{{Short description|American political party}} {{hatnote group| {{redirect|National Republican|the former newspaper|National Republican (newspaper)||National Republican Party (disambiguation)}} {{distinguish|Republican Party (United States){{!}}Republican Party|National Union Party (United States){{!}}National Union Party|Democratic-Republican Party}} }} {{More citations needed|date=September 2020}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox political party | colorcode = {{party color|National Republican Party (United States)}} | name = National Republican Party | lang1 = Other | name_lang1 = Adams–Clay Republicans<br />Adams's Men<br />Anti-Jacksonians | leader = John Quincy Adams<br />Henry Clay | foundation = {{start date and age|1824}} | dissolution = {{end date and age|1834}} | split = Democratic-Republican Party | predecessor = Democratic-Republican Party<br />Federalist Party | merged = Whig Party | national = Democratic-Republican Party (1824) | ideology = {{ubl|American School|Anti-Jacksonianism|Traditionalist conservatism|Economic nationalism<ref>{{cite book | title=The rise and fall of the American Whig Party : Jacksonian politics and the onset of the Civil War | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-19-516104-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/risefallofameric0000holt_y0w0/mode/1up?q=economic+nationalism }}</ref>|Classical liberalism<ref>{{cite web|title= John Quincy Adams on the war we are in|url=https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/john-quincy-adams-on-the-war-we-are-in/|access-date=9 November 2024|date=|publisher=Richard Samuelson|website=Claremont review of books|quote= Long before Samuel Huntington, Adams understood our modern “clash of civilizations.” Adams believed that history had set the liberal West on a collision course with the Islamic East. In Adams’s day, as in ours, many sophisticated Europeans thought that the two civilizations ought to compromise their differences in the name of peace. Unfortunately, Adams found, compromise was not always possible. As then constituted, Islamic civilization would not accept Western notions of liberty, equality, and progress, and for that reason the West had to fight to defend both its principles and its interests.}}</ref><br />Conservative liberalism<ref>{{Cite web | title=One moment, please... | url=https://ciceroniansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/PIETAS_FALL_2023_02_SYCK_Conservative_Liberalism_Adams_Slavery_Freedom.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240420162138/https://ciceroniansociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/PIETAS_FALL_2023_02_SYCK_Conservative_Liberalism_Adams_Slavery_Freedom.pdf | access-date=2025-07-29 | archive-date=2024-04-20}}</ref><br />Liberal nationalism<ref>{{Cite book| url=https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-656?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780199329175.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780199329175-e-656&p=emailAmRdSg5W9gOLc | doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.656 | chapter=John Quincy Adams: Architect of American Empire | title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History | date=2020 | last1=Woods | first1=Randall | isbn=978-0-19-932917-5 }}</ref><br />Conservatism<ref>{{cite web | url=https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2017/10/conservatism-john-quincy-adams-sean-mattie-timeless.html | title=The Conservatism of John Quincy Adams | date=16 October 2017 }}</ref><br />Liberalism{{refn|<ref>{{cite web | title=John Quincy Adams Amongst the Postliberals | url=https://mereorthodoxy.com/john-quincy-adams-amongst-the-postliberals }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/npsa/npsa22/index.php?program_focus=view_paper&selected_paper_id=1999340&cmd=online_program_direct_link&sub_action=online_program | title=Towards A Communitarian Liberalism: John Quincy Adams, Slavery, and the Meaning of Freedom | website=convention2.allacademic.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Lincoln Persuasion | chapter=Eight. John Quincy Adams | date=1994 | pages=191–221 | doi=10.1515/9781400863617.191 | isbn=978-1-4008-6361-7 | chapter-url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781400863617.191/pdf?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoqf-YBu4d6AgNscM4xOwyNIALfNkRcUZLITVG1PzzVlEXIV8YXJ }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-napoleonica-la-revue-2015-3-page-61?lang=fr | doi=10.3917/napo.024.0061 | title=John Quincy Adams: American eyewitness of the Hundred Days | date=2015 | last1=Chew Iii | first1=William L. | journal=Napoleonica la Revue | volume=24 | issue=3 | pages=61–109 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>}}}} | country = the United States }} {{Conservatism US|parties}} The '''National Republican Party''', also known as the '''Anti-Jacksonian Party''' or simply '''Republicans''',<ref>{{cite news |title=State Journal - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=AyW1NBs4p6IC&dat=18371012&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=15 January 2021 |work=news.google.com |volume=III|issue=6 |publisher=E. Lawrence |date=Oct 12, 1837}}</ref> was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential election.
Known initially as '''Adams–Clay Republicans''' in the wake of the 1824 campaign, Adams's political allies in Congress and at the state-level were referred to as "Adams's Men" during his presidency (1825–1829). When Andrew Jackson became president, following his victory over Adams in the 1828 election, this group became the opposition, and organized themselves as "Anti-Jackson". The use of the term "National Republican" dates from 1830.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}
Henry Clay was the party's nominee in the 1832 election, but was defeated by Jackson. The party supported Clay's American System of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff. After the 1832 election, opponents of Jackson, including the National Republicans, Anti-Masons and others, coalesced into the Whig Party.
== History == {{Further|Presidency of John Quincy Adams#Formation of political parties|Second Party System}}
Before the election of John Quincy Adams to the presidency in 1825, the Democratic-Republican Party, which had been the only national American political party for over a decade, began to fracture, losing its infrastructure and identity. Its caucuses no longer met to select candidates because now they had separate interests. After the 1824 election, factions developed in support of Adams and in support of Andrew Jackson. Adams politicians, including most ex-Federalists (such as Daniel Webster and Adams himself), would gradually become members of the National Republican Party; and those politicians that supported Jackson would later help form the modern Democratic Party.
After Adams's defeat in the 1828 election, his supporters regrouped around Henry Clay. Now the "anti-Jackson" opposition, they soon organized as the National Republican Party. Led by Clay, the new party maintained its historic nationalistic outlook and desired to use national resources to build a strong economy. Its platform was Clay's American System of nationally financed internal improvements and a protective tariff, which would promote faster economic development. More important, by binding together the diverse interests of the different regions, the party intended to promote national unity and harmony.
Historians refer to the National Republican Party, but the term Anti-Jackson was frequently used at the time. For instance in 1830, Alexander McIlhenny recorded in his diary, "May 29th: I attended the Anti Jackson meeting at Sultzers in Taney Town. Addressed a few words to the meeting."<ref>{{cite journal |last=n.a. |date=April 2003 |title=From the Diary of A. McIlhenny January 19, 1830 to February 7, 1831, Copied from the Original by Jane C. Sween, Annotations by Patricia A. Andersen |journal=Western Maryland Genealogy |location=Damascus, Maryland |publisher=GenLaw Resources |volume=30 |issue=2–3 |pages=105–146 |issn=0747-7805 |oclc=10807414 |ref={{harvid|Andersen|2003}}}}</ref>{{Rp|page=130}}
The National Republicans saw the Union as a corporate, organic whole. Hence, the rank and file idealized Clay for his comprehensive perspective on the national interest. Conversely, they disdained those they identified as "party" politicians for pandering to local interests at the expense of the national interest.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Brown|year=1985|title=Politics and Statesmanship: Essays on the American Whig Party|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231056021|oclc=906445960|page=20}}</ref> The party met in national convention in late 1831 and nominated Clay for the presidency and John Sergeant for the vice presidency.
===Formation of the Whig Party=== {{Further|Presidency of Andrew Jackson#Rise of the Whig Party}}
The Whig Party emerged in 1833–1834 after Clay's defeat as a coalition of National Republicans, along with Anti-Masons, disaffected Jacksonians and people whose last political activity had been with the Federalists a decade before. In the short term, the Whig Party formed with the help of other smaller parties in a coalition against President Jackson and his reforms.
== National Republican presidents == John Quincy Adams was the only president to come from the National Republican Party. {|class="sortable wikitable" |- !style="text-align:center;"|<abbr title="Order of presidency">#</abbr> !style="text-align:center;"|Name (lifespan) !style="text-align:center;"|Portrait !style="text-align:center;"|State !style="text-align:center;"|Presidency<br />start date !style="text-align:center;"|Presidency<br />end date !style="text-align:center;"|Time in office |- style="text-align:left;" |6 |{{sortname|John Quincy|Adams}} (1767–1848) |65px |Massachusetts |March 4, 1825 |March 4, 1829 |{{ayd|1825|3|4|1829|3|4}} |}
== Electoral history == === Presidential tickets === {{Further|List of United States National Republican and Whig Party presidential tickets}}
{|class="sortable wikitable" |- ! rowspan=2 | Election ! colspan=2 | Ticket ! Popular vote ! colspan=2 | Electoral vote
|- ! Presidential nominee ! Running mate ! Percentage ! class=unsortable | Electoral votes ! Ranking
|- | align="center" | 1828 | John Quincy Adams | Richard Rush | align="center" | 44.0 | {{composition bar|83|261|hex={{party color|National Republican Party (United States)}}}} | 2
|- | align="center" | 1832 | Henry Clay | John Sergeant | align="center" | 37.4 | {{composition bar|49|286|hex={{party color|National Republican Party (United States)}}}} | 2 |}
=== Congressional representation === {{see also|Party divisions of United States Congresses}}
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- valign=bottom ! rowspan=2 | Congress ! rowspan=2 | Years ! rowspan=11 | ! colspan=5 | Senate<ref>{{cite web |title=Party Division |url=https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm |website=United States Senate}}</ref> ! rowspan=11 | ! colspan=5 | House of Representatives<ref>{{cite web |title=Party Divisions of the House of Representatives, 1789 to Present |url=https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/ |website=United States House of Representatives}}</ref> ! rowspan=11 | ! rowspan=2 | President
|- valign=bottom ! Total ! {{Party shading/Democratic}} | Pro-Jackson ! {{Party shading/National Republican}} | Pro-Adams ! Others ! Vacancies ! Total ! {{Party shading/Democratic}} | Pro-Jackson ! {{Party shading/National Republican}} | Pro-Adams ! Others ! Vacancies
|- | 19th | 1825–1827 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 48 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''26''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 22 | — | — | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 213 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 104 | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | '''109''' | — | — | {{Party shading/National Republican}} rowspan=2 | John Quincy Adams<ref>Adams won election as a Democratic-Republican, but he sought re-election as a National Republican.</ref>
|- | 20th | 1827–1829 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 48 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''27''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 21 | — | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 213 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''113''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 100 | — | —
|- valign=bottom ! Congress ! Years ! Total ! {{Party shading/Democratic}} | Pro-Jackson ! {{Party shading/National Republican}} | Anti-Jackson ! Others ! Vacancies ! Total ! {{Party shading/Democratic}} | Pro-Jackson ! {{Party shading/National Republican}} | Anti-Jackson ! Others ! Vacancies ! President
|- | 21st | 1829–1831 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 48 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''25''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 23 | — | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 213 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''136''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 72 | 5 | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} rowspan=4 | Andrew Jackson
|- | 22nd | 1831–1833 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 48 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''24''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 22 | 2 | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 213 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''126''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 66 | 21 | —
|- | 23rd | 1833–1835 | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 48 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 20 | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | '''26''' | 2 | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 240 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''143''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 63 | 34 | —
|- | 24th | 1835–1837 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 52 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''26''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 24 | 2 | — | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | 242 | {{Party shading/Democratic}} | '''143''' | {{Party shading/National Republican}} | 75 | 24 | —
|}
== See also == * Era of Good Feelings * Second Party System
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Michael F. Holt. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War''. New York. Oxford University Press. 1999. * Carroll, E. Malcolm. ''Origins of the Whig Party''. Durham, NC. Duke University Press. 1925. * Robert V. Remini. ''Henry Clay: A Statesman for the Union''. New York. W. W. Norton and Co. 1992.
{{Whig Party (United States)}} {{United States political parties}} {{John Quincy Adams}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1824 establishments in the United States Category:1834 disestablishments in the United States Category:Classical liberal parties Category:Conservative liberal parties Category:Defunct conservative parties in the United States Category:Defunct liberal parties in the United States Category:Liberal conservative parties Category:National liberal parties Category:Political parties established in 1824 Category:Political parties disestablished in 1834