The Politics of American Party Ideology Development
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Politics of American Party Ideology Development Verlan Lewis Eugene, Oregon A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Politics University of Virginia July 2015 THE POLITICS OF AMERICAN PARTY IDEOLOGY DEVELOPMENT VERLAN LEWIS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! © 2015 Verlan Lewis All rights reserved For Katherine TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: A POLITICAL INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF AMERICAN PARTY IDEOLOGY DEVELOPMENT!..............................................................................................................................................!2! 1!Introduction!........................................................................................................................................................!2! 2!Defining!Parties,!Ideologies,!and!Development!...................................................................................!8! 3!Problems!with!Our!Current!Understanding!of!Party!Ideology!Development!.....................!13! 4!Improving!Our!Understanding!of!Party!Ideology!Development!...............................................!18! 5!A!Political!Institutional!Theory!of!American!Party!Ideology!Development!.........................!21! 6!Research!Design!.............................................................................................................................................!44! 7!Conclusion!.........................................................................................................................................................!46! CHAPTER 2: UNIFIED GOVERNMENT AND PARTY THEORIES OF ECONOMIC INTERVENTION !.........................................................................................................................................................................!51! 1!Introduction!.....................................................................................................................................................!51! 2!Hypothesis:!Unified!Government!and!Party!Ideologies!................................................................!55! 3!Federalist!Era!..................................................................................................................................................!63! 4!Jeffersonian!Republican!Era!......................................................................................................................!68! 5!Emergence!of!the!Mass!TwoQParty!System!and!Competitive!Politics!.....................................!78! 6!Civil!War,!Republican!Reconstruction,!and!the!Progressive!Era!..............................................!86! 7!Democratic!New!Deal,!Great!Society,!and!Polarization!...............................................................!102! 8!Conclusion!.......................................................................................................................................................!104! CHAPTER 3: THE PRESIDENCY AND PARTY THEORIES OF FOREIGN INTERVENTION!.........!107! 1!Introduction!...................................................................................................................................................!107! 2!Hypothesis:!The!President!and!the!Parties’!Ideologies!...............................................................!110! 3!The!Progressive!Era!and!Republican!Empire!..................................................................................!115! 4!World!War!I!and!Wilsonian!Internationalism!.................................................................................!120! 5!Republican!Interwar!Era!..........................................................................................................................!124! 6!Democratic!New!Deal!and!World!War!II!...........................................................................................!127! 7!Republican!Cold!War!..................................................................................................................................!133! 8!Democratic!Cold!War!.................................................................................................................................!136! 9!New!Right!Republicans!and!New!Left!Democrats!.........................................................................!139! 10!Liberal!Internationalist!Democrats!and!Paleoconservative!Republicans!........................!141! 11!Hawkish!Republicans!and!Dovish!Democrats!..............................................................................!143! 12!Conclusion!....................................................................................................................................................!144! CHAPTER 4: THE SUPREME COURT AND PARTY THEORIES OF JUDICIAL INTERVENTION!.!147! 1!Introduction!...................................................................................................................................................!147! 2!Hypothesis:!The!Supreme!Court!and!Party!Ideologies!................................................................!148! 3!Federalist!Era,!Jeffersonian!Era,!and!the!Marshall!Court!...........................................................!160! 4!Jacksonian!Era,!Civil!War,!the!Taney!Court,!and!the!Chase!Court!..........................................!169! 5!Gilded!Age!and!the!Lochner!Era!............................................................................................................!178! 6!Liberal!Consensus!and!Conservative!Response!.............................................................................!188! 7!Rehnquist!and!Roberts!Courts!...............................................................................................................!196! 8!Conclusion!.......................................................................................................................................................!199! Appendix!1:!Partisan!Composition!of!the!U.S.!Supreme!Court!....................................................!202! CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION: HISTORY AND POLITICS IN THE STUDY OF IDEOLOGY!..............!205! Works Cited!..............................................................................................................................................!209! 1 CHAPTER 1 A POLITICAL INSTITUTIONAL THEORY OF AMERICAN PARTY IDEOLOGY DEVELOPMENT I remember once being much amused at seeing two partially intoxicated men engage in a fight with their great-coats on, which fight, after a long, and rather harmless contest, ended in each having fought himself out of his own coat, and into that of the other. If the two leading parties of this day are really identical with the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams, they have performed about the same feat as the two drunken men. – Abraham Lincoln (1859) 1 Introduction On March 19, 1859, Henry L. Pierce and a committee of Boston Republicans sent a letter to Abraham Lincoln inviting him to speak at an upcoming celebration in honor of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. In his reply, Lincoln noted the irony of this situation: “Bearing in mind that about seventy years ago, two great political parties were first formed in this country, that Thomas Jefferson was the head of one of them, and Boston the head-quarters of the other, it is both curious and interesting that those supposed to descend politically from the party opposed to Jefferson, should now be celebrating his birth-day in their own original seat of empire, while those claiming political descent from him have nearly ceased to breathe his name everywhere” (Lincoln 1859). Lincoln then went on to relate the parable quoted above. What Lincoln noticed, but what partisans tend to forget, is that party positions and ideologies change over time. Many partisans are embarrassed by party position change—perhaps they think it indicates a lack of seriousness, a lack of sincerity, or a lack of 2 integrity—and so they often insist that their party has always held the same principles and positions. After all, their party has been, for all times and places, the party of the right, and their opponents have been, always and everywhere, the party of the wrong. Our tendency to view the past anachronistically often causes us to forget how parties used to speak and act differently than they do today. For example, during the early 1930s the Republican Party, as it had for most of its history, called for higher taxes, more federal spending, and greater government intervention in the economy to regulate large corporations and help those in need.1 Likewise, the Democratic Party, as it had for most of its history, called for lower taxes, less federal spending, and free markets. Thus, in the 1932 campaign, FDR criticized the Hoover administration for being “committed to the idea that we ought to center control of everything in Washington as rapidly as possible…I regard reduction in Federal spending as one of the most important issues of this campaign. In my opinion it is the most direct and effective contribution that Government can make to business” (F. Roosevelt 1932). Because the party’s positions and ideologies, with regard to government intervention in the economy, changed in the mid-1930s during the New Deal, it is tempting to mistakenly think that FDR’s Democratic Party has always advocated increased government spending and economic intervention while Herbert Hoover’s Republican Party has always advocated laissez faire economics. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!