A_Silent_Majority_Member
02-21-2012, 09:39 AM
It was in the wee hours of the Am and I was wondering why were always stuck with a 2 party system and got to digging... several hours and a monster headaache later.. this is as far as I got. I post here to share with all my findings and conclusions thus far since as it sits I am now exhausted from lack of sleep.
1789 our first election. John Adams runs against Washington. Wasington (an independant) wins.
1792 the anti-federalist movement enters play while again John Adams runs against washington. Washington wins again.
1796 John Adams as Federalist party elected President
-Anti Federalists become Democratic-Republican Party-
1800 Jefferson - Democratic-Republican Party
1804 Jefferson
1808 Madison - Democratic-Republican Party
1812 Madison
1816 Monroe - Democratic-Republican Party
- ENter John Quincy Adams (of the former Federalist persuasion-Son of former federalist president John Adams)-
1820 John Quincy Adams Runs as Independant against Monroe and loses
- Start the coup -
1824 all major candidates democratic-republican party (Including the winner, former federalist-John Quincy Adams.. WTF?!?!?!)
ahhhh...
- Enter Henry Clay -
a leading war hawk, he favored war with Britain and played a significant role in leading the nation to war in 1812. Later he was involved in the "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824, after which he was appointed Secretary of State by newly elected President John Quincy Adams.
In 1824, Jackson ran for President but was defeated. Though Jackson had won the popular vote, neither he nor any of the other candidates (John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford) had won a majority of the electoral vote. The House of Representatives then had to select the verdict; Clay, who had received the least amount of electoral votes and dropped from the ballot, supported Adams. Clay's support proved to be the deciding factor in the House and Adams was elected President. Adams then offered Clay a position in the Cabinet as Secretary of State.
- anti-masonic movement formed as opposition against Jackson/ties with John Quincy Adams -
1828 Democratic-Republican party split into democratic party (Andrew Jackson) vs. national republican party (John Quincy Adams) - Democratic party wins. Jackson elected Pres.
1832 - Jackson, in a bitter battle against Henry Clay Wins despite an effort to split the vote by the fake (co-opted?) Anti-Masonic Movement.
- National Republican party goes ingognito and with the help of co-opting the anti-masonic movement forms the whig party which is led by national republican cohorts Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams -
1836 whig party makes a bid with 3 candidates running - Democrat & former VP to Jackson Martin Van Buren wins.
On the expiration of his term, Van Buren returned to his estate, Lindenwald in Kinderhook, where he planned out his return to the White House. He seemed to have the advantage for the nomination in 1844; his famous letter of April 27, 1844, in which he frankly opposed the immediate annexation of Texas, though doubtlessly contributing greatly to his defeat, was not made public until he felt practically sure of the nomination. In the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, he did not have the two-thirds which the convention required, and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. James K. Polk received the nomination instead.
- rebel forces try to stop tptb -
1840 whig takes the helm via Henry William Harrison- president dies in office
In March 1840, Harrison pledged to serve only one term as President if elected, a pledge which reflected popular support for a Constitutional limit to Presidential terms among many in the Whig Party. Harrison went on to victory in 1840, defeating Van Buren's re-election bid largely as a result of the Panic of 1837 and subsequent depression. Harrison served only 31 days and became the first President to die in office. He was succeeded by John Tyler, a Virginian and states' rights absolutist. Tyler vetoed the Whig economic legislation and was expelled from the Whig party in 1841. He was the first to succeed to the office of president following the death of a predecessor. Tyler's opposition to nationalism and emphatic support of states' rights endeared him to his fellow Virginians but alienated him from most of the political allies that brought him to power in Washington. His presidency was crippled by opposition from both parties, and at the end of his life he would join the South in secession from the United States.Despite supporting Jackson in the previous election, Tyler would soon find points of disagreement with the Democratic president, who was inaugurated in March 1829. He was frustrated by Jackson's newly emerging spoils system, describing it as an "electioneering weapon". He voted against many of the president's nominations when they appeared to be based on patronage or did not follow Constitutional procedure. Such an act was considered "an act of insurgency" against his party. He was particularly offended by Jackson's use of the recess appointment to install three treaty commissioners to meet with Turkey; he authored a bill chastising the president for this use of executive power.
Still, Tyler attempted to remain on good terms with Jackson, only opposing him on principle rather than partisanship. He defended Jackson for vetoing the Maysville Road funding project, which Jackson considered unconstitutional. He voted to confirm several of the president's appointments (including Jackson's future running mate Martin Van Buren) amid strong opposition from the National Republicans. The leading issue in the 1832 presidential election was the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States, which both Tyler and Jackson opposed. Congress voted to recharter the bank in July 1832, and Jackson vetoed the bill for a mixture of constitutional and practical reasons. Tyler voted to sustain the veto and endorsed Jackson for re-election.
He delivered a de facto inaugural address on April 9 reasserting his fundamental tenets of Jeffersonian democracy and limited federal power. Tyler's claim was not immediately accepted by opposition members in Congress such as John Quincy Adams, who argued for Tyler to assume a role as a caretaker under the title of "Acting President", or remain Vice President in name. Among those who questioned Tyler's authority was Whig leader Henry Clay, who had intended to be "the real power behind a fumbling throne" and exercise considerable influence over Harrison and now transferred that ambition onto his close friend, Tyler. He saw Tyler as the "Vice-President" and his presidency as a mere "regency".
Tyler quickly found himself at odds with his former political supporters. Harrison had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and to work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay. The former Democrat shocked Congressional Whigs by vetoing most of their entire agenda. Twice he vetoed Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837 – even after the bill had been tailored to meet his stated objections in the first veto – leaving the government deadlocked.
On September 11, 1841, following the second bank veto, members of the cabinet entered Tyler's office one by one and resigned – an orchestration by Clay to force Tyler's resignation (and place his own lieutenant, Senate President Pro Tempore Samuel L. Southard, in the White House). The exception was Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who remained to finalize what became the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, as well as to demonstrate his independence from Clay. Two days later, when the president stood firm, the Whigs in Congress officially expelled Tyler from the party. A national backlash ensued, as Tyler was lambasted by Whig newspapers and received hundreds of letters threatening his assassination
A House select committee headed by former president John Quincy Adams, who was now a member of Congress, condemned Tyler's use of the veto and assailed his character. While the committee's report did not formally recommend impeachment, it clearly established the possibility. In August 1842, by a vote of 98–90, the House endorsed the committee's report. Adams sponsored a constitutional amendment to change the two-thirds requirement to override a veto to a simple majority, but neither house passed such a measure. The Whigs were unable to pursue further impeachment proceedings in the subsequent 28th Congress, as in the elections of 1842 they lost control of the House (although they retained a majority in the Senate). Near the end of Tyler's term in office, on March 3, 1845, Congress overrode his veto of a minor bill relating to revenue cutters. This marked the first time any president's veto had been overridden.
1844 democratic party wins again against attempt of Clay to take office under the whig banner in place of Tyler. Winner-James k. Polk, a firm supporter of Jackson.
- The Rebel Alliance is formed....annndddd co-opted -
The burnhammers of jacksons days & The Liberty Party and the co-opting by the Conscience whigs headed by Charles Francis Adams (the son of John Quincy Adams).
The Burnhammers:
The Barnburners opposed expanding the public debt, and the power of the large corporations; they also generally came to oppose the extension of slavery. A long-standing faction in the Democratic politics of the state of New York, they were led by party boss (and eventual President) Martin Van Buren. When the Democratic party divided in 1824, most of them followed Van Buren in supporting Jackson. But by the 1848 presidential election they bolted from the party, refusing to support presidential nominee Lewis Cass, and instead joining with other anti-slavery groups, predominantly the Abolitionist Liberty Party and some anti-slavery Whigs in New England and the Midwest, to form the Free Soil Party
The Liberty Party:
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s (with some offshoots surviving into the 1850s and 1860s). The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. It broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document; William Lloyd Garrison, leader of the AASS, held the contrary view that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals; the radical Garrison, by contrast, opposed voting and working within the system.
The party did not attract much support; in the 1840 election, Birney received only 6,797 votes, and in the 1844 election 62,103 votes (2.3% of the popular vote). However, it may have thrown victory from Henry Clay to James Polk in the 1844 election, with Birney having received 15,800 votes in New York and Polk winning New York by 5,100 votes. If Clay had won New York, he would have had the majority of electoral votes, not Polk.
In 1848, with the political sentiment stirred up by the Wilmot Proviso controversies, and the "Barnburner" faction of New York Democrats splitting off from the rest of the Democratic party, there was the possibility of forming a much larger and more influential political grouping devoted to anti-slavery goals—but not all of whom considered themselves to be primarily abolitionists as such, or were willing to work under the Liberty Party name. Therefore, many Liberty Party members met in Buffalo, New York with other groups in August 1848 to form the Free Soil Party, a party that, although opposed to slavery, was not strictly speaking abolitionist.
Conscience whigs:
The "Conscience" Whigs were a faction of the Whig Party in the state of Massachusetts noted for their moral opposition to slavery. They were noted as opponents of the more conservative "Cotton" Whigs who dominated the state party, led by such figures as Edward Everett, Robert C. Winthrop, and Abbott Lawrence, whose close association with the New England textile industry led them to de-emphasize the slavery issue. Leaders of the "Conscience Whigs" included Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, and Charles Francis Adams. The group split from the Whig party in 1848, when the national party nominated the slave-owning General Zachary Taylor for President, and played a role in the creation of the new Free Soil Party, which nominated Adams for Vice President in that year. Following the failure of the Free Soil Party in that year, however, many Conscience Whigs returned to the Whig fold, and their leaders played an important role later in the foundation of the Republican Party (Already there via National Republican party that formed the whigs in the first place!).
Supplemental-The Free Soil Party:
The Free Soil Party later merged with the Republican Party in 1854.
1848 whig wins again via Zachary Taylor- president dies in office
In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never reportedly revealed his political beliefs before 1848, nor voted before that time. He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that Andrew Jackson should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in 1836. He believed it was impractical to talk about expanding slavery into the western areas of the United States, as he concluded that neither cotton nor sugar (both were produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a plantation economy. He was also a firm nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, he believed that secession was not a good way to resolve national problems. Taylor, although he did not agree with their stand on protective tariffs and expensive internal improvements, aligned himself with Whig Party governing policies; the President should not be able to veto a law, unless that law was against the Constitution of the United States; that the office should not interfere with Congress, and that the power of collective decision-making, as well as the Cabinet, should be strong.
Taylor ignored the Whig platform, as historian Michael F. Holt explains:
Taylor was equally indifferent to programs Whigs had long considered vital. Publicly, he was artfully ambiguous, refusing to answer questions about his views on banking, the tariff, and internal improvements. Privately, he was more forthright. The idea of a national bank 'is dead, and will not be revived in my time.' In the future the tariff "will be increased only for revenue"; in other words, Whig hopes of restoring the protective tariff of 1842 were vain. There would never again be surplus federal funds from public land sales to distribute to the states, and internal improvements 'will go on in spite of presidential vetoes.' In a few words, that is, Taylor pronounced an epitaph for the entire Whig economic program.
The slavery issue dominated Taylor's short term. Although he owned slaves on his plantation in Louisiana, he took a moderate stance on the territorial expansion of slavery, angering fellow Southerners. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered. Henry Clay then proposed a complex Compromise of 1850. Taylor died as it was being debated. (The Clay version failed but another version did pass under the new president, Millard Fillmore.)
Taylor was firmly opposed to the Compromise of 1850 and committed to the admission of California as a free state and had proclaimed that he would take military action to prevent secession. In July 1850, Taylor died; Vice President Millard Fillmore, a long-time Whig, became the President, and he helped push the Compromise through Congress.
1852 democratic party wins again via Franklin Pierce (fake/installed candidate) over whig party Winfield Scott
Pierce enlisted in the volunteer services during the Mexican-American War and rose to the rank of colonel. In March 1847, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and took command of a brigade of reinforcements for Winfield Scott's army marching on Mexico City.
At the Democratic National Convention of 1852, Pierce was not a serious candidate for the presidential nomination. He had no credentials as a major political figure or leader, and had not held elective office for the last ten years. The convention assembled on June 1 in Baltimore, Maryland, with four major contenders—Stephen A. Douglas, William L. Marcy, James Buchanan and Lewis Cass – for the nomination. Most of those who had left the party with Martin Van Buren to form the Free Soil Party had returned. To unite the various Democratic Party factions before voting on a nominee, delegates adopted a party platform that rejected further "agitation" over the slavery issue and supported the Compromise of 1850.
When the balloting for president began, the four candidates deadlocked, with no candidate reaching even a simple majority, much less the required supermajority of two-thirds. On the thirty-fifth ballot, Pierce was put forth to break the deadlock as a compromise candidate. Pierce's long career as a party activist and consistent supporter of Democratic positions made him popular among delegates. He had never fully explained his views on slavery, allowing all factions to view him as reasonably acceptable. His service in the Mexican-American War would allow the party to portray him as a war hero. On June 5, delegates unanimously nominated Pierce on the 49th ballot. Alabama Senator William R. King was chosen as the nominee for Vice President.
The United States Whig Party's candidate was General Winfield Scott of Virginia, under whom Pierce had served in the Mexican-American War; his running mate was Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham. Scott – nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers" – ran a blundering campaign.
The Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, reducing the campaign to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates and helping to drive voter turnout in the election to its lowest level since 1836. Pierce's affable personality and lack of strongly held positions helped him prevail over Scott, whose antislavery views hurt him in the South. Pierce's military service effectively neutralized Scott's reputation as a celebrated war hero. Irish Catholic support of the Democratic Party and disdain for the Whig Party also helped Pierce.
- the 2 headed "democrat vs. republican" hydra is born and continues to this day. -
With 2 parties taken over that are now a near mirror of one another.. time for a change... and behold! the majority of whigs and other parties with their purest patriots rooted out and disected.. 1 by 1 merge with and join the republican party.
1856-2012=democrat vs. republican dominate with little shot in hell for a successful 3rd party run.
Notes on Federalist:
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801. The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban bankers and businessmen, to support his fiscal policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire presidency. The Federalist policies called for a national bank, tariffs, and good relations with Britain as expressed in the Jay Treaty negotiated in 1794. Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans(formally anti-federalists), led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, denounced most of the Federalist policies, especially the bank, and vehemently attacked the Jay Treaty as a sell-out of republican values to the British monarchy.
Notes on Anti-Federalists:
Anti-federalists included Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. This faction later evolved into the Jeffersonian Democrats which at the time came to be called the " Democratic-Republican Party."
Notes on Anti Masononic:
The Anti-Masonic Party (also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement) introduced key innovations to American politics, such as nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms.
Opposition to Masonry was taken up by the churches as a sort of religious crusade, and it also became a local political issue in Western New York, where, early in 1827, the citizens in many mass meetings resolved to support no Mason for public office.
In New York at this time the faction supporting President John Quincy Adams, called "Adams men," or the "Anti-Jackson" faction, were a very feeble organization, and shrewd political leaders at once determined to utilize the strong anti-Masonic feeling in creating a new and vigorous party to oppose the rising Jacksonian Democracy.
in New York in 1833 the organization was moribund, and its members gradually united with the National Republicans and other opponents of Jacksonian democracy in forming the Whig Party.
Notes on whig: Abraham Lincoln was the chief Whig leader in frontier Illinois.
Formed by the National Republicans and led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, the whig party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party.
In its two decades of existence, the Whig Party had two of its candidates, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, elected president. Both died in office. John Tyler succeeded to the presidency after Harrison's death but was expelled from the party. Millard Fillmore, who succeeded to the presidency after Taylor's death, was the last Whig to hold the nation's highest office.
Most Whig party leaders quit politics (as Lincoln did temporarily) or changed parties. The northern voter base mostly joined the new Republican Party.
1789 our first election. John Adams runs against Washington. Wasington (an independant) wins.
1792 the anti-federalist movement enters play while again John Adams runs against washington. Washington wins again.
1796 John Adams as Federalist party elected President
-Anti Federalists become Democratic-Republican Party-
1800 Jefferson - Democratic-Republican Party
1804 Jefferson
1808 Madison - Democratic-Republican Party
1812 Madison
1816 Monroe - Democratic-Republican Party
- ENter John Quincy Adams (of the former Federalist persuasion-Son of former federalist president John Adams)-
1820 John Quincy Adams Runs as Independant against Monroe and loses
- Start the coup -
1824 all major candidates democratic-republican party (Including the winner, former federalist-John Quincy Adams.. WTF?!?!?!)
ahhhh...
- Enter Henry Clay -
a leading war hawk, he favored war with Britain and played a significant role in leading the nation to war in 1812. Later he was involved in the "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824, after which he was appointed Secretary of State by newly elected President John Quincy Adams.
In 1824, Jackson ran for President but was defeated. Though Jackson had won the popular vote, neither he nor any of the other candidates (John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford) had won a majority of the electoral vote. The House of Representatives then had to select the verdict; Clay, who had received the least amount of electoral votes and dropped from the ballot, supported Adams. Clay's support proved to be the deciding factor in the House and Adams was elected President. Adams then offered Clay a position in the Cabinet as Secretary of State.
- anti-masonic movement formed as opposition against Jackson/ties with John Quincy Adams -
1828 Democratic-Republican party split into democratic party (Andrew Jackson) vs. national republican party (John Quincy Adams) - Democratic party wins. Jackson elected Pres.
1832 - Jackson, in a bitter battle against Henry Clay Wins despite an effort to split the vote by the fake (co-opted?) Anti-Masonic Movement.
- National Republican party goes ingognito and with the help of co-opting the anti-masonic movement forms the whig party which is led by national republican cohorts Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams -
1836 whig party makes a bid with 3 candidates running - Democrat & former VP to Jackson Martin Van Buren wins.
On the expiration of his term, Van Buren returned to his estate, Lindenwald in Kinderhook, where he planned out his return to the White House. He seemed to have the advantage for the nomination in 1844; his famous letter of April 27, 1844, in which he frankly opposed the immediate annexation of Texas, though doubtlessly contributing greatly to his defeat, was not made public until he felt practically sure of the nomination. In the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, he did not have the two-thirds which the convention required, and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. James K. Polk received the nomination instead.
- rebel forces try to stop tptb -
1840 whig takes the helm via Henry William Harrison- president dies in office
In March 1840, Harrison pledged to serve only one term as President if elected, a pledge which reflected popular support for a Constitutional limit to Presidential terms among many in the Whig Party. Harrison went on to victory in 1840, defeating Van Buren's re-election bid largely as a result of the Panic of 1837 and subsequent depression. Harrison served only 31 days and became the first President to die in office. He was succeeded by John Tyler, a Virginian and states' rights absolutist. Tyler vetoed the Whig economic legislation and was expelled from the Whig party in 1841. He was the first to succeed to the office of president following the death of a predecessor. Tyler's opposition to nationalism and emphatic support of states' rights endeared him to his fellow Virginians but alienated him from most of the political allies that brought him to power in Washington. His presidency was crippled by opposition from both parties, and at the end of his life he would join the South in secession from the United States.Despite supporting Jackson in the previous election, Tyler would soon find points of disagreement with the Democratic president, who was inaugurated in March 1829. He was frustrated by Jackson's newly emerging spoils system, describing it as an "electioneering weapon". He voted against many of the president's nominations when they appeared to be based on patronage or did not follow Constitutional procedure. Such an act was considered "an act of insurgency" against his party. He was particularly offended by Jackson's use of the recess appointment to install three treaty commissioners to meet with Turkey; he authored a bill chastising the president for this use of executive power.
Still, Tyler attempted to remain on good terms with Jackson, only opposing him on principle rather than partisanship. He defended Jackson for vetoing the Maysville Road funding project, which Jackson considered unconstitutional. He voted to confirm several of the president's appointments (including Jackson's future running mate Martin Van Buren) amid strong opposition from the National Republicans. The leading issue in the 1832 presidential election was the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States, which both Tyler and Jackson opposed. Congress voted to recharter the bank in July 1832, and Jackson vetoed the bill for a mixture of constitutional and practical reasons. Tyler voted to sustain the veto and endorsed Jackson for re-election.
He delivered a de facto inaugural address on April 9 reasserting his fundamental tenets of Jeffersonian democracy and limited federal power. Tyler's claim was not immediately accepted by opposition members in Congress such as John Quincy Adams, who argued for Tyler to assume a role as a caretaker under the title of "Acting President", or remain Vice President in name. Among those who questioned Tyler's authority was Whig leader Henry Clay, who had intended to be "the real power behind a fumbling throne" and exercise considerable influence over Harrison and now transferred that ambition onto his close friend, Tyler. He saw Tyler as the "Vice-President" and his presidency as a mere "regency".
Tyler quickly found himself at odds with his former political supporters. Harrison had been expected to adhere closely to Whig Party policies and to work closely with Whig leaders, particularly Henry Clay. The former Democrat shocked Congressional Whigs by vetoing most of their entire agenda. Twice he vetoed Clay's legislation for a national banking act following the Panic of 1837 – even after the bill had been tailored to meet his stated objections in the first veto – leaving the government deadlocked.
On September 11, 1841, following the second bank veto, members of the cabinet entered Tyler's office one by one and resigned – an orchestration by Clay to force Tyler's resignation (and place his own lieutenant, Senate President Pro Tempore Samuel L. Southard, in the White House). The exception was Secretary of State Daniel Webster, who remained to finalize what became the 1842 Webster-Ashburton Treaty, as well as to demonstrate his independence from Clay. Two days later, when the president stood firm, the Whigs in Congress officially expelled Tyler from the party. A national backlash ensued, as Tyler was lambasted by Whig newspapers and received hundreds of letters threatening his assassination
A House select committee headed by former president John Quincy Adams, who was now a member of Congress, condemned Tyler's use of the veto and assailed his character. While the committee's report did not formally recommend impeachment, it clearly established the possibility. In August 1842, by a vote of 98–90, the House endorsed the committee's report. Adams sponsored a constitutional amendment to change the two-thirds requirement to override a veto to a simple majority, but neither house passed such a measure. The Whigs were unable to pursue further impeachment proceedings in the subsequent 28th Congress, as in the elections of 1842 they lost control of the House (although they retained a majority in the Senate). Near the end of Tyler's term in office, on March 3, 1845, Congress overrode his veto of a minor bill relating to revenue cutters. This marked the first time any president's veto had been overridden.
1844 democratic party wins again against attempt of Clay to take office under the whig banner in place of Tyler. Winner-James k. Polk, a firm supporter of Jackson.
- The Rebel Alliance is formed....annndddd co-opted -
The burnhammers of jacksons days & The Liberty Party and the co-opting by the Conscience whigs headed by Charles Francis Adams (the son of John Quincy Adams).
The Burnhammers:
The Barnburners opposed expanding the public debt, and the power of the large corporations; they also generally came to oppose the extension of slavery. A long-standing faction in the Democratic politics of the state of New York, they were led by party boss (and eventual President) Martin Van Buren. When the Democratic party divided in 1824, most of them followed Van Buren in supporting Jackson. But by the 1848 presidential election they bolted from the party, refusing to support presidential nominee Lewis Cass, and instead joining with other anti-slavery groups, predominantly the Abolitionist Liberty Party and some anti-slavery Whigs in New England and the Midwest, to form the Free Soil Party
The Liberty Party:
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s (with some offshoots surviving into the 1850s and 1860s). The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. It broke away from the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) to advocate the view that the Constitution was an anti-slavery document; William Lloyd Garrison, leader of the AASS, held the contrary view that the Constitution should be condemned as an evil pro-slavery document. The party included abolitionists who were willing to work within electoral politics to try to influence people to support their goals; the radical Garrison, by contrast, opposed voting and working within the system.
The party did not attract much support; in the 1840 election, Birney received only 6,797 votes, and in the 1844 election 62,103 votes (2.3% of the popular vote). However, it may have thrown victory from Henry Clay to James Polk in the 1844 election, with Birney having received 15,800 votes in New York and Polk winning New York by 5,100 votes. If Clay had won New York, he would have had the majority of electoral votes, not Polk.
In 1848, with the political sentiment stirred up by the Wilmot Proviso controversies, and the "Barnburner" faction of New York Democrats splitting off from the rest of the Democratic party, there was the possibility of forming a much larger and more influential political grouping devoted to anti-slavery goals—but not all of whom considered themselves to be primarily abolitionists as such, or were willing to work under the Liberty Party name. Therefore, many Liberty Party members met in Buffalo, New York with other groups in August 1848 to form the Free Soil Party, a party that, although opposed to slavery, was not strictly speaking abolitionist.
Conscience whigs:
The "Conscience" Whigs were a faction of the Whig Party in the state of Massachusetts noted for their moral opposition to slavery. They were noted as opponents of the more conservative "Cotton" Whigs who dominated the state party, led by such figures as Edward Everett, Robert C. Winthrop, and Abbott Lawrence, whose close association with the New England textile industry led them to de-emphasize the slavery issue. Leaders of the "Conscience Whigs" included Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, and Charles Francis Adams. The group split from the Whig party in 1848, when the national party nominated the slave-owning General Zachary Taylor for President, and played a role in the creation of the new Free Soil Party, which nominated Adams for Vice President in that year. Following the failure of the Free Soil Party in that year, however, many Conscience Whigs returned to the Whig fold, and their leaders played an important role later in the foundation of the Republican Party (Already there via National Republican party that formed the whigs in the first place!).
Supplemental-The Free Soil Party:
The Free Soil Party later merged with the Republican Party in 1854.
1848 whig wins again via Zachary Taylor- president dies in office
In his capacity as a career officer, Taylor had never reportedly revealed his political beliefs before 1848, nor voted before that time. He thought of himself as an independent, believing in a strong and sound banking system for the country, and thought that Andrew Jackson should not have allowed the Second Bank of the United States to collapse in 1836. He believed it was impractical to talk about expanding slavery into the western areas of the United States, as he concluded that neither cotton nor sugar (both were produced in great quantities as a result of slavery) could be easily grown there through a plantation economy. He was also a firm nationalist, and due to his experience of seeing many people die as a result of warfare, he believed that secession was not a good way to resolve national problems. Taylor, although he did not agree with their stand on protective tariffs and expensive internal improvements, aligned himself with Whig Party governing policies; the President should not be able to veto a law, unless that law was against the Constitution of the United States; that the office should not interfere with Congress, and that the power of collective decision-making, as well as the Cabinet, should be strong.
Taylor ignored the Whig platform, as historian Michael F. Holt explains:
Taylor was equally indifferent to programs Whigs had long considered vital. Publicly, he was artfully ambiguous, refusing to answer questions about his views on banking, the tariff, and internal improvements. Privately, he was more forthright. The idea of a national bank 'is dead, and will not be revived in my time.' In the future the tariff "will be increased only for revenue"; in other words, Whig hopes of restoring the protective tariff of 1842 were vain. There would never again be surplus federal funds from public land sales to distribute to the states, and internal improvements 'will go on in spite of presidential vetoes.' In a few words, that is, Taylor pronounced an epitaph for the entire Whig economic program.
The slavery issue dominated Taylor's short term. Although he owned slaves on his plantation in Louisiana, he took a moderate stance on the territorial expansion of slavery, angering fellow Southerners. He told them that if necessary to enforce the laws, he personally would lead the Army. Persons "taken in rebellion against the Union, he would hang ... with less reluctance than he had hanged deserters and spies in Mexico." He never wavered. Henry Clay then proposed a complex Compromise of 1850. Taylor died as it was being debated. (The Clay version failed but another version did pass under the new president, Millard Fillmore.)
Taylor was firmly opposed to the Compromise of 1850 and committed to the admission of California as a free state and had proclaimed that he would take military action to prevent secession. In July 1850, Taylor died; Vice President Millard Fillmore, a long-time Whig, became the President, and he helped push the Compromise through Congress.
1852 democratic party wins again via Franklin Pierce (fake/installed candidate) over whig party Winfield Scott
Pierce enlisted in the volunteer services during the Mexican-American War and rose to the rank of colonel. In March 1847, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and took command of a brigade of reinforcements for Winfield Scott's army marching on Mexico City.
At the Democratic National Convention of 1852, Pierce was not a serious candidate for the presidential nomination. He had no credentials as a major political figure or leader, and had not held elective office for the last ten years. The convention assembled on June 1 in Baltimore, Maryland, with four major contenders—Stephen A. Douglas, William L. Marcy, James Buchanan and Lewis Cass – for the nomination. Most of those who had left the party with Martin Van Buren to form the Free Soil Party had returned. To unite the various Democratic Party factions before voting on a nominee, delegates adopted a party platform that rejected further "agitation" over the slavery issue and supported the Compromise of 1850.
When the balloting for president began, the four candidates deadlocked, with no candidate reaching even a simple majority, much less the required supermajority of two-thirds. On the thirty-fifth ballot, Pierce was put forth to break the deadlock as a compromise candidate. Pierce's long career as a party activist and consistent supporter of Democratic positions made him popular among delegates. He had never fully explained his views on slavery, allowing all factions to view him as reasonably acceptable. His service in the Mexican-American War would allow the party to portray him as a war hero. On June 5, delegates unanimously nominated Pierce on the 49th ballot. Alabama Senator William R. King was chosen as the nominee for Vice President.
The United States Whig Party's candidate was General Winfield Scott of Virginia, under whom Pierce had served in the Mexican-American War; his running mate was Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham. Scott – nicknamed "Old Fuss and Feathers" – ran a blundering campaign.
The Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, reducing the campaign to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates and helping to drive voter turnout in the election to its lowest level since 1836. Pierce's affable personality and lack of strongly held positions helped him prevail over Scott, whose antislavery views hurt him in the South. Pierce's military service effectively neutralized Scott's reputation as a celebrated war hero. Irish Catholic support of the Democratic Party and disdain for the Whig Party also helped Pierce.
- the 2 headed "democrat vs. republican" hydra is born and continues to this day. -
With 2 parties taken over that are now a near mirror of one another.. time for a change... and behold! the majority of whigs and other parties with their purest patriots rooted out and disected.. 1 by 1 merge with and join the republican party.
1856-2012=democrat vs. republican dominate with little shot in hell for a successful 3rd party run.
Notes on Federalist:
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801. The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban bankers and businessmen, to support his fiscal policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The United States' only Federalist president was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire presidency. The Federalist policies called for a national bank, tariffs, and good relations with Britain as expressed in the Jay Treaty negotiated in 1794. Their political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans(formally anti-federalists), led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, denounced most of the Federalist policies, especially the bank, and vehemently attacked the Jay Treaty as a sell-out of republican values to the British monarchy.
Notes on Anti-Federalists:
Anti-federalists included Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. This faction later evolved into the Jeffersonian Democrats which at the time came to be called the " Democratic-Republican Party."
Notes on Anti Masononic:
The Anti-Masonic Party (also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement) introduced key innovations to American politics, such as nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms.
Opposition to Masonry was taken up by the churches as a sort of religious crusade, and it also became a local political issue in Western New York, where, early in 1827, the citizens in many mass meetings resolved to support no Mason for public office.
In New York at this time the faction supporting President John Quincy Adams, called "Adams men," or the "Anti-Jackson" faction, were a very feeble organization, and shrewd political leaders at once determined to utilize the strong anti-Masonic feeling in creating a new and vigorous party to oppose the rising Jacksonian Democracy.
in New York in 1833 the organization was moribund, and its members gradually united with the National Republicans and other opponents of Jacksonian democracy in forming the Whig Party.
Notes on whig: Abraham Lincoln was the chief Whig leader in frontier Illinois.
Formed by the National Republicans and led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, the whig party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party.
In its two decades of existence, the Whig Party had two of its candidates, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, elected president. Both died in office. John Tyler succeeded to the presidency after Harrison's death but was expelled from the party. Millard Fillmore, who succeeded to the presidency after Taylor's death, was the last Whig to hold the nation's highest office.
Most Whig party leaders quit politics (as Lincoln did temporarily) or changed parties. The northern voter base mostly joined the new Republican Party.