American Government Unit 4:
Political Behavior: Government by
the People
CHAPTER 5: POLITICAL PARTIES
Bellringer: list words or ideas associate with each
of these labels
 Democrat
 Republican
I. Parties and What They Do
Objectives
 Define a political party?
 Describe the major functions of polticial parties.
 Identify the reasons why the US has a two-party
system.
 Understand multiparty and one-party systems and
how they affect the functioning of a polticial system.
A) What is a Party?
 Political party – group of persons who seek to
control government through the winning of elections
and the holding of public office
 Divided into three elements
1) Party Organization
2) Party in the Government
3) Party in the Electorate
B) What Parties Do
 Link between governed and govern
 Soften the impact of extremists
 Political spectrum – range of political views (126)
 Partisanship – the strong support of their party and its
policy stands
1) Nominate Candidates
2) Informing and Activating Supporters
3) The Bonding Agent Function – pick good candidates
4) Governing
5) Watchdog Function
C) The Two-Party System
 Started with the ratification of the Constitution – Federalists
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and Anti-Federlists
Traditionally we have thus always have had one so it is hard
for 3rd parties to come forward
Single member districts – winner takes all – promotes 2 party
Plurality – the most, not the majority
Wasted vote – 3rd party member
Law discourages 3rd party
Bipartisan – two parties work together and find common
ground (127)
Consensus – general agreement among groups
US has mostly been an ideologically consensus – we have had
some divisions (Civil War) but for the most part - similar
D) Multiparty Systems and One Party Systems
 Multiparty systems lead to more diverseness but also
lead to more instability
 Coalition – temporary alliance of several groups who
come together to form a working majority to control
the government
 One Party is also a no party – not a dictatorship
 In ¼ of states today, a single party wins most
elections - Chicago, “Solid South”
Review
Bellringer
Objectives
 Understand the origins of political parties in the US.
 Identify and describe the three major periods of
single-party domination and describe the current era
of divided government.
II. Two Party System in American History
 Federalists v. Anti-Federalists
 Jefferson created the Democratic Republicans –
1800
 Incumbent – current officeholder
 Page 134-135
A) The Era of Democrats
 Era of Good Feelings – only one real party –
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Jefferson’s 1800 – 1824
Factions – competing groups
Jacksonian democrats v. Whigs
Spoils system – practice of awarding public offices,
contracts, and other favorers to those who supported
the party in power.
1854 – Republicans created Ripon, WI.
Elected Lincoln in 1860
B) The Era of the Republican
 From 1860 – 1932 – almost complete Republican
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control of the Presidency
Cleveland in 1884 and 1892, Wilson in 1912-1920
Republicans had tremendous prosperity
Democrats also to sectional – supported only in the
South – Anti-Black (Solid South)
Electorate – the people eligible to vote
Sectionalism – emphasizes a devotion to the
interests of a particular region
D) The Return of the Democrats
 Great Depression allowed Democrats to take over
 New base of southerners, small farmers, labor, and
big city politics supported economic and social
welfare programs
 African Americans left Republicans and became
Democrats.
 1932 – 1968 – only break was Eisenhower from
1952-1960 (moderate)
E) Era of Divided Government
 Nixon 1968-1974 ®
(D)
 Ford 1974-1975 ®
Watergate (D)
 Carter 1976-1980 (D) Hostages
(D)
 Reagan 1980 – 1988 ®
(D)
 Bush 1988-1992 ®
Economy (D)
 Clinton 1992-2000 (D)
®
 Bush 2000 – 2008 ®
®
 Obama 2008 -2012? (D)
(D)/®
Review
 Do we appear to be on the verge of such an era of
dominance of a party today? Why or why not?
Objectives
 Identify the types of minor parties that have been
active in American politics.
 Understand why minor parties are important despite
the fact that none has ever won the presidency.
III. The Minor Parties
 Libertarian
 Short lived
 Reform
 Particular local
 Socialist
 Single state
 Prohibition
 4 types
 Natural law
 Communist
 American Independent
 Green
 Constitution
A) Minor Parties in the United States
 Ideological parties – based on a particular set of
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comprehensive believes of social, economic, and political
matters – most a share of Marxism
Single – Issue parties: focus on single public
concern(free soil, Know Nothings, Right to Life Party)
Econo0mic Protest Parties – exist in times of economic
distrust – they blame someone and demand better times
(Wall Street, bankers, railroads, or imports)
Splinter Parties – parties that split away from major
parties usually around a strong personality – most often
who failed to win their parties nomination. (Roosevelt,
George Wallace)
Green Party started as single issue – now it has spread.
B) Why Minor Parties Are Important
 Anti-Masons first used a convention to nominate a
Presidential Candidate
 Can play “spoiler” in an election – Nader in 2000
and Roosevelt in 1912
 Act as critics and innovators
 Most innovations are “stolen” by the bigger party
Review
 Why do you think a leader or group might seek to
create a minor party even though their chances for
winning are less than those of a major party?
 A minor party is likely to be a victim of its own
success. Explain the meaning of this statement.
 In what ways can minor parties impact elections in
this country?
IV. Party Organization
 Objectives:
 Understand why the major parties have a
decentralized structure.
 Describe the national party machinery and party
organization at the State and local levels.
A) The Decentralized Nature of the Parties
 Dems and Repubs are both decentralized with little
control from National to State to Local parties
 The President is always the head of the political party
– makes sense – power, favors, access to media
 Federalism makes the parties decentralized – over
500,000 elected posts in the US. – Federalism is
decentralized, helps make US also
 Nominating a President can cause factions within the
party – helping decentralize it
B) National Party Machinery
 National Convention – meets every 4 years and picks
Pres and VP and adopts party platform and rules.
 The National Committee – made up of all state chair
people and other supporters – main goal is to stage
the National Convention.
 National Chairperson – chosen right after the
President is nominated from the National
Convention or elected.
 Congressional Campaign Committee – Each party in
each house have own campaign committees
C) State and Local Party machinery
 Have a state committee with a chairperson usually a
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front for the governor
Locally, it could be anything
Ward – unit in which cities are divided into districts
Precinct – smallest unit of election administration
Usually only active in the few months before an
election
Review
 Project time
 Design a Minor Political Party