Editing Whig Party (United States) (section)

=== Party leaders ===
[[File:Charles Sumner - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Sumner]], an anti-slavery "Conscience Whig" who later joined the Republican Party]]
[[File:The Public Library of the city of Boston - a history (1911) (14594074519).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Edward Everett]], a pro-South "Cotton Whig"]]

Henry Clay of Kentucky was the party's congressional leader from the time of its formation in 1833 until his resignation from the Senate in 1842, and he remained an important Whig leader until his death in 1852.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 26–27, 146,</ref> His frequent rival for leadership of the party was Daniel Webster, who represented Massachusetts in the Senate and served as Secretary of State under three Whig presidents.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. , 325</ref> Clay and Webster each repeatedly sought the Whig presidential nomination, but, excepting Clay's nomination in 1844, the Whigs consistently nominated individuals who had served as generals, specifically William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott. Harrison, Taylor, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore all served as president, though Tyler was expelled from the Whig Party shortly after taking office in 1841. [[Benjamin Robbins Curtis]] was the lone Whig to serve on the [[Supreme Court of the United States]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huebner |first1=Timothy S. |title=The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy |url=https://archive.org/details/taneycourtjustic00hueb |url-access=limited |date=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1576073681 |page=[https://archive.org/details/taneycourtjustic00hueb/page/n111 97]}}</ref> though later Supreme Court justices like [[John Marshall Harlan]] affiliated with the Whig Party early in their career before joining the Court as members of another party.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Luxenberg |first1=Steve |title=Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation |date=2019 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393239379 |pages=34–35}}</ref>

During the time of the party's existence, numerous other Whig leaders emerged, including [[Truman Smith]] of Connecticut, who Holt describes as "the Whigs' closest equivalent to a modern national party chairman" for his efforts to raise money, deliver the Whig message, and build up the party nationwide.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 236–237</ref> In New York, William Seward and Thurlow Weed established an influential organization and competed with Millard Fillmore's faction of the party.<ref>Holt (1999), p. 506</ref> John M. Clayton of Delaware and John C. Crittenden of Kentucky were important border state Whigs who were influential in the Taylor administration.<ref name="holt407410">Holt (1999), pp. 407–410</ref>

Supreme Court Justice [[John McLean]] of Ohio commanded a following in the party and was a perennial aspirant for the Whig presidential nomination, but he maintained his independence from the party and never ran for office as a Whig candidate.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 261–262</ref> [[Thomas Corwin]] of Ohio emerged in the 1840s as a leading opponent of the Mexican–American War, and he later served as Fillmore's Secretary of the Treasury.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 265–266</ref> [[William Cabell Rives]] of Virginia joined the Whig Party over dissatisfaction with Van Buren's handling of the Independent Treasury, and he became a prominent conservative Whig.<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 67–68, 287–288</ref>

In Georgia, future Confederate Vice President [[Alexander H. Stephens]] and [[Robert Toombs]] competed for influence with their intra-party rival, [[John M. Berrien]].<ref>Holt (1999), pp. 286–287</ref> Future [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] President [[Abraham Lincoln]] served a single term as a Whig congressman representing Illinois.<ref>Holt (1999), p. 288</ref>

One strength of the Whigs was a superb network of newspapers—their leading editor was [[Horace Greeley]] of the powerful ''[[New-York Tribune|New-York Daily Tribune]]''.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Robert C. |title=Horace Greeley: Champion of American Freedom |publisher=New York University Press |year=2006 |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814789056.003.0008 |page=29 |language=English}}</ref> The ''[[Boston Atlas]]'', under the leadership of Richard Haughton and [[Richard Hildreth]], also emerged as an important Whig paper.<ref>Wilentz (2005), p. 483</ref> Influenced by the writings of [[Thomas Robert Malthus|Thomas Malthus]] and [[David Ricardo]], [[Henry Charles Carey]] became the leading Whig economist in the 1830s. Other prominent Whig-aligned intellectuals and public figures include journalist [[John G. Palfrey]] of the ''[[North American Review]]'', novelist [[John P. Kennedy]], and historian [[William H. Prescott]].<ref>Wilentz (2005), pp. 488–491</ref>