Editing Classical Conservatism (section)

==== [[File:USWhiggs.png]] American Whig Party ====

* [[File:USWhiggs.png]] '''Whig Party''' was political party in [[File:Cball-US.png]] United States. One of two major parties in 19th century. Whigs were ideological successors to [[File:Hamiltonianism.png]] [[Hamiltonianism|Hamilton's Federalist Party]]. 

The Whig Party in the United States first emerged in the 1830s in opposition to Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party. The name Whig was intentionally chosen as being in opposition to monarchy. In the same way that the British Whigs opposed absolute monarchy, the American Whigs opposed "King Andrew" and his policies. Unlike the British Whigs whose main ideology is [[File:Clib.png]] [[Classical Liberalism]], the American Whigs were much more conservative. They supported an economic system put forward by [[File:Clay.png]] [[Protectionism|Henry Clay]] known as the "American System" which favored protective tariffs, a strong national bank, and federal subsidies for infrastructure. The Whig Party was also critical of Manifest Destiny and criticized the presidential power of Jackson and Polk, preferring Congress to be the dominant lawmaker. Democrats glorified individualism while Whigs said it was a dangerous impulse that must be subordinated to the greater good of an organic society; they called for individuals to restrain themselves and focus on doing their duty.

The Whig Party struggled to gain power through the presidency. In 1836 they ran four different presidential candidates against [[File:Buren.png]] [[Jacksonian Democracy|Martin Van Buren]], which backfired against them and allowed Van Buren to achieve a comfortable victory. By 1840 Van Buren had become unpopular due to the Panic of 1837 and [[File:WHH.png]] [[Stratocracy|William Henry Harrison]] was able to defeat Van Buren in the Election of 1840. Harrison died just one month into his presidency and [[File:JohnTyler.png]] [[Confederalism|John Tyler]], who was only nominally a Whig, took over as the next president. Tyler was eventually expelled from the Whig Party for disagreeing with much of the Whigs' economic policy, including a veto on Clay's bill to establish a national bank.

The Whigs were able to win back the White House in 1848 with [[File:Taylor.png]] [[Apoliticism|Zachary Taylor]], however, he died one year into his presidency leaving [[File:Fillmore.png]] [[Machiavellianism|Millard Fillmore]] in charge. Fillmore is often described as being the closest the Whigs got to a full presidency. During Fillmore's presidency, the Compromise of 1850 was passed which meant Fillmore had to enforce the deeply unpopular Fugitive Slave Act. This divided the Whig Party between pro-compromise and anti-compromise factions which they were never able to recover.

After 1852 the Whig Party was never able to obtain real power again and was eventually replaced by the pro-abolitionist Republican Party with many Republicans such as [[File:Lincolnism.png]] [[National Liberalism|Abraham Lincoln]], [[File:Hayes.png]] [[Mediocracy|Rutherford Hayes]], [[File:Arthur.png]] [[Classical Liberalism|Chester Arthur]], and [[File:Harrison.png]] [[Protectionism|Benjamin Harrison]] all being former Whigs.