History of Political Parties in the United States (Research Paper Sample)

Name
Course
Instructor
Date
History of Political Parties in the United States
The history of United States parties dates back in 1787 when Hamilton and several other political leaders who strongly wanted a powerful central government formed the Federalist Party. In 1796, Jefferson and together with other political leaders who were against the federalists, formed the Anti-federalist Party. Over years, these two parties have developed into the current Democratic and Republican parties. This paper seeks to explore the history of the Democratic, Republican, and Whig parties, as well as the Know Nothing Party.
1 The Democratic Party
The Democratic Party traces its history back to the great anti-federalists, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. However, the name "Democratic Party" was not adopted until the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828. In the 1840s, the party members differed because of the issue of slavery. The southern democrats supported slavery across all territories while the northern democrats objected it. Consequently, in 1860, the party split at its presidential convention. Southern democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge and the northern democrats nominated Stephen Douglas to run for presidency in an election campaign that Abraham Lincoln won with the Republican Party.
After the civil war, southern democrats were determined to dominate the region, and as a result, they adopted both peaceful and fraudulent strategies to redeem state after state. By 1877, they had managed to win all the southern states. Consequently, from 1880-to-1960, the southern states voted for the Democratic Party in the presidential elections.
After the Second World War, the democrats were on the defensive side, and they had a strong relationship with the Soviet Union. However, as the cold war unfolded, the republicans began to gain more support and as a result, democrats lost the national election both in 1952 and 1956. Democrats managed to regain the white house in 1960, led by John F. Kennedy. Unable to reject the Civil Rights Movement in 1964, the southern democrats for the fist time supported the Republican Party, which won the elections. Since then the Solid South has been under the control of the Republican Party.
2 The Republican Party
The Republican Party (also known as GOP) is the second oldest party in the United States after the Democratic Party. It was started in 1854 to promote modernization of the nation’s economy and counter the extension of slavery into various states. The party rapidly gained support in the north, and as a result, in 1856, they nominated John C. Fremont to run for presidency. Although the party lost the presidential seat, it dominated the north by winning in 11 out of the 16 northern states. In 1860, the party’s presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln won the national elections. However, the prolonged civil war which began in 1861 weakened the party’s political base. Consequently, Lincoln nominated Andrew Johnson, a pro-war Tennessee Democrat as his vice presidential candidate in order to broaden his appeal for re-election. Lincoln’s strategy was successful; as the party went on to win the 1864 elections.
Since the election of Lincoln in 1864, republicans dominated the United States politics until 1932. The main supporters of the Republican Party included businessmen, factory workers, farmers, the northern white Protestants, small business owners, and African-Americans. The party supported banks, businessmen, the gold standard, and construction of railroads as well as high tariffs to grow industry faster and protect factory workers. Under Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley, the party strongly supported an expansive foreign policy. During the Great depression, the party’s influence weakened throughout the nation, and as a result from 1932-to-1964, the Democratic Party dominated the U.S. elections.
After the approval of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Democratic Party lost control of the south, enabling the Republican Party to resurge, winning the presidential elections from 1968-to-1988. From 1992-to-date, however, the party won only two times, with the most recent being the 2004 elections in which George W. Bush was the party’s presidential candidate.
3 The Whig Party
The Whig party was established in 1834 to counter the authoritarian policies of Andrew Jackson. Unable to unite in 1836, the party offered three presidential candidates who were easily bea...