Chapter Overview

Franklin Plummer was one politician whose public career mirrored the features of the new democratic politics. Born in New England without the advantages of society, Plummer rose to power in Mississippi by portraying opponents as aristocratic snobs. A brilliant if unscrupulous campaigner, Plummer knew how to cater to popular tastes and portray himself as one of the people. His rise and eventual fall (when he began to act like an aristocrat himself) illustrated how profoundly American politics had changed into a more participatory enterprise, and suggested that the new politics of equality bore an uneasy relationship to the new opportunities of the market.

Equality and Opportunity

While European visitors professed shock at American egalitarianism, expanded economic opportunity actually challenged the concept of equality because it allowed some citizens to become much richer than others. Thus this generation had to confront a fundamental tension between two basic American values: opportunity and equality. The democratic party system sought to preserve both equality and opportunity by defining equality to mean equality of opportunity, not condition, and safeguarding opportunity through government power.

The Political Culture of Democracy

The new emphasis on democracy arose in response to the Panic of 1819, as voters demanded that their representatives carry out policies to sustain their economic well-being. This new political culture was symbolized by Andrew Jackson. Jackson lacked the experience of typical presidential candidates, but his strong showing in the 1824 election, when he finished first in the popular vote, established his popularity. Though he finally lost the election, his supporters, taking the name Democrats, charged that a "corrupt bargain" had stolen the election. The winner, John Quincy Adams, and his ally Henry Clay would later become founders of the new Whig party.

Demands mounted for a more open and responsive political system. Politics seemed more relevant to people's lives, and as a result popular participation in elections soared. The new political culture of democracy rested on acceptance of political parties as essential for the working of the constitutional system. Parties were pragmatic organizations by which competing interests sought power, while politics itself became mass entertainment.

Jackson's Rise to Power

Personally cold and stiff, John Quincy Adams resisted popular campaigning. In 1828 Jackson defeated Adams for the presidency by exploiting the new politics: portraying himself as a representative of the people in a personality-oriented campaign. Indian removal, the tariff, and banking were the three major problems Jackson confronted as president.

Democracy and Race

Democracy ironically strengthened racism in American society. Essentially excluded from the new democratic system, African-Americans and Indians found their position and rights seriously deteriorating. Eastern Indians, even those that had adopted white ways, were dispossessed of their lands and forced to migrate to new lands across the Mississippi. Free black Americans in the North led lives of hardship and exclusion. Democracy and racism were linked, in part because racism offered whites a refuge from the uncertainties of living in a market-oriented, supposedly egalitarian society.

The Nullification Crisis

Democracy also raised the question of how to reconcile competing economic interests. The problem emerged most clearly in the nullification crisis, when South Carolina, economically depressed and fearful about the future of slavery, endorsed Calhoun's theory of nullification. Calhoun argued that states, as independent members of a constitutional "compact" could nullify federal laws or even secede from the Union. Jackson countered that the Union was perpetual and nullification was illegal. In the end a compromise, hammered out by Clay and Calhoun, gradually lowered the tariff, easing the crisis.

The Bank War

Thirdly, democracy allowed those hurt by the Panic of 1819 to find a scapegoat: the Second Bank of the United States. Once he became president, Jackson moved to destroy it. He feared the great power wielded by the bank, which was controlled by private investors, over state banks and the national economy. Although the bank's president, Nicholas Biddle, exercised his clout responsibly, Jackson vetoed a bill rechartering the bank. He then crippled the bank further by refusing to deposit federal funds (as was required by law) in the bank.

His triumph in the "Bank War" demonstrated how Jackson greatly strengthened the office of the presidency. He used the veto power to control Congress, insisting that he as President was the people's champion.

Van Buren and Depression

Martin Van Buren, Jackson's hand-picked successor, took office just as the nation entered a severe depression. Most of Van Buren's term was devoted to economic questions, which he dealt with ineffectually. Blaming the Democrats for the hard times and exploiting the new democratic politics, the Whigs, organized by Henry Clay as an anti-Jackson movement advocating nationalistic economic policies, gained national power in 1840 for the first time.

The Jacksonian Party System

Democrats and Whigs differed in their attitudes toward the new market economy, how active government should be, and the role of government in fostering the country's moral welfare. Democrats feared the commercialization of American society and wanted government to guard against monopolies and not interfere with individuals' moral beliefs. Whigs, on the other hand, were more comfortable with the mechanisms of the market, advocated an active government to promote economic growth, and insisted that the morals of society be regulated. Whigs were stronger among the business class, but both drew support from workers and farmers. Attitudes toward the market, rather than wealth, distinguished Whigs from Democrats. Democratic efforts to escape the consequences of the market, while preserving its benefits and wealth, were doomed. There was no rolling back the market, or democracy.