In the South, lingering resentment over the Civil War meant that most states would vote Democrat. After the end of Reconstruction in , competition in the South took place mainly inside the Democratic Party.
Nationwide, voter turnout fell sharply after The Third Party System lasted from about to the mids, and featured profound developments in issues of nationalism, modernization, and race.
It was dominated by the new Republican Party also known as the Grand Old Party or GOP , which claimed success in saving the Union, abolishing slavery and enfranchising the freedmen, while adopting many Whiggish modernization programs such as national banks, railroads, high tariffs, homesteads, social spending such as on greater Civil War veteran pension funding , and aid to land grant colleges.
While most elections from through were extremely close, the opposition Democrats won only the and presidential elections. The Fourth Party System lasted from about to , and was dominated by the Republican Party, excepting the split in which Democrats held the White House for eight years. Modern politics in the United States is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Demonstrate knowledge of the key issues that divide the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States.
One of these two parties has won every United States presidential election since and has controlled the United States Congress since at least The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, and is the oldest political party in the world. Since the division of the Republican Party in the election of , it has positioned itself as progressive and supporting labor in economic as well as social matters. The economic philosophy of Franklin D.
In , it was the larger major political party, with 72 million voters The current President of the United States, Barack Obama, is the 15 th Democrat to hold the office, and since the midterm elections, the Democratic Party has held a majority in the United States Senate.
A USA Today review of state voter rolls indicates that registered Democrats declined in 25 of the 28 states that register voters by party. Democrats were still the largest political party with more than 42 million voters compared with 30 million Republicans and 24 million independents. However, in , the number of Democrats shrank ,, and from they were down by 1. The other major contemporary political party in the United States is the Republican Party. Founded in by Northern anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican to campaign on the Northern principles of anti-slavery.
The party presided over the American Civil War and Reconstruction but was harried by internal factions and scandals toward the end of the 19 th century.
Today, the Republican Party supports an American conservative platform, with foundations in economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism. Former President George W. Bush was the 19 th Republican to hold that office. Since the midterm elections, the Republicans have held a majority in the United States House of Representatives. The number of independents rose in 18 states, increasing by , in , and was up more than , from , or 1.
Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Interest Groups. Search for:. The History of Political Parties. Key Takeaways Key Points The immediate problem faced by the Federalists was not simply one of acceptance of the Constitution, but the more fundamental concern of legitimacy for the government of the new republic. The Anti-Federalists objected to the new powerful central government, the loss of prestige for the states, and saw the Constitution as a potential threat to personal liberties.
The major stumbling block for the Anti-Federalists was that the supporters of the Constitution had been more deeply committed, had cared more, and had outmaneuvered the less energetic opposition.
Constitution and a strong central government. Political Parties from — The First Party System refers to political party system existing in the United States between roughly and Learning Objectives Distinguish the issues and policies supported by the first political parties and identify the central elements of the First Party System.
Anti-Federalist debates, it featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party and the rival Democratic- Republican Party.
Key Terms republican : Advocating or supporting a republic as a form of government. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early s to the mids, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party.
In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the presidency and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism. Jacksonian Democrats: — Jacksonian democracy is the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man typified by American politician Andrew Jackson.
Learning Objectives Compare and contrast Jacksonian democracy with Jeffersonian democracy. Key Terms laissez-faire : an economic environment in which transactions between private parties are free from tariffs, government subsidies, and enforced monopolies, with only enough government regulations sufficient to protect property rights against theft and aggression strict constructionism : a particular legal philosophy of judicial interpretation that limits or restricts judicial interpretation the phrase is also commonly used more loosely as a generic term for conservatism among the judiciary Andrew Jackson : Andrew Jackson March 15, — June 8, was the seventh President of the United States — The Golden Age: — Despite outward indicators of prosperity, the Gilded Age late s to was an era characterized by turmoil and political contention.
The Gilded Age was a time of enormous growth that attracted millions from Europe. Gilded Age politics, called the Third Party System, was characterized by intense competition between the two parties, with minor parties coming and going, especially on issues of concern to prohibitionists, labor unions and farmers. The Fourth Party System lasted from about to , and was dominated by the Republican Party; it is generally referred to as the Progressive Era.
Key Terms Third Party System : A period in American political history from about to the mids that featured profound developments in issues of nationalism, modernization, and race. Southern Democrats wished for slavery to be expanded and reach into Western parts of the country.
Northern Democrats, on the other hand, argued that this issue should be settled on a local level and through popular referendum. Such Democratic infighting eventually led to Abraham Lincoln, who belonged to the Republican Party, winning the presidential election of This new Republican Party had recently been formed by a group of Whigs, Democrats and other politicians who had broken free from their respective parties in order to form a party based on an anti-slavery platform.
At that time in the U. However, the Union won the war, and the Confederacy was formally dissolved. The issue of slavery was at the center of political disagreement during the Civil War.
This caused Republicans to fight for the abolition of slavery and Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation in At this point in history, the U.
South was predominantly Democratic and held conservative, agrarian-oriented, anti-big-business values. These values were characteristic of the Democratic Party at the time. The majority of Northern voters, on the other hand, were Republican.
Many of these fought for civil and voting rights for African American people. After the war, the Republican Party became more and more oriented towards economic growth, industry, and big business in Northern states, and in the beginning of the 20th century it had reached a general status as a party for the more wealthy classes in society. Many Republicans therefore gained financial success in the prosperous s until the stock market crashed in initiating the era of the Great Depression.
Now, many Americans blamed Republican President Herbert Hoover for the financial damages brought by the crisis. While the two major political parties we know today have been around awhile, the names of the major two political parties have changed over the centuries.
George Washington won the elections of —89 and and served two terms as US president. Interestingly, the political party of Thomas Jefferson is actually the original source of the names of both modern political parties. These Democrats would officially take the name the Democratic Party in , although the modern Democratic Party officially uses the Democratic National Convention of as its creation date. The initialism GOP that is still used today is credited to newspaperman T. Dowden, who used it in when he was running out of room in an article.
One last thing to keep in mind is that while the two American political parties use the words democratic and republican in their names, capitalized forms of these words have been used in political parties in other countries that have completely different beliefs and platforms. For example, the Republican Party of France and the various Christian Democratic Parties around the world are completely unrelated to the American political parties.
Feedback We've Added New Words! Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings. Previous "Malignant" vs. What does democratic mean? What does republican mean?
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