Political Parties and Eras in US History

Democratic-Republicans

  • States' rights.
  • Strict interpretation of the Constitution.
  • Agriculture and rural life.
  • Strongest in South and West.
  • Sympathy with France.
  • Civil liberties and trust in the people.

Democrats

  • Party of tradition.
  • Looked backward to the past.
  • Spoke to the fears of Americans.
  • Opposed banks and corporations.
  • Opposed state-legislated reforms.
  • Preferred individual freedom of choice.

Federalists

  • Strong central government.
  • Loose interpretation of the Constitution.
  • Commerce and manufacturing.
  • Strongest in Northeast.
  • Close ties with Britain.
  • Order and stability.

First Two-Party System (1780s-1801)

Second Two-Party System (1836-1850)

Whigs

  • Party of modernization.
  • Looked forward to the future.
  • Spoke to the hopes of Americans.
  • Promoted economic growth, especially transportation and banks.
  • Advocated state-legislated reforms such as temperance, public schools, and prison reform.
  • Favored industry, urban growth, and federal government.
  • Favored gradual territorial expansion.
  • Believed in progress through internal growth.
  • Were Jeffersonian agrarians who favored farms, rural independence, states' rights, and the right to own slaves.
  • Favored rapid territorial expansion.
  • Believed in progress through external growth.

Mid-19th Century Parties Opposing the Democrats

Liberty Party

  • Abolitionist party that ran candidate James Birney for President in 1844.
  • Won only 2% of the vote but drew votes away from the Whigs, especially in New York.

American Party

  • The "Know Nothing" Party.
  • Nativist party based on opposition to immigration and a focus on temperance.
  • Ran Millard Fillmore in 1856 and won 21% of the popular vote.
  • Republican Party absorbed them in 1856.

Free Soil Party

  • Not abolitionist, but opposed to the expansion of slavery in the territories.
  • Won 10% of the popular vote with Martin Van Buren as their candidate in 1848.

Whigs

  • Lost 50% of their support in 1852, when they repudiated the Compromise of 1850.
  • Southern "Cotton" Whigs eventually drifted into the Democratic Party.
  • Northern "Conscience" Whigs moved to new parties such as the Free Soil Party, and later, the Republican Party.

Republican Party

  • Formed in 1854 by a coalition of Independent Democrats, Free Soilers, and Conscience Whigs united in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
  • Stressed free labor and opposed the extension of slavery in the territories.
  • Moderates like Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery on "moral" grounds, while admitting that slavery had a "right" to exist where the Constitution originally allowed it to exist.
  • John C. Fremont was the first Republican candidate in the election of 1856.

Democrats

  • Split at the 1860 party convention, when a platform defending slavery was defeated and Deep South delegates walked out.
  • At a splinter convention, Stephen Douglas of Illinois was nominated as a candidate on a platform opposing any Congressional interference with slavery.
  • Deep South delegates met and nominated John Breckenridge of Kentucky as a candidate on a pro-slavery platform.

The Election of 1860

Republicans

  • The Republicans, by this time decidedly opposed to slavery, drew in northerners with a platform favoring the Homestead Act, protective tariffs, and transportation improvements.
  • Opposed the extension of slavery but defended the right of states to control their own "domestic institutions."
  • Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the candidate on the third ballot.

Politics in the Gilded Age

Republicans & Democrats

  • The main parties blur during this period, with loyalties determined primarily by regional, religious, and ethnic differences as opposed to political platforms.
  • Voter turnout for elections averaged over 78 percent (60 to 80 percent in off years).
  • Both parties were pro-business, opposed to any type of economic radicalism or reform, and supportive of "sound currency" and the economic status quo.
  • Federal government and, to some extent, state governments tended to do very little.
  • Republicans dominated the Senate; Democrats dominated the House of Representatives.
  • Republican splinter groups include the Stalwarts, Halfbreeds, and Mugwumps.

Populist Party

  • Formed in 1891 by remnants of the Farmers' Alliances.
  • Sported a long list of demands that included the free coinage of silver, government ownership of the railroads, telegraphs, and telephone lines, a graduated income tax, the direct election of U.S. senators, and the use of initiative, referendum, and recall.
  • The party eventually faded because the farmers' situation improved in the late 1890s, and also because its political agenda was absorbed by the Republicans and Democrats.

Progressive Era Politics (1900-1920)

  • There were three "Progressive" Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt (Republican), William Howard Taft (Republican), and Woodrow Wilson (Democrat).
  • Believed that the laissez-faire system was obsolete, yet supported capitalism.
  • Applied the principles of science and efficiency to economics, social institutions, and politics.
  • Viewed government as a key player in creating an orderly, stable, and improved society.
  • Generally positive in outlook. Believed that the government had the power to combat special interests and work for the good of the community, state, and nation.
  • The political party system was singled out as corrupt, outmoded, inefficient, and undemocratic.
  • Believed corruption could be diminished by putting more power in the hands the people, as well as non-elected professional officials.
  • Adopted many Populist causes, including the referendum, the initiative, and the direct election of Senators.
  • Progressive Amendments to the U.S. Constitution = 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments.

The Republican Era (1921-1933)

  • Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover.
  • Position of the government was decidedly pro-business. Though conservative, the government did experiment with new approaches to public policy.
  • Supported an American culture that was increasingly urban, industrial, and consumer-oriented.
  • Conflicts surfaced regarding immigration restriction, Prohibition, and race relations.

The Democratic Political Legacy of the New Deal (1933-1952)

  • Democrats established a power base with the support of ethnic groups, city dwellers, organized labor, blacks, and a broad section of the middle class.
  • Increased expectations and acceptance of government involvement in American life.
  • Made the federal government a protector of interest groups and a mediator of competition.
  • Regulated American business to protect it from the excesses and problems of the past.
  • Fair Deal of the post-war Truman administration continued the trend in governmental involvement with expanded Social Security benefits, an increase of the minimum wage, a full employment program, slum clearance, public housing, and government sponsorship of scientific research.
  • In 1948, the liberal Democratic coalition split into the two branches detailed below.

States' Rights

  • Were Southern conservative Democrats, known as Dixiecrats.
  • Opposed the civil rights plank in the Democratic platform.
  • Nominated South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond for President.

Progressive Party

  • Were liberal Democrats who favored socialist policies, the abolition of racial segregation, and a conciliatory attitude toward Russia.
  • Nominated Henry A. Wallace for President.

Post-World War II Politics

Democrats

  • Maintained their power base of organized labor, urban voters, and immigrants.
  • As the post-war period progressed, advocated larger roles for the federal government in regulating business.
  • By the 1960s, advocated extensive governmental involvement in social issues like education and urban renewal.
  • Became associated with the civil rights movement and championed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

Republicans

  • The Republicans accused the Democrats of being "soft" on Communism.
  • Promised to end the Korean War.
  • Conservative Southern Democrats, the "Dixiecrats," increasingly associated themselves with Republican candidates opposing civil rights legislation.

Nixon's New Federalism

Democrats

  • By the 1960s, was fragmented and seemingly incapable of dealing with the social and political turmoil caused by the Vietnam War.
  • In the post-Vietnam period, Democrats advocated the extension of civil rights, "reproductive rights" (birth control and abortion rights), fair housing legislation, etc.

Republicans

  • Opposition to the Vietnam War and growing federal social programs "converted" Democrats in increasing numbers.
  • Defended the supposed "silent majority."
  • Advocated a policy of cutting back federal power and returning that power to the states. This was known as the "New Federalism."

Reagan and the New Right

Democrats

  • Supported environmental legislation, limits on economic development, and an end to the production of nuclear weapons and power plants.
  • The pro-choice movement emerged during the 1980s to defend a woman's right to choose.
  • Affirmative action - the use of racial quotas to "balance" the workforce was supported by the Democrats.

Republicans

  • Spurred on by the rise of Evangelical Christianity, the South began voting Republican.
  • Ethnic suburbanites and young conservatives formed a "New Right" supporting Reagan on a "law and order" platform.
  • Advocated stricter crime, drugs, and porn laws, opposed abortion, supported an increase in defense spending, and supported tax cuts.
  • Reagan curbed the government expansion but did not reduce its size or the scope of its powers.