Right now, It's time for the way Black History Fact. In Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major Threads. For innovative, fashionable sportswear, check Major threads dot com. I'm gonna try to get through as quickly. When did black people become Democrat leaning? This is from students of history dot com. The Democrat, Democratic, and Republican parties have not always had the same ideals that they have today. In fact,
America has. America's two dominant political parties have essentially flipped ideologies in the time since they were founded. The Democratic Party was founded in eighteen twenty eight, while the Republican Party dates back to eighteen fifty four. In its early years, the Republican Party was considered quite liberal, while Democrats were known for staunch conservatism. This is the exact opposite of how each party would be described today. This change did
not happen overnight, however. It instead was a slow set of changes in policies that caused the Great Switch. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Republicans controlled the majority of northern states. The party sought to expand the United States, encourage settlement of the West, and help to fund the Transcontinental railroad and state universities. Additionally, because the growing tension over slavery, many Republicans became abolitionists who argued against slavery.
Democrats represented a range of views but a shared commitment to Thomas Jefferson's concept of an agrarian society. They viewed the central government as the enemy of individual liberty. Because most Democrats were in Southern states, they fought to keep slavery legal. As the Civil War came to a close, the Republican Party controlled the government and used its power to protect formally enslaved people and guaranteed them civil rights.
This included the three Reconstruction Amendments, which won Republicans the loyalty and vote of America's black population. Unsurprisingly, most Democrats disapproved of these measures. However, a change had begun in the Republican Party following the Civil War. Northern industrialists had grown rich from war, and many entered politics afterwards. These new wealthy politicians did not see much sense in supporting the rights of black Americans when the nation was still
largely white. By the eighteen seventies. Many in the Republican Party felt that they had done enough for black citizens and stopped all efforts to reform in the Southern States. The South was left to the white Democrats and their oppressive policies toward black citizens after the Compromise of eighteen seventy seven ended reconstruction. With the end of reconstruction, the solid South voted for Democratic presidential candidates for the next
forty four years. Almost sixty years later, the Great Depression became a catalyst for a massive political shakeup. The Republican Party had continued to be dominated by wealthy businessmen, which meant that they had come to favor lassez faire policies that supported big business. These policies were effective when the
economy was booming, but were disastrous when it wasn't. When the economy crashed in nineteen twenty nine, that's the stock market crash, the Great Depression, the Republican President Herbert Hoover opted not to intervene, earning him and his party the ire of the American public. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, sensed the need for change. He campaigned on a promise of government intervention, financial assistance, and concern for the welfare
of the people. He won the nineteen thirty two election by landslide. It was FDR's campaign policies that caused a major shift in party ideologies. Republicans opposed everything about FDR's government. Primarily, they saw the growth of large government as harmful to the federal as foundation of the nation. This, too, has come to define the ideals of the Republican party. Race inequality began to return to the center of politics in
the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. Race did not necessarily fall into a party viewpoint at this point. Instead, it was more of a regional issue. Southern Democrats and Republicans both opposed the early Civil Rights movement, while Northern Democrats and Republicans began to support the legislation as the movement picked up steam. In nineteen sixty four, Democratic President Lyndon B.
Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. In the nineteen sixty four election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater publicly opposed the new law, arguing that it expanded the power of the federal government too dangerous levels. And this is sort of the background of how the party switched. So when people talk about how black people used to be Republican, there's a reason for that.