Grand Old Party Trivia Quiz

Answer: None- he loathed political parties

The biggest political divide facing the country in 1789 was a struggle between two ideologies, not parties: federalism versus antifederalism. The Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, provided for a very decentralized form of government. Essentially, the central government was made up of a unicameral legislature that had very little power; much sovereignty was vested in the states. Anti-Federalists feared that a stronger central government would weaken the power of the states, and by extension, the people. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the groups duked out a compromise, creating a system where some power was still given to the states, but still strengthened the central government significantly. One of the most important measures that the Anti-Federalists demanded was a Bill of Rights, ten amendments which granted several rights directly to the people and to the states.

Washington, on the other hand, wasn't a fan of the fighting. Enjoined to accept the office, he ran a moderate term, where he appealed directly to his chief advisors, who formed an inner circle called the Cabinet. Washington's most significant confidantes were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, staunch Federalist and Anti-Federalist respectively. As in-fighting threatened to destroy the regime, especially over the country's stance toward revolutionary France, Washington feared that political parties would damage the nation. In his Farewell Address of 1796, he railed against factions, explaining why they shouldn't ever emerge. That's one tidbit of advice from George that nobody listened to.

Answer: Alien and Sedition Acts

John Adams was an intelligent and idealistic man- and in many regards, a terrible politician. He inherited Washington's position but not his abilities of leadership, a problem that flared almost immediately when difficulties with France peaked. Believing that Adams (and the Federalists) were supporters of Britain, the French started seizing American ships. When Adams tried to negotiate, the delegation was asked for a bribe in what became known as the XYZ Affair. Then, Congress authorized a military operation against France beginning in 1798 called the Quasi-War. The war removed the French threat, but failed to address domestic concerns.

In 1798, the Federalist Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, a group of laws that collectively were intended to limit free speech, particularly by Republicans denouncing the government. Republicans, understandably, were furious. Jefferson and his protégé, James Madison, wrote manifestos entitled the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which proclaimed states' rights, including a state's liberty to "nullify," or supersede, federal legislation that was designed to violate personal rights. The two-party system had risen just as George Washington, the passionate supporter of nonpartisan leadership, was passing away.

Answer: Hartford Convention

In 1800, the Republicans under Thomas Jefferson won the White House in a tight election. Jefferson changed the direction of the American politics significantly. His policies became known as Jeffersonianism: supporting farmers rather than merchants; endorsing popular liberty; and granting more sovereignty to the states. He did occasionally backtrack on these views (for example, greatly expanding the power of the presidency by making the 1803 Louisiana Purchase). However, for the most part, he was a popular president for his first term, and easily won reelection in 1804.

By his second term, though, Atlantic trade was becoming an issue again. As Americans supplied the French with goods, British ships began suppressing American ships, impressing civilians and seizing deserters. In 1807, Jefferson made a huge political blunder with the Embargo Act, which basically prohibited all foreign trade. The Act devastated the northern economy and opened up a window for Federalists to recoup their losses. In 1808, Republicans continued their success when James Madison earned the Presidency, but Federalists made some gains in Congress.

Under Madison, war pressed. The War of 1812, fought on US soil, was unpopular among Federalists and many northerners, who thought that the embargo and the president were irrational. In 1814, the Federalists secretly met at Hartford to discuss secession or constitutional amendment to limit the power of the "Virginia dynasty." Unluckily for the Federalists, the timing was simultaneous both with the Treaty of Ghent ending the war, and the huge American victory at New Orleans, under Andrew Jackson. The convention seemed like treachery to many Americans, and the Federalists got squashed in 1816. They never recovered.

Answer: A very controversial election in 1824

After the Federalists died out, the US had a one-party system for about a decade. This time is often called the "Era of Good Feelings" by historians, although the label is far from accurate; while the political landscape was uniform, sectional conflict was beginning to emerge. That much was clear in 1824, when four different men ran for president under the "Democratic-Republican ticket" (there were no nominating conventions in those days): John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay. Jackson appealed to Western voters; Adams to Northern voters; and Crawford to Southern voters. Nobody really liked Clay, the "Great Compromiser" and then-Speaker of the House.

Although Jackson won the most electoral votes, he didn't earn a majority because there were so many candidates, so the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Clay threw his support behind Adams, who then won the election. Adams, as politically inept as his father, then decided to make Clay Secretary of State. Jacksonians declared a "corrupt bargain" had taken place, and spent the next four years canvassing the country, campaigning for the 1828 election. Jackson won that one in a landslide, calling himself a "Democrat" to appeal more to the general populace.

Answer: Anti-Masonic Party

In 1826, a disgruntled Freemason by the name of William Morgan disappeared in New York. The Masons, a secretive, fraternal society based principally in the North, were already being blamed for elitism and for violating democratic principles. Hence, in 1827, Anti-Masonry became a popular political sentiment in New York City. Anti-Masons did fairly well in the 1828 elections, and in 1829, broadened their appeal by supporting a protective tariff.

The Anti-Masonic Party died out after 1832 (they earned seven electoral votes from Vermont in the election), but they did make important precedents in politics. They hosted the first-ever nominating convention for a party, when Wirt and running mate Amos Ellmaker were nominated in Baltimore in 1832. Ironically enough, Wirt was a former Mason, which seemed to denigrate the principles of the group. However, their crusade seemed to appeal to enough people to make the Anti-Masonic Party the first significant third-party in US history.

Answer: Immediate war with Mexico

Andrew Jackson was one of the most influential presidents in the country's history. A war hero who lived in the West, Jackson was a big change from the country's "Virginia" and "Massachusetts" dynasties (all six presidents who came before Jackson were from those two states). Jackson is often labeled a "populist" president. Under his administration, a spoils system was introduced, allowing commoners to serve in the executive branch (mainly, the president's friends). He opposed federal support of internal improvements and supported democratization. In a famous crusade, he rallied against the Bank of the United States, which he saw as responsible for the country's wealth gap. He also ignored the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia, heartily endorsing Indian removal west of the Mississippi River.

Although immensely popular in the country, Jackson had his detractors. The Whig Party formed during Jackson's second term as a sort of "anti-everything Jackson stands for" faction. This included northerners who wanted tariffs, internal improvements, and a national bank. It also included southern proponents of states' rights and nullification. In 1831, Jackson rejected nullification when he sent federal troops into South Carolina, which had threatened secession and war after a high tariff was passed. The leader of the Whigs was the big-time Jackson-hater, Henry Clay (they hadn't gotten along after the debacle in 1824). Clay's "American System" became a rallying point for Whigs to support internal improvements for transportation.

Answer: Slavery

After Jackson left office in 1836, his handpicked successor Martin van Buren took his place. Following van Buren, the White House jumped from party to party, passing from Whig William Henry Harrison (who died one month after taking office) to the non-partisan (mainly because he had no clue) John Tyler, and then to Democrat James K. Polk. Under Polk's administration, a brief war with Mexico was fought from 1846 to 1848, a war which ended with the cession of huge portions of the Southwest to the United States. That's when tensions started to boil over.

Many northern Whigs believed that Polk fought the war to expand the South, thus creating more land for slavery. They feared that free labor couldn't compete economically with slave labor and that the southern Democrats were trying to create a slave empire. One northern Democratic congressman, David Wilmot, proposed a namesake proviso that all lands acquired in the war would be free soil. Whigs seized the opportunity to make Democrats look foolish, earning the White House in 1848 (Zachary Taylor) by appealing to Southern slaveowners.

So, to some Americans, it didn't really look like anybody actually cared about abolitionism. Whigs were flip-flopping the issue for political gains. The Liberty Party emerged in the 1840s to advocate abolitionism; later, it was merged into the more politically-active Free Soil Party. Free Soilers nominated former president Martin van Buren in 1848, and he won 10% of the popular vote during the election. The Free Soilers downplayed abolitionism, but their major party platform was based on limiting the expansion of slavery westward.

Answer: Know-Nothing Party

Originating as a secret society devoted to nativism (essentially, a xenophobic opposition to immigration), the Know-Nothings got their name from the response of a member when asked about the group's activities: "I know nothing." After Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate in 1852, attempted to get the traditionally Democratic vote from Irish Catholics in New York City, many nativist Whigs turned away from the party and began their own third-party movement.

The group generally opposed the expansion of slavery.

In 1854, the Know-Nothings seized the governorship and most of the legislature of Massachusetts. Had 1854 been an election year, they might have done well. However, the party faltered in 1855, as sectional conflict enveloped it. A smaller faction of southern Know-Nothings supported the expansion of slavery, but opposed secession.

They never ran a Know-Nothing presidential candidate- by 1856, the Republican Party had emerged to challenge them as a legitimate party for free soil.

Answer: John C. Fremont

By 1856, the country was in pretty dire straits. The Kansas-Nebraska Act- an 1854 law that allowed the two new states' settlers to choose whether or not the states would allow slavery- had succeeded in making the Midwest bleed. Virtually nobody in the country liked popular sovereignty. The election of 1856 was going to be significant.

The Republicans, a new third-party challenge that had emerged in total opposition to the expansion of slavery, were active only in the North. The Know-Nothings folded into the Republican Party in the North and created a new American Party in the South. They nominated ex-president Millard Fillmore for the ticket. Democrats nominated Congressman James Buchanan. The Republicans picked John C. Fremont, a popular hero who had helped conquer California during the Mexican War. Fremont won most of the North, Fillmore split most of the popular vote with Buchanan in the South, and Buchanan ended up winning the presidency. Still, the third-party Republicans had done better than any other third-party campaign in history to that point.

Answer: Lincoln

Attempting to shade a nativist label that had dogged the Republicans since the decline of the Know-Nothings, the party created an economic platform between 1856 and 1860. The Democrats were reeling-- civil unrest over the Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision, as well as John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry contributed to political turmoil. Southerners promised that if Lincoln was elected, they would secede. Against three opponents who scattered the Democrats' votes, the Republicans took the White House. Despite Lincoln's cries for unity and emphasis that he had no interest in abolition, South Carolina voted for secession in December 1860, and much of the South followed.

The Civil War dogged the Democratic Party. No Democrat would win reelection until 1884, when Grover Cleveland triumphed for his first term. Republican candidates "waved the bloody shirt," reminding northern voters that they had saved the Union. Once Democrats returned to a force in national politics, a new two-party system had emerged. Ever since then, that struggle between Republicans and Democrats has defined American politics.