The Whig Party and its Breakdown

The Whig Party, Its Breakdown, and the effects of the break

Powerpoint Contents1. Andrew Jackson and the Opposition to

him2. The Formation and Policies of the Whig

Party3. The Success of the Whig Party and

Eventual Fall of the Whig Party due to Zachary Taylor

4. The Fallout

Case No. 1: The Rise of the PartyFocus of the Hatred: Andrew Jackson

• Andrew Jackson was a national hero thanks to his victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 and through his successful battles with the Seminole Indians in Florida.

• In the Election of 1824, though Jackson held the largest amount of electoral college votes by a margin of 15, and a margin of popular votes of 38,000; no candidate won a majority of the Electoral College and John Quincy Adams was named President.

• Due to his popularity, Jackson easily won the Elections of 1828 and 1832.

Case No. 1: The Rise of the PartyFocus of the Hatred: Andrew Jackson

• During his presidency…• Andrew Jackson refused to

Re-charter the National Bank due to his aversion to banks

• He began a policy of Indian Removal which was popular to some but not all

• He would refuse to allow localities to make internal improvements that would improve their roads and railroad transportation and provide for greater access to towns and promote trade

• He used to veto power 12 times in his 8 years as president (which was unheard of since other presidents simply would not use it at all.

Henry Clay & the Creation of the Whig Party

• The Whig Party formed in 1833 simply to combat the rule of “King” Andrew Jackson

• The name for the Whig Party dates back to the British politics of the 1780’s as the Whigs were formed to combat the rule endorsed by the Royal Crown of the Tories. The entire ideology of that party was based on combating the King.

Both are pictures of Whig leader Henry Clay at different stages of life, seeing that he served in office from age 34 until he died at age 75

Clay was the main orchestrator behind the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, and was a prominent leader in politics from 1820 until the time of his death

So, to put it simply, why did this new party form?

Whig Party Policies• The Whig party was founded and united

against the beliefs of Andrew Jackson– The Whig Party wanted to Re-charter the National

Bank– The Whig Party wished for internal improvements

to be undertaken for the greater good of all of the United States people

– The Whig Party wished for the Congress to have more power and pull in Washington than the President

Back to you, what were their policies the opposite of?

Success and then fall of the Party

• Two Whig Party candidates made it into Office, first in 1840 was William Henry Harrison and then in 1848, Zachary Taylor won the Presidency. Millard Fillmore took over for Taylor after he died and was the last Whig in office.

• Zachary Taylor and Fillmore could not unite the party upon one party policy on Extending Slavery into the Western Territories or restricting it from the Territories, and the party fractured in 1852 as it broke into Northern and Southern factions.

• One of the major two parties in our country, a major point of union in the country, fractured, and left serious fissures in the political system of the United States.

And our final and overall question of the presentation, what caused the breakdown of the Whig Party?