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British Whig Party
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The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from 1833-34 to 1856,[1] the party was formed to oppose the policies of President Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Executive Branch and favored a program of modernization and economic development. Their name was chosen to echo the American Whigs of 1776 who fought for independence. The Whig Party counted among its members such national political luminaries as Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and their preeminent leader, Henry Clay of Kentucky. In addition to Harrison, the Whig Party ... counted four war heroes among its ranks, including Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott.
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Senator and supporter of Henry Clay, one of the country's most famous Whig politicians, William P. Mangum led the states' rights wing of the Whig Party. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC. The Whig party fielded three presidential candidates in the election of 1836. By doing this, they hoped to prevent any candidate from obtaining a majority of the electoral vote and force the House of Representatives, which the Whigs controlled, to choose the next president. Democrats jeered that this ploy would deprive the people of choosing their leaders. Outgoing president Jackson commanded fellow Democrats to support vice president, Martin Van Buren. When some Democrats balked, Jackson retorted that refusing to support Van Buren equaled treason. Because of Jackson’s authoritarian leadership style, some Democrats, including many North Carolinians, bolted from the party to wave the Whig banner. Van Buren... still received a majority of electoral votes and became the nation’s eighth president. By over three thousand votes, he also carried the popular vote of North Carolina. During this election, one of North Carolina’s favorite sons, William Persons Mangum, though not a candidate, received South Carolina’s eleven electoral votes.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan served the British Whig Party in Parliament from 1780 until 1812. History probably would have forgotten Sheridan, the politician, except that before seeking office, the Irish-born orator had written two plays that were huge successes on the London boards. One of them, The Rivals, is famous primarily for the character of Mrs. Malaprop, a batty, society woman who mangles expressions and is the basis of the word -malapropism.- A current Broadway revival of The Rivals starring the wonderful Dana Ivey as Mrs. Malaprop, shows that Mr. Sheridan's first play is a fun, if somewhat long-winded, romp.
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Rick, what about the whole imitation whig scandal of 1680 wherein the British Whig party, the ancestors of today’s Democrats, were found to be using fake powdered whigs from India. That was much, much bigger than any of the scandals mentioned so dar.
In today's discourse, the Whig Party is usually mentioned in the context of a now-forgotten party losing its followers and reason for being. Parties sometimes accuse other parties of "going the way of the Whig Party."
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