Let’s Get This Party Started:
A History of Political Parties in
the United States
Chapter 12
Why do political parties form?
What are the incentives to joining a political party for
the electorate? Candidates?
How have politics changed since 1791?
Why were the Founding Fathers against political
parties?
What is a political party?
• “organized effort by
office holders,
candidates, activists,
and voters to persue
their common
interests…”
Remember:
• Politics: how policy
decisions are made
• Party: group of people
• U.S. dominated by twoparty system, despite
reforms and other parties
• NOT an interest group,
which exists to influence
policy, not win office (this
line is sometimes blurry)
• #1 goal of political party:
gain and exercise power
through the electoral
process
• not just having a
candidate, but winning
office
Who’s in a party?
• Governmental party:
office holders who
organize and pursue
policy objectives
(agenda) under a party
label
– Those who are actually in
the government
• Organizational party:
workers and activists who
make up the formal
organization of the party
• Party in the electorate:
voters who consider
themselves associated
with the party (those who
usually vote along party
lines)
• Most parties tend to be
moderate in view, since
the aim of parties is to
attract voters (most
Americans have
moderate views)
The fight begins…
Why did parties form?
• Washington and others (Fed #10…) argued against the
formation of “factions” early in the republic
• The election of 1796 changed this view, when John
Adams narrowly won President and Jefferson as VP
– Constitution did not have a separate Prez/VP vote
– Congressional factions formed around the competing ideas of
these two men
• Federalists—Adams/Hamilton
• Dem-Republican (Anti-Feds)—Jefferson
• Election of 1800 finally prompts creation and ratification
of 12th Amendment
– No widespread popularity of early parties (regional alliances)
– Parties a means to settle dispute over strength of new federal
system
The “Era of Good Feelings”
1817-1825
• By 1816, the Federalists had lost most
power; their last elected candidate was
Adams (dissolved 1820)
• During Monroe’s presidency, party politics
nearly non-existent nationally
– Parties continue at state level
– States switch to popular election of Electoral
College members, not state legislative votes
Expansion
1820-1840
• Westward expansion increases electorate
– Property req. for male suffrage abolished
– Votes: 300,000 to 2 million!
• 1832: First national nomination convention held by Democratic
Party (replaces D-R)
– “Jacksonian Democracy” polarizes voters 1828, 1832; creates national
popularity for a party
– Opposition forms Whig Party (“those who oppose tyranny”—favored
congressional power over presidential)
• 1832-1860: First broadly-supported two-party system in the Western
World
– Issue of slavery in the U.S. divides Whigs, new Republican Party
formed 1854 by anti-slavery activists
– Abraham Lincoln elected 1860 (“solid South” begins Dem Party voting
tradition in place until 1920)
“The Golden Age”
1874-1912
• Since 1860, two party system
dominates
• Party stability, dominance of
org. l,s,n, impact on voters as
central traits of era
• Emigration fuels big-city
political machines at l, s
levels: party organization that
uses incentives (jobs,
favors…) to win voters
– Degree of control over voters
– NYC, Chicago…
• Machines served political
needs and supplemented
social services for exploding
population
• Intense loyalty, devotion with
very high voter turnout (75% or
better between 1876-1900)
• Eventually, corruption within
organization and government
taking on functions of parties
(printing ballots, conducting
elections…) leads to their end
The Political Machine: Boss Tweed
and Tammany Hall, NYC
Modern politics
• 1930s New Deal shifts social
services as “rights” rather than
privileges
Power taken from parties
• Progressives’ Direct primary
system—selection of party
candidates through ballots cast
by voters
– Removes power from party
leaders; loosens tie between
nominees and party
organization
• Civil services laws—acts that
removed members of political
parties and replace them with
professionals who must pass
c.s. exams
Weakening of party system
• Issue-oriented politics—
focus on specific issues, rather
than on party/candidate/other
loyalties
• IOP leads to ticket-splitting—
to vote for candidates of
different parties in the same
election, based on issues that
cut across party lines
• Candidate-centered
politics—focus on candidates,
their particular issues and
character, rather than on party
affiliation
Check it!
• What was the 12th Amendment? Why was it
passed? (Hint: use your Constitution)
• Describe the history of political parties in
America.
• Why did political machines form? Do you think
they could exist again? Why?
• Why do we currently have the “ticket-splitting”
phenomenon?
• Is candidate-centered politics good or bad?
Support your answer.