The Democratic Party Explained in 3 Minutes | How It Started & Changed Over Time #aslongaswetracking

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Did you know that the Democratic Party is actually older than the Republican party by decades?

[00:00:07]And believe it or not, the Democratic Party you see today is very different from the one in the 1800s. And I'm going to show you how. Cuz we're going to go back to 1828 where the Democratic Party was started around Andrew Jackson. See, at the time, Democrats were seen as the party of the common man, meaning farmers, workers, and everyday citizens instead of wealthy elites. This is also the party that was dominant in the southern states during slavery. Now, as we get into the Civil War era from 1861 to 1865, many southern Democrats supported slavery and states rights. Meanwhile, Republicans under Lincoln were against slavery spreading. So, the political map back then looks very different than the one today. So, now we're going to move on to Franklin D. Roosevelt comes into presidency and changes the Democratic Party massively during the Great Depression. The government started creating more social programs to provide government help for people during the economy. And this is where Democrats became more involved and connected with social programs and bigger government involvement in the economy. All those reforms to social programs, social work, and things of the sort was called the New Deal between 1933 and 1939.

[00:01:32]Now, here is where we're going to see a huge voter shift because Democrats under presidents like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson began to push major civil rights legislation. And see, after that, many black voters strongly supported Democrats, while southern white conservatives began to move to the Republican side slowly over time. And this is the political shift that shaped modern American politics. And this is just something extra I want to throw in here. When it came to voting for the Civil Rights Act, the Democratic Party voted 152 yes to 96 nos. The Republican party voted 138 yeses to 34 nos. All right. Again, every Democrat is different. And I'm not speaking about the far left when I say this. Today's Democratic party generally focus on large social safety nets, healthc care programs, labor rights, climate policies, government regulation, and progressive social policies. And that's how the Democratic Party evolved from where it started.