United States Democratic Party

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The U.S. Democratic Party is one of two big political parties in the United States. The other is the Republican Party. The U.S. also has several smaller political parties known as "third parties." Supporters of this party are known as Democrats.

Every four years the party holds a National Convention where they agree on their candidate for President. The Democratic National Committee coordinates most of the activities of the Democratic party in all 50 United States. The last National Convention was in Denver, Colorado in 2008 where Barack Obama was nominated for President and Joe Biden was nominated for Vice President.

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[change] History

President Andrew Jackson

The Democratic Party is one of the oldest political parties in the world. Most historians agree that it first became a party with the Democratic-Republican Party created by Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s. The other political party in the USA then was called the Federalists, created by Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson first called his party the Republican Party because it believed the USA should be a republic instead of a direct democracy. The name of the party was changed to Democratic-Republican in 1798.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected President. He was a new kind of politician who got support from many different kinds of people, especially poor and working people in the country, rather than just from rich people in the city. He changed his party's name to the Democratic Party, because he believed in democracy. He is called the first President of the United States from the modern Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party at that time stood on a platform that government should be limited. Many Democrats supported expansion, opposed the federal government interfering with state governments, and opposed a national bank, like Jackson did.

During the Civil War, some members of the Democratic Party supported the Confederate States of America, but many others in the party did not. This led to a weak and confused party that lost many elections after the war was over. After the Civil War, the Republicans dominated the government (most of the time), until 1933.

Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912, but after World War I, the Republicans dominated the government during the 1920s.

The next Democratic President was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected in 1932 during the Great Depression. Roosevelt was one of the most popular Presidents of all time and he is the only one who has ever won four terms in office. During these years, Democrats had big majorities in Congress.

Roosevelt created a series of government programs called the New Deal. During the New Deal, the government created many jobs for people and made many reforms (changes) to the economy. The Democratic Party's beliefs have changed since then. Before the New Deal, they favored limited government. From after the New Deal, to now, they support the government managing the economy and helping disadvantaged people.

After World War II, Democrats had big majorities again in both houses of Congress (Republicans won some elections in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1980's) until the election of 1994, when the Republicans regained majorities in both the House and Senate.

Republicans held a majority of seats in the House or Senate between 1995 and 2007. Between 2007 and 2011, Democrats controlled both the House and Senate. In 2011, Republicans regained control of the House.

After Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election and John Kerry lost in 2004, the nominee for the Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama, won the presidency in the year 2008. In doing so, he became the first ever African-American President of the United States.

[change] Philosophy and role in Government

A Democratic Party Donkey

Sometimes Democrats are called "the left", "liberals" or "progressives", even though not all Democrats are left-wing or liberal. Many Democrats, particularly in the South and Rocky Mountains of the United States, are conservative or moderate). In the United States, each of the parties are a large coalition that covers many different kinds of ideology.

Generally Democrats support:

* progressive income tax, increasing overall tax income

* higher corporate taxes and recapturing income from overseas profits

* expanding spending on government programs

* spending on business, education, infrastructure, clean-energy

* abortion (spending on reproductive issues)

* stem-cell research

* reducing the involvement of US troops in international affairs, downsizing the military

* equal rights (without regard for race, creed, gender or sexual orientation) thru Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity laws.

* restrictions of weapons use through government oversight

* Keynesian, Marxist and mixed economics

* universal healthcare

* regulating business and the economy

* freedom FROM religion

Most support for Democrats comes from states in the Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Coast areas of the USA, but there are Democrats elected to office in all other states too.

[change] Symbols

The symbol of the Democratic Party is the Donkey. Since the election of 2000, the color blue has become a symbol for Democrats.[source?]

[change] U.S. Presidents who were Democrats

Presidents during the 1800s
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidents during the 1900s
Presidents during the 2000s

[change] Other Democratic Politicians

Senator Hillary Clinton
Governor Howard Dean

[change] Other websites

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