Party Ideology in America: The National Republican Chapter, 1828–1924

In: Studies in American political development: SAPD, Band 11, Heft 1, S. 44-108

Abstract

Conventional wisdom states that where ideas and values have mattered in American political life they have usually been the product of a single, overarching political culture. The United States, it is argued, has had political conflict but notideologicalconflict. Perhaps nowhere is this premise more noticeable than in the study of political parties. According to Du-verger, "[T]he two parties are rival teams, one occupying office, the other seeking to dislodge it. It is a struggle between theinsand theouts, which never becomes fanatical, and creates no deep cleavage in the country." Everett Carll Ladd writes, "[T]he need to seek support within an overarching ideological consensus, has historically imposed certain characteristics on the major American parties – social group inclusiveness, accommodationism, a 'non-ideological' stance vis-a-vis their principal opponents (which, after all, accept the same ideology)."