1. Grab a copy of the reading. What are “linkage institutions”?
Consider:
Grab a copy of the reading. What are “linkage institutions”?
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and both are right HL Mencken
“All …combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character,…are destructive of this fundamental principle [essentially, democracy],… They 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…
- George Washington
Homework: Assignment 2 for tomorrow; guided questions due tomorrow; poll due Wed

2. Roots of Our Two-Party System
Unit 3
AP Government and Politics

3. Political Parties What is a political party?
Group primarily focused on nominating and electing candidates, and controlling government
3 “arenas” in which parties operate
With/among the electorate – as a label
Are they today, weaker or stronger?
Party activists and organizers – as an organization
In making policies - governing

4. Political Parties Reforms that have made parties weaker:
Australian ballot – uniform, secret ballot printed by gov.
Patronage no longer pervasive
Rise of PACs, 527 and others; parties no longer only group that can raise $$
Info on candidates more readily available, parties are not only source
More voters identify themselves as independents

6. The Four Party Periods The Founding Era The Jacksonian Period
1790s (post-Washington) to 1820s
Critical election = 1800
The Jacksonian Period
1820s to Civil War
Critical election = 1828
The “Golden Age”
Civil War to 1930s
Critical election = 1860
The Modern Era (Reform)
1930s to ???
Critical election = 1932

7. The election of 1932 What triggered this “realigning election”?
Who comprised the New Deal coalition?
Franklin D. Roosevelt forged a coalition that included Banking and oil industries, the Democratic state party organizations, city machines, labor unions, blue collar workers, minorities (racial, ethnic and religious), farmers, white Southerners, people on relief, and intellectuals.[1] The coalition fell apart around the bitter factionalism during the 1968 election, but it remains the model that party activists seek to replicate.[2]

8. Party Realignment 11.1 Party realignments Critical elections
Dramatic shifts in partisan preference that drastically alter the political landscape
Existing party affiliations subject to upheaval
Critical elections
May polarize voters around new issues or personalities
The type of stability observed in the Golden Age, and for a time beyond, generally won’t last forever, and voters will begin showing dramatic shifts in their beliefs. During such party realignments, existing party affiliations experience upheaval as voters may change parties. Before such shifts, historians may observe one or more critical elections that may polarize voters in reaction to developments such as war or an economic depression.
Several such shifts have already occurred in American politics: Thomas Jefferson formed the Democratic-Republican party to opposed the Federalists, the Whig Party dissolved and the Republican Party gained strength over the issue of slavery, and voters turned away from Republicans in favor of Democrats in response to the New Deal. More gradual shifts in party coalitions are called secular realignments, and they may be caused by the shrinking of a party’s base of support.

9. Critical or Realigning Elections
What is a “critical” or “realigning” election?
sharp changes in issues, party leaders, the regional and demographic bases of power of the two parties, and structure or rules of the political system (such as voter eligibility or financing), resulting in a new political power structure that lasts for decades.
The 1800 Election –
Begins the initial “fading” period of parties –Dem/Republicans victorious
The 1828 Election –
Begins the Jacksonian period
The 1860 Election –
Republican party emerges; Whigs disappear
The 1896 Election –
Bryan and Democrats lose; new Republicans solidify
Shores up the parties in certain regions of the US
The 1932 Election –
Emergence of the “New Deal Coalition”
Labor unions, intellectuals, farmers, seniors, white southerners, Jews, Catholics, and minorities .
The 1968 Election -
Fracturing of the New Deal Democratic Coalition
The 1896 campaign is often considered to be a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.[2] McKinley forged a conservative coalition in which businessmen, professionals, skilled factory workers, and prosperous farmers were heavily represented. He was strongest in cities and in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Coast. Bryan was the nominee of the Democrats, the Populist Party, and the Silver Republicans. He presented his campaign as a crusade of the working man against the rich, who impoverished America by limiting the money supply, which was based on gold.

10. What does a critical election look like?