WEBVTT - Way Black History Fact - When Black People Switched to Democrats

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<v Speaker 1>Right now, It's time for the way Black History Fact.

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<v Speaker 1>In Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major Threads.

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<v Speaker 1>For innovative, fashionable sportswear, check Major threads dot com. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna try to get through as quickly. When did black

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<v Speaker 1>people become Democrat leaning? This is from students of history

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. The Democrat, Democratic, and Republican parties have not

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<v Speaker 1>always had the same ideals that they have today. In fact,

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<v Speaker 1>America has. America's two dominant political parties have essentially flipped

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<v Speaker 1>ideologies in the time since they were founded. The Democratic

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<v Speaker 1>Party was founded in eighteen twenty eight, while the Republican

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<v Speaker 1>Party dates back to eighteen fifty four. In its early years,

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<v Speaker 1>the Republican Party was considered quite liberal, while Democrats were

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<v Speaker 1>known for staunch conservatism. This is the exact opposite of

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<v Speaker 1>how each party would be described today. This change did

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<v Speaker 1>not happen overnight, however. It instead was a slow set

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<v Speaker 1>of changes in policies that caused the Great Switch. At

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<v Speaker 1>the outbreak of the Civil War, Republicans controlled the majority

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<v Speaker 1>of northern states. The party sought to expand the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>encourage settlement of the West, and help to fund the

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<v Speaker 1>Transcontinental railroad and state universities. Additionally, because the growing tension

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<v Speaker 1>over slavery, many Republicans became abolitionists who argued against slavery.

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<v Speaker 1>Democrats represented a range of views but a shared commitment

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<v Speaker 1>to Thomas Jefferson's concept of an agrarian society. They viewed

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<v Speaker 1>the central government as the enemy of individual liberty. Because

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<v Speaker 1>most Democrats were in Southern states, they fought to keep

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<v Speaker 1>slavery legal. As the Civil War came to a close,

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<v Speaker 1>the Republican Party controlled the government and used its power

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<v Speaker 1>to protect formally enslaved people and guaranteed them civil rights.

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<v Speaker 1>This included the three Reconstruction Amendments, which won Republicans the

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<v Speaker 1>loyalty and vote of America's black population. Unsurprisingly, most Democrats

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<v Speaker 1>disapproved of these measures. However, a change had begun in

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<v Speaker 1>the Republican Party following the Civil War. Northern industrialists had

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<v Speaker 1>grown rich from war, and many entered politics afterwards. These

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<v Speaker 1>new wealthy politicians did not see much sense in supporting

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<v Speaker 1>the rights of black Americans when the nation was still

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<v Speaker 1>largely white. By the eighteen seventies. Many in the Republican

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<v Speaker 1>Party felt that they had done enough for black citizens

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<v Speaker 1>and stopped all efforts to reform in the Southern States.

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<v Speaker 1>The South was left to the white Democrats and their

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<v Speaker 1>oppressive policies toward black citizens after the Compromise of eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy seven ended reconstruction. With the end of reconstruction, the

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<v Speaker 1>solid South voted for Democratic presidential candidates for the next

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<v Speaker 1>forty four years. Almost sixty years later, the Great Depression

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<v Speaker 1>became a catalyst for a massive political shakeup. The Republican

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<v Speaker 1>Party had continued to be dominated by wealthy businessmen, which

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<v Speaker 1>meant that they had come to favor lassez faire policies

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<v Speaker 1>that supported big business. These policies were effective when the

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<v Speaker 1>economy was booming, but were disastrous when it wasn't. When

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<v Speaker 1>the economy crashed in nineteen twenty nine, that's the stock

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<v Speaker 1>market crash, the Great Depression, the Republican President Herbert Hoover

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<v Speaker 1>opted not to intervene, earning him and his party the

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<v Speaker 1>ire of the American public. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat,

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<v Speaker 1>sensed the need for change. He campaigned on a promise

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<v Speaker 1>of government intervention, financial assistance, and concern for the welfare

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<v Speaker 1>of the people. He won the nineteen thirty two election

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<v Speaker 1>by landslide. It was FDR's campaign policies that caused a

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<v Speaker 1>major shift in party ideologies. Republicans opposed everything about FDR's government. Primarily,

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<v Speaker 1>they saw the growth of large government as harmful to

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<v Speaker 1>the federal as foundation of the nation. This, too, has

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<v Speaker 1>come to define the ideals of the Republican party. Race

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<v Speaker 1>inequality began to return to the center of politics in

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. Race did not necessarily

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<v Speaker 1>fall into a party viewpoint at this point. Instead, it

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<v Speaker 1>was more of a regional issue. Southern Democrats and Republicans

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<v Speaker 1>both opposed the early Civil Rights movement, while Northern Democrats

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<v Speaker 1>and Republicans began to support the legislation as the movement

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<v Speaker 1>picked up steam. In nineteen sixty four, Democratic President Lyndon B.

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. In the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty four election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater publicly opposed

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<v Speaker 1>the new law, arguing that it expanded the power of

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<v Speaker 1>the federal government too dangerous levels. And this is sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the background of how the party switched. So when

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<v Speaker 1>people talk about how black people used to be Republican,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a reason for that.