Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 3 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

DEMOCRATIC PARTY , originally DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY, the See also:

oldest of existing See also:political parties in the See also:United States. Its origin See also:lay in the principles of See also:local self-See also:government and repugnance to social and political See also:aristocracy established as See also:cardinal tenets of See also:American colonial See also:democracy, which by the See also:War of See also:Independence, which was essentially a democratic See also:movement, became the basis of the political institutions of the nation. The evils of lax government, both central and See also:state, under the See also:Confederation caused, however, a marked See also:anti-democratic reaction, and this united with the temperamental 'conservatism of the framers of the constitution of 1787 in the shaping of that conservative See also:instrument. The influences and interests for and against its See also:adoption took See also:form in the groupings of Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and these, after the creation of the new government, became respectively, in underlying principles, and, to a large extent, in personnel, the Federalist party (q.v.) and the Democratic-Republican party.l The latter, organized by See also:Thomas See also:Jefferson in opposition to the Federalists dominated by See also:Alexander See also:Hamilton, was a real party by 1792. The See also:great service of attaching to the constitution a democratic See also:bill of rights be-longs to the Anti-Federalists or Democratic-Republican party, although this was then amorphous. The Democratic-Republican party gained full See also:control, of the government, See also:save the judiciary, ' The prefix " Democratic " was not used by Jefferson; it became established, however, and See also:official.in 18o1, and controlled it continuously thereafter until 1825, No political " platforms " were then known, but the writings of Jefferson, who dominated his party throughout this See also:period, take the See also:place of such. His inaugural address of 18o1 is a famous statement of democratic principles, which to-See also:day are taken for granted only because, through the party organized by him to secure their success, they became universally accepted as the ideal of American institutions. In all the colonies, says See also:John See also:Adams, " a See also:court and a See also:country party had always contended "; Jefferson's followers believed sincerely that the Federalists were a new court party, and monarchist. Hence they called themselves " Republicans " as against monarchists,—standing also, incident-ally, for states' rights against the centralization that See also:monarchy (or any approach to it) implied; and " Democrats " as against aristocrats,—standing for the " See also:common rights of Englishmen," the " rights of See also:man," the levelling of social ranks and the widening bf political privileges. In the See also:early years of its history—and during the `period of the See also:French Revolution and afterwards—the Republicans sympathized with the French as against the See also:British, the Federalists with the British as against the French. Devotion to abstract principles of democracy and See also:liberty, and in See also:practical politics a strict construction of the constitution, in See also:order to prevent an aggrandizement of See also:national See also:power at the expense of the states (which were nearer popular control) or the citizens, have been permanent characteristics of the Democratic party as contrasted with its See also:principal opponents; but neither these nor any other distinctions have been continuously or consistently true throughout its See also:long course.2 After 18o1 the commercial and manufacturing nationalistic3 elements of the Federalist party,being now dependent on Jefferson for See also:protection, gradually went over to the Republicans, especially after the War of 1812; moreover, See also:administration of government naturally See also:developed in Republican ranks a See also:group of broad-constructionists.' These See also:groups fused, and became an See also:independent party.' They called themselves National Republicans, while the Jacksonian Republicans soon came to be known - simply as Democrats.5 Immediately afterward followed the tremendous victory of the Jacksonians in 1828,-a great advance in See also:radical democracy over the victory of 1800. In the See also:interval the Federalist party had disappeared, and practically the entire country, embracing Jeffersonian democracy, had passed through the school of the Republican party.

It had established the power of the "See also:

people" in the sense of that word in See also:present-day American politics. Bills of rights in every state constitution protected the See also:citizen; some state See also:judges were already elective; very soon the people came to nominate their presidential candidates in' national conventions, and draft their party platforms through their See also:convention representatives.6 After the National Republican scission the Democratic party, weakened thereby in its nationalistic tendencies, and deprived of the leadership of See also:Jackson, See also:fell quickly under the control of its See also:Southern adherents and became virtually sectional in its See also:objects. Its states' rights See also:doctrine was turned to the See also:defence of See also:slavery. In thus opposing anti-slavery sentiment-inconsistently, alike as regarded the " rights of man " and constitutional construction, with its See also:original and permanent 2 Under the See also:rubric of " strict construction " fall the greatest struggles in the party's See also:history: those over the United States See also:Bank, over tariffs—for protection or for " See also:revenue only—over " See also:internal improvements," over issues of administrative See also:economy in providing for the " See also:general welfare," &c. The course of the party has frequently been inconsistent, and its doctrines have shown, absolutely considered, progressive latitudinarianism. " Nationalistic " is used here and below, not in the sense of a general nationalistic spirit, such as that of Jackson, but to indicate the, centralizing tendency of a broad construction of constitutional See also:powers in behalf of See also:commerce and manufactures. See also:Standing for protective tariffs, internal improvements, &c. 6 It should be See also:borne in mind, however, that the Democratic party of Jackson was not, strictly identical with the Democratic-Republican party of Jefferson,—and some writers date back the origin of the present Democratic party only to 1828-1829. The Democratic national convention of 1832 was preceded by an Anti-Masonic convention of 183o and by the National-Republican convention of 1831; but the Democratic See also:platform of 1840 was the first of its See also:kind. principles—it lost morale and power. As a result of the contest over See also:Kansas it became fatally divided, and in 186o put forward two presidential tickets: one representing the doctrine of Jefferson See also:Davis that the constitution recognized slave-See also:property, and therefore the national government must protect slavery in the territories; the other representing See also:Douglas's doctrine that the inhabitants of a territory might virtually exclude slavery by " unfriendly legislation." The combined popular votes for the two tickets exceeded that See also:cast by the new, anti-slavery Republican party (the second of the name) for See also:Lincoln; but the See also:election was lost. During the ensuing See also:Civil War such members of the party as did not become War Democrats antagonized the Lincoln administration, and in 1864 made the great blunder of pronouncing the war " a failure." Owing to Republican errors in reconstruction and the scandals of See also:President See also:Grant's administration, the party gradually regained its strength and morale, until, having largely subordinated Southern questions to economic issues, it cast for See also:Tilden for president in 1876 a popular See also:vote greater than that obtained by the Republican See also:candidate, See also:Hayes, and gained control of the See also:House of Representatives.

The Electoral See also:

Commission, however, made Hayes president, and the quiet See also:acceptance of this decision by the Democratic party did it considerable See also:credit. Since 1877 the Southern states have been almost solidly Democratic; but, except on the See also:negro question, such unanimity among Southern whites has been, naturally, factitious; and by no means an unmixed See also:good for the party. Apart from the " Solid See also:South," the period after 1875 is characterized by two other party difficulties. The first was the See also:attempt from 1878 to 1896 to "straddle" the See also:silver issue;' the second, an attempt after 1896 to harmonize general elements of conservatism and radicalism within the party. In 1896 the South and See also:West gained control of the organization, and the national See also:campaigns of 1896 and 'goo were fought and lost mainly on the issue of " See also:free silver," which, however, was abandoned before 1904. After 1898 "imperialism," to which the Democrats were hostile, became another issue. Finally, after 1896, there became very apparent in the party a tendency to attract the radical elements of society in the general re-See also:alignment of parties taking place on See also:industrial-social issues; the Democratic party apparently attracting, in this readjustment, the " radicals " and the " masses " as in the See also:time of Jefferson and Jackson. In this See also:process, in the years 1896-I goo, it took over many of the principles and absorbed, in large See also:part, the members of the radical third-party of the " Populists," only to be confronted thereupon by the growing strength of See also:Socialism, challenging it to a farther radical widening of its See also:programme. From 186o to 1908 it elected but a single president (Grover See also:Cleveland, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897).2 All American parties accepted long ago in theory "Jeffersonian democracy "; but the Democratic party has been " the political See also:champion of those elements of the [American] democracy which are most democratic. It stands nearest the people."' It may be noted that the Jeffersonian Republicans did not attempt to democratize the constitution itself. The choice of a president was soon popularized, however, in effect; and the popular election of United States senators is to-day a definite Demo- cratic tenet.' ' The attitude of the Republican party was no less inconsistent and evasive. 2 It controlled the House of Representatives from 1874 to 1894 except in 188o–1882 and 1888–189o; but except for a time in Cleveland's second See also:term, there were never simultaneously a Democratic president and a Democratic See also:majority in See also:Congress.

' See also:

Professor A. D. See also:Morse in See also:International Monthly, See also:October 'goo. He adds, " It has done more to Americanize the foreigner than all other parties." (It is predominant in the great cities of the country.) ' In connexion with the prevalent popular tendency to regard the president as a people's See also:tribune, it may be noted that a strong presidential See also:veto is, historically, peculiarly a Democratic contribution, owing to the history of Jackson's (compare Cleveland's) administration.times, usually' issued. by the national Democratic See also:committee in alternate years, and M. See also:Carey, The Democratic See also:Speaker's See also:Hand-See also:book (See also:Cincinnati, 1868). For a hostile See also:criticism of the party, see W. D. See also:Jones, See also:Mirror of See also:Modern Democracy; History of the Democratic Party frem' 825 to 1861 (New See also:York, 1864); See also:Jonathan Norcross, History of Democracy Considered as a Party-Name and a Political Organization (New York, 1883) ; J. H. See also:Patton, The Democratic Party: Its Political History and See also:Influence (New York, 1884). Favourable See also:treatises are R. H.

Gillet, Democracy in the United States (New York, 1868) ; and See also:

George See also:Fitch, Political Facts: an See also:Historical See also:Text-Book of the Democratic and Other Parties (See also:Baltimore, 1884). See also, for general political history, Thomas H. See also:Benton, See also:Thirty Years' View (2 vols., New York, 1854-1856, and later See also:editions) ; See also:James G. See also:Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress (2 vols., See also:Norwich, See also:Conn., 1884-1893); S. S. See also:Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation (See also:Providence, 1885) S. P. Orth, Five American Politicians: a Study in the See also:Evolution of American Politics (Cleveland, 1906), containing sketches of four Democratic leaders—Burr, De Witt See also:Clinton,See also:Van Buren and Douglas; Macy, Party Organization and Machinery. (New York, 1904); J. H. See also:Hopkins, History of Political Parties in the United States (New York, 1900) ; E. S.

Stanwood, History of the See also:

Presidency (last ed., See also:Boston, 1904) ; J. P. Gordy, History of Political Parties, 1. (New York, 1900) ; H. J. See also:Ford, Rise and Growth of American Politics (New York, 1898); Alexander See also:Johnston, History of American Politics (New York, 1900, and later editions); C. E. Merriam, A History of American Political Theories (New York, 1903), containing chapters on the Jeffersonian and the Jacksonian Democracy; and James A. Woodburn, Political Parties and Party Problems in the United States (New York, 1903).

End of Article: DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DEMOCRACY (Gr. 3np.oKparia, from S)µos, the people... 		[next]
DEMOCRITUS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries