Running against Bill Clinton and George Bush, Ross Perot was the main third party candidate that was very popular in the time of their election. Even though, he had lost in the long run, he still managed to get a tiny bit under 20% of the popular vote. He had made history in becoming such a powerful third party candidate.
The Dixiecrats are formed as the segregationist States’ Rights Party. They were lead by Strom Thurmond. This was a more detailed party that also stood up for Southern Democrats. When he ran for President to represent his party, he did not win, but the significance of his run, was that the South usually only voted for Democratic candidates.
Roosevelt has now abandoned the Progressives and is creating his own party, the Bull Moose Party. The party is a bit similar to the previous one so he was able to take along some of his old supporters with him.
The Progressive party was formed for the middle class with Roosevelt as their leader. Their party would have lasted if it wasn’t for Taft, his Vice President. Taft wanted to side with the conservative Republicans instead of progressive Republicans.
In the 1890’s, people thought the influences were being put upon the two major parties. Instead of going along and trying to fix up these setbacks, a bunch of new parties get formed. This included the Populist party, the Prohibition party, and a lot of other ones.
By now, the Republicans have become bigger than the Whigs and have become a major political party. Then when Abraham Lincoln became President, they got even more powerful. He was going against three other political parties, two of them being Democratic. After he won the election, the Republican party became part of the top two.
In the middle of the 1800’s, the issue of slavery arises. The parties are meeting up to decide what their viewpoint on the subject was. This is when the Republican party was created.
The Democratic Republicans were the big party until they split up. They became the Democrats and the Whigs. They both had a leader that had a big influence in government so they were almost equal in power. Jackson had lead the Democrats while Clay had lead the Whigs.
The first parties to be formed were the Federalists and Democratic Republicans. The Federalists believed in strong central government and were very wealthy. The Democratic Republicans were the exact opposite because they liked ideas of more local governments and were considerably poorer.
When the Constitution was made, the creators did not say anything about third parties. One of the reasons against parties in general was because of possible disputes. George Washington didn't want constant fighting a separation from groups.
Update Sources
