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Democratic Party (United States)

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The Democratic Party is a United States political party. From 1833 to 1856, it was opposed chiefly by the Whig Party. From 1856 onward, it has been opposed chiefly by the Republican Party.

History

The Democratic party 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 the direct ties to the Democratic-Republican party, while modern Republican propaganda obscures it. Both parties have some ties to the Democratic-Republicans (the Democrats direct ties as a splinter party, and the Republicans looser ties from their broad base of former Whig voters), and neither party has identifiable ties to the opposition party of the day (the Federalist Party).

Following his defeat in the election of 1824 despite having a majority of the popular vote, Andrew Jackson set about building a political coalition strong enough to defeat John Q. Adams in the election of 1828. The coalition that he built was the foundation of today's modern Democratic party.

In the 1850s, following the disintegration of the Whig Party, the Democratic Party became increasingly associated with the continuation and expansion of slavery, in opposition of the newly formed Republican Party. 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:

  1. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
  2. Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
  3. James Knox Polk (1845-1849)
  4. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
  5. James Buchanan (1857-1861)
  6. Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)
  7. Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
  8. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
  9. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)
  10. Harry S Truman (1945-1953)
  11. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
  12. Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
  13. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
  14. Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Presidential candidates:

External link