Third Parties

Third Parties in the 19th Century

Third parties in the 19th century were relatively successful in House, Senate and gubernatorial elections. In the last decade of the 19th century, and in early 20th century, third parties frequently won more than 10 percent of the popular vote in congressional and gubernatorial elections in many states. Third parties during the 19th century were, for the most part, established political organizations. Many third parties in this period were long-standing organizations that endured more than two presidential elections. Several third parties in this period were quite influential in American politics. The Free Soil Party was a substantive organization for three presidential elections before it became part of the Republican Party.

The Prohibition Party, even though it has never won more than three percent of the popular vote in presidential elections, has entered all presidential elections since 1872. The Greenback Party and People's Party (Populists) were anti-industrial pro-farmer/labor parties, that operated in the 1870s and 1890s, respectively. The Know-Nothing (American) Party was a nativist party supported by those who felt threatened by the record numbers of incoming immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s. Until the party was torn apart by the slavery issue during the 1856 convention Know-Nothing Party candidates won several elections, and controlled state legislatures in several states following the 1854 elections.

Third parties of the 19th century were not dependent on a single charismatic leader. They ran in federal, state, and local races and were able to attract experienced candidates. Even though a third-party candidate never won the presidency, third-party candidates have won several House and Senate seats, as well as governorships. However, third-party performance in congressional and gubernatorial elections declined sharply in 1930s. Some scholars attribute this decline to the introduction of the direct primaries and the Australian ballot. With its introduction in the 1890s, parties could no longer provide ballots to the voters. Providing ballots directly to the voters had allowed minor parties access to polling places and voters. Direct primaries also affected the third-party performance by opening the major parties to candidates who would otherwise seek the third-party route, discouraging campaign contributors and special interests to from supporting third parties.

Other scholars argue that electoral laws have not played that much of a role in the decline of third-party voting. They argue that it was the Democratic Party's cooptation of the left-wing policies during the New Deal era that led to the decline. According to this argument, the Democratic Party adopted policies that were previously the impetus for most left-wing third parties.

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