Question

what were the similarities between the whigs and the democrats in the 1830-1840s in the role of the federal government in the economy??

Answer 1

Though they have the opposite goals the one thing that Whigs and Democrats have was that parties had to deal with the split within their parties that was caused by the issue of slavery.  Later on this would lead to the collapse of the Whig Party that would later be replaced by the Republican Party.