No argument at all that the Whigs (who came later) completely copied the DemoKKKrats in their organization, partisan press, and GOTV efforts.
But, as one historian said, the Whigs were “stillborn” because they still in large part harkened back to the days of “elites” running things and never accepted the full “democratization” of the process with conventions and so forth, or at least, not until 1840.
It is ironic, then, that William Henry Harrison, a Whig, is considered by historians who have studied the local data, to have run the first true “Jacksonian” campaign.
“No argument at all that the Whigs (who came later) completely copied the DemoKKKrats in their organization, partisan press, and GOTV efforts”
Well partisan press existed long before Van Buren assembled the Democrats- Jefferson and his Federalist adversaries both had highly partisan pamphleteers and newspapers flacking for them. Good old James Callander was one of them, hired by Jefferson, whom he then turned on, being the source of the original Sally Hemmings rumor.
GOTV was pretty much invented by Tammany Hall, beginning 1790...Van Buren was 8 yrs old...Tammany supported the Democratic-Republican Party... Jefferson.. Aaron Burr.. again this long predates the Van Buren Democrats.
Whig Party isn’t that much younger than the Democrats...Van Buren in 1828 to Clay in 1834. Whigs, like the Democrats, picked up pieces of the old Democratic-Republican Party.. John Quincy Adams was elected as a D-R...in fact all four candidates running in 1824 were Democratic-Republicans, including Jackson... John Q Adams ended his career being a Whig.