Whig party

1. An American political party formed in the 1830s to oppose President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Whigs stood for protective tariffs, national banking, and federal aid for internal improvements. Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were prominent Whigs, as were four presidents (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore). The party fell into disunity in the 1850s over slavery; some former Whigs, including Abraham Lincoln, then joined the new Republican party.

Example Sentences

William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was the last commander in chief born a British subject and the first member of the Whig Party to win the White House.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He views the Whig Party, at that time the party of the rule of law, public education, industrial development and expansion of rights, as the party of the future, despite its weakness against the Jacksonian Democrats.

Read more on Salon

In 1836, Democrat Martin Van Buren defeated William Henry Harrison of the Whig Party, only to have Harrison win a rematch between the two and take the presidency four years later.

Read more on Seattle Times

Millard Fillmore became president after Zachary Taylor, who was the last president elected with the Whig Party, died in 1850.

Read more on Seattle Times

Democrat Martin Van Buren was president from 1837 to 1841 and lost his reelection bid to Whig Party nominee William Henry Harrison.

Read more on Seattle Times