USA political parties

• what are the main functions of political parties

  improve society

  select suitable candidates for office at all levels - local, regional and national

  identify and train political leaders

  educate the public about important political issues
• political parties in the 1830's - whigs - opponents of jackson 


  • Favored bigger government and public funding for federal projects
  • Believed in expansion through negotiation and progress
  • Displayed patronizing/paternalistic tendencies
  • Supported 'improvement' projects like temperance
  • Tended to be more 'honorable' to Native Americans
• political parties in the 1830's - democrats - successors of jackson 


  • Favored small government and laissez-faire
  • Believed in aggressive expansion
  • Claimed to speak for the common man
  • Relied on the Irish immigrant vote and opposed temperance
  • Ruthless towards Native Americans
• attitudes towards westward expansion and native americans 


  • Unity in Mission for Westward Expansion
  • Both parties believed in versions of Manifest Destiny and cultural superiority towards Native Americans
  • Both parties were united in their sense of mission to expand and take Indian land
• whigs concern for native americans

  • Whigs were concerned with acting with honor and in the 'best interests' of Native Americans
  • Disliked the ruthless, dismissive approach of Democrats
  • Had moral misgivings about aggressive wars
• democrats aggressive approach 


  • Took a more bellicose (warlike) hard line approach towards Native Americans
  • Tended to be less fearful about the possible consequences of expansion
  • Had fewer moral scruples with what would now be called ethnic cleansing or genocidal acts
  • Southern Democrats saw expansion as a means of boosting the number of slave states