Democratic Party

Democratic Party Logo

## Founding

The Democratic Party is the oldest of the two main United States Parties. It was formed in the late 1820s by President Martin Van Buren, who was then a Senator from New York. Van Buren formed the party to help propel Andrew Jackson to the Presidency, after a very close defeat in 1824 to President John Quincy Adams. In 1828, thanks to the newly formed Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson became the President of the United States.

## Controversy & Civil War

In the 1850s, the topic of slavery was a hot-button issue in the US. This issue split the Democratic Party into two factions: the Southern Democrats, who believed that slavery should be allowed in all newly admitted territories, and the Northern Democrats, who believed each territory should decide themselves via popular referendum,

As a result of this, the Party split their nominations in the 1860 Presidential Elections, which gave Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln 40% of the vote, which won him the Presidency, even though he loast the popular vote.

The victory of the North in the Civil War led to a Republican-dominated Congress for much of the rest of the 19th Century, and also allowed for the Democrats to strengthen their hold on the south. This was due to the fact that most white southerners opposed Republicans enforcing civil & voting rights for African-Americans. This also led to the repeal of many Republican policies, and instead placed Jim Crow laws in place, which would continue to oppress the African-American community for the rest of the century.

## The 1900s & The Turnaround of the Party

At the end of the 1800s, the Republican Party was the party of big business, while the Democrats became the party of Conservative Values. However, during the Progressive Era, the party again split, this time into progressive and conservative factions. This began to really show in 1896 when, against the history of the party, William Jennings Bryan, a progressive who advocated for an expanded government, as well as social justice, became the Democratic Presidential Nominee. While Bryan did lose, his influence quickly expanded within the party.

In 1932, during the height of the Great Depression, which had begun in an era of Republican dominance, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first Democratic President since Woodrow Wilson, signifying a massive shift in U.S. politics. Roosevelt began to implement policies strengthening the federal government, known as the New Deal. This led to a Democratic-controlled nation that lasted for the better part of sixty years.

## Opposition to Roosevelt & the Rise of the Dixiecrats

While FDR became very popular, some Southern Democrats joined Republicans in opposing further government expansion, as they did not support labor unions or federal power. In 1948, after a Southern Democrat, President Truman, introduced a pro-Civil Rights platform, a group of southern Democrats walked out on their own party's convention, and became the Dixiecrats. They chose their own Presidential Candidate, Strom Thurmond, who ran on the issues of State's Rights and segregation. He lost, as was expected, but got over a million votes.

After the failure of the Dixiecrats, most returned to the Democratic Party, but the incident marked a shift in the Democratic Party's beliefs and platform. This showed especially since African-American voters, who largely had been Republicans, began to vote Democrat as the Civil Rights movement was spurred on by the Democrats.

## Civil Rights Era

Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent troops to enforce integration into a Little Rock school in Arkansas, but the Civil Rights Era truly gained steam with President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texan Democrat, who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Upon signing the former bill, Johnson told his aide that “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.”

In addition to the racial issues plaguing the United States, the culture war was heating up, which spurred more and more white evangelical Christians to vote Republican, due to their opposition to issues such as abortion. During the end of the Civil Rights era, Republicans began to recapture the White House and Congress.

## Clinton to Obama

The Democrats finally rose back to power in 1992 with President Bill Clinton, an Arkansas Democrat. He defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush. While Clinton set a record in economic prosperity within the nation, his Presidency ultimately ended up in scandal after he was impeached for lying about relations with a young intern, known as Monica Lewinski. However, he also served two terms, indicating the strength of the now-united Democratic Party of the United States, which now stood for Civil Rights and social justice. After Clinton, the Democrats nearly won the White House again with Vice President Albert Gore, but lost narrowly to George W. Bush, after the Supreme Court ruled on the case, halting the Florida vote counting and awarding Bush the Presidency.

During George W. Bush's term, criticism of his Iraqi War won back Congress for Democrats, which had flipped Republican.

Riding a wave of discontent with Bush, Barack Obama, an African-American Senator from Illinois, won the Presidency by a large margin, making use of the burgeoning social media industry to post his goals and platform. He made history as the first African-American to become President in a Nation that once enslaved them.

## Party Leadership

The Democratic Party is lead by the Party Chair and Deputy Chair as the figureheads. The Executive Committee of composed of elected members. The Current Chair elected in 2021 is Damian Ramirez. Sophia Kennedy was selected by Ramirez to serve as his deputy chair.