Crisis and the Birth and Death of Political Parties

posted by Curt, on September 20, 2008 08:48 am

I've recently been working my way through James McPherson's outstanding history of the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom. As you would expect a comprehensive treatment to do, the book begins by focusing on the years leading up to the Civil War, beginning with the end of the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. As part of his introductory history, McPherson discusses the elections in 1848, 1852, 1856, and 1860. Lincoln was, of course, elected in 1860 and was the first President elected from the newly-formed Republican Party. The Republican Party replaced the Whig party, which was, ultimately, destroyed by the crisis over slavery.

We've had no major party "births" or "deaths" in the last 150 years. There is always talk about forming a third party, of course. But, historically, that doesn't generally seem to be what happens. Instead, once in a blue moon, you get the death of one party and the emergence of a new one. Both of the current parties have survived through the Great Depression, World Wars 1 & II, Vietnam, and Iraq. They also survived the Great Inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s as well as the Cold and Korean Wars. All this makes me wonder, what is it that causes a party to die and be replaced by another one? And is there any possibility that a new party could be born out of the current financial crisis?

I'll have to do a lot more thinking about this. But I'd appreciate any thoughts (or directions on some reading I could do).

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