Daily Quiz for December 28, 2011

Barnburners, so called because it was said they were willing to burn down the barn to kill the rats – the barn being the Democratic Party. Opposed to many of the party’s policies and especially its choice of James K. Polk as its presidential candidate, the Barnburners would more-or-less reunite with their opponents in order to fight the Whig Party. Many would later join the fledgling Republican Party because of its antislavery stance.