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Democratic-Republicans
The Democratic-Republicans were the first party established in the 1790s and their name was to suggest that their opponents were "secret monarchists". The party was so successful that opposing parties almost ceased to exist. -
Federalists
Following the Hamilton views of government, they were very prominent during John Adams's presidency but after Thomas Jefferson was elected for his second term in 1804, they declined greatly. After this, they faded away completely. -
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Founding Parties
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The 1800 Election
Jeffersonian Republicans defetead the Federalists -
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Jacksonian Era
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The Election of 1828
The Jacksonian Democrats came to power. -
Whig Party
The Whig Party was the opposition to the Democratic Party during the Jacksonian Era. Most groups that were against Jackson joined forces within this political party. As a result, it advocated a diverse range of ideals such as states' rights, industrialization, and internal improvemts, such as road building. They finally split over the issue of slavery around 1856 -
The First Political Conventions
The first convention in America was held by the Anti-Masonic party in 1831. The first convention of a major political party was held by the anti-Jackson republicans later that year. -
Republican Party
In the beginning they were against the spread of slavery. They favor higher protective tariffs and minimal government intervention in people's lives. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
During the time this act was being passed the people who believed that these new teritories should be fee states and not slave states formed a new political party, the Republican party (Also known as the National Union Party) to oppose the democratic party that wanted to make the new teritories slave states. -
The Election of 1860
The Whig Party Collapsed and the Republicans under Lincoln came to power. -
The Democratic Split
The split was due to the government having the right to outlaw slavery. Northern Democrats wanted to get rid of slavery and led by Stephen A. Douglas and the South wanted to maintain slavery led by John C. Breckinridge. -
The Constitutional Union Party
Tried to unite the nation by writing no platform at all and remaining silent on the issue of slavery. -
The End of the Civil War
The end of the Civil War greatly impacted politics and controversial issues within politics. -
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Era of Reform
The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government. -
Progressives
Disliked the idea of parties. At first the progressives tended to side with Republicans or Democrats but as the power of the Republicans began to grow the Progressives decided to side with the Republicans. -
The Realignment of 1896
This realignment was largely due to the economy. A string of recissions in the 1880s and 1890s fell especially hard on farmers in the Midwest and parts of the South. The Greenback and the Populist parties immerged as a result. -
The Greenback Party
Consisting of mainly farmers, this party believed that inflation can lead to better conditions in the economy. Also, they had programs to improve labor. In their time, they succeeded in electing 14 member of Congress. They later fell under the classification of the populist movement. This was later adopted by progressivism. -
The Populist Party
This party was comprised of many of the current activist movements that had beed going on at the time, with the exception of blacks. Mainly, they consisted of disappointed farmers who sought to nationalize railroad, other forms of transportation and communication. They also advocated womens' rights as well as a free-silver currency. The Populists' views were later taken over by the Democratic Party. -
Bryan calls for the Democratic party to take a populist platform
William Jennings Bryan had three unsuccesful presidential campaign attempts each trying to portray a populist platform -
The First Primaries
The Progressives were able to get Califorina to hold a direct primaries so citizens could vote directly on proposed legislation. -
The Realignment of the 1930s
The New Deal Coalition brought the Democratic party together with urban workers, northern blacks, southern whites, and Jewish voters. -
The Election of 1932
The Democrats under Roosevelt came into office. -
The Hatch Act
Passed by congress in 1939 to make it illegal for federal civil service employees to take active part in political management or polticial campaigns. -
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Split Ticket Voting
Voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election. It rose to about 25%. -
Democrats Take Control of the House
Ticket splitting voting helped the Democrats take control of the house from 1954-1994. -
Republicans Take Control
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Republicans began to convert their national party into a well-financed, highly staffed organization devoted to finding and electing Republican candidates. The Republicans won four out of five presidential elections and briefly took control of the senate from 1968 to 1984. -
Independent Party
The Independent Party was first led by George Wallace, a strong supporter of segregation. They now stand to keep, and maybe even improve, civil liberties such as outlawing technologies that are an invasion of the peoples' privacy. They look to better public education and want to put an end to corporate crime and faud. -
Libertarian Party
Th Libertarians advocate minimum government in peoples' lives. They seek a capitalist economy, non-intervention, and free trade. They are against war. They believe government should not intervene on issue such as gay marriage, abortion and that the people should be protected from unreasonable search and seizure. -
The South's strong ties to the Republican party
From 1972 to 2008, the South was more Republican than the nation as a whole. -
Election of 1980
Brought into power the most conservative administration in half a century. The Reagan administration. -
The Democrats Reserve "Superdelegates"
In 1981, the Hunt Commission changed the rules of the Democratic convention. The commission reserved about 14% of the delegate seats for party leaders and elected officals (superdelegates), who would not have to commit their vote in advance to a presidential candidate. -
Political parties begin to spend more money
Beginning in 2004, parties began to realize spending more money can win more elections. The average cost for a successful House candidate was more than $1.4 million. Senate: $9 million. -
Obama uses e-mail to announce reelection bid
President Obama used an e-mail and a video to tell his followers that he was going to run for reelection in 2012. Digital communication has become more important for both parties.
