Copy of The Evolution of the Democratic and Republican Parties

The Democratic-Republican party was formed to represent ordinary people such as farmers. Democratic-Republicans believed that the government should help and represent all Americans. If you think about it, the Democratic-Republican party was like the current Democratic party.

In the early 1800s, the other party was the Federalists. Federalists thought that only rich and highly educated people should be represented and should be president.

In the late 1820s, Democratic-Republicans started to fight. The party could not agree on their presidential candidate. One group of Democratic- Republicans wanted Andrew Jackson to be their candidate. Andrew Jackson believed in helping all kinds of people. The rich, the poor, farmers, business men, and everybody else. They got what they wanted, and Andrew Jackson became their candidate. The group who did not support Andrew Jackson broke away from the party.

The group of people who supported Andrew Jackson called themselves Democrats. Andrew Jackson was the first Democratic president when he was elected in 1828.

The group of people who did not support Andrew Jackson thought that only the rich, big business owners should be supported. These people came together and created their own party. They called themselves the Whig party. They existed from 1834-1856.

The Democrats, who were mostly from the South, believed in slavery.

The Whig party split in two. The Southern half of the party believed in slavery, so they left the party and joined the Democrats. The rest of the party and other people from the North were against slavery. They formed a new party and called themselves the Republicans.

The Great Depression began in 1929 when the stock market crashed. People could not get back the money that they had invested in stock or put in the bank. People had no money or jobs for about a decade.

The Democratic party was in power during most of the Great Depression. One reason for this was that the Republicans were in power when the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression began. Most Americans blamed the Republicans for the country’s problems and didn't believe that the Republicans could fix what they had caused. Another reason the Democrats were in power was because they believed in strong government and lots of programs to help the people. America needed this type of help.

Franklin Roosevelt was president during the Great Depression. He had many ways of helping America. He made weekly speeches called “ Fireside Chats”. Roosevelt made these speeches to assure people that they could trust him and everything would be all right. Roosevelt also created government programs, such as the New Deal. The New Deal was put in place to help Americans get jobs and make money. The New Deal created programs that provided money for education, roads, bridges, farming, and rebuilding America.

In the 1950s, civil rights was an issue. Lots of people thought that public places such as schools and buses should be integrated. Most Democrats supported civil rights, which helped win over many African Americans. However, they lost the southern Democrats who believed in segregation. I found it interesting that the last time civil rights was a major issue (slavery and the Civil War), it was the other way around. Republicans were for equal rights and Democrats were not.

• The People Pick A President by Scholastic
• Election 2012 Magazine by Scholastic
• Friendly Foes by Elaine Landau
• The History of the Democratic Party by Bruce and Becky Fish
• The Republican Party by Dale Anderson
• google images

After seeing this prezi, do you think you are a Democratic or a Republican?

Sources:

The Evolution of the Democratic and Republican Parties

The Whig Party

How to Improve the Economy

Democrats

Republicans

The Democratic party thinks that more help from the government is needed. An example of such help is Obama Care. Obama Care helps more Americans get health insurance. Programs like Obama Care help people save money. Also, the Democratic party believes that the richest people in the country should pay higher taxes. The taxes would go to improving schools, creating new jobs, and other programs to help our country.

The Republican party thinks that if upper class taxes are lowered, then the upper class will have more money to spend. If they have more money to spend, then they will buy more, which will give money to whomever they bought from.

In my opinion, I think this method relies too much on the upper class. Even though people may have a lot of money, they might not spend it in ways that will help people with less money. Also, Republicans think that corporate taxes should be lowered, which will give businesses more money so they can expand and hire more people. They believe this will create more jobs.

Civil Rights

Growth of Big Business From the End of the 1800s to the 1920s

From the end of the 1800s to the 1920s the Republican party was popular. Big businesses, like the railroads, were growing, and so lots of people had lots of money. The businesses and the rich people liked the Republican party because the Republicans put high taxes on imports from foreign countries so people bought more items made America. Many of the laws that Republicans passed favored big business.

The Beginning of the Democrats

This map shows which states were against slavery, which states were for slavery, and which states were neutral.

A Democrat in Power

Franklin Roosevelt

red = pro slavery

yellow = neutral

green = anti-slavery

How Slavery Affected the Parties

2007-

The Economy

A problem that America has right now is the economy. The economy means how much money and resources people, countries and businesses have. The economy started to go down in 2007. People began losing their jobs and businesses could not pay workers. Businesses started moving their businesses to China because people will work for less money there. Today, 5.2 million people are unemployed in the US. People have different ideas on how to improve the economy.

Republicans

2000-

In 1856, the Republican party officially announced that they were against slavery. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president. A year later, the Civil War started. Lincoln helped get the country through the war. He also helped end slavery.

1980

1960

1929

1940

The Great Depression

1920

1900

1880

1861

1850

1860

Slavery

In the 1850s, the issue of slavery started to divide the country. The people in the South supported slavery. To them, slaves were nothing but property. The people in the North thought that slavery was wrong. They believed that all people should have equal rights.

1828

1840

1820

1800

The Democratic-Republican party was formed to represent ordinary people, such as farmers. Democratic-Republicans thought that the government should represent all Americans. At the time, the other party was the Federalists. Federalists thought that government should be run by only rich and highly educated people.

The Democratic-Republicans

The Democratic-Republicans

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In the early 1800s, a party called the Democratic -Republicans was formed. This party would eventually split in half and become the Republican and Democratic parties.