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In the 1830s the rise οf a new political party in America emerged. During the presidency οf Monroe there was little turbulence created by opposition parties. Although there were no major opposing political parties during Monroe’s term, the formation οf parties began to occur during the Jacksonian democracy. Jackson’s opponents, who came to make up the Whig party, were strongly disturbed by his stubborn and harsh exercise οf presidential power. The Whigs condemned him as “King Andrew I”. While the Whig party was developing, the Democrats, a strong group founded earlier by Jefferson, were eager to challenge the Whigs. The Whigs and the Democrats strongly opposed each other’s beliefs, public policies, and supporters. Οf the many issues the Whigs and the Democrats disagreed on, slavery, banking, and tariffs were the most prominent arguments.
Southerners and south descendents in northern states generally supported the Democrats. Farmers and Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany also supported them. Generally the Democrats opposed a strong government, tariffs, were pro-slavery, and wanted strong national banks. New England citizens and their descendants, those benefiting from the market economy and other northern Protestants, generally supported the Whigs. They supported a strong federal government that promotes economic and social goals, tariffs, transportation and weak banks.
The Democrats, most strongly supported by Southerners, did not oppose the issue οf slavery. They felt that slavery should be left to do what it would naturally evolve. The Democrats let southerners know that slavery was safe as long as a Democratic Party committed to state’s rights was in power. Along with the limitation οf federal governmental power, they believed in states rights. Through state’s rights, the Democrats believed that slavery was an issue the individual state should monitor, not the national government. The Whigs strongly opposed slavery. Their supporters, form the north, thought slavery was immoral and unconstitutional. After all, through the Declaration οf Independence, “…all men were created equal.” The Whigs believed in strong government, thus limiting states rights.
They supported tariffs; they sought a high tariff that would protect northeastern factories from European competition, while at the same time it generated revenue for the national government. They proposed high prices for government in the west – a policy that would slow westward movement and increase federal revenue. Henry Clay, a prime supporter οf the Whigs, proposed the American System. Through the American System, the Whigs hoped to use money gathered from tariffs to construct roads and other forms οf transportation. With better forms οf transportation, manufactured and raw materials could easily be exchanged quicker. The Democrats saw the American System as an act οf unneeded tariffs. They wanted to keep tariffs at low costs and minimize the power οf government. Further, Democrats wanted to keep internal improvements within the state’s authority, not the national government, thus, they opposed the American System and other proposed tariffs.
Moreover, the Whigs insisted that the Bank οf the United States be maintained to stabilize currency and to discipline smaller banks. The Democrats wished to abolish the Bank οf America. They held it responsible for the financial panics οf 1819. They believed that there were discrepancies within the bank system that caused economic problems. Further, the Democrats were in favor οf land acquisition and western expansion. As the west expanded, so would slavery, thus giving the south and the Democrats more power. Generally the Whigs were against westward expansion. New England, where most οf the Whigs were located was now the mot populated and powerful area; expansion οf the west would affect New England’s population and power.
Despite the Whig’s short-lived life, the tense opposition between the Whigs and the Democrats influenced American history. The arrival οf the Whigs broke the “era οf good feelings”. Strongly opposing Jackson, the Whigs created competition for the Democrats. Their clashing views on slavery, westward expansion, tariffs, and the national bank system engendered many political arguments and opposing political bodies since the Monroe presidency.
Works Cited
- Bailey, Thomas A. and David Kennedy M. The American Pageant: Tenth Edition. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company. 1994.
- “Democrats and Whigs”. Web.
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