Chapter Six: Political Parties

Question 1

Party origin

Answer 1

Although the founders tried to avoid the creation of political parties, it happened almost immediately, sprouting from the disagreements between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson

Question 2

Connecting citizens to their government

Answer 2

one of the roles of political parties, which serve as linkage institutions. Party ideology and organization increases political efficacy

Question 3

Linkage institution

Answer 3

connects citizens in a large, representative democracy, in which linkage institutions are a necessity, to their government - e.g. interest groups, the media, elections, and political parties

Question 4

Running candidates for political office

Answer 4

Another role of parties, they run policy makers for office and run campaigns - most elected officials at the local, state, and national level are nominated by a major political party

Question 5

Informing the public

Answer 5

another role of parties, they articulate policies and give cues to voters - they convey an image and endorse policies to help the public decide which candidate to support

Question 6

Organizing the government

Answer 6

another role of parties, they help the process of policy making by linking officials across government branches and levels through partisanship

Question 7

Consensus of values and 2 party system

Answer 7

both parties endorse these same political views - liberty, equality, and individualism - neither advocates for the removal of the Constitution and both accept the election process by conceding defeat to the winners

Question 8

Historical influence and 2 party system

Answer 8

nation began with two parties - feds and anti-feds - politicians began to take sides (starting with debate over the Constitution and then disagreements in Washington’s cabinet)

Question 9

Winner-take-all system

Answer 9

also called the pluralist electoral system - single most important reason for 2 party system, the winner is the one who receives the largest number of votes in each voting district (not a majority, just more than opponent) encourages parties to become larger - this gives third parties almost no hope of getting candidates into office and their points of view tend to fall close to one of the larger parties - this system contrasts with proportional representation

Question 10

Proportional representation

Answer 10

contrasts with the winner-take-all system - the percentage of votes for a party’s candidate is directly applied as the percentage of representatives in the legislature

Question 11

Grass roots

Answer 11

state or local control over important decisions (not federal) e.g. people at top of a political party

Question 12

National chairman of a party

Answer 12

nominally coordinates election campaign, but candidates run their own campaigns in reality

Question 13

Organization of parties

Answer 13

both have a national committee (comprised of reps from each state and territory), full-time, paid national chairman (manages day-to-day party work), national convention (nominates Presidential candidate in the summer), congressional campaign committee (assists both incumbents and challengers), broad ideological base to appeal to a large amount of voters (not always consistent)

Question 14

Realignment

Answer 14

when party dominance shifts to the other party because of changes of issues and new divisions between groups

Question 15

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

Answer 15

Federalists supported Constitution but Anti-Feds wanted basic guarantees of individual rights - solved with the Bill of Rights but the parties stuck around after the fact

Question 16

Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans

Answer 16

Federalists came to represent urban, business-oriented men who favored elitism and strong-central government - supported Hamilton’s National Bank
Anti-feds died out after Adam’s disappointing Presidency and became Democratic-Republicans under Jefferson - favored strong state governments, rural interests, and weaker central government - opposed the national bank as an enemy of state control and rural interests

Question 17

Convergence of Feds and Dem-Republicans

Answer 17

After Jefferson became President, when Hamilton died and Adams killed the anti-feds, he became more accepting to strong central government and the parties seemed to merge - especially during James Monroe’s “Era of Good Feelings” - Democratic Republicans became only party, whose dominance lasted until the mid-1800’s, but with a new name - the Democrats

Question 18

Reemergence of the 2 party system

Answer 18

When Andrew Jackson came around, a new party emerged to oppose him - the Whigs, who represented closely the old Federalist party - after Jackson became elected, a coalition was formed between the South and West, leaving the northeast very different from them. The majority of the new coalition became the Democratic party

Question 19

Jacksonian Universal Suffrage

Answer 19

any white male could vote, regardless of land ownership

Question 20

First national convention

Answer 20

Anti-Masons, but tradition initiated by Democratic Party - opposed the caucus

Question 21

Caucus as a means of nomination

Answer 21

party leaders met to nominate a candidate in secret

Question 22

Collapse of Whig Party

Answer 22

Wealthy northern whigs and wealthy southern whigs didn’t share much in common split the party, which allowed for the emergence of the Republican party

Question 23

Emergence of the Republican Party

Answer 23

came about because of the issue of expanding slavery into territories - Lincoln was first Republican President

Question 24

Collapse of Democratic Dominance

Answer 24

After Lincoln became President, the South seceded, taking most of the Democrats with them, but when the North won the Civil War, the Democrats dominance was ended

Question 25

Republican Era

Answer 25

1861-1933 - except for Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, all Presidents from Lincoln through Herbert Hoover were Republican - Republicans dominated legislature

Question 26

Second Democratic Era

Answer 26

1933-1969 - with the Great Depression, FDR was the beginning of the Second Democratic Era, forging the Roosevelt Coalition of voters - very liberal, 4 terms - after FDR was Democrat Harry Truman. And despite Republican Dwight Eisenhower, Congress remained Democratic - then came JFK and LBJ, but the era ended after LBJ

Question 27

Roosevelt Coalition of voters

Answer 27

combination of many different groups that wished to see Herbert Hoover defeated - composed of eastern workers, southern and western farmers, blacks, and the ideologically liberal

Question 28

Era of Divided Government

Answer 28

1969-2003 - with Richard Nixon’s election, a balance of power between the Republicans and the Democrats came about - when one party had the Presidency, the other had Congress, or at least the Senate - brought gridlock

Question 29

Gridlock

Answer 29

tendency to paralyze decision making, with one branch advocating one policy and the other another contradictory policy

Question 30

McGovern-Fraser Commission

Answer 30

created by Democratic party to review the party’s structure and delegate procedures - commission determined that minorities, women, youth, and the poor were not adequately represented at the party convention - party then adopted guidelines that increased the representation and participation of these groups

Question 31

Minor parties dominated by individual personality

Answer 31

usually disappear when the charismatic personality does - Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party

Question 32

Minor parties organized around a long-lasting goal or ideology

Answer 32

disappear after their goal is accomplished - Abolitionists and Prohibitionists

Question 33

Populist party

Answer 33

most influential third party - represented interests of farmers but was responsible for wide-ranging democratic reforms

Question 34

Ross Perot

Answer 34

tried to defy 2 party system by running for President as independent - didn’t succeed

Question 35

Dealignment

Answer 35

the reason for realignment not happening sometimes - more and more voters have begun to identify as independent - weakening of ties to the two major parties

Question 36

Straight ticket

Answer 36

supporting all candidates of one party for all positions

Question 37

Ticket splitting

Answer 37

voting for candidates from both parties for different positions