History of conservatism in the United States facts for kids
Unlike Canada and the United Kingdom, there has never been a major national political party named the Conservative Party in the United States. The Conservative Party of Virginia, founded in 1867, elected members to the House of Representatives from two other states (Maryland and North Carolina). Since 1962, there has been a small Conservative Party of New York State. During Reconstruction in the late 1860s, the former Whigs formed a Conservative Party in several Southern states, but they soon merged into the state Democratic parties.
No American party has advocated European ideals of conservatism such as a monarchy, an established church, or a hereditary aristocracy. American conservatism is best characterized as opposition to utopian ideas of progress. Historian Patrick Allitt expresses the difference between conservative and liberal in terms not of policy but of attitude.
Tea Party
A relatively new element of conservatism is the Tea Party movement, a movement comprising over 600 local units who communally express dissatisfaction with the government and both major parties. Many units have promoted activism and protests. The stated purpose of the movement is to stop what it views as wasteful government spending, excessive taxation, and strangulation of the economy through regulatory bureaucracies. The Tea Party attracted national attention when it propelled Republican Scott Brown to a victory in the Senate election for the Massachusetts seat held by the Kennedy brothers for nearly 60 years. In 2010, Tea Party candidates upset establishment Republicans in several primaries, such as Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, and Utah, giving a new momentum to the conservative cause in the 2010 elections, and boosting Sarah Palin's visibility. Rasmussen and Schoen (2010) conclude that "She is the symbolic leader of the movement, and more than anyone else has helped to shape it." In the fall 2010 elections, the New York Times identified 129 House candidates with significant Tea Party support, as well as 9 running for the Senate; all are Republicans, as the Tea Party has not been active among Democrats.
Images for kids
-
Daniel Webster, a prominent Whig leader
-
Charles Lindbergh speaking at an America First Committee rally
-
A 1947 booklet published by the Catholic Catechetical Guild Educational Society raising the specter of a Communist takeover
-
Senator Barry Goldwater
-
The Southern United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau
-
Hoover Tower at the Hoover Institution
-
George W. Bush speaks at a campaign rally in 2004
-
Sarah Palin addresses the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota
