Why The Democrats Lost

The history of the Democratic Party of the United States is an account of the Democratic Party, which is one of the oldest political parties in the world. During the “Second Party System”, from 1832 to the mid-1850s, under presidents Andrew Jackson, (7th), Martin Van Buren, (8th) James K. Polk, (11th) and U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas, (1813-1861), of Illinois, (nominee of the violently-split Party Convention of the 1860 Presidential Election), the Democrats usually bested the opposition Whig Party by narrow margins, as both parties worked hard to build grass-roots organizations and maximize the turnout of voters. Both parties used patronage extensively to finance their operations, which included emerging big city machines as well as national networks of newspapers. The party was a proponent for farmers across the country, urban workers, and new immigrants. It advocated westward expansion, Manifest Destiny, greater equality among all white men, and opposition to the national bank.