A brief history of the Democratic Party

A brief history of the Democratic Party—Monterey Herald, submitted Dec. 1, 2020, unpublished

In a span of 192 years, the Democratic Party has gone from the worst president (Andrew Jackson) to one who labeled desegregation as a “racial jungle” (Biden).

President Jackson, who owned over 300 slaves, created riches for himself after signing the Indian Removal Act, selling the stolen land and causing the death of thousands on the Trail of Tears. Some historians have referred to Jackson’s Indian Removal Act as an act of systematic genocide.

John C. Calhoun, Jackson’s Vice President, popularized the “slavery as a positive good” movement.  He argued that slavery was not an evil, as the Founders had maintained.

President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, refused to fight the KKK and stop the assassinations of blacks and abolitionists. President Grant did.

President Wilson re-segregated government offices. He declared, “Segregation is not humiliating but a benefit.” He praised the KKK a “great” movement.

Franklin R. Roosevelt imprisoned over 100,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent into concentration camps, but not Germans or Italians. Only white 1936 Olympic athletes could visit FDR’s White House.

President Lyndon Johnson freely used the N-word in most of his private conversations.

Biden does not fall far from the twisted Democratic Party tree.

— Brandon Kelsey, Marina