Democrats Vs. Whigs

The Federalist Party came to an end after Daniel Webster’s last speech at the Hartford Convention. Soon thereafter, Andrew Jackson became president and as a result of some of his choices, many people in the South began to dislike him. These Jackson-haters joined together to create the Whig Party, formed to go against Jackson’s Democratic Party. Much like the Federalists, the Whigs supported a high protective tariff throughout the U.S. in order to raise more money for the government. The Federalists viewed Clay’s American System as a good structure and later, this system became the basis of the Whig Party. Also like the Federalists, the Whigs believed in a strong central government, supported the BUS, and were willing to compromise on the issue of slavery. Ultimately, the Whig party was just another name for the previous Federalist Party. The resurfacing of the two party system, the Democrats and the Whigs, between 1820 and 1840 was primarily due to the major political personalities involved, states’ rights issues, and economic issues.

Daniel Webster, the last spokesperson for the Federalists at the Hartford Convention, contributed to the start of the Whig party, maintaining the same Federalist views and simply converting them to the Whig party. Henry Clay, a national republican, was also an important person in the formation of a second party. Clay’s American System became the Whig Party Platform. With this platform, the Whigs developed the ideas that the Federalists previously believed. Another person who contributed to the formation of the Whig Party was Andrew Jackson himself. After the Nullification Crisis, many people opposing it started to dislike Jackson, so all the Jackson-haters joined together to form the Whig Party to oppose Jackson’s Democratic Party. All three of these people, Webster, Clay and Jackson played a pivotal role in the formation of the second party known as the Whig Party.

Opposing views regarding the Nullification Crisis was an additional reason for the development of the two party system. Jackson tried to provide for national democracy but with the Tariff of Abominations, taxes were raised and South Carolina could not afford anything because of their economic status. Threatening to leave the union, Calhoun, the Vice President, went to South Carolina and wrote, “South Carolina’s exposition and protest.” This was Calhoun’s idea of Nullification and it provided a process that South Carolina could follow to solve their issues. Calhoun hoped that this process would take so long to complete that by the time they had gone through it, their problems would already be resolved. With a slight lowering of taxes in the Tariff of 1833, South Carolina issued The Ordinance of Nullification, which said they would nullify the tariff if it were changed. Then Jackson issued the Force Act, which gave him the power to control South Carolina by any