Republican and Democrat history...

[imax2268]

Ok...this might not be the place to put this...but I am looking for info on Republicans and Democrat history...as far as...what affiliation were the founding fathers if any...were they more liberal or conservative...Was this country built on liberal ideas or conservative ideas...was there such a thing as Republicans and Democrats at the time our government was in it's infancy...?

Sounds corny I know and I should know the answers myself...but I am writing an article and I could use some info...I have googled but keep getting websites that are nothing but flamers and their opinions bashing each other...I have also tried the library of congress but that site is overkill...I'm looking for specific information...

Help...!

[seandq]

1. All I know

I believed the Whip was the promiment party or the others didn't have one. I will look into it.

[wakfs]

2. You don't want to look at sites like this

You want straight history. Google "history of american political parties." Plenty of good stuff.

Or any GOOD history of American politics will have the info you seek.

Good luck.

[Maddy McCall]

5. Why not go the the library and check out some books by HISTORIANS

who study nothing but this topic. Look at peer-reviewed US History journals.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Not so much "liberal" or "conservative".

More centralised versus decentralised. Thomas Jefferson was the founder of what was then called the Democratic-Republican party, ancestor of today's Democratic Party, and Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were the leading lights behind the Federalist Party (factions of which later evolved into various other parties, including the Whigs and eventually Republicans). The Democratic-Republicans were considered more or less the party of agriculture and rural areas, championing Southern and Western (Western at the time meaning the Ohio Valley) farmers and small landowners over the Northern financial and manufacturing interests.

This split continued down to the Civil War, and after, with the industrial North in opposition to the agrarian South (conflicting sectional interests and disagreements over trade, tariffs, etc. being in fact the primary cause of the Civil War).

Those are just the basics, anyway...hope that was somewhat helpful as at least a starting point.

[Maddy McCall]

4. There were republicans and whigs...

and you need to do an awful lot of reading to come to a conclusion on the many questions you ask. I am a historian and have not reached a conclusion yet, although I am leaning toward the side that argues that the American Revolution was not socially radical, but was in the economic interest of republicans like Jefferson--large land owners who benefited from the Revolution, and who never intended for all things to be equal for all men.

Read the book "Forced Founders"--its thesis is similar to what I explained above.

[RichM]

6. You need to read a "chapter," but here are some starters...

Democrats are the party of Jefferson. They were originally called the Democratic Republicans, & have been around since 1800 or so. Republicans didn't exist until around 1858 - the "party of Lincoln." Until the early 1850's, the 2nd major party was the Whigs. They went "poof" very rapidly, winning the presidency in 1848, then landing in the dustbin of history a few years later.

Was the country built on lib or conserv ideas? One can argue both sides of this for a long time, but the interpretation I think best is that the interests of white male property owners were paramount from the word "go." IOW, conservatives were always in control, & their main concern was protect themselves above all else. The idea that liberalism played a central role is mostly a pleasant wive's tale, IMO. In fact, the whole notion that the US is a "democracy" is a wive's tale. It's mostly decorative, not substantive. The tale is propagated simply to get the population to agree not to rebel, by giving them the impression that they have some say in how things are run, when they actually don't. A ruling oligarchy has ALWAYS been in charge from Day One (with a limited exception in the 1930's, when world capitalism had a near-death experience, & the rulers temporarily had to make some concessions).

[clar]

7. Please, that's the Democratic

party, not the democrat party.

[imax2268]

8. Wow...that's some great info guys...

the reason why I posed those questions is because being involved in several discussions lately I have found that mostly conservatives say that the conservatives/Republicans were the major contributors to the American way of life...and then the liberals/Democrats came in and ruined what the conservative/Republicans were trying to establish...to me that might be just right wing propaganda...but it got me thinking so I have been doing some research on this and I keep running into dead ends...

Thanks for all the info...very useful stuff...more would be appreciated...links also if you can find them...