<P> The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States . Four United States Presidents belonged to the party while in office . It emerged in the 1830s as the leading opponent of Jacksonians , pulling together former members of the National Republican ( one of the successors of the Democratic - Republican Party ) and the Anti-Masonic Party . It had distant links to the upscale traditions of the Federalist Party . Along with the rival Democratic Party , it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1840s to the mid-1860s . It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson ( in office 1829 -- 1837 ) and his Democratic Party . In particular , the Whigs supported the supremacy of the United States Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization , banking and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing . It appealed to entrepreneurs , planters , reformers and the emerging urban middle class , but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers . It included many active Protestants and voiced a moralistic opposition to the Jacksonian Indian removal . Party founders chose the `` Whig '' name to echo the American Whigs of the 18th century who fought for independence . The underlying political philosophy of the American Whig Party was not directly related to the British Whig party . Historian Frank Towers has specified a deep ideological divide : </P>
<P> The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States . Four United States Presidents belonged to the party while in office . It emerged in the 1830s as the leading opponent of Jacksonians , pulling together former members of the National Republican ( one of the successors of the Democratic - Republican Party ) and the Anti-Masonic Party . It had distant links to the upscale traditions of the Federalist Party . Along with the rival Democratic Party , it was central to the Second Party System from the early 1840s to the mid-1860s . It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson ( in office 1829 -- 1837 ) and his Democratic Party . In particular , the Whigs supported the supremacy of the United States Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization , banking and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing . It appealed to entrepreneurs , planters , reformers and the emerging urban middle class , but had little appeal to farmers or unskilled workers . It included many active Protestants and voiced a moralistic opposition to the Jacksonian Indian removal . Party founders chose the `` Whig '' name to echo the American Whigs of the 18th century who fought for independence . The underlying political philosophy of the American Whig Party was not directly related to the British Whig party . Historian Frank Towers has specified a deep ideological divide : </P>
where did the whig party get its name
where did the whig party get its name
American Whigs of the 18th century
American Whigs of the 18th century