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Cabinet nominations and on multiple Obamacare repeals—although McConnell did

assemble a Republican majority to approve Trump’s controversial Supreme Court

nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Moreover, while many Americans think of themselves as

members of a political party, someone who identifies with the Republican Party is not

obligated to work for or give money to the party or to vote for its candidates. As you will

see, organization matters: the fact that American political parties are split into three parts

has important implications for what they do and for their impact on the nation’s politics.

History of American Political Parties

The Republican and Democratic parties have existed for a long time—the Republicans

since 1854 and the Democrats since the early 1800s. This section shows that at different

points in history American political parties have looked and acted very differently from

the way they do today. These differences help explain the structure and behavior of

modern parties.

Political scientists use the term party system to describe periods of time when the

major parties’ names, their groups of supporters, and the issues dividing them have

all been constant (the beginning and end years that we use throughout this section are

approximate). As Table 8.1 shows, there have been six party systems in America.^2 For

party system

Periods in which the names of

the major political parties, their

supporters, and the issues dividing

them have remained relatively stable.

American political parties have three

largely separate components: the

party organization, represented here

by Tom Perez, chair of the DNC; the

party in government, represented

here by House Minority Leader Nancy

Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader

Chuck Schumer; and the party in the

electorate, exemplified here by

the crowd at a rally for Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez, who ran for Congress

in New York City.

American Party Systems

There have been six party systems in the United States since 1789.

TABLE

8.1

Party System Major Parties (dominant party in boldface) Key Issues

First (1789–1828) Federalists, Democratic-Republicans (neither party

was dominant)

Location of the capital, financial issues (e.g., national bank)

Second (1829–1856) Democrats, Whigs Tariffs (farmers vs. merchants), slavery

Third (1857–1896) Democrats, Republicans Slavery (pre–Civil War), Reconstruction (post–Civil War),

industrialization

Fourth (1897–1932) Democrats, Republicans Industrialization, immigration

F i f t h ( 1933–1968) Democrats, Republicans Size and scope of the federal government

Sixth (1969–present) Democrats, Republicans (neither party is dominant) Size and scope of the federal government, civil rights, social

issues, foreign policy

What are political parties and where did today’s parties come from?

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