Washington and Roosevelt present the spirit of party and special interest groups as "threats to democracy." In 4-5 sentences, draw specific conclusions about the origin of each president's perspective. How are they similar, and how could one cause the other?

Answer 1

Both George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed concerns about the influence of political parties and special interest groups on democracy, rooted in their respective historical contexts. Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned that political factions could lead to divisiveness and jeopardize national unity, stemming from his experiences with the early political landscape and the detrimental effects of partisanship during his presidency. Similarly, Roosevelt, facing the Great Depression, recognized that special interest groups could distort democratic processes by prioritizing their agendas over the common good, which emerged from witnessing the struggles of ordinary citizens against entrenched economic interests. The similarity in their perspectives lies in the belief that unchecked factional influence undermines the principle of collective governance, suggesting that one could cause the other: the emergence of partisanship, as seen in Washington’s time, could lead to the concentrated power of special interests that Roosevelt later addressed.