Written by Rachele Terranova, Graphics by Nadia Nugent
History of Political Parties
Now that we are registered and ready to vote, in order to continue our process of becoming informed it’s important to understand the origins of political parties and their platforms. Understanding the formation of the political parties we know today can seem daunting and complicated, but with as much brevity as possible I’ll break down the basics!
Beginnings
Political parties were formed in the United States during the struggle to ratify the Constitution in 1787. The Federalists and Anti-Federalists, eventually known as Democratic-Republicans, were the first real partisan opposition America saw as an independent nation. “The baneful effects of the spirit of party,” was how George Washington noted it during his Presidential farewell address.
Though many of those who led the American Revolution did not approve of the idea of political parties, they realized their necessity. Federalists drew their supporters from businessmen, merchants and bankers, while Democratic-Republicans were based around artisans and farmers.
Evolution Over Time
Since then, political parties have seen major shifts. With the first party system of Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, the DR’s were led by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson — a strong opposition to Alexander Hamilton who led the Federalists. But soon, the Jeffersonians rose to power in 1800, and by the mid-1810s, the Federalists were unable to compete.
The second party system came at the split of the Democratic-Republicans into the Whigs, which, in turn, came the National Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Their differences were largely based on the support of the Bank of the United States. The Whigs then collapsed around the 1850s due to a lack of unification.
Between then and the late 1800s, the Republican Party was formed on a platform of anti-slavery, with many similar economic beliefs as the Whigs. The Democratic Party was the alternative. Republicans, at the time, were businessmen, shop owners and anyone interested in modernization. Democrats were still pro-slavery, and the party often held the Senate and or the House of Representatives.
Fast forward through the development of labor unions, racial segregation, women’s suffrage and other social and political shifts. The Democrats and Republicans switched platforms around the 1900s when democrat William Jennings Bryan started taking a more socially progressive stance on many issues which was traditionally the Republican platform.
American Political Party System
Roles of Parties
Though the first leaders of America did not intend nor approve of partisanship, which I will define later, they do play an important role. Political parties are the groups of individuals who share similar beliefs on social and political matters and organize to use their collective voice to further their personal beliefs.
First, parties nominate candidates to run for office at every level of the government. The candidates are the voice and face of a party and represent their platforms.
Second, through holding public office, the candidates can influence policy. In the Senate and House of Representatives, they work together to pass laws that support their platform.
Third, Parties are a source of balance. There is a clear source of majority versus minority with whichever political party is in the majority working with that advantage to pass policies they believe in. The minority will still fight for legislation they want to be passed, but often are working harder to oppose the other parties policies from passing.
Last, they are responsible for informing citizens of their party’s plan. They run campaigns, run ads, essentially flood the media with good messages of their candidate. These resources are, of course, biased due to the nature of their intentions, so it is important to utilize more than your own party’s educational resources.
Two-Party System
In the U.S., we have a two-party system. There are occasionally third parties that come up, but they have typically been absorbed or didn’t find enough support to remain relevant. Though Democrats and Republicans have some strongly opposing views, they are generally united over basic political values. We are all united under the Constitution, the system of government we follow, and the election process we use to get there.
This winner-take-all electoral system is simple, when a candidate gets the largest number of votes, that is the winner. This does not mean they have to win over 50 percent of the votes — if a third party is in an election and they receive a decent amount of votes, that doesn’t take away from the majority winner of the election.
Branches of Government
Another factor in understanding how parties work and impact our government is taking into account the three branches of government under the Constitution. These branches are a system of checks and balances — they collectively govern the country checking in on one another.
Legislative
This is the branch that creates laws. Congress consists of the Senate and House of Representatives. In the Senate, there are one hundred Senators who serve six years at a time, while the House consists of four hundred and thirty-five Representatives elected every two years, though their terms are staggered.
Executive
Second is the branch that houses the President. A President is elected every four years. This is also the branch that includes the Vice President and the Cabinet. They are elected to carry out the laws.
Judicial
Finally, the third branch was created to evaluate laws. It is made up of the Supreme Court, which has nine Justices that, once elected, may stay in office as long as they choose to stay. Within this branch, there are the additional federal courts.
Current Platforms
Many people don’t identify with a party at all, this is the Independent Party. This party is non-partisan, meaning they are not affiliated with any political party. But, since Democrats and Republicans are the two major parties at play in our political system, so I am going to clarify the basics of their platforms.
Democrat Platform
The Democratic party has several major points of interest. First, the importance of climate science and prioritizing the climate crisis. Democrats are very progressive socially, fighting for gay marriage, LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights. More controversially, Democrats are for gun control, affordable education, Medicare/Medicaid, the legalization of marijuana and decreasing the control of the one percent. Democrats are the younger population with strong views on racial and social equality, making this a widely diverse party.
Republican Platform
The Conservative party is largely in social and financial opposition to the liberal Democratic party. The Republican party is generally an older population made of a less socially diverse group of people. They are statistically more religious. Republicans are pro-life, less inclined to pass LGBTQ+ legislation, they are typically against the legalization of marijuana and climate change is not a top priority. They are, however, interested in cracking down on crime and increasing restrictions on immigration, they prefer low government involvement in fiscal matters, are pro-gun rights and pro-military.
Political Partisanship, Polarization and Identity Politics
Partisanship and polarization are intrinsically linked to one another. Partisanship in this case is the support of a party with biased political leanings. Due to increasing allegiances to parties and their identities, there is a larger gap between people that is driving parties apart.
Polarization in politics is the expanding gap between conservatives and liberals due to drastic ideological differences. This can be harmful because it’s easy to intertwine our identities with our partisan allegiances. Thus we have identity politics — when someone’s political approach is based on their socio-political background. Since it has become more common for people to exist in a political party with only like-minded individuals, while in the past both parties saw a far more even distribution of beliefs on both sides, we have a hard time humanizing the other party without having personal ties.
With the events of the past year, political polarization in America has become even more deeply personal. It is important now, more than ever, to fully understand candidates and their platforms from as non-partisan a position as possible — and though setting aside a personal agenda when choosing candidates may seem unnecessary and unreasonable, it is an injustice to do anything less than pay mind to both party platforms.
Sources and Resources
