The Whigs’ formative project had two aspects. One was to deepen the bonds of union and cultivate a shared national identity. The other was to elevate the morality of the people, to strengthen their respect for order and their capacity for self-control. Whigs sought to realize these aims through a policy of national economic development and through various public institutions, from schools to reformatories to asylums, designed to improve the moral character of the people.
