The Party of Slavery
The Party of Slavery

Images of 7th U.S. President Andrew Jackson and current President-Elect Joe Biden. — Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Democratic Party of the United States can trace its origin back to its founding days in the late 1790s. Today’s Democratic Party is the oldest existing political party in the United States. However, the party has undergone a significant evolution since its dawning days. Over the past two centuries, the once conservative-minded political party who favored limited government has evolved into the liberal-leaning big government supporting political party that we know today. The origin story and evolution of the oldest existing American political party is an interesting one, indeed.

The Origin of the Democratic Party

The United States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. Political parties were never mentioned in this document. However, the founding fathers broke off into various political factions before the constitution was even written. The two main political coalitions that emerged during this time were the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were supporters of the Federalist coalition. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison supported the Democratic-Republican faction. — Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Federalist Party was the mastermind of Alexander Hamilton. This party was in favor of a strong central government and a national banking system. Some of the most well-known supporters of the Federalist faction were the first two presidents of the United States, George Washington, and John Adams.

The opposition to the Federalists were the Democratic-Republicans, who supported a decentralized and limited government. The 3rd U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson, and the 4th U.S. President, James Madison, were strong supporters of the Democratic-Republican platform.

While George Washington aligned more with the ideals of the Federalists, he ran without a political affiliation. Washington was unanimously elected as president in the first two U.S. presidential elections. The struggle between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans parties did not become a true issue until the 1796 U.S. presidential election.

In the nation’s third presidential election, the Federalist John Adams faced off against the Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson. There were 16 states in the Union, with Tennessee being the latest admitted on June 1, 1796. Out of the 16 states, Adams carried nine and Jefferson carried seven. With this outcome, Johns Adams became the second United States President with the majority of his support coming from the Northern states.

Results of the 1796 U.S. Presidential Election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

As the map election map indicates, the Democratic-Republicans found most of their support among the southern states. This trend would continue for several decades. President John Adams would serve only one term, being beaten by Thomas Jefferson during the next election cycle. With Jefferson’s victory in the 1800 U.S. presidential election, the popularity of the Democratic-Republican party exploded. Jefferson would become a two-term president and gained significant support in the northern states.

The Democratic-Republican party would dominate politics throughout the early 1800s. The next three presidents, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, all came from the Democratic-Republican party. In terms of the Federalist faction, the party took a hit after the War of 1812 and would cease to exist within the U.S. by 1824. While the Democratic-Republican party dominated the era, 7th U.S. President Andrew Jackson ushered in a new form of the Democratic party in 1828.

The Jacksonian Era

In the 1824 U.S. presidential election, four Democratic-Republican candidates ran against one another. The candidates were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay. None of the candidates secured a majority of the electoral votes in 1824. However, Andrew Jackson had won the popular vote handily with 151,271 votes. In comparison, Adams, Crawford, and Clay received 113,122 votes, 40,856 votes, and 47,531 votes, respectively.

Results of the 1824 U.S. Presidential Election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Even though Jackson secured more votes, U.S. presidents are selected through the electoral college. Since no candidate secured a majority of electoral votes, the U.S. House of Representatives held a contingent election under provisions outlined in the Twelfth Amendment. Through this process, John Quincy Adams was named the victor and became the 6th President of the United States. As to be expected, Andrew Jackson was furious with the result.

As a result of the 1824 election, Andrew Jackson and the New York Senator Martin Van Buren created their own runoff political faction from the Democratic-Republicans simply called the Democratic Party. Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren are credited as the founders of the modern Democratic Party that we know today. Following the decisions made in the 1824 election, the main Democratic-Republican party officially dissolved in 1825.

Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, the founders of the Democratic Party. -Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the next election cycle, Andrew Jackson ran as a Democrat against the sitting President John Quincy Adams. During his second election bid, Adams ran under the National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party. In the face-off between Jackson and Adams in the 1828 U.S. Presidential Election, Andrew Jackson would prove victorious, winning both the popular vote and electoral college. Jackson would become the 7th U.S. President, beginning the dominance of Democratic leadership in the executive branch. John Quincy’s National Republican Party would completely dissolve by 1834, while Jacksonian Democrats would win six of the next eight presidential elections from 1828 until 1856.

While the National Republican Party had dissolved, another opposition to the Democratic Party emerged during the Jacksonian era. This party, led by Henry Clay of Kentucky, was known as the Whig Party. The Democratic Party and the Whig Party remained the two main national parties in the United States until the late 1850s. The Whig Party officially dissolved in 1856, and the Democratic Party took on new energy during the Civil War and Reconstruction era.

The Civil War and Reconstruction Era

Around seventy years after the founding of the United States, the issue of slavery was finally forced to be dealt with. The Jacksonian Democratic Party had support in both Northern and Southern states. However, Northern and Southern Democrats were split in their support over slavery and its expansion into Western territory. During the Democratic Party’s 1860 national convention, the Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge for president, and the Northern Democrats nominated Stephan Douglas.

In the 1860 U.S. Presidential Election, Stephan Douglas ran as a Democrat, and John C. Breckinridge ran as a Southern Democrat. The split democratic ticket faced the Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln and third-party Constitutional Union nominee John Bell. Abraham Lincoln would secure a victory in the 1860 election, becoming the first Republican President in U.S. history.

Results of the 1860 U.S. Presidential Election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Republican Party or Grand Old Party had been founded just six years before Lincoln’s victory. The GOP was founded on the liberal ideology of the era. The GOP emerged as opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as the act gave the potential to expand slavery into western territory. The liberal Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery and supported economic reform by means of big government. Lincoln’s Republican party brought the United States the first personal income tax, the first national banking system, the Department of Agriculture, the Pacific Railroad Act for a federally-funded intercontinental railroad, and the Morrill Act for federally-funded higher education or land grant universities.

While the original GOP consisted of leftists who supported big government, the party would undergo an ideology shift after former President Theodore Roosevelt left the party in 1912. Roosevelt would form his own political faction called the Progressive Party, bringing the liberal-minded Republicans with him. This left the Republican Party to be dominated by conservative-minded individuals. The GOP has continued to increasingly swing to the right over the last century.

The Bull Moose was the official mascot of Theodore Roosevelt’s new Progressive Party. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

While the leftist Republican party continued to thrive in the eras of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, the Democratic Party would solidify itself as the party of the South and slavery during the remainder of the 19th century. White Democratic Southerners continued to oppose the Republican Party’s big-government agenda and their measures to bring more rights to African Americans. From the end of the Civil War until the late 1890s, the Democratic Party established itself as the party of rural agrarianism and conservative values. However, the Democratic Party would once again undergo an ideological evolution as the 20th century approached.

The New Deal and the Progressive Era

The real catalyst in the ideological shift that occurred in the Democratic Party during the beginning of the Progressive Era in the late 1890s can be attributed to the Nebraskan politician William Jennings Bryan. Bryan had ties to the left-wing agrarian Populist Party of the late 19th-century. However, in the 1896 presidential election, Bryan would run as a Democrat. In his Democratic election bid, Bryan would draw in votes from both the conservative-leaning Democrats and the left-wing Populist Party too. While Bryan would lose his election bid to William McKinley, his campaign fundamentally altered the Democratic Party by moving the party in a more liberal-leaning direction.

Results of the 1896 U.S. presidential election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the Democratic Party would move even further to the left during the Great Depression-era and World War II. In the years of Reconstruction, Republicans had established themselves as the party of big business as they had strong support in the industrialized North. During the early 20th century, the Republican party was synonymous with the upper-class elite. The Republicans would thrive from the Reconstruction era until the late 1920s. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the party of big business took a hit. Many Americans blamed the Republican party for the crisis and were angry with Republican leaders who showed resistance toward providing direct government intervention during the crisis. This dissatisfaction led to a surge in the Democratic Party.

In the U.S. presidential election of 1932, the Democratic candidate won with a landslide victory. In the election of 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt secured 472 electoral votes. In comparison, the sitting Republican President Herbert Hoover only collected 59 electoral votes. With his 1932 victory, FDR became the first Democratic President since Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 victory. FDR would usher in multiple federally funded relief programs throughout the 1930s. President Roosevelt’s New Deal was largely supported throughout the nation, allowing FDR to be elected to four presidential terms.

Results of the 1932 U.S. presidential election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Civil Rights Era

During the Civil Rights era, the Democratic and Republican parties started to emerge as the liberal and conservative factions that we are more familiar with in the Modern era.

Results of the 1960 U.S. presidential election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Following the end of World War II in 1945, into the beginning of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, white Southerners increasingly migrated toward the Republican party. What drew white Southerns to the Republican party during the Civil Rights era was the party’s opposition to big government, expanding labor unions, and extending civil rights to African Americans. Following the Depression and the New Deal, black voters had also increasingly moved toward the Democratic Party.

Results of the 1964 U.S. presidential election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the 1960s, the Democratic Party became associated with social justice under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Democrats championed civil rights and made substantial efforts toward racial desegregation. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. Following the Johnson administration, the Republican Party would take a stronghold over the executive branch. The Democrats did not make a strong comeback in executive leadership until the 1990s.

The Modern Era

Over the last thirty years, the executive branch has been shared pretty evenly between the Democratic and Republican coalitions. Since 1992, there have been three Democratic Presidents and two Republican Presidents elected to office. Democrat Bill Clinton served two terms between 1993 and 2001. Republican George W. Bush would earn two terms, serving between 2001 and 2009. The Democrat Barack Obama won two terms, serving the presidency between 2009 and 2017. The Republican Donald Trump was elected to one term, serving between 2017 and 2021. The Democrat Joe Biden was elected to the presidency in the 2020 presidential election. He should take office in January 2021.

Results of the 1992 U.S. presidential election. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In the 1992 U.S. presidential election, Bill Clinton would defeat the sitting U.S. President George H.W. Bush. By the time of Clinton’s second term, the country reached a period of prosperity. To achieve this prosperity, Clinton chose to reduce spending on social programs and supported international trade agreements. However, the economic success Clinton had brought to the nation was quickly overshadowed by his personal scandals. President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 because of these scandals. However, he was acquitted by the Senate in 1999 and finished out his second presidential term.

The Republican George W. Bush would win the election of 2000 through the electoral college. The Republicans would maintain authority in the executive branch for eight years. After eight years of a Republican presidency, Democrat Barack Obama would win the 2008 presidential election. With his victory, Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. History. Throughout his presidency, Obama used federal funds to make record investments in education initiatives, environmental research, industrial modernization, and health-care reform.

A photo of Barack Obama and Joe Biden from July 2012. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Barack Obama and the Democratic Party held onto the executive branch between 2009 and 2017. Joe Biden served as Obama’s vice-president throughout these years. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Republican Donald Trump beat the Democrat Hillary Clinton through the electoral college. In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, President Trump ran for reelection against the Democrat Joe Biden. Biden won both the popular vote and electoral college and is currently the President-Elect of the United States. Joe Biden is expected to take office in January 2021.

From the party of small government and states’ rights to the party of big government and social justice, the Democratic Party has experienced quite an evolution over the past 200 years.
['Danielle Gibson']
['Government', 'History', 'Politics', 'Political History', 'American History']