Political Parties

GovernmentMr. Biddle

Why Do we have Political Parties?

• To unite under common interests to gain strength in numbers

• The voice and will of an individual citizen can be easily lost

Political Party

• Political Party – a group of people with broad common interests who organize to win elections, control government, and thereby influence government policies

Click Link for origin Story:http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-civil-war/donkey-elephant1.htm

The First Use of the Donkey as a Symbol for the Democratic Party

First use of the Elephant as the Republican Party

History of Parties

• By the end of George Washington’s 2nd term as president 2 strong parties had developed in the US

• 1. Federalist- They called for a strong central government

• 2. Democratic-Republicans- They believed the states should have more power and the central government should have limited power

History of Parties

• The Federalists power declined after John Adams lost his bid for re-election in the 1800 election

• The D-R Party gained power when Jefferson became President in 1801– The D-R controlled politics

unchallenged through the 1820s

History of Parties

• In 1828, Andrew Jackson won the presidency and the D-R party split over disagreeing on banking, tariffs, and slavery issues

• The split created:– Democratic Party– National Republican Party

(Whigs) Modern Whig Party Owl Symbol

History of Parties

• Eventually, in the years leading up to the Civil War a new party would form from the Whig party

• The Republican party was formed by Whigs who opposed the spread of slavery

History of Parties

• After the Civil War the Whig party disappeared and the country was left with two major parties– Democrats– Republicans

History of Parties

• From a span of 1860 to 1932 the Republicans controlled the presidency

• During that time Democrats only held the office for 4 terms

• In 1932, with the US going through the Great Depression the Democrats took office with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt

History of Parties

• For most of the next 60 years the Democrats were the majority party in office and in congress

• Starting in 1968, The Republicans controlled the White House for 7 of the next 10 Presidential terms

• During President Clinton’s presidency there was a Democratic president working with a republican congress for the first time since Harry Truman’s presidency

Minor Parties

• Minor Parties seldom, if ever, win elections. They are also known as Third Parties

• Third Party- Any party other than one of the two major parties [(D) or (R)]– More than one can run

against the (D) or (R) and still be considered a Third party

– They exist because they believe the major parties aren’t meeting certain needs

5 Purposes of a Minor Party

• They provide a platform for non-mainstream political views (Ex- Green Party)

• They prevent the major parties from ignoring real problems and issues

• They "spoil" elections• They may become a major

party (Rare)• They can be really

entertaining

Types of Third Parties

• Single Issue- This type of party focuses on one major social, economic, or moral issue– Their issue is normally

short lived– These fade away when

an issue ceases to be important or one of the major parties takes up their issue

Types of Third Parties

• Ideological Party- This type of party focuses on the overall change is society rather than one issue– Ex- Socialist Labor Party or

Communist Party – these want the gov’t to own all of the resources and take on a more active role in society

– Ex- Libertarian Party- It calls for a drastic reductions in government control in order to increase personal freedoms

Types of Third Parties

• Splinter Party- A party that splits away from one of the major parties, because of some type of disagreement– Ex- The Progressive/Bull

Moose Party- In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt split from the Republican party when he didn’t get the presidential nomination from them

– These types of parties typically fade away with the defeat of their candidate

The Impact of Third Parties

• Minor Parties have influenced the outcome of national elections

Examples• TR’s Bull Moose party drew many (R)

votes away from President Taft (R) leading to the election of Woodrow Wilson (D) in 1912

• In 1968, the American Independent Party won 13.5% of the vote and is credited with helping Richard Nixon (R) elected

• Some people believe Ross Perot’s Independent party campaign took votes away from George H. Bush (R), helping Bill Clinton (D) win in 1992.