# National Republican Party The National Republican Party was the short-lived faction that formed around John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay after the **[[Democratic-Republican Party]]** fractured in the 1824 election. Its members backed Clay's **[[American System]]** — a national bank, protective tariffs, and federally funded internal improvements — against the rising Jacksonian movement that became the **[[Democratic Party]]**. Adams governed as a National Republican (1825–1829) but was decisively defeated by [[Andrew Jackson]] in 1828, and Clay lost to Jackson again in 1832. Unable to compete with Jackson's mass-democratic coalition on its own, the National Republicans merged with other anti-Jackson elements — including the [[Anti-Masonic Party]] and disaffected states'-rights men — to form the **[[Whig Party]]** in 1833–34. The National Republicans are thus the **transitional bridge** between the First and Second Party Systems, carrying the Hamiltonian-developmental tradition from the Federalists into the Whigs. ## See Also - [[Democratic-Republican Party]] — the parent party - [[Whig Party]] — the successor - [[American System]] · [[Second Party System]]