Transcript Unit 4 Chapter 9 Notes Power Point

Complete the Guided Reading / Structured Notes as
you view the Power Point.
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Essential Standards:
CE.C&G.2.8: Distinguish between one, two and
multi-party governments
CE.C&G.3.6: Analyze the role media, interest
groups, political parties, and propaganda play in
influencing elections and public policy
CE.C&G.5.1: Explain the election process
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Political Parties and Politics
Section 1: Development of American Political
Parties
Political Parties
◦ Political Party- an association of voters with broad,
common interests who want to influence or control
decision making in the government by electing a party’s
candidates to public office
◦ Party members share beliefs about politics and the
proper role of government
◦ Two major political parties in U.S.
 Two-party system
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Growth of American Parties
◦ The Constitution does not say anything about political
parties
◦ In the late 1790’s, two rival parties formed in the U.S.they disagreed about how the U.S. government should
operate
 Thomas Jefferson led one group- DemocraticRepublican Party
 Alexander Hamilton led the other group- Federalist
Party
◦ Both supported protection for individual rights- but
differed in their beliefs of how to accomplish their
goals
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Hamilton favored a strong national government
 Wanted the president to have more power
 Federalists
Jefferson wanted to limit the power of the
national government
 He wanted more power for state governments
because they were closer to the citizens
 Anti-Federalists
◦ The Democratic Party Jefferson’s party called Democratic-Republican Party
 1828 under leadership of Andrew Jackson party split
 Those who supported Jackson called themselves the
Democratic Party
 1800 – 1816 Democratic Party grew stronger
 Hamilton’s party called the Federalists
 1800 – 1816 Federalists faded away
 1816 – 1828 Democrats faced no challenges
 1830 Whig Party formed (aka National Republicans)competed with Democrats
 Whigs and Democrats were the two major political
parties until the 1850’s
◦ The Republican Party 1854 a group of breakaway Democrats and
Whigs (many of whom opposed slavery) formed
the Republican Party
 Republican Party replaced the Whig Party
 Republicans did not all agree on what to do
about slavery in the South, but all agreed it
had to be kept out of the Northern territories
 1860 Abraham Lincoln won election as first
Republican president
◦ Since 1854 Republicans and Democrats have been
the 2 major political parties in the U.S.
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Third Parties
◦ Called third parties because they challenge the 2
major parties
◦ No third party candidate has ever been elected
president
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Ideological Parties
◦ An ideology is a set of beliefs about how people
should interact and how governments should
operate
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Other Party Systems
◦ Most democracies have multi-party systems where
3 or more parties compete for control of the
government- one party rarely wins enough support
to control the government so several parties must
work together- very unstable system
 Canada
 Germany
 Israel
◦ One party systems are not democratic because
the one party controls all politics
 China- Communist
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How the parties Differ
◦ Major difference among parties is how much
government involvement they believe should be in
lives of Americans
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Democrat:
Democrats tend to believe
the government should be
more directly involved in
regulating the economy and
providing housing, income,
education and jobs for the
poor
Liberal on Left
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Republican:
Republicans tend to believe
that if they help the
nation’s economy grow, poor
people will have a better
chance of finding jobs and
meeting their needs on
their own- they favor less
government regulation of
the economy as a way to
promote the growth of
production
Conservative on Right
◦ Read party platform to know their views and
beliefs on issues
◦ Platform- series of statements expressing the
party’s principles, beliefs, and positions on election
issues
◦ Each individual part of the platform is called a
plank
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Section 2: Organization of American Political Parties
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Organization of Political Parties
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◦ Democratic and Republican Parties are organized at the local, state, and
national levels
State and Local Organizations
Each city or county is divided into election districts or precincts
Precinct- a geographic area that contains a specific number of
voters
All voters in a precinct cast their ballots at the same voting
place
The precinct captain organizes party members and encourages
voters on Election Day
Ward- geographically connected precincts
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Primary Elections
◦ Today major parties in all states nominate candidates at all
levels of government through direct primaries
◦ The direct primary is an election in which voters choose
candidates to represent each party in a general election
◦ Closed Primary- election in which only declared members of a
party are allowed to vote for that party’s nominees
◦ Open Primary- election in which voters do not need to declare
their party preference in order to vote for the party’s
nominees
◦ Majority- when one candidate wins more than half of the
votes
◦ If no candidate receives a majority vote, the party holds a
runoff primary between the top two vote getters
◦ The winner then becomes the party’s candidate in the
general election