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| 6189822530 | Democratic-Republicans | States' rights. • Strict interpretation of the Constitution. • Agriculture and rural life. • Strongest in South and West. • Sympathy with France. • Civil liberties and trust in the people. | 0 | |
| 6189822531 | Federalists | • Strong central government. • Loose interpretation of the Constitution. • Commerce and manufacturing. • Strongest in Northeast. • Close ties with Britain. • Order and stability. | 1 | |
| 6189822532 | Democrats | • Party of tradition. • Looked backward to the past. • Spoke to the fears of Americans. • Opposed banks and corporations. • Opposed state-legislated reforms. • Preferred individual freedom of choice. • Were Jeffersonian agrarians who favored farms, rural independence, states' rights, and the right to own slaves. • Favored rapid territorial expansion. • Believed in progress through external growth. | 2 | |
| 6189822533 | Whigs | • Party of modernization. • Looked forward to the future. • Spoke to the hopes of Americans. • Promoted economic growth, especially transportation and banks. • Advocated state-legislated reforms such as temperance, public schools, and prison reform. • Favored industry, urban growth, and federal government. • Favored gradual territorial expansion. • Believed in progress through internal growth. | 3 | |
| 6189822534 | Liberty Party | • Abolitionist party that ran candidate James Birney for President in 1844. • Won only 2% of the vote but drew votes away from the Whigs, especially in New York. | 4 | |
| 6189822535 | Free Soil Party | • Not abolitionist, but opposed to the expansion of slavery in the territories. • Won 10% of the popular vote with Martin Van Buren as their candidate in 1848. • Lost 50% of their support in 1852, when they repudiated the Compromise of 1850. | 5 | |
| 6189822536 | American Party | • The "Know Nothing" Party. • Nativist party based on opposition to immigration and a focus on temperance. • Ran Millard Fillmore in 1856 and won 21% of the popular vote. • Republican Party absorbed them in 1856. | 6 | |
| 6189822537 | Whigs (Mid-19th century) | • Southern "Cotton" Whigs eventually drifted into the Democratic Party. • Northern "Conscience" Whigs moved to new parties such as the Free Soil Party, and later, the Republican Party | 7 | |
| 6189822538 | Republican Party | • Formed in 1854 by a coalition of Independent Democrats, Free Soilers, and Conscience Whigs united in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. • Stressed free labor and opposed the extension of slavery in the territories. • Moderates like Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery on "moral" grounds, while admitting that slavery had a "right" to exist where the Constitution originally allowed it to exist. • John C. Fremont was the first Republican candidate in the election of 1856 | 8 | |
| 6189822539 | Democrats (election of 1860) | • Split at the 1860 party convention, when a platform defending slavery was defeated and Deep South delegates walked out. • At a splinter convention, Stephen Douglas of Illinois was nominated as a candidate on a platform opposing any Congressional interference with slavery. • Deep South delegates met and nominated John Breckenridge of Kentucky as a candidate on a pro-slavery platform. | 9 | |
| 6189822540 | Republicans (election of 1860) | • The Republicans, by this time decidedly opposed to slavery, drew in northerners with a platform favoring the Homestead Act, protective tariffs, and transportation improvements. • Opposed the extension of slavery but defended the right of states to control their own "domestic institutions." • Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the candidate on the third ballot. | 10 | |
| 6189822541 | Republicans and Democrats | • The main parties blur during this period, with loyalties determined primarily by regional, religious, and ethnic differences as opposed to political platforms. • Voter turnout for elections averaged over 78 percent (60 to 80 percent in off years). • Both parties were pro-business, opposed to any type of economic radicalism or reform, and supportive of "sound currency" and the economic status quo. • Federal government and, to some extent, state governments tended to do very little. • Republicans dominated the Senate; Democrats dominated the House of Representatives. • Republican splinter groups include the Stalwarts, Halfbreeds, and Mugwumps. | 11 | |
| 6189822542 | Populist Party | • Formed in 1891 by remnants of the Farmers' Alliances. • Sported a long list of demands that included the free coinage of silver, government ownership of the railroads, telegraphs, and telephone lines, a graduated income tax, the direct election of U.S. senators, and the use of initiative, referendum, and recall. • The party eventually faded because the farmers' situation improved in the late 1890s, and also because its political agenda was absorbed by the Republicans and Democrats. | 12 | |
| 6189822543 | Progressive Era | • There were three "Progressive" Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt (Republican), William Howard Taft (Republican), and Woodrow Wilson (Democrat). • Believed that the laissez-faire system was obsolete, yet supported capitalism. • Applied the principles of science and efficiency to economics, social institutions, and politics. • Viewed government as a key player in creating an orderly, stable, and improved society. • Generally positive in outlook. Believed that the government had the power to combat special interests and work for the good of the community, state, and nation. • The political party system was singled out as corrupt, outmoded, inefficient, and undemocratic. • Believed corruption could be diminished by putting more power in the hands the people, as well as non-elected professional officials. • Adopted many Populist causes, including the referendum, the initiative, and the direct election of Senators. • Progressive Amendments to the U.S. Constitution = 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments. | 13 | |
| 6189822544 | Republican Era | • Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. • Position of the government was decidedly pro-business. Though conservative, the government did experiment with new approaches to public policy. • Supported an American culture that was increasingly urban, industrial, and consumer-oriented. • Conflicts surfaced regarding immigration restriction, Prohibition, and race relations. | 14 | |
| 6189822545 | The Democratic Political Legacy of the New Deal | • Democrats established a power base with the support of ethnic groups, city dwellers, organized labor, blacks, and a broad section of the middle class. • Increased expectations and acceptance of government involvement in American life. • Made the federal government a protector of interest groups and a mediator of competition. • Regulated American business to protect it from the excesses and problems of the past. • Fair Deal of the post-war Truman administration continued the trend in governmental involvement with expanded Social Security benefits, an increase of the minimum wage, a full employment program, slum clearance, public housing, and government sponsorship of scientific research. • In 1948, the liberal Democratic coalition split into the two branches detailed below. | 15 | |
| 6189822546 | Post-World War II Politics (Democrats) | Maintained their power base of organized labor, urban voters, and immigrants. • As the post-war period progressed, advocated larger roles for the federal government in regulating business. • By the 1960s, advocated extensive governmental involvement in social issues like education and urban renewal. • Became associated with the civil rights movement and championed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. | 16 | |
| 6189822547 | Post-World War II Politics (Republicans) | • The Republicans accused the Democrats of being "soft" on Communism. • Promised to end the Korean War. • Conservative Southern Democrats, the "Dixiecrats," increasingly associated themselves with Republican candidates opposing civil rights legislation. | 17 | |
| 6189822548 | Nixon's New Federalism (Democrats) | • By the 1960s, was fragmented and seemingly incapable of dealing with the social and political turmoil caused by the Vietnam War. • In the post-Vietnam period, Democrats advocated the extension of civil rights, "reproductive rights" (birth control and abortion rights), fair housing legislation, etc. |  | 18 |
| 6189822549 | Nixon's New Federalism (Republican) | Opposition to the Vietnam War and growing federal social programs "converted" Democrats in increasing numbers. • Defended the supposed "silent majority." • Advocated a policy of cutting back federal power and returning that power to the states. This was known as the "New Federalism. |  | 19 |
| 6189822550 | Reagan and the New Right (Democrats) | • Supported environmental legislation, limits on economic development, and an end to the production of nuclear weapons and power plants. • The pro-choice movement emerged during the 1980s to defend a woman's right to choose. • Affirmative action - the use of racial quotas to "balance" the workforce - was supported by the Democrats. | | 20 |
| 6189822551 | Reagan and the New Right (Republicans) | • Spurred on by the rise of Evangelical Christianity, the South began voting Republican. • Ethnic suburbanites and young conservatives formed a "New Right" supporting Reagan on a "law and order" platform. • Advocated stricter crime, drugs, and porn laws, opposed abortion, supported an increase in defense spending, and supported tax cuts. • Reagan curbed the government expansion but did not reduce its size or the scope of its powers. |  | 21 |
