What forces brought about the destruction of the Federalist Party? What types of people joined the new Whig Party? It has been s
aid that politics creates “strange bedfellows.” What faction of the new Whig Party seems ideologically out of place and would later return to the Democrats? *Full Answer, NOT short answer!*
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the election of Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson in 1800, and the death of Alexander Hamilton in 1804 led to the decline and collapse of the Federalist Party. The Federalists opposition to war in 1812 also led to the collapse.The Whig Party originated during the mid 1830s. The Whigs included traditional enemies who united in their opposition to President Andrew Jackson and his policies. Southern slaveholders, who opposed Jackson's support of the Tariff of 1828, supported the Whig Party.The National Republicans, including Clay and Webster, formed the core of the Whig Party, but many Anti-Masons like William H. Seward of New York and Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania also joined.
