After  the  election  of  1828  Clay  sprang  to  the  fore  as
the  leader  of  the  National  Republicans,  or  anti-Jack-
sonians.  His  remarkable  brilliancy  and  attainments,
fascinating  manners  and  address,  persuasive  but  at  the
same  time  reasoned  eloquence,  and  perfect  equipment
as  both  a  statesman  and  political  chieftain,  combined
with  the  prestige  of  his  distinguished  services  in  the
Senate,  the  Speakership  of  the  House,  and  the  office  of
Secretary  of  State,  seemed  to  give  him  and  his  enthusi-
astic partisans  every  justification  for  expecting  a  favor-
able outcome  in  the  gigantic  struggle  to  wrest  the
Presidency  from  Jackson  in  1832.  Added  to  his
personal  qualities  was  the  high  character  of  the  mem-
bership of  the  National  Republican  party,  which
embraced  citizens  of  influence,  affairs,  substance,  and
cultivation  to  a  notable  degree.  There  was  nothing,
however,  in  the  new  organization — its  spirit,  proposals,
or  manner  of  operations — to  be  in  fairness  regarded  as
assimilating  it  to  the  Federalist  party  of  melancholy  but
unregretted  memory.  It  sprang  from  the  body  of  the
genuine  Republican  party  of  Monroe,  Madison,  and


iDuring  this  period  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  were  among  the  most
reliable  supporters  of  the  Democratic  party,  going  against  it  only  in  the
elections  of  1840  and  1848.  Illinois  and  New  Hampshire  nearly  always  went
Democratic.  Ohio  was  changeable.  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Kentucky,  and
Delaware  were  Whig  strongholds.  The  strictly  southern  States  were  mainly
Democratic,  but  the  Whigs  were  strong  in  all  of  them.
