The Second Party System, a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to name the political system existing in the United States from about 1837 to 1852, is characterized by rapidly rising levels of voter interest beginning in 1828, as demonstrated by election day turnout, rallies, partisan newspapers, and a high degree of personal loyalty to party.
The major parties are the Democratic Party, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, a coalition of National Republicans, Anti-Masons, and other opponents of Jackson, led by Henry Clay.
Minor parties include the Anti-Masonic Party, which had been an important innovator from 1827–34; the Liberty Party in 1840; the Free Soil Party in 1848 and 1852; and the Know-Nothing Party in the 1850s.
The Second Party System reflects and shapes the political, social, economic and cultural currents of the Jacksonian Era.
