The Whig Party was a mid-19th century political party in the United States. Alongside the Democratic Party, it was one of two major parties from the late 1830s until the early 1850s and part of the Second Party System. As well as four Whig presidents (William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore), other prominent members included Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, William Seward, John J. Crittenden, and John Quincy Adams (whose presidency ended prior to the formation of the Whig Party). The Whig base of support was amongst entrepreneurs, professionals, Protestant Christians (particularly Evangelicals), the urban middle class, and nativists.
The party was hostile towards the ideology of "manifest destiny", territorial expansion into Texas and the Southwest, and the Mexican–American War. It disliked presidential power, as exhibited by Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk, and preferred congressional dominance in lawmaking. Members advocated modernization, meritocracy, the rule of law, protections against majority rule, and vigilance against executive tyranny. They favored an economic program known as the American System, which called for a protective tariff, federal subsidies for the construction of infrastructure, and support for a national bank. The party was active in both the Northern and Southern United States and did not take a firm stance on slavery, but Northern Whigs tended to be less supportive than their Democratic counterparts.
