Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/330

318 In practice, indeed, the lines thus more or less distinctly dividing the two new parties were not as strictly observed by the members of each as might have been inferred from the fierce fights occasionally raging between them. Strict constructionists, when in power, would sometimes yield to the temptation of stretching the Constitution freely; while latitudinarians in opposition would, when convenient to themselves, insist upon the narrowest interpretation of the fundamental law. On the whole, however, the new Democratic party, by its advocacy of the largest local self-government and a strict limitation of the central authority, secured to itself the prestige of the apostolic succession to Jefferson. It placed itself before the people as the true representative of the genuine old theory of democratic government, as the popular party, and as the legitimate possessor of power in the nation. This position it maintained until thirty years later, when its entanglement with slavery caused its downfall.

The National Republican, or Whig party, was led by men who recognized the elevated character of John Quincy Adams's administration, and who sustained it against partisan assaults and popular clamor. They dreaded the rule of an ignorant and violent military chieftain such as Jackson was thought to be. They took a lively interest in the industrial developments of the times, and thought that the government, or rather themselves in possession of the government, could give those devel-