Politics with Paul #19: Historical Party Divisions of Congress

Key Points

• While the Democratic Party's origins can be traced back to the beginnings of political parties in US history, the Republican Party was founded in the 1850s, filling the vacuum left by the Whig Party (and the Federalist Party before that).
• The Republican Party quickly became the dominant party in Congress during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, followed by a period of Democratic pushback in the US House, and then another Republican surge in the 1890s/1900s.
• The early 1900s was a bit more mixed in balance of power. While Republicans held onto majorities in both the US House and US Senate in the first decade of that century, Democrats reclaimed power throughout most of the 1910s, only to be supplanted again by Republicans during the Roaring Twenties.
• The Great Depression ushered in an era of Democratic dominance in Congress that largely continued through the 1970s (and for the US House in particular, through the 1980s).
• Historically, party control of either chamber of Congress hasn't flipped a considerable amount. Notably, however, several times that has happened has demonstrated watershed moments in the institution's history.