166 CHAPTER 6|POLITICAL PARTIES
a group of elected offi cials but an organization that exists apart from its candi-
dates.^6 Jackson and Van Buren also created the spoils system, whereby indi-
viduals who worked for the party were rewarded with benefi ts such as jobs in the
federal government.THE THIRD PARTY SYSTEM, 1 857–96
The issue of slavery split the second party system, leading to a third party system.
Most Democratic politicians and party offi cials either supported slavery outright
or wanted to avoid debating the issue.^7 The Whig Party was split between (1) poli-
ticians who agreed with the Democrats and (2) abolitionists who wanted to end
slavery. Ultimately, antislavery Whigs left the party and formed a new organiza-
tion, the Republican Party, which also attracted antislavery Democrats. As the
remaining Whig candidates began to have diffi culty winning offi ce against both
Republican and Democratic opponents, Whig offi ceholders left the party and
joined one of these two more powerful parties. This move divided the country into
a largely Republican Northeast, a largely Democratic South, and politically split
midwestern and border states.^8
Although the Civil War settled the issue of slavery, it did not change the iden-
tity of the major American parties. In the postwar era, the Republicans and the
Democrats remained the two prominent, national parties, and the same regional
split persisted between these organizations. Slavery was no longer an issue,
but the parties were divided on related concerns such as the withdrawal of the
Union Army from southern states. At about the same time, the rapid growth of
American cities and increased immigration raised new debate over the size and
scope of the federal government: should it help farmers and rural residents, or
the inhabitants of rapidly expanding cities, or neither group? A related concern
was whether the federal government should regulate America’s rapidly growing
industrial base.THE FOURTH PARTY SYSTEM, 1 897– 1932
The political parties took opposing positions on the issues identifi ed
above, leading to a fourth party system. Democrats, led by three-time
presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, attempted to build
a coalition of rural and urban voters by proposing a larger, more active
federal government and other policies that would help these groups.
Although Bryan was never elected president, the issues he stood for
divided the major parties and defi ned the debate in Washington for more
than a generation.
During this period, especially in the late 1800s, political machines
were common in cities and towns. A political machine is a party orga-
nization built around the goal of gaining political power to enrich party
leaders, party workers, and citizen supporters.^9 Political machines give
government services to citizens, government jobs to party workers, and
government contracts to higher-level party offi cials and contributors. In
return, the recipients of these benefi ts are expected to help by campaign-
ing and voting for the machine’s candidates, as well as by contributing
to the party. One classic example of a political machine was Tammany
Hall, an organization of Democratic Party politicians in New York City
who were especially powerful during the late 1800s and early 1900s.^10political machine An unoffi cial
patronage system within a political
party that seeks to gain political
power and government contracts,
jobs, and other benefi ts for party
leaders, workers, and supporters.
spoils system The practice of
rewarding party supporters with
benefi ts like federal government
positions.
THE TAMMANY HALL POLITICAL
machine, depicted here as a rotund
version of one of its leaders,
William “Boss” Tweed, controlled
New York City politics for most of
the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Its strategy was “honest
graft,” rewarding party workers,
contributors, and voters for their
efforts to keep the machine’s
candidates in offi ce.