Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/556

* WHIG. 470 WHINCHAT. Tory was intended to imply some connection with Irisli brigands, wlio were supposed to desire a Catholic king. The names came into use about 1080. In general, the Tories were adherents of the ancient Constitution of England, and the supporters of regal and ecclesiastical authority, while the Whigs as a rule favored reform in the direction of a more democratic government. In the eighteenth century, however, the ^Yhig3 represented to a great extent the aristocratic oligarchy which ruled England. In 1832, when the Reform Bill was passed through the eiforts of a wing of the Whig Party, the two old parties really disappeared, th« Tories being ultimately succeeded by the Conservatives and the Wliigs by the Liberals. WHIG PARTY. In American history, the name first applied to those who during and immediately preceding the Revolutionary War opposed the measures of the British Govern- ment, in contradistinction to the Loyalists or Tories. The name came to be synonymous with patriot in America, and is believed to have made its appearance first in New York in 1708. After the Revolution the word disappeared as an American party term until about 1834, when it came to be applied to a new political party op- posed to the Democratic Party. After the close of the War of 1812 the Federalists as a party disappeared, and with the absence of any well- defined political issues an 'era of good feeling' followed. During the administration of .John Quincy Adams party lines were again drawn, those ' who supported the Administration and favored a system of internal improvements, a protective tariff', and a national bank, together with a broad construction of the Constitution generally, being designated as National Repub- licans, w-hile their opponents were known as Democrats or Democratic-Republicans. (See De.mocratic Party.) In the Presidential elec- tion of 1828 those of the former belief voted for Adams, while the latter supported Jackson. Nul- lifters, w-hose enmity President Jackson had in- curred by his measures in 1832 (see Nullifica- tion ), Anti-JIasons, the followers of Hugh L. White (q.v.) in Tennessee, and the States Rights Party in Georgia constituted in addition to the National Republicans some of the elements of the opposition, and by 1833 these were drawing to- gether on the basis of their common dislike for Jackson. In 1834 the opposing elements became fused into a new party, which was called "Whig,' in allusion to its opposition to executive usurpa- tion, by Col. James Watson Webb, editor of the New York Courier and Eixitiirrr. By 183R the party had not become sulliciently well organized to enter successfully into a Presidential contest. No national convention was held, but Gen. W. H. Harrison was put forward as their candidate by numerous mass meetings and by several Whig State conventions in ISS.*), Several other candi- dates appeared in opposition to the Democratic nominpc, Martin Van Buren. who was elected. In 1840 the party passed over its real leaders. Clay and Webster, renominated General Harrison, and went before the people with no platform except the personal popularity of the candidate. After a remarkable campaign, the Whigs tri- umphed, but their rejoicing was soon oit short by tlie death of the President and the accession of a Vice-President, Tyler, who was not of their political faith and whose policy of opposition demoralized and weakened the party. In 1844 the Whig Party, true to itself for the first time, nominated its leader, Henry Clay, and likewise for the first time adopted a platform of princi- ples, summed up in the following words: "A well-regulated national currency; a tariff for revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the Governmentj and discriminating with special reference to the proiection of the domestic labor of the country; the distribution of the proceeds from the sales of the public lands ; a single term for the Presidency ; a reform of executive usurpa- tions." The hopes of the party were destroyed by the injection of the Texas question' into the campaign, for the "trimming' attitude of their candidate caused many anti-slavery Whigs in the Nortli to refuse their support. The question of the annexation of Texas did not sever the bond between the Northern Whigs and Southern Whigs, although it was the first of the series of causes which ultimately led to the disruption. The A"higs of both North and South supported the war with Mexico after it was once declared, but the question of admitting or excluding slavery from the territory acquired thereby (see WlL- jiOT Proviso) clearly revealed that Northern and Southern Wliigs could not nuich longer stand together. The anti-slavery or 'Conscience' wing of the Whig Party in Massachusetts now arose in opposition to the so-called 'Cotton Whigs.' In the Presidential election of 1848 the Whigs, with Gen. Zachary Taylor as their candidate, were for the second and last time successful. It was chiefly through the efforts of Henry Clay that the passage of the Com]iromise Measures of 1850 was efl'ected. The Whig National Con- vention at Baltimore in 18.52, by a vote of 212 to 70, recognized this compromise as a finality. The election of that year resulted in the overwlielm- ing defeat of the Whig candidate. General Scott. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill (q.v.) of 1854 led to the disruption of the Whig Party and to the formation of a new party in the North (see Re- publican Party), which was finally joined by most of the Northern Whigs, many of whom were at first also affiliated with the Know-Xothing movement. In the South most of the Whigs for a time acted with the Know-Nothing Party. In 1856 a convention representing what was left of the Whig Party indorsed the nomination of Fill- more, the candidate of the Know-Nothings, for the Presidency. In the Presidential election of 1800 remnants of the old Whig and Know- Nothing parties under a ditTerent name, the Con- stitutional-Union Party (q.v.). supported Bell and Everett for President and Vice-President, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War the last trace of the Whigs disap])eared, the Southern Whigs having become absorbed by the Democratic Party. Consult: Gordy, Ui.itori/ of Political Parlies in the United Stntcn (New York, 1000 — ) ; Hopkins, ninlorri of Political Parties in the United Stales (NewY^ork. 1900) ; Ormsby, History of the Whip Parti/ (Boston, 18.')!)) : Mc- Kee, National C'onrentions and Phitfortns (Washington, 1892). For the Whig Party in Great Britain, see Wiiio AND Tory. WHIMBREL, or Wiiaup. See Curlew. WHIN. See Furze. WHINCHAT (from whin, furze, gorse. from Wclsli cliieyn. weed + chat, on account of its