User:HelpihaveLEUKEMIA/sandbox

The American Labor Party (ALP) is a political party in the United States, characterized by left wing politics. Formed in 1872 by former president Abraham Lincoln, founder of the New York Tribune Horace Greeley, Union Leader Uriah Smith Stephens, and Civil War General John Adams Dix, as well as multiple Republicans like Benjamin Wade and Schuyler Colfax, and Democratic politicians such as John Adams Dix and William Robert Taylor, and New York Tribune Editors such as Charles A. Dana.

The seeds of the party were planted after a split formed in the Republican Party between pro-greenback Radical Republicans and Republicans in support of the Gold Standard during the post Civil War Reconstruction era. However the differences grew as the pro-business faction of the Republican Party began to heavily oppose Abraham Lincoln's populist agenda, as well as his supporters in the federal government, called Lincolnites. The split reached a tipping point during the presidential election of 1868, when party bosses rallied to have Hamilton Fish nominated for the presidency instead of the Lincolnite candidate Hannibal Hamlin. In a reactionary move, the Lincolnites bolted and formed the Liberty and Freedom Party, with Hamlin as the presidential candidate. When election day finally came, the bolt only proved to split the republican vote, allowing Democratic candidate Thomas F. Bayard to win despite only getting 40% of the vote.

The Lincolnites initially intended to make the Liberty and Freedom party a dominant force in American politics, but the split in the republican faction had given the Democrats a significant amount of power which had hurt Lincoln's reconstruction plan which had seen unanimous support amongst the Republican party and it's base. So, out of necessity to block the Democratic agenda, The Liberty and Freedom party dissolved itself and rejoined the ranks of the Republican Party before the mid-term elections of 1870 in order to oppose the Democratic agenda. In 1872, Lincoln and his allies fully intended to place a Lincolnite candidate in the White House, choosing New York Tribune founder Horace Greely as the Candidate. However, Republican bosses once again chose Hamilton Fish over Greeley. Sensing this move, the Lincolnites bolted, only several months before the Republican National Convention this time to have more time to better prepare a campaign. With the power of the Tribune's publication, as well as a multitude of popular republican and democratic politicians switching over to the ranks of the newly formed American Labor Party, the showing during the election was significantly better. Greeley would win the popular vote, as well as the most electoral votes, however he fell short of the 177 electoral votes to win; bringing the final decision down to congress. With the republicans split, Thomas F. Bayard was able to secure a second term despite getting third place in every category.

Despite the loss, the ALP would become the largest party in the Federal Government following the mid-term elections of 1874, due to the Panic of 1873 and the poor response of the Bayard administration to the resulting Long Depression, the ALP would gain a significant number of seats in congress and across the nation in local and state elections. Come the presidential election of 1876, the ALP was able to finally secure the presidency with William Robert Taylor as the candidate. Taylor would become the first Labor president in American History and would cement the party's place in American politics thanks to his popularity, being re-elected in 1880.

Following the Death of Abraham Lincoln in 1883, the party would eventually come under the leadership of figures like Henry George and Daniel De Leon. The Party would become significantly more involved in the Socialist movement thanks to De Leon and would embrace the Land Value Tax that George proposed. In 1884, Terence V. Powderly would be elected chairman of the party, and would drive the ALP more towards Trade Unionism. Powderly would win the presidential election of 1892, however he was an ineffective president who didn't respond effectively to the panic of 1893 and was indecisive when it came to the First Pacific War, He would not be re-elected in the presidential election of 1896. in 1904 the ALP would step back into the White House with the election of William Jennings Bryan to the presidency.

Following the Bryan Presidency, the ALP fractured during the presidential election of 1912 after supporters of Eugene V. Debs, dissatisfied with the nomination of Albert Parsons, bolted during the convention and formed the Socialist Party of the United States. Similarly, Thomas E. Watson and his supporters bolted and formed the Workingmen's Party. This split allowed for Champ Clark to secure the election, and also would significantly damage the chance for the ALP to win in national elections in the next decade.

In 1924, following defeat in the Second Pacific War, and the onset of the Great Depression the ALP would unite with the Workingmen's and Socialist Parties behind candidate William Borah, who was able to bring the party, and the country, together, and lead the Nation through the Depression and the Post-war years effectively, exiting office in 1933 as the most popular president of the 20th century to that point. Borah would start an era of ALP Dominance in American politics, for over fifty years Labor would control congress and would hold the presidency four out of six times starting in 1925 and ending in 1969. Presidents George Norris and Floyd B. Olsen would succeed Borah, and would preside over a time of social, economic, and cultural reform, known as the Progressive Era; with Olsen being the President during the Third Pacific War, guiding the U.S. through to victory.

The ALP would fall from dominance in the 1970s and 1980s, as the Commonwealth Party emerged as a major national Big Tent party. Labor lost it's majority in congress in 1984 and wouldn't regain it until the election of 2000, the party would also recapture the Presidency with Joe Biden leading the ship; and then again taking it in the 2012 presidential election with Barack Obama. The most recent presidential candidate was Bernie Sanders, who would lose the 2020 presidential election to Commonwealth candidate William H. McRaven.