Unit 4.3: Party On, Dudes!

1. Unit 4.3: Party On, Dudes! I sent the club a wire: Please accept my resignation, I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member" -Groucho Marx

2. The First Party System This can be confusing -- remember, the Federalists here are descended from, but not exactly the same as, the people who were advocates of the Constitution from 1787-1790. • Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans • Origin in the Washington Administration, especially the policies of A. Hamilton. • Jefferson and Madison emerge as ‘opposition leaders’ to Hamilton • North, merchant, Anglophile vs South, farming, Francophile The First Party Collapse • “Revolution of 1800”? • Federalists become more and more regional, wither away post-1812.

3. The Idea of “Realignment” The term, along with ‘realigning election,’ usually used to refer to a shift from one political party coalition system to another. • Realignment • Party coalitions are composed of multiple specific groups with distinct interests. • On a regular basis, those groups grow, shrink, or move between parties. • The result is a “new system” of coalitions and, therefore, a new party system. Does Realignment Work? • Realigning Elections hard to identify and can be flawed • Shifts are slower and more subtle than one realignment.

4. The Second Party System There were a number of important third parties that messed with coalitions in this period – Free Soil Parties, Know-Nothing Parties, and so on. • Democrats vs Whigs • Era of Good Feelings, then meltdown from 1824-8. • Emergence of Andrew Jackson as populist leader. • New coalitions, new voters with universal white male suffrage set up system. • Emergence of the West as a set of coalition interests. The Second Party Collapse • Sectional Crisis: The 1850s • Democrats become increasingly broad, Whigs unable to hold together Northern factions. • Election of 1860 – Realignment?

5. The Third Party System There were a number of important third parties that messed with coalitions in this period – Free Soil Parties, Know-Nothing Parties, and so on. • (Lincoln) Republicans vs (Cleveland) Democrats • No real party system during Reconstruction – Democrats weak without South voting. • “Bourbon” Democrats represent a new South, Catholics and new migrants in the North, and more. • Rise of ‘machine politics’. The Third Party Collapse • ‘The Populist Revolt’ – large third parties emerge and force a change of coalitions, roughly 1890-6. However, the parties do not change names!

6. The Fourth Party System There were a number of important third parties that messed with coalitions in this period – Free Soil Parties, Know-Nothing Parties, and so on. • (T.R.) Republicans vs (Wilson) Democrats • Republicans shifted to include Progressive impulses, Western groups, new migrants in cities. • Evolves to lassiez-faire Republicans of 1920s. • Democrats retain South, some urban machines. The Fourth Party Collapse • Democrats lose successive elections in the 1920s, then the Great Depression discredits Republicans – there are no stable coalitions left in 1930!

7. The New Deal System There were a number of important third parties that messed with coalitions in this period – Free Soil Parties, Know-Nothing Parties, and so on. • New Deal Coalition vs Eisenhower Coalition • Roosevelt brought organized labor, some African-Americans, urban and agrarian voters together. • New Deal Coalition leaves out only a few, Roosevelt’s leadership strengthens it. • Most important coalition! Why This Coalition? • Keeps multiple group’s interests running simultaneously. • Builds strong party machines in diverse environments. • Innovates policymaking method

8. The Collapse of the New Deal There were a number of important third parties that messed with coalitions in this period – Free Soil Parties, Know-Nothing Parties, and so on. • Race and the 1960s • Southern wing of the New Deal Coalition became increasingly hostile to ending Jim Crow. • African-American voters became increasingly interested in ending Jim Crow. • Vietnam and Communism • Eisenhower versus Truman • Increasing involvement in Vietnam under LBJ. • Did politics stop at waters edge? • Nixon’s Southern Strategy • Dissolve the New Deal Coalition • Southern voters on race issues • Suburban voters on the war.

9. The Modern Party System • Reagan Republicans • Reagan rehabilitates Republican image after Nixon, Ford. • ‘Reagan Democrats’ are moderates attracted by image. • Similar electoral patterns to Nixon’s strategies. • Clinton Democrats • Rehabilitates organization of Democrats after 1960s. • ‘New Left’ – moderate reformism, no radicalism. • The Moral Majority • Evangelical vote emerges into politics in the 1980s. • Crystallizes around Republicans in the 1990s – remember culture wars?