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Political
Debate
Guidelines:
1. Choose either
the Whig or Democratic Party and find out some history about that particular
party.
2. Research
and take notes on your party's political issues using the information and
other resources listed below along with any other ones
you may find.
3. Be prepared
to defend your party by researching the issues of the other political party.
4. Prepare
a written debate defending your party's issues in comparison to the opposing
party.
5. Use
this as an organizer to help you with brainstorming
questions in the assignment. This is just to help you along.
5. Criteria
for debate:
-Include a brief history of the party you choose
-Have five issues and what your party's view is about them.
-Have five issues and how they compare with the other party (these may be
the same 5, or you may include different ones).
-Make sure it is grammatically correct, and the spelling is correct.
-It should be 2 pages and double spaced.
This page was created by Jennifer Miller and Brenda Yuska
The Whigs
(www.umich.edu)
The Whig party (1834-56) of the
United States was formed to oppose Andrew JACKSON and the DEMOCRATIC party.
The Whig coalition's antecedent was the National REPUBLICAN party organized
to support President John Quincy ADAMS (1825-29). Led by Henry Clay
of Kentucky and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, National Republicans advocated
an active federal role in the nation's economic development. Known as the
American System, their program called for federally sponsored roads and
canals, a high tariff to protect American manufacturers, a powerful national
bank, and a go-slow policy on the sale and settlement of public land.
The leaders and the program proved no match against the popularity of Jackson.
He defeated Adams in 1828, rejected federal aid for roads in 1830, vetoed
the recharter of a National Bank in 1832, and later that year decisively
won reelection against Clay. The repeated defeats led to the formation in
1834 of a new opposition party, initially united on little but hostility
to Jackson's bold use of executive power. Joining the economic nationalists
in the party were several state-rights southerners, including, for a time,
John C. CALHOUN of South Carolina. (http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/aae/side/whig.html)
Brainstorming Questions:
-What are the major views
and interests of the Whig party?
-Which major political leaders
were part of the Whig party?
An organizer to help you with the brainstorming questions.
Whig Party Links:
Democratic Party
(www.newgenevacenter.org)
The origins of the modern Democratic
Party emerged in the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-37). From
its beginning the party has achieved power through successful coalitions.
But early regional factionalism, stemming from the tariff, states’ rights,
national expansion, and slavery issues, in time split the party and eventually
led to the Civil War. The voter support mainly came from subsistence
farmers, unskilled workers, and Catholic immigrants. The party’s strength
came primarily from the South and West.
Jackson, as president, acted to reinforce
the new coalition and, in doing so, built the foundations of the modern
Democratic Party. For time, he had to straddle (1) Western demands for internal
improvements and Northeastern objections to large federal expenditures, (2)
Northeastern demands for a protective tariff and southern insistence on tariff
reduction, and (3) Calhoun's view that any state could nullify a national
law (specifically, the protective tariff) as opposed to Western pressure
for stronger national government, particularly in its military departments.
The problem of pleasing all factions was in part resolved by Jackson's stand
on an issue around which all Jacksonians could unite, that is, presidential
veto of the national bank's petition for recharter in 1832. Democratic unity
resulted in victory Clay's National Republicans in 1832.
Democratic Party Links:
Brainstorming Questions:
- Where was the Democratic Party strongest?
Who were its most loyal supporters?
-In the opinions of Andrew Jackson, what
had been going wrong with the American republic since 1815 or earlier?
An organizer to help you with the
brainstorming questions.
Democrat and Whig Comparison
Links:
Democrat
and Whig Comparison III
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