Республиканская и демократическая партии

Демократическая партия США основана в 1828 году — ее считают, преемницей демократическо-республиканской пар­тии, созданной Томасом Джефферсоном. В первой половине XIX века демократическая партия объединяла плантаторов-рабовладельцев Юга и связанную с ними часть буржуазии Севера, а также значительные группы фермеров и мелкой бур­жуазии.

Республиканская партия была образована в 1854 году как партия широкой коалиции промышленно-торговой буржуа­зии северо-восточных штатов и фермеров, рабочих, ремеслен­ников, которых объединяла общая заинтересованность в лик­видации в стране политической власти рабовладельческой оли­гархии Южных штатов. Находясь у власти при президенте Линкольне (1809—1865 гг.), республиканцы широко использовали прогрессивные лозунги, выступая за проведение, аг­рарной реформы и ограничение рабства.

После окончания гражданской войны 1861-1865 годов республиканская партия утратила свой прогрессивный ха­рактер. Различия между демократической и республиканской партиями стали быстро стираться. К началу XX века обе партии превратились в политические организации крупного капитала.

Более ста лет две ведущие американские буржуазные пар­тии периодически сменяют друг друга у руля управлении.

Test 1

Write “T” for true and “F” for false and correct the false sentences:

1._____Article 2 of the US Constitution establishes political parties.

2._____During the time of George Washington, The Federalists supported a strong federal government, but the Democratic-Republicans wanted to limit government power.

3._____Thomas Jefferson was the leader of the Whigs, a third party in opposition to change.

4._____Since 1864, the two major political parties have been the Whigs and Libertarians.

5._____All Democrats are conservatives and all Republicans are liberals.

6._____Voters have elected some third party candidates to local office but never to the Presidency.

7._____Liberal politicians usually support reform, and conservatives candidates oppose it.

8._____Political parties, candidates, and their ideas have changed with the times and the issues.

9._____The symbol of the Republican party is elephant and symbol of Democratic Party is donkey.

10.____The Democratic party, sometimes called G.O.P. (the Grand Old Party), opposed slavery.

Test 2

Complete each sentence with one of the expressions from the list below:

Cast ballots lame duck

Electoral College raise money

Exit polls roll call

In exchange for run for office

In return for running mate

Run a close second dubious final results

1.At the conventions, each state announces how its delegates vote when a(n) ___________is taken.

2. Political candidates __________________. They try to get elected to political jobs.

3. Candidates need to _________, in other words, get people to contribute to their campaign.

4. The______________officially elects the president of the United States.

5._________________are surveys conducted on Election Day to find out how people voted

6. Another way of saying that people vote is to say that they_____________.

7. Two of the expressions listed above have the same meaning. They are ______________and___________.

8. In the last few months of his presidency, Bill Clinton was a(n)__________president because a new president had been elected and he was leaving office.

9. In 1984 a woman ran for vice president. She was the_________of Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate for president.

10. Republican presidential candidate Mike Chickadee on Monday challenged the results of his party’s weekend caucus in Washington state, where he _________________likely Republican nominee John McCain.