Party Era American Government

Party Organizations The national convention is the supreme power within each party The convention meets every four years and are responsible for: Writing the party platform Nominating the candidates for President Nominating the candidates for Vice President

Party Eras A party era is a delineation of time in which a single party is the majority party for a long period of time In each party era there is a critical election, or an election that has new issues that divide the electorate in new ways After a critical election, party realignment takes place Party realignment is a rare event and normally takes place after a major crisis in the country i.e. the Civil War, the Great Depression, etc.

1796-1824: The First Parties The Federalist party was formed by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison The Federalist party was designed to support strong national government that would help run the government after the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation The party faded after Adams lost his bid to be re-elected in 1800 The party that helped crush the Federalist party was led by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe This party was known as the Democratic-Republicans, or the Jeffersonians The Democratic-Republicans looked at agrarian interests rather than capitalist interests This party fell as they tried to focus on everyone

1828-1856: Democrats and Whigs Jackson was originally a Democratic-Republican, but after winning the Presidency, his party became known the Democrats The Democrats were composed of western and southern citizens who believed in stamping out elitism and listening to the masses The opposition party was the Whig party The Whig party pushed policies for industry in the North and Southern planters These two very different interest groups were brought together by mutual dislike of the Democratic-Republican platform

1860-1928: Republican Eras The first Republican era began in the 1850’s The Republicans were known as the anti-slavery party The Republican party was able to obtain such strong support in the North, that Lincoln was able to win the Presidency without carrying a single Southern state The second Republican era began in 1896, when Republicans pushed for a gold standard rather than a silver standard Republicans reigned supreme until the stock market crash in 1929

1932-1964: The New Deal Coalition The New Deal coalition was reinforced by FDR and formed by Democrats The New Deal Coalition resulted in: Urban dwellers shifting from the Republican party to the Democratic party Labor unions began to staunchly support the Democratic party Catholics and Jews began to strongly support the Democratic party The poor started to overwhelmingly support the Democratic party Racial minorities began to overwhelmingly support the Democratic party Southerners continued to support the Democratic party This time period is characterized by social progressivism

1968-Present: Divided government This time period is characterized by party dealignment This means that people are gradually moving away from both parties This has led to growing party neutrality This means that there is a growing number of people who have no preference for either party We currently have a divided government This means that no one party controls both houses in the Congress and the Presidency