Editing Daniel Webster (section)

====Rise of the Whig Party and 1836 candidacy====
[[File:ElectoralCollege1836.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|1836 electoral vote results]]

As Calhoun drifted away from the Democratic Party and occasionally cooperated with the National Republicans to oppose Jackson, some contemporaries began to refer to Calhoun, Webster, and Clay as "the [[Great Triumvirate]]."{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=359}} At the same time, Webster's alliance with Jackson in the Nullification Crisis caused some observers to wonder if he would join the Democratic Party or found a new party centered on their nationalistic vision.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=374, 387–388}} Jackson's decision to remove government deposits from the national bank in late 1833 ended any possibility of a Webster-Jackson alliance and helped to solidify partisan lines.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=202–203}} As chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance|Senate Finance Committee]], Webster led the Senate's effort to prevent Jackson's secretary of the treasury, [[Roger Taney]], from removing government deposits.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=401, 408–409}} As the national bank's charter was due to expire in 1836, before the end of Jackson's term, he attempted to save the national bank through a compromise measure, but Democrats rejected his proposal. Ultimately, the Senate was unable to prevent the deposit removals or the expiration of the national bank's charter, but it did pass resolutions [[Censure in the United States|censuring]] Jackson and Taney. Webster's decision to vote for the censure resolution caused a permanent break with Jackson.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=410–412}}

In the aftermath of the battle over the national bank, Jackson's political opponents coalesced into the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]]. By taking a name rooted in American and British history, the Whigs implicitly criticized Jackson as a tyrannical executive.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=413–415, 420}} Although National Republicans like Clay and Webster formed the core of the Whig Party, Anti-Masonic leaders like [[William H. Seward]] and states' rights Democrats like [[John Tyler]] also joined the new party.{{sfn|Cole|1993|pp=211–213}} The Whig Party proved more durable than the National Republican Party and, along with the Democrats, the Whigs became one of the two major parties of the [[Second Party System]], which would extend into the 1850s.{{sfn|Howe|2007|p=390}} By 1834, Webster supporters such as [[Caleb Cushing]], [[Rufus Choate]], [[Abbott Lawrence]], and [[Edward Everett]] had begun preparing for his candidacy in the [[1836 U.S. presidential election]].{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=425–426}} With Clay showing no indication of making another run, Webster hoped to become the main Whig candidate in the 1836 election, but General [[William Henry Harrison]] and Senator [[Hugh Lawson White]] retained strong support in the West and the South, respectively. Rather than uniting behind one presidential candidate, Whig leaders settled on a strategy of running multiple candidates in order to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=427–429}}

He was nominated for president by the Massachusetts legislature, but Harrison won the backing of most Whigs outside of the South. Although his reputation as a national figure was far greater than that of Harrison, many Whigs hoped that Harrison's military record would allow him to replicate Jackson's 1828 victory.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=430–431, 439–440}} Webster's chances also suffered from his lingering association with the Federalist Party, his close relationship with elite politicians and businessmen, and his lack of appeal among the broad populace; [[Robert Remini]] writes that the American public "admired and revered him but did not love or trust him."{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=450–451}} With little support outside of his home state, he attempted to withdraw his presidential candidacy, but, to his eventual regret, Massachusetts Whig leaders convinced him to stay in the race.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=444–448}} Meanwhile, the [[1835 Democratic National Convention]] nominated Van Buren, Jackson's preferred successor, for president. In the 1836 election, Van Buren won a majority of the popular and electoral vote, Harrison finished a distant second, and White carried two Southern states. Webster won only the electoral votes of Massachusetts.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=448–449}} Adding to his displeasure, he lost a major Supreme Court decision, ''[[Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge]]'', shortly after the election.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=459–461}}{{efn|Aside from ''Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge'', other major cases he argued before the Taney Court include ''[[Thurlow v. Massachusetts]]''{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=605}} and ''[[Luther v. Borden]]''.{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=640}}
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