The Whig Party: The History and Legacy of the Influential Political Party in 19th Century America
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Gregory T. Luzitano
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 staved off the slavery crisis for the time being, but by setting a line that excluded slave states above the parallel, it would also become incredibly contentious. It was against that backdrop and the election of Andrew Jackson that the Whigs emerged as opponents to the Jacksonian Democrats during a period of American history known as the Second Party System (1828-1854). Initially, the conflict was rooted not only in different visions for the United States – the Whigs believed in a strong central bank and federally funded infrastructure projects (known as “internal improvements”) – but also in opposition to one man: Andrew Jackson. When it first formed, the Democratic Party coalesced around Jackson, and his beliefs and actions became Democratic Party dogma, which left the diverse group of people who opposed Jackson to become the Whigs.
The problem with this arrangement is that while the Whigs scored some notable successes as an opposition party, they found governing more difficult. The two Whigs elected president, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, died in office, raising to the presidency their respective vice-presidents, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore. Neither man succeeded in uniting the Whig Party behind him (a gargantuan task, to be sure), and neither was ever elected president in his own right.
The increasing rancor over slavery is what finally killed the Whig Party. A truly national party, there were both Southern and Northern Whigs. When the Mexican-American War resulted in the country gaining millions of acres of land for potential new states, it galvanized both pro- and anti-slavery forces, and the Whig Party found itself incapable of navigating this fraught political issue before it eventually collapsed in the mid-1850s. However, many of its policy objectives, including a strong protective tariff, were picked up by the newly formed Republican Party moving forward.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Fermi Paradox: The History and Legacy of the Famous Debate over the Existence of Aliens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cambrian Period: The History and Legacy of the Start of Complex Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame de Pompadour: The Life and Legacy of French King Louis XV’s Chief Mistress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patrice Lumumba: The Life and Legacy of the Pan-African Politician Who Became Congo's First Prime Minister Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung: The Pioneering Lives and Works of History’s Most Influential Psychologists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Whig Party
Related audiobooks
The Know Nothing Party: The History and Legacy of America’s Most Notorious Nativist Political Party Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Tyler, the Accidental President Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reconstruction: A Concise History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance That Forged America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Jay: Founding Father Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Clay: The Essential American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Coming of Democracy: Presidential Campaigning in the Age of Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Man: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bill of Rights: The Fight to Secure America's Liberties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War over the American Dollar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Whig Party
6 ratings0 reviews