A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on November 1st, 2009 in Progressive Faith

Back before the Republican was a grand ole anything, the Whig Party ran the role of “honored opposition.” They formed mainly in opposition to what they saw as the autocratic rule of Andrew Jackson (who, no doubt, saw things differently). In general, they favored the legislature over the executive, seeing it as being closer to the will of the people. They were successful enough to win the Presidency twice – William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor were both Whigs.

Interestingly, both Harrison and Taylor died in office. Harrison, in fact, was the first President to die in office – I’m sure you’ve heard the old wives’ tale of how he got sick from delivering his inaugural address in the rain – and there was some debate over whether or not John Tyler would actually become President or merely wield the power of the Presidency as a Vice-President. Tyler sort of settled things when he began acting like the President and Congressional Whigs fell in line behind him.

But Tyler had been a Democrat before he was a Whig, so he set about vetoing the Whig agenda – including vetoing the bill creating the Second Bank of the United States twice. Every member of Tyler’s cabinet, except Daniel Webster (Secretary of State) resigned over this outrage. Two days later, Congressional Whigs formally threw the President out of their Party. After Tyler vetoed a tariff bill, he became the first President to have impeachment proceedings brought up in the House – because he used the veto on policy grounds rather than Constitutional grounds. Tyler also neatly put down Dorrs Rebellion in Rhode Island by threatening to send troops if the rebels initiated violence, but also telling the Governor to amend the Constitution to allow for greater voting rights.

Tyler’s nominations probably helped set the state for the Civil War by pushing the Whigs into being a “party of the north” and the Democrats as a “party of the south.” Since he had left the Democrats willingly, and been thrown out of the Whigs, Tyler tried to form a third party to run for re-election. He failed.

James K. Polk won a single term in between the Whig Presidents – mostly on the issue of annexing Texas as a slave state. But Polk won by promising his fellow Democrats that he would serve only one term. Henry Clay split the anti-slavery vote with Liberty Party candidate James Birney in New York, giving Polk just enough votes to win. It is likely that the poor historical standing of the Whig Presidents comes in relation to Polk – who annexed Texas (which made Southerners happy) but also acquired the Oregon territory (which made Northerners happy). Polk also provoked, and ended, the Mexican-American war – taking the territories of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona. The Congressional Whigs would censure Polk for the unconscionable act of aggression (though Whigs voted to fund it) and use it as a campaign issue in 1848.

Zachary Taylor distinguished himself in that same war, and eventually announced that he was a Whig, though he believed in the values of the Democratic-Republicans. Taylor was at home splitting such political cleavages. He actually owned slaves himself, but opposed the spread of slavery into the Southwest – because he felt that the soil could not support a plantation economy. He ran against, and defeated, Lewis Cass, who believed it should be up to the people who lived in a given territory whether or not they allowed slavery (this angered everyone). Taylor held office for just over a year, in which he set the stage for the Compromise of 1850, which probably accounts for his low historical standing.

Taylor was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Fillmore didn’t get along well with his fellow Whigs. In fact, the first thing he did was fire his entire cabinet (which was corrupt). Fillmore helped craft the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California as a non-slave state, settled the boundary between New Mexico and Texas, granted territorial status to New Mexico, promised the use of federal officers to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, and abolished the slave trade (but not slavery) in DC. Fillmore’s actions hardened the sentiment between north and south over slavery and set them on a collision course for the Civil War – but in reality, that was coming anyway.

Fillmore became the second Whig President not to receive the re-nomination of the Whig Party in 1856. Four years later, he won the nomination of both the Whig Party and the Know-Nothing Party, but was defeated by James Buchanan.

So what’s the lesson from the Whig Presidents? First, Vice-Presidents who ascend to the Presidency are resented by their own party. Second, third parties are only spoilers, even with an incumbent President. Third, sometimes you can do your best and still be damned for it. Finally, what seems like a good compromise at one point in time can sew the seeds of failure for all other times.

To be continued…

Sphere: Related Content