With Henry Clay’s death and General Winfield Scott’s huge loss to Franklin Pierce, the Whig party came to an end in the 1850s. Before we introduce the Grand New Party, I’d like to pause and review the “Second Party System,” or the era of the Democrats and the Whigs.
Once again, the Whigs were in control of the presidency. Last time, William Henry Harrison died after a month and John Tyler went rogue. But that’s not going to happen this time, right? RIGHT?!
The last election featured the first real dark horse winner, James K. Polk. He pledged to complete his agenda in one term. Is a successful, one-and-done president possible? And where does that leave the parties?
Uhh, good luck, Democrats! I can't imagine how they will overcome the fired up base that William Henry Harrison built, especially after he cleans up the mess Van Buren left him. He will surely have the most successful presidential term ever! 1844, here we come!
For the last few elections, Henry Clay and the Whigs have been scrambling to respond to the Democratic coalition that Andrew Jackson built. But they’ve finally learned how to campaign and are ready to go after the Average Joe vote. Can William Henry Harrison out-Jackson the Democrats?
Next on our list of presidents who have faced impeachment is Richard Nixon. While Nixon wasn't technically impeached by the House, his removal would have been a certainty if he had not resigned. But how exactly did it all go down?
By 1836, it was clear that the Jackson Revolution was here to stay. The Democrats had totally transformed American politics, specifically the electoral process! But could they benefit a candidate other than Andrew Jackson? Martin Van Buren was ready to put the party organization to the test.
The election of 1828 served as the white, rural laborer's revenge on the big-government establishment. While the Jackson years made a lot of other people’s lives worse, the recognition of popular vote was an area of progress. But now that he was in charge, Jackson had a lot of hype to live up to. Could he could hold it all together and earn another win?
People were pretty pissed about the way the election of 1824 ended. After the Corrupt Bargain between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson immediately started campaigning for the next election and built up a coalition of supporters, ready to oppose the new administration at every turn. Would he get his revenge in 1828?
Since we're moving into this second political phase in the Election Tuesdays series, I wanted to pause and recap some of the things I learned in the first two months of this project! Hopefully, you learned something, too!
Election Tuesdays 