SECOND PARTY SYSTEM
WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS
Why Did The Whigs Emerge as a Party in the 1830’s?
• Bank War of 1832
– Symbolized the ideological divide of the nation – Aroused intense opposition to Jackson, both his personality and his politics
– Key issue: What is the proper relationship of government to the nation’s financial system?
General Political Philosophies
• DEMOCRATS • “Negative Liberal State”:
– Laissez-faire-Gov’t hands off economy – Avoid special interests and interferring with free competition – Subsidies & special charters to any group creates pockets of privilege which favor rich at expense of ordinary people
• WHIGS • “Positive Liberal State”
– Government has duty and right to subsidize and protect enterprises that contribute to the general prosperity and economic growth of the nation.
WHO WERE WHIGS? ECONOMIC FACTORS
• Industrialists (want tariffs) • Merchants (want internal improvements to stimulate commerce) • Farmers and planters who HAD ADAPTED to the newly emerging market economy (depends on good transportation, finance systems,etc) • Some textile workers favored tariffs to protect their jobs
WHO WERE THE DEMOCRATS? ECONOMIC FACTORS
• Small farmers, many workers and “declining gentry” who were excluded from groups who stood to gain from Whig programs • Those who reacted with mixed feelings to the changes to a more mixed, national market economy • To some extent poor and less socially and economic secure • Those merchants involved in import trade who would generally oppose tariffs.
HOWEVER: Economic class was not always a clear-cut indicator of party preference. A textile worker might agree with a wealthy industrialist over Whig tariffs
Nor did region determine party preference. One southern planter might be a Whig, while another might be a staunch Democrat.
THESE PARTIES WERE NATIONAL NOT
SECTIONAL
WHO WERE THE WHIGS? SOCIAL FACTORS
• Northern evangelical Protestants • “old stock” Protestants of small cities & towns • Pro-temperance, pro reform oriented • Whigs generally favored new economy, but wished to restrain individualism and disorder it created by enforcing moral values derived from Puritan tradition
WHO WERE THE DEMOCRATS? SOCIAL FACTORS
• Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians (“ritualized Christians”) and non-church goers • Immigrants & backcountry farmers (like to be left alone by gov’t • “New-stock” immigrants filling cities and factories
SUMMARY OF WHIGS POSITIONS
• Pro tariffs, national banking system, internal improvements (roads, harbors, canals) • Inclined towards reform, led by the well-educated & pious • New national market economy would benefit everyone in the long run • Supported commercial and industrial capitalism • Loose construction, strong “national” view
SUMMARY OF DEMOCRATIC POSITIONS
• Strict Construction, states’ rights & laissez-faire • “white male equality”, personal liberty • Americans are by nature an independent, self-sufficient people • Gov’t should not interfere with a person’s economic activity, personal habits or his religion • Ambivalent about rise of market economy b/c threatens individual independence
WHIGS: KEY PEOPLE & MOMENTS
• Henry Clay (originally one of the “War Hawks of 1812), reflects growing importance of the west as a region-KY • Daniel Webster – Massachusetts, had debated the Nullification issue in the Senate in 1830 WebsterHayne Debate revealed growing frictions over nature of the union • Election of 1840 Whig candidate (Harrision) wins in the first “modern” style 2 party campaign
DEMOCRATS: KEY PEOPLE & EVENTS
• • • • • • • Andrew Jackson President 1828-1836 Nullification Crisis (1830) Bank Veto (1832) Indian Removal Policy “Pet banks” Election of 1836 Martin Van Buren wins Panic of 1837 damages Van Buren