To: koan who wrote (751100 ) 11/4/2013 3:22:30 AM From: Bilow Respond to Hi koan; Re: "The Republican's in 1860 were the liberal party; and they were in the north. As I recall the other two parties split the conservative vote. ";The Democratic Party evolved from the Jeffersonian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in opposition to the Federalist party of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. The party favored republicanism , a weak federal government, states' rights , agrarian interests (especially Southern planters) and strict adherence to the Constitution ; it opposed a national bank, close ties to Great Britain, and business and banking interests. The Party came to power in the election of 1800 . After the War of 1812 , the Federalists virtually disappeared and the Jeffersonian party split into factions . They split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe , and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren , became the Democratic Party . Other factions led by Henry Clay helped form the Whig Party . The Democratic Party had a small advantage over the Whigs until the 1850s, when the Whigs fell apart over the issue of slavery. In 1854, angry with the Kansas–Nebraska Act , anti-slavery Democrats left the party and joined Northern Whigs to form the Republican Party . [8] [ en.wikipedia.org Andrew Jackson, Democrat A polarizing figure who dominated the Second Party System in the 1820s and 1830s, as president he dismantled the Second Bank of the United States and initiated forced relocation and resettlement of Native American tribes from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River. His enthusiastic followers created the modern Democratic Party . The 1830–1850 period later became known as the era of Jacksonian democracy . He was a wealthy slaveholder. He fought politically against what he denounced as a closed, undemocratic aristocracy , adding to his appeal to common citizens . He expanded the spoils system during his presidency to strengthen his political base. Strongly against the national bank , he vetoed the renewal of its charter and ensured its collapse. Whigs and moralists denounced his aggressive enforcement of the Indian Removal Act , which resulted in the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma ). Historians acknowledge his protection of popular democracy and individual liberty for United States citizens , but criticize his support for slavery and his role in Indian removal . [3] [4] en.wikipedia.org Henry Clay, Whig / Republican Abraham Lincoln , the Whig leader in Illinois, was a great admirer of Clay, saying he was "my ideal of a great man." Lincoln wholeheartedly supported Clay's economic programs. [4] After the conclusion of the War of 1812, British factories were overwhelming American ports with inexpensive goods. To persuade voters in the western states to support the tariff, Clay advocated federal government support for internal improvements to infrastructure, principally roads and canals. These internal improvements would be financed by the tariff and by sale of the public lands, prices for which would be kept high to generate revenue. Finally, a national bank would stabilize the currency and serve as the nexus of a truly national financial system. Clay's American System ran into strong opposition from President Jackson's administration . One of the most important points of contention between the two men was over the Maysville Road . Jackson vetoed a bill which would authorize federal funding for a project to construct a road linking Lexington and the Ohio River, the entirety of which would be in the state of Kentucky, because he felt that it did not constitute interstate commerce, as specified in the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution .en.wikipedia.org
