Politics Never Changes: An Early History of America’s Relentless Polarization

July 6th

By Alex Lingerfelt

(Note: This article was originally intended to be published in July, but was delayed and revised due to certain events; this article was written before Joe Biden dropped out--though this event did not change the main message of this article)

Heading into the 2024 national elections, America seems only ever more polarized with extreme divisions and disagreements among party lines. A return to normalcy was promised by the current administration, but unfortunately that normalcy never came. Now both political parties are rallying behind their respective candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Both sides are willing to do whatever it takes to secure victory, even if that includes using unconventional means. If you ask the average American today whether we’re more united or divided as a country, most Americans will agree on the latter. Investigations such as that done by the Pew Research Center only promote this idea of polarization as the median beliefs of the Republican and Democrat parties have skewed further from the center.

Though this isn’t incorrect, it is also important to remember that America has had staunch political divisions before, during, and after the creation of this country. In the revolution, there were bigger symbols of unity as each colony was united in its fight against Great Britain (albeit with varying levels of sympathy). Then ushered in the creation of the constitution which experienced its challenges through ratification (mainly from states like New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island). Thus began an era of unity…for only a portion of George Washington’s first term. Soon, as you will learn in this article’s primary focus, American polarization began with the formation of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties. Years of nasty fighting ensued, which is largely reminiscent of America’s contemporary political situation. Later came an era of good feelings with James Monroe. An era that would be the last of its kind except for some brief displays of unity. Subsequent eras saw a crisis of federal and state power; a crisis in the debate over slavery which brought the country to civil war; a crisis in election fraud; a brief period of unity; then polarization over civil rights; and polarization into today.

Early Origins of Polarization: Alexander Hamilton vs Thomas Jefferson

Both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson represented opposite sides of America’s political axis. Hamilton wanted to see a strong central government with a strong executive branch, and Jefferson wanted strong state governments with a national government that was mostly represented by Congress. Hamilton liked the U.S. Senate, Jefferson liked the U.S. House. Hamilton wanted America to industrialize, and Jefferson preferred agrarianism. The list of issues and disagreements goes on and on. Another dividing line between Hamilton and Jefferson is the political parties each individual founded. Hamilton founded America’s first political party: the Federalist Party. Jefferson founded the Democratic-Republican Party. Each party rallied behind their respective founders and soon got into heated debates…and boy did these parties debate.

A majority of the events recounted in this section of the article come from the biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernov. Probably the least shocking news to come out of this political feud was that each party owned their separate newspapers that relentlessly attacked each other. The Federalists ran the newspaper called The Gazette of the United States. This newspaper offered opinionated views for the Federalist Party. The creation of this newspaper later inspired the formation of an opinionated Democratic-Republican counterpart: The National Gazette. Perhaps the most obvious comparison to present-day America can be made here: different news sources with different biases that are targeted to a specific political group of people. Each paper tried to discredit the other and constantly put the other on blast, much like how conservative and liberal news outlets constantly poke fun at each other. Therefore, the origins of media bias and rivalry can be traced back to some of the earliest years in our country.

But others may argue that political attacks used to be a lot less personal, that though political figures back then used to be brutal in debating viewpoints, figures were ultimately more civil when addressing each other. That may be the case in some eras of American history, but not during the years shortly after our founding. Hamilton and Jefferson got into so many heated frustrated debates, that the two unsurprisingly developed much animosity for the other. At one point during his political career, Alexander had to take a break from work due to contracting yellow fever. This was part of a larger epidemic in Philadelphia–the United States’ capital at the time–that largely put a pause on the government within the city. Alexander Hamilton was only one of many government workers to contract the sickness. So! How did Thomas Jefferson handle the affair? Surely Jefferson–a man known in America for wisdom and politeness–handled the situation just like Joe Biden after Donald Trump announced that he’s contacted COVID-19: by stating “Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family."

Nope. Thomas Jefferson instead doubted Hamilton ever had the sickness…which is even less courteous than politicians in current America. But if this was the case, maybe you’re thinking that each party thinking the other is a threat to the well-being of our country and a threat to our current government is something specific to current contemporary America. Well…and the time of the Civil War, but surely two opposing sides weren’t claiming that the other posed a threat to the nation’s well-being. Well, it turns out the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were claiming just that right after the birth of our country. Democratic-Republicans claimed that the Federalists were an aristocratic elite wanting to reimpose the British Monarchy on America. Despite how bizarre this claim was, the Federalists made equally quixotic accusations: believing the Democratic-Republicans wanted to bring a quasi-French Revolution to America. Mind you, the very revolution that saw the tyranny of the legislative branch, the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands, and the public executions of tens of thousands. Even extreme by today’s political standards.

Lastly, America experienced another overlooked political event that will hopefully never come to the modern political scene. One day, Hamilton was on a platform of a Dutch building across from New York’s City Hall. When giving a defense to the Jay Treaty–a treaty America made with Great Britain–Hamilton was met with a protesting mob. At one point this mob got so volatile that the mob began hurling stones at Hamilton until a stone hit him in the forehead. This is the definition of assault. When Jefferson heard about the event, he was ecstatic and told the author of the Bill of Rights “The [crowd] appealed to stones and clubs and beat him and his party off the ground.” Though America has not yet repeated an action like this in modern times, let’s hope excessive polarization does not bring a repeat of the polarized political scene of our founding.

Additional Examples of America’s Constant Polarization

But it’s not like the American political scene was heavily polarized during only the Federalist and Contemporary Eras. True, some decades after the Federalist Era the Democratic-Republicans won major victories and ushered in the non-partisan “Era of Good Feelings” under James Monroe. But soon came Andrew Jackson who represented the populace, while Jackson’s opponents represented the elite. Furthermore, at one point under Jackson, the country experienced the Nullification Crisis which saw South Carolina go against the orders of a federal tariff law, and Andrew Jackson subsequently threatened to send in the Navy to end the conflict. During James K. Polk, the Mexican-American War–despite being a success–was a hotly contested issue among different regions of the United States. Soon after, the issue over slavery heated up until states seceded and the United States went to war on itself. During the Reconstruction Era, there was much debate on how to handle the Southern States. The Gilded Age saw debates over tariffs, the Roaring Twenties saw the rebellion against government laws (like prohibition) and the rise of organized crime, and World War II saw some sense of unity. But after FDR the presidency constantly ebbed and flowed between the control of Democrats and Republicans. Civil Rights soon became a major issue, and the longest filibuster in history (24 hours) occurred due to this debate. The ’60s saw Vietnam and Watergate. And then came the Contemporary Era of American politics which has only seen polarization ramping up.

Why we feel polarized

So far the premise of this article is how America has always been polarized due to always having nasty political events in its history. But if this is the case, why do we constantly feel like America is getting more polarized if politics in America has always been dirty (as this article claims)? Here's one answer to this: the media. Whether that be left-wing or right-wing, the media oftentimes is filled with a bunch of apathetic reporters who’d do anything for clicks and views…ANYTHING. Whether that be making false statements, scapegoating half the country, or insight violence, whatever gets the most clicks, the media will prioritize. These con artists--(not all in the media, but still a concerning amount of people)--of modern America have only exploded into popularity as anyone can be considered a journalist, anyone with access to the internet and a few applications can become a reporter without listing their sources. Even I, a 16-year-old can run a local media organization and spew forth whatever I want. But don’t worry, the Discipulus for this article has used a few sources, the most influential of which has been Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Therefore, you can trust this article. Furthermore, the Discipulus has no interest in dividing communities. There is an obvious moral flaw in wanting to divide people within a community–whether national or local–and yet a lot in the media still do this. Why? For clicks, for money, for anything that will make these organizations more powerful. Again, The Discipulus does not write articles for clicks, our mission is to train and inform others, not to spread propaganda or make money. It is sad that these con artists on both sides who spread hate and divide us get so much attention…and even despite the obvious pain and suffering spreading hate causes, these con artists will continue to spread hate. These con artists dilute the field and replace those brave individuals who genuinely want to report news and better the community as a whole. But with Deepfakes and AI becoming ever more powerful and accessible, and certain individuals constantly pressuring others to take steps to divide the community further–again, local, national, left, right, government, corporation–our perception of polarization will only ever increase, and sometimes perception is stronger than the reality (example: Stock Market). Though the nastiness of politics has been with us forever…more and more, nastiness can sell…which only makes everything so much worse. If things continue, without proper regulation that more thoroughly draws the line between free speech and hate speech, the potential of depolarization will be part of the thoughts of a bygone era...if it isn't already.

Conclusion:

Politics…politics never changes. And it is forlorn to expect politicians to suddenly civilize. But if politics never changes, it is up to those few leaders to rise above partisanship, to rise above polarization, and to usher in a new era of good hope.

Citations:

Chicago: Lingerfelt, Alex J. 2024. “Politics Never Changes: An Early History of America’s Relentless Polarization.” The Discipulus. https://feltgrad.wixsite.com/the-frumentarius/post/politics-never-changes-an-early-history-of-america-s-relentless-polarization.

MLA: Lingerfelt, Alex J. “Politics Never Changes: An Early History of America’s Relentless Polarization.” The Discipulus, 19th August 2024, https://feltgrad.wixsite.com/the-frumentarius/post/politics-never-changes-an-early-history-of-america-s-relentless-polarization.

APA: Lingerfelt, A. J. (2024, August 19th). Politics Never Changes: An Early History of America’s Relentless Polarization. The Discipulus. https://feltgrad.wixsite.com/the-frumentarius/post/politics-never-changes-an-early-history-of-america-s-relentless-polarization