Jackson and the Democratic Party

The modern Democratic Party arose in the 1830s out of factions from the largely disbanded Democratic-Republican Party.

Learning Objective

Describe the key moments in the development of the Democratic Party

Key Points

After the disappearance of the Federalists after 1815 and the subsequent "Era of Good Feelings" (1816–1824), a group of weakly organized political factions dominated the American political landscape until about 1828–1832, when the modern Democratic Party emerged along with its rival, the Whigs. Democratic factions rallied behind charismatic President Jackson, whose conception of democracy guided the party's political agenda throughout the 1830s and through the antebellum period.
Democrats in Congress passed the hugely controversial Compromise of 1850, giving them small but permanent advantages over the Whig Party, which finally collapsed in 1852.
From 1828 to 1848, banking and tariffs were the central domestic policy issues for Democrats who favored movements such as the war in Mexico and the expulsion of eastern American Indian tribes.
The 1840s and 1850s were the heyday of a new faction of young Democrats called "Young America," which broke with agrarian and strict constructionist orthodoxies and embraced commerce, technology, regulation, reform, and internationalism.

Terms

Whig Party
A political group of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s; the group was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson.
Jacksonian Democracy
The political movement toward greater democracy for the common man typified by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters.
Era of Good Feelings
A period in the political history of the United States associated with President Monroe that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars.

Full Text

The Rise of the Democratic Party

The modern Democratic Party was formed in the 1830s from former factions of the Democratic-Republican Party, which had largely collapsed by 1824. It was primarily built by Martin Van Buren, who rallied a cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson of Tennessee.

The spirit of Jacksonian democracy animated the party from the early 1830s to the 1850s, shaping the Second Party System, with the Whig Party serving as the main opposition. After the disappearance of the Federalists after 1815 and the subsequent "Era of Good Feelings" (1816–1824), a group of weakly organized political factions dominated the American political landscape until about 1828–1832, when the modern Democratic Party emerged along with its rival, the Whigs. The new Democratic Party became a coalition of farmers, city-dwelling laborers, and Irish Catholics. While it was weak in New England, it was strong everywhere else, and it won most national elections thanks to its strength in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia (by far, the most populous states at the time) as well as the frontier lands to the west.

Values of the Democratic Party

Democrats opposed elitism and aristocrats, the Bank of the United States, and the Whigs' modernizing programs that would build up industry at the expense of the yeoman or small farmer. From 1828 to 1848, banking and tariffs were the central domestic policy issues. Democrats strongly favored expansion to new farm lands, as typified by their attacks on and expulsion of eastern American Indians and their invasion of vast amounts of new land in the West after 1846. The party favored the war with Mexico and opposed anti-immigrant nativism. Both Democrats and Whigs were divided on the issue of slavery.

In the 1830s, the Locofocos in New York City were radically democratic, anti-monopoly, and proponents of hard money and free trade. Their chief spokesman was William Leggett. At this time, labor unions were few, though some were loosely affiliated with the party.

Elections of the 1830s, 40s, and 50s

Jackson's vice president, Martin Van Buren, won the presidency in 1836, but the Panic of 1837 caused his defeat in 1840 at the hands of the Whig ticket of General William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. The Democrats later got the presidency back in 1844 with James K. Polk. During his presidency, Polk lowered tariffs, set up a subtreasury system, and began and directed the Mexican-American War, in which the United States acquired much of the modern-day American Southwest. Most Whigs, including Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, strongly opposed the war.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) was created in 1848 at the convention that nominated General Lewis Cass as a candidate to the presidency (he lost to General Zachary Taylor of the Whigs). A major cause of his defeat was the new Free Soil Party, which opposed slavery expansion and split the votes of the Democratic Party, particularly in New York where the electoral votes went to Taylor.

Democrats in Congress passed the hugely controversial Compromise of 1850. In state after state, however, the Democrats gained small but permanent advantages over the Whig Party, which finally collapsed in 1852, fatally weakened by its division over slavery and nativism. The fragmented opposition could not stop the election of Democrats Franklin Pierce in 1852 and James Buchanan in 1856.

Young America

The 1840s and 1850s were the heyday of a new faction of young Democrats called "Young America." Led by Stephen Douglas, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and New York financier August Belmont, this faction broke with the agrarian and strict constructionist orthodoxies of the past and embraced commerce, technology, regulation, reform, and internationalism. The movement attracted a circle of outstanding writers, including William Cullen Bryant, George Bancroft, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. They sought independence from European standards of high culture and wanted to demonstrate the excellence and exceptionalism of America's own literary tradition.

In economic policy, Young America saw the necessity of a modern infrastructure with railroads, canals, telegraphs, turnpikes, and harbors; they endorsed the "market revolution" and promoted capitalism. They called for Congressional land grants to the states, claiming that internal improvements should be locally rather than federally sponsored. Young America claimed that modernization would perpetuate the agrarian vision of Jeffersonian Democracy by allowing yeomen farmers to sell their products and therefore prosper. They tied internal improvements to free trade while accepting moderate tariffs as a necessary source of government revenue. They supported the Independent Treasury (the Jacksonian alternative to the Second Bank of the United States) not as a scheme to quash the special privileges of the Whig monied elite, but as a device to spread prosperity to all Americans.

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