Editing Whig Party (United States) (section)

== Background ==
{{Further|First Party System|Presidency of John Quincy Adams}}
[[File:JQA Photo.tif|thumb|upright|[[John Quincy Adams]], the 6th president, became a Whig congressman later in his career.]]

During the 1790s, the first major U.S. parties arose in the form of the [[Federalist Party]], led by [[Alexander Hamilton]], and the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], led by [[Thomas Jefferson]]. After 1815, the Democratic-Republicans emerged as the sole major party at the national level but became increasingly polarized. A nationalist wing led by [[Henry Clay]] favored policies such as the [[Second Bank of the United States]] and the implementation of a [[protective tariff]]. A second group, the [[Old Republicans]], opposed these policies, favoring a strict interpretation of the Constitution and a weak federal government.<ref name=" Holt 1999, pp. 2–3">Holt (1999), pp. 2–3</ref>

In the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]], Speaker of the House [[Henry Clay]], Secretary of the Treasury [[William H. Crawford]], Secretary of State [[John Quincy Adams]], and General [[Andrew Jackson]] all sought the presidency as members of the Democratic-Republican Party.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 5–6</ref> Crawford favored state sovereignty and a strict constructionist view of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]], while Clay and Adams favored high tariffs and the national bank;<ref name="Howe 2007 203–204">{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=203–204}}</ref> regionalism played a central role, with Jackson strongest in the West. Jackson won a plurality of the popular and [[United States Electoral College|electoral vote]] in the 1824 election, but not a majority. The House of Representatives had to decide. Speaker Clay supported Adams, who was elected as president by the House, and Clay was appointed Secretary of State. Jackson called it a "corrupt bargain".<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 6–7</ref>
[[File:Clay 1848.jpg|alt=|thumb|220x220px|[[Henry Clay]], a founder of the Whig Party in the 1830s and its 1844 presidential nominee]]

In the years following the 1824 election, former members of the Democratic-Republican Party split into hostile factions. Supporters of President Adams and Clay joined with many former Federalists such as [[Daniel Webster]] to form a group informally known as the "Adams party".<ref name="holt78"/> Meanwhile, supporters of Jackson, Crawford, and Vice President [[John C. Calhoun]] joined in opposing the Adams administration's nationalist agenda, becoming informally known as "Jacksonians".<ref name="holt78">Holt (1999), pp. 7–8</ref> Due in part to the superior organization (by Martin Van Buren) of the Jacksonians, Jackson defeated Adams in the [[1828 United States presidential election|1828 presidential election]], taking 56 percent of the popular vote.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 8–9</ref> Clay became the leader of the [[National Republican Party]], which opposed President Jackson. By the early 1830s, the Jacksonians organized into the new [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref name="Holt 1999, pp. 10–11">Holt (1999), pp. 10–11</ref>

Despite Jackson's decisive victory in the 1828 election, National Republicans initially believed that Jackson's party would collapse once Jackson took office. Vice President Calhoun split from the administration in 1831. Still, differences over the tariff prevented Calhoun's followers from joining the National Republicans.<ref name="Holt 1999, pp. 10–11"/> Meanwhile, the [[Anti-Masonic Party]] formed following the disappearance and possible murder of [[William Morgan (anti-Mason)|William Morgan]] in 1826.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=139–141}} The Anti-Masonic movement, strongest in the Northeast, gave rise to or expanded the use of many innovations which became an accepted practice among other parties, including nominating conventions and party newspapers.<ref>Arthur Goldwag, ''The New Hate: A History of Fear and Loathing on the Populist Right'' (2012) p. 172.</ref> Clay rejected overtures from the Anti-Masonic Party, and his attempt to convince Calhoun to serve as his running mate failed, leaving the opposition to Jackson split among different leaders when the National Republicans nominated Clay for president.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=139–141}}

Hoping to make the national bank a key issue of the 1832 election, the National Republicans convinced national bank president [[Nicholas Biddle (banker)|Nicholas Biddle]] to request an extension of the national bank's charter, but their strategy backfired when Jackson successfully portrayed his veto of the recharter as a victory for the people against an elitist institution.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 15–16</ref> Jackson won another decisive victory in the [[1832 United States presidential election|1832 presidential election]], taking 55 percent of the national popular vote and 88 percent of the popular vote in the [[Slave states and free states|slavery state]]s south of Kentucky and Maryland.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 17–18</ref> Clay's defeat discredited the National Republican Party, encouraging those opposed to Jackson to seek to create a more effective opposition party.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 18–19</ref> Jackson, by 1832, was determined to destroy the bank (the Second Bank of the United States), which Whigs supported.<ref>Sean Wilentz says, "Jackson's decision to destroy the Second Bank of the United States caught some of his own supporters by surprise." Sean Wilentz, ''Andrew Jackson'' (2007) p 74.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=20–21}}</ref>