Covers the ascendancy of the Whig Party in the mid-nineteenth century, focusing on the presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler and the Democrat James K. Polk.
1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 12: The Whig Ascendancy
2. THE SECOND PARTY
SYSTEM (1824-1860)
The Second Party System was
characterized largely by the
dominance of the Jacksonian
Democrats and the Whig Party,
and by the disputes between them.
THE NATIONAL
REPUBLICAN PARTY
- John Quincy Adams (1828)
- Henry Clay (1832)
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
- Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
- Martin van Buren (1837-1841)
- James K. Polk (1845-1849)
- Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
- James Buchanan (1857-1861)
THE WHIG PARTY
- William Henry Harrison (1841)
- John Tyler (1841-1845)
- Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)
- Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
3. HENRY CLAY
• Henry Clay ran for President in
1824, the election that ended in
the ‘Corrupt Bargain,’ and once
more in 1832, against the
incumbent Andrew Jackson.
• In 1832, Clay founded the Whig
Party to support implementation
of his ‘American System.’
• In 1836, the Whigs nominated
three candidates to run for
election as President in three
different parts of the country.
Clay was not one of them.
• In 1840, the Whigs nominated
William Henry Harrison to run.
4. WILLIAM HENRY
HARRISON
• Famed for his defeat of
Tecumseh at the Battle of
Tippecanoe in 1811.
• Elected President on the
promise of ending Andrew
Jackson’s patronage system,
establishing a new national
bank, and giving ‘pre-emption’
rights to settlers nationwide.
• Took the Oath of Office on a
cold day in April and delivered
an Inaugural Address that
lasted more than two hours.
• Died one month later.
5. JOHN TYLER
• Harrison’s death caused a brief
Constitutional crisis regarding
Presidential succession, but the
crisis was resolved when his
Vice President, John Tyler,
ascended to the Presidency.
• Tyler had started out as a
Democrat, but he joined the
Whig Party out of opposition to
Jackson and Van Buren.
• Nevertheless, Tyler was a strict
constructionist who disagreed
with much of his own party’s
official policy platform.
6. JOHN TYLER
• Tyler believed that the President
should set federal policy rather
than the Congress. This led him
to bypass Henry Clay in the
Senate, which then lost him the
support of the Whigs.
• He withdrew from running for
re-election in 1844.
• Throughout 1843 and 1844, he
dedicated himself to doing what
Van Buren had refused to do
and annex the Republic of
Texas. At the end of his term,
the Congress approved the
annexation of Texas.
7. JAMES K. POLK
• In 1844, Henry Clay again ran as
the Whig candidate for the
Presidency, but the unpopularity
of the Whigs under Tyler led to
the victory of the Democratic
candidate, James K. Polk.
• Polk promised to serve only one
term and to achieve all of his
political agenda in that time. He
was able to keep both promises.
• Polk’s main interest was
Westward expansion. He
believed in the Jeffersonian ideal
of a continental republic
populated by yeoman farmers.
8. JAMES K. POLK
• While running for election in
1844, Polk promised to annex
Texas even if this required an
armed invasion of Texas.
• Mexico threatened war with
America if it annexed Texas.
• Polk’s electoral victory was
what led Tyler to ask Congress
to annex Texas at the end of his
term. Tyler wanted simply to
avoid war with Mexico.
• Polk’s next priorities were the
Oregon Territory and California,
which belonged to Mexico.
9. THE OREGON TREATY OF 1846
Since 1818, the Oregon
Territory had been
governed jointly by the
United States and Great
Britain. Polk wanted to
settle the question of
which country would
officially govern which
parts of the territory.
In 1846, Polk reached a
deal with Great Britain
for the 49th parallel to
serve as a border
between the United
States and Canada,
extending all the way to
the Pacific Ocean.
10. PREPARING FOR
WAR WITH MEXICO
• Polk intended to acquire
California from Mexico. He
wanted the United States to
possess San Francisco Bay to
increase trade with Asia.
• He sent diplomats to Mexico to
negotiate the purchase of
California, but Mexico refused
to negotiate until it received
compensation for Texas.
• In response, Polk sent troops to
the Rio Grande, under the
leadership of Colonel Zachary
Taylor, and prepared for war...
11. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 12: The Whig Ascendancy
