- Fourth Party System
The Fourth Party System is the term used in political science and history for the period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 that was dominated by the Republican party, excepting the 1912 split in which Democrats seized power for eight years. History texts usually call it the
Progressive Era . The concept was introduced under the name, "System of 1896" byE.E. Schattschneider in 1960, and the numbering scheme was added by political scientists in the mid 1960s. [ To cite a standard political science college textbook: "Scholars generally agree that realignment theory identifies five distinct party systems with the following approximate dates and major parties: 1. 1796-1816, First Party System: Jeffersonian Republicans and Federalists; 2. 1840-1856, Second Party System: Democrats and Whigs; 3. 1860-1896, Third Party System: Republicans and Democrats; 4. 1896-1932, Fourth Party System: Republicans and Democrats; 5. 1932-, Fifth Party System: Democrats and Republicans." Robert C. Benedict, Matthew J. Burbank and Ronald J. Hrebenar, "Political Parties, Interest Groups and Political Campaigns." Westview Press. 1999. Page 11. ]The period featured a transformation from the issues of the
Third Party System , which had focused on theAmerican Civil War , Reconstruction, race and monetary issues. The era began in the severe depression of 1893 and the extraordinarily intense election of 1896. It included the Progressive Era,World War I , and the start of the Great Depression. The failure of the Republicans to deal with the Great Depression caused a realignment that produced theFifth Party System , dominated by the DemocraticNew Deal Coalition until the 1960s.The central domestic issues concerned government regulation of railroads and large corporations ("
trusts "), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, women's suffrage, and control of immigration. Foreign policy centered on the 1898Spanish-American War ,imperialism (andBanana Wars ),Dollar Diplomacy , theMexican Revolution ,World War I , and the creation of theLeague of Nations . Dominant personalities included presidentsWilliam McKinley ,Theodore Roosevelt andWoodrow Wilson , and three-time presidential candidateWilliam Jennings Bryan .Beginnings
The period began with the realignment of 1894-1896. The overwhelming Republican victory in 1896 over
William Jennings Bryan and his Democratic Party, repeated in 1900, restored business confidence, inaugurated a long epoch of prosperity (shown in the table), and swept away most of the issues and personalities of the Third Party System. Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but some realignment took place, giving Republicans dominance in the industrial Northeast and new strength in the border states. Thus the way was clear for theProgressive Movement to impose a new way of thinking and a new agenda for politics.Economic trends
Table: Real GDP per capita
source: Susan Carter, ed. "Historical Statistics of the U.S." (Millennium Edition) (2006) series Ca111892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 104 100 114 121 119 139 145 147 164 173 133 Progressive reforms
Alarmed at the new rules of the game for campaign funding, the Progressives launched investigations and exposures (by the "
muckraker " journalists) into corrupt links between party bosses and business. New laws and constitutional amendments weakened the party bosses by installing primaries and directly electing senators. [ Ware (2002)]Theodore Roosevelt shared the growing concern with business influence on government. WhenWilliam Howard Taft appeared to be too cozy with pro-business conservatives in terms of tariff and conservation issues, Roosevelt broke with his old friend and his old party. He crusaded for president in 1912 at the head of an ill-fated "Bull Moose" Progressive party. TR's schism helped electWoodrow Wilson in 1912 and left pro-business conservatives as the dominant force in the GOP. The latter electedWarren G. Harding andCalvin Coolidge . In 1928 the iconic progressiveHerbert Hoover became the last president of the Fourth Party System. The Great Depression spoiled the nation's optimism and ruined Republican chances. In long-term perspectiveAl Smith in 1928 started a voter realignment — a new coalition — based among ethnics and big cities that spelled the end of classless politics of the Fourth Party System and helped usher in theFifth Party System orNew Deal coalition ofFranklin D. Roosevelt . [Degler (1964)] As one political scientist explains, "The election of 1896 ushered in the Fourth Party System.... [but] not until 1928, with the nomination of Al Smith, a northeastern reformer, did Democrats make gains among the urban, blue-collar, and Catholic voters who were later to become core components of the New Deal coalition and break the pattern of minimal class polarization that had characterized the Fourth Party System." [Lawrence (1996) p 34.] In 1932 the landslide victory of DemocratFranklin D. Roosevelt led to theNew Deal coalition that dominated theFifth Party System , after 1932.Women's suffrage and feminism
Gustafson (1997) shows that women vigorously define their role in political parties from the 1880s to 1920. Traditionally viewed as nonpartisan, women generally formed auxiliaries to the Republican and Democratic parties. The formation of the Progressive Party in 1912 offered women a chance for equality. Progressive party supporter
Jane Addams openly advocated women's partisanship. After the Progressive Party loss in 1912, partisan women continued to form auxiliaries in the major parties. After 1920, inclusion and power in political parties persisted as issues for partisan women.Suffragist s shifted from an emphasis on their right to vote to a new emphasis on the need for women to purify politics and guide policy toward education. The suffrage movement gained strength during the World War, and at the end women received the vote, in a major change in the rules of the game.Prohibition
In most of the country prohibition was of central importance in progressive politics before World War I, with a strong religious and ethnic dimension. Most pietistic Protestants were "dries" who advocated
prohibition as a solution to social problems; they includedMethodist s,Congregationalist s,Disciples ,Baptist s,Presbyterian s,Quakers , and ScandinavianLutheran s. On the "wet" side, Episcopalians, IrishCatholics , German Lutherans and German Catholics attacked prohibition as a menace to their social customs and personal liberty. Prohibitionists supported direct democracy to enable voters to bypass the state legislature in lawmaking. In the North, the Republican Party championed the interests of the prohibitionists, while the Democratic Party represented ethnic group interests. In the South, the Baptist and Methodist churches played a major role in forcing the Democratic party to support prohibition. After 1914 the issue shifted to the Germans' opposition to Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy. [Folsom 1981] In the 1920s, however, the sudden, unexpected outburst of big city crime associated with bootlegging undermined support for prohibition, and the Democrats took up the cause for repeal, finally succeeding in 1932.International policies
US Secretary of State
James G. Blaine formulated the "Big brother" policy in the 1880s, aiming to rally the Latin American nations behind US leadership and to open Latin America markets to U.S. traders. Blaine served as Secretary of State in 1881 in the cabinet of PresidentJames Garfield and again from 1889 to 1892 in the cabinet of PresidentBenjamin Harrison . As part of the policy, Blaine arranged for and lead as the first president the FirstInternational Conference of American States in 1889. A few years later, theSpanish-American War in 1898 precipitated the end of theSpanish Empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific, with the 1898 Treaty of Paris giving the US control over the former Spanish colonies ofPuerto Rico , thePhilippines andGuam , and control over the process of independence ofCuba , which was completed in 1902.The United States took part in the repression of the
Boxer Rebellion in China, in 1900 and became involved in the Mexican Revolution.President
Theodore Roosevelt , coming to office in 1901, stressed the importance for the US of controlling the Panama Canal, in which he succeeded in 1903. TheRoosevelt Corollary dismissed strict Americanisolationism , by asserting the right for the US to stabilize the affairs of Latin American countries that violated international norms. This new policy, accompanied by theDollar Diplomacy and theBig Stick Diplomacy , was cited by US presidents in justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba (1906-1910), Nicaragua (1909-1911, 1912-1925 and 1926-1933), Haiti (1915-1934), and the Dominican Republic (1916-1924), namedBanana Wars .The United States also appeared on the world scene in the last years of
World War I . PresidentWoodrow Wilson tried to negotiate a peace in Europe, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare against American shipping in early 1917 he called on Congress to declare war. Ignoring military affairs, he focused on diplomacy and finance. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions throughLiberty loans , imposed anincome tax on the wealthy, set up theWar Industries Board , promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through theLever Act , took over control of the railroads, and suppressed left-wing anti-war movements. Like the European states, the United States experimented with awar economy . In 1918, Wilson advocated various international reforms in the "Fourteen Points ", among them public diplomacy, freedom of navigation, "equality of trade conditions" and removal of economic barriers, an "impartial adjustment of all colonial claims," the "evacuation of all Russian territory" (where the newBolshevik regime was trying to establish itself firmly during theRussian Civil War , opposed by the White Army supported by Western states), the evacuation of France and Belgium, the creation of aPolish state , and, last but not least of the 14 Points, the creation of an association of nations. The latter would become theLeague of Nations .In 1917, the
Lansing-Ishii Agreement signed with Japan also pledged to maintain theOpen Door policy in China, recognizing Japanese special interests in China. Under the Harding administration, Washington hosted an international naval conference aimed at naval disarmament.The
Roaring Twenties were marked, on the international scene, by the problem of the economic reparations due by Germany to France and Great Britain, as well as by variousirredentism claims. The US acted as mediators in this conflict, first with theDawes Plan in 1924, then theYoung Plan in 1929.Bibliography
*Blum, John Morton. "The Progressive Presidents: Roosevelt, Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson" (1980)
* Burner, David. "Herbert Hoover: A Public Life". (1979).
* Burnham, Walter Dean, "The System of 1896: An Analysis," in Paul Kleppner, et al., "The Evolution of American Electoral Systems" , Greenwood. (1983)
* * Burnham, Walter Dean. "Periodization Schemes and 'Party Systems': The "System of 1896" as a Case in Point," "Social Science History," Vol. 10, No. 3 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 263-314. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0145-5532%28198623%2910%3A3%3C263%3APSA%22ST%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L online at JSTOR]
* Cherny, Robert W. "A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan" (1994)
*Cooper, John Milton "The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt." (1983) a dual biography
* Craig, Douglas B. 'After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934" (1992)
*cite journal
last = Degler
first = Carl N.
year = 1964
title = American Political Parties and the Rise of the City: An Interpretation
journal = Journal of American History
volume = 51
issue = 1
pages = 41–59
doi = 10.2307/1917933
id =
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-8723(196406)51:1%3C41:APPATR%3E2.0.CO;2-%23&origin=historycoop*Edwards, Rebecca. "Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era" (1997)
* Folsom, Burton W. "Tinkerers, Tipplers, and Traitors: Ethnicity and Democratic Reform in Nebraska During the Progressive Era." "Pacific Historical Review" 1981 50(1): 53-75. ISSN|0030-8684
* Glad, Paul W. "McKinley, Bryan and the People" (1991), on 1896.
* Gosnell, Harold F. "Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Others" (1924)
* Gould, Lewis L. "America in the Progressive Era, 1890 - 1914" (2000)
* Gustafson, Melanie. "Partisan Women in the Progressive Era: the Struggle for Inclusion in American Political Parties." "Journal of Women's History" 1997 9(2): 8-30. ISSN|1042-7961 Fulltext online at SwetsWise and Ebsco.
* Harbaugh, William Henry. "The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt." (1963)
* Harrison, Robert. "Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State" (2004)
* Hofstadter, Richard. "The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R." (1955)
* Hofstadter, Richard. "The American Political Tradition" (1948), chapters on Bryan, Roosevelt, Wilson and Hoover
*Jensen, Richard. "The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896" (1971)
* Jensen, Richard. "Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983" (1983)
*Keller, Morton. "Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America" (1977)
* Kleppner, Paul. "Continuity and Change in Electoral Politics, 1893-1928," Greenwood. 1987
* cite book
last = Lawrence
first = David G.
title = The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority: Realignment, Dealignment, and Electoral Change from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton
date= 1996
publisher = Westview Press
isbn =0813389844
* Lee, Demetrius Walker, "The Ballot as a Party-System Switch: The Role of the Australian Ballot in Party-System Change and Development in the USA," "Party Politics", Vol. 11, No. 2, 217-241 (2005)
* Lichtman, A. J. "Critical elections theory and the reality of American presidential politics, 1916-40." "American Historical Review" (1976) 81: 317-348. in JSTOR
* Link, Arthur. "Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917" (1963)
* McSeveney, Samuel T. "The Fourth Party System and Progressive Politics", in. L. Sandy Maisel and William Shade (eds) "Parties and Politics in American History" (1994)
* Lichtman, Allan J. "Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928" (1979).
* Link, Arthur Stanley. "Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917" (1972) standard political history of the era
* Mahan, Russell L. "William Jennings Bryan and the Presidential Campaign of 1896" "White House Studies" 2003 3(2): 215-227. ISSN|1535-4768
* Morgan, H. Wayne. "William McKinley and His America" (1963)
* Morris, Edmund. "Theodore Rex" (2002), detailed biography of Roosevelt as president 1901-1909
*Mowry, George. "The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912." (1954)
* Sanders, Elizabeth. "Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers, and the American State, 1877-1917" (1999). argues the Democrats were the true progressives and GOP was mostly conservative
* Sarasohn, David. "The Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era" (1989), covers 1910-1930.
* Sundquist, James L. "Dynamics of the Party System", Revised Edition, Brookings Institute. 1983
* Ware, Alan. "The American Direct Primary: Party Institutionalization and Transformation in the North" (2002)Primary sources
* Bryan, William Jennings. "First Battle" (1897), speeches from 1896 campaign.
* Ginger, Ray, ed. "William Jennings Bryan; Selections" (1967).
* LaFollette, Robert. "Autobiography" (1913)
* Roosevelt, Theodore. "Autobiography" (1913)
* Whicher, George F., ed. "William Jennings Bryan and the Campaign of 1896" (1953), primary and secondary sources.External links
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/classes/elecsys/es02biblio.html#5 bibliography]
* John C. Green and Paul S. Herrnson. "Party Development in the Twentieth Century: Laying the Foundations for Responsible Party Government?" (2000) [http://polisci.wisc.edu/~party/apsa2000green.pdf online version]
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