National Republican Party

Last updated
National Republican Party
Other nameAdams-Clay Republicans
Adams's Men
Anti-Jacksonians
Leader John Quincy Adams
Henry Clay
Founded1824;200 years ago (1824)
Dissolved1834;190 years ago (1834)
Split from Democratic-Republican Party
Preceded by Democratic-Republican Party
Federalist Party
Merged into Whig Party
Ideology
Colors  Buff

The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, [2] was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential election.

Contents

Known initially as "Adams-Clay Republicans" in the wake of the 1824 campaign, Adams's political allies in Congress and at the state-level were referred to as "Adams's Men" during his presidency (1825–1829). When Andrew Jackson became president, following his victory over Adams in the 1828 election, this group became the opposition, and organized themselves as "Anti-Jackson". The use of the term "National Republican" dates from 1830.[ citation needed ]

Henry Clay was the party's nominee in the 1832 election, but was defeated by Jackson. The party supported Clay's American System of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff. After the 1832 election, opponents of Jackson, including the National Republicans, Anti-Masons and others, coalesced into the Whig Party.

History

Before the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency in 1825, the Democratic-Republican Party, which had been the only national American political party for over a decade, began to fracture, losing its infrastructure and identity. Its caucuses no longer met to select candidates because now they had separate interests. After the 1824 election, factions developed in support of Adams and in support of Andrew Jackson. Adams politicians, including most ex-Federalists (such as Daniel Webster and Adams himself), would gradually become members of the National Republican Party; and those politicians that supported Jackson would later help form the modern Democratic Party.

After Adams's defeat in the 1828 election, his supporters regrouped around Henry Clay. Now the "anti-Jackson" opposition, they soon organized as the National Republican Party. Led by Clay, the new party maintained its historic nationalistic outlook and desired to use national resources to build a strong economy. Its platform was Clay's American System of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff, which would promote faster economic development. More important, by binding together the diverse interests of the different regions, the party intended to promote national unity and harmony.

Historians refer to the National Republican Party, but the term Anti-Jackson was frequently used at the time. For instance in 1830, Alexander McIlhenny recorded in his diary, "May 29th: I attended the Anti Jackson meeting at Sultzers in Taney Town. Addressed a few words to the meeting." [3] :130

The National Republicans saw the Union as a corporate, organic whole. Hence, the rank and file idealized Clay for his comprehensive perspective on the national interest. Conversely, they disdained those they identified as "party" politicians for pandering to local interests at the expense of the national interest. [4] The party met in national convention in late 1831 and nominated Clay for the presidency and John Sergeant for the vice presidency.

Formation of the Whig Party

The Whig Party emerged in 1833–1834 after Clay's defeat as a coalition of National Republicans, along with Anti-Masons, disaffected Jacksonians and people whose last political activity had been with the Federalists a decade before. In the short term, the Whig Party formed with the help of other smaller parties in a coalition against President Jackson and his reforms.

National Republican presidents

John Quincy Adams was the only president to come from the National Republican Party.

#Name (lifespan)PortraitStatePresidency
start date
Presidency
end date
Time in office
6 John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) John Q. Adams.jpg Massachusetts March 4, 1825 March 4, 1829 4 years, 0 days

Electoral history

Presidential tickets

ElectionTicketPopular vote Electoral vote
Presidential nomineeRunning matePercentageElectoral votesRanking
1828 John Quincy Adams Richard Rush 44.0
83 / 261
2
1832 Henry Clay John Sergeant 37.4
49 / 286
2

Congressional representation

CongressYearsSenate [5] House of Representatives [6] President
TotalPro-JacksonPro-AdamsOthersVacanciesTotalPro-JacksonPro-AdamsOthersVacancies
19th 1825–1827482622213104109 John Quincy Adams [7]
20th 1827–1829482721213113100
CongressYearsTotalPro-JacksonAnti-JacksonOthersVacanciesTotalPro-JacksonAnti-JacksonOthersVacanciesPresident
21st 1829–1831482523213136725 Andrew Jackson
22nd 1831–183348242222131266621
23rd 1833–183548202622401436334
24th 1835–183752262422421437524

See also

Footnotes

  1. "John Quincy Adams on the war we are in". Claremont review of books. Richard Samuelson. Retrieved 9 November 2024. Long before Samuel Huntington, Adams understood our modern "clash of civilizations." Adams believed that history had set the liberal West on a collision course with the Islamic East. In Adams's day, as in ours, many sophisticated Europeans thought that the two civilizations ought to compromise their differences in the name of peace. Unfortunately, Adams found, compromise was not always possible. As then constituted, Islamic civilization would not accept Western notions of liberty, equality, and progress, and for that reason the West had to fight to defend both its principles and its interests.
  2. "State Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Vol. III, no. 6. E. Lawrence. Oct 12, 1837. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. n.a. (April 2003). "From the Diary of A. McIlhenny January 19, 1830 to February 7, 1831, Copied from the Original by Jane C. Sween, Annotations by Patricia A. Andersen". Western Maryland Genealogy. 30 (2–3). Damascus, Maryland: GenLaw Resources: 105–146. ISSN   0747-7805. OCLC   10807414.
  4. Brown, Thomas (1985). Politics and Statesmanship: Essays on the American Whig Party. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 20. ISBN   9780231056021. OCLC   906445960.
  5. "Party Division". United States Senate.
  6. "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present". United States House of Representatives.
  7. Adams won election as a Democratic-Republican, but he sought re-election as a National Republican.

Further reading

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