Emergence of Two New Political Parties (College Board AP® US History)

Summary

 All of the presidential candidates of this period considered themselves to be “Republicans” and followers of Thomas Jefferson. However, two rival political parties did emerge, and they had striking differences on several issues. These two parties were the Democratic Party and the Whig Party.

Timeline

Rivalry Between Democratic & Whig Parties

The Second Bank of the United States

• President Jackson strongly disliked the Second Bank of the United States because he believed it only served the wealthy

  • Suspicious of paper money, he thought only gold and silver should be used for transactions

  • Jackson felt people should not borrow money to pay for things they wanted

• In 1832, Nicholas Biddle, the bank president, applied to Congress to renew the bank’s charter

  • Henry Clay supported this effort

  • Both the House and the Senate voted in favor of renewing the charter

  • Clay believed he would win the 1832 presidential election if Jackson vetoed the charter

  • Clay planned to renew the charter after he won the election

• Jackson used his presidential veto to block the charter

  • He won the 1832 election

    • Henry Clay only received 38% of the popular vote

  • Jackson’s opponents formed a new political party called the Whigs

  • The Second Bank of the United States closed in 1836

Democratic Party

• Leader: Andrew Jackson 

• The Democratic party was in favor of: 

  • limited government

  • an independent treasury

  • aggressive foreign policy

  • white male equality 

  • economic independence for white men

  • keeping the issue of enslavement out of national affairs

  • expansion into new territories

• The Democratic party was against:

  • a weak executive branch

  • corporate monopolies 

  • high tariffs 

  • The Second Bank of the United States

  • the credit system 

  • nativism, temperance, or any movement that forced morality on others

  • privilege in government

  • federal funding for national infrastructure: roads, canals, etc.

Whig Party

• Leader: Henry Clay

• The Whig party often challenged or opposed the Democrats

• The Whig party were in favor of:

  • strong federal government

  • The Second Bank of the United States 

  • protective tariffs

  • federal relief legislation

  • fully funded national infrastructure: roads, canals, etc.

• The Whig party were against:

  • Andrew Jackson

  • ignoring Supreme Court decisions

  • challenging the Constitution

  • treating Indigenous groups harshly

Government and Infrastructure

• Clay and Jackson also disagreed over the federal government’s role in paying for infrastructure

  • Henry Clay believed the federal government should pay for infrastructure because roads and canals were necessary to connect all regions of the country

  • Andrew Jackson believed that infrastructure was:

    •  an unconstitutional expense because it asked states to pay for other state’s needs

    •  a way to expand power that would only benefit men with business connections

Tariff of 1828

• The tariff of 1828 was another issue which separated Northern and Southern States

• It raised import taxes by as much as 50% 

• The tariff benefitted

  • manufacturers in northeastern and middle states

  • farmers in western states

• The tariff was nicknamed the “Tariff of Abominations” by Vice President John C. Calhoun and the state of South Carolina because:

  • they claimed it was unconstitutional

  • it was seen as harmful to southern agriculture, favoring Northern manufacturing

• South Carolina’s congressional representatives discussed the possibility of seceding from the Union because of the tariff

Ordinance of Nullification (1832)

• South Carolina’s legislature responded by adopting the Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832

  • They declared the Tariff of 1828 and a subsequent 1832 tariff to be null, void, and unbinding within the state 

• It was asserted that states had the right to declare federal law as unconstitutional and refuse to follow it 

• South Carolina threatened secession if the federal government tried to use force to collect tariff payments 

• In response, Congress passed the Force Bill in 1833, authorizing the federal government to use military force on tariff collection

• A compromise tariff bill was also passed in 1833, which reduced tariff rates and helped ease tensions