Whig Party

Whig Party, English and U.S. political party. In England the term was applied in 1679 to Protestant opponents of the English Crown. The Whigs enjoyed a period of dominance c.1714–60, notably under Robert Walpole. Largely out of office when led by Charles James Fox, they were increasingly associated with Nonconformism, mercantile, industrial, and reforming interests. After the Whig ministries of the 2nd earl Grey and Lord Melbourne (1830–41), during which the Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, the Whigs helped form the Liberal Party in the mid-1800s.

The U.S. Whig Party was formed c.1836 from diverse opponents, including the National Republicans, of Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Its leaders were Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and a national economic policy was its principal platform. Whig President William Henry Harrison died after one month in office and was succeeded (1841) by John Tyler, who was disowned by the Whigs when he vetoed their tariff and banking bills. Clay, the next Whig candidate, lost the 1844 election. The second Whig president, Zachary Taylor, died in office (1850) after serving 1 year. He was succeeded by a loyal Whig, Millard Fillmore, but the party was by then divided by the issues of slavery and national expansion; the Compromise of 1850 did not last, and Winfield Scott was heavily defeated in the 1852 election. The party never recovered, and many of the Northern Whigs joined the new Republican Party, while the Cotton (Southern) Whigs joined the Democratic Party.