National Republican Party

National Republican party, in U.S. history, a short-lived political party opposed to Andrew Jackson. In the election of 1828, which Jackson won overwhelmingly, some of the supporters of his opponent, President John Quincy Adams, called themselves National Republicans. It was under this name that, following the lead of the Anti-Masonic party, they held a national nominating convention at Baltimore in Dec., 1831, and chose Henry Clay to oppose Jackson in the 1832 election. The adherents of the National Republican party constituted a mixture of industrialists, business leaders, farmers, laborers, and mechanics, who believed in Clay's program of high tariffs, internal improvements, and a national bank. The main issue of the campaign was Jackson's veto of the second Bank of the United States. Clay was badly beaten, and by 1836 the National Republicans had combined with other groups opposed to Jackson to form the Whig party.

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National Republican Party

U.S. political party formed after the Jeffersonian Republicans split in 1825. The National Republicans included followers of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay and opponents of Andrew Jackson. Adams, the incumbent president, ran as the party's unsuccessful candidate in the 1828 presidential election. Its 1832 presidential nominee was Clay, whose platform endorsing a high tariff, internal improvements, and the Bank of the United States (see Bank War). After losing again to Jackson, the party joined with conservatives and other anti-Jackson forces to form the Whig Party.