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 emerged as power in Kentucky politics about the time of the War of 1812 and his Whig Party dominated Kentucky politics until after his death in 1852 (though Clay was never Governor nor did he ever seek to be Governor of Kentucky).