POLI-D-537
Parties and Government in the U.S.
5 ects
Emilie van Haute
Week 3
Part I
Parties and Politics in the U.S.
Outline
I.1. Party Eras
I.2. Party System
I.3. Party Organization
I.4. Party Ideology, Issues and Polarization
3. Party Eras
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The First Party System (1800-1824): Federalists vs. Jeffersonian
Republicans
The Second Party System (1828-1856): Whigs vs. Jacksonian Democrats
The Third Party System (1856-1896): Ascendant Republicans vs.
Democrats
The Fourth Party System (1896-1928): Republican Dominance Renewed
The Fifth Party System (1932-1968): The Democratic New Deal Era
The Sixth Party System (1968-2008): The Era of Dealignment and Divided
government
3.1. First Party System (1800-1824)
Federalists vs. Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans (1)
• Disappearance of the Federalists as a national political party
(uncompetitive)
• One-party dominance (Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans)
= “Era of Good Feelings”
- At the end of Jefferson’s terms: no competition (Monroe unopposed for
reelection in 1820)
- Roots of parties did not run deep (no party identification, filiations,
loyalty)
- Growth of dominance // Weakening of the party discipline
- Factionalism among leaders of the Republicans
- Decline of the authority & legitimacy of the national government
- Washington DC = desolate place (8.000 inhabitants in 1800 - burned
down by the British/Canadian troops in 1814 as a vengeance for the
destruction of Toronto)
- Growth of regional rivalries: West vs. East (financial dominance); South
vs. North (opposition to slavery)
3.1. First Party System (1800-1824)
Federalists vs. Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans (2)
3.1. First Party System (1800-1824)
Federalists vs. Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans (3)
• 1824: presidential election (congressional caucus system of nomination)
- Andrew Jackson: 99 electoral votes; John Quincy Adams: 88; William
Crawford: 41; Henry Clay: 34 (262 votes)
- No candidate with a majority of the electoral votes
- House of Representatives has to choose between the top 3 and chose
Adams (Clay got appointed secretary of State)
 Constitutional crisis: most popular candidate did not win / suspicion of
bribery / caucus seen as undemocratic as suffrage expanded
• Jackson (military hero) gathers popular discontent (South, West)
• Van Buren (NY): wants to reduce the risk & control Jackson by
reinvigorating the Jeffersonian party (NY-Virginia alliance), give Jackson
leadership against promise to accept party discipline
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (1)
• Transitional era (1828-1832)
- 1828: Jackson defeated Adams
- 1832: Jackson defeated Clay
- Transitional era of bifactional politics within the Democratic-Republican
Party: Jackson & Adams used the Republican name in their label
• Democratization of American political life
- Qualifications for voting dropped (expansion of suffrage)
- Slates of presidential electors were popularly elected
- Increase of electoral participation
- Opening of nominating procedures (congressional caucus replaced by
national convention)
 Need for organization, management, communication
 From then on: real two-party competition
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (2)
• From then on: real two-party competition (Democrats & Whigs)
- 1830s: emergence of parties as we know them
- Birth of the Democratic party: National Party Convention in 1832
- 1832: Jackson switched to Democratic label >< Clay as Republican
- 1834: opposition to Jackson formed a party: the Whigs
- Fight for the new electorate
- Development of campaigning (parades, rallies, picnics, symbols, etc.)
- Development of party organization at the state & local levels
- Development of party identification
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (3)
• Democrats (Dominant party – first half of the period)
- First to make a positive case for parties: parties seen as vehicles for
common citizens to enact political views & control government if well
organized
- Parties seen as the only actor capable of taming presidential ambition
(Van Buren: wanted to build a real party system >< one party-rule he
experienced: need opposition, threat of defeat to keep discipline &
cohesion)
- Democratized version of Jefferson’s view of limited government: small
government, low taxes, and individual freedom, decentralization &
democratization of political & economic power; against government
intervention because it would favor the wealthy > the common man
- Won 5 presidential elections out of 7 between 1828 and 1856 (Andrew
Jackson 1828-1836; Martin Van Buren 1836-1840; James Polk 1844-1848;
Franklin Pierce 1852-1856)
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (4)
• Whigs = Minority party
- Coalition of Henry Clay, Webster (Connecticut & Massachussets), Weed
& Seward ‘NY) Stevens (Pennsylvania) to oppose Jackson
- Name: identification with the English party
- Renewed Federalist agenda: defend industrial interests & wealth, a
more active role for the national government (building roads, canals to
benefit interstate commerce), to raise the tariff on imported products, to
establish a national banking & financing system, but to diminish the
power of the president
- Tried to match the Democrats’ organization & electoral techniques
- Run military heroes for presidents (4 elections out of 7) but only
successful twice (1840: William Henry Harrison; 1848: Zachary Taylor) –
constant feature of us politics (Grant, Eisenhower, etc.)
- In 9 out of 11 congressional elections: no control on Congress
- Won 20 governorships by 1840
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (5)
• Real competition in each region / few regional variations from 1840 to CW
- Whigs: more support from manufacture & trade, planters, Protestants,
wealth
- Democrats: new voters, western farmers, Catholics & new immigrants,
‘common people’
BUT
- Both parties: true national scope
- Old bastions of Jefferson’s support (North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana):
divided evenly between parties; Middle Atlantic states: idem
- Both parties try to balance the interests of all sections of the electorate
- Few really divisive issues until the 1850s (racial & slavery issues)
- Both liberal (free enterprise & private property)
- Both democratic (basic principles of the Constitution & Declaration of
Independence)
- None of the parties truly ideologically coherent; more based on a
common hatred of the enemy than on positive attachment to an issue
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (6)
• Decentralization
- Electoral votes allocated state by state => party organization built at the
state level for the presidential election
- In order to get the support of the party, the presidential candidate has
to reward the state party branches
- State parties are dependent on local leaders & local organization
=> localities could make powerful demands on higher levels, especially
because of the close match between the two parties
=> the entertainment (rallies, picnics, etc.) happens at the local level
=> local parties as link between the wider world of politics and the
individuals in a large democracy (unthreatening, stimulus for citizenship)
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (7)
• Parties and slavery
- Fundamental dispute since the independence
- 1820: Missouri compromise in Congress on regulation of slavery in the
Western territories (balance)
- Both parties: pro- and antislavery factions because they both wanted to
survive as national parties
- Mid-1840s: Pressure to admit new states and difficulties to maintain the
balance between the pro- and antislavery forces
- Growing cultural, moral & economic differences between North & South
in the 1840 & 1850 => political conflicts, increasing with the expansion of
the country (new free or slave states)
3.2. Second Party System (1828-1856)
(Jacksonian) Democrats vs. Whigs (8)
• Democrats and slavery: Regional loyalty outweigh party loyalty:
- In Congress: Democrats dominated by southerners
- In national convention: South also strong thanks to veto possibility: ex:
1844: Van Buren (opposed to the expansion of slavery) as front-runner for
the presidential nomination but the South opposed it because he didn’t
support the annexation of Texas. Van Buren didn’t have 2/3 of the
delegates at the convention and couldn’t convince his supporters to
change the rule of the nomination (9 ballots) => James Polk won the
nomination and got elected, thanks to the discipline of the southern state
delegates
same for 1852 (Franklin Pierce) & 1856 (James Buchanan): weak
candidates
- Focused on protecting slavery > defend their democratic & egalitarian
principles
• Whigs and slavery: slavery has lead the party to dissolve
- Traditionally: national integration, accommodation North/South
=> position undermined in both regions, schism between wings
- Emergence of a Republican party in the North => loss electoral support in
1854 => dissolution
3.3. Third Party System (1856-1896)
Ascendant Republicans vs. Democrats (1)
• Transition period (1854-1856)
- Democrats (Buchanan) vs. new Republican Party (Fremont) vs. Whigs
(Fillmore): No majority of the popular vote
• 1860: Deterioration
- South: Democrats (Breckenridge) vs. Bell (Whig)
- North: Republicans (Lincoln) vs. Democrats (Douglas):
- Douglas tried to avoid the debate on slavery within his party
- Lincoln committed his party to the principle of no territorial expansion
for slavery
= realignment: Republican majority in most parts of the country except
the South; destruction of the Whigs
• Civil War (1861-1865) – Lincoln elected first Republican President
(second highest turnout: 82% of the electorate)+ control Congress,
governorship of every northern state
3.3. Third Party System (1856-1896)
Ascendant Republicans vs. Democrats (2)
CW-1874: dominance of the Republicans
• Republicans (GOP)
- Composed of former Whigs (Lincoln), antislavery Democrats, &
abolitionists - Dedicated to the principle of ending slavery
- Big campaign & debates, and carried on with discussions at the state &
local levels through party channels
- Identified with the Union, patriotism, humanitarianism
- Alliance with interest groups: farmers (Homestead Act and free land in
the West), business & labor (high protective tariff), entrepreneurs (big
federal grants), and veterans (pensions)
- Dominant in the North & West; little support in the South
- Control of presidency (Lincoln, Johnson, Grant) & Congress from 1860 to
1874
• Democrats
- Southern-based party; support in the North from business (free-trade),
new Catholic immigrants
3.3. Third Party System (1856-1896)
Ascendant Republicans vs. Democrats (3)
1974-1896: competition (Alternated control of Presidency & Congress)
• Republicans
- Unable to integrate freed slaves into the economic & political life
- Southern states negate the Fifteenth amendment (vote for former slaves)
and Republicans unable to stop it
- Loyalty based on the Civil War (veterans); assassination of Lincoln (1865);
support of Northern Protestants (anti-gambling, anti-alcohol); pro-business
(// Federalists & Whigs)
- No support in the South; Northern African Americans + Northern WASPs
- Control the Senate + 3/5 presidency (Hayes, Arthur, Harrison)
• Democrats
- Weak in Midwest / New England; South + Northern Catholic bastions
- Control the House + 2/5 presidency (Cleveland)
- Party of the former Confederate States; agriculture; anti-tariff stand;
support of the Catholics (Northern cities)
• Configuration stable for the next 100 years
3.3. Third Party System (1856-1896)
Ascendant Republicans vs. Democrats (4)
• Main features of the period
- Growth of patronage-based party organizations (Middle Atlantic &
Midwestern states): organize services for communities (build railroads,
create jobs) // industrialization (immigration, rise of corporations)
= Republican feature (in Pennsylvania: 20.000 Republican paid workers)
=> weakens loyalty and discipline
- Introduction of the Australian ballot / Massachusetts ballot
= secret ballot > party-printed ballot: ↑ voter independence from parties
• Emergence of the People’s Party (Populists)
- Emergence in the economically depressed grain-growing areas of the
Midwest
- Want laws to protect farmers, defend more equality, income tax,
nationalization of railroads & telephone/telegraph companies
= More liberal & progressive than de Ds & the Rs (conservative)
- Growth of support by the mid-1880s (elected representatives in Midwest
states & Southern farmers); 1892: over 1 million votes
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (1)
• Economic & Social Revolution
- Industrialization > agrarian society
- Urbanization (NY, Chicago, Philadelphia, LA > 1.000.000 by 1920s)
- Development of transportation (railroads: 8.500 miles in 1850 to 193.000
in 1900)
- Rise of corporation (Standard Oil, US steel)
- New immigration
- Rise of labor organizations
• Rise of third parties
- Radical agrarian movements (Grangers Farmers’ Alliance; Greenbackers)
- People’s Party in 1896; Progressives in 1912
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (2)
• Transition: Presidential election of 1896
- Democrats divided between Cleveland (limited government) & William
Jennings Bryan (populist ideas): Bryan appealed to farmers & western
interests => South, Plains, West (major turn from limited government)
- Republicans (McKinley) opposed inflation, favored stability, high tariffs
(money & protectionism) & renewed the support of business interests, but
also urban workers & shopkeepers => all North & cities
- High turnout (82%)
- Democrats lost => took years to recover (won 2 presidency in 36 years)
1896-1912: Dominance of the Republicans
• Republicans
- Won 4 presidencies in a row (McKinley, T. Roosevelt – 2, Taft)
- Control of Congress until 1910
• Democrats
- Nothing until Wilson during WWI
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (3)
1912-1928: More competition
• Republicans
- Internal divisions: traditional conservatives of the industrial-finance
centers of the Northeast >< Progressive reformers of the Middle West
- 1912: T. Roosevelt run for the Progressive Party vs. Taft for the
Republicans
=> split of the Republican votes => favored the Democrats (Wilson)
- After WWI: Progressive movement out => Renewed dominance:
- Won 4 presidencies in a row (Harding, Coolidge – 2, Hoover)
• Democrats
- WWI: took advantage of the Republican divisions & won 2 presidency
(Wilson – 2)
- After WWI: Recovery mode: popular vote jumped from 28.8% in 1924 to
40.8% in 1928
- Development of support in Catholic, urban & industrial centers
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (4)
Main features of the period
• Republican dominance: average share of votes = 57.7% vs. 42.3% for the Ds
- Gap between the 2 parties > 10% in 4 elections out of 7
- Same lack of competition for states elections: South = D; rest = R
• Women suffrage in 1920 (19th amendment)
• Progressive revolts between 1900 & 1920:
- Believed in the rational citizen; opposed party loyalties and irrational ties
- Favored political regulation & party-weakening reforms
- Support from T. Roosevelt (1912)
- Want to cut away patronage; promoted a civil service reform
- Support non-partisan local elections
- Support the introduction of direct primaries for nominating candidates
(1903 Wisconsin; 26 states adopted it by 1916)
- Role of citizen enhanced by adoption of initiative, referendum
- Regulation of parties
BUT decrease in electoral participation
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (2)
3.4. Fourth Party System (1896-1928)
Republican Dominance Renewed (2)
3.5. Fifth Party System (1932-1968)
The Democratic New Deal Era (1)
• Great Depression of 1929
- GNP fell by 1/3; unemployment grew from 5% to 25%
• Demographic change
- Urban ethnics, Catholics, blue-collar workers & blacks = more significant
- WASP, small town, middle-class business = shrinking
• Transition: the election of 1932
- Realignment from a Republican to a Democratic majority
- Democrats:
New Deal Coalition (F.D. Roosevelt): white southerners, Catholic urban
workers (recent immigrants anti-prohibition), blue-collar workers
(organized labor), African Americans (rising unemployment), Jews
(Depression & Roosevelt’s leadership against Nazi Germany), young voters
Support welfare policies, social security & unemployment compensations
systems (weakened party patronage); federal government as THE
employer
Regulate the economy: Securities & Exchange Commission (1935), Federal
3.5. Fifth Party System (1932-1968)
The Democratic New Deal Era (1)
1932-1948: Dominance of the Democrats
• Democrats
- Won 5/5 presidency (F.D. Roosevelt, Truman)
- Continuous control over Congress (except 1946)
- Internal divisions in the late 1930s: North / South (dissent from social
welfare policies)
• Republicans
– Minority party – called dead several times but resilient
3.5. Fifth Party System (1932-1968)
The Democratic New Deal Era (1)
1948-1968: More competition
• Democrats
- Lost control Presidency (1952-1956) & Congress in 1952
- 1960-1964: normal majority reasserted (Kennedy & Johnson)
- Huge congressional majorities => Johnson’s Great Society program
- After 1964: intensification of internal divisions over the Vietnam War,
defense policy, crime, civil disorder & social policy
• Republicans
– Minority party – called dead several times but resilient
– 1952: won Congress & Presidency (national hero tactic with
Eisenhower): “I like Ike”, “Peace & Prosperity”: support in the South;
accepted New Deal programs
=> New Deal legacy no more divisive