Where are the Whigs?

Andrew Jackson is not one of my favorite Presidents.  There are some Presidents that shine so brightly that they must be enshrined more than approached (Abraham Lincoln and George Washington).  There are other Presidents with whom you want to share a drink and a hearty meal (Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt).  Then there are Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson who may be many good things, but simply are not very likeable.   Jackson can be admired for his ethical consistency, historical impact and effective leadership, but he was not a pleasant man.   He was too zealous, too blinded by his own sense of right and too angry for me to be much, “taken” by him.  Evidently, I am not the only one.

Jackson managed to bulldoze so many controversial ideas through Congress that he spurred an entire political movement into being.  Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky was the leader of Jacksonian opposition.  Clay and his followers formed a political party called the, “Whigs.”  The name came from the Revolutionary War term many Patriots used to describe their defiance of the monarchy.  In this case they were showing their opposition to Andrew Jackson and his autocratic rule. 

Though the Whigs were influential for only about 20 years they managed to elect the two most forgettable Presidents and Vice Presidents that the United States has ever seen.  In 1841 William Henry Harrison had the longest inaugural address—two hours—and shortest administration—31 days—of any of our Presidents.  He was succeeded by John Tyler.  Then, in 1848, the Whigs elected Zachary Taylor who hung on for two years before giving up the ghost and the Presidency to Millard Fillmore.  Most people would not recognize a picture of these men if they were superimposed on a fifty dollar bill.   The most notable Whig in history was unquestionably Abraham Lincoln who deserted the party in 1852 and joined the newly formed Republican Party [And thank a merciful God for that!].

The Whigs fashioned themselves in the Jefferson, not Jackson tradition.  They were in favor of Congressional compromise and supremacy over the executive branch.  They were far-sighted enough to want territorial expansion, with a transportation network to support it and our burgeoning manufacturing economy.  On the negative side they were for protective tariffs and against a national bank which puts them squarely on the wrong side of both issues as they have evolved in the modern era.  As a party they were plagued by factionalism, crack pot ideas (they once ran not one but two Presidential candidates, thinking the split vote would throw the election into the House of Representatives), and a lack of party discipline.  They had money, brains and talent on their side, but, as the last election proved to all of us, that doesn’t always amount to a victory.  

During elections the Whigs were hampered by the vote of Irish American and German American immigrants which tended to vote for the Democrats.  Because the Whigs were strongly represented by professionals, the educated and economically successful people the opposition tried to paint them as, “out of touch” with the common man ergo unworthy of their vote.  [This comment makes as much sense as saying that men are out of touch with women and therefore unworthy of their vote.]  Whigs were also supported by broadly motivated but narrow minded neo-Protestant reformers calling for moral instruction and prohibition.  Again, there ideas did not attract the majority of voters.

The Whigs were worthy thinkers with ineffectual execution.  They are long gone from the political landscape.  I don’t want to be a Whig. 

Think it through, and keep the faith.