Three of the major turning points in the history of the two main American political parties are the Civil War, the Great Depression, and the 2016 election. The Civil War led to the freedom of over 4 million enslaved people as well as the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. Lincoln was a Republican President as the Republicans at the time tended to support more social liberty and would be more aligned with modern Democrats. The Great Depression was a time of economic failure within the United States which stemmed from the Great Stock Market Crash in October of 1929. After the New Deal legislation was put into place by FDR, many southern Democrats flipped to the Republican side because they felt that the New Deal legislation was not benefitting them …show more content…
The Confederacy seceded from the Union and formed their own country with their own system of Government. The war’s main conflict however was the idea of slavery. The Confederacy thrived on slavery due to their agricultural lifestyle while the Union wanted to due away with and wanted freedom and equality for all. This led to a major disparity amongst political parties. The president at the time, Lincoln, was a Republican who denounced slavery in many ways including both socially and politically. The Republican party in the mid-19th century tended to support more social freedoms as they did support the emancipation slaves. This was a major turning point because their emancipation led to a great African-American support for the Republican party with now the Northern States and most African-Americans voting red, resulting in overwhelming Republican support and the vast majority of the former Confederacy voting …show more content…
President FDR put the New Deal into place which was a series of programs, financial reforms, and new legislation from 1933 to 1939. With this New Deal came the introduction of many social programs and a new view on the government. The economic system went from very laissez-faire under Hoover to very hands-on and active under FDR. FDR put many agencies such as the CCC, the WPA, and the TVA into place in order to help the country thrive again and to create work for the millions of people who were unemployed. And of course with a change comes new opinions whether it be support or not. Many people supported FDR’s implications however they were still controversial. WIth a new tax on the wealthy, and more welfare programs, wealthy southern Democrats tended to be in dissent, leading them to switch to the Republican party. They didn’t like the very hands-on government and wanted FDR to take it back a notch which led to this big party switch. Many African-Americans who supported the Republican party after the Civil War also jumped ship to the Democratic party because of the new legislation and social programs put into place that helped improve their lives as well. Those who switched to the Democratic party tended to be in agreement with the idea of increased government spending to get the country back on its feet while the Republicans at the time wanted the country to stop spending