The history of the United States Whig Party lasted from its establishment early in President Andrew Jackson's second term (1833–1837) to the collapse of the party during the term of President Franklin Pierce (1853–1857). This article covers the party in national politics.
The Whigs emerged in the 1830s in opposition to President Andrew Jackson, pulling together former members of the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, and disaffected Democrats. The Whigs had some links to the defunct Federalist Party, but the Whig Party was not a direct successor to that party and many Whig leaders, including Clay, had previously aligned with the Democratic-Republican Party rather than the Federalist Party. In the 1836 presidential election, four different Whig candidates received electoral votes, but the party failed to defeat Jackson's chosen successor, Martin Van Buren. Whig nominee William Henry Harrison unseated Van Buren in the 1840 presidential election, but died just one month into his term. Harrison's successor, John Tyler, broke with the Whigs in 1841 after clashing with Clay and other Whig Party leaders over economic policies such as the re-establishment of a national bank.
Clay won his party's nomination in the 1844 presidential election but was eventually defeated by Democrat James K. Polk, who subsequently presided over the Mexican–American War. Whig nominee Zachary Taylor won the 1848 presidential election, but Taylor died in 1850 and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Fillmore, Clay, Daniel Webster, and Democrat Stephen A. Douglas led the passage of the Compromise of 1850, which helped to defuse sectional tensions in the aftermath of the Mexican–American War. Nonetheless, sectional divisions contributed to a decisive Whig defeat in the 1852 presidential election. The Whigs collapsed following the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, with most Northern Whigs eventually joining the anti-slavery Republican Party and most Southern Whigs joining the nativist American Party and later the Constitutional Union Party.
Background
End of the First Party System
During the 1790s, the first major U.S. parties arose in the form of the Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic-Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson. Federalist strength declined after the 1800 presidential election and especially after the War of 1812, leaving the Democratic-Republicans as the sole major party. After 1815, the Democratic-Republicans became increasingly polarized. A nationalist wing, led by Henry Clay, favored policies such as the Second Bank of the United States, the implementation of a protective tariff. A second group, the Old Republicans, opposed these policies, instead favoring a strict interpretation of the United States Constitution and a weak federal government.Holt (1999), pp. 2–3
In the 1824 presidential election, the Democratic-Republican congressional nominating caucus nominated Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford for president, but Clay, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, and General Andrew Jackson all ignored the results of the caucus and sought the presidency.Holt (1999), pp. 5–6 Crawford favored state sovereignty and a strict constructionist view of the Constitution, while Calhoun (who ultimately dropped out of the race), Clay, and Adams all favored high tariffs and the national bank. While the other candidates based their candidacies on their long tenure as congressmen, ambassadors, or members of the Cabinet, Jackson's appeal rested on his military service, especially in the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson won a plurality of the popular and electoral vote in the 1824 election, but, with Clay's support, Adams was elected as president in a contingent election held in the House of Representatives.Holt (1999), pp. 6–7
National Republicans
In the years following the 1824 election, the Democratic-Republican Party split into two groups. Supporters of President Adams and Clay joined with many former Federalists such as Daniel Webster to form a group informally known as the "Adams party". Meanwhile, supporters of Jackson, Calhoun, and Crawford joined to oppose the Adams administration's nationalist agenda, becoming informally known as "Jacksonians".Holt (1999), pp. 7–8 Outside of New England, many of the Adams administration's allies defined themselves more in their opposition to Jackson than in their support of Adams.. Due in part to the superior organization and unity of his fledgling party, Jackson defeated President Adams in the 1828 presidential election, taking 56 percent of the popular vote.Holt (1999), pp. 8–9 With the defeat of Adams, Clay emerged as the leader of the National Republican Party, a political party opposed to Jackson; followers of Jackson, meanwhile, organized into the Democratic Party.Holt (1999), pp. 10–11
Despite Jackson's decisive victory in the 1828 election, National Republicans initially believed that Jackson's party would collapse once Jackson took office. Vice President Calhoun resigned from the administration in 1832, but differences over the tariff prevented his followers from joining the National Republicans. Other actions of the administration, including a policy of Indian removal, the Maysville Road veto, and acceptance of tariffs and some federally-funded infrastructure projects, solidified Jackson's popularity. Meanwhile, the Anti-Masonic Party formed following the disappearance and possible murder of William Morgan in 1826. Clay rejected overtures from the Anti-Masonic Party, and his attempt to convince Calhoun to serve as his running mate failed, leaving the opposition to Jackson split among different leaders when the National Republicans nominated Clay for president.
Hoping to make the national bank a key issue of the 1832 election, the National Republicans convinced national bank president Nicholas Biddle to request an extension of the national bank's charter, but their strategy backfired when Jackson successfully portrayed his veto of the recharter as a victory for the people against an elitist institution.Holt (1999), pp. 15–16 Jackson won another decisive victory in the 1832 presidential election, taking 55 percent of the national popular vote and 88 percent of the popular vote in the slave states south of Kentucky and Maryland.Holt (1999), pp. 17–18 Clay's defeat discredited the National Republican Party, encouraging those opposed to Jackson to seek to create a more effective opposition party.Holt (1999), pp. 18–19
Creation, 1833–1836
Shortly after Jackson's re-election, South Carolina passed a measure to "nullify" the Tariff of 1832, beginning the Nullification Crisis. Jackson strongly denied the right of South Carolina to nullify federal law, but the crisis was resolved after Congress passed the Tariff of 1833.Holt (1999), p. 20 The Nullification Crisis briefly scrambled the partisan divisions that had emerged after 1824, as many within the Jacksonian coalition opposed President Jackson's threats of force against South Carolina, while some opposition leaders like Daniel Webster supported them. In South Carolina and other states, those opposed to Jackson began to form small "Whig" parties. The Whig label implicitly compared "King Andrew" to King George III, the King of Great Britain at the time of the American Revolution.
Jackson's decision to remove government deposits from the national bank ended any possibility of a Webster-Jackson alliance and helped to solidify partisan lines. The removal of the deposits drew opposition from both pro-bank National Republicans and states' rights Southerners like Willie Person Mangum of North Carolina, the latter of whom accused Jackson of flouting the Constitution.Holt (1999), p. 24 In late 1833, Clay began to hold a series of dinners with opposition leaders in order to settle on a candidate to oppose Martin Van Buren, the likely Democratic nominee in the 1836 presidential election. While Jackson's opponents could not agree on a single presidential candidate, they coordinated in the Senate to oppose Jackson's initiatives.Holt (1999), p. 26 Historian Michael Holt writes that the "birth of the Whig Party" can be dated to Clay and his allies taking control of the Senate in December 1833.Holt (1999), pp. 26–27
The National Republicans, including Clay and Webster, formed the core of the Whig Party, but many Anti-Masons like William H. Seward of New York and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania also joined. Several prominent Democrats defected to the Whigs, including Mangum, former Attorney General John Berrien, and John Tyler of Virginia. The Whig Party's first major action was to censure Jackson for the removal of the national bank deposits, thereby establishing opposition to Jackson's executive power as the organizing principle of the new party.Holt (1999), pp. 27–28 In doing so, the Whigs were able to shed the elitist image that had persistently hindered the National Republicans.Holt (1999), p. 30 Throughout 1834 and 1835, the Whigs successfully incorporated National Republican and Anti-Masonic state-level organizations and established new state party organizations in Southern states like North Carolina and Georgia.Holt (1999), pp. 34–35
Rise, 1836–1841
Van Buren and the election of 1836
Early successes in various states made many Whigs optimistic about victory in 1836, but an improving economy bolstered Van Buren's standing ahead of the election.Holt (1999), pp. 36–37 The Whigs also faced the difficulty of uniting former National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and states' rights Southerners around one candidate, and the party suffered an early blow when Calhoun announced that he would refuse to support any candidate opposed to the doctrine of nullification.Holt (1999), pp. 38–39 As party leaders were unable to organize a presidential nominating convention, legislative caucuses in the states instead nominated candidates, resulting in the nomination of multiple Whig candidates for president. The presence of multiple Whig presidential candidates in the 1836 election was a reflection of a divided party rather than the result of a concerted strategy by party leaders, though some Whigs did express hope that nominating multiple candidates would force a contingent election in the House of Representatives by denying Van Buren a majority of the electoral vote.Holt (1999), pp. 39–40
Northern Whigs cast aside both Clay and Webster in favor of General William Henry Harrison, a former senator who had led U.S. forces in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. Though he had not previously been affiliated with the National Republicans, Harrison indicated that he shared the party's concerns over Jackson's executive power and favored federal investments in infrastructure. Though he was eclipsed by Harrison, Webster remained in the race, but only as the Whig candidate in his home state of Massachusetts.Holt (1999), pp. 40–42 Southern Whigs coalesced around Senator Hugh Lawson White, a long-time Jackson ally who opposed Van Buren's candidacy. Capitalizing on opposition to Van Buren and the growing prominence of the abolitionist movement, White and his followers helped establish and grow Whig party organizations throughout the South.Holt (1999), pp. 42–43 Ultimately, Van Buren won a majority of the electoral and popular vote in the 1836 election, though the Whigs improved on Clay's 1832 performance in the South and West. Harrison won Kentucky and several Northern states, White carried Tennessee and Georgia, Webster won his home state, and Willie Mangum won South Carolina's eleven electoral votes.Holt (1999), pp. 45–46