The following is an encore presentation of everything everywhere daily.

American politics has been called a two-party system.

While there are indeed two major parties today and those two

parties have been around a long time, they weren't always the only two parties.

In fact, there was a political party in the United States that took its name

from a British political party in the United States that took its name from a British political party, had

four U.S. Presidents, and even held control of Congress for several years.

Today, however, they're all but unknown to most people.

Learn more about the Whig Party, their rise and fall,

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The 1820s were an important time in American history.

I've touched on this area in a few previous episodes, in particular the one on the

election of 1824 and on the six political eras in American history episode.

By the time of the 1820 election, the Federalist Party had completely fallen apart.

President James Monroe literally ran unopposed for president. In 1824 all four of the

candidates for president who received electoral votes came from the same party,

the Democratic Republican Party. After this election the Democratic Republican Party too fell apart, and they were replaced

by the Democratic Party, which was led by Andrew Jackson.

This is the direct descendant of the modern day political party with the same name.

In 1828, the incumbent president was John Quincy Adams, and he ran against Jackson,

but the party he was associated with wasn't really an organized party.

It was alternatively called the National

Republican Party, the anti-Jacksonian Party, and the plain old Republican Party, although

...