Not quite right. The first national parties were back back by the election of Adams, after Washington had his two terms. Hamilton organized the Federalists and Jefferson the Democratic-Republicans. You had regional variations, so to speak, in party ideology. Southern Democrats were conservative but Northern big city Democrats were liberals, until Nixon converted them to Republicans. Likewise, Rockefeller Republicans in the northeast were more liberal and these days are the libertarianish liberals in Vermont and Maine.
There's a decent book on this called "The Partisan Sort" that makes a pretty good argument for how Democrats got more liberal and Republicans more conservative.
Not quite right. The first national parties were back back by the election of Adams, after Washington had his two terms. Hamilton organized the Federalists and Jefferson the Democratic-Republicans. You had regional variations, so to speak, in party ideology. Southern Democrats were conservative but Northern big city Democrats were liberals, until Nixon converted them to Republicans. Likewise, Rockefeller Republicans in the northeast were more liberal and these days are the libertarianish liberals in Vermont and Maine.
There's a decent book on this called "The Partisan Sort" that makes a pretty good argument for how Democrats got more liberal and Republicans more conservative.