American Political Parties

1. American Political Parties Historical and Current

2. Bell Ringer March 5 and 6Birth of PartiesRead the following quote below and be prepared to explain what you think it means. “They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests.” "However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people,and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.“

3. FEDERALIST PARTY • An American political party in the period 1792 to 1816, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801. The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban, to support his financial policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party, which wanted a fiscally sound and strong nationalistic government and was opposed by the Democratic-Republicans. • The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire term.

4. DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY • Founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison around 1792. It was the dominant political party in the United States from 1800 to 1824, when it split into competing factions, one of which became the modern Democratic Party. Jefferson created the party to oppose the economic and foreign policies of the Federalists, a party created a year or so earlier by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The party insisted on a strict interpretation of the Constitution, and denounced many of Hamilton's proposals (especially the national bank) as unconstitutional. The party favored states' rights and the interests of the small farmer over bankers, industrialists, merchants, and other monied interests.

5. DEMOCRATIC PARTY • one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. • It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States. • evolved from Anti-Federalist factions that opposed the financial policies of Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s. • Thomas Jefferson and James Madison organized these factions into the Democratic-Republican Party. • Democratic-Republicans split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe, and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the Democratic Party. • Barack Obama, the current President of the United States, is the 15th Democrat to hold that office.

6. REPUBLICAN PARTY • The other major contemporary political party in the United States. • It is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. • Founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party quickly surpassed the Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party. • It first came to power in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln, a former Whig, to the presidency and presided over the American Civil War and Reconstruction. • There have been 19 Republican Presidents.

7. Third(Minor) Parties in the U.S. System They can be classified by the role they play in the political system • Ideological Parties: promote ideology rather than win elections; the electoral process is the venue used to advance their cause; success is measured by their ability to bring their name and views to the attention of the American public

8. LIBERTARIAN PARTY-Ideological • Founded in 1971, bills itself as "America's largest third party". • The Libertarians are neither left nor right: they believe in total individual liberty (pro-drug legalization, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-home schooling, antigun control, etc. (Typically on the liberal agenda)) and • total economic freedom (anti-welfare, anti-government regulation of business, anti-minimum wage, anti-income tax, pro-free trade, etc.(Typically on the conservative agenda)). • The LP espouses a classical laissez faire ideology which, they argue, means "more freedom, less government and lower taxes."

9. Third(Minor) Parties in the U.S. System • Single Issue Parties: parties that have only one main Plank-idea is to promote a cause • U.S. PACIFIST PARTY - platform advocates generally left-wing political stances and slashing the military budget to "zero.“ • PROHIBITION PARTY – 18th Amendment 1919 • VETERANS PARTY OF AMERICA - wants to represent the rights and needs of veterans across the political spectrum

10. GREEN PARTY-Single Issue • The Green Party is one of the two largest third parties in the nation; it’s emphasis is on environmental protection • It contends it is part of a worldwide movement to promote grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, non-violence, gender equity, respect for diversity, and personal and global responsibility. • The Green Party scored major political points when it convinced prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader to run as its first Presidential nominee in 1996. In 2000, Nader ran again, ignoring pleas from liberal Democrats that he abandon the race because he was siphoning essential votes away from Al Gore's campaign. • In the end, Nader was on the ballot in 44 states and finished third with 2,878,000 votes (2.7%).

11. Third(Minor) Parties in the U.S. System • Splinter Parties: offshoots from a major party; they may emerge around and individual or from inter-party disputes • Examples: Progressive Party

12. CONSTITUTION PARTY • Former Nixon Administration official and one-time Conservative Coalition chair Howard Phillips founded the US Taxpayers Party (USTP) in 1992. The USTP pulled together several of the splintered right-wing third parties -- including the once mighty American Independent Party -- into a larger political entity. • The USTP renamed itself the Constitution Party in 1999. The party is strongly pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-tax, anti-immigration, trade protectionist, "anti-New World Order," anti-United Nations, anti-gay rights, anti-welfare, and pro-school prayer. • It “stands firmly on the principles of government laid down by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution… it is time to remove power from that 'faraway' government in Washington, D.C. and return it to the states and local communities. "

13. PROGRESSIVE PARTY-Splinter • 1912 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the presidential election of 1912. It was formed by Theodore Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft and pulled his delegates out of the convention. • The party is also known as the BULL MOOSE PARTY, after Roosevelt's boast thathe was "as strong as a bull moose". • The 1912 platform states it was formed "to destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.” • Roosevelt outpolled Taft in the popular vote in 1912 and by a large margin of 88–8 in the electoral vote, but some believe the split in the Republican vote allowed Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency. The Progressive party did poorly in the 1914 elections and faded away. Most members, including Roosevelt, returned to the Republican Party after the Republicans nominated the more progressively-minded Charles Evans Hughes for President in 1916.

14. STATES' RIGHTS DEMOCRATIC PARTY-Splinter • commonly known as the DIXIECRATS • was a short-lived splinter group that broke from the Democratic Party in 1948. The party opposed racial integration and wanted to retain Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. The party's slogan was "Segregation Forever!" • During the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Southern delegates were upset by President Harry Truman's executive order to racially integrate the armed forces. When Truman endorsed an anti-segregationist plank in the party’s platform, thirty five delegates from Mississippi and Alabama walked out of the convention. Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina helped organize the walkout delegates into a separate party, whose platform was concerned with states' rights. With Thurmond as its presidential nominee, the party carried Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina in the 1948 election. • Many believed the split in the Democratic Party would guarantee the election of Republican Thomas Dewey over Truman, but Truman scored a narrow victory. After 1948 the Dixiecrats dissolved as a party.

15. AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PARTY-Splinter • Governor George C. Wallace (D-AL) founded the AIP and ran as the its first Presidential nominee in 1968. Running on a fiery populist, right-wing, anti-Washington, anti-racial integration, anticommunist platform, Wallace carried nearly 10 million votes (14%) and won 5 Southern states. Although Wallace returned to the Democratic Party by 1970, the AIP continued to live on -- but moved even further to the right. The 1972 AIP nominee, John Birch Society leader and Congressman John G. Schmitz (R-CA), carried nearly 1.1 million votes (1.4%).

16. Third Parties and Why They Matter • Third party candidates (parties running for office that are not Democrats or Republicans) often take votes away from those that they are most like. • So if a liberal is running for President as a 3rd party candidate, they will “steal” votes away from the Democrat. Likewise with a conservative and a Republican. • They bring new groups into the electorate and may serve as safety valves for popular discontent allowing for a protest vote when they don’t like the Democrat or Republican candidates • They propose policies that are often adopted by the two major parties and sometimes are enacted into law http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm

17. KNOW NOTHING • movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S. values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. • Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts were met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middleclass and entirely Protestant membership split over the issue of slavery. Most joined the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election. • The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing."

18. Review Questions-Political Parties • Which two parties were organized first in our country? • Federalist & Democratic-Republican • Who was the first man elected President as a Democrat? • Jackson • Who was the first man elected President as a Republican? • Lincoln • Which of those two parties has had the most people elected President? • Republican • Which third party is believed to have played a role in determining the outcome of the 2000 election? • Green Party – Ralph Nader

19. What third parties could be identified as a single issue, ideological, or splinter party? Communist party, Free-Soil Party, Progressive Party Dixiecrats, US Pacifist Party • Identify at least 2 functions of a political party. Recruit candidates, educate the public, operate the government, Serve as loyal opposition (watchdog) • Name the two largest third parties in the U.S. Libertarian and Green