POLI 100B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Southern Democrats, Party System, Anti-Federalism
Document Summary
The best way political scientists organize congressional history is according to the ebb and flow of electoral dynamics which is largely based on partisan conflict. So a party system is a stable period of partisan competition. This doesn"t mean that there isn"t any partisan conflict, it just means that the form of partisan conflict or the nature of partisan conflict is the same during that period of time. Experimental system (1789-1820): federalist (elites) vs. democratic-republicans (jeffersonians) Democratizing system (1828-1860); whigs (pro-commercial) vs. democrats (pro-agrarian) Civil war system (1860-1893): democrats (southern) vs. republican s(northern) (pro-industry) Industrial system (1894-1932): democrats (anti-industry) vs. republican. New deal system (1932-1972): democrats (left) vs. republicans (right) The experimental era (pre-1800- 1812) weaker voter ties to parties. Federalist: commercial and industry society and development. Anti-federalist/ democratic-republican/ jeffersonian: agrarian society and development. Limited formal organization; weak leadership; frequent speaker turnover. Subject introduced on the floor; general debate.