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The Whig party, named after the Whigs of england, was formed in America to oppose Andrew Jackson's Democrats. They were founded by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.
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The '''Whig Party''', named after the Whigs of [[England]], was formed in [[America]] in response to [[Democrat]] [[President]] [[Andrew Jackson]]'s actions to increase the power of the executive branch. [[Henry Clay]] and [[Daniel Webster]] were members of a political party called the [[National Republicans]] who began to find common ground with southern Democrats such as [[John C. Calhoun]].  They argued that Jackson's powers were becoming "king-like" and begun referring to the Democratic Party as the [[Tories]] (Loyalists to the British monarchy during the [[American Revolution]]), hence they adopted the title of Whigs for their party.
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As a whole, the party was not very successful.  Two Whigs were elected to the presidency, [[William Henry Harrison]] and [[Zachary Taylor]], however neither completed their terms in office.  The ultimate downfall of the party was the issue of [[slavery]], with northern Whigs supporting abolitionism and the southern Whigs supporting the current institutions.
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==References==
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http://jmisc.net/whigs.htm
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http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h279.html
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