During these years, Stalin had continued to move up the party ladder, and in 1922 he became secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a role that enabled him to appoint his allies to government jobs and grow a base of political support.
As the federal government evolved in the 1790s, the classical republican ideals of civic virtue and aristocracy were challenged by more liberal ideas of democracy and self-interest.[1] The Federalist Party was founded by Alexander Hamilton to support political candidates that advocated classical republicanism, stronger federal government, and the American School of economics, while the Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson to support political candidates that advocated the agrarian and anti-federalist ideals of Jeffersonian democracy.[2] The Federalists saw most of their support in New England, with the other states supporting the Democratic-Republicans.[3] The influence of Federalists declined during the 1800s, and Jeffersonian democracy came to be the only major ideology during the Era of Good Feelings.[4]
The Democratic-Republican Party fractured in the 1820s as a result of the political rivalry between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.[5] Jackson established his ideology of Jacksonian democracy, and the Democratic Party was created to support Jackson. Much like Jefferson, Jackson supported popular democracy, rule by the people over elites, and minimal government intervention in the economy.[6] However, the Democratic Party was not a direct successor to the Democratic-Republican Party, and they differed in other areas.[5] Unlike Jefferson, Jackson's Democrats advocated political patronage and a stronger executive branch.[7] The National Republican Party was created to oppose Jackson, advocating government intervention in the economy and opposing unrestrained individualism.[8] Anti-Masonry also saw prominence at this time, and the National Republican Party merged with the Anti-Masonic Party in 1833 to form the Whig Party. The Whig Party and the Democratic Party became the two major parties.[9] The Whigs advocated for the American System, which consisted of protectionism through tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements.[10]
The Republican Party was formed after the collapse of the Whig Party in the 1850s to reflect the political ideologies of the northern states. It immediately replaced the Whig Party as a major political party, supporting social mobility, egalitarianism, and limitations on slavery.[14] The two major political factions of the Republican Party were the Radical Republicans, who supported total abolition of slavery and strong action against the secessionist states, and the moderates, who supported concessions with the southern states.[15] At the same time, some nationalist Americans advocated expansionism and manifest destiny, seeking to acquire additional territory.[16] Many of these individuals wished for additional territory to create additional slave states.[17]
During the Reconstruction era from 1865 to 1877, politics focused on resolving the issues of the Civil War. The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, and ideologies based on the issue of slavery were made irrelevant. The Radical Republicans supported liberal reforms during Reconstruction to advance the rights of African Americans, including suffrage and education for freedmen.[21] White supremacy was a major ideology in the southern states, and restrictions on the rights of African Americans saw widespread support in the region, often enforced through both political and violent means.[22] The conservative Bourbon Democrats were prominent in the south during this period, supporting fiscal conservatism or classical liberalism, and setting the foundation for the period of conservative Democratic control in the region known as Solid South.[23][24]
The Gilded Age took place between the 1870s and 1900. During this time, the Republican Party fractured on the issue of the spoils system in the federal government. Senator Roscoe Conkling led the conservative Stalwarts, who supported the traditional political machine and wished to retain the spoils system. Those that opposed Conkling, especially supporters of Senator James G. Blaine, made up the liberal Half-Breeds, who supported civil service reform to abolish the spoils system. The Stalwarts primarily resided in the three states most influenced by machine politics: New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. They were also prevalent among southern Republicans, though the Solid South was overwhelmingly Democratic.[25]
The Democratic Party continued to be divided by sectional politics during the Gilded Age. Ideologies based on monetary issues produced conflict within both major parties. Silverites opposed the nation's de facto gold standard and supported a return to bimetallism.[26] Small government ideals were still prominent at this time, with neither major party seeking to expand the government.[27] By the 1870s, both major political parties supported industrialization, and in response, supporters of populist agrarianism established the People's Party in 1892. The Panic of 1893 accelerated these disputes, causing a major party realignment. The People's Party was absorbed by the Democratic Party, and the conservative Bourbon Democrats lost influence. Populism, agrarianism, and bimetallism became the dominant ideologies in the Democratic Party, led by William Jennings Bryan.[26]
In the 1890s and 1900s, progressivism developed as a major political ideology in the United States. Progressives opposed the effects of industrialization in the United States, supporting major governmental and societal reform to counteract them. These reforms were inspired by the moral ethos of evangelicalism and the development of the social sciences.[29] Progressives sought to end corruption, increase public participation in government, and expand government with the goal of improving society.[30] The progressive movement resulted in the rejection of laissez-faire capitalism in the United States and the foundation of welfare capitalism.[31]
Progressives came from multiple political traditions and developed many new political ideas. Progressives typically supported direct democracy and oversaw several reforms that gave more voting power to the citizens. These reforms included the implementation of primary elections to choose party candidates and the direct election of senators through the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. Regarding social issues, progressives typically believed that the government was best fit to make decisions about behavior through social control. The most prominent example of this was the prohibition on alcohol in the 1920s. Progressives also advocated for compulsory sterilization of those deemed "unfit". Progressives in the early-20th century raised first-wave feminism and women's suffrage into the mainstream, guaranteeing universal suffrage to all women through the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.[31][32]
The Democrats during the Progressive Era moved away from the conservative, small government ideology under which they had operated in the late-19th century.[33] The Democratic Party at this time did not advocate a single ideological system but was composed of several competing populist factions that opposed the Republican Party.[34] The Democrats adopted a reformed view of democracy in which political candidates sought support directly rather than through intermediaries such as political machines.[35] Many progressive reforms became popular within the Democratic Party to increase direct democracy and give citizens more power over government operations,[36] and they also adopted the idea of the Living Constitution during this period.[37] During the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, Wilsonianism was developed as a liberal internationalist foreign relations ideology.[38]
Republicans during the Progressive Era were divided between a conservative faction and a progressive faction.[33] Theodore Roosevelt split from the Republican Party in 1912, and his supporters formed the short-lived Progressive Party. This party advocated a strong collectivist government and a large number of social and political reforms.[39] Far-left ideologies also saw brief popularity during this time. The Socialist Party of America was led by Eugene V. Debs and advocated for collective ownership of many industries.[40] The anarchist movement in the United States was responsible for several terrorist attacks during the 1910s.[41] The Red Scare, a strong backlash to these leftist movements, formed in 1919.[42]
In the 1960s, national politics focused heavily on the civil rights movement, and the New Deal coalition ended as support for civil rights and racial justice became major aspects of liberalism in the United States.[59] Civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 alienated the conservative Southern Democrats. White supremacy was widespread in the southern United States, with third-party white supremacist candidates winning in southern states in the 1948 and 1968 presidential elections.[60] Political ideology evolved significantly in the African American community during the civil rights movement as the community developed its own political voice. The two most prominent civil rights ideologies were the liberal ideology of racial integration through political demonstration championed by Martin Luther King Jr. and the separatist ideology of Black nationalism championed by Malcolm X. Other civil rights ideologies included liberal ideas of incentivizing integration through private action, socialist ideas of forgoing race issues in favor of class issues, and Black conservative ideas of personal responsibility for African Americans.[61] Conservatives opposed government intervention designed to increase employment for African Americans and opposed extending civil rights protections, believing that these policies would hurt African Americans economically and would make the United States a liberal welfare state.[62]
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