contribution was defining the role of the judiciary. His court established the principle of judicial review, which states that the judiciary has the ability to nullify the actions of the executive and legislative branches when those actions are unconstitutional. 

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 election of 1860 was one of the most wildly contested in America's history, featuring four major candidates, with the Democrats splitting into three separate camps. Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party was still new, only about five years old, and was trying to gather together a small coalition. Chief among the groups supporting Lincoln and the Republicans were abolitionists, nativist groups, former Whigs, and Free Soil Democrats.

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 Whig Party initially formed out of opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson. Although the Whigs had significant political success for three decades, the divisions over the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act made the Whig Party split into pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. The pro-slavery Whigs, mostly Southerners, joined the Democratic Party, while the anti-slavery Whigs were the chief movers behind the foundation of the Republican Party.

The "corrupt bargain" of the 1824 election happened after the Electoral College voted and split between four candidates, with none receiving a majority. This meant the election was decided by the House of Representatives, as laid out in the Constitution, which was controlled by the fourth place candidate, Speaker of the House Henry Clay. Clay arranged with John Quincy Adams, who got the second most electoral votes, to make Adams president instead of Andrew Jackson, who had received a plurality in the Electoral College.