CSET Practice Test History Subtest I

The Gold Rush: California Transformed 

The discovery of gold in California was an epoch-making
event. News of the discovery attracted to California
hundreds of thousands of gold-seekers from across the
country and around the world. Their coming transformed not
only the economic history of California, but much of its
social, cultural, and political history as well. 

James Wilson Marshall, a moody and eccentric master
carpenter, found "some kind of mettle" in the waters of
the American River on January 24, 1848. The "mettle," of
course, proved to be gold. As news of Marshall's discovery
began to spread, Californians rushed to the site. These
eager "forty-eighters" were seized by a gold fever that
soon swept the nation and the world.

Hundreds of thousands of newcomers rushed to California
from around the world. Those who came from the eastern
United States traveled by various sea routes or across the
overland trail. Jim Beckwourth of Beckwourth Pass was one
of the many frontier scouts who helped guide immigrants
through the Sierra Nevada. Gold seekers flooded into San
Francisco and other boom towns throughout the interior.
Forces were unleashed, for good and ill, that would
transform California forever into a Golden State.

"Some Kind of Mettle"

On January 24, 1848, a young Virginian named Henry William
Bigler recorded in his diary one of the most fateful
sentences in American history: "This day some kind of
mettle was found in the tail race that looks like gold
first discovered by James Martial, the Boss of the Mill."
Thus was recorded, in a scrawl barely legible, the
momentous discovery of California gold by master carpenter
James Wilson Marshall while working at a sawmill on the
south fork of the American River.

Marshall later said that he made the discovery while
inspecting the tailrace of the mill. He found there a
glittering particle, caught behind a stone beneath the
water. When he showed his find to Johann August Sutter,
the owner of the mill, Sutter exclaimed "It's gold–at
least twenty-three-carat gold." For an event of such
importance, it's surprising that so little is known about
the exact circumstances of the discovery. Marshall was
never entirely sure of the date. He later speculated that
he had made the discovery "on or about the 19th of
January." Several other accounts, including Bigler's diary
entry, contradict Marshall. Forty-Eighters The first
published accounts of the discovery of gold at Sutter's
Mill appeared in San Francisco's two weekly newspapers in
March 1848. The news caused little excitement...at first. 

An enterprising young merchant named Sam Brannan soon saw
the possibilities of making a profit from whipping up some
gold fever. He stocked his store at Sutter's Fort with
merchandise that he thought would be in demand by gold
seekers. Then, on May 12, he came to San Francisco, waved
a bottle of gold dust in one hand and his hat in the
other, and shouted "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American
River!"

Brannan's carefully staged announcement had the desired
effect. San Franciscans rushed to the American River–some
stopping along the way at Brannan's store–to look for
gold. The San Francisco Californian ceased publication on
May 29, complaining that "the whole country, from San
Francisco to Los Angeles and from the sea shore to the
base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of
'Gold! Gold!! Gold!!!' while the field is left half
planted, the house half built, and everything neglected
but the manufacture of shovels and pickaxes."

During the summer of 1848, the gold fever spread to
Hawaii, Oregon and Utah, and in the fall to Mexico, Peru,
and Chile. Altogether about 6,000 "forty-eighters" rushed
to the gold fields.

Gold Fever Like ripples in a pond pulsing outward from a
skipping stone, news of the California gold discovery
circled the globe. At first, reasonable people responded
with disbelief. Tales of nuggets as large as hens' eggs
were dismissed as tall tales. Only as the initial rumors
were confirmed by subsequent reports did reasonable people
find themselves possessed by a gold mania. 

Their intense excitement was compounded by a determination
to make up for the time they had lost in doubt.

Monterey resident James H. Carson later recalled that he
had remained an "unbeliever" until he saw with his own
eyes a sack of gold nuggets, some truly as large as hens'
eggs. His description of what happened next is a classic
account of the contagion that was raging out of control:

"I looked on for a moment; a frenzy seized my soul;
unbidden my legs performed some entirely new movements of
Polka steps–I took several–houses were too small for me
to stay in; I was soon in the street in search of
necessary outfits; piles of gold rose up before me at
every step; castles of marble, dazzling the eye with their
rich appliances; thousands of slaves, bowing to my beck
and call; myriads of fair virgins contending with each
other for my love, were among the fancies of my fevered
imagination. The Rothschilds, Girards and Astors appeared
to me but poor people; in short, I had a very violent
attack of the Gold Fever."

Sea Routes The worldwide rush to the California goldfields
began in earnest during the winter and early spring of
1849. Gold seekers from the eastern United States followed
three main routes to California: by way of the Isthmus of
Panama, around Cape Horn, or via the overland trail. 

Sea routes were the most popular at first. Sailing to
Central America and crossing the Panamanian isthmus was
the quickest way to get to California. The average time
from New York to San Francisco was three to five months in
1850, but later the travel time was reduced to six to
eight weeks. Travelers on this route risked contracting
malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases.

Sailing around Cape Horn was a voyage of 18,000 nautical
miles and took five to eight months. Accommodations on the
ships were crowded and uncomfortable. Violent storms off
the Cape posed a constant danger to even the most
experienced mariners. As one seaborne argonaut recalled,
the gales at the Cape "produce long, loud, fierce blasts,
bearing down on the sea and ship for hours and hours
together. Their effect...is to produce long, huge swells,
over which the ship mounts with a roll, then plunges into
the abyss again as if never to rise."

The Overland Trail Although the sea routes drew the heavy
traffic in the early months of the gold rush, ultimately
most California-bound Argonauts from the eastern United
States traveled by various overland routes through the
American heartland. This journey of 2,000 miles took at
least three or four months and meant crossing incredibly
difficult terrain.

Young Sallie Hester, traveling overland with her parents
in 1849, recorded in her diary the rigors of making it
across the unbroken deserts of the southwest: "The weary,
weary tramp of men and beasts, worn out with heat and
famished for water, will never be erased from my memory."

The biggest killer on the overland trail was disease,
responsible for nine out of every ten deaths. Cholera was
by far the greatest scourge, but scurvy, typhoid fever,
and dysentery also took their toll. Drownings while
fording swollen rivers contributed to the mortality rate,
as did fatal accidents caused by the careless or reckless
use of firearms. Following the accidental death of a ten-
year-old boy, overlander Lucia Williams wrote to her
mother that "for many days we could not forget this
agonizing experience. It hung over us like a black shadow.
It took all the joy out of our lives."

Jim Beckwourth of Beckwourth Pass Jim Beckwourth was an
African-American mountain man and frontier scout. He
dressed in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins; around
his neck hung a pendant of a rifle bullet and two brightly
colored oblong beads. Today, Jim Beckwourth is recognized
as one of the great African-American pioneers in
California history. 

Born in Virginia in 1798, Beckwourth escaped from the
slaveholding south at his earliest opportunity and headed
for the freedom of the west. He was adopted by the Crow
Indians and lived with them for a while along the
Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers. Among the Snake Indians,
he was known as "Bloody Arm" because of his prowess in
battle.

Beckwourth came to California during the gold rush and
prospected around Murderer's Bar and Rich Bar on the
Feather River. He was well aware that one of the greatest
challenges facing his fellow forty-niners was making it
through the Sierra Nevada. The high passes, or narrow
openings through the mountains, were difficult to cross.
In 1851, Beckwourth discovered a pass through the northern
Sierra that now bears his name. Because the route had
excellent commercial possibilities, the citizens of
Marysville agreed to pay him to build a toll road over the
pass. He spent some of his own money completing the road
and succeeded in safely guiding across the first party of
immigrants.

Boom Towns Hundreds of towns sprang to life in California
during the gold rush. Wherever gold was discovered, mining
camps appeared almost overnight. Some disappeared just as
quickly, once the easily available gold was gone. Often
located near rutted wagon roads or free-flowing streams,
the towns and camps served as supply centers as well as
places where miners could gather for entertainment. 

The largest towns in the interior were Sacramento and
Stockton. Sacramento served as the gateway to the central
and northern mines, while Stockton was the supply center
for settlements in the southern mining regions.

The greatest boom town of all was San Francisco. Its
population swelled from just 600 in 1848 to 25,000 in
1849. San Francisco was the port of entry for all seaborne
Argonauts and for supplies arriving from around the world.
It also served as the center for California banking,
manufacturing, and other economic activities.

New Yorker Bayard Taylor arrived in San Francisco in
September 1849. This is what he saw and heard: "Hundreds
of tents and houses...scattered all over the heights, and
along the shore for over a mile. A furious wind was
blowing through a gap in the hills, filling the streets
with clouds of dust. On every side stood buildings of all
kinds, begun or half-finished, and the greater part of
them mere canvas sheds, open in front and covered with all
kinds of signs in all languages. Great quantities of goods
were piled in the open air, for want of a place to store
them. The streets were full of people, hurrying to and
fro, and of divers and bizarre a character as the
houses... One knows not whether he is awake or in some
wonderful dream."

Life in the Diggings Gold-rush California was a tumultuous
place. Mark Twain aptly called it "a wild, free,
disorderly, grotesque society!"

In their relentless pursuit of wealth, the Argonauts used
a variety of mining methods. Some of their methods, such
as hydraulicking, left ugly scars upon the land.

To introduce law and order into this chaotic society,
Californians formed mining districts and drafted mining
codes. In the cities, they formed vigilance committees.
One enterprising Argonaut published a fanciful set of
rules, The Miner's Ten Commandments.

Many of the most successful gold-rush Californians were
merchants who sold supplies to the miners. Mining the
miners often proved to be a more lucrative enterprise than
simply mining the gold. Sadly, many of the miners
themselves failed to realize their dreams of wealth. Gold-
rush songs such as "The Lousy Miner" are poignant
reminders of the miners' loneliness and disappointment.

One of the finest eye witness accounts of the gold rush is
a set of letters written by Dame Shirley, the pen name of
Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe. Dame Shirley
realistically portrayed the hardships of life in the
diggings, conditions that often were forgotten by those in
later years who engaged in remembering the gold rush.

Early Mining Methods

Miners in California used a variety of methods to extract
gold. The simplest method was panning. Squatting by the
side of a river or a stream, the miner filled a shallow,
flat-bottomed pan with what he hoped would be "pay dirt."
Then he held the pan under the surface of the water and
swirled it about with a gently rotating motion for several
minutes. With one side of the pan held lower than the
other, the water washed away the lighter dirt and sand.
The heavier gold particles–if any–would remain in the
bottom of the pan. 

Panning was a tedious and back-breaking job. Miners
improved on this simple method by using a rocker, an
oblong box without a top, several feet in length, mounted
on rockers like a child's cradle and placed in a sloping
position. Pay dirt was shoveled into the rocker, followed
by buckets of water. As the miner vigorously rocked the
cradle back and forth, the muddy water rushed through and
the gold was trapped behind "riffles" or cleats in the
bottom of the rocker. Further improvements appeared by the
end of 1849. The "long tom" was an open wooden trough
about twelve feet long. Water and dirt flowed through the
tom more rapidly and in greater quantity than could be
handled by a rocker. The long tom later evolved into a
sluice, a series of riffle boxes fitted together,
sometimes as much as several hundred feet in length.
Hydraulicking The easily available gold in California soon
was depleted, but rich deposits of the precious metal
remained far below the surface. Thus the early mining
methods gave way to methods more complex–and more
destructive. Working together in large mining companies,
miners turned aside entire rivers to expose the pay dirt
of streambeds. They also dug deep shafts or tunnels into
the earth. One of the most spectacular of the new mining
methods was "hydraulicking." Miners used the destructive
power of high-pressure water to wash away banks and hills,
uncovering gold-bearing gravel far beneath the surface.
Hydraulicking left the earth deeply scarred and in some
places unrecognizable from its previous state. Hydraulic
mining was a true California innovation. In 1853 a former
sailmaker named Anthony Chabot constructed a sturdy canvas
hose, and a Connecticut Yankee named Edward E. Matteson
invented a tapered nozzle of sheet brass. For the next
three decades, hydraulic mining was the dominant form of
gold extraction in northern California. 

Law and Order As the world rushed in to California, the
gold seekers found themselves in a land beyond the reach
of any established law. They ignored the tribal
governments of the California Indians and had little
respect for the past practices of Mexican rule. The mining
regions remained largely unaffected by the actions of
American military governors and officials of the newly
formed state government.  

Concerned about regulating and securing their mining
claims, the miners took matters into their own hands. They
formed more than 500 self-governing mining districts.
Within each district was an elected recorder, variously
called an arbitrator or chairman, whose duties were to
keep a record of all claims in the district and to settle
disputes over contested claims. 

Each district adopted its own unique mining codes. The
codes defined such things as the maximum size of claims,
the process of filing them, the necessity for continually
working them, and what constituted the abandonment of a
claim. 

The mining districts were democratic bodies, but many also
were discriminatory. They commonly excluded African
Americans, Asians, and Latinos. The miners also banded
together to administer vigilante justice, banishing or
lynching those whom they suspected of wrongdoing.

The Miner's Ten Commandments James Mason Hutchings, an
English-born author and editor, published in 1853 a gold-
rush letter sheet called "The Miner's Ten Commandments." A
letter sheet is a type of illustrated stationery that can
be folded to form a self-made envelope. Hutchings sold
more than one hundred thousand copies of his
"Commandments" in just one year. 

The First Commandment was simple and direct. It reflected
a stipulation found in many actual mining codes: "Thou
shalt have no other claim than one."

The Sixth Commandment was a bit more complex but just as
important: "Thou shalt not kill thy body by working in the
rain.... Neither shalt thou kill thy neighbor's body in a
duel.... Neither shalt thou suck through a straw...nor
gurgle from a bottle...."

The Eighth Commandment was the toughest: "Thou shall not
steal a pick, or a pan, or a shovel, from thy fellow
miner, nor take away his tools without his leave...for he
will be sure to discover what thou hast done, and will
straightaway call his fellow miners together, and if the
law hinder them not they will hang thee, or give thee
fifty lashes, or shave thy head and brand thee like a
horse thief with 'R' upon thy cheek."

Mining the Miners Many of the most successful Californians
during the gold rush were enterprising merchants who sold
supplies to the miners. Rather than mining gold, the
merchants prospered by "mining the miners."

A Bavarian-born dry goods merchant arrived in California
in 1853 with a load of canvas he hoped to sell to the
miners for tents. But this merchant soon found a better
use for his canvas, making pants for the miners. The
merchant's name was Levi Strauss, creator of those
trousers known around the world as "Levi's."

Railroad barons Mark Hopkins and Collis P. Huntington got
their start as hardware merchants in the gold-rush town of
Placerville. One of their neighbors, John M. Studebaker,
did a brisk business building and selling wheelbarrows for
the miners. Later he and his brothers became the world's
leading manufacturers of wagons and buggies. Eventually
they went on to build automobiles, and from 1902 until
1963 the streets and highways of America were graced with
sleek new Studebakers.

Another up-and-coming gold-rush merchant was a butcher
from New York named Philip Danforth Armour. He made a
small fortune cutting meat in Placerville and then went
back to Chicago where he and his family became multi-
millionaires running the largest meat-packing business in
the world.

"The Lousy Miner"

Historian Oscar Lewis has estimated that fewer than one
out of twenty California gold seekers returned home richer
than when they left. They expressed their frustration in
the names of ramshackle mining camps like Poverty Hill,
Skunk Gulch, and Hell's Delight.

Loneliness and despair also were recurring themes in gold-
rush ballads such as "The Unhappy Miner," "I'm Sad and
Lonely Here," "I Often Think of Writing Home," and "The
Miner's Lament." One of the most poignant ballads was "The
Lousy Miner," first published in John A. Stone's Original
California Songster (1855). The opening stanza begins:

It's four long years since I reached this land, In search
among the rocks and sand; And yet I'm poor when the truth
is told, I'm a lousy miner, I'm a lousy miner in search of
shining gold. The final refrain is one of bitter
disappointment: Oh, land of gold, you did me deceive, And
I intend in thee my bones to leave; So farewell, home, now
my friends grow cold, I'm a lousy miner, I'm a lousy miner
in search of shining gold.

Dame Shirley Women were a rarity in most gold-rush
communities. They represented about one-twelfth of the
state's non-native population in 1850, and increased only
to one third by 1880. 

One of the most remarkable women in gold-rush California
was Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe. She lived for over a
year in a rough-and-tumble mining camp along the Feather
River. She's known to us today by a marvelous series of
letters she published under the pen name Dame Shirley. The
letters are a valuable resource because they provide a
woman's perspective on life in the gold rush. They contain
a wealth of detail on the interior furnishings of miners'
cabins, the clothing worn by the forty-niners, and their
typical daily fare. Dame Shirley also records the miners'
unusual figures of speech. "Seeing the elephant," for
instance, meant having a truly remarkable experience,
something as unusual and unexpected as encountering an
elephant in the mines. Remembering the Gold Rush Like so
many episodes in California history, the gold rush has
been considerably romanticized by many of its later
chroniclers. Memoirs and fictionalized accounts, published
decades after the event, tended to view the "days of '49"
through a golden haze. Understandably, the aging Argonauts
wished to put the best possible spin on their youthful
exploits.  

Heroic pioneers, stouthearted and triumphant, were popular
images in Gold Rush anniversary celebrations.
"California's Golden Jubilee" in 1898 included a
procession through the streets of San Francisco witnessed
by a crowd of two hundred thousand enthusiastic
celebrants. The glorification was complete by 1948 when
Californians observed the centennial of the gold
discovery. Gordon Jenkins and his orchestra recorded a
"musical narrative" that unabashedly celebrated the gold
rush as part of the national legendary:

There's gold in California, Gold out California way.
Streets are paved with it, Fortunes are made with it, Even
golden razors So you can get shaved with it. 

The mood during the gold-rush sesquicentennial in the late
1990s was considerably different. Thomas Frye, curator of
a gold-rush exhibit at The Oakland Museum of California,
commented: "In 1948, everyone identified with California's
golden history. Today, it is very different. Not everyone
believes in the golden history." State librarian Kevin
Starr agreed, noting that Californians no longer "have a
coherent society where everyone can agree on what is being
celebrated." 

Diversity and Conflict

Following the discovery of gold in California in 1848, the
world rushed in. Eager gold seekers headed south from
Oregon; north from Mexico, Chile, and Peru; east from
China and the islands of the Pacific; and west from every
state in the union and countries throughout Europe. This
richness of intersecting frontiers produced the most
ethnically diverse region in the nation.

Gold-rush California also became a region noted for its
ethnic conflict. Frustrated ambitions of unsuccessful gold
seekers were vented in an almost unending round of ethnic
hostilities. Scapegoats were eagerly sought, identified
with lightning speed, and dispatched with little regret.

Native American miners were forced to abandon the
diggings, and many fell victim to genocidal campaigns. The
destruction of the ranchos dispossessed members of the old
rancho elite, and Latino miners endured violent opposition
as well as discriminatory taxes. French miners, derided as
Keskydees, bitterly complained when they too were
compelled to pay extra fees as foreign miners. Hawaiians
in the gold fields were commonly called Kanakas. Chinese
immigrants came seeking their fortune in the fabled land
known as Gam Saan. African Americans were a small minority
in gold rush California and they too were bounded by
unfair laws and practices. In spite of discrimination and
hardship, individuals like Biddy Mason left a legacy of
pride and accomplishment. 

Native American Miners The discovery of gold brought
hundreds of thousands of newcomers onto the lands of the
California Indians. The Native people responded in a
variety of ways. Many retreated into the interior as their
homelands were invaded by the flood of gold seekers.
Others, especially among the Miwok and Yokuts in the
Central Valley, raided the settlements of the newcomers
for horses and other livestock.  

Many Native people joined in the rush for gold and became
miners themselves. Colonel Richard B. Mason estimated in
1848 that more than half the gold diggers during the first
year of the gold rush were Indians. Miwok prospectors and
miners, for instance, helped open the extraordinary riches
of the southern mines. 

At first, many Indian miners worked as laborers for white
Californians, often in a state of peonage similar to their
status on the Mexican ranchos. Others labored as
independent agents and traded their gold to white
merchants for a variety of goods. In the early days,
California Indians were unaware of the true value of the
gold they were trading, and the whites competed with one
another in cheating them. A common practice was to trade
glass beads to Indian miners for gold, weight for weight.
But soon the Native miners developed a finer appreciation
of the white man's high regard for gold and became
increasingly able and sophisticated traders themselves.

POLITICAL PARTIES

A political party is a group organized to support certain
policies on questions of public interest. The aim of a
political party is to elect officials who will try to
carry out the party's policies. The questions may range
from issues of peace, war, and taxes to how people should
earn a living. A large political party usually has
millions of members and supporters. When people in a
democracy disagree about what the government should do,
each voter expresses his opinion by voting for the
candidate that supports his side of the argument.

How Parties Began 

Although parties began long ago, they have not always
existed. The ancient Greeks, who were pioneers in
political affairs, had no organized political parties in
the modern sense. In ancient Athens all native, free, male
Athenians belonged to the Assembly, the governing body of
the city. Each man voted as he thought best. The Council
of Five Hundred, renewed each year, carried out the wishes
of the Assembly and proposed measures for their
consideration. Groups in the Assembly sometimes acted
together to pass a law. But they did not organize into
lasting political parties.

The Roman senate had two groups that were somewhat like
modern political parties–the Patricians and the
Plebeians. The Patricians represented noble families. The
Plebeians represented the wealthy merchants and the middle
class. Although these two groups often mingled, at times
they voted as factions, or parties, on particular issues
that were important to the groups they represented.

For many centuries after the fall of Rome (A.D. 476), the
people of Europe had little voice in politics. But in the
14th and 15th centuries a fierce struggle developed among
the young republics of the Italian peninsula. During this
struggle the modern idea of a political party began to
take shape. Most Italian city-states were split into two
warring parties, the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Both of
these groups had their origins in Germany. The Guelph
party represented merchants and businessmen. The
Ghibelline party represented nobles, professional
soldiers, and other people who favored feudalism.
Throughout Italy, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines fought
for control. About 1500 the struggle began to die down,
with the Ghibellines gaining the advantage in most places.
So the city-states gradually came under the rule of
powerful men and leading families.

English Political Parties 

English political parties were born after what was called
the Popish Plot of 1678. Although there was no real plot,
a rumor spread through England that Roman Catholics were
plotting to kill King Charles II. According to the rumor,
Catholics planned to give the throne to Charles's brother,
James, Duke of York (who was a Roman Catholic), and take
over the country. Parliament was alarmed and shut out all
Roman Catholics from public office. Parliament also tried
to take away the Duke of York's right to inherit the
throne. Although King Charles II was head of the Church of
England, he sympathized with his brother and with the
Catholic cause. By its acts Parliament seemed to be
challenging royal authority, so King Charles struck back
by dissolving Parliament.

All over England people were either for or against the
King's act. Those who urged the King to call a new
Parliament were called Petitioners. Those who backed the
King's deed were called Abhorrers because they abhorred
any attempt to control the King's actions. Soon the
Petitioners were called Whigs, and the Abhorrers were
called Tories. "Whig" was an old word for Scottish
Presbyterians who opposed the government. "Tory" was the
name given the Irish Roman Catholics who had their homes
and farms taken from them when the Puritans under Oliver
Cromwell ruled both England and Ireland. But now the two
old names took on new meanings.

The basic difference between 17th-century Whigs and Tories
was their view of what government should do and how strong
it should be. Tories wanted rule by a strong king. Whigs
wanted ordinary people to have more rights and gain more
control of their government. A hundred years later many
Whigs sided with the American Revolutionists of 1776. Most
Tories supported King George III's policy of crushing the
rebellion.

After the peaceful English revolution of 1688 brought
William and Mary to the throne, Parliament became the real
ruler of England. The Whigs and Tories became large,
loosely knit groups, usually led by men of wealth and
noble family. Later the major parties were the Liberals
and the Tories (also called Conservatives). In the 20th
century the Liberals grew weaker, while the young Labour
Party rose to challenge the Conservatives for control of
the government.

Parties in France 

Before the French Revolution of 1789 there were three
classes (called estates) in France: the nobility, the
clergy, and the middle-class merchants and businessmen
(the Third Estate). The estates chose representatives, who
met in a group called the Estates General. In some ways
the estates were like political parties. However, they had
no real political power until 1789, for the king of France
was an absolute monarch.

In 1789 there was a great crisis in France. King Louis XVI
did not have enough money to run the government, and so he
had to call the Estates General together to find ways of
raising new taxes. Before 1789 the nobility and the clergy
had not been taxed. The Third Estate was taxed. The
representatives of the Third Estate were determined to
institute reforms at the meeting of the Estates General.
One of the reforms was to be the payment of taxes by the
other two estates. Since the representatives of the nobles
and the clergy could join together and outvote the Third
Estate, the Third Estate decided to rebel. They invited
all interested members of the Estates General to join them
in a new reform assembly. Some nobles and clergy with
democratic ideals did join them, and the National Assembly
was formed. It was the conflict between the National
Assembly and the king that triggered the Revolution and
eventually ended absolute monarchy in France. Several
political parties were formed in the National Assembly:
the Jacobins, Cordeliers, Girondists, and others. The most
radical reformers, the Jacobins, sat on the left side of
the Assembly chamber, while the most conservative
delegates sat on the right side. Some scholars think the
terms "left" for radical and "right" for conservative
began at this time.

Political Parties in Colonial America 

In the French and Indian War the American colonists and
English Army fought side by side against the French. The
French were defeated and pushed out of North America in
1763. Then England began trying to control the colonies
more strictly. The Americans, through the Committees of
Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty, voiced their anger
against England's new colonial policies.

Each of the 13 colonies had its own assembly. Americans
who wanted close ties with England were called Tories.
Those who wanted more freedom for the colonies were called
Whigs. Again these two names took on new meanings in a new
country.

When the colonies declared their independence from England
in 1776, Americans divided into two groups. The
Revolutionists called themselves Patriots. American
supporters of England were called Loyalists or Tories. The
American Patriots in turn were divided between the
leaders, who were wealthy and educated, and the followers-
-farmers, laborers, and small shopkeepers. But all
Patriots were united to win the Revolution, so parties did
not form until later.

Parties Begin in the United States 

The leaders of the American Revolution did not like the
idea of parties and political battles between parties.
George WASHINGTON, in his Farewell Address, warned
Americans against "faction" (parties). James MADISON
thought parties were probably necessary, although he did
not entirely approve of them. Alexander Hamilton thought
that faction was a vice to be guarded against at all
times. Thomas JEFFERSON declared in 1789, "If I could not
go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at
all." Yet the men who held these views founded the first
two great American political parties.

Hamilton and other leaders who wanted a strong central
government banded together to put over their policies. In
1787 they began calling themselves the Federalists. This
was the first United States political party. In 1796,
anti-Federalists gathered around Jefferson. Members of
Jefferson's group called themselves Democratic-
Republicans. Northern businessmen, bankers, and merchants
supported the Federalists. They believed in a strong
national (or federal) government. Federalists held that
capital and industry were the basis of a healthy republic
and that the federal government should act to protect the
country's infant industries. The Democratic-Republican
Party drew its followers from farmers and people with
little property. These people wanted government to leave
them alone as much as possible. They wanted to limit the
federal government's power and leave the most power in the
hands of state and local governments. In foreign affairs
the Federalists leaned toward England, while the
Democratic-Republicans sympathized with Revolutionary
France.

Early leaders, such as John ADAMS (second president), had
Federalist sympathies. But the Federalists lost control of
the government to Jefferson and his party in 1800. The
Federalists lingered on as a minority party, especially in
New England, for 20 years.

By 1820 American political life was being influenced by
sharp differences of opinion between sections of the
country. In time these quarrels led to the Civil War. The
agrarian South, the frontier West, and the industrial
North each wanted the government to follow a different
course of action.

In 1828 the first president from what was then called the
West was elected–Andrew JACKSON, a Democratic-Republican
from Tennessee. His party had great support in the South
and the West. Jackson changed the party's name to
Democrats. People who had once been Federalists joined
with anti-Jackson Democrats to form the Whig Party.
Between 1836 and 1852 the Whigs gave the Democrats strong
opposition. One of the major issues was the western
expansion of the nation, favored by Jacksonian Democrats.

By 1854 the issue of Negro slavery overshadowed all
political debate. Another related issue was states'
rights. If a state government was in conflict with the
national government, which government had the final
authority? Northern Abolitionists–people who wanted to
abolish slavery–were leaving the Whigs. The Whigs lost
voters also to the Know-Nothings. This was a new party
that supported the interests of native-born Protestants
and violently opposed Roman Catholics and foreigners. The
Whig Party began to go to pieces. At the same time, the
issues of slavery and states' rights divided Democrats
into Northern and Southern branches. Southern Democrats
strongly favored slavery and states' rights. Extremists
among them believed that a state had a right to secede
(leave the Union) if the national government tried to
interfere with slavery.

In 1854 antislavery forces and Free Soil forces (a group
founded in Buffalo, New York) formed the Republican Party.
It attracted ex-Whig Abolitionists. The Republicans ran
their first presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, in
1856. By 1860 the vot ers had a choice of four major
parties–the Northern Democrats, the Southern Democrats,
the Republicans, and the Constitutional-Union Party, which
drew some ex-Whigs. Antislavery feeling was so strong that
Republicans were helped enormously in capturing the
presidency for Abraham LINCOLN. In 1861 the Southern
states seceded and the Civil War began.

After the Civil War 

The defeat of the Confederacy weakened the Democrats, who
were associated in voters' minds with the Southern cause.
For many years the Republicans were the major party. They
favored business interests and high tariffs. The Democrats
supported free trade. They attracted farmers and the
immigrants who poured into the country between the Civil
War and the turn of the century.

With slavery no longer an issue, the two major parties
were not so deeply divided again until the 1930's. At that
time the Depression struck the country. The ELECTION of
1932 brought in Franklin D. ROOSEVELT and his New Deal.
Roosevelt Democrats thought that the federal government
must act strongly to help people who had been hurt by the
Depression. Under the New Deal the government passed
relief measures, social security, laws helping unions, and
other bills. Republicans thought the government was taking
too much power and moving the country toward a welfare
state. They fought against governmental interference with
business.

Today both parties agree in general on social security,
unemployment insurance, basic foreign policy, and civil
rights. The issues on which they disagree now are not
goals so much as means: how best to cure the nation's
economic ills (inflation and unemployment), how best to
conserve dwindling energy supplies, and how best to
protect an environment constantly threatened by industrial
pollution. In solving these and other problems, most
Republicans tend to disapprove of government spending and
government regulation. But most Democrats believe that
government spending and regulation can produce results
that are good.

Third Parties 

Unlike many other countries, the United States has a two-
party system. Third parties have developed, but a balance
of more than two strong parties has never lasted.

In the 19th century the Populists were an active third
party. They favored free silver, cheap money, and an end
to monopolies. By 1900, extra parties were forming,
including the Farmer-Labor Party, the Socialist Party, and
the Socialist Labor Party. Such parties, often small, were
formed by people who felt the major parties did not
express their views. Sometimes a third party has gained
part of its goals by supporting a major party that
promised to act on the third party's views. The
Socialists, who reached their height in the 1930's, never
won a national election. But many of their ideas were
adopted by the major parties.

In the United States and Canada strong third parties
sometimes exist at the state or provincial level. Among
these are the Liberal and Conservative parties in New York
State. The Parti Québécois, in the Canadian Province of
Quebec, favors Quebec's separation from Canada. The Social
Credit Party is important in the Canadian provinces of
British Columbia and Alberta.

Third parties develop also when a major party is violently
split on an issue. The progressive wing of the U.S.
Republican Party broke away in 1912. It formed a third
party, the Progressive, or "Bull Moose," Party. Theodore
ROOSEVELT was the party's presidential candidate. The
Progressives lasted into the 1920's under the leadership
of the La Follette family of Wisconsin. They elected
senators but no presidents. The Progressives opposed big
business monopolies and favored the interests of farmers
and workers.

After World War II, Southern Democrats formed the States'
Rights or "Dixiecrat" Party to protest a growing movement
to secure the civil rights of African Americans. The
American Independent Party, led by Alabama governor George
Wallace, also opposed racial integration. It was a factor
in the presidential election of 1968. The Libertarian
Party, formed in the 1970's, stressed individual rights.
The 1990's saw the growth of the Reform Party, formed by
Texas businessman H. Ross Perot. And the Green Party has
formed as an outgrowth of the environmental movement. Like
earlier third parties, these groups have helped focus
attention on important social and political issues. 

How Parties Work in the United States 

American political parties are organized on both national
and local levels. Every four years, parties hold national
conventions. Delegates are chosen in primaries, by state
conventions, or at closed local party gatherings called
precinct caucuses. These delegates gather at the
conventions to nominate a PRESIDENTIAL and a VICE-
PRESIDENTIAL.

Each party at its convention drafts a platform. The
platform is a statement of what the party stands for. If
the party wins, the platform is supposed to guide the
actions of the elected officials.

American parties are run by county and state committees.
Committee members may be elected at primaries, chosen at
state conventions, or appointed by party officers. The two
major parties also have national committees, made up of
one man and one woman from each of the 50 states and the
territories. State and federal laws control the ways
political parties can raise and handle money.

Parties today use computers to draw up lists of possible
supporters and take public opinion polls to explore the
views of voters on certain issues. Special-interest groups
able to raise money and turn out voters for candidates
they favor have grown in influence.

Newspapers, radio, and television have strongly influenced
modern elections. Political parties use advertising to
mold public opinion and compete for favorable media
coverage for their candidates. Candidates, some say, are
now packaged and sold as a business sells its products.
Televised debates have enabled candidates to present
themselves and their views to large audiences. Recently
there has been widespread criticism of the prediction of
election results by television before all voters have gone
to the polls.

Political Parties in Other Countries 

Some countries have only one party, and others have many.
In the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, Poland, Yugoslavia,
Hungary, and the other Communist countries, there is only
one party–the Communist Party. One-party rule is also
common in much of the Middle East, Africa, and Latin
America. Under such a system, people who do not agree with
the party in power cannot express their objections by
voting for another party. In some one-party countries, the
ruling party holds power with the support of the army. In
developing countries with many different and sometimes
competing ethnic groups, the single ruling party may
incorporate a wide variety of views. Supporters of this
type of one-party state say that a single party helps
unify the country.

The countries where two or more parties have the right to
compete with each other in elections are the democracies.
Democracies usually operate under either a two-party or a
multi-party system. Like the United States, Britain
operates under a two-party system. The major parties are
the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, though there
are active third parties such as the Liberal Party and the
Social Democratic Party. Canada also has two major
parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals.

Many European countries have multi-party systems. Three of
the most important countries in Asia–India, Israel, and
Japan–are also multi-party democracies. Such countries
may have many parties representing a wide range of
political views. Because of the number of competing
parties, it is sometimes difficult for any one party to
get a clear majority of the votes. In such cases, leading
parties that can agree on general policies form a
coalition (a combination of parties) to run the country.
Frequently, of course, even in a multi-party system, one
party may win by a clear majority.

Source: Stephen Flanders Correspondent, Columbia
Broadcasting System