AP US History Political Parties Flashcards

7947777208	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
7947777209	Federalists	• Strong central government. • Loose interpretation of the Constitution. • Commerce and manufacturing. • Strongest in Northeast. • Close ties with Britain. • Order and stability.	1
7947777210	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
7947777211	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
7947777212	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
7947777213	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
7947777214	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
7947777215	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
7947777216	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
7947777217	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
7947777218	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
7947777219	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
7947777220	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
7947777221	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
7947777222	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
7947777223	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
7947777224	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
7947777225	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
7947777226	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
7947777227	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
7947777228	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
7947777229	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