The Green Papers
The Green Papers
Political Party Breakdown of the
21st Congress of the United States, 1829-1831

Boldface (with superscript C) numbers indicate the majority Party in each house. Red (with superscript P) numbers (boldface or not) indicate the Party of the President in any event.

President Party Congress United States Senate House of Representatives
 Democratic
Republican
National
Republican
othervacanciesDemocratic
Republican
National
Republican
other
JacksonDemocratic
Republican
21st 1829-183126CP211    

21ST CONGRESS- IN GENERAL

By the start of the 21st Congress (coinciding with the Inauguration of President Andrew Jackson on 4 March 1829), the two opposing factions within the old Republican Party which had become evident in the course of the two preceding Congresses had coalesced into two new Major Parties: the Democratic Republicans (the one-time Jackson Republicans) and the National Republicans (the one-time Adams Republicans). The Democratic Republicans took their name from their identification with the democracy they urged on behalf of the "common man" as well as a strong historical tie they now felt with the old "Jeffersonian" Republicans who had been referred to as "democrats" as a term of derision (the "Jackson" faction thus painting those who supported outgoing President John Quincy Adams as being the contemporary equivalent of the Federalists of Adams' father, President John Adams). The National Republicans, meanwhile, adapted their name from the nationalizing policies pushed by the outgoing Administration of their champion, President Adams. Neither faction becoming Party, however, was yet willing to completely give up their identification with the "old" Republicans of the era before the 1824 Presidential Election.

21ST CONGRESS- SENATE

The SENATE of the 21st Congress included 1 Senator from other than the two Major Parties as elected by his respective State Legislature, as follows:

  • 1 Federalist-
    • Senator Louis McLane of DELAWARE (Class 1)

Modified .