Partisanship and Polarization

Adam M. Silver

doi:10.5771/9781498585576

Summary

This volume explores the development of political parties in nineteenth-century United States of America through an extensive analysis of the official statements by a party in an election, the party platforms, and their connection with political elites and voters. Platforms indicate how party leaders reconciled local, state, and national conflicts and articulated their electoral appeals to various constituencies by showing discussions of their respective policies. Thus, party platforms are a valuable vehicle to assess electoral strategy and party development.

By focusing on the platforms of the major political parties—Democrats, Whigs, and Republicans—at the state and national levels in presidential elections from 1840 to 1896, the author identifies three salient patterns. First, platforms reference economic policy more frequently and to a greater degree than other policy areas. Second, national policies are discussed more than state policies. And third, over time, the content of the platforms becomes more similar, reflecting the nationalization of the party system.

This examination of nineteenth-century American party platforms traces political party development as a dynamic process involving partisanship, the presentation of internally coherent and consistent messages to voters, and polarization, the existence of conflicting policy positions across parties.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4985-8556-9
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4985-8557-6
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 360
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
1. Research Design and Methodological Approach No access
2. Contribution No access
3. Notes No access
1. 1. 1. Ideological Foundations No access
    2. Institutional Perspective No access
    3. Parties and Voters: The Electoral Connection No access
    4. Nationalization, Conventions, and Platforms No access
2. Predictions and Conclusions No access
3. Notes No access
1. 1. 1. Platform Dataset No access
    2. Content Analysis No access
    3. Salience and Position No access
    4. A Note on the Methodology No access
2. Conclusion No access
3. Notes No access
1. 1. Overall Patterns No access
  2. Prediction 1: The Platforms Will Be More Similar in Content as the Period Progresses, Depicting the Nationalization of the Party System No access
  3. Prediction 2: National Issues Will Be More Prominent than State and Local Matters in State Platforms No access
2. Summary and Conclusion No access
3. Appendix No access
4. Notes No access
1. 1. Anti-Trust Measures and Regulation of Monopolies No access
  2. National Political Economy No access
  3. Monetary Policy No access
  4. Public Lands No access
2. Conclusion No access
3. Notes No access
1. 1. Internal Improvements/Infrastructure No access
  2. Public Education No access
2. 1. States’ Rights No access
  2. 1. Subordination of Military to Civil Authority No access
    2. Executive Power No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. Notes No access
1. 1. Temperance/Prohibition No access
  2. Sumptuary Laws No access
  3. Sectarian Schools No access
  4. Religious Freedom and Tolerance No access
  5. Polygamy No access
2. Immigration/Nativism No access
3. 1. Suffrage Rights and Constitutional Liberties No access
  2. Women’s Rights No access
  3. Indigenous People’s Policy No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. Election Law Reform/Campaign Finance No access
  2. Direct Election of Senators No access
  3. Presidential Term Limits No access
  4. Ballot Reform and the Australian Ballot No access
2. 1. Government Reform and Corruption No access
  2. Civil Service Reform No access
  3. Supreme Court and the Judiciary No access
3. Prison System No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
1. Antebellum (1840–1856) No access
2. Civil War/Reconstruction (1860–1876) No access
3. Gilded Age (1880–1896) No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. Civil War/Reconstruction (1860–1876) No access
  2. Gilded Age (1880–1896) No access
2. Conclusion No access
3. Notes No access
1. Labor Rights and Protections No access
2. Convict Labor No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. Notes No access
Conclusion No access Pages 325 - 334
1. Platform Coding Guide: Domains and Operational Definitions No access
1. 1. Nineteenth-Century Almanacs No access
  2. Nineteenth-Century Newspapers No access
Index No access Pages 353 - 358
About the Author No access Pages 359 - 360