Contents: Parties, Elections and Patronage; Parties, the State and Public Policy; The Major Parties: The Republicans and the Democrats; On the Periphery of Party Politics; Grant: The Emergence of Deadlock, 1868-1876; Hayes: The Confirmation of Deadlock, 1876-1880; Garfield and Arthur: The Deadlock Continues, 1880-1884; Cleveland: The Deadlock Lengthens, 1884-1888; Breaking the Deadlock: Harrison and the Fifty-First Congress, 1888-1890; The Emergence of Populism, 1890-1892; Republican Waterloo, 1889-1892; The Divided Democrats Fail to Govern, 1893-1896; Republican Resurgence and Democratic Downfall: The Battle of the Standards, 1896; Conclusion: An End and Many Beginnings.