what party was woodrow wilson from?
Democratic Party
entailment
 Wilson became active politically as a Whig , and campaigned for William Henry Harrison in 1840 . He had joined the Whigs out of disappointment with the fiscal policies of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren , and like most Whigs blamed Democrats Jackson and Van Buren for the Panic of 1837 . In 1840 he was also elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives , and served from 1841 to 1842 . 

entailment
 Having left the Whig Party , Wilson worked to build coalitions with others opposed to slavery , including Free Soilers , anti @-@ slavery Democrats , Barnburners from New York 's Democratic Party , the Liberty Party , the anti @-@ slavery elements of the Whig Party , and anti @-@ slavery members of the Know Nothing or Native American Party . Although Wilson 's new political coalition was castigated by " straight party " adherents of the mainstream Democratic and Whig parties , in April 1851 it elected Free Soil candidate Charles Sumner to the U.S. Senate . 

entailment
 In 1872 Wilson had a strong reputation among Republicans as a principled but practical reformer who supported African American civil rights , voting rights for women , federal education aid , regulation of businesses , and prohibition of liquor . In 1870 , incumbent Vice President Schuyler Colfax , said he would not run for another term , creating the possibility of a contested nomination . In addition , some Republicans , including Grant , desired another vice presidential nominee because they believed Colfax had presidential aspirations and might endanger Grant 's reelection by bolting to the Liberal Republican Party , which had formed because of opposition to charges of corruption in the Grant administration and Grant 's attempted Santo Domingo annexation . 

entailment
 Prior to the presidential election of 1868 , Wilson toured the South giving political speeches . Many in the press believed Wilson was promoting himself to be the Republican presidential candidate . Wilson , however , supported the Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant . During Reconstruction Grant supported Republican Congressional initiatives rather than President Johnson 's , and during the dispute over the Tenure of Office Act which led to Johnson 's impeachment , Grant served as temporary Secretary of War , but then returned the Department to Radical ally Edwin M. Stanton 's control over Johnson 's strong objection , making Grant a favorite to many Radicals . 

entailment
 Henry Wilson , a Senator from Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate 's Committee on Military Affairs , witnessed the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 , 1861 . The disastrous defeat of the Union army convinced Wilson , and the federal government in general , of the urgent need for more troops . Immediately after the battle , Wilson promised both President Abraham Lincoln and Massachusetts Governor John Andrew that he would raise a full brigade including units of infantry , artillery , cavalry and sharpshooters . 
