美國兩大政黨之一。歷史上是代表勞工、少數民族和進步改革者的政黨。1790年代由一羣傑佛遜（Thomas Jefferson）的支持者創建，他們自稱自己是「民主共和黨人」（Democratic Republicans）或「傑佛遜共和黨人」（Jeffersonian Republicans），以表示他們以建立平民政府為原則，反對君主政權。1830年代，傑克森擔任總統時，才採用今名。1836～1860年間，民主黨幾乎贏得每屆的總統大選，但因奴隸制的爭議而分裂：北方民主黨人（Northern Democrats）由道格拉斯（Stephen A. Douglas）領導，主張人民主權論（popular sovereignty），在此主義下各地居民可投票禁止奴隸制度；南方民主黨人（Southern Democrats）則堅持保護各地的奴隸制度。結果新成立的反奴隸制的共和黨在林肯（Abraham Lincoln）領導下，於1860年贏得首次全國性勝利。1860～1913年間，民主黨只有克利夫蘭（Grover Cleveland）當選總統；在這段時期，民主黨基本上是保守和以農業為主的，黨員大都反對保護關税。1912年民主黨因威爾遜當選總統而重新執政，他透過國會立法，使聯邦政府對銀行和工業界有更廣泛的調節權力。但他的理想經證明其對大眾的吸引力不如共和黨對1920年代繁榮的大商業的率直建議。1932年羅斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）當選，民主黨又重新當政。民主黨後來聯合城市工人、小農、自由分子和其他人，使其一直當政到1952年。1960年甘乃迪（Joseph P. Kennedy）當選總統又重新取得政權。1970年代和1980年代民主黨仍是掌握國會的多數派。1992年民主黨柯林頓（William J. Clinton）當選總統，並在1996年再度連任。
Democratic Party
One of the two major political parties in the U.S., historically the party of labor, minorities, and progressive reformers. In the 1790s a group of Thomas Jefferson's supporters called themselves “Democratic Republicans” or “Jeffersonian Republicans” to show their belief in the principle of popular government and their opposition to monarchical government. The party adopted its present name in the 1830s during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Democrats won nearly every presidential election in the years 1836-60, but the issue of slavery split the party, the Northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas, advocating popular sovereignty in the new territories, while the Southern Democrats called for protection of slavery in the territories. As a result, in 1860 the new antislavery Republican Party won its first national victory under Abraham Lincoln. From 1861 to 1913 the only Democratic president was Grover Cleveland; in these years the party was basically conservative and agrarian-oriented, and its members were opposed to protective tariffs. It returned to power under Woodrow Wilson, instituting greater federal regulation of banking and industry, but the Republicans' frank embrace of big business drew voters amid the prosperity of the 1920s. Democrats became dominant again in 1932, electing Franklin Roosevelt. A coalition of urban workers, small farmers, liberals, and others sustained Democrats in office until 1953, and the party regained the presidency with the 1960 election of Joseph P. Kennedy. It retained majority control of Congress in the 1970s and '80s.
