United States Whig Party

The Whig Party wis a mid-19th century political party in the United States. Alongside the Democratic Party, it wis ane o’ the two major parties atween the late 1830s an’ the early 1850s an’ pairt o’ the Second Party System. As weel as four Whig presidents (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, an’ Millard Fillmore), ither prominent members includit Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, William Seward, John J. Crittenden, an’ John Quincy Adams. The Whig base o’ support wis amangst entrepreneurs, professionals, Protestant Christians (particular Evangelicals), the urban middle class, an’ nativists. It had muckle less backing frae puir farmers an’ unskilled workers.

The party wis hostile tae "manifest destiny", territorial expansion intae Texas an’ the Southwest, an’ the Mexican–American War. It dislikit presidential power, as exhibited by Andrew Jackson an’ James K. Polk, an’ preferred congressional dominance in lawmaking. Members advocated modernization, meritocracy, the rule o’ law, protections against majority rule, an’ vigilance against executive tyranny. They favored an economic program kent as the American System, which ca’d for a protective tariff, federal subsidies for construction o’ infrastructure, an’ support for a national bank. The party wis active in both the Northern an’ Southern United States an’ didnae take a firm stance on slavery, but Northern Whigs tendit tae be less supportive than their Democratic counterparts.

The Whigs emerged in the 1830s in opposition tae U.S. President Andrew Jackson, pulling thegither former members o’ the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, an’ disaffected Democrats. The Whigs had some weak links tae the defunct Federalist Party, but the Whig Party wisnae a direct successor tae that party, an’ mony Whig leaders, includin’ Henry Clay, had aligned wi’ the rival Democratic-Republican Party. In the 1836 presidential election, four different Whig candidates received electoral votes, but the party failed tae defeat Jackson’s chosen successor, Martin Van Buren. Whig nominee William Henry Harrison unseated Van Buren in the 1840 presidential election but died a month intae his term. Harrison’s successor, John Tyler, a former Democrat, broke wi’ the Whigs in 1841 after clashin’ wi’ Clay an’ ither party leaders o’er economic policies such as the re-establishment o’ a national bank.

Clay clinched his party’s nomination in the 1844 presidential election but wis defeated by Democrat James K. Polk, who subsequently presided o’er the Mexican–American War. Whig nominee Zachary Taylor won the 1848 presidential election, but Taylor died in 1850 an’ wis succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Fillmore, Clay, Daniel Webster, an’ Democrat Stephen A. Douglas led the passage o’ the Compromise o’ 1850, which helped tae defuse sectional tensions in the aftermath o’ the Mexican–American War for a time. Nonetheless, the Whigs suffered a decisive defeat in the 1852 presidential election partly due tae sectional divisions within the party. The Whigs collapsed followin’ the passage o’ the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, wi’ maist Northern Whigs eventually joinin’ the abolitionist Republican Party an’ maist Southern Whigs joinin’ the nativist American Party an’ later the Constitutional Union Party. The last vestiges o’ the Whig Party faded away efter the start o’ the American Civil War, but Whig ideas remained influential for decades. Durin’ the Lincoln Administration, ex-Whigs dominated the Republican Party an’ enacted muckle o’ their American System. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, an’ Benjamin Harrison were Whigs afore switchin’ tae the Republican Party, frae which they were elected tae office. It is considered the primary predecessor party o’ the modern-day Republicans.