Political Party Timeline: An Outstanding Example of Information Reorganization

I figure if I don’t figure out how to make pithier and less ambitious posts, I may never write again. So in the spirit of getting something, anything, out to the world, I better pass along what I’m thinking about and working on, even if it isn’t terribly grandiose.

Today’s focus has to do with some great visualizations of U.S. political parties and their evolution over time. I encountered these timelines this past fall from Michael Berkowitz’s Trinity School American History webpage, and now that I’m about to teach about the history and function of political parties with my AP Government class, I thought they’d be great for that as well.

The timelines come from the University of North Carolina‘s LearnNC website, which seems like a valuable resource I need to explore more thoroughly. In any event, someone really clever there designed these nice timelines that illustrate the emergence, transformation, and evolution of political parties in the United States. I particularly like the way that it demonstrates how third and minor parties become subsumed into the major parties before and after critical elections. For example, the story of the Republican Party’s emergence can often be a pretty muddled one in standard textbook accounts, but I think these timelines do a great job of making that process clear.

Here they are — hope you find them helpful for U.S. History or a government class (or just for pure aesthetic and design enjoyment!).

Parties in the New Nation, courtesy of LearnNC.org

Parties in the Antebellum Era, Courtesy of LearnNC.org

Parties in the Gilded Age, Courtesy of LearnNC.org

Parties in the Early 20th Century, Courtesy of LearnNC.org