American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

MODERN AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES| 169

the party organizations, the composition of the party coalitions, and the specifi cs

of government policy.

In some cases a realignment begins with the emergence of a new question or

issue debate that captures the attention of large numbers of ordinary citizens,

activists, and politicians.^14 For example, in the case of the second party system

(1829–56), the new issue was slavery.^15 Although most Democratic Party leaders

and elected offi cials supported keeping slavery legal, the Whig Party was split

between proslavery and abolitionist members. The result was the formation of a

new political party, the Republicans, by antislavery Whigs and some Democrats.

Likewise, as noted, the fi fth party system (1933–68) was born during the Great

Depression, when the parties were primarily divided by their positions on the

appropriate size of the federal government and how much it should control the

behavior of individuals and corporations.

While issues appear to be the driving force behind realignments and the move

from one party system to another, other factors also contribute to the separation

between party systems. For example, one important factor that separated the fi fth

from the sixth party system was the introduction of new technologies such as

television and the ability to measure public opinion by using mass surveys, which

enabled candidates to win political offi ce without the help of a party organization.

Moreover, the changes between the fi fth and sixth party systems were to some

extent the result of changes in the party coalitions, as white southerners moved to

the Republican Party.

Modern American Political Parties

In this section we examine the contemporary Democratic and Republican parties

in terms of their party organization, party in government, and party in the elector-

ate. We show how these distinct parts work, and we consider some implications of

the parties’ three-part structure.

The Party Organization

The principal body in each party organization is the national committee, which
consists of representatives from state party organizations, usually one man and
one woman per state. The state party organizations in turn are made up of pro-
fessional staff plus thousands of party organizations at the county, city, and town
levels. The job of these organizations is to run the party’s day-to-day operations,
recruit candidates and supporters, raise money for future campaigns, and work to
build a consensus on major issues.
Both major parties also include a number of constituency groups (the Demo-
crats’ term) or teams (the Republicans’ term). These organizations within the
party work to attract the support of demographic groups considered likely to share
the party’s issue concerns—such as specifi c racial or ethnic groups, people with
strong religious beliefs, senior citizens, women, and many others—and assist in
fund-raising.^16

DESCRIBE THE MAIN

CHARACTERISTICS OF

AMERICAN PARTIES AS

ORGANIZATIONS, IN THE

GOVERNMENT, AND IN

THE ELECTORATE

national committee An

American political party’s principal

organization, comprising party rep-

resentatives from each state.