Democratic Party

Guide Note

The Democratic party is, along with the Republican Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States. It is historically the more liberal of the two, although the notion of 'liberal' and 'conservative' as political opposites is a fairly recent one, and fails to account for many key issues in American partisan politics.

Fast Facts

1. Founded: 1824 (modern) - 1792 (historical)
2. Arguably the oldest active political party in the world
3. Founders include: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
4. Party Chairman as of April, 2008: Howard Dean
5. Senate Majority Leader as of April, 2008: Harry Reid (D-NV)
6. House Majority Leaders as of April, 2008: Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

The Democratic Party is the older of the two major parties in the U.S., and is arguably the oldest active political party in the world, tracing its origins nearly to the beginning of the American democratic system, in 1792. It was founded by figures including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as the Democratic-Republican Party, a Constitutionalist alternative to the anti-democratic, anti-populist Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton. Over the years, many splits and schisms occurred in American partisan politics, such that the modern Democratic Party can be said to have begun in 1832, with the first Democratic National Convention.

While the Democratic Party was, notoriously, opposed to the abolition of slavery before the Civil War, and was deeply split regarding the civil rights movement until roughly the late 1960s, a general current of populism and egalitarianism has informed its positions. The signal program of the party in the 20th Century was the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which set a foundation under the rising American middle-class through programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

In the 21st Century, the Democratic Party has largely been a minority party mounting opposition to the policies of Movement Conservatism, to varying effects and degrees of success. Positions have included support for government regulation of industry, anti-poverty programs, and civil-rights issues such as gay marriage. In 2006, the Democrats won a majority in Congress for the first time in 12 years, on promises to bring accountability back to a government rendered unpopular by a succession of majority-Republican scandals. As of April, 2008, one of the two Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, is seen as likely to win the 2008 presidential election.