Political Parties

First Party System

1790s-1820s, Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans

Federalist Party

Led by Alexander Hamilton

• Strong central government

• Industry

• Pro-Britain

Democratic-Republican Party

Led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

• States' rights

• Agrarian economy

• Pro-France

Second Party System

Political party framework in the United States from the 1820s to the 1850s, characterized primarily by the rivalry between the Democratic Party and the Whig Party.

• Democratic-Republicans split into these two parties

• Federalists dissolved after the Hartford Convention during the war of 1812

Democratic Party

Led by Andrew Jackson, 1828–1854

• Common man democracy

• Agrarian interests

• States' rights

• Limited federal government

• No national bank/against it

National Republicans

Led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Approx. 1824–1834, short-lived US political party formed from the anti-Jackson faction of the Democratic-Republican Party.

• Strong federal government

• The American System (tariffs, national bank, internal improvements)

• Closer ties with old Federalist ideals. 

• Became the Whig Party

Anti-Masonic Party

America's first significant third party (late 1820s-1830s)

• opposed the secret fraternal order of Freemasons viewing them as an anti-democratic, elitist group controlling politics

• Merged into the Whig party later on

⇢Who were freemasons? (Not a political party)

Members of the world's oldest and largest fraternal organization, evolving from medieval stonemasons' guilds into a society focused on self-improvement, morality, and fellowship, using symbols and rituals to teach lessons, attracting men from all walks of life, including famous figures like George Washington, Mozart, and Winston Churchill, and emphasizing belief in a Supreme Being while remaining non-religious and inclusive of diverse faiths. 

Whig Party

Led popularly by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, 1834-1853

• Based off-of Englands Whig Party

• Strong National Bank

• American System (Henry Clay)

• Strong Congress

• Industrial Developement

Liberty Party

Formed by anti-slavery advocates like James G. Birney who rejected moral suasion for political action. The first national political party dedicated to abolitionism, Later influenced:

• Free Soil

• Republican parties

Free-Soil Party

Founded by anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and Liberty Party members, a short-lived US political party (1848–1854). Branched off of the Whig Party.

• Opposing the expansion of slavery into Western territories (Mexican-American war era)

• "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men"

• 1848 election, influencing the rise of the Republican Party.

Know-Nothing Party

(officially the “American Party”) was a prominent 1850s American nativist political movement, 1852–1856. Came from the "Order of the Star-Spangled Banner," members answered questions with "I know nothing,".

• Sought to restrict immigration (Nativists)

• Decease Roman Catholic influence, were Protestants

• Extend naturalization (in citizenship terms) waiting periods

• Fractured over slavery

Third-Party System

Defined by the intense rise of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, replacing the Whigs (roughly 1860–1896).It was marked by sectionalism (North vs. South), intense voter loyalty, and industrialization.

Republican Party

Formed from American, Whig & Freesoil. A coalition opposing the expansion of slavery into Western territories, following the collapse of the Whig Party.

• Came from anti-Nebraska coalition

• Primary opposition to the Democrats

• Free labor

• Northern industrial growth

• Federal power

• Electing Abraham Lincoln in 1860

Constitutional Union Party

Ran John Bell as 1860 candidate. A short-lived, conservative third party in the 1860 election.

• Formed by former Whigs and Know-Nothings

• Preserving the Union, the Constitution, and the Laws

• Deliberately avoiding the slavery question to appeal to both North and South

• Preventing secession

Democratic Party Split

Split over Slavery during the 1860 election into the:

• Northern Democrats - Stephen A. Douglas, Popular Sovereignty

• Southern Democrats - John C. Breckenridge, Slave Codes

Northern Democrats

Chose Stephen A. Douglas

• Focusing on popular sovereignty to decide slavery in territories

• Adhering to Supreme Court decisions (Dred Scott)

• Supporting a Pacific railroad

• Favoring westward expansion, including Cuba

Southern Democrats

Chose John C. Breckenridge

• Dominant from the post-Reconstruction era (1877) to 1964

• Upheld white supremacy, segregation, and conservative policies in the South

• Created a "Solid South" voting bloc

• Opposed federal intervention in civil rights

• Split from the national party over racial issues. 

Liberal Republican Party

After the rejoining of the North & South Democrats, both Democrats and Republicans ran Horace Greeley for the 1872. A short-lived US political movement formed in 1870–1872 by Republicans opposing President Ulysses S. Grant's re-election, corruption, and Reconstruction policies.

• Advocating for civil service reform, lower tariffs, and local self-government

• Reduce federal power

• Greeley lost, end of party

• Still a Democratic & Republican party at the same time

Greenback Party

Emerging from agrarian unrest after the Panic of 1873, a late 19th-century U.S. political movement (active 1874-1889).

• Increasing the supply of paper money ("greenbacks") not backed by gold (against mercantilism, in a way. Soft Money vs. Hard Money)

• Help farmers and laborers by causing inflation

• Debts easier to pay

• Decreasing the power of banks and railroads

• Supported progressive causes like labor reform and women's suffrage

• Influencing the later Populist movement

• Declined & eventually disappeared after 1884 election

⇢Soft money vs hard money

Hard money:

• physical coins (specie) or currency backed by gold/silver, favored by creditors, while

Soft money

• Refers to paper currency (like Greenbacks)

• Debtors, especially farmers, wanted for inflation to ease debt repayment

Clashing during the Bank Wars and currency debates, with hard money also meaning regulated campaign donations and soft money meaning unregulated party funds in later political contexts. 

⇢Populist Movement/Party

Called the People's Party, formed with the help/decline of Greenbacks.

• Left-wing agrarian reform coalition

• Targeted corporate power, falling prices, and financial elite

• Reached peak influence around 1892–1896.

• Key platforms included free silver, graduated income tax, government ownership of railroads/utilities, and direct election of senators.

⇢Prohibition Party/Movement

Founded in 1869 in Chicago, driven by evangelical Protestants and social reformers.

• Political side of 1870s temperance movement

• Aiming to ban alcohol through legislation rather than just moral persuasion

• Advocated for the legal prohibition of manufacturing, transporting, and selling alcohol

• Supported Women’s Suffrage

National Democratic

In the 1870s, the National Democratic Party, recovering from Civil War divisions, acted as the primary opposition to the Republican-dominated Gilded Age, fighting for limited federal power, states' rights, and the end of Reconstruction. They gained strength by opposing high tariffs, championing "soft money" (greenbacks), and forming a coalition of Southern whites, northern city immigrants, and laborers. 

Peoples Party