Chapter Six: Political Parties Flashcards
(37 cards)
Party origin
Although the founders tried to avoid the creation of political parties, it happened almost immediately, sprouting from the disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
Connecting citizens to their government
one of the roles of political parties, which serve as linkage institutions. Party ideology and organization increases political efficacy
Linkage institution
connects citizens in a large, representative democracy, in which linkage institutions are a necessity, to their government - e.g. interest groups, the media, elections, and political parties
Running candidates for political office
Another role of parties, they run policy makers for office and run campaigns - most elected officials at the local, state, and national level are nominated by a major political party
Informing the public
another role of parties, they articulate policies and give cues to voters - they convey an image and endorse policies to help the public decide which candidate to support
Organizing the government
another role of parties, they help the process of policy making by linking officials across government branches and levels through partisanship
Consensus of values and 2 party system
both parties endorse these same political views - liberty, equality, and individualism - neither advocates for the removal of the Constitution and both accept the election process by conceding defeat to the winners
Historical influence and 2 party system
nation began with two parties - feds and anti-feds - politicians began to take sides (starting with debate over the Constitution and then disagreements in Washington’s cabinet)
Winner-take-all system
also called the pluralist electoral system - single most important reason for 2 party system, the winner is the one who receives the largest number of votes in each voting district (not a majority, just more than opponent) encourages parties to become larger - this gives third parties almost no hope of getting candidates into office and their points of view tend to fall close to one of the larger parties - this system contrasts with proportional representation
Proportional representation
contrasts with the winner-take-all system - the percentage of votes for a party’s candidate is directly applied as the percentage of representatives in the legislature
Grass roots
state or local control over important decisions (not federal) e.g. people at top of a political party
National chairman of a party
nominally coordinates election campaign, but candidates run their own campaigns in reality
Organization of parties
both have a national committee (comprised of reps from each state and territory), full-time, paid national chairman (manages day-to-day party work), national convention (nominates Presidential candidate in the summer), congressional campaign committee (assists both incumbents and challengers), broad ideological base to appeal to a large amount of voters (not always consistent)
Realignment
when party dominance shifts to the other party because of changes of issues and new divisions between groups
Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
Federalists supported Constitution but Anti-Feds wanted basic guarantees of individual rights - solved with the Bill of Rights but the parties stuck around after the fact
Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans
Federalists came to represent urban, business-oriented men who favored elitism and strong-central government - supported Hamilton’s National Bank
Anti-feds died out after Adam’s disappointing Presidency and became Democratic-Republicans under Jefferson - favored strong state governments, rural interests, and weaker central government - opposed the national bank as an enemy of state control and rural interests
Convergence of Feds and Dem-Republicans
After Jefferson became President, when Hamilton died and Adams killed the anti-feds, he became more accepting to strong central government and the parties seemed to merge - especially during James Monroe’s “Era of Good Feelings” - Democratic Republicans became only party, whose dominance lasted until the mid-1800’s, but with a new name - the Democrats
Reemergence of the 2 party system
When Andrew Jackson came around, a new party emerged to oppose him - the Whigs, who represented closely the old Federalist party - after Jackson became elected, a coalition was formed between the South and West, leaving the northeast very different from them. The majority of the new coalition became the Democratic party
Jacksonian Universal Suffrage
any white male could vote, regardless of land ownership
First national convention
Anti-Masons, but tradition initiated by Democratic Party - opposed the caucus
Caucus as a means of nomination
party leaders met to nominate a candidate in secret
Collapse of Whig Party
Wealthy northern whigs and wealthy southern whigs didn’t share much in common split the party, which allowed for the emergence of the Republican party
Emergence of the Republican Party
came about because of the issue of expanding slavery into territories - Lincoln was first Republican President
Collapse of Democratic Dominance
After Lincoln became President, the South seceded, taking most of the Democrats with them, but when the North won the Civil War, the Democrats dominance was ended
