How Political Parties Respond to Crisis: Lessons from the 1890s

The United States is politically deeply polarized and this polarization has affected its ability to govern itself. Most Republicans believe that Joe Biden is not the legitimate U.S. president; the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol was unimaginable until it happened; and bi-partisan cooperation has largely disappeared in Congress for even routine functions. But this is not the first time the United States has gone through a political crisis that threatened the existence or fundamental aspects of the republic. The most consequential was the sectional-slavery disputes leading to the Civil War, but with that one exception, crises have resolved with the republic intact, albeit changed. My presentation will be an analytic case history of another time of crisis, the 1890s, to learn how the American political system confronted crisis then, and to extract lessons that might be applicable today. Various academicians and popular writers have likened today’s politics to the 1890s. The 1890s were characterized by extremes of wealth and inequality, political corruption, and unconstrained power of corporations and trusts. The Panic of 1893 resulted in deep economic hardship and contributed to labor unrest. Immigration from eastern and southern Europe sparked Nativist backlash. Agrarian populist movements and radical left movements threatened the political order. Economic and political elites feared these forces might tear society apart. The defining feature of my case history will be its combination of rigorous historical analysis with empirical, behavioral-based political science. It fits within the literature on American Political Development, a field that encompasses American history and political science. My research will emphasize political parties and Congress. In examining periods of crisis, most political history has gravitated to the role of presidential leadership. I am more interested in how political systems as a whole – as manifested in political parties, party systems, and Congress – have adapted in response to crisis. Also, I wish to understand the impact the parties had on the electorate as a whole. Did the parties exert any positive leadership to the mass public towards resolution of crisis, or did they solely throw gasoline on the fire for partisan gain? Methodologically, the case histories will be guided by the political science literature on the causes of polarization in the United States, its manifestations in the electorate, and its impact on governance. That literature will point me to the events, trends, and processes of the 1890s that most closely parallel or are most germane to today’s political crisis. The most important historical source material will be the proceedings of the Democratic and Republican Party National Conventions for 1892, 1896, 1900, and 1904. Those proceedings contain all speeches delivered at the conventions, the party platforms, voting tallies, and transcriptions of committee and floor deliberations. I will examine other political party records as needed, as well as actions taken by Congress and the associated deliberations. My ultimate interest is to find lessons from history that can inform future action today. Thus, my presentation will conclude by commenting on insights from the 1890s that might inform our understanding of the 2020s