Democratic-Republican Party - Party Legacy

Party Legacy

Further information: First Party System and Second party system

The Democratic Party is often called "the party of Jefferson," while the modern Republican Party is often called "the party of Lincoln."

A split appeared in the then Republican party during the 1824 elections (at the end of the Monroe administration). When the election was thrown to the House of Representatives, Henry Clay backed John Quincy Adams to deny the presidency to Andrew Jackson, a longtime political rival. Jackson defeated Adams in 1828, and in the next election, the first Democratic national convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland on May 21–23, 1832. Andrew Jackson was nominated for a second term and went on to win the presidency.

The Adams/Clay alliance became the basis of the National Republican Party, a rival to the Jackson's Democracy. This party favored a higher tariff in order to protect U.S. manufacturers, as well as public works, especially roads. Many former members of the defunct Federalist Party, including Daniel Webster, joined the party. After Clay's defeat by Jackson in the 1832 presidential election, the National Republicans were absorbed into the Whig Party, a diverse group of Jackson opponents. Taking a leaf from the Jacksonians, the Whigs tended to nominate non-ideological war heroes as their presidential candidates. The Whig party fell apart in the 1850s over the question of whether to allow the expansion of slavery into new territories.

The modern Republican Party was founded in 1854 to oppose the expansion of slavery; its name was chosen in reference to Jefferson's earlier party. Many former Whig party leaders (such as Abraham Lincoln) and former Free Soil Party leaders joined the newly formed anti-slavery party. The party sought to combine Jefferson's ideals of liberty and equality with Clay's program of using an active government to modernize the economy.