Major Political Parties (1910)

The United States began as a one-party political system. George Washington and many others among the Revolutionary leaders wanted it to stay that way. In 1787, when the Constitution was written, the people were divided over whether to ratify it, although they were not yet organized into definite political parties.

The question of who should be the new President began to divide people into political organizations. On one side were the Federalists, representing business, finance and the middle classes of city folk. On the other side were the "Republicans" led by Thomas Jefferson. They represented mainly the country folk from Virginia. Thus by 1800 the one-party Revolutionary government of the United States quickly split up into a two-party system.

The present-day Democratic Party was founded in 1828. It united slave owners. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 and united people who were against slavering. The parties chose their own names, Republican and Democratic, but not their party emblems. The cartoonist Thomas Nast invented the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey in the early 1870s, and they soon became fixed types.

The differences between the two parties are so small that a voter will see no intellectual inconsistency in voting for a Republican President, a Democratic state governor, a Republican Senator and a Democratic member of the House.

How is an individual's party affiliation determined, or how does a person choose sides in the game of party politics? The first and perhaps the most important determinant is family tradition. Most voters take the party of their parents. Economic position ranks second in influence on party bias. Recently there has been an increasing tendency for the well-to-do to vote Republican and for the less fortunate to vote Democratic. National origin plays the role too; descendants of northern Europeans tend to the Republican Party, while those of southern and eastern Europeans prefer the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is in office now.

This traditional bipartisan system is highly cherished by Big Business, for it creates a sort of illusion that voters are free to choose between the candidates of these two parties, whereas both of them faithfully serve Big Business interests.

Check your comprehension.

1. What kind of party system was characteristic of the United States at the time of George Washington? 2. What were the first reasons of people's division into political parties? 3. Whom did the Federalists represent? 4. Who were the Republicans? 5. By what time were the two parties well separated? 6. What are the party emblems and who invented them? 7. What distinguishes the two parties? 8. Why is the traditional bipartisan system highly cherished by Big Business?

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