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PRESIDENTIAL PARTY HOPPERS

© John S. Cooper

In addition to his other duties, the President of the United States is also the leader of his political party. A number of our Presidents have changed parties, either because their current party died out, or because of opportunity or changing philosophies. History textbooks mention only the party they led as President, not offering much information on their contributions as members or leaders of other parties. These differences have often had the most dramatic effect on our history and are worth further examination.

The first to change political allegiance was James Madison. Madison was one of the original Federalists. As a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he authored much of the document and was called “The Father of the Constitution.” During the ratification fight, he co-authored the Federalist Papers, a series of essays supporting the new Constitution and encouraging people to vote in favor of ratification. Yet, as the new government began operation, Madison became alarmed at what he considered the unhealthy growth of federal power. He joined the Anti-Federalists, which later became the Democratic-Republican Party. Madison became the leader of the Democratic-Republicans in Congress, and a chief lieutenant to Thomas Jefferson. He followed Jefferson in the White House. Still, Madison may not really belong on this list, since he never actually changed parties, but rather changed his position as the first parties formed.

John Quincy Adams might therefore be the first to have actually belonged to more than one official political party. In fact, John Quincy Adams holds the record for the largest number of parties joined by any President. He began his career in his father’s party, the Federalists. As a Federalist, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. While there, he voted in favor of Jefferson’s Embargo Act. This act of political courage, doing what he felt was good for the country, was also political suicide. The Embargo Act hurt his New England state, and he was not re-elected.

Adams then joined the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson, the party that had defeated his father for re-election in 1800. In this party, Adams served as minister to several nations, and then Secretary of State under President James Monroe. When Monroe retired, Adams won the closely contested election to succeed him, being elected by the House of Representatives when no one won a majority in the Electoral College.

The Democratic-Republican Party split into the Democratic Party and the National Republican Party. Adams and his followers formed the National Republican Party, but were defeated for re-election at the end of his first term. Two years later, John Quincy Adams became the only President to date to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after his Presidency ended. He was first elected as a National Republican.

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