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Who were the leaders and members of the Whig and Democratic parties?

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The Whig Party emerged in opposition to Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party, which was founded in 1828. Key Democratic figures included Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, focusing on limited government and opposing the national bank. The Whigs, led by Henry Clay, advocated for infrastructure improvements, a strong national bank, and higher tariffs. They drew support from the North and Midwest, while Democrats were strong in the South. The Whig Party eventually split over slavery, leading to the rise of the Republican Party.

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The Whig and Democratic Parties were two parties that ushered in the end of the Era of Good Feelings.

This version of the Democratic Party was born in 1828 when Andrew Jackson ran a campaign for the presidency speaking out against the alleged elitist Northeastern interests that backed the incumbent John Quincy Adams. Jackson won by courting the vote of the common man through means such as parades and barbecues. Jackson's domestic policies were marked by limited government; he was against infrastructure projects, which he thought were pork barrel projects for individual congressmen. He also failed to renew the charter for the Bank of the United States, leading to a financial panic which doomed his handpicked successor Martin van Buren in 1837. Jackson believed in the power of the veto, and his detractors often depicted him as a king; the Whig party was born out of a hatred of Andrew Jackson.

The leader of this party was Henry Clay, who believed that infrastructure improvements, a strong national bank, and larger tariffs on foreign goods would make the United States less dependent on European goods. The party started by Clay would also have common man appeal as its presidential candidate in 1840, William Henry Harrison, ran a campaign that depicted him as a common farmer when he was actually one of the richest men in Ohio. Whigs garnered support in the north Midwest, while Democrats largely controlled the South, especially after many expansionist Southerners backed the Democratic candidate for president James K. Polk. The Whig Party would ultimately split over the issue of slavery, with "conscience Whigs" having difficulty backing the slave owner Henry Clay. Many from the Whig party such as Abraham Lincoln and William Seward would go on to become the early stars of the Republican Party, which ran on a platform that included stopping the spread of slavery into the Western territories.

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