Definition of turnbuckle. : a device that usually consists of a link with screw threads at both ends, that is turned to bring the ends closer together, and that is used for tightening a rod or stay.
Such splintering had not yet led to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party, while the factions led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party.
Henry Clay. Henry Clay was an important political leader and public servant in the United States during the nineteenth century. Clay was born on April 12, 1777, in Hanover County, Virginia. By the age of twenty, Clay had established a law practice in Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington voters elected Clay to the state legislature in 1806, where he served for five years. Clay briefly served in the United States Senate twice during these five years, finishing the terms of two men who left office. In 1811, Kentucky voters elected him to the House of Representatives, where he soon became the Speaker of the House.