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.
The anti-Jackson Clay campaign of 1832 was the beginning of the Whig Party in American politics. Clay sought the Whig nomination for president in 1836 and 1840, both times losing out to William Henry Harrison, who was finally elected in 1840. Harrison died after only a month in office, and was replaced by his vice president, John Tyler.