Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had expanded slavery into U. S. territories. The party subscribed to classical liberalism and took ideological stands that were anti-slavery and pro-economic reform. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president in the history of the United States; the Party was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System and Fourth Party System. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party after being rejected by the GOP and ran unsuccessfully as a third-party presidential candidate calling for social reforms. After the 1912 election, many Roosevelt supporters left the Party, the Party underwent an ideological shift to the right; the liberal Republican element in the GOP was overwhelmed by a conservative surge begun by Barry Goldwater in 1964 that continued during the Reagan Era in the 1980s. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the party's core base shifted, with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in presidential politics and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic.
White voters identified with the Republican Party after the 1960s. Following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party made opposition to abortion a key plank of its national party platform and grew its support among evangelicals. By 2000, the Republican Party was aligned with Christian conservatism; the Party's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain States and rural areas in the North. The 21st century Republican Party ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats' liberal platform and progressive wing; the GOP supports lower taxes, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, gun rights and restrictions on labor unions. The GOP was committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest, but has grown more supportive of free trade since 1952. In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies, the Republican Party is conservative.
Founded in the Northern states in 1854 by abolitionists, modernizers, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers, the Republican Party became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the popular Know Nothing Party. The party grew out of opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory to slavery and future admission as slave states; the Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil. The first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement, at which the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party, was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin; the name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. At the 1856 Republican National Convention, the party adopted a national platform emphasizing opposition to the expansion of slavery into U. S. territories. While Republican candidate John C.
Frémont lost the 1856 United States presidential election to James Buchanan, he did win 11 of the 16 northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in the elections of 1860 when it won control of both houses of Congress and its candidate, former congressman Abraham Lincoln, was elected President. In the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. Under Republican congressional leadership, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution—which banned slavery in the United States—passed the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865; the party's success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s. Those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished, was continued to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant, ran Horace Greeley for the presidency; the Stalwart faction defended Grant and the spoils system, whereas the Half-Breeds pushed for reform of the civil service. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed in 1883.
The Republican Party supported hard money, high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits, generous pensions for Union veterans, the annexation of Hawaii. The Republicans had strong support from pietistic Protestants, but they resisted demands for Prohibition; as the Northern postwar economy boomed with heavy and light industry, mines, fast-growing cities, prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to sustain the fast growth. The GOP was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System. However, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers; the high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections defeating McKinley himself. The Democrats elected Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892; the election of William McKinley in 1896 was marked by a resurgence of Republican dominance that lasted until 1932.
McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Pa
John Lewis (civil rights leader)
John Robert Lewis is an American politician and civil rights leader. He is the U. S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district, serving in his 17th term in the House, having served since 1987, is the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation, his district includes the northern three-fourths of Atlanta. Lewis, who as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington, played many key roles in the Civil Rights Movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, he is a member of the Democratic Party leadership in the U. S. House of Representatives and has served as a Chief Deputy Whip since 1991 and Senior Chief Deputy Whip since 2003. Lewis has been awarded many honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards from eminent national and international institutions, including the highest civilian honor of the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
John Lewis was born in Troy, the third son of Willie Mae and Eddie Lewis. His parents were sharecroppers. Lewis grew up in Alabama, he has several siblings, including brothers Edward, Freddie, Sammy and William, sisters Ethel and Ora. At the age of six, Lewis had seen only two white people in his life, he was educated at the Pike County Training High School, Brundidge and American Baptist Theological Seminary and at Fisk University, both in Nashville, where he became a leader in the Nashville sit-ins. While a student, he was invited to attend nonviolence workshops held in the basement of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church by the Rev. James Lawson and Rev. Kelly Miller Smith. There and many of his fellow students became dedicated adherents to the discipline and philosophy of nonviolence, which he still practices today; the Nashville sit-in movement was responsible for the desegregation of lunch counters in downtown Nashville. Lewis was arrested and jailed many times in the nonviolent movement to desegregate the downtown area of the city.
Afterwards, he participated in the Freedom Rides sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality, led by James Farmer, became a national leader in the movement for civil rights and respect for human dignity. In an interview, John Lewis said, "I saw racial discrimination as a young child. I saw those signs that said'White Men, Colored Men, White Women, Colored Women'.... I remember as a young child with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins going down to the public library trying to get library cards, trying to check some books out, we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for'coloreds'." During a childhood trip to Buffalo, New York, Lewis saw for the first time black men and white men working together, desegregating water fountains, began to believe the dream of equality was more than just a dream. Lewis listened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks on the radio, he and his family supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Lewis met Parks in 1957 when he was 17, he met King the following year.
John Lewis was the youngest of the "Big Six" leaders as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1966, some of the most tumultuous years of the Civil Rights Movement. During his tenure, SNCC opened Freedom Schools, launched the Mississippi Freedom Summer, organized some of the voter registration efforts during the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign; as the chairman of SNCC, Lewis had written a speech in reaction to the Civil Rights Bill of 1963. He denounced the bill because it didn't protect African Americans against police brutality or provide African Americans with the right to vote. Lewis graduated from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville and received a bachelor's degree in Religion and Philosophy from Fisk University; as a student, he was dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement. He organized sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville and took part in many other civil rights activities as part of the Nashville Student Movement, he was instrumental in organizing student sit-ins, bus boycotts and nonviolent protests in the fight for voter and racial equality.
In 1960, Lewis became one of the 13 original Freedom Riders. There were seven whites and six blacks who were determined to ride from Washington, D. C. to New Orleans in an integrated fashion. At that time, several states of the old Confederacy still enforced laws prohibiting black and white riders from sitting next to each other on public transportation; the Freedom Ride, originated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and revived by James Farmer and CORE, was initiated to pressure the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia that declared segregated interstate bus travel to be unconstitutional. In the South and other nonviolent Freedom Riders were beaten by angry mobs, arrested at times and taken to jail; when CORE gave up on the Freedom Ride because of the violence and fellow activist Diane Nash arranged for the Nashville students to take it over and bring it to a successful conclusion. In 1963, when Chuck McDew stepped down as SNCC chairman, one of the founding members of SNCC, was elected to take over.
Lewis's experience at that point was widely respected. His courage and his tenacious adherence to the philosophy of reconciliation and nonviolence made him emerge as a leader. By this time, he had been arrested 24 times in the nonviolent struggle for equal justice, he held the post of chairman until 1966. In 1963, as chairman of SNCC Lewis was named one of the "Big Six" leaders who were organizing the March on Washington, the occasion of Dr
Macon, Georgia
Macon Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county located in the state of Georgia, United States. Macon lies near the geographic center of the state 85 miles south of Atlanta, hence the city's nickname "The Heart of Georgia." Located near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, Macon is the county seat of Bibb County and had a 2017 estimated population of 152,663. Macon is the principal city of the Macon metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 228,914 in 2017. Macon is the largest city in the Macon–Warner Robins Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area with an estimated 420,693 residents in 2017. In a 2012 referendum, voters approved the consolidation of Macon and Bibb County, Macon became Georgia's fourth-largest city; the two governments merged on January 1, 2014. Macon is served by three interstate highways: I-16, I-75, I-475; the city has several institutions of higher education, as well as numerous museums and tourism sites. The area is served by the Herbert Smart Downtown Airport.
The mayor of Macon is Robert Reichert, a former Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Reichert was elected mayor of the newly consolidated city of Macon–Bibb, he took office on January 1, 2014. Macon was founded on the site of the Ocmulgee Old Fields, where the Creek Indians lived in the 18th century, their predecessors, the Mississippian culture, built a powerful chiefdom based on the practice of agriculture. The Mississippian culture constructed earthwork mounds for ceremonial and religious purposes; the areas along the rivers in the Southeast had been inhabited by indigenous peoples for 13,000 years before Europeans arrived. Macon developed at the site of Fort Benjamin Hawkins, built in 1809 at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River to protect the community and to establish a trading post with Native Americans; the fort was named in honor of Benjamin Hawkins, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southeast territory south of the Ohio River for over 20 years. He was married to a Creek woman.
This was the most inland point of navigation on the river from the Low Country. President Thomas Jefferson forced the Creek to cede their lands east of the Ocmulgee River and ordered the fort built. Fort Hawkins guarded the Lower Creek Pathway, an extensive and well-traveled American Indian network improved by the United States as the Federal Road from Washington, D. C. to the ports of Mobile and New Orleans, Louisiana. A gathering point of the Creek and U. S. cultures for trading, it was a center of state militia and federal troops. The fort served as a major military distribution point during the War of 1812 against Great Britain and during the Creek War of 1813. Afterward, the fort was used as a trading post for several years and was garrisoned until 1821, it was decommissioned about 1828 and burned to the ground. A replica of the southeast blockhouse was built in 1938 and still stands today on a hill in east Macon. Part of the fort site is occupied by the Fort Hawkins Grammar School. In the 21st century, archeological excavations have revealed more of the fort's importance, stimulated planning for additional reconstruction of this major historical site.
As many Europeans had begun to move into the area, they renamed Fort Hawkins "Newtown." After the organization of Bibb County in 1822, the city was chartered as the county seat in 1823 and named Macon. This was in honor of the North Carolina statesman Nathaniel Macon, because many of the early residents of Georgia hailed from North Carolina; the city planners envisioned "a city within a park" and created a city of spacious streets and parks. They designated 250 acres for Central City Park, passed ordinances requiring residents to plant shade trees in their front yards; the city thrived due to its location on the Ocmulgee River. Cotton became the mainstay of Macon's early economy, based on the enslaved labor of African Americans. Macon was in the Black Belt of Georgia. Cotton steamboats, stage coaches, in 1843, a railroad increased marketing opportunities and contributed to the economic prosperity to Macon. In 1836, the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church founded Wesleyan College in Macon.
Wesleyan was the first college in the United States chartered to grant degrees to women. In 1855, a referendum was held to determine a capital city for Georgia. Macon came in last with 3,802 votes. During the American Civil War, Macon served as the official arsenal of the Confederacy. Camp Oglethorpe, in Macon, enlisted men, it held officers only, up to 2,300 at one time. The camp was evacuated in 1864. Macon City Hall, which served as the temporary state capitol in 1864, was converted to a hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers; the Union General William Tecumseh Sherman spared Macon on his march to the sea. His troops had sacked the nearby state capital of Milledgeville, Maconites prepared for an attack. Sherman, passed by without entering Macon; the Macon Telegraph wrote that, of the 23 companies which the city had furnished the Confederacy, only enough men survived and were fit for duty to fill five companies by the end of the war. The human toll was high; the city was taken by Union forces during
Lucy McBath
Lucia Kay McBath is an American gun control advocate and member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia's 6th congressional district. The district, once represented by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, includes many of Atlanta's affluent northern suburbs, such as Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Sandy Springs and part of Marietta, her son Jordan Davis was shot and killed in November 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, McBath defeated incumbent Republican Karen Handel in the November 2018 election. McBath was born in Joliet, Illinois, U. S. on June 1, 1960. Her father, Lucien Holman, was a dentist who owned The Black Voice, an African-American newspaper, served as president of the NAACP's Illinois chapter, her mother, worked as a nurse. Lucy has Lori. McBath attended Virginia State University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1982. After college, McBath worked as an intern for Douglas Wilder. In the 1990s, she became a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines, relocated to Atlanta, where Delta is headquartered.
In 2012, McBath's 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed following an argument at a gas station about loud music. Following his death, she joined Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America as a national spokeswoman, she attended a speech on gun violence at the White House given by President Barack Obama, supported the My Brother's Keeper Challenge. She appeared in 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, that explored the shooting. Joining the Mothers of the Movement, McBath traveled around the United States to campaign for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, spoke on her behalf at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she continued her advocacy by helping defeat legislation in the Florida Legislature that would expand campus carry and created a foundation, Champion In The Making Legacy, to help high school graduates continue their education and training. While a variety of factors contributed to McBath's decision to run for office, she credits a breakfast meeting with State Representative Renitta Shannon, who urged her to run, with convincing her.
After planning to run for the Georgia House of Representatives against incumbent Republican Sam Teasley in the 2018 elections, she decided after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting to instead challenge Karen Handel, the incumbent Republican in the United States House of Representatives representing Georgia's 6th congressional district. Although the 6th has tilted Republican, Handel was thought to be vulnerable. Donald Trump carried the district in 2016, Handel won a hotly contested special election in 2017. In the Democratic Party primary election on May 22, McBath led all challengers with an unofficial count of 36% of the vote, she faced Kevin Abel, the second place finisher, in a runoff election on July 24. She defeated Abel with 53.7 percent of the vote. McBath faced Handel in the general election in November and declared victory with 159,268 votes, surpassing Handel's 156,396 with 100% of precincts reporting, she became the first Democrat to represent this district since it moved to Atlanta's northern suburbs in 1993.
Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment and Pensions Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust and Administrative Law Subcommittee on Crime and Homeland Security Congressional Black Caucus New Democrat Coalition McBath supports the Affordable Care Act. She would like to expand Medicaid in Georgia and would lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 55, she supports Planned Parenthood and has said she supports funding programs that give women autonomy over their reproductive decisions. McBath is critical of some of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, but she would like to make the temporary middle-class tax cuts permanent. McBath decided to run for Congress because she believed the government was not doing enough to prevent gun violence, she advocates for universal background checks before purchasing a firearm, would like to create "red flag" laws to keep guns out of the hands of people who are at risk of becoming violent. McBath lives in Georgia.
She has survived two bouts of breast cancer. She is married to Curtis McBath. In addition to her son Jordan, murdered in 2012, she had a son who died in 1993. List of African-American United States Representatives McBath, Lucy. ""A New Path Forward Has Opened": How My Son's Murder Inspired Me To Run For Congress". Vanity Fair. U. S. House website Lucy McBath for CongressBiography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Profile at Vote Smart Financial information at the Federal Election Commission Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress Lucy McBath on Twitter Appearances on C-SPAN
Lithonia, Georgia
Lithonia is a city in eastern DeKalb County, United States. The city's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census. Lithonia is in the Atlanta metropolitan area. "Lithonia" means "city/town of stone". Lithonia is in the heart of the Georgian granite-quarrying and viewing region, hence the name of the town, from the Greek λίθος lithos, for stone; the huge nearby granite dome, Stone Mountain, is composed of a rock called Lithonia gneiss, a form of granite. The area has a history of rock quarries; the mines were served by Atlanta, Stone Mountain & Lithonia Railway. Some of the rock quarries have been converted to parkland and the rail lines to rail-trail. Lithonia is one of the gateways to the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, contained inside Stonecrest, GA. Lithonia is located in southeastern DeKalb County at 33°42′46″N 84°6′21″W. Interstate 20 passes just south of the community, with access from Exits 74 and 75. Lithonia is 18 miles east of the center of Atlanta; some areas in extreme southern Gwinnett County use a Lithonia postal address near the county line.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.89 square miles, all land. In 1805, Lithonia began as a small crossroads settlement of farmers; the town grew with the coming of the Atlanta Augusta Railroad in 1845, which allowed the granite quarrying industry in the area to flourish. Lithonia is the birthplace of the Lithonia Lighting company, one of North America's largest manufacturers of commercial, institutional and residential light fixtures, founded in the city in 1946 but moved to nearby Conyers in the 1950s. New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a megachurch, known for many high-profile funerals, is located in Stonecrest, GA, near Lithonia; the Lithonia Historic District consists of a commercial core surrounded by residential areas, with a period of significance spanning from 1845 to 1964. Stylistic influences in the district include Second Empire, Queen Anne, Folk Victorian, Neoclassical Revival, English Vernacular Revival and Colonial Revival; the district is bisected by the Georgia/CSX Railroad, which runs perpendicular to the historic commercial core's primary thoroughfare, Main Street.
The commercial area extends south from the intersection of Main Street and the railroad, covering a two-block area. The commercial buildings are brick and local granite masonry, with little decorative detailing. Commercial styles include single retail, multiple retail, retail and office types. Within the historic district, there is some non-historic infill construction such as the 1968 Lithonia Plaza shopping center; the residential areas consist architecture typical of late 19th- to mid 20th-century types and styles. Residential neighborhoods feature locally quarried granite and gneiss. House types and styles include the central hall Georgian cottage, gabled-wing cottage, Queen Anne cottage, New South cottage, pyramid cottage, Ranch house, I-House and Queen Anne house. Landmark properties include the Masonic Lodge, The Lithonia Women's Club, the Lithonia First United Methodist Church, Antioch Baptist Church, Lithonia Presbyterian Church, The Union Missionary Church, the Bruce Street equalization school, The Seminary.
Contributing sites in the district include two cemeteries, two parks, the former Georgia Railroad Quarry, the ruins of the Bruce Street School for African-Americans. The district is significant under National Register criterion A and C, with areas of significance in Architecture and European Ethnic Heritage, Community Planning and Development and Transportation. Lithonia's city population was 19,024 at the 2010 census, over 799 households, 560 families residing in the city; the population density is about 19,024 inhabitants per square mile. There were 892 housing units at an average density of 1,129.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 84.3% Black, 8.5% White, 0.05% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 1.42% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.8% of the population. There were 799 households out of which 40.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.3% were married couples living together, 22.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.9% were non-families.
15.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.25. In the city, the population was spread out with 34.4% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 76.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over there were 63.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $53,397, the median income for a family was $54,792. Males had a median income of $29,500 versus $24,788 for females; the per capita income for the city was $10,605. About 12.6% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.8% of those under the age of 18 and 25.7% of those 65 and older. The unincorporated communities located outside the city limits make up 75% of the population estimated at over 15,000 inhabitants. Neighborhoods are broken into two ZIP codes: 30058 which includes the City proper, communities directly outside the city limit, 30038 located south of Interstate 20 which includes some of the most affluent neighborhoods in DeKalb County.
Lithonia is near to a super-regional shopping center, the Mall at Stonecrest (also known as
Georgia's 3rd congressional district
Georgia's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of Georgia. The district is represented by Republican Drew Ferguson; the district's boundaries have been redrawn following the 2010 census, which granted an additional congressional seat to Georgia. The first election using the new district boundaries were the 2012 congressional elections; the district is based in west-central Georgia. It includes most of the southern suburbs of Atlanta--where most of its population is located--as well as the wealthier portions of Columbus and its northern suburbs; the district is located close to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a number of airport and airline employees live there. Carroll County Coweta County Fayette County Harris County Heard County Henry County Lamar County Meriwether County Muscogee County Pike County Spalding County Troup County Upson County As of January 2019, there are two former members of the House the district; the most recent representative and most serving representative to die was Jack Brinkley on January 23, 2019.
Georgia's congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Martis, Kenneth C.. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present PDF map of Georgia's 3rd district at nationalatlas.gov Georgia's 3rd district at GovTrack.us
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party; the Democrats' dominant worldview was once social conservatism and economic liberalism, while populism was its leading characteristic in the rural South. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate in the Progressive Party, beginning a switch of political platforms between the Democratic and Republican Party over the coming decades, leading to Woodrow Wilson being elected as the first fiscally progressive Democrat. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has promoted a social liberal platform, supporting social justice. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business and Southern conservative-populist anti-business wings.
The New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South. After the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most Southern whites and many Northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level; the once-powerful labor union element became less supportive after the 1970s. White Evangelicals and Southerners became Republican at the state and local level since the 1990s. People living in metropolitan areas, women and gender minorities, college graduates, racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, such as Jewish Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans and African Americans, tend to support the Democratic Party much more than they support the rival Republican Party; the Democratic Party's philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state.
It seeks to provide government regulation in the economy. These interventions, such as the introduction of social programs, support for labor unions, affordable college tuitions, moves toward universal health care and equal opportunity, consumer protection and environmental protection form the core of the party's economic policy. Fifteen Democrats have served as President of the United States; the first was President Andrew Jackson, the seventh president and served from 1829 to 1837. The most recent was President Barack Obama, the 44th president and held office from 2009 to 2017. Following the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats held a majority in the House of Representatives, "trifectas" in 14 states, the mayoralty of numerous major American cities, such as Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Portland and Washington, D. C. Twenty-three state governors were Democrats, the Party was the minority party in the Senate and in most state legislatures; as of March 2019, four of the nine Justices of the Supreme Court had been appointed by Democratic presidents.
Democratic Party officials trace its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other influential opponents of the Federalists in 1792. That party inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party arose in the 1830s with the election of Andrew Jackson. Since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues, they have been more liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy, both parties have changed position several times; the Democratic Party evolved from the Jeffersonian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party organized by Jefferson and Madison in opposition to the Federalist Party of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. The party favored republicanism; the Democratic-Republican Party came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812, the Federalists disappeared and the only national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans.
The era of one-party rule in the United States, known as the Era of Good Feelings, lasted from 1816 until the early 1830s, when the Whig Party became a national political group to rival the Democratic-Republicans. However, the Democratic-Republican Party still had its own internal factions, they split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the modern Democratic Party. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828: Jacksonians believed the people's will had prevailed. Through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president; the Democrats became the nation's first well-organized national party and tight party organization became the hallmark of nineteenth-century American politics. Opposing factions led by Henry Clay helped form the Whig Party; the Democratic Party had a small yet decisive advantage over the Whigs until the 1850s, when the Whigs fell apart over the issue of slavery.
In 1854, angry with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, anti-slavery Dem
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Buddy Carter (R-Pooler)
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Sanford Bishop (D-Albany)
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Drew Ferguson (R-West Point)
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Hank Johnson (D-Lithonia)
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John Lewis (D-Atlanta)
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Lucy McBath (D-Marietta)
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Rob Woodall (R-Lawrenceville)
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Austin Scott (R-Macon)
Doug Collins (R-Gainesville)
Jody Hice (R-Bethlehem)
Barry Loudermilk (R-Woodstock)
Rick Allen (R-Augusta)
David Scott (D-Atlanta)
Tom Graves (R-Rome)
