The switch between the Republican and Democratic parties was not an abrupt event but rather a gradual process that occurred over several decades, primarily during the early to mid-20th century. Initially, the Democratic Party was conservative and agrarian, supporting small government and opposing the expansion of federal power. The Republican Party at that time, founded in the 1850s, was considered more liberal, especially as the party of abolition and big business. The transformation started around the turn of the 20th century with influential Democrats like William Jennings Bryan advocating for a larger role of government in social justice, which blurred traditional party lines. The more definitive ideological switch began during the Great Depression and the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. Roosevelt's New Deal policies positioned the Democrats as the party of "big government" and social welfare, attracting a coalition of small farmers, urban workers, labor unions, ethnic minorities, and liberals. The Republican Party began to consolidate conservative positions, promoting limited government and states' rights. The transformation accelerated in the 1960s with civil rights legislation under Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. This led to a significant realignment as many white Southern conservatives shifted from the Democratic to the Republican Party, while the Democrats embraced civil rights and progressive social policies. By the 1980s, the switching of bases had largely stabilized, with Democrats becoming the party of liberal and progressive policies, and Republicans the party of conservatism and limited government. This change was not a single moment but a gradual realignment of voter coalitions and party ideologies over nearly a century.
