Whigs Democrats and the Second Party System
dominant presence in the controversial 1824 presidential election. When he was defeated in that election by John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and his supporters started the Democratic Party as an opposition group. In response, John Quincy Adams and his Secretary of State Henry Clay rebranded the Democratic-Republican Party the National Republicans. Jackson's Democratic party grew in popularity during his presidency. An opposition party, the Whig party, emerged in response in the 1830s. For the next several decades, the Democrats and the Whigs were the primary political parties in the United States, a two-party system in the "second party system" era of American politics. In many ways,… Continue Reading...
