The federalist party succumbed to the fact that its politics were outdated. Federalist politicians were not populist and practiced a pose of aloofness from the political process. They believed in a Republic-era political ideal where workers voted the interests of their employers and where society was seen as rigidly hierarchical. They did not develop the patronage networks that the democrats did and they also did not fare nearly as well when property requirements for voting were lifted and the US became far more democratic. Fundamentally, they did not modernize and were never really organized as a political party in the first place.

The Whig party was far more shrewd and actually ran very modern campaigns. It initially formed as an anti-Jackson coalition, but under Henry Clay's leadership it built a nationally competitive series of policies based on strong federal government that was not dissimilar to federalist policies. Ultimately, however, its leadership was a coalition between northern and southern commercial elites and the increasing division of the nation over slavery led to its destruction. Starting in 1838 with the Liberty Party and continuing in future elections with Free Soilers and eventually the Republicans in 1856, a number of antislavery parties emerged in the North that were primarily comprised of ex-whigs. Even as the nation grew more and more heated over the issue of slavery, the Whigs equivocated. This was not popular in the pro-slavery south or the anti-slavery north and the whig party collapsed.