Summary of Two-Party Development Between 1789 and 1876

Summary of Two-Party Development between 1789 and 1876

This information is meant to reveal the patterns in the development of the two major parties. It does not include the events, the reasons for the party splits, and other information provided in the Content Pages or the readings for these periods. It does not cover the 3^rd (and more) parties that develop in the period from 1789 to 1876 except for those parties that evolved into the Republican Party.

- Abbreviated Chronology of the Two Parties That Develop Between 1789 and 1840

- Abbreviated Chronology of the Rise of an Effective Third Party that Supplanted the Whigs

- Cautions about the Overview Comparisons That Follow

- Overview Comparison of Federalists and Democratic-Republicans Circa 1800

- Overview Comparison of Whigs and Democrats Circa 1840

- Evolution of Republican Issues

- Republican Issues Revealed by Post-Secession Actions

Abbreviated Chronology of the Two Parties That Developed Between 1789 and 1840

¾ = Indicates no political opposition (only 1 party)

“ = Indicates the same parties as the prior Presidential election year

Date	Party 1	Party 2
1789	Federalist¾pushed though the Constitution; then, under Washington’s administration, set up many of the governmental institutions and financial polices following Alexander Hamilton’s direction. (Details: James Madison was a member of the Federalists group, but Madison will later become a Democratic-Republican.)	¾
1792	“	¾
1796	Federalist	Democratic-Republican (Details: this party follows the policies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.)
1800	“	“
1804	“	“
1808	“	“
1812	“	“
1816	Last Federalist Presidential candidate	Democratic-Republican (Details: some of the people officially in this party started to have positions on economic nationalism that match the positions held by Hamilton and they will eventually leave the Democratic-Republican party¾see the official split in 1828.)
1820	¾	Democratic-Republican
1824	¾	“
1828	National Republican (Details: this party had positions on economic nationalism that match the positions held by Hamilton.)	Democratic (Details: this party had policies similar to the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans¾and, therefore, the Democrats are considered the oldest US political party.)
1832	“	“
1836	Whig (Details: this party had positions on economic nationalism that match the positions held by Hamilton¾and it has the same leadership as the National Republicans.)	Democratic
1840	“	“

Abbreviated Chronology of the Rise of an Effective 3rd Party that Supplanted the Whigs

There had been other 3^rd parties prior to 1840, with the most well-known of these obscure parties being the Anti-Mason (for practical purposes the anti-Jackson, anti-Van Buren) Party in 1832. In 1840, the first party dealing with slavery began to alter the political structure of the nation, in part because the major parties were not dealing with issues that had consequences for diverse groups of Americans. As the information following the word but indicates in the Party 1 and Party 2 columns, the major parties were starting to violate their own tradition or run on things (such as a war record) that let them avoid the people’s issues.

Two phrases are used in the column Varied Anti-Slavery Parties:

§ Spoiler to—indicates the party’s existence blocked the necessary popular votes and altered the outcome of the national election for that party (Example: Spoiler to Whigs indicates the Whigs lost the Presidential election because of the 3^rd party).

§ Stolen Issue—indicates the party began to campaign on an issue previously associated with one of the major parties, usually the Whigs. Clicking on the link takes you to a table showing the issues.

Date	Party 1	Party 2	Varied Anti-Slavery Parties
1840	Whig	Democratic	Liberty Party Advocated free soil
1844	Whig—but its campaign did not include the National Bank, a typical Whig issue	Democratic—but its campaign was primarily on expansion (the annexation of Texas and Oregon)	Liberty Party 9 times 1840 vote Spoiler to Whigs
1848	Whig—but campaigned on the Presidential candidate’s war record	Democratic—but campaigned on Congress not being empowered to deal with slavery in the states	Free Soil Party 42 times 1840 vote Spoiler to Democrats Stolen Issue Absorbed Liberty Party Slogan: “Free soil, free labor, and free men.”
1852	Whig—but campaigned on the Compromise of 1850	Democratic—but campaigned on the Compromise of 1850 and the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions (from 1798 era)	Free Soil Party 22 times 1840 vote Stolen Issue
1856	Whig—but joined with the American Party (the nativist Know-Nothings)[1]	Democratic—but campaigned on the Compromise of 1850	Republican Party 124 times 1840 vote Stolen Issue Absorbed Free Soil Party
1860	Whigs—disbanded to become the Constitutional Union Party.	Democratic—split: - Southern wing - Northern wing (Stephen Douglas); popular sovereignty and included campaign to acquire Cuba, which had slavery.	Republican Party 266 times 1840 vote Stolen Issue
1864	Republican—became one of the two major parties	Democratic
1868	“	“
1872	“	“
1876	“	“

Cautions about the Overview Comparisons That Follow

Talking ancestry of a political party is inherently a matter of simplification. For example, people move between parties, and some parties (particularly the Whigs) are a patchwork of diverse interests. In general, the ancestry of the Whig Party seems to be the Federalist program of Hamilton, but with its leaders coming from the National Republican Party. The ancestry of the Democrats seems to be partly the Democratic-Republican program of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

There are, however, some characteristics that are not part of a party’s set of practices, but rather the actions of individuals. For example, Andrew Jackson’s version of use of executive power in his decisions about financial policy, his reliance on cronies and on his own opinion without being willing to consider the evidence of those who had direct experience, and his use of his cabinet as an extension of his opinion seem very different from:

· not only the Democratic Republicans Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe,

· but also the Federalists Washington, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams as well.

Overview Comparison of Federalists and Democratic-Republicans Circa 1800

The comparison shows the major figures, major principles, and major supporters of the two major parties side-by-side. This is a snapshot¾and inherently simplified¾comparison about 1800.

Federalists	Democratic-Republicans
Alexander Hamilton (NY), John Adams (MA)	Thomas Jefferson (VA), James Madison (VA), James Monroe (VA)
Loose construction of the Constitution	Strict construction of the Constitution
Pro-British (our Revolutionary War opponent)	Pro-French (our Revolutionary War ally)
Hesitant about revolutions	Supportive of revolutions against monarchy
Support for commercial and manufacturing interests	Support for small-scale agriculture; support for commercial and manufacturing interests as a subordinate activity. Reason: owning land or a small business (artisan class) made it possible for voters to vote their conscience¾thus a necessity for democracy and republicanism to work.
Pro-protective tariff	Accepted tariffs for revenue
Favored large central government; comfortable with national debt	Favored small central government; favored limited government spending and avoiding a national debt
Pro-internal improvements financed by the central government	Pro-internal improvements financed by the central government if national-scale projects¾but only if there was a Constitutional amendment
Pro-National Bank	Accepting of a National Bank
New England/Northeast (merchants, manufacturers)	South and the West (agrarian interests)
Perceived as more aristocratic	Perceived as less aristocratic

Overview Comparison of Whigs and Democrats Circa 1840

The comparison shows the major figures, major principles, and major supporters of the two major parties side-by-side. This is a snapshot¾and inherently simplified¾comparison about 1840.

Whigs	Democrats
Henry Clay (KY, “American System”), Daniel Webster (MA), John C. Calhoun (SC)	Andrew Jackson (TN), Martin Van Buren (NY)
Loose construction of the Constitution	Strict construction of the Constitution
Support for commercial and manufacturing interests	Support for agriculture and for the commercial and manufacturing interests of new entrepreneurs (anti-monopoly)
Pro-protective tariff	Accepted tariffs for revenue
Favored large central government; comfortable with national debt	Favored small central government; favored limited government spending and avoiding a national debt
Pro-internal improvements financed by the central government	Pro-internal improvements financed by the central government if national-scale projects¾but only if there was a Constitutional amendment
Pro-National Bank	Anti-National Bank
New England/Northeast (merchants, manufacturers; some planters)	South and the West (farmers, workingmen, smaller merchants and manufacturers; some planters)
Perceived as more aristocratic	Perceived as less aristocratic
Evangelical Protestants (anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic)	Irish Catholics, German Catholics (accepting immigrants and Catholics)
Ties to Anti-Mason group	Ties to Locofocos
Hesitant about expansion of territory	More likely to support expansion of territory

Evolution of Republican Issues

The Republican Party’s predecessor parties led it to have many of the issues previously associated with the Whigs, such as favoring internal improvements. They also countered the Whigs; for example, the Whigs were becoming nativist and the countermove was being pro-immigration. The X’s in the table are based on specific lists of platform issues in the Encyclopedia of American History. Other issues may also have been in the parties’ platforms.

Issues in the Campaigns of the Varied Anti-Slavery Parties	Liberty	Free Soil		Republican
Issues in the Campaigns of the Varied Anti-Slavery Parties	1840, 1844	1848	1852	1856	1860
Free soil (including specifics such as supporting the Wilmot Proviso)	X	X	X	X	X
Pro-internal improvements in general and/or a transcontinental railroad		X		X	X
Homestead provision so people could get land		X	X		X
Pro-immigration			X		X
Pro (somewhat) protective tariff					X

Republican Issues Revealed by Post-Secession Actions

Once the 11 Confederate states left the Union, those remaining in the Senate and House of Representatives could vote for what they wanted without having to negotiate with those favoring Southern issues. The change in party balance shows the results of secession.

	1857	1861
Senators, Democratic	36	10
Senators, Republican	20	31
Representatives, Democratic	118	43
Representatives, Republican	92	105

The issues passed by these Senators and Representatives included:

§ 1861—Increased protective tariff with subsequent additions through 1869 raising tariffs to the rate of just under 50% (Protective tariffs became a Republican principle.)

§ 1862—Homestead Act—160 acres of public land to heads of families for residence for five years, a small fee (In 1866 there was an equivalent act for Southern blacks, but its implementation was blocked by landowners short of labor in the South.)

§ 1862—Land grant colleges (Morrill Act)—30,000 acres to states in the Union for each Congressional office held (Senator or Representative) to establish agriculture colleges (70 established)

§ 1862 +—Transcontinental railroad established—land grants for a Northern route

§ 1864—National banking system—uniform currency, with a tax on state bank notes driving them out of circulation (greenbacks backed by gold in 1873)

WCJC Department:	History – Dr. Bibus
Contact Information:	281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu
Last Updated:	2020
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[1] The Whigs had a convention, but they nominated the same candidate as the American Party, Millard Fillmore, the Vice President for Whig Zachary Taylor in 1848.