From the election of 1800 until 1824, one party controlled the presidency. History shows us that the Federalist Party was rendering itself extinct, but no one really notices until it’s too late that a party is no longer relevant.
Thomas Jefferson was an anti-federalist, or what they called a Democratic Republican. He favored state’s rights over federal authority and established a pattern of limited government while also looking out for the interests of the working class. He often stated that the merchant class cannot prosper while the farming class suffered. In other words, the producer and the seller have to have an equal stake in prosperity. Jefferson was also not a fan of urban centers.
Because of all the changes in politics and government it is not fair to try to compare Jefferson to a modern president, but what was clear back then was his success established complete trust in the Democratic Republicans for a generation.
When Jefferson was elected, Federalists, who supported a strong centralized government, controlled the House of Representatives 60-46.
By 1823, Democratic Republicans controlled the House 155-32, and the Federalist Party was all but dead.
In1824 there was a realignment after a controversial election gave John Quincy Adams the presidency. For one, Adams led a more centrist wing of the Democratic Republicans which had absorbed most of the Federalists by then, and Andrew Jackson was seen more as a man of the people with military experience.
After Adams was awarded the presidency by the House of Representatives, Jackson started to campaign for the 1828 election immediately, and without knowing it had created a new political party which would become the Democratic Party.
The first party to go extinct after having national clout was the Federalist Party, and the next party was the Democratic Republican Party that won six straight presidential elections.
The realignment of 1828 saw Jackson supporters take control of the House 136-72.
There is a similar feel right now about a realignment taking place.
While Donald Trump is aligned with the Republican Party, his positions have transformed the party from its previous “big business” persona by adopting common man issues like the cost of trade and providing manufacturing jobs in America.
His approach defied the bases of both traditional parties and created a new foundation for the Republican Party.
He has championed traditional values and an America First approach.
Much like Jackson in 1828, Trump worked within a party to realign it as something new.
Jackson and the Democrats controlled the national scene for 24 of the next 32 years with the upstart Whig Party winning two presidential terms to six for the Democrats.
But history agin realigned in 1860 when the Whigs faded away and were replaced by the National Republican Party which took the side of abolition of slavery. The Democratic Party split with multiple candidates form different regions, and Abraham Lincoln was elected, and Republicans controlled the White House for 24 years in a row.
While America has been bouncing back and forth between Republicans and Democrats since, both parties have embraced much different polices over the past 164 years, preventing third parties form surpassing them by limiting third party access to ballots and by ruling their parties with iron fists.
But there is no going back to business as usual after Trump. A new realignment is taking shape between those who want a limited federal government and those who want national oversight at a larger scale.
You can choose who is wrong or right, but this decision will be a generational one.
Whichever party get this right will be in position to govern for the forseeable future while the other will likely be absorbed and replaced. It’s rare to know it while it is happening. History is usually told decades after trends have emerged.
But this is a clear moment where the realignment is so pronounced it is hard not to see.
The 2026 midterms and the next presidential election will shed light on just where we are headed.
Democrats are not providing a cohesive message right now as an alternative to the populist positions Trump adopted. Without a clear vision and better alternative, Democrats could be the next piece of history, and no one will know it until its gone.
If Trump’s policies on the realignment prove to be detrimental, Republicans could face political exile. But polling shows Trump’s handling of illegal immigration and challenging longstanding trade issues to be popular.
Either way, there is clear evidence that we are in a period of realignment, and history has shown that the winning faction is likely to maintain control for a generation.
Another key determining factor is which party is representing the middle ground, the independents who align with neither party.
Right now they are supporting Republicans. If given the choice of which is in better position, it’s hard to bet on Democrats.
Earl Watt is the owner and publisher of the Leader & Times in Liberal, Kansas. Watt started his career in journalism in 1991 at the Southwest Daily Times. During his career, the newspaper has won a total of 17 Sweepstakes awards from the Kansas Press Association for editorial content and 18 Sweepstakes awards for advertising. Watt has been recognized with more than 70 first place awards for writing in categories from sports and column to best front pages, best sports pages and best opinion pages. Watt is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and is the descendant of several patriots who fought for America's freedom and independence.
