Who were the leaders and constituents of the Whig and Democratic parties?

The
Democratic Party was born in 1828 as the result of internal divisions in the
Democratic-Republican Party. This division occurred because of disagreement over who would
succeed President James Monroe. Early on, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren were recognized as
the leaders of this party. They strongly supported and advocated for Thomas Jefferson's vision
of a decentralized agrarian society. The party was suspicious and sometimes outright hostile
towards the power of the Federal government. Given the populist message of the party, their
constituents tended to be farmers, frontiersmen, artisans, and the so-called "common
man."

The Whig Party was born in response to Jackson's rise. It started
as an amalgamation of the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, and former
Democratic-Republicans who disagreed with Jackson and Van Buren. Henry Clay emerged as an early
leader of the nascent Whig Party. Daniel Webster, Truman Smith, John Crittenden, and William
Seward were other...

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