The Rise and Fall of the Whig Party

By Silence Dogood

We have spoken a considerable amount about the two major political parties at the time of the founding: the Federalist Party, whose ideological grounding can be found in the likes of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, and the Democratic-Republican Party, whose thought leaders were Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

After the first two presidential administrations featured Federalist presidents, Thomas Jefferson became the first Democratic-Republican to hold the highest office in 1800. This victory began a remarkable run of dominance for the party.

The era ushered in by Jefferson proved so decisive that the Federalist Party would never again control the executive branch. For a time, the Democratic-Republicans stood as the only major political party in the country.

Eventually, however, unity within the party began to fracture. The election of 1824 exposed deep divisions among Democratic-Republicans, and the once-dominant party began to splinter. The main branch evolved into the Democratic Party — the same one that exists today — while other factions searched for new political homes.

During this transitional period, several smaller parties emerged across the country, providing temporary refuge for former Federalists and disaffected Democratic-Republicans alike. Among them were groups such as the National Republican Party and the Anti-Masonic Party.

All of this changed in 1828 with the election of Andrew Jackson. From the beginning of his political career, Jackson was a deeply polarizing figure. In fact, he proved so polarizing that an entirely new political party effectively formed in opposition to him and his Democratic movement.

That party would come to be known as the Whig Party.

The Whig Party derived its name from the Whig Party in England. Those Whigs opposed the concentration of power in the monarchy and advocated for greater authority to be vested in Parliament. The American Whigs saw themselves engaged in a similar struggle — this time against what they mockingly referred to as “King Andrew,” Andrew Jackson.

Much of the opposition to Jackson from the Whig Party stemmed from his vision of the executive branch. Jackson, like others before him and many who would follow, believed that while the executive branch might theoretically be coequal with the others, the president himself occupied a uniquely powerful position. After all, the president was the only political figure elected by the entire nation.

The Whigs rejected this view. They believed the founders intended the legislative branch to be the most powerful of the three branches of government. It is no surprise, then, that many of the party’s most influential leaders served in Congress, including figures such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

Many of the Whigs’ economic beliefs were tied to what became known as the American System. This program called for the reestablishment of a national bank — specifically the Second Bank of the United States, a major point of conflict during the Jackson administration — along with protective tariffs and federal funding for infrastructure projects across the country, including roads, canals, and eventually railroads.

The Whig Party found much of its support in the nation’s growing urban centers. Many of its voters were merchants, bankers, and professionals, while Jacksonian Democrats tended to draw stronger support from rural areas, particularly among farmers.

The Whig Party fielded candidates for president in five elections from 1836 through 1852. In 1836, with Andrew Jackson leaving office, Martin Van Buren — Jackson’s hand-picked successor — carried the banner of the Democratic Party. The Whigs, still trying to get their footing as a unified political party, ran four different candidates for president. This strategy essentially handed the election to Van Buren, creating what amounted to a third Jackson term.

In 1840, aided by a tumultuous Van Buren presidency that included a devastating financial crisis, the Whigs won their first election behind William Henry Harrison and his running mate John Tyler. Or, as you might remember from grade school: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.”

Harrison, after delivering the longest inaugural address in history in a freezing rainstorm without a coat, died just 32 days after taking office. Tyler ascended to the presidency and, while a Whig in name, quickly broke with the party’s leadership. He soon found himself in constant conflict with his fellow Whigs in Congress and was effectively cast out of the party.

In the following election, the Whigs nominated the face of the party, Henry Clay. In the closely contested election of 1844, Clay was defeated by dark-horse candidate James K. Polk. Polk, like Jackson before him, proved to be a forceful executive who oversaw a dramatic expansion of the nation’s territory while leading the country through the Mexican–American War.

After Polk chose not to seek a second term, the Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, a war hero from that conflict. Taylor went on to become the second Whig elected president. Like Harrison before him, however, Taylor died while in office. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, who alienated many Northern Whigs after signing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a key component of the Compromise of 1850.

The election of 1852 would be the last time the Whigs nominated a presidential candidate. That year, General Winfield Scott lost decisively to Democrat Franklin Pierce.

Following that election, the Whig Party was effectively finished. As the controversy surrounding Millard Fillmore and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made clear, the Whigs — like the rest of the country — were increasingly divided along sectional lines over the issue of slavery.

Many former Whigs would go on to join a new political movement emerging from the western territories: the Republican Party. The Republicans ran their first presidential nominee unsuccessfully in 1856, but just four years later, the party found its leader in a former Whig and a little-known lawyer from Illinois: Abraham Lincoln.

While the Whig Party saw limited success during its short existence, many former Whigs would go on to play prominent roles in the Republican Party, including presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison.

The Whig Party is little remembered today. Yet despite its brief lifespan, it left a lasting imprint on the nation. Whether through its promotion of congressional leadership, its advocacy of national economic development, or the political foundation it helped provide for the Republican Party, there is little doubt that the Whigs played a profound role in shaping the course of this American experiment.