Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1915-11-17
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Inc Rise and Fall Of Politics Sine,
Formation Of Government.

so anu raIf OF Politics Since
formation Of Government.
Portland Pysss.]
1t Is the history Of this nation that the
formation Of new political party 10 much
harder than the Biblical proposition Of .
camel passing through the eye Of needle.
ihis, 1t may be said, in passing, is possible,
but It requires q mighty big needle and Z
pretty small camel. For q new party to
make its appearance, however, 10 an a.
most, we are going to say, quadrennial
occurrence.
A study Of our history from the time Of
the first presidential election shows that
there can b. but two great political
psrties,, while the others are either
parties OF protest against temporary con-
ditions or are devoted to some particular
political tetich. OF the latter class are the
socialist and prohibition parties which
poll about so many votes every year. To
the former class belong such organixa-
tions as the progressive party, which
shows great strength for Q few years and
then disappears, altogether.
Fundamentally, the two leading parties
are the parties Of the conservatives and
radicals, but the issues between them diff
fer as different questions arise and crises
arrive.
In the early history Of the nation the
electorate was divided on the question Of
states rights. The party which believed
that this was nation instead Of loose
union OF states, was called the federal
party, while the party which believed the
state was supreme was called the republic
adopted by party which represented Just
what the original federal party stood for.
George Washington was federalist and
SO was John Adams. Thomas Jefferson
was republican, or a. he would be called
now, democrat.
The name democratic party did not ap-
pear until 1873, when Andrew Jackson
was elected PRESIDENT, as the candidate OF
that party which replaced the original re-
poolcan party.
IN 1850, the wing party appeared with
"iiiam henry harrison as the principal
canoioste Io1 tne presidency against MAI
uu van ouren oe"ocrat' Inc wings
wsfe oeieateo' put IN ioao, MT. harrison
was again . canoioate ana was eiected.
IN tnis eiect'on ahosner new party showed
up, the nDerty party tne candidate OF
wnicn' James nirney' received eleven
electoral votes. In lo4a james n. FOLK, q
ae"oa'' W" o'e s oi~s, s'
W. nv. J' 49, VIZ e' sssn
u ~
was o.ose" n'' i- VIC "noel
'uineu o".A as .no ue"ooiA''
WIN o'e' ..o 'o'
'ee'A .a"N'N"'si aA''
In 1850, the wing party passed INTO MS
tory ana the lepuoiican party maze IT'S
appearance IN the vote u .he eiec.orai COL.
iege' John =. rreemont' tne canoidate OF
that party received liz eiec'orai votes 10
ia ior James nucnanah' ue"ocra'' Ane
issues which leo 10 tne civii war no"
formed the iine OF DIVISION oe'ween inc
two parties. ms same year the Atnef'can
party made Its nrst ana last appearance IN
the electoral vote, Mlllard Fillmore, It's
candidate, receiving eignt votes'
In 1860, came the great crisis which was
followed by the war, when Abraham Lin
coin was elected President over stephen
A. Douglass and John Z. Breckinridge,
democrats. In this election the union
party passed on and on the stage when
John Bell, the nominee, received thirty
nina eioctoral votes
The war settled the question OF states
rights, and the republican party became
the majority party until the election of
Grover Cleveland in 1884, when the tariff
was the chief issue. Since 1872, there
have been formed great variety of politi-
cal parties and some OF them have grown