Platforms and party development: Regional diversity, party platforms, and the institutionalization of the two-party system in nineteenth century America

Many theorists have argued that a healthy two-party system demands that each party offer a clear alternate program to the voting public. A key question pertaining to 19th century American political development is whether such a two-party system existed. Throughout the 19th century, the parties attempted to mediate local, state, and national conflicts in order to forge a winning electoral coalition. The question here is how parties articulated their electoral appeals to their various constituencies. Did party leaders offer clear divergent policy positions to their voters? Did the parties become more or less polarized over time? When were the parties less divergent? On what issues were the parties more polarized or internally divided?;This dissertation attempts to answer these questions by examining the growth of the two-party system in the 19th century United States. The study primarily focuses on the interaction of the elites of the Democrats and Whig/Republicans in forging their message to the electorate. The methodology includes a content analysis of national and state party platforms during presidential election years 1840 through 1896 to show when and where parties emphasized certain issue proposals in their platforms.;This analysis suggests that over time, the two major parties increasingly tended to emphasize the same issues and offer divergent positions in their platforms. Concurrently, the parties are generally internally cohesive in that the national and state organizations of each party emphasize the same issues to similar degrees. In addition, party leaders set the political agenda by consistently referencing economic concerns in greater salience and specificity rather than cultural concerns in party platforms. Slavery and cultural concerns only seem to gamer recognition when party leaders cannot possibly ignore them.;Overall, this is a story of party consensus and divergence---cross-party consensus on what matters and divergence on where the parties stand; as well as intra-party convergence on issue salience and position. Ultimately, the dissertation provides further insights into elite strategy and the development of American party system throughout the 19th century; and offers possible avenues of discussion for party polarization and cohesion in contemporary American politics.