IN THE UNITED STATES

Political Parties

What is a political party?

A political party is a group that seeks to win elections, operate the government, and determine public policy.

Republicans v. Democrats40% of all voters identify themselves as

independents, meaning they don’t necessarily identify with a political party.

However, ¾ of all independents usually lean towards one party or the other.

What do political parties do?

Recruit candidates for public officeOrganize and run elections (voter registration

drives, recruitment of volunteers, work to stimulate public interest, and increase voter turnout.)

Presenting alternative policies to the electorate (usually a party platform, or a set of political positions)

Accept responsibility for operating the government (develops relationships between party members in various branches for partisan support of policies.)Act as organized opposition to the party in power

History of Political Parties in the United States

Our two-party system has been around since around 1800. Only two parties have a reasonable chance of winning major elections.

Party lines originally formed between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists when the Constitution was still under construction.

Washington worried that the “baneful effects of the spirit of party” might destroy the new country.

He viewed parties as a threat to national unity, and the concept of popular government.

The Formation of Parties

Federalists (Adams) v. Republicans (Jefferson)Not today’s Republican Party. Historians usually

refer to Jefferson’s party as Democratic Republicans.Federalists represented commercial interests,

planters, merchants & supported a strong national government

Democratic Republicans represented artisans and farmers and strongly supported state’s rights.

Despite their vicious battle in 1800, Adam’s defeat by Jefferson represents a significant peaceful transfer of power between the parties. Some expected Civil War.

The Era of Good Feelings

1800-1820 voters regularly elected Democratic Republicans to the presidency and to Congress

By 1816, the Federalist Party had nearly collapsedOne party rule, but the one “small government” party

developed “big government” policies1817-1825 President James Monroe had nearly no political

opposition during his term.By 1824, however, conflict within the party caused a split.

Supporters of John Quincy Adams (National Republicans) and Andrew Jackson (Democratic Party)

Jackson defeated Adams in 1828 and power transferred to the new Democratic Party

National Republicans became the Whigs in 1836.

The Civil War

By the 1850’s the Whigs, a party that supported a strong national government became unpopular in the South. The southern Whigs ceased to exist.

In 1854, northern Whigs joined with antislavery Democrats to become the Republican Party.

This is the basis for the Republican Party we know today.

The Post-Civil War Era

Democrats returned as the party of the “common man” after the war.

Because the Republican Party supported the freed slaves of the south, after Reconstruction ended in 1877, the Democratic Party dominated southern politics. The Democratic White Primary & Jim Crow laws ensured their power in the South for almost a century.

Nationally, however, the parties were pretty evenly matched.

Party Platforms at the Close of the 19th Century

Republicans favored a governmental support of business and economic growth, but many members also wanted the government to impose evangelical Protestant morals on society. Many favored prohibition, and the establishment of public schools with Protestant curriculums.

As a result, Catholics were strongly Democratic. Democrats favored the common man, farmers, and

embraced populism, and inflation (which benefited debtors by reducing the value of the money owed)

Working class urban voters left the Democratic party fearing inflation would reduce the value of their pay.

Republicans (1896-1932)

Fears of populism and inflation caused a large scale voter shift, or realignment, in 1896.

Republicans dominated politics for nearly 40 years because the presented themselves as the better stewards of a well-managed economy.

The Progressive Era

Both major parties experienced a spirit of political reform in the early 1900’s, known as Progressivism.

Progressives believes that corporations were becoming too powerful, and that an impartial government could better regulate the economy.

They also believed that government intervention could cure many social issues of the time.

The Republican Party temporarily split in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt left the party to campaign for President in the third party Progressive ticket.

The Progressive Era

This split allowed Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency in 1912.

During this time, the US entered World War I, and when Wilson left office, Republicans easily took the lead once again.

The Great Depression

The New Deal Era

Republican Herbert Hoover was president in 1932, when the US was in the depths of the Great Depression.

Hoover opposed federal relief for the unemployed and destitute, and did not favor large scale government intervention.

Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 by a huge margin, largely because he promised to promote measures to alleviate some of the nations suffering.

FDR

The New Deal Era

The election of 1932 represented another realignment, or political shift.

The Great Depression shattered working-class faith in Republican economic principles.

Democrats offered relief programs that were open to blacks, as well as whites, and this caused another major shift, as African Americans began to vote Democratic for the first time in US history.

Political Parties After FDR

Roosevelt coalition broadly established Democrats as the majority party until 1968

With the exception of Republican Dwight D Eisenhower, a former WWII General who won the White House for two terms in the 1950s.

Democrats coalition between southern whites & African Americans was a delicate balance that ended with the Civil Rights Movement.

White Southern Democrats switched to the Republican party

Many liberals, who favored Civil Rights, left the Democratic party in response to the Vietnam war.

2000

The Presidential Election of 2000

Democrat Al Gore v. Republican George W. BushBush won the electoral vote by only 5 votes, and lost the

popular vote by nearly half a million votesThis election demonstrated the nations close political

divisions. Election commentators often refer to “red states” and

“blue states” to describe the party majority in those states.

By 2000, the Democratic Party had completely transformed from a anti-civil rights to a pro-civil rights party, and from one that supported limited government, to one that supported larger government intervention.

Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast was the political cartoonist responsible for the national party symbols of the elephant & the donkey.

The donkey was first used to describe Andrew Jackson (as a jackass), but Jackson decided that he liked being compared to a strong willed animal and used the image on his campaign posters.

In 1874, Nast’s cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted the Democratic party as a donkey dressed in a lion’s skin scaring animals in the zoo. One of the animals, an elephant, was labeled “the Republican vote” and it stuck!