Democratic Party (United States)

=== 19th century ===
{{Further|Second Party System|Third Party System}}
[[File:Martin Van Buren by Mathew Brady c1855-58.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Martin Van Buren]] was the eighth president of the United States (1837–1841) and the second Democratic president.]]
The [[Democratic-Republican Party]] split over the choice of a successor to President [[James Monroe]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Banning|first=Lance|title=The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1978|page=253}}</ref> The faction that supported many of the old [[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian principles]], led by Andrew Jackson and [[Martin Van Buren]], became the modern Democratic Party.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Traub |first1=James |title=The Ugly Election That Birthed Modern American Politics |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2016/11-12/america-presidential-elections-1824-corrupt-bargain/ |magazine=National Geographic |access-date=July 6, 2018 |archive-date=July 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707010137/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2016/11-12/america-presidential-elections-1824-corrupt-bargain/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Historian [[Mary Beth Norton]] explains the transformation in 1828: {{blockquote|Jacksonians believed the people's will had finally prevailed. Through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president. The Democrats became the nation's first well-organized national party ... and tight party organization became the hallmark of nineteenth-century American politics.<ref>Mary Beth Norton et al., ''A People and a Nation, Volume I: to 1877'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) p. 287.</ref>|sign=|source=}}

[[File:Polk crop.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[James K. Polk]] was the 11th president of the United States (1845–1849). He significantly extended the territory of the United States.]]
Behind the platforms issued by state and national parties stood a widely shared political outlook that characterized the Democrats: {{blockquote|The Democrats represented a wide range of views but shared a fundamental commitment to the Jeffersonian concept of an agrarian society. They viewed the central government as the enemy of individual liberty. The [[Corrupt bargain#Election of 1824|1824 "corrupt bargain"]] had strengthened their suspicion of Washington politics. ... Jacksonians feared the concentration of economic and political power. They believed that government intervention in the economy benefited special-interest groups and created corporate monopolies that favored the rich. They sought to restore the independence of the individual—the artisan and the ordinary farmer—by ending federal support of banks and corporations and restricting the use of paper currency, which they distrusted. Their definition of the proper role of government tended to be negative, and Jackson's political power was largely expressed in negative acts. He exercised the veto more than all previous presidents combined. ... Nor did Jackson share reformers' humanitarian concerns. He had no sympathy for American Indians, initiating the removal of the Cherokees along the Trail of Tears.<ref>Mary Beth Norton et al., ''A People and a Nation, Volume I: to 1877'' (2007) pp. 287–288.</ref>|sign=|source=}}

Opposing factions led by [[Henry Clay]] helped form the Whig Party. The Democratic Party had a small yet decisive advantage over the Whigs until the 1850s when the Whigs fell apart over the issue of slavery. In 1854, angry with the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], anti-slavery Democrats left the party and joined Northern Whigs to form the [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republican Party]].<ref>Galbraith Schlisinger, ''Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party'' (1992) ch. 1–3.</ref><ref>Robert Allen Rutland, ''The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton'' (U. of Missouri Press, 1995) ch. 1–4.</ref>

[[File:Stephen A Douglas - headshot.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Stephen A. Douglas]] was a United States senator for Illinois.]]
The Democrats split over slavery, with Northern and Southern tickets in the [[1860 United States presidential election|election of 1860]], in which the Republican Party gained ascendancy.<ref>Jean H. Baker, ''Affairs of Party: Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-nineteenth Century'' (1983)</ref> The radical pro-slavery [[Fire-Eaters]] led walkouts at the two conventions when the delegates would not adopt a resolution supporting the extension of slavery into territories even if the voters of those territories did not want it. These [[1860 United States presidential election#Constitutional (Southern) Democratic|Southern Democrats]] nominated the pro-slavery incumbent vice president, [[John C. Breckinridge]] of Kentucky, for president and General [[Joseph Lane]], of Oregon, for vice president. The [[1860 United States presidential election#National (Northern) Democratic|Northern Democrats]] nominated Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois for president and former Georgia Governor [[Herschel Vespasian Johnson|Herschel V. Johnson]] for vice president. This fracturing of the Democrats led to a Republican victory and [[Abraham Lincoln]] was elected the 16th president of the United States.<ref name="auto">David M. Potter. ''The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861'' (1976). ch. 16.</ref>

As the [[American Civil War]] broke out, Northern Democrats were divided into [[War Democrats]] and [[Copperheads (politics)|Peace Democrats]]. The [[Confederate States of America]] deliberately avoided organized political parties. Most War Democrats rallied to Republican President Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans' [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] in the [[1864 United States presidential election|election of 1864]], which featured [[Andrew Johnson]] on the Union ticket to attract fellow Democrats. Johnson replaced Lincoln in 1865, but he stayed independent of both parties.<ref>Mark E. Neely. ''Lincoln and the Democrats: The Politics of Opposition in the Civil War'' (2017).</ref>

The Democrats benefited from white Southerners' resentment of [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] after the war and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. After [[Redeemers]] ended Reconstruction in the 1870s and following the often extremely violent [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchisement]] of African Americans led by such [[White supremacy#Academic use of the term|white supremacist]] Democratic politicians as [[Benjamin Tillman]] of [[South Carolina]] in the 1880s and 1890s, the South, voting Democratic, became known as the "[[Solid South]]". Although Republicans won all but two presidential elections, the Democrats remained competitive. The party was dominated by pro-business [[Bourbon Democrat]]s led by [[Samuel J. Tilden]] and [[Grover Cleveland]], who represented mercantile, banking, and railroad interests; opposed [[imperialism]] and overseas expansion; fought for the [[gold standard]]; opposed [[bimetallism]]; and crusaded against corruption, high taxes and tariffs. Cleveland was elected to non-consecutive presidential terms in [[1884 United States presidential election|1884]] and [[1892 United States presidential election|1892]].<ref>Rutland, ''The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton'' (1995) ch. 5–6.</ref>