The two-party political system in the United States seems like a great breeding ground for polarization and “us against them” sorts of conflict. Though George Washington warned against the creation of political parties when the United States was in its youth, it seemed almost inevitable that they would arise. This week, we’ll take a brief look at the evolution of United States political parties, the existence of third parties, and a few different party models found internationally. Slap on your party hat and let’s get to it.
In general, parties are considered along a political spectrum of “left-leaning” or “right-leaning”. The whole left-right positioning of the political spectrum actually comes from French politicians literally congregating to the left side or the right side of the room based on their opinions during the French Revolution when a new constitution was being written. A basic left-right political spectrum is shown below.
But politics is much more complex, and isolating political ideologies to a single line can be an oversimplification. Keeping the left and right in mind, though, can be helpful in understanding how opposing political parties develop.
Party Systems in the United States… a brief history lesson
The emergence of political parties in the United States occurred shortly after the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 with the development of the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. These two parties formed what may be considered the first of six party systems in the United States. The party systems mark the major rise and fall of political parties in the United States or realignment of party supporters and/or platforms (a “platform” is a set of formal goals or positions on issues of public interest). Many of these party systems can be traced by the election of Presidents and the platforms that they ran under, and you can see some of the major shifts occurring with major events, such as the Civil War or the Great Depression. The six different party systems are outlined below:
1st Party System (1788-1824) – Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. The Federalist party developed under Alexander Hamilton primarily (yes, the guy from the musical) while the Democratic-Republicans developed under Thomas Jefferson. The Federalists favored a stronger, centralized national government with followers typically being wealthier and formally educated. In contrast, the Democratic-Republicans supported agricultural interests and less powerful central government. The Democratic-Republicans initiated some of the typical political party actions such as developing state candidates under the party platform, and the Federalists soon followed in this local organizing. The 1st party system ended with the fall of the Federalist Party.
2nd Party System (1828-1854) – Democrats and Whigs. Between the 1st and 2nd party systems was an “Era of Good Feelings” where basically everyone was a Democratic-Republican. That didn’t last too long. The development of the two parties out of the Democratic-Republicans occurred through Andrew Jackson’s presidencies. The Democrats typically received support from farmers, new immigrants, and Catholics while the Whigs typically received support from manufacturing and trade interests as well as “older” Protestant immigrants. In most cases, though, the parties were not split geographically, and no one party dominated a specific region of the country. The two parties started to look a bit more like what we see today: national nominating conventions, candidates for office at nearly every level, and active campaigning.
2nd Party System timeline
3rd Party System (1856-1896) – Democrats and Republicans. The Republican Party truly came into the spotlight with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Lincoln was able to snag a victory through the Electoral College due to the split between the North and the South Democrats over slavery. With this, the Democrats and Republicans became the two major parties that we still see today. The Republican party dominated the Reconstruction Era, with supporters primarily in the North and West with a platform including high tariffs and railroad expansion. The Democratic party primarily resided in the South and supported free trade; the Democratic party began to compete more effectively for elections later in the 3rd party system. This period saw the emergence of individual voting in secret with the national government printing election ballots as opposed to party-printed ballots.
4th Party System (1897-1932) – Small Shifts. Republicans supported high tariffs and the use of gold as the currency standard, and supporters were primarily urban populations in the Northeast. Democrats favored low tariffs and a silver currency standard with supporters primarily farmers and miners of the South and West. The Republican party dominated the early part of the 4th party system. This party system saw the institution of the direct primary election and tighter party regulations, and the time period is sometimes considered the “Progressive Era” due to the increase in government regulation. The 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote, was ratified near the end of this period.
5th Party System (1932-1968) – New Deal Party System. The election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) led the party shift in 1932, with many groups of voters realigning and throwing their support to the Democrats after the start of the Great Depression. The split in Democratic and Republican parties at this time was primarily over New Deal social welfare programs, with Democrats winning a majority of the vote. During this period of time, political parties began to lose even more more power as their basis for rewarding supporters with power and privileges in exchange for votes (called “patronage”) was replaced by universal federal welfare programs, which operated regardless of party.
6th Party System (1968-present) – Post-New Deal System. It is disputed whether the 6th party system actually exists, or whether we’re still in the 5th party system. Americans became less influenced by political party affiliations during this period, and sometimes voted for candidates of the opposing party (gasp!). Supporters for the Democrats and Republicans also began to shift. As an example, the southern United States as well as some blue-collar workers started to support the Republican party.
Third Parties
While breaking up the history of political parties into party systems may oversimplify things, it is a convenient reminder that the American political party system is ALWAYS changing. The United States has more or less had a two-party system since day one, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been third parties that have emerged. Here is a very small list of some third parties throughout US history that have challenged the two big kids on the block:
Know Nothing Party – This party organized back in the 1800s and emerged out of a “secret society”. They primarily opposed immigration, especially of Catholics.
Greenbacks – Organized in the late 1800s and primarily supported the use of paper money. They also began to support the regulation of businesses and the conservation of natural resources before they dissolved the party around 1890.
Prohibition Party – This third party began around 1872 and rallied around a single issue...the prohibition of alcohol. This party still exists today!
Libertarian Party – This party formed in 1971 and opposes government interference in business and personal interests. They are one of the largest third parties in the United States today.
Green Party – Formed in 1984 and also one of the largest third parties in the United States today. They have a comprehensive platform that focuses on social and economic justice, ecological sustainability, and peace.
A satirical post pulled from Reddit, BUT most of these animal mascots are correctly depicted.
Third parties find it difficult to get a real foothold in the United States for a few reasons. One reason could be campaign funding. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) offers federal funds to help pay for presidential election campaigns of candidates that meet certain requirements. In order to receive this additional money for presidential campaigning, third parties have to receive at least 5% of the popular vote in an election year.
How do your thoughts on third parties in the United States stack up?
So how much money are we talkin’ here? The federal funds offered in 2020 were a little over $100 million for a major party candidate during the general election, although both Trump and Biden refused to take the money since accepting it comes with a few strings attached (don’t worry, they each raised well over $100 million for their campaigns without the federal funding).
For third parties, though, a fraction of this $100 million would be a pretty big deal in terms of reaching more voters during their campaign. Unfortunately for third parties, hitting that 5% vote requirement in order to receive federal funding is pretty difficult.
Outside of offering federal funds for elections, the FEC actually does a whole lot more! Ever wonder if your favorite celebrity donated to a political campaign? The FEC keeps track of how much money each campaign raises (presidential AND congressional campaigns), and who is donating to those campaigns on their website here: https://www.fec.gov/data/
A screenshot from the FEC website showing spending for the 2020 presidential election.
What are Parties Like Outside of the United States?
When we look outside of the United States, we can see other political party systems that don’t simply have two competitive majority parties. In Russia, a multitude of political parties exist with one dominating party, United Russia, consistently controlling nearly all aspects of the national government for well over a decade. United Russia is the party of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, and while the fairness of the elections is sometimes called into question, this clear dominance of a single political party is not something often seen in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, two larger parties exist, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, but a number of smaller minority parties also hold seats in Parliament. Since one party rarely controls a majority of Parliament, the two larger parties are forced to compromise with smaller minority parties in order to pass laws with a solid majority vote. In this multi-party system, it’s difficult for a single political party to control Parliament on its own. Check out the adjacent image to get an idea of the party breakdown of Parliament.
A third example of an alternative political party system is in Cuba, where you may consider the political party and the government one and the same. Cuba is led by the Communist Party of Cuba, which is the single dominating political party with other political parties not allowed to operate in opposition. This single-party rule (different than one-party dominance in present-day Russia) is characteristic of other communist nations such as North Korea. The single-party rule was also adopted by Nazi Germany.
It might be difficult to imagine a world where there were NO political parties; is that even possible? In the state of Nebraska, the state representatives are considered nonpartisan and do not run for office under “official” party designations, but they still hold unofficial affiliations as Democrats or Republicans. Sorry Nebraska, close but no cigar. Since there might be no escaping the existence of political parties, it can be helpful to take a step back and look at how the party system functions and evolves in our country... because it’s easy to get caught up in all that political partying going on.
To think about...
Try out this super cool political typology quiz: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/quiz/political-typology/
Do you think the next party realignment or transition to a “7th Party System” in the United States will occur soon?
Do you think the current two-party system is effective for the United States, or do you think an alternative party system would be better?
Do you derive your opinions from a political party that you usually affiliate with, or do you independently develop your opinions and decide which party platform fits best?
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