Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Political Parties
Section 1

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 2Chapter 5, Section 1
Objectives
1. Define a political party.
2. Describe the major functions of political
parties.
3. Identify the reasons why the United
States has a two-party system.
4. Understand multiparty and one-party
systems and how they affect the
functioning of a political system.

Key Terms
• political party: a group of persons who
seek to control government by winning
elections and holding public office
• political spectrum: the range of political
views, from the so-called left to the right
• partisanship: strong support for a specific
political party and its policies
• single-member districts: a voting district
in which only one candidate is elected to
each office on the ballot

Key Terms, cont.
• plurality: the largest number of votes cast for an
elected office; this number does not have to be a
majority of all votes cast
• bipartisan: an approach to policy making in
which the two major parties find common ground
on an issue
• consensus: general agreement among different
groups on an issue
• coalition: a temporary alliance of several groups
who join to form a working majority in a
multiparty system

• What are political parties, and how do they
function in our two-party system?
– A party is a group of people who try to control
government by winning elections and holding
public office.
– Political Parties:
• Nominate candidates
• Inform and inspire supporters
• Encourage good behavior among members
• Govern once in office
• Perform oversight on government actions
Introduction

What is a Party?
• Checkpoint: What are the three elements that
make up a political party?
– The party organization is the party professionals
who run the party at all levels by contributing time,
money, and skill.
– The party in government includes the candidates
and officeholders who serve at all levels of
government.
– The party in the electorate are the millions of voters
who identify strongly with a particular party and
support its policies.

What Parties Do
• Parties express the will of the people in government.
They can also encourage unity by modifying
conflicting views and encouraging compromise.
• Parties nominate—find, recruit, prepare, and gather
public support for—qualified political candidates.
• Parties inform the public and try to shape public
opinion, using all forms of media to campaign for or
against opposing candidates and policy issues.

Roles of Parties
• Parties act as a “bonding agent” to encourage
accountability among their candidates and office
holders.
• Parties play a key roles in governing at all levels.
– Legislatures are organized along party lines and
parties shape the electoral process.
– Partisanship guides many legislative votes and
appointments to public office.
– Parties provide channels of communication between
the branches of government.

Parties as “Watchdogs”
• Checkpoint: How do parties perform the
watchdog function?
– In particular, the minority party keeps a close
eye on the actions of the party that controls
the executive branch to make sure that it does
not abuse its power or violate the public trust.

The Two-Party System
• The Republican and Democratic parties
dominate American politics.
– Only the candidates from the two major parties
have a chance to win most elections.
• Why is this the case?
– The Framers opposed political parties.
• They saw parties as “factions” that caused disunity
and conflict. George Washington warned against
the dangers of parties.

• Once established, parties became part of
tradition.
• The nature of the election process supports the
two-party system.
– Nearly all American elections take place in single-member
districts--only the one candidate who wins the largest
number of votes gets elected to office.
– This works against third-party candidates, who have little
chance of finishing in the top two.
Tradition

• The two major parties write election rules
that discourage non-major parties.
• For example, it is very difficult for a third
party candidate to get on the ballot in all
50 states.
Tradition, cont.

Ideological Consensus
• Americans tend to share
a broad ideological
consensus.
– The United States is
made up of many
different cultural groups.
– While Americans don’t
agree on every issue,
they do support the
same basic freedoms.
– Strongly divisive issues
have tended not to last
for generations.

Building Consensus
• Both major parties try to be moderate and build
consensus.
– Both parties tend to have a few major areas of policy
differences while being rather similar in other areas.
– The similarities between parties arises because both
parties are after a majority of voters in any given
election. Both parties must compete for the many
voters in the middle of the political spectrum.

Political Spectrum
Radical Favors extreme change to create an altered
or entirely new social system.
Liberal Believes that government must take action to
change economic, political, and ideological
policies thought to be unfair.
Moderate Holds beliefs that fall between liberal and
conservative views, usually including some
of each.
Conservative Seeks to keep in place the economic,
political, and social structures of society.
Reactionary Favors extreme change to restore society to
an earlier, more conservative state.

Multiparty Systems
• Multiparty systems are used by many democracies.
– They have several major and many smaller parties.
– Each party is based on a particular interest.
• These interests can include economic class, religion, or
political ideology.

• Multiparty systems tend to represent a
more diverse group of citizens.
– Supporters admire this feature, arguing that it
gives voters many more choices among
candidates and policies.
– However, this diversity often makes multiparty
systems less stable. The power to govern
must usually be shared by several parties
who join in a coalition.
Multiparty Systems, cont.

• Only one political party
exists, offering no real
choice.
• Some U.S. states and
districts are “modified
one-party systems.”
– In these places, one party
repeatedly wins most of the
elections and dominates
government.
One-Party Systems

Review
• Now that you have learned about political
parties and how they function in our two-
party system, go back and answer the
Chapter Essential Question.
– Does the two-party system help or harm
democracy?

Section 2

Objectives
1. Understand the origins of political parties
in the United States.
2. Identify and describe the three major
periods of single-party domination and
describe the current era of divided
government.

Key Terms
• incumbent: the current officeholder
• faction: one of two or more competing
groups
• spoils system: the practice of awarding
public offices, contracts, and other
governmental favors to those who
supported the party in power
• electorate: the people eligible to vote
• sectionalism: a devotion to the interests
of a particular region

Introduction
• How has the two-party system affected the
history of American government?
– During different periods in American history,
either the Democratic or Republican Party has
dominated national politics and the branches
of the federal government.
– Recent history has seen the federal
government divided between two parties.

The Nation’s First Parties
• The battle over ratification of the Constitution led to the
rise of the first major parties.
• The Federalist Party was formed by supporters of the
Constitution.
– They wanted a stronger national government and
policies that helped financial, commercial, and
manufacturing interests.
– Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were key
representatives.

Democratic-Republican Party
• Opposing the Federalists was the Democratic-
Republican Party.
– They wanted a more limited national government, with
policies aimed at helping farmers, planters, labor, and small
business.
– Key leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
favored a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

The Democratic Party
• The election of 1796 was the first time two
parties fought for the presidency.
– The Federalists won, but faded from power
after losing the 1800 election.
– The Democratic-Republicans later split apart
and gave rise to the Democratic Party.

Template for graphic only

The Era of the Democrats
• The Democratic Party won 13 of 15 presidential
elections from 1800 to 1860.
• In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson began a
period of so-called Jacksonian democracy,
marked by three major political changes:
– Voting rights were expanded to include all white males,
not just those with property.
– A huge increase in the number of elected offices
around the country.
– The spread of the spoils system.

• The Democrats drew
much of their support
from small farmers,
pioneers, and
slaveholders in the
South and West.
• Their greatest rivals
were the Whigs, who
were supported by
wealthier merchant
and industrial interests
in the East.
Democrats v. Whigs
Thomas Jefferson became President
in 1803, ushering in an era of
Democratic domination that lasted
until the Civil War.

• The debate over slavery split the Whigs
and the Democrats apart in the 1850s.
– The Democrats were split between northern
and southern factions.
– Many Whigs and antislavery Democrats
joined the new Republican Party in 1854.
Democrats v. Whigs, cont.

Era of the Republicans
• The Republican Party won 14 of 18 presidential
• The Civil War crippled the Democrats.
– All their powers was concentrated in the South, which
they controlled for roughly 100 years after
Reconstruction ended.
• The Republican dominated nationally.
– They had the support of farmers, laborers, business
and financial interests, and freed African Americans.
– The Republicans benefited from years of economic
prosperity.

Economic Turmoil
• An economic downturn made the election
of 1896 critical.
– Labor unions joined small farmers and small
business owners to back the Democrats.
– The Republicans won by appealing to a wider
range of voters, but the Democrats gained
new support outside the South.

End of the Republican Era
• Checkpoint: What third-party candidate
had an influence on the election of 1912?
Explain.
– The Republicans lost the presidency in 1912
largely due to a third party candidate.
• Former Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran as a
member of the new Progressive Party and split the
Republican vote, helping Democrat Woodrow
Wilson win.

Party Identity: Past and Present
• Cartoonist Thomas Nast has been credited with creating
the party symbols in is 1874 cartoon for the magazine
Harper’s Weekly.
– Originally, neither
party adopted his
ideas. Over time,
each party assumed
and revised the
symbols, which have
become synonymous
with party identity.

Return of the Democrats
• The Democrats won 7 out
of 9 presidential elections
from 1932 to 1968.
• The Great Depression
sparked the comeback of
the Democrats.
– With the economy in
ruins, the Democrats
gained the support of
southerners, small
farmers, big-city political
organizations, labor
unions, and minority
groups.

Era of Divided Government
• The Republicans won 7 out of 10 presidential
• The Democrats controlled Congress for most of
this period.
– Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 to 2000
while Democrat Bill Clinton was President.
• This division of power meant that neither party
could easily control the agenda of the
government without making compromises.

Republicans in the 1980s
• The Republicans made major changes to U.S.
foreign trade and domestic policies during the
1980s.
– Republican candidates Ronald Reagan and George
H.W. Bush won three landslide victories during this
period.

Political Parties Today
• In recent years, control of Congress,
particularly the Senate, has shifted back
and forth between the major parties.
– Typically newly elected Presidents has a
“coattail” effect that brings other candidates
from their party to Congress. In recent years,
this has not been the case.

Review
• Now that you have learned how the two-
party system has affected the history of
American government, go back and
answer the Chapter Essential Question.
democracy?

Section 3

Objectives
1. Identify the types of minor parties that
have been active in American politics.
2. Understand why minor parties are
important despite the fact that none has
ever won the presidency.

Key Terms
• ideological parties: parties based on a
particular set of social, economic, and political
beliefs
• single-issue parties: parties focused on only
one public-policy issue
• economic protest parties: parties whose
members are united by anger over economic
hard times and dislike for the major parties
• splinter parties: parties that have split off from
one of the major parties; often focused on a
single popular leader

Introduction
• What role have minor parties played in
American politics?
– American minor parties have fallen into four
broad categories: ideological parties,
single-issue parties, economic protest
parties, and splinter parties.
– Minor parties can play a spoiler role in
elections by taking critical votes from a major
party.
– They can also be the first to bring key issues
to public attention with their campaigns.

• Ideological parties are based on a
particular set of beliefs that usually involve
society, politics, and the economy.
– Most of these parties have involved Marxist
ideas, such as Socialist, Socialist Labor,
Socialist Worker, and Communist parties.
Ideological Parties

– The Libertarian Party promotes the opposite
view, calling for the elimination of most
government functions and programs.
– Ideological parties rarely win many votes, but
can last for many years.
Ideological Parties, cont.

• Single issue parties
emphasize one public
policy issue.
– For example, the Free
Soil Party opposed the
spread of slavery to the
West.
– Most single issue parties
fade away when their
issue is resolved or no
longer attracts public
interest.
Single Issue Parties

• Checkpoint: How are economic protest parties
different from single-issue parties?
– Economic protest parties arise in periods of
economic trouble.
– They call for economic reforms.
• The Populist Party of the 1890s arose from the
Greenbacks. They demanded public ownership of
railroads, telephone, and telegraph companies
along with political reforms.
– These parties disappear when the hard economic
times end.
Economic Protest Parties

• Splinter parties split away from one of the major
parties.
– They are often centered on a particular candidate
who fails to win his or her major party nomination, or
arise from a strong disagreement within a major party.
Splinter Parties

– The Dixiecrat and
American Independent
parties split from the
Democratic Party over
states’ rights and civil
rights issues.
• George C. Wallace,
governor of Alabama
campaigned for
President in 1968 as
a member of the
American
Independent Party.
Splinter Parties, cont.

The Bull Moose Party
• The Progressive parties
of Theodore Roosevelt
and Robert La Follette
split from the Republican
Party.
– Roosevelt’s party was
nicknamed the Bull
Moose Party.
• Splinter parties tend to
break up when their
leaders step aside.

• Minor parties can also play a spoiler role.
– By winning electoral votes or even enough
popular votes to affect the outcome in a key
state, a minor party can affect the outcome of
an election.
Minor Party Influence

• It is not common for a minor party candidacy to
shift the outcome of a presidential election.
• Theodore Roosevelt’s candidacy as a
Progressive Party member most likely cost
Republican William Taft the presidential election
of 1912.
• Ralph Nader’s Green Party may have cost
Democrat Al Gore the very close presidential
election of 2000 by gaining votes in swing states
such as Florida.
Affecting Presidential Elections

Raising Public Awareness
• The most important role of minor parties is to
raise public awareness of controversial issues.
– Women’s suffrage, income tax, and regulation of banking
and railroads were all first championed by minor parties.
– Minor parties challenge the major parties to take action on
issues, often accusing them of being part of the problem.
– The more successful minor parties’ efforts are to raise
awareness of an issue, the more likely it is that major
parties will put the idea into their own campaign platforms.

• In 2008 there were seventeen minor party
presidential candidates appearing on the
ballot of at least one state.
• More than 1,000 minor party candidates
also sought seats in Congress or offices in
various state and local elections.
Minor Party Candidates

Review
• Now that you have learned about the roles
that minor parties have played in
American politics, go back and answer the
democracy?

Section 4

Objectives
1. Understand why the major parties have a
decentralized structure.
2. Describe the national party machinery
and party organization at the State and
local levels.

Key Terms
• ward: one of several voting districts into
which cities are often divided for the
election of city council members
• precinct: the smallest unit of election
administration; voters in a precinct cast
their ballots at a single polling place
located in that precinct

• How are political parties organized at the
federal, State, and local levels?
– Parties are decentralized.
– National Committees represent each party’s
interests at the national level.
– Most states have a central party committee.
– Local party structures vary quite widely from
place to place.
Introduction

A Decentralized Structure
• Neither party has an unbroken chain of
command running through all levels of
government.
– The President is the nominal leader of his or her
party.
• This means that the party of the President is typically
better organized than its rival party.
• The President’s media exposure and power to make
appointments is valuable, but does not give him or her
complete authority over all party activities.

Federalism
• The federal system is
decentralized.
– There are more than half
a million elective offices
in the United States
spread across federal,
state, and local
governments.
– The parties must satisfy
a very wide range of
voters, which makes it
hard to have a unified
party message.
How does this cartoon illustrate
the decentralized nature of
political parties?

• Checkpoint: How does the nomination
process contribute to intraparty conflict?
– The nominating process can lead to
competition within the parties.
– Nominations are made within the party and
can divide party members if there is a
dispute over nominees.
The Nominating Process

• Checkpoint: What happens at each
party’s national convention?
– The national convention is held every
presidential election year.
– The convention names the party’s presidential
and vice-presidential candidates, adopts the
party’s rules, and writes the official party
platform.
– The convention does not name candidates for
other offices and has no control over the
actual policies supported by candidates.
The National Convention

National Committee
• The national committee handles party
issues in between conventions.
– Each party’s national committee includes a
committee member from each state.
– The Republican National Committee (RNC)
now seats the party chairperson for each
state as well as representatives from various
Republican groups and the U.S. territories.

National Committee, cont.
• The Democratic National Committee
(DNC) is even larger. It includes the party
chair and vice chairperson from each
state, additional party members from the
larger states, and up to 75 at large
members chosen by the DNC.

• The national
chairperson leads the
national committee.
– The chairperson is
chosen after the
national convention by
the presidential
nominee.
– Howard Dean (right)
served as the
Democratic Party’s
national chairperson in
the 2008 election.
National Chairperson

– The national chairperson directs the work of
the party headquarters and professional staff
in Washington, D.C.
– In presidential election years, the national
chairperson’s work involves the presidential
campaign.
– In other years, the chairperson concentrates
on building party unity, raising money, and
recruiting new voters for the next election.
National Chairperson, cont.

• Each party also has a campaign
committee for each house of Congress.
• These committees work to get party
members elected or reelected to
Congress.
Campaign Committees

Raising Funds
• Both parties spend a
great deal of effort to
make sure the party’s
officeholders stay in
power.
– What does the chart
show about spending
over the last several
years?
– Why might well-known
party members be
invited to speak at
dinners?

State Party Organization
• State law largely determines party organization at
the state level.
• Most states have a central party committee headed
by a chairperson.
– The committee members choose the chairperson, who
often has a great deal of independence in conducting party
affairs.
– Committee members are chosen by a variety of methods:
primaries, caucuses, or state conventions.
– These officials try to promote party unity, find candidates,
and raise funds.

• Local party structure
varies a great deal.
• In some places local
party organizations are
active year-round, but
usually they focus their
efforts on the few months
before an election.
– What kind of party jobs do
you think exist at each
level of organization?
Local Party Organization

Review
• Now that you have learned how political
parties are organized at the federal, State,
and local levels, go back and answer the
democracy?

Chapter 5

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Chapter 5

Similar to Chapter 5 (20)

More from ezasso

More from ezasso (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Chapter 5

Editor's Notes