day Democratic Party, founded by Thomas JEFFERSONas
the Democratic– Republicans, is the oldest party still
in existence in the United States. Originally, the party
was created to oppose Alexander HAMILTON’s Federalist
Party. The Democrats emphasized personal LIBERTY, the
limitation of federal government, and STATES RIGHTS.
By 1828 the party’s name was shortened to the
Democratic Party. It enjoyed diverse support ranging
from a coalition of southern farmers to northern city
dwellers. The Democrats demonstrated success early
on as well. From Thomas Jefferson, who was elected
president in 1800, until 1825, the Democrats retained
the presidency.
A RADICALgroup of Democrats led by Andrew Jack-
son won the elections of 1828 and 1832, but argu-
ments over SLAVERYcreated or deepened splits within
the party, and the Civil War nearly destroyed it. The
party revived after the disputed election of 1876, and
the end of Reconstruction brought the Solid South into
the Democratic fold. During this period emerged the
term yellow dog Democrat,which referred to southern
voter’s preference for a yellow dog over a Republican.
In 1913, the Democrats again regained the presi-
dency under Woodrow WILSON. Again during the
Depression they took office with Franklin D. ROOSE-
VELT, who initiated the NEW DEAL programs. Roo-
sevelt’s liberal New Deal programs, which ranged
from the Civilian Conservation Corp to the Works
Progress Administration, changed the relationship
between the federal government and the citizen. Pre-
viously, citizen interaction with government took
place primarily at the local level. In some cases, the
regional or state government would provide services.
The federal government was, historically, the remedy
of last resort because it had neither the institutions
nor capital to field large-scale social service pro-
grams. The New Deal program changed the nature of
the Democratic Party and, subsequently, the federal
government, emphasizing a greater role for Washing-
ton in the social and economic lives of the citizenry.
In the ensuing years, the modern Democratic Party
had by then become an uneasy alliance of labor,
minorities, middle-class reformers, and southern De-
mocrats. The latter group became disaffected by the
growing civil-rights movements and reforms ushered
in by Democratic administrations such as John
KENNEDY’s and Lyndon Johnson’s. Southern defection
materialized in the failed campaigns of Hubert H.
Humphrey and George McGovern in 1968 and 1972
respectively.
This alliance reflected the progressive values of a
party working for change and reform. The REPUBLICAN
PARTY, on the other hand, was known for its aversion to
change and its traditional roots. In many ways, this
philosophical division explains the defection of south-
ern Democrats. Known for their conservative views on
civil rights, the role of government, and labor, they
found themselves often at odds with the national plat-
form of the Democratic Party, which was considerably
more liberal.
Following the Watergate affair, the Democrats nom-
inated and elected in 1976 a relatively unknown gov-
ernor from Georgia, Jimmy CARTER, to the presidency.
Carter’s inability to cope with economic problems and
to free U.S. hostages in Iran led to his defeat in 1980
by Republican Ronald REAGAN. Reagan’s election was
particularly troubling for the Democrats because many
of his supporters came from traditional Democratic
strongholds. Middle-class voters, women, and south-
erners defected from their long held positions in the
Democratic Party to elect Reagan.
Although the party did not win the presidency
again until the 1992 election of Bill Clinton, it
remained a POWERin CONGRESSand at the STAT Elevel
throughout the 1980s. In 1994, however, the Democ-
rats lost their majorities in both houses of Congress.
Throughout its history, the Democratic Party has
called itself “the party of the people,” a title that was
justified by its traditional support, which tended to be
less prosperous, less skilled occupationally, and less
educated than Republicans. Nevertheless, the party
learned in 1980 that it could no longer take for
granted the votes of groups that had been traditionally
ranked among the Democrats. Disaffection with
Carter’s economic policies sent many union members,
AFRICAN AMERICANS, and other minority groups over to
the Republican side, and the once solidly Democratic
South now became increasingly Republican.
Although the Democrats reclaimed some of the so-
called Reagan Democrats for their presidential candi-
date in 1992, by 1994 the party, according to polls, had
fewer loyalists than the Republicans. The ebb and flow
of Bill Clinton’s popularity as president may in large
part be attributed to his particularly liberal initiatives
once taking office. Indeed, when the Clinton adminis-
tration established a national health-care plan as one
of its top priorities, voters expressed their concern at
the ballot box. After a considerable national debate
carried out largely by special interest groups and mem-
bers of the administration, voters dealt Clinton a sig-82 Democratic Party