where did the whig party get its name
Whig Party (United States) The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Four United States Presidents belonged to the party while in office.[5] It emerged in the 1830s as the leading opponent of Jacksonians, pulling together former members of the National Republican (one of the successors of the Democratic-Republican Party) and the Anti-Masonic Party. It had distant links to the upscale traditions of the Federalist Party. Along with the rival Democratic Party, it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1840s to the mid-1860s.[6] It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson (in office 1829â€“1837) and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of the United States Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. It appealed to entrepreneurs, planters, reformers and the emerging urban middle class, but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers. It included many active Protestants and voiced a moralistic opposition to the Jacksonian Indian removal. Party founders chose the "Whig" name to echo the American Whigs of the 18th century who fought for independence. The underlying political philosophy of the American Whig Party was not directly related to the British Whig party.[7] Historian Frank Towers has specified a deep ideological divide:
Federalist Party By the early 1790s, newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters "Federalists" and their opponents "Democrats," "Republicans", "Jeffersonians" or—much later—"Democratic-Republicans". Jefferson's supporters usually called themselves "Republicans" and their party the "Republican Party".[13] The Federalist Party became popular with businessmen and New Englanders as Republicans were mostly farmers who opposed a strong central government. Cities were usually Federalist strongholds whereas frontier regions were heavily Republican. However, these are generalizations as there are special cases: the Presbyterians of upland North Carolina, who had immigrated just before the Revolution and often been Tories, became Federalists.[14] The Congregationalists of New England and the Episcopalians in the larger cities supported the Federalists while other minority denominations tended toward the Republican camp. Catholics in Maryland were generally Federalists.[15]