One-Party Rule - A Trivia Question

[Mister Mark]

What is the longest period of time that one party has ruled all three branches of the U.S. Government?

(I don't know the answer - I'm hoping someone here does. Thanks!)

[clement]

1. Didn't it start in 1894?

Rove has a favourite presidential election of all time, I think it fell towards the end of the 1800's. Because it was the start of a 30 year or so run of Republican dominance of all three branches of government.

It his dream to recreate another such run of one party dominance over the next 25 years.

[Johnyawl]

2. All THREE branches?

Do you mean the Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives? Technically that's only two branches of the government, the executive and the legislative.

...the republicans:

16 years, 1861 - 1877
16 years, 1896 - 1912
12 years, 1920 - 1932

And the Democrats:

20 years, 1932 - 1952


Technically we've actually only had one party rule since 2002, although in reality, thanks to Bin Laden, we've had one party rule since Sept of '01.

[Mister Mark]

4. oops

Yes, I guess I did mean just 2 branches of government, although it is interesting to consider the Supreme Court when looking at periods of one-party rule.

[happyslug]

3. On the top of my head 12 Periods.

The Federalist Period - 1789-1801.

The first period was when the Federalist dominated all three parts of Government from 1789 till 1801 (the Election of Jefferson). Washington himself avoided parties but for all practical purposes a "Federalist". The Federalist control both the Presidency and Congress till 1801. ALL supreme Court Justices were Federalist till Jefferson Nominated M. Johnson in 1804, and the Majority were Federalist till 1811 when Justice Story provided the Fourth Democratic Justice (the Supreme Court only had Seven Justices at that time). Thus it is only from 1811 did the Democrats control all three Branches of Government.

The First Democratic Period, Madison to Harrison, 1811-1841 .

The Democrats controlled the Congress and the Presidency from 1801 till the election of 1840 but only Controlled the Supreme Court starting in 1811. This began the "Period of Good Feelings" (Which started after the end of the war of 1812 in 1815). This period did not last long for it was between the death of the Federalist party in 1816 and the reaction of Jackson's election in 1828. As I said this did not last long, Jackson and his Democratic Movement shook up the Country and the business community reacted harshly to it and form the Whig Party in opposition to the Democrats.

Given this turmoil Chief Justice Marshall was able to control the Court till till his death in 1836. Justice Story was disappointed when Jackson made Taney Chief Justice instead of himself but the Supreme Court would be all Democratic till the Civil War (As would be the Presidency except for the single terms of Harrison/Tyler, 1840-1844, and Taylor/Fillmore, 1848-1852, both President died in office succeeded by their VPs).

Now during this period you did not have the "Rigid" party structures you have today. For example Van Buren, had been Jackson's VP, President himself 1836-1840 and than perpetual candidate for PResident for various minor parties till his death. President Tyler who succeeded Harrison on his death had been more an Anti-Jackson Democrat than a "Whig" and rejoined the Democrats on the invitation of Jackson in 1844 (Permitting Polk to win the Presidency). Thus while the Democrats control the Supreme Court at this time it is not the same control that followed after the Civil War. The Democrats controlled all three branches from 1811 till 1841 (Election of Harrison),and again from 1849 to 1853 (Election of Taylor) and again 1853-1859 (When the Democrats lost control of the House).

The Republican gain Control 1864-1940
Except for one Justice, all of the Supreme Court Justice selected from 1801-1861 had been Democrats (The Whigs had appointed one member but his seat became vacant after Lincoln's Election in 1861). In 1862 Lincoln appointed three Justices (Including one new seat on the Court). Lincoln Appointed a Tenth Justice (a new seat) in 1863. In 1864 Lincoln Appointed S.P. Chase to replace Taney as Supreme Court Justice (Thus Lincoln appointed five of the ten Seating Supreme Court Justices, more than any other President except for Washington and Franklin Roosevelt). Lincoln made the Supreme Court GOP dominated for the first time. Thus in a period of less than four years you went from an almost exclusive Democratic Club to a Republican dominated Court (And became more so as the remaining Democratic Justice slowly died and the GOP controlled Congress forbade President Andrew Johnson from appointing any replacements, which included eliminating two of the seats created during the Civil War).

From 1860 till 1885 No Democrats were elected President so all of the Supreme Court justices nominated over that period were Republicans. The Democrats never had more than two members on the Court till Wilson's Term and than only a Majority on the Court starting in 1939 or 1940 (The Difference is McReynolds, Technically nominated by Wilson but a very Conservative Justice thus a technical Democrat, if you count him as a Democrat the Democrats gain the Majority in 1939, if not at his death in 1940).

Thus the Supreme Court was GOP controlled 1864-1940. You had Democratic Presidents from 1885-1889 (Cleveland), 1893-1897 (Cleveland's Second Term), 1912-1921 (Wilson's Term) and 1933-1953 (Roosevelt's/Truman's Presidency).

The Condition of the House and Senate is more complex as interim elections became more and more important. (See http://www.american.edu/bgriff/Hist296F99/HouseSenateDivisions.htm) for who controlled congress 1855-present. The GOP Controlled both Houses of Congress till 1875 (When the Democrats won the House) and did not regain the House till 1881 (When the Senate became even so complete control did not exist). This lasted till 1883 when the GOP won the Senate but lost the House (by one member). In 1885 the GOP won both Senate but lost the House. It is only in 1889 that the GOP regain the House the Senate and the Presidency but lost the House in 1891.

Thus the GOP Controlled all three branches of Government from 1864-1875 (ended with the Election of a Democratic House), 1881-1883 you had a split Senate (but the GOP controlled the VP and the House). 1889-1891 (When the Democrats took back the House). 1897 (when McKinley won the Presidency and a GOP House and Senate) till 1911 when the GOP lost the House to the Democrats. In 1921 The Presidency and the both Houses of Congress again fell into GOP hands and stayed that way till 1931 (When do to the deaths of some GOP congressmen, the Democrats who were still the minority organized the house).

Roosevelt revolution on the Court

After 76 years of GOP control the Supreme Court was the only GOP control part of Government after the Election of FDR's in 1932. Like Lincoln's election in 1861 this lead to a change in the members of the Court. This took time thus the Democrats could NOT control all three branches of Government till their control the Supreme Court and that did not occur till 1940.

Thus it is not till 1940 that the Democrats controlled all three branches of Government for the first time since 1861. The Democrats lost Congress in 1947 (but gained it back in 1949). The GOP won the the Presidency, Senate and House in 1953 (Through the Court would stay democratic till 1958 when President Eisenhower appointed his fifth nomination to the Court). From 1955 till 1995 the House would be Democratic. The Senate would be democratic till Reagan's election in 1981.

Thus the Democrats controlled all three Branches of Government from 1940-1947, 1949-1953, 1962 till 1970 (When Blackmun joined fellow Republican Nominated Justices, Burgar, Brennan, Stewart, and Harlan). Carter made no nomination to the Court and Clinton made two, thus by 1970 the GOP again controlled the Supreme Court for the first time since 1940 and it has stayed GOP controlled to this day.

Nixon, Reagan, Bush and the Neo-Cons.

Starting with Nixon the GOP started to pack the COurt with conservatives. Nixon had to get his nominees through a Democratic Senate, Reagan had a GOP Senate thus Reagan's Nominees were more to the Right than Nixon (And Bush looked for any way to split the Democratic Coalition for example his nomination of Thomas as a Conservative Black Justice). THe GOP's biggest problem was that the people kept on Voting Democratic for house members thus complete control of the Government was NOT possible till the GOP took over the House in 1995 (and than had to deal with the fact the President was a Democrat till 2001). Now the GOP did lost control of the Senate in 2001 (do to at first a even split and than the defection from the GOP of a Senator) but gained complete control in 2002.

The Democratic Senators under Eisenhower and Nixon had forced both Eisenhower and Nixon to appoint liberal Republicans (Brennan, Blackmun and Powell) so until those three left the Court was more Neutral than Democratic or Republican. Thus complete control of the Government was also not possible till these three GOP justices were gone.

In brief, time period when one party controlled all three branches of Government:

1789-1801 Federalist (and we ended up with the Alien and Sedition Acts).

1811-1841 Democratic (ended in the Panic of 1837 which lead to the Whigs winning in 1840)

1845-1849 Democratic

1853-1859 Democratic (ended in Civil War)

1864-1875 Republican (And we ended up with the Panic of 1873).

1889-1891 Republican (and we ended up with the Depression of the 1890s).

1897-1911 Republican (If they was any time period that the US would have had a Social Revolution this was the time period).

1921-1931 Republican (Ended with the Great Depression)

1940-1947 Democratic

1949-1953 Democratic

1962-1970 Democratic

2001- Present Republican

Thus the GOP has controlled all three branches for 27 years since the Civil war. The Democrats have controlled the Government 57 years since the Birth of the Republic (But only 19 years since the Civil War). The Federalist controlled the Government for 12 years (except for 3 months and 4 days all in the 18th Century). The real key is control since the Civil War for that is when the present party system firmed up. Prior to the Civil War you had a lot more people switching parties, making new parties etc. Since the Civil War you have had two, they have flip on many issues (For Example the Post Civil War Democrats controlled the South, which is now GOP controlled) but the emphasis of both parties have NOT changed. The Democratic Party tend to want to represent the Common man, while the GOP tend to cater to the "better classes".

[Mister Mark]

5. Wow!

Happyslug, did you just write all of that yourself?! If so, I'm impressed!

Thanks for the great information. I need to print this out!

[happyslug]

6. Yes I did (I have also edited it to correct some of my mistakes).

Basically I started out with a list of Presidents, than list of Supreme Court Nominees. With those two list you can see who was a Republican and who was a Democratic appointment to the Court.

The easiest branch of Government you can find is the President, next is the Supreme Court (Both are short list compared to Congressional Elections). Once I found the list of Congressional elections the rest was easy. Took me about four hours but the question peaked by curiosity so I did the Research. The net is good for finding the answer to this type of Question.