民主党(Democratic Party)

美国两大政党之一。历史上是代表劳工、少数民族和进步改革者的政党。1790年代由一群杰佛逊（Thomas Jefferson）的支持者创建，他们自称自己是「民主共和党人」（Democratic Republicans）或「杰佛逊共和党人」（Jeffersonian Republicans），以表示他们以建立平民政府为原则，反对君主政权。1830年代，杰克森担任总统时，才采用今名。1836～1860年间，民主党几乎赢得每届的总统大选，但因奴隶制的争议而分裂：北方民主党人（Northern Democrats）由道格拉斯（Stephen A. Douglas）领导，主张人民主权论（popular sovereignty），在此主义下各地居民可投票禁止奴隶制度；南方民主党人（Southern Democrats）则坚持保护各地的奴隶制度。结果新成立的反奴隶制的共和党在林肯（Abraham Lincoln）领导下，於1860年赢得首次全国性胜利。1860～1913年间，民主党只有克利夫兰（Grover Cleveland）当选总统；在这段时期，民主党基本上是保守和以农业为主的，党员大都反对保护关税。1912年民主党因威尔逊当选总统而重新执政，他透过国会立法，使联邦政府对银行和工业界有更广泛的调节权力。但他的理想经证明其对大众的吸引力不如共和党对1920年代繁荣的大商业的率直建议。1932年罗斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）当选，民主党又重新当政。民主党後来联合城市工人、小农、自由分子和其他人，使其一直当政到1952年。1960年甘乃迪（Joseph P. Kennedy）当选总统又重新取得政权。1970年代和1980年代民主党仍是掌握国会的多数派。1992年民主党柯林顿（William J. Clinton）当选总统，并在1996年再度连任。

English version：

Democratic Party

One of the two major political parties in the U.S., historically the party of labor, minorities, and progressive reformers. In the 1790s a group of Thomas Jefferson's supporters called themselves “Democratic Republicans” or “Jeffersonian Republicans” to show their belief in the principle of popular government and their opposition to monarchical government. The party adopted its present name in the 1830s during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Democrats won nearly every presidential election in the years 1836-60, but the issue of slavery split the party, the Northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas, advocating popular sovereignty in the new territories, while the Southern Democrats called for protection of slavery in the territories. As a result, in 1860 the new antislavery Republican Party won its first national victory under Abraham Lincoln. From 1861 to 1913 the only Democratic president was Grover Cleveland; in these years the party was basically conservative and agrarian-oriented, and its members were opposed to protective tariffs. It returned to power under Woodrow Wilson, instituting greater federal regulation of banking and industry, but the Republicans' frank embrace of big business drew voters amid the prosperity of the 1920s. Democrats became dominant again in 1932, electing Franklin Roosevelt. A coalition of urban workers, small farmers, liberals, and others sustained Democrats in office until 1953, and the party regained the presidency with the 1960 election of Joseph P. Kennedy. It retained majority control of Congress in the 1970s and '80s.

参考文章

• 中国农工民主党的由来中国史