What is the historical evolution of the Democratic and Republican, in the U.S. today. Who are the leaders who?

Question

What is the historical evolution of the Democratic and Republican, in the U.S. today. Who are the leaders who were important in defining the beliefs of each party. What are some of the differences between them? What are some of the important issues each party stands for today?

Answer 1

The Republican Party got its start in the mid 1850's in the upper Midwest as an anti-slavery party, and Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 in order to hold the Union together. After Lincoln's assassination, major business interests took control of the Republican Party in order to develop important industries such as the railroads--this was not necessarily all bad, but it definitely gave the Republican Party the reputation as the party of business, and it retains this orientation to this day.

The Democratic Party began with Thomas Jefferson. It calls itself the oldest political party in the world. It devolved into being a regional party after the Civil War, more an anti-Republican, pro-South party, until the Great Depression following the stock market collapse in 1929. That Depression laid bare structural faults with uncontrolled capitalism. The Democratic nominee in 1932 was Franklin Roosevelt, a liberal minded wealthy aristocrat who surrounded himself with a "brain trust" of brilliant minds who concieved the New Deal, which modified capitalism into a form that avoided crashes and depressions. (The 1929 crash was not isolated, it was only one in a long, long series of collapses, and the New Deal successfully ended that instability). Since that time the Democratic Party has had various liberal ideals such as equal voting rights for Blacks, national health care, social security, safe food and water standards, securities regulation, bank deposit insurance...a long list. And to its credit the Republican Party had a phase of pro-environment, pro-public interest policies as well--their President Teddy Roosevelt founded the national parks and began pure food and drug regulation, and Dwight Eisenhower enforced the Supreme Court's ruling requiring equal education for Black children and various other measures assuring equal justice under the law.

At this point the Republican Party does not seem to be controlled by traditional business interests. Traditional business interests do not support massive debt, or even elective wars. The Republican Party at this point is under the control of conservative religious leaders who have succeeded in getting the government to subsidize them with public tax money, and certain irresponsible business leaders whose only interest is to maximize profit and avoid any liability for injuring citizens.