William McKinley, 25th US President
The golden era, shortly after the civil war, has many parallels with the current political situation in the United States.
More than five months after President Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Democrats are still trying to realize why they have lost the elections and most in the Senate – and how the party can regroup.
These concerns only increased following Trump’s activity at the beginning of his second term. The American public has watched a Democratic Party that struggles to elaborate a coherent strategy.
Trump recently joined a choir of people who compare the current political period to It was golden – The late nineteenth century period known for economic industrialization and inequality of wealth.
The golden age is a warning to the current situation of the Democrats, since the Party internal struggles They made their ability to perform successful national campaigns.
The period of parties
Scholars of US political history often refer to most of the nineteenth century as the period of parties, due to the degree of penetration of party policy in society. The parties framed political discourse through the creation of “Brands” centered on distinct ideologies.
These ideologies offered coherent ideas about what it meant to be Democratic or Republican.
Democrats opposed a strong national government in favor of state rights. Resisted the attribution of too much economic authority to the national government. And used the position of state rights to justify human slavery and policies of racial discrimination.
Republicans embraced the National Authority to the detriment of state rights. It was a view centered on a national political economy that fostered manufacturing and industrialization. This economic approach was sometimes accompanied by opposition to immigration, in a often native and racist rhetorical.
The golden age
The golden age has been compared to the current one. This is partly due to the quick Industrialization of the periodincreased immigration and prominent debates on economic policy.
And, like today, these years of the Golden Age, approximately 1870 to 1900, witnessed an intense competition between Democrats and Republicans, during which only about seven states were disputed in a certain election due to the regional base of support for each party.
From 1860 to 1912, Democrats won the White House only twice – Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892. But they won the popular vote twice more, losing the electoral college – Samuel Tilden in 1876 and Cleveland in 1888.
In addition, between the 1870s and the 1890s, the control of the congress by the parties tended to Based on reduced majorities.
Democrats usually held the House and the Republicans controlled the Senate.
The 1880s and 1890s were characterized by debates on economic policies, especially protection tariff. This rate was supported by northern industrialists to protect the national industry and fought by the southern agrarios. The US monetary standard, which determines how the value is measured, also dominated the discussions.
The 1888 election revealed tensions among the Democrats, especially about the tariff, which became a foreshadowing of the party’s struggles in 1896. The party’s inability to reconcile concurrent electoral circles In his coalition and offer a coherent message about the tariffs eventually cost him the White House.
After winning reelection in 1892, Democrat Cleveland faced an economic depression that prevented the goals of his second term. Democrats lost the two councils of Congress in the interchangeary elections that followed.
The 1896 elections
The battle on the monetary standard consumed the 1896 elections.
Between the 1870s and 1890s, the debates about whether the Greenbacks, or paper-moeda, should be rescued in gold or silver, went and returned.
Republicans, supported by rich financiers, tended to support only the maintenance of the gold standard. Democrats, who cut workers and farmers, usually supported the Increased circulation of Greenbacks redeemable in both gold and silver.
The 1893 economic depression has increased tensions on this issue, as many Americans sought to pay their debts with cheaper currency.
In its national convention, the Democrats adopted the pro-Prata position And they indicated for president a populist incendiary, William Jennings Bryan.
Republicans also faced internal divisions on the issue. But, as in 1888, they were able to overcome these tensions to maintain their coalition and supported the gold standard on their platform.
The republican candidate, William McKinleydefeated Bryan. The result solidified republican primacy for 30 years.
The Legacy of 1896
The internal conflicts in the late nineteenth century impaired Democrats’ ability to unite, mobilize their voters, and attract new voters. In 1888 and 1896, these divisions impaired the electoral perspectives of the Democrats. Its organizational problems and intense internal discord were too difficult to overcome for Bryan.
Academic James Reichley argues that the most effective organization of republicans after reconstruction may have resulted in a coherent message compared to that of Democrats.
And the lack of enthusiasm on the part of Democratic voters contributed to Republican success in 1894 and 1896, according to historian Richard White. Republicans mobilized its base And they attracted new voters while the Democrats did not.
These elections solidified the alignment of voters until 1932.
Although Democrat Woodrow Wilson held the presidency from 1913 to 1921, Republicans dictated national policy and controlled Congress for most of those years. A huge economic depression was needed for Democrats to be the majority at the national level.
