The Fourth Party System is a term generally used by historians and political scientists to cover a period in American political history from about 1896 to 1932 (see Third Party System). The period saw a transformation from the issues and alignments of the Civil War, Reconstruction and other concerns of the latter 19th century, and included a stronger American presence internationally, the Progressive Era, and the start of the Great Depression. The Third Party System, which began in 1854 and changed over to the Fourth Party System in the mid-1890s revolved around the issues of nationalism, modernization, and race. ... Progressivism in the United States // Overview Some argue that Progressivism in the United States can best be differentiated from liberalism in two major ways. ... The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn, starting in 1929 (although its effects were not fully felt until late in 1930) and lasting through most of the 1930s. ...

The period began with the realignment of 1894-1896. The overwhelming Republican victory in 1896 over William Jennings Bryan and his Democratic Party, repeated in 1900, restored business confidence, inaugurated a long epoch of prosperity, and swept away the issues and personalities of the Third Party System. Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but others realigned themselves, giving a strong Republican dominance in the industrial Northeast. Thus the way was clear for the Progressive Movement to impose a new way of thinking and a new agenda for politics. The Republican Party was born in 1854 and is one of the two dominant parties today. ... William Jennings Bryan, 1907 William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. ... The History of the Democratic Party is an account of a continuously supported political party in the United States of America. ...

Alarmed at the new rules of the game for campaign funding, the Progressives launched investigations and exposures (by the "muckraker" journalists) into corrupt links between party bosses and business. New laws and constitutional amendments weakened the party bosses by installing primaries and directly electing senators. Theodore Roosevelt shared the growing concern with business influence on government. When William Howard Taft appeared to be too cozy with pro-business conservatives in terms of tariff and conservation issues, Roosevelt broke with his old friend and his old party. He crusaded for president in 1912 at the head of an ill-fated "Bull Moose" Progressive party. TR's break elected Woodrow Wilson and made pro-business conservatives the dominant force in the GOP. They elected Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. In 1928 the iconic progressive Herbert Hoover became the last president of the Fourth Party System. The Great Depression spoiled the nation's optimism and ruined Republican chances. The Democratic victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt led to the New Deal coalition that dominated the Fifth Party System, 1932-1966. McClures Magazine (cover, Jan, 1901) published many early muckraker articles. ... The series of U.S. presidential primaries is one of the first steps in the process of electing a President of the United States. ... Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. ... William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was an American politician, the 27th President of the United States, the 10th Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early twentieth century, a chaired professor at Yale Law... Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was an American politician and the 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 to 1923, when he became the sixth president to die in office. ... John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. ... Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933), was a successful mining engineer, humanitarian, and administrator. ... FDR redirects here. ... The New Deal coalition was the poop alignment of interest groups and voting blocs who supported the New Deal and voted for United States Democratic Party presidential candidates from 1932 until approximately 1966, and which made the Democratic Party the majority party during that time. ...

References

• Blum, John Morton The Republican Roosevelt. (1954). essays that examine how TR as politician
• Blum, John Morton. The Progressive Presidents: Roosevelt, Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson (1980)
• Brands, H. W. Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'’ (2003), short essay
• Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979).
• Burnham, W.D., "The System of 1896: An Analysis," in Paul Kleppner, et al., The Evolution of American Electoral Systems , Greenwood. (1983)
• Cherny, Robert W. "William Jennings Bryan and the Historians." Nebraska History 1996 77(3-4): 184-193. Issn: 0028-1859. covers the historiography
• Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992)
• Cooper, John Milton The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. (1983) a dual biography
• Craig, Douglas B. 'After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920-1934 (1992)
• Edwards, Rebecca. Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era (1997)
• Garraty, John. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography (1953)
• Glad, Paul W. McKinley, Bryan and the People (1991), on 1896.
• Gosnell, Harold F. Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Others (1924)
• Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (1991), the major scholarly study
• Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963)
• Harrison, Robert. Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State (2004)
• Hoff-Wilson, Joan. Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive. (1975). short biography
• Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition (1948)
• Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971)
• Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983 (1983)
• Keller, Morton. Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America (1977)
• Kleppner, Paul. Continuity and Change in Electoral Politics, 1893-1928, Greenwood. 1987
• Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979).
• Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era
• Mahan, Russell L. "William Jennings Bryan and the Presidential Campaign of 1896" White House Studies 2003 3(2): 215-227. Issn: 1535-4738
• Murphy, Troy A. "William Jennings Bryan: Boy Orator, Broken Man, and the 'Evolution' of America's Public Philosophy." Great Plains Quarterly 2002 22(2): 83-98. Issn: 0275-7664
• Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America (1963)
• Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex (2002) (covers Roosevelt as president 1901-1909)
• Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912. (1954)
• Rhodes, James Ford Rhodes. The McKinley and Roosevelt Administrations, 1897-1909 (1922)
• Sanders, Elizabeth. Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers, and the American State, 1877-1917 (1999). argues the Democrats were the true progressives and GOP was mostly conservative
• Sarasohn, David. The Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era (1989), covers 1910-1930.
• Sherman, Richard B. The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover (1973)
• Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System, Revised Edition, Brookings Institute. 1983
• Wiebe, Robert H. Businessmen and Reform: A Study of the Progressive Movement (1968)

Primary sources

• Bryan, William Jennings. First Battle (1897), speeches from 1896 campaign.
• Ginger, Ray, ed. William Jennings Bryan; Selections (1967).
• LaFollette, Robert. Autobiography (1913)
• Roosevelt, Theodore. Autobiography (1913)
• Whicher, George F., ed. William Jennings Bryan and the Campaign of 1896 (1953), primary and secondary sources.

External links

• bibliography