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The Founding
The first organized political party in American history consisted of the followers of Jefferson, who called themselves Republicans, implying that the opposing party were monarchists. The followers of Hamilton then, labeled themselves as Federalists, which referred to al supporters of the new Constitution, and implying that their opponents were Antifederalists. -
Republican domination
The Republican party was initially so successful that the Federalists virtually ceased to exist as a party. Jefferson won the election in 1800, and the Republicans took control from there. Jefferson was relected in 1804; Madison won two terms; and James Monroe carried 16 out of 19 states. -
The Jacksonians
The second party system emerged with Andrew Jackson's first run for presidency and lasted until the Civil War became inevitable. Its distinctive feature was that political participation became a mass phenomenon, with the number of total voters becoming quite large. -
The Caucus System
The caucus system was an effort to unite the legislate and executive branches by giving the former some degree of control over who would have a chance to capture the latter. However, it became unpopular in 1824 when the caucus candidate ran third in a field of four in the general election. -
Voter Turnout Increases
While there were only 365,000 votes cast in 1824, the number began to grow rapidly. By 1828, over a million votes were tallied, and by 1840, the figure was well over 2 million. In addition, by 1832, presidential electors were selected by popular vote in virtually every state. -
The First Convention
The party convention was invented to replace the caucus. The first convention in American history 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. -
Democratic Convention of 1832
The Democrats held a convention in 1832 that ratified Jackson's nomination for reelection and picked Martin Van Buren as his running mate. The first convention to select a man who would be elected president and who was not already the incumbent president was held by the Democrats in 1836; they chose Van Buren. -
Formation of the Republican Party
The Republican party formed in 1856 on the basis of clear-cut opposition to slavery. This party would later become one of the two major political parties in America, with the Democratic party splitting in half later in 1860. -
Collapse of the Whig Party
The collapse of the Whig party marked a sharp, lasting shift. The deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852 severely weakened the party, and eventually resulted in the end of the party. It is one of five realignments. -
Split of the Democratic Party
THe Democratic party split in half in 1860, with one part led by Stephen A. Douglas, which was based in the North, and the other half led by John C. Breckinridge, who drew his support from the South. -
The Civil War
The Civil War gave the Republicans control of the White House and Congress. The conflict deeply polarized popular attitudes, with those supporting the Union becoming Republicans, and those who supported the Confederacy, became Democrats. -
Series of Depressions
Continuing throughout the 1890s, there were a series of economic depressions during this time period that fell especially hard on farmers. Economics became a bigger problem than slavery, which led to the formation of parties of economic protest, such as the Greenbackers and the Populists. -
Mugwumps
The mugwumps were opposed to the heavy emphasis on patronage and disliked the party machinery. They supported Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in the presidential election of 1884, and switched political parties in the process. They initially tried to play a balance-of-power role, but later, they became less able to do so. -
Republican strength grows
The Republican strength in the nation grew, which resulted in progressives within that party becoming increasingly less able to play a balance-of-power role. If the progressives were to have any power, they came to believe that it owuld require an attack on the very concept of partisanship itself. -
Presidential Candidacy of William Jennings Bryan
The candidacy of William Jennings Bryan strengthened the Republican party. Bryan, a Democrat, alienated many voters in the northeastern states while attracting voters in the South and Midwest. The result was to confirm and deepen the split in the country. -
Conflict divides Republicans and Democrats
Matters came to a head when William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic nomination and adopted a Populist platform, while the anti-Bryan Democrats supported the Republican candidate, William McKinley. Now, a real issue divided the two parties: the Republicans stood for indsutry, business and urban interests, while the Democrats stood for farmers, small towns, low tariffs, and rural interests. -
Rising of Two Major Parties
The split between North/South and Republican/Democrat resulted in two dominant parties. To be competitive for office, one had to go within a single dominant party, making third parties largely unpopular. -
Governor Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson was a progressive who led California to institute the direct primary and to adopt procedures so citizens could vote directly on proposed legislation, therby bypassing the state legislature. -
Governor Robert La Follette
Robert La Follette implemented similar changes in Wisconsin to those of Hiram Johnson. He insitituted the direct primary and adopted procedures so citizens could vote directly on proposed legislation. -
The New Deal Coalition
Economic depression triggered another change. The New Deal was based on bringing together into the Democratic party urban workers, northern blacks, southern whites, and Jewish voters. Unlike previous times, it was not preceded by any third-party movement; it occurred suddenly. -
Split-ticket voting
Split-ticket voting rose between 1952 and 1972 and hovered around 25% until it declined somewhat after 1992. Ticket splitting created divided government - The White House and Congress are controlled by different parties. It also helped the Democrats keep control of the House of Representatives from 1954 to 1994. -
Change in Republican Party
In the late 1960s, the Republicans began to convert their national party into a well-financed, highly staffed organization devoted to finding and electing Republican candidates, especially to Congress. -
Changes in the Democratic Party
At the same time the Republicans were making changes, the Democrats began changing the rules governing how presidential candidates are nominated in ways that profoundly altered the distribution of power within the party. As a consequence, the Republicans became a bureaucratized party and the Democrats became a factionalized one. -
Consecutive Republican Presidencies
After the Republicans won four out of five elections from 1968 to 1984 and briefly took control of the Senate, the Democrats began to suspect that an efficient buraucracy was better than a collection of warring factions, and so they made an effort to emulate the Republicans. -
Shift of Presidential voting patterns of the South
From 1972 through 2008, the South was more Republican than the nation as a whole. However, the number of white southerners describing themselves as such fell from more than one-third in 1952 to about one-seventh in 1984. If this continues, it will constitute a major realignment in a region of the country that is growing rapidly in population and political clout. -
Election of 1980
The election of 1980 brought into power the most conservative administration in half a century, which resulted in wondering if there would be a new realignment. Many of Reagan's supporters began talking of a mandate to adopt major new p olicies in keeping with the views of the "new majority". -
Scheduling of Primary Elections
State party organizations began to move their primary elections to earlier and earlier dates. In 1980, the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary were held in March; in 2008, they were held in January. California moved its primary from June to February. This frontloading has made the campaign much longer and more expensive, but national party organizations have been almost powerless to prevent it. -
Democratic National Committee
The DNC decided to play catch-up by following the RNC strategy. Using the same direct-mail techniques, the Democratic party raised more money than ever before and in 2004, the Democrats and their allies outspent the Republicans. -
Raising Soft Money
Despite the recent enactment of campaign finance laws intended to check the influence of money on national elections, both Democrats and Republicans redoubled efforts to raise soft money, and in the Democratic presidential primary, Howard Dean alone raised $30 million. -
New Records set for Spending on Congressional Races
New records were set for spending on congressional races: the average cost for successful House candidates was more than $1.4 million, while the average cost for successful Senate candidates was close to $9 million. In contrast, the average numbers in 2002 were just under $1 million for successful House candidates and about $4.5 million for successful Senate candidates.
