chAPTeR seven • InTeResT GRouPs AnD PolITIcAl PARTIes 157
Divided Government
A situation in which one
major political party
controls the presidency
and the other controls
Congress or in which one
party controls a state
governorship and the
other controls the state
legislature.
Ticket Splitting
Voting for candidates
of two or more parties
for different offices. For
example, a voter splits
her ticket if she votes for
a Republican presidential
candidate and for a
Democratic congressional
candidate.
Two-Party System
A political system in which
only two parties have
a reasonable chance of
winning.political party furnishes a pool of qualified applicants for political appointments to run
the government. Presidents can, and occasionally do, appoint executive personnel, such
as cabinet members, from the opposition party, but it is uncommon to do so. (One recent
example was President Obama’s first secretary of defense—Robert Gates, a Republican.)
Judicial appointments also offer a great opportunity to the winning party. For the most
part, presidents are likely to appoint federal judges from their own party.
All of these party appointments suggest that the winning political party, whether
at the national, state, or local level, has a great deal of control in the American system.
Because of the checks and balances and the relative lack of cohesion in American parties,
however, such control is the exception rather than the rule. One reason is that Americans
have often seemed to prefer a divided government, with the executive and legisla-
tive branches controlled by different parties. The prevalence of ticket splitting—splitting
votes between the president and members of Congress—may indicate a lack of trust in
government or the relative weakness of party identification among many voters.A hIsToRy of PolITIcAl
PARTIes In The unITeD sTATes
The United States has a two-party system, and that system has been around since before- The function and character of the political parties, as well as the emergence of the
two-party system itself, have much to do with the unique historical forces operating from
this country’s beginning as an independent nation. Indeed, James Madison linked the
emergence of political parties to the form of government created by our Constitution.
Generally, we can divide the evolution of our nation’s political parties into seven
periods: - The formation of parties, from 1789 to 1816.
- The era of one-party rule, from 1816 to 1828.
- The period from Andrew Jackson’s presidency to the eve of the Civil War, from 1828
to 1856. - The Civil War and post–Civil War period, from 1856 to 1896.
- The Republican ascendancy and the progressive period, from 1896 to 1932.
- The New Deal period, from 1932 to about 1968.
- The modern period, from approximately 1968 to the present.
The formative years:
federalists and Anti-federalists
The first partisan political division in the United States occurred before the adoption of the
Constitution. As you will recall from Chapter 2, the Federalists were those who pushed for
the adoption of the Constitution, whereas the Anti-Federalists were against ratification.
In September 1796, George Washington, who had served as president for two terms,
decided not to run again. In his farewell address, he made a somber assessment of the
nation’s future. Washington felt that the country might be destroyed by the “baneful
[harmful] effects of the spirit of party.” He viewed parties as a threat to both national unity
and the concept of popular government. Nevertheless, in the years after the ratification of
the Constitution, Americans came to realize that something more permanent than a fac-
tion would be necessary to identify candidates for office and represent political differences
among the people. The result was two political parties.LO5: Explain how the history of
U.S. political parties has led to the
two major parties that exist today.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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