Whatever happened to the Whigs?

[Quetzal]

This party used to be a powerhouse during the 1800s - Why did they dissapear?

[JohnKleeb]

1. well they had some agreements with the democrats

and their liberal wing became what was the republican party. Many whigs like Henry Clay I believe were slave owners, I dont know much about this though, sorry.

[Tweed]

2. They abandoned their base and tried to be like the other party

:scared:

[Blue_State_Elitist]

4. The repukes always say we will go away like the whigs...

With the leadership we have now, I'm sadly starting to believe it.

But I'll keep fighting!

[northlake1]

3. Slavery issue split the party in the 1840-50's

The Whigs ended as a party in 1850's with the Anti Slavery Republican Party BTW Lincoln was a Whig Congressman.

Some die hard Whigs formed the Constitution Party who had a 3rd place Presidential candidate in 1860.

[liberalpragmatist]

5. Slavery

Their ideology was primarily business interests and northerners, but there was a vibrant southern wing, and the party was relatively progressive-centrist. It favored a strong central govt., internal investment in infrastructure, tended to have a base in the middle-class and the upper-class.

The party was completely split apart by slavery. They were unable to respond and come up with a position either for or against. Also, their party leadership sucked. They had many great leaders, but they tended to nominate for President brainless generals with no experience.

As it was, however, the slavery issue destroyed the Democratic Party as well. However, the Democratic Party was able to cobble itself back together, whereas the Whigs completey disintegrated and were replaced by the Republicans.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Essentially, the Whigs were dependent on Henry Clay

Clay was the charismatic leader of the Narional Republican Party, the party which morphed into the Whigs in the 1830s. The Whigs won the election of 1840 with "Tippacanoe and Tyler, too", and General Tippacanoe (W.H.Harrison) immediately set out showing how smart he was by giving a very long-winded speech in a freezing rain at his inauguration, and died of pneumonia one month later. He was replaced by his Vice President, John Tyler, who did not seek a term on his own.

After losing the election of 1844, the Whigs came back in 1848 with another "brainless general", Zachary Taylor, who died a little more than a year later after "drinking too much lemonade (read: "whiskey") on a hot day". He was replaced by that butt of presidential jokes, Millard Filmore, who proved to be so "popular" that he also did not seek a term in his own right.

In 1852, Henry Clay died. Two years later, the Whigs had morphed into the "Republican" Party (having dropped "National" from their early moniker).