AHC: Democratic Party Dies After the Civil War

Exactly as the title says. In the aftermath of Civil War, as I understand history, and I could be radically wrong, the Democratic Party emerged with a somewhat injured reputation, thanks in part to the belief that many in the party were guilty of having sympathized with the rebellion. Again, it's been awhile since I've studied the period so I apologize for ignorance. My question is, is there any set of circumstances after 1865 but before 1900 that would have ended the history of the party of Jackson, or at least have led to a name change?

I know, this is probably really unworkable, but it'd be interesting to see what other party could have emerged to take the place of the Democrats.
 

Alkahest

Banned
In the GURPS Alternate Earths setting Dixie-1 (on of those "victorious Confederacy"-thingies), the Democratic Party disintegrates in the Union, while there's no Republican Party in the Confederacy. They are replaced with the Constitutional Union Party (the party of "reform and nationalism") in the North and the Plantation Party (the party of being especially evil racist dickbags) in the South. Not that the setting is all that realistic, mind you...
 
The Democrats failed a lot in the 1868 Election, since a lot of Democrats couldn't vote due to the Reconstruction laws enacted.
 
Having the Democrats not swallow their pride and nominate the same ticket as the Liberal Republicans in 1872 would help. However, I'm not sure if the Liberal Republicans picking someone other than Horace Greeley would help since Greeley was already hated by a lot of Democrats. The other choice for the Liberal Republicans if they don't nominate Greeley would likely be Charles Francis Adams.
 
Agreed I think '72 is the key. If Greeley wins there will be no Democratic Party, at least in the North, provided he survives longer then in our timeline. Chances are you could actually develop quite a complex multi-party system in these circumstances, with the Democratic Party becoming a regional southern party eventually largely supplanted by the Populists, thus creating a Liberal-Republican-Populist three party system and destroying executive power by regularly putting elections in congress and ultimately avoiding WWI and, probably, as a result WWII :O
 
I know, this is probably really unworkable, but it'd be interesting to see what other party could have emerged to take the place of the Democrats.

This is the million dollar question. In OTL, the Populists wracked up a lot of victories despite having to deal with the Democratic Party competing with them. They might have done better without the competition.

Likewise, the resilience of the Democratic Party among the Northern working class is the great barrier reef that so many labor parties wrecked themselves on.

The key is whether a Farm-Labor Party can be founded, because that's what you'd need to compete with a triumphant Republican Party. Although, after a period of total dominance of the Republican Pary in the interim before such a coalition can be founded, you'd probably have a Radical/Liberal/Moderate/Conservative split within the GOP, and a Farm-Labor Party could grab chunks out of that.
 
The Liberal Republican Party nominates a different Presidential candidate for 1872: perhaps Charles Francis Adams. He doesn't have to win, but he performs respectably and the end result is most definitely not a landslide in Grant's favour. The Liberal Republican Party (which perhaps re-brands themselves the "Liberal Party") rises in stature over the course of Grant's disastrous second term and it wins the 1874 midterm landslide that in OTL went to the Democratic Party (and saved them from extinction). Northern Democrats (particularly those who would become "Bourbon Democrats") desert the party and join the Liberals, causing the Democratic Party to dwindle to a Southern regional party. In 1876, the Liberals nominate Samuel Tilden as their presidential candidate, and the Democrats endorse him -- with the combined support of OTL's Democrats and Liberal Republican faction, Tilden wins comfortably over Hayes.

A new alignment forms where the Liberal Party becomes the "pro-business" (right-wing) party, while the Republicans become the "populist" (left-wing) party with a strong power base in the West. The Democratic Party hangs on in the South, getting Congressmen and Senators elected but never having a hope of gaining the Presidency, until finally its various state branches either die out or merge with the Liberal Party (like the Farmer-Labor Party did in OTL in Minnesota).
 
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