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internal development which followed after 1815, the all-inclusive Republican party began gradually to disintegrate and a new party system was evolved, each member of which was the representative of such See also:

groups of ideas and interests, class and See also:

LOCAL

local, as required the support of a See also:

SEPARATE

separate party. This See also:

WORK

work of disintegration and rebuilding proceeded so slowly that for more than a See also:

DECADE (from Gr. Oka, ten)

decade after the See also:

Peace of See also:

GHENT (Flem. Gent, Fr. Gand)

Ghent each new party, disguised during the See also:

early stages of organization as the See also:

PERSONAL

personal following of a particular See also:

LEADER, BENJAMIN WILLIAMS (1831– )

leader or See also:

GROUP

group of leaders, kept on calling itself Republican. Even during the sharply contested See also:

election of 1824 the See also:

RIVAL

rival partisans were known as See also:

Jackson, See also:

Crawford and See also:

CALHOUN, JOHN CALDWELL (1782-185o)

Calhoun, or as See also:

Clay and See also:

Adams Republicans. (See DEMOCRATIC PARTY.) It was not until See also:

LATE

late in the See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration of See also:

John See also:

Quincy Adams, 1825 to 1829, that the supporters of the See also:

PRESIDENT (Fr. president, from Lat. praesidens, post-Augustan Lat. for praeses, director, ruler, from praesidere, to sit in front of, preside)

president and See also:

Henry Clay, the secretary of See also:

state, were first recognized as a distinct party and began to be called by the accurately descriptive See also:

TERM

term National Republicans. But after the party had become consolidated, in the passionate See also:

CAMPAIGN

campaign of 1828, and later in opposing the See also:

MEASURES

measures of President Jackson, it adopted in 1834 the name Whig, which, through memorable associations both See also:

BRITISH

British and American, served as a protest against executive encroachments, and thus facilitated See also:

union with other parties and factions, such as the See also:

ANTI, or CAMPA

Anti-Masonic party (q.v.), that had been alienated by the high-handed measures of President Jackson. The new name announced not the See also:

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth but the maturity of the party, and the definite See also:

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment of its principles and See also:

general lines of policy. The ends for which the Whigs laboured were: first, to maintain the integrity of the Union; second, to make the Union thoroughly national; third, to maintain the republican See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the Union; See also:

FOURTH

fourth, while utilizing to the full the See also:

INHERITANCE

inheritance from and through Europe, to develop a distinctly American type of See also:

CIVILIZATION

civilization; fifth, to propagate abroad by peaceful means American ideas and institutions. Among the policies or means which the Whigs used in See also:

order to realize their principles were the broad construction of those provisions of the Federal Constitution which confer See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers on the national See also:

government; protective tariffs; comprehensive schemes of internal improvements under the direction and at the cost of the national government; support of the See also:

BANK

Bank of the United States; resistance to many acts of President Jackson as encroachments by the executive on the legislative See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of the government and therefore hostile to republicanism; See also:

COALITION (Lat. coalitio, the verbal substantive of coalescere, to grow together)

coalition with other parties in order to promote national as opposed to See also:

PARTISAN, or PARTIZAN

partisan ends; resort to See also:

COMPROMISE (pronounced compromize; through Fr. from Lat. compromittere)

compromise in order to allay sectional irritation and compose sectional See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences; and cordial and yet prudent expression of sympathy with the liberal See also:

MOVEMENT

movement in other lands. The activity of the Whig party, reckoned from the election of 1824, when its organization began, to the See also:

REPEAL (O.F. rapel, modern rappel, from rapeler, rappeler, revoke, re and appeler, appeal)

repeal of the See also:

MISSOURI

Missouri Compromise in 1854, covers See also:

THIRTY

thirty years.

In two respects, namely, the rise of the new See also:

RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

radical See also:

DEMOCRACY (Gr. 3np.oKparia, from S)µos, the people, i.e. the commons, and Kparos, rule)

democracy under See also:

Andrew Jackson, and the growth of sectionalism over the See also:

SLAVERY

slavery issue, this period was highly See also:

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

critical. In view of these events the most 1 Immediately before the War of See also:

Independence and during the war those who favoured the colonial cause and independence were called " Whigs."difficult task of the Whigs, clearly discerned and heartily accepted by them, under the patriotic and conservative leadership of Henry Clay and See also:

Daniel See also:

Webster, was to moderate and enlighten, rather than antagonize, the new democracy; and—what proved to be beyond their powers—to overcome the disrupting See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of the slavery issue. The inaugural address and the messages to See also:

CONGRESS (Lat. congressus, coming together, from congredi; cum, with, and gradus, step)

Congress of President J. Q. Adams set forth clearly the nationalizing, broad-construction See also:

PROGRAMME, or PROGRAM

programme of the new party. But his supporters in Congress, imperfectly organized and facing a powerful opposition, accomplished very little in the way of legislation. The election of 1828 gave to Andrew Jackson the See also:

PRESIDENCY

presidency, and to the people, in a higher degree than ever before, the control, of the government. The president's attack upon the Bank, the introduction of the See also:

MODERN

modern " spoils system " into the Federal See also:

CIVIL

civil service, the unprecedented use of the See also:

VETO (Lat. for " I forbid ")

veto See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power, Jackson's See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption of powers which his opponents deemed unconstitutional, and his personal hostility towards Clay,who had succeeded Adams in the leadership of the party, brought about, under Whig leadership, a coalition of opposition parties which influenced deeply and permanently the character, policy and fortunes of the Whig party. It became the See also:

CHAMPION (Fr. champion, Late Lat. campio from campus; a field or open space, i.e. one " who takes the field " or fights; cf. Ger. Kampf, battle, and Kampfer, fighter)

champion of the Bank, of the right of Congress, and of the older and purer See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of the civil service. Moreover, as a means of strengthening the See also:

bond with their new See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

allies, the Whigs learned to practise a tolerance towards the opinions and even the principles of their associates which is exceptional in the See also:

HISTORY

history of American political parties. In strict See also:

ACCORD (from Fr. accorder, to agree)

accord with their own principles, however, the Whigs supported the president during the See also:

NULLIFICATION

Nullification Controversy (see NULLIFICATION). The renown of Webster as the foremost expositor of the national theory of the Union rests largely on his speeches during this controversy, in particular on his celebrated reply to Senator R.

Y. Rayne of See also:

South Carolina. Nevertheless, after vindicating the rights of the Union, most of the Whigs supported Clay in arranging the compromise See also:

TARIFF (adapted in English from the French; the word comes through the Spanish tarifa, a list or schedule of prices, from the Arabic, ta'rifa, information, an inventory, 'arf, know-ledge)

tariff of 1832 which enabled the Nullifiers to See also:

RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

retreat without acknowledging discomfiture. The See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of the See also:

NORTHERN

Northern Whigs, with the entire See also:

SOUTHERN

Southern membership of the party, disapproved the propaganda of the Abolitionists on the ground of its tendency to endanger the Union, and many from a like See also:

MOTIVE (from Lat. movere, to move)

motive voted for the " Gag Rules " of 1835–1844 (see ADAMS, J. Q.), which in spirit, if not in See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter, violated the constitutional right of See also:

PETITION (Lat. for " seeking " or " praying ")

petition. In the election of 1832 Clay was the nominee of the party for the presidency, but in 1836 and 1840, purely on grounds of expediency, the Whig conventions nominated General W. H. See also:

Harrison. During the administration of See also:

Martin See also:

Van Buren the Whigs tried with success to make party See also:

capital out of the panic of 1837, which they ascribed to Jackson, and out of the See also:

long depression that followed, for which they held Van Buren responsible. The election of General Harrison in the "See also:

LOG (a word of uncertain etymological origin,possibly onomatopoeic; the New English Dictionary rejects the derivation from Norwegian lag, a fallen tree)

log See also:

CABIN

cabin and hard See also:

cider" campaign of 184o proved a fruitless victory: the early See also:

DEATH

death of the president and the anti-Whig politics of his successor, John See also:

Tyler (q.v.), whom the Whigs had imprudently chosen as See also:

VICE

vice-president, shattered their legislative programme. In 1844 Clay was again the Whig See also:

CANDIDATE

candidate, and the See also:

ANNEXATION (Lat. ad, to, and nexus, joining)

annexation of See also:

TEXAS

Texas, involving the See also:

RISK

risk of a war with See also:

Mexico, was the leading issue. The Whigs opposed annexation; and the prospect of success seemed See also:

bright, until Clay, in the effort to remove Southern misapprehensions, wrote that he " would. he glad " at some future time to see Texas annexed if it could be done " without dishonour, without war, with the See also:

COMMON

common consent of the Union, and upon just and See also:

FAIR

fair terms." It is widely held that this letter turned against Clay the anti-slavery See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element and lost him the presidency.

The See also:

TRIUMPH (triumphus)

triumph of See also:

Polk in 1844 was followed by the annexation of Texas and by war with Mexico. The Whigs opposed the war, but on patriotic grounds voted supplies for its See also:

PROSECUTION

prosecution. The acquisition of Texas, and the assured prospect of a great territorial enlargement, at the cost of Mexico, brought to the front the question of slavery in the new domain. The agitation that followed continued through the presidential election of 1848 (in which the Whigs elected General Zachary See also:

Taylor), and did not subside until the passage of the Compromise Measures of 185o " (q.v.). To its authors this compromise seemed essential to the preservation of the Union; but it led directly to the destruction of the Whig party. In the See also:

North, where the inhumane Fugitive Slave See also:

Law See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew daily more odious, the adherence to the Compromise on which Clay and Webster insisted weakened the party fatally. The alternative, namely, a committal of the party to the repeal of the See also:

OBNOXIOUS (Lat. obnoxiosus, from ob, over, against, and noxa, harm)

obnoxious law, would have driven the Southern Whigs into the See also:

CAMP (from Lat. campus, field)

camp of the Democrats, leaving the Northern Whigs a sectional party powerless to resist the disruption of the Union. The only weapons that the Whigs knew how to use in See also:

defence of the Fugitive Slave Law were appeals to patriotism and sectional See also:

bar-gaining, and these could be employed only so long as the party remained intact. The National Whig Convention of 1852, the last that represented the party in its entirety, gave to the Northern Whigs the naming of the candidate—General See also:

WINFIELD

Winfield See also:

Scott—who was defeated in the ensuing election, and to the Southern the framing of the See also:

PLATFORM (Fr. plateforme, i.e. ground plan)

platform with its "finality" See also:

PLANK

plank, which, as revised by Webster, read as follows: " That the series of acts of the Thirty-second Congress, the See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act known as the Fugitive Slave Law included, are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a See also:

settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting questions which they embrace . . . and we will maintain this system as essential to the See also:

NATIONALITY

nationality of the Whig party and the integrity of the Union." Two years later the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise by the See also:

KANSAS (known as the Sunflower State ")

Kansas-See also:

NEBRASKA

Nebraska Act demonstrated that " this system " could not be maintained, and that in committing the Whig party to the policy of its See also:

MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

maintenance the Convention of 1852 had signed the death-See also:

WARRANT (Med. Lat. warantum; O. Fr. garant, warant, derived from O.H.G. root represented in modern German bygewdhren)

warrant of the party. Among the services of the Whigs the first in importance are these: During the thirty critical years in which under the leadership of Clay and Webster they maintained the national view of the nature of the Union, the Whigs contributed more than all their rivals to impress this view upon the See also:

HEARTS

hearts and minds of the people. During this same extended period as peace-makers between the sections they kept North and South together until the North had become strong enough to uphold by force the integrity of the Union.

And lastly they bequeathed to the Re-publican party the principles on which, and the leader, See also:

ABRAHAM, or ABRAM (Hebrew for " father is high ")

Abraham See also:

Lincoln, through whom the endangered Union was finally saved.

End of Article: WHIG PARTY

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