CHAPTER VII POLITICAL PARTIES Origin of Parties.-The Constitution says that Congress shall have power to make all laws that shall be necessary and proper for carrying out its own powers and the powers of the Government. Immediately after the organization of our Government men began to disagree over the questions: "What laws are necessary?" "What laws should Congress make?" They said: "This clause of the Constitution is elastic. It means few laws or many laws according to the way one stretches it." Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington's Cabinet, wanted to have the National Government made very strong. He said that Congress ought to make such laws as it thought best for the good of all the people, except on such subjects as the Constitution said Congress could not make them. Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, thought that the states and the people at home should rule themselves as much as possible. He did not want Congress to make any laws except those that the Constitution plainly told it to make. Where the people control the government of a country, there must be differences of opinion. Political parties in the United States were formed during Washington's administration. The people who agreed with Hamilton called themselves Federalists. Those who agreed with Jefferson called themselves Republicans. Later the followers of Jefferson took the name of Democrats, and the believers in a strong central Government called themselves Republicans. After Washington retired from the Presidency, these two parties tried to see which could get the larger number of votes and elect the most men to office who thought as they did. Since that time there have been two great political parties most of the time. Much of the time there have been a number of smaller parties composed of men who did not agree with either of the great parties. Any group of men who want some change in the way public affairs are managed or some new law passed, or who desire to elect certain men to public office, may form a new party and work for what they want. In every government in which the people have some share or part, there you will find political parties. Principles of the Different Parties.-In many of their beliefs all the great parties and most of the small ones are alike. They agree in their love of and loyalty to the land that is their home. They agree that their lawmakers and officers should do everything in their power to make it possible for everyone to enjoy peace, safety, protection of property, the rewards of labor, and the blessings of education, justice, and liberty. They differ in their opinions as to the best kind of laws to secure some of these things that they all love. They disagree especially about the kind of laws that will help to make business and trade successful and give men plenty of work and good wages. For instance, the leading men in the Republican Party believe that a protective tariff helps manufacturers to make and sell more goods and thus makes more work and better wages for laborers. The leading men in the Democratic Party also believe in a tariff, but they say that the taxes, or duties, that the Republicans want are too high, and that the main object of the tariff should be to get money to pay the expenses of the Government. The Socialists wish to have laws that will prevent competition between business men or between workmen. They want men to coöperate. They think that all the property and the means used for the production and distribution of wealth should be owned by all the working people collectively, not by individuals or groups of individuals, as they now are. Of course, there are many other things about which the parties do not think alike. Even men in the same party do not all agree about some things. Then, too, questions about which the parties disagree one year may be settled the next year, but there will always be new questions to settle. The only way to know just what each party wants to do is to read and study what the leaders of the parties say in their speeches and what they say and do in their political conventions and elsewhere. It is very important for the people to study the parties and learn what they want to do. If we do not study them, we cannot tell what men we ought to vote for to hold office and make the best laws for us. Party Organization.-In order to do its work each party must be organized like a little government in itself. The men who belong to one party in a small town get together and choose a committee to look after the affairs of the party in that town. In the cities there is a committee in each district and another committee for the whole city made up of delegates from each district. Delegates from the towns and cities and sometimes counties are chosen to form the state committee. Delegates from the states make up the National Committee. These committees all work together to select men for the voters of their party to vote for on election day. Their object is to select the men who have the best chance to win. Then they hold meetings and make speeches, publish articles in the newspapers, and distribute literature to persuade the voters to vote for the men that have been selected. Presidential Elections.-Presidential elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November every fourth year, as in 1916, 1920, 1924, and so on. Several months before election day the members of the National Committee of each party hold a meeting and select the time and place for holding the National Convention of their party. Then the state committees meet and select the time and place for holding state conventions. After this the county, city, and town committees are notified to select men to attend the state conventions. The local committees begin by holding caucuses or primaries in the districts and towns. Delegates are chosen to attend the state convention. At the state convention delegates are chosen to attend the National Convention. The number of these delegates is twice the number of men that the state sends to Congress. For instance, if the state has a small population, like Delaware, and sends one Representative and two Senators to Congress, then the number of delegates to the National Convention will be six. If the state has a very large population, like New York, which sends forty-five men to Congress, there will be ninety delegates. The state convention also chooses another group of men equal in number with the state's representation in Congress. These are to be voted for on election day; if elected they will be the Presidential electors for the state. When the appointed day arrives, delegates from all the states meet to hold the National Convention. The main work done here is divided into two parts: (1) writing a platform, or statement, telling the people what the party thinks about the most important public questions and what it hopes to do if successful on election day; and (2) nominating candidates for President and Vice-President. The President is not elected directly by the people of the country. On Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, votes are cast for electors. Each state is entitled to as many electors as it has Senators and Representatives in Congress. The electors meet in their own states, usually in the state capitols, on the second Monday of the following January and cast their votes for the candidates. Certified. reports are sent to the President of the Senate. These reports are examined and the votes are counted in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives. THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AT SAN The Vice-President is elected in the same way and at the same time and place. This way of electing the President and Vice-President may seem to take a long time. But we do not need to wait for all these formalities to know who is to be our next President. Usually the result is known the day after Election Day from the number of Presidential electors elected by the different parties in the different states. |