reform. The name of Whig was replaced by that of Liberal, being frequently, however, assigned to the less progressive portion of the party, the “moderate Liberals,” or even to half-and-half Conservatives, as a term more or less of reproach. It ceased to be a name accepted by any definite English political section.
WHIG PARTY, in America, a political party prominent from
about 1824 to 1854.[1] The first national party system of the
United States came to an end during the second war with Great
Britain. The destruction of the Federalist party (q.v.) through
a series of suicidal acts which began with the Alien and Sedition
laws of 1798, and closed with the Hartford Convention of 1814-1815,
left the Jeffersonian Republican (Democratic) party in
undisputed control. When, after Waterloo, Napoleon ceased to
disturb the relations of the new world with the old, the American
people, freed for the first time from all trace of political dependence
on Europe, were at liberty to shape their public policy in
their own way. During the period of rapid 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 groups of ideas and interests, class and local, as required
the support of a separate party. This work of disintegration
and rebuilding proceeded so slowly that for more than a decade
after the Peace of Ghent each new party, disguised during the
early stages of organization as the personal following of a particular
leader or group of leaders, kept on calling itself Republican.
Even during the sharply contested election of 1824 the rival
partisans were known as Jackson, Crawford and Calhoun, or as
Clay and Adams Republicans. (See Democratic Party.) It
was not until late in the administration of John Quincy Adams,
1825 to 1829, that the supporters of the president and Henry
Clay, the secretary of state, were first recognized as a distinct
party and began to be called by the accurately descriptive term
National Republicans. But after the party had become
consolidated, in the passionate campaign of 1828, and later in
opposing the measures of President Jackson, it adopted in 1834 the
name Whig, which, through memorable associations both British
and American, served as a protest against executive encroachments,
and thus facilitated union with other parties and factions,
such as the Anti-Masonic party (q.v.), that had been alienated by
the high-handed measures of President Jackson. The new name
announced not the birth but the maturity of the party, and the
definite establishment of its principles and 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 character of the
Union; fourth, while utilizing to the full the inheritance from
and through Europe, to develop a distinctly American type of
civilization; fifth, to propagate abroad by peaceful means
American ideas and institutions. Among the policies or means
which the Whigs used in order to realize their principles were the
broad construction of those provisions of the Federal Constitution
which confer powers on the national government; protective
tariffs; comprehensive schemes of internal improvements under
the direction and at the cost of the national government;
support of the Bank of the United States; resistance to many
acts of President Jackson as encroachments by the executive on
the legislative branch of the government and therefore hostile to
republicanism; coalition with other parties in order to promote
national as opposed to partisan ends; resort to compromise in
order to allay sectional irritation and compose sectional differences;
and cordial and yet prudent expression of sympathy
with the liberal movement in other lands.
The activity of the Whig party, reckoned from the election of 1824, when its organization began, to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, covers thirty years. In two respects, namely, the rise of the new radical democracy under Andrew Jackson, and the growth of sectionalism over the slavery issue, this period was highly critical. In view of these events the most difficult task of the Whigs, clearly discerned and heartily accepted by them, under the patriotic and conservative leadership of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, was to moderate and enlighten, rather than antagonize, the new democracy; and — what proved to be beyond their powers — to overcome the disrupting influence of the slavery issue.
The inaugural address and the messages to Congress of President J. Q. Adams set forth clearly the nationalizing, broad-construction 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 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 modern “spoils system” into the Federal civil service, the unprecedented use of the veto power, Jackson's 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 champion of the Bank, of the right of Congress, and of the older and purer form of the civil service. Moreover, as a means of strengthening the bond with their new allies, the Whigs learned to practise a tolerance towards the opinions and even the principles of their associates which is exceptional in the history of American political parties. In strict accord with their own principles, however, the Whigs supported the president during the 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. Hayne of South Carolina. Nevertheless, after vindicating the rights of the Union, most of the Whigs supported Clay in arranging the compromise tariff of 1832 which enabled the Nullifiers to retreat without acknowledging discomfiture. The majority of the Northern Whigs, with the entire 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 motive voted for the “Gag Rules” of 1835-1844 (see Adams, J. Q.), which in spirit, if not in letter, violated the constitutional right of 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. Harrison. During the administration of Martin Van Buren the Whigs tried with success to make party capital out of the panic of 1837, which they ascribed to Jackson, and out of the long depression that followed, for which they held Van Buren responsible. The election of General Harrison in the “log cabin and hard cider” campaign of 1840 proved a fruitless victory: the early death of the president and the anti-Whig politics of his successor, John Tyler (q.v.), whom the Whigs had imprudently chosen as vice-president, shattered their legislative programme.
In 1844 Clay was again the Whig candidate, and the annexation of Texas, involving the risk of a war with Mexico, was the leading issue. The Whigs opposed annexation; and the prospect of success seemed bright, until Clay, in the effort to remove Southern misapprehensions, wrote that he “would be glad” at some future time to see Texas annexed if it could be done “without dishonour, without war, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms.” It is widely held that this letter turned against Clay the anti-slavery element and lost him the presidency. The triumph of 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 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 Taylor), and did not subside until the passage of the
- ↑ Immediately before the War of Independence and during the war those who favoured the colonial cause and independence were called “Whigs.”
