Jacksonians v.s Whigs

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Jacksonian Democrats vs. Whigs The rise of two distinct parties, Jacksonian Democrats and Whig Party, was the beginning of the 2nd party system in American history. This 2nd party system lasted from 1828 to 1854. The Jacksonian Democrats were formed by Andrew Jackson while the Whigs were formed by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Unlike political parties today these two parties were distinctly different on many issues, following separate political platforms. However, even though the parties’ beliefs greatly differed there were some similarities between them. The Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs had varying political platforms which appealed to different people. The Jacksonian Democrats believed that the powers of the federal government had to be limited. Similar to the Jeffersonians they followed a strict view of the constitution believing that state rights were more important than federal rights. The Whig Party on the other hand opposed the ideology of the Jackson Democrats and wanted more federal power. The Jacksonian Democrats support of more states’ rights was depicted in Jackson’s veto of the recharter of the 2nd National Bank. This veto of the recharter was planned by the Henry Clay in attempts to position him as the next president. However, this plan only revealed whom the people of the United States supported as President. Because Jacksonian Democrats commanded the support of the common people, they had more support than the Whig Party. The Whig Party appealed not to the masses rather it appealed to the professional and business classes such as merchants, bankers, storekeepers, factory owners, commercially-oriented farmers and large-scale planters. This support from different spectrums of the population was mostly attributed to the Jacksonian’s ideologies of individual rights and support for western expansion. While the Whigs appealed to the
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