Whig Party (United States) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the 19th-century political party. For the contemporary third party, see Modern Whig Party. Whig Party Founded 1833 Dissolved 1860 Preceded by National Republican Party Anti-Masonic Party Succeeded by Republican Party Know-Nothing Party Constitutional Union Party Ideology Modernization Protectionism Congressional, not Presidential, dominance Economic nationalism Colors Blue and buff Politics of United States Political parties Elections The Whig Party was a political party active in the early 19th century in the United States. Four Presidents of the United States were members of the Whig Party. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s,[1] the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism. This name was chosen to echo the American Whigs of 1776, who fought for independence, and because Whig was then a widely recognized label of choice for people who identified as opposing tyranny.[2] The Whig Party counted among its members such national political luminaries as Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and their preeminent leader, Henry Clay of Kentucky. In addition to Harrison, the Whig Party also nominated war hero generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. In its two decades of existence, the Whig Party had two of its candidates, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, elected President. Both died in office. John Tyler succeeded to the Presidency after Harrisons death but was expelled from the party. Millard Fillmore, who became President after Taylors death, was the last Whig to hold the nations highest office. The party was ultimately destroyed by the question of whether to allow the expansion of slavery to the territories. With deep fissures in the party on this question, the anti-slavery faction prevented the re-nomination of its own incumbent President Fillmore in the 1852 presidential election; instead, the party nominated General Winfield Scott. Most Whig party leaders thereupon quit politics (as Abraham Lincoln did temporarily) or changed parties. The northern voter base mostly joined the new Republican Party. By the 1856 presidential election, the party was virtually defunct. In the South, the party vanished but Whig ideology as a policy orientation persisted for decades and played a major role in shaping the modernizing policies of the state governments during Reconstruction.[3
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:37:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015