The Democratic and Whig Parties of the 19th Century
In the era of President Andrew Jackson, the Whig and Democratic parties were in constant rivalry for the legislative control of the country. Whig party formed in the mid-1830, opposed the tariffs supported by President Jackson on the need to expand slave trade in United States (Chamberlain 253). Furthermore, the President did not support internal improvement projects and banks thereby encouraging many farmers and industrialists to join the opposing Whig party.
Considerably, the Whig party believed in a strong federal government that can support its citizens with transport infrastructure and assist in economic development through tariffs. Moreover, its primary agenda included promoting education of the public, support temperance and to abolish slavery. However, the Democratic Party which existed since 1790’s believed that the government should retain as much power as possible with bare minimum powers for federal government operations. Its policies promoted the rights of the common people thereby gaining popularity among farmers and the factory workers (Slaughter 507).
Modern Republican and Democratic Parties
Republican Party, formerly known as the Whig party, holds divergent views with their opposition, the Democratic Party. The two groups still have opposing ideals on the powers and duties of the federal government towards its subjects. The republicans for example still holds that the national government’s role is to protect the rights of individuals and society as a whole without any interference from the developed agencies. The party still insists that the federal government should impose fewer restrictions and regulations to key industries such as banking and healthcare so as to promote business prosperity to promote public growth (Pagel, 1603).
Democratic Party on the other hand, which has maintained its values since 18th century, believes that the federal government should have strong influence in addressing challenges facing the American society. Additionally, the organization believes that key industries such as insurance should have a greater degree of government oversight as opposed to governance (Mckay n.p). These aspects present similar views with parties of 1830’s and 40’s as one of the groups still advocates for more power to the government while the other emphasizing on methods to limit the same.
Works Cited
Chamberlain, Adam. “From Pressure Group to Political Party: The Case of the American Anti‐Slavery Society and the Liberty Party.” Social Science Quarterly 99.1 (2018): 246-261.
McKay, David. American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Pagel, Christina, et al. “A way forward for bipartisan health reform? Democrat and republican state legislator priorities for the goals of health policy.” (2017): 1601-1603.
Slaughter, Thomas P. “Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics by Corey M. Brooks.” Early American Literature 52.2 (2017): 506-510.