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Revision as of 21:19, 10 May 2003 by Smack (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Democratic Party is a United States political party. The modern Democratic Party was started by followers of Andrew Jackson. For the past 140 years, it has been opposed chiefly by the Republican Party.
(It is a direct descendant of the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson, as was the Whig Party. The United States Republican Party also sees itself as a spiritual descendant of the Democratic-Republicans, but the founding party leadership of the Democratic Party were in fact former members of the United States Democratic-Republican Party. Modern Democratic Party propaganda stresses this direct relationship, while modern Republican propaganda obscures it.)
In the 1850s, following the disintegration of the Whig Party, the Democratic Party became increasingly associated with the continuation and expansion of slavery. Democrats in the northern states opposed this new trend, and at the 1860 nominating convention (see the article on the election of that year), the party was split and nominated two candidates. As a result, the Democrats went down in defeat - part of the chain of events leading up to the Civil War. After the war, the Democrats were a shattered party, but eventually gathered enough support to elect Grover Cleveland to two terms in the presidency.
The Democratic Party was again driven into the opposition by William McKinley's election in 1896. It did not regain the presidency until Woodrow Wilson guided it onto a Progressive platform in 1912. The Republicans again took the lead in 1920 by championing laissez-faire. Franklin Delano Roosevelt then soundly defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932, paving the way for two decades of Democratic domination. FDR's New Deal program has been the basis of Democratic platforms ever since: left-liberal policies involving high taxes, activist government involvement, and quasi-Socialistic social welfare programs. See also New Deal Coalition.
On January 15, 1870 a political cartoon appearing in Harper's Weekly titled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast, for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey.
Democratic Party Presidents:
- Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
- Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
- James Knox Polk (1845-1849)
- Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
- James Buchanan (1857-1861)
- Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)
- Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
- Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)
- Harry S Truman (1945-1953)
- John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
- Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
- Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
- Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Presidential candidates:
- Andrew Jackson (Lost: 1824, Won: 1828, 1832)
- Martin Van Buren (Won: 1836, Lost: 1840)
- James Knox Polk (Won: 1844)
- Lewis Cass (Lost: 1848)
- Franklin Pierce (Won: 1852)
- James Buchanan (Won: 1856)
- John C. Breckinridge (Lost: 1860)
- George B. McClellan (Lost: 1864)
- Horatio Seymour (Lost: 1868)
- Horace Greeley (Lost: 1872)
- Samuel J. Tilden (Lost: 1876)
- Winfield S. Hancock (Lost: 1880)
- Grover Cleveland (Won: 1884, 1892, Lost: 1888)
- William Jennings Bryan (Lost: 1896, 1900, 1908)
- Alton B. Parker (Lost: 1904)
- Woodrow Wilson (Won: 1912, 1916)
- James M. Cox (Lost: 1920)
- John W. Davis (Lost: 1924)
- Alfred E. Smith (Lost: 1928)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt (Won: 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944)
- Harry S Truman (Won: 1948)
- Adlai Stevenson (Lost: 1952, 1956)
- John F. Kennedy (Won: 1960)
- Lyndon Johnson (Won: 1964)
- Hubert H. Humphrey (Lost: 1968) (see also: 1968 Democratic National Convention)
- George McGovern (Lost: 1972)
- Jimmy Carter (Won: 1976, Lost: 1980)
- Walter F. Mondale (Lost: 1984)
- Michael S. Dukakis (Lost: 1988)
- Bill Clinton (Won: 1992, 1996)
- Al Gore (Lost: 2000)