Democratic and Republican Parties Politics

Democratic and Republican Parties

Politics after Civil War and Reconstruction

The impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction Era upon the Democratic Party was one that seemed would never be forgotten as the politics of this party suffered an adverse effect to the decisions made in view of the Civil War and the side which this party choose to support. The Democratic Convention suffered a party-split in 1860 due to differences on territorial rights of new states and the choice or lack of choice concerning the issues of slavery.

The panic of 1893 resulted in a split of the Democratic Party and the newly formed image of each party. So went politics in the socio-political environment of that time period. Back and forth went both the Republican and Democratic Parties, splitting and reforming, reshaping and re-emerging. This paper will demonstrate the political shifts as well as national shifts from that of industrialism in the 1880's to reform at the top of the century and finally on the threshold of the era of the World Wars as the election of 1912 took place.

Introduction:

Politics were in a stage of "hyper" activity during the last couple of decades of the 1800's and the first decade of the 1900's. The Republican and Democratic parties split only to reframe and then split again only to re-emerge.

President Ulysses Grant a Republic, won the Presidential Election of 1868 however his projection of harsh policies toward the Reconstruction South was viewed as a "radical" rule due to "corruption and misrule in the South" resulted in a party split and forming of the Liberal Republican Party. The Liberals, as did the Radicals, supported emancipation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, as well as preservation of the Union.

During the period of the 1870's and 1880's the Democratic Republican Party was recovering from the association of having supported the Confederates during the Civil War. It took nearly three decades for the Democratic Party to end this stigmatism for having supported the issue of the owning of slaves. Not only did the Democratic Party support the Confederate South, they were unable to establish a successfully policy in regards to slavery that would be accepted by both Northern and Southern wings of the parties.

So blackened was the reputation of the Southern Democratic party" that they did not enjoy winning an election until 1884 with Grover Cleveland's election win that the Presidency was regained by the Democratic Party. Cleveland served only one term being defeated in the 1888 election but was re-elected in the election of 1892.

The Democratic Party:

controversy in 1896 caused the party to split again over the issues of unlimited silver coinage, or "free silver" which was proposed by Williams Jennings Bryan. The Democratic Party did not win another presidential election until 1913 when Woodwork Wilson was elected due to a split vote between Republican conservative candidate, William Howard Taft and Republican progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt.

The New Freedom "was the slogan of Woodrow Wilson who came into presidential office on the platform of promising reform on a liberal basis. Specifically, through an extension of Federal regulations of banking and industry. Further reform through setting up the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Commission as well as strengthening antitrust statutes on the part of Wilson. Much needed reforms to legislation of welfare was attended by Wilson. Wilson's first Administration demonstrated breaking of connections to the old tradition of Democratic laissez faire.

The Republican Party:

The Republican Party united once again nominated Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. Although the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden, was said to have won by popular votes, the election, disputed due to electoral vote irregularities in Oregon as well as Florida and two other states in the South.

The Republican Party passed the Dingley Tariff of 1897 which one of the highest in history levied a tax of 57% on most imported goods. The Payne Aldrich Tariff of 1909 greatly lowered the tariff rates. A brief period of imperialistic government ensured and was demonstrated in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The Progressive Republican "Bull Moose Party."

The Progressive Party of 1912 was named the "Bull Moose Party, which was formed when a faction of the Republican Party became discontent with the conservative administration of Williams Howard Taft and formed what is known as the National Progressive Republican League. Personal and political reasons brought about President Teddy Roosevelt breaking with his old colleague and friend Taft.