Essay On The Whig Party

760 Words2 Pages

Bountiful reforms took the United States by the neck in the eighteen hundreds. The beginning of the industrial revolution sent agriculture and manufacturing industries skyrocketing, as well as increasing the need for workers. The social structure of the country shifted as mass amounts of immigrants moved to the United States. The social, political, and economic changes of the eighteen hundreds made the United States the way it is today in the twenty-first century. The potato famine in Ireland from 1845-1852 sent thousands of poor farmers to America in hope of finding jobs. The Irish were overly dependent on the potato for a means of income, so when it faltered, so did their source of income. In America, the Irish worked in factories with …show more content…

The Whigs were created out of opposition for President Jackson and did not share the same ideas as the Democrats. The Whigs supported a strong central government, a national bank, protection tariffs, and federally funded projects. The Whigs had two presidents; Zachary Taylor and William Henry Harrison. However, both presidents died relatively soon into the first term as president. The lack of a Whig presence in the executive branch never let the Whigs get a firm foothold in politics. The Whigs were a prominent political party from about 1834-1856. After the demise of the party, it allowed for the Republican party to take their place. The two most prominent political parties in the United States today are the Democrats and the Republicans, which was only made possible by the death of the Whig party. Todays government, society, and the economy were molded into what they are today by the drastic changes made in the eighteen hundreds. The introduction of different racial groups forced changes in society, but especially in the economy and politics. States rights versus federal government is still an issue today, but events such as the nullification crisis in 1832 shaped some ideas. The political parties that are the most paramount today are the Republicans and the Democrats, which are the most prominent because of the demise of the Whig party in the

Open Document