Pharisees+and+Sadducees

For more info, check out: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12087-pharisees http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12989-sadducees There's a ton of really detailed information.
 * Pharisees and Sadducees**: The Sadducees and Pharisees were two opposing sects of Jews active in the Second Temple period. The Saducees were the sect that fulfilled more political and religious roles associated with the Second Temple and believed only in the sanctity of the Written Law, handed down from the high priests and the the priestly caste, while the Pharisees believed in the ultimate sanctity of the Written and Oral Torah and were likely the forefathers of the Rabbinic age. The Sadducees wanted to maintain a more centralized religion around the Temple and the Priestly cult, while the Pharisees (though highly exclusive), saw themselves as representatives of the people, and believed that Israel was a nation of priests, and the Torah accessible to all. Both groups were active in the Second Temple; the Sadducees maintained the role of the high priest, making sacrificial offerings, entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, but the Pharisees argued for small changes (and larger ones) that would increase their role within the Temple, for instance demanding that while the high priest makes the burnt offering, he should pay for that offering from the Temple treasury, so that it is an offering from all the people in the nation. During the Second Temple period, the Pharisees created new rites that originated in local custom, and took more prominent roles in Temple rites until the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE.