AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
MINOR PARTIES IN THE UNITED
STATES
 Their number and variety make minor parties difficult
to describe and classify
 Some are limited to a particular locale, others to a
single state, and some to one region
 Others have tried to gain national support
 Most exist around a single theme but some have a
broader, more practical approach
 FOUR DISTINCT TYPES OF MINOR PARTIES
 1) Ideological parties
 Based on a particular set of beliefs—a comprehensive view of
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social, economic, and political matters
Most built on some shade of Marxist thought
Examples—Socialist, Socialist Labor, Socialist Worker, and
Communist Parties
A few have a different approach
Libertarian Party emphasizes individualism and calls for doing
away with most of government’s present functions and programs
Ideological parties seldom win many votes but there are usually
long-lived
 2) Single-Issue Parties
 Focus on one public-policy matter
 Names indicate their primary concern
 Example—Free Soil Party opposed the spread of
slavery in 1840s & 1850s
 The American Party (aka The Know-nothings)
opposed Irish-Catholic immigration in the 1850s
 Right to Life Party opposes abortion today
 Most single-issue parties fade into history
 3) Economic Protest Parties
 Show up during periods of economic discontent
 Proclaim their disgust with major parties and demand
better times
 Most often these are sectional parties, drawing their
strength from the South and West
 The Greenback Party (1876-1884)—tried to take
advantage of agrarian discontent
 They called for free coinage of silver, federal regulation
of railroads, an income tax, and labor legislation
 Populist Party 1890s (descendant of the Greenbacks)
 Demanded public ownership of railroads, telephone
and telegraph companies, lower tariffs
 Each of these parties disappeared as the nation
climbed out of difficult economic times
 4) Splinter Parties
 Parties that have split away from a larger party
 Most of the important minor parties have been
splinter parties
 Among the leading groups that have split from the
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Republicans:
“Bull Moose” Progressive Party of 1912—Theodore
Roosevelt
Progressive Party of 1924—Robert La Follette
Groups that have split from the Democrats:
Progressive Party 1948—Henry Wallace
States’ Rights (Dixiecrat) Party
American Independent Party 1968—George Wallace
 Most splinter parties form around a strong personality
 Most often someone who has failed to win a major party’s
presidential nomination
 These parties fade away or collapse when the leader steps
aside
 The Green Party 1996 points out the difficulties in
classifying minor parties.
 The began as a classic single-issue party
 As the party evolved, it doesn’t fit in any of the catagories
listed
 The Green Party came to prominence in 2000 with
Ralph Nader as its presidential nominee.
 He campaigned on several issues: environmental
protection, universal health care, gay and lesbian
rights, restraints on corporate power, campaign
finance reform, opposition to global free trade, etc.
 The Greens refused to re-nominate Nader in 2004.
They went with David Cobb instead
WHY MINOR PARTIES ARE
IMPORTANT
 Most Americans do not support minor parties but they
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have made important contributions
The Anti-Masons party first used a national
convention to nominate a presidential candidate in
1831.
The Whigs and Democrats followed suite in 1832
A strong third-party candidate can play a “spoiler role”
The Green Party 2000 pulled votes mainly from the
Democrats possibly causing Al Gore the Presidency
 The Presidential Election of 1912 (graphic p. 134)
 Had Roosevelt not quit the Republican Party, Taft would
have had a better showing and Wilson would not have
become President
 Historically, the role of minor parties has been one of critic
and innovator
 Minor parties present ideas that the major parties have
eventually taken on and called their own.
 (chart p. 135)
 The End