PROJECT SS7 CIVICS, CH. 8.1 THE GROWTH OF AMERICAN PARTIES DATE FALL 2016 CLIENT PP.
1. WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY?
A POLITICAL PARTY IS AN ASSOCIATION OF VOTERS WITH COMMON INTERESTS WHO WANT TO INFLUENCE GOVERNMENT BY ELECTING THE PARTY S CANDIDATES INTO OFFICE.
2. WHY ARE POLITICAL PARTIES FORMED?
ORIGINALLY, PARTIES WERE FORMED BECAUSE PEOPLE HAD DIFFERENT IDEAS ABOUT WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO.
3. WHAT IS THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM?
A TWO PARTY SYSTEM IS REPRESENTED BY A GOVERNMENT THAT FEATURES TWO KEY PARTIES COMPETING FOR POWER OF THAT GOVERNMENT.
AMERICA, LARGELY IS A TWO PARTY SYSTEM, EVEN THOUGH SMALLER, MUCH LESS POWERFUL PARTIES ARE FORMED FROM TIME TO TIME.
4. HOW DID THE FOUNDING FATHERS FEEL ABOUT POLITICAL PARTIES?
THEY WERE VERY AGAINST POLITICAL PARTIES. THE FEARED THAT PARTIES WOULD LEAD TO DIVISION, THUS WEAKENING THE NATION.
5. WHO LED THE FIRST TWO POLITICAL PARTIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY?
THE FIRST TWO POLITICAL PARTIES WERE LED BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND THOMAS JEFFERSON.
6. WHAT DID THESE TWO PARTIES DISAGREE ON?
THE PARTIES FORMED, WHEN DIFFERING OPINIONS AROSE ON THE AMOUNT OF POWER THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE.
HAMILTON FELT THAT IF THE FEDERAL GOV T WAS TOO WEAK, THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE COULD BE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE.
JEFFERSON, HOWEVER, FELT THAT A STRONG CENTRAL GOV T WOULD DO MORE TO INTERFERE WITH THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. HE, INSTEAD, FAVORED THE MAJORITY OF THE POWER LYING WITH THE STATES.
7. WHAT WERE THESE FIRST TWO PARTIES CALLED?
HAMILTON LED WHAT WOULD BECOME THE FEDERALIST PARTY, WHILE JEFFERSON LED THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY.
8. HOW DID TODAY S DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES FORM?
IN 1824, THE DEMOCRATICREPUBLICAN PARTY HAD FOUR CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. ULTIMATELY, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS DEFEATED ANDREW JACKSON.
SEPARATING DIFFERENCES AROSE, AND IN 1828, THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY HAD SPLIT.
SUPPORTERS OF JACKSON BECAME THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, WHILE THOSE WHO VOTED FOR ADAMS CALLED THEMSELVES THE NATIONAL REPUBLICANS.
9. WHO WAS THE WHIG PARTY?
AFTER THE SHORT EXISTENCE OF THE NATIONAL REPUBLICANS, THE WHIG PARTY FORMED AS THE PRIMARY OPPOSITION FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
10. HOW DID THE MODERN REPUBLICAN PARTY FORM?
AROUND THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR, 1854 TO BE EXACT, WHAT WE KNOW AS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FORMED.
THEIR PRIMARY PLATFORM SURROUNDED THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY AND RATHER IT SHOULD EXIST OR NOT. MOST REPUBLICANS WERE FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, WHILE OTHERS WERE AGAINST THE SPREAD OF THE INSTITUTION.
11. WHO DOMINATED AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR?
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WOULD DOMINATE THE 75 YEARS FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR, WITH A DEMOCRAT ONLY SERVING AS PRESIDENT FOR 16 YEARS OF THAT 75 YEAR SPAN.
12. WHAT SHIFTED THAT POWER, STARTING IN THE 1930S?
THAT POWER SHIFTED WHEN THE GREAT DEPRESSION STRUCK IN THE 1930S.
13. HOW MANY TIMES HAS THE REPUBLICANS WON THE PRESIDENCY SINCE 1968? DEMOCRATS?
SINCE 1968, THE REPUBLICANS HAVE HAD 7 PRESIDENTS COMPARED TO THE DEMOCRATS 4.
14. WHAT ARE THIRD PARTIES?
SMALLER PARTIES THAT POP UP FROM TIME TO TIME ARE KNOWN AS THIRD PARTIES. THEY HARDLY EVER GAIN MUCH OF A VOTER BASE, AND USUALLY ONLY SERVE TO SWING ELECTIONS ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
15. DESCRIBE SOME TYPES OF THIRD PARTIES.
* SINGLE ISSUE PARTIES PARTIES THAT SUPPORT A SINGLE ISSUE. *OTHER THIRD PARTIES ARE BASED ON A PERSON OR GROUPS PERSONAL BELIEFS.
STILL OTHER THIRD PARTIES FORM UNDER A STRONG OR CHARISMATIC LEADER. DESPITE THAT CHARISMA, THE THIRD PARTY STILL OFTEN GAINS ENOUGH SUPPORT TO WIN.
16. WHY IS THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM RARE?
THEY ARE RARE FROM THE STANDPOINT THAT MOST NATIONS HAVE MULTIPARTY SYSTEMS, WITH MANY IDEAS AND OPINIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED.
17. GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF A COUNTRY WITH A ONE PARTY SYSTEM. NAME THAT COUNTRY S PARTY.
SOME COUNTRIES HAVE A SINGLE PARTY SYSTEM, LIKE CHINA, WHERE THE COMMUNIST PARTY IS THE ONLY PARTY IN OPERATION.
18. WHAT ARE THE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TODAY S REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC PARTIES?
THE DEMOCRATS BELIEVE THE GOV T SHOULD BE MORE INVOLVED IN PEOPLE S LIVES, PROVIDING HOUSING, HEALTH CARE, ETC.
REPUBLICANS BELIEVE IN LESS GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT, WITH THE CITIZENS HAVING A GREATER EFFECT ON THE ECONOMY, AND THUS THEIR OWN LIVES.
NON PARTISAN GEORGE WASHINGTON
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS Abraham Lincoln William H. Taft Ulysses S. Grant Warren G. Harding Rutherford B. Hayes Clavin Coolidge James A Garfield Benjamin Harrison Herbert Hoover Gerald Ford Ronald Regan George H.W. Bush George W. Bush Dwight D. Eisenhower Donald J. Trump Theodore Roosevelt Richard Nixon
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS Andrew Jackson William H. Taft Martin Van Buren Woodrow Wilson James K. Polk Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Pierce Harry S. Truman James Buchanan John F. Kennedy Grover Cleveland Lyndon B. Johnson Jimmy Carter Bill Clinton Barack Obama
FEDERALIST PRESIDENTS JOHN ADAMS
DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams James Buchanan Grover Cleveland
WHIG PRESIDENTS William Henry Harrison John Tyler Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore
NATIONAL UNION PARTY PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON