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Article: The Whig Party versus the "spoilsmen" of Tennessee.
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE IDEAS OF THE AMERICAN WHIG PARTY were "worse than useless for the understanding of society," according to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Some historians, however, have recently begun to view Whig ideology as a crucial element of Jacksonian politics. The Whig Party encouraged the economic development of the United States and advocated the use of federal power to promote material and moral progress. Whether Whig rhetoric was the sincere expression of a distinct world view, or mere "claptrap" that distracted voters from the real issues, it won the loyalty of roughly half the American electorate, which understood its political world according, to party principles. Since ...