whigs democrats and the second party system

19th century, the federalist/anti-federalist schism dominated political discourse in the United States. The so-called "first party system" became less relevant as increasing numbers of citizens became politically active, leading to a greater plurality of voices and opinions. Even then, political parties had not yet become fully formed. Most elections had candidates running independently. However, the anti-federalists had become the Democratic-Republicans and they emerged as a 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, the second party system's factions closely resembled those of the first party system's. The first party system had the Federalists pitted against the anti-Federalists.

Now, the Whigs were akin to the Federalists in that they derived their constituent base from a wealthier and more well-educated and more urban cohort in New England, and tended to favor a stronger centralized government versus their Democrat counterparts. On the contrary, Jackson's Democrats resembled Jefferson's anti-federalists, or Old Republicans who valued states' rights over a strong federal government. One of Jackson's pet projects was the dissolution of the national bank, the Second Bank of the United States.

He viewed the federal banking system as being inherently corrupt, was suspicious of paper money, which had yet to be widely circulated, and appealed to the substantial rural cohort who also mistrusted bankers in general and especially a federal banking system. Jackson's antagonism toward the federal government and its institutions earned him the support of farmers and other rural Americans who perceived the federal government as a corrupt tool in the hands of the wealthy.

The Whigs under Clay focused on the banking issue as an integral part of their party platform. Initially, the Whigs were formed as an opposition party rather than having a fully developed platform of its own other than being supportive of federal institutions. Jackson's approach to the federal banking system became the primary issue in the middle of the 1830s. The Whigs remained an opposition party directed against Jackson, whose extensive gutting of the federal government proved alarming to many of his opponents.

Jackson and the Democrats also had no qualms about committing genocide against the Native Americans in their quest for land acquisition and territorial expansion. Jackson hungered especially after the West and Southwest.