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.
Led originally by Henry Clay, it was a loose coalition of men who sought office for any of a number of reason. In the north it included abolitionists and people opposed to the expansion of slave territories, and those favoring protective, high tariffs (customs duties); in the south it favored slavery and lower tariffs.