Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos
Author(s): William Trimble
Source: The American Historical Review, Apr., 1919, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Apr., 1919), pp. 396-421
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
DIVERGING TENDENCIES IN NEW YORK DEMOCRACY IN THE PERIOD OF THE LOCOFOCOS 1
DIFFERING conceptions of democracy were expressed in two speeches which were made in the Congress of the United States in 1836 by Democratic members of the delegation from New York.
The one was by Mr. Ely Moore (Democrat), Tammany representative of the labor element in the city of New York. 2
The occasion of his speech arose in a debate over a "preparedness" measure for governmental manufacture of munitions, in the course of which Mr. Thompson of South Carolina (Anti-Jacksonian, Whig) asserted that working-men of the North might "rob by lawless insurrection, or by the equally terrible process of the ballot box".
Moore, replying, observed that Thompson's assertion was based finally upon the theory of government by a minority.
He deprecated raising the caste question, yet thought that raising it might "serve to establish more distinctly, and more permanently, the landmarks which distinguish the two great political parties of this country - the democracy and the aristocracy".
"The line which separates the friends and enemies of equal rights", he continued, "is broad and distinct", and these classes are "utterly and eternally incompatible and antagonistical".
The people [whom he identified with the laboring classes] are neither so unwise nor so unreasonable as to either expect or desire a perfect equality of wealth. . . .
The people, the democracy, contend for no measure that does not hold out to individual enterprise proper motives for exertion.
All they ask is that the great principle upon which the Government is founded, the principle of equal rights, should be faithfully observed and carried out, to the exclusion of all exclusive privileges.
He defended also the formation of labor unions (a cause of alarm to many people) as "counterpoises against capital, whenever it shall attempt to exert an unlawful or undue influence". 3
This speech made an unusual impression, especially upon members from the South. 4
Another set of interests appears in the speech of Senator Nathaniel P. Tallmadge (Jacksonian, Democratic, Whig), which was delivered in the Senate on June 17, 1836.
In explaining a variance with his colleague, Silas Wright (Democratic member of the Albany Regency), concerning a Bill to Regulate the Deposits of the Public Money, Mr. Tallmadge took occasion to set forth his views upon current conceptions of capitalism as embodied in the phrase, "the credit system"; though he did not specify precisely what was meant by the phrase.
Prosperity, he first asserted, was the criterion of the system.
He then proceeded to a justification of it as vitally related to liberty - but to a defined liberty:
The credit system [he declared] is the distinguishing feature between despotism and liberty; it is the offspring of free institutions; it is found to exist, and its influence is felt, in proportion to the freedom enjoyed by any people.
By freedom I do not mean unregulated, unrestrained, natural liberty, but that freedom which is founded on just and equitable laws, where the rights of personal security, of private property, and religious toleration, are guaranteed to every individual; where there is a general diffusion of knowledge and the existence of public and private morality. 5
Moore and Tallmadge were representative of two groups within the Democratic-Republican party of New York which were revealing divergent tendencies.
While both groups had affiliations over the state and their antagonisms finally forced the prevailing agrarian Democracy of the state to a choice of sides, yet it was in the city that they most spontaneously developed.
They reflected in fact new conditions of urbanization and industrialism which were obtaining in the rapidly growing city at the mouth of the Hudson, where massing of population, a new capitalistic domination of industry, and the emergence of a proletariat were raising imperative questions as to modes of artificial subsistence, methods of gratifying the aspirations and meeting the responsibilities of entrepreneurs, and measures of defense on the part of working-men. 6
These problems were rendered the more pressing because of the crude and inordinate expansion of credit which was a marked feature of the finance of the period, and they were manifested concretely in conflicts over currency and banking.
Abstract discussion, moreover, proceeded further to inquire into the nature of democratic society, and deep-lying antagonisms relative to the control of government were being generated.
New York City, therefore, was becoming an important centre for the initiation and promulgation of political opinion.
1 This article is collated from a more extensive study, now in manuscript, on the history of the Locofoco party. The latter had its inception a number of years ago in a seminar of Professor Frederick J. Turner, who has continued to evince helpful interest.
2 Moore, a native of New Jersey and a printer by trade, had been the first president of the New York General Trades' Union and also of the National Trades' Union. Biographical Congressional Directory, p. 701 ; Commons et al., Documentary History of American Industrial Society (I9I0), V. 204. He was impressive in person and had oratorical power. John Quincy Adams in a vivid, though not wholly favorable description, styles him "the prince of working-men" Memoirs, IX. 405. See also " Glances at Congress ", Democratic Review (1837), I. 68-8i. (396)
3 Reg. of Debates in Congress, 24 Cong., I sess., pp. 3428-3439.
4 "A thundering Jack Cade or Wat Tyler speech", J.Q. Adams, op. cit. "The whole House was excited at the novelty and boldness of his democratic doctrines, not less [than] at the extraordinary manner in which he had turned aside from the current of debate, and struck fearlessly forward into a field to which few orators had before ventured to lead the attention of that body. I overheard some gentlemen from the south say, that they thought they heard the high priest of revolution singing his war song." Democratic Review, I. 74-76. The last sentence gains significance in the light of the great change in political theory which was at this time taking place in the South; see W. E. Dodd, "The Social Philosophy of the Old South ", American Journal of Sociology, XXIII. 735-746.
5 Cong. Globe, 24 Cong., I sess., app., pp. 469-470. The relations between Tallmadge and Wright ceased to be amicable in the following winter. The latter confidentially wrote to Flagg that Tallmadge on the basis of growing differences in political matters had both affronted him publicly and had sought advantage in underhanded ways. Wright to Flagg, January 9, 1837, Flagg Correspondence, New York Public Library. In February the re-election of Wright as senator was openly or secretly opposed at Albany by individuals who sympathized with Tallmadge's views. William L. Marcy to Gen. Prosper M. Wetmore, July 20, 1837, Marcy Papers, vol. XXVIII., Library of Congress. Wright, it will be recalled, was one of the leading members of the Regency. His re-election, according to Greeley, was acceptable to the Locofocos. The New Yorker, February 1, 1837, p. 332.
6 The population in 1835 according to a special census was 269,873. There were 5 cotton factories, 11 iron works, 9 tanneries, and 19 breweries and distilleries. New York Times, November 2, 1835. Organized trades alone in 1834 had in New York and Brooklyn a membership of 11,500 working-men. Doc. Hist. of Amer. Industrial Soc., VI. 191. There were in the former city 43,091 voters in 1835. J.J. Lalor, Cyclopedia of Political Science, III. 853. This massing of voters, unequalled elsewhere in the United States, was politically potential.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
For a decade prior to 1837 the formulation of a body of radical belief had been going on.
The incitements of manhood suffrage, economic pressure upon fixed-income classes, preachments of agitators and social theorists, and the general democratic movement of the age were factors in the process of declaring afresh the principles of idealistic democracy and of applying these in concrete statements to new conditions.
Working-men in particular had been in constant ferment.
Burdened by rapid rise in the cost of living, remote from refuge in the public lands, and under pressure from the new "merchant-capitalism ", they had plunged in 1828-1830 into a short-lived, but intense, political movement and were now in the middle thirties devoting themselves to the organization of labor unions. 7
The working-men's activities had direct bearings upon two groups which at this time represented political radicalism in the city.
These were a progressive minority within Tammany and the Locofoco party. 8
A large portion of the progressives refused to leave the regular organization when the Locofoco mutiny occurred in the fall of I835, and this element repeatedly showed its influence in the Young Men's General Committee of Tammany. 9
Prominent among the progressives were Ely Moore, mentioned above, the first representative of labor in the Congress of the United States; Churchill C. Cambreleng, veteran congressman and "chancellor" of Van Buren; 10 and William Leggett, associate editor of the Evening Post, later, editor of the Plain Dealer.
William Cullen Bryant, the editor of the Post, was judiciously sympathetic with the progressive movement and gave it consistent support, and this journal was its recognized organ.
Leggett, however, was the chief inspirer of the movement.
He was a prophet of idealistic democracy, who, inter alia, believed in extending women's rights, advocated freedom of speech for abolitionists, and championed passionately the doctrines of liberty and equality.
During an absence of Bryant in Europe in 1835, Leggett was in charge of the Post, and his editorials were eagerly read and had a powerful influence.
A writer in the Democratic Review in 1840 asserted that they tended to divide the party which in 1835 bore the name of Democratic into two camps: in the one were the Democrats who were interested in banking, the timid, and "the friends of whatever is established"; in the other were "the Democrats of stricter notions, the friends of reform, and the mass of the young men". 11
7 J.R. Commons et al., History of Labour in the United States, I. 23 I-284, 335-469.
8 The precise connection between Locofocoism and the labor movement is difficult to determine. That there was agreement in body of doctrine is evident, and it is likewise apparent that a number of labor union men were earnest Locofoco partizans. But, on the other hand, the fact that there were in the state certainly upwards of eleven thousand union men, while the Locofoco vote never equalled half that number, shows that a majority of the labor men did not support the party. A comparison of leaders is even more decisive. A somewhat careful enumeration of the persons mentioned by the Locofoco secretary, Byrdsall, as connected with the movement totals 145 names. This list includes all of the leaders and important men, and also most of the ward committeemen. Now, of the 145 only twenty-three are found in the searching index to the Documentary History of American Industrial Society, and not more than half of these are of more than incidental importance. In fact, only three of the leaders in the labor union movement were clearly important in the Locofoco party; these were Commerford, Slamm, and Townsend.
9 Notice actions of the committee, post, pp. 407 and 412.
10 Thus the Times (July 3, 1837), phrased its estimate of Cambreleng's relation to Van Buren. Cambreleng served in every Congress from the seventeenth to the twenty-fifth, inclusive. In the latter he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. For a sketch of him see the Democratic Rev. (1839), VI. 144-158.
11 Democratic Rev., VI. 23.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
For a decade prior to 1837 the formulation of a body of radical belief had been going on.
The incitements of manhood suffrage, economic pressure upon fixed-income classes, preachments of agitators and social theorists, and the general democratic movement of the age were factors in the process of declaring afresh the principles of idealistic democracy and of applying these in concrete statements to new conditions.
Working-men in particular had been in constant ferment.
Burdened by rapid rise in the cost of living, remote from refuge in the public lands, and under pressure from the new "merchant-capitalism ", they had plunged in 1828-1830 into a short-lived, but intense, political movement and were now in the middle thirties devoting themselves to the organization of labor unions. 7
The working-men's activities had direct bearings upon two groups which at this time represented political radicalism in the city.
These were a progressive minority within Tammany and the Locofoco party. 8
A large portion of the progressives refused to leave the regular organization when the Locofoco mutiny occurred in the fall of I835, and this element repeatedly showed its influence in the Young Men's General Committee of Tammany. 9
Prominent among the progressives were Ely Moore, mentioned above, the first representative of labor in the Congress of the United States; Churchill C. Cambreleng, veteran congressman and "chancellor" of Van Buren; 10 and William Leggett, associate editor of the Evening Post, later, editor of the Plain Dealer.
William Cullen Bryant, the editor of the Post, was judiciously sympathetic with the progressive movement and gave it consistent support, and this journal was its recognized organ.
Leggett, however, was the chief inspirer of the movement.
He was a prophet of idealistic democracy, who, inter alia, believed in extending women's rights, advocated freedom of speech for abolitionists, and championed passionately the doctrines of liberty and equality.
During an absence of Bryant in Europe in 1835, Leggett was in charge of the Post, and his editorials were eagerly read and had a powerful influence.
A writer in the Democratic Review in 1840 asserted that they tended to divide the party which in 1835 bore the name of Democratic into two camps: in the one were the Democrats who were interested in banking, the timid, and "the friends of whatever is established"; in the other were "the Democrats of stricter notions, the friends of reform, and the mass of the young men". 11
7 J.R. Commons et al., History of Labour in the United States, I. 23 I-284, 335-469.
8 The precise connection between Locofocoism and the labor movement is difficult to determine. That there was agreement in body of doctrine is evident, and it is likewise apparent that a number of labor union men were earnest Locofoco partizans. But, on the other hand, the fact that there were in the state certainly upwards of eleven thousand union men, while the Locofoco vote never equalled half that number, shows that a majority of the labor men did not support the party. A comparison of leaders is even more decisive. A somewhat careful enumeration of the persons mentioned by the Locofoco secretary, Byrdsall, as connected with the movement totals 145 names. This list includes all of the leaders and important men, and also most of the ward committeemen. Now, of the 145 only twenty-three are found in the searching index to the Documentary History of American Industrial Society, and not more than half of these are of more than incidental importance. In fact, only three of the leaders in the labor union movement were clearly important in the Locofoco party; these were Commerford, Slamm, and Townsend.
9 Notice actions of the committee, post, pp. 407 and 412.
10 Thus the Times (July 3, 1837), phrased its estimate of Cambreleng's relation to Van Buren. Cambreleng served in every Congress from the seventeenth to the twenty-fifth, inclusive. In the latter he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. For a sketch of him see the Democratic Rev. (1839), VI. 144-158.
11 Democratic Rev., VI. 23.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
There was an incisiveness in this young editor's thought, a penetrating quality to his utterances which aroused and urged on his disciples and brought upon him vehement hatred of opponents.
Even so cool-headed a statesman as Marcy called him crack-brained and knavish, the Peter the Hermit of a new crusade; 12 and the banking element was furious when he advocated that the Democratic party should advance beyond its warfare upon the United States bank to attack the special privileges of the state banks.
On the other hand, Leggett's friends and followers gave to him an almost adoring admiration - a feeling reflected, on his death in I839, in the well-known tribute which Bryant wrote,
. . . when the death-frost came to lie,
On Leggett's warm and mighty heart.
A more measured estimate of his character, which was made by Bryant after the lapse of many years, may be taken as fairly accurate:
He was fond of study, and delighted to trace principles to their remotest consequences, whither he was always ready to follow them. The quality of courage existed in him almost to excess, and he took a sort of pleasure in bearding public opinion. He wrote with surprising fluency, and often with eloquence, took broad views of the questions that came before him, and possessed the faculty of rapidly arranging the arguments which occurred to him, in clear order, and stating them persuasively. 13
Though the more militant portion of the radicals acknowledged the inspiration which they received from Leggett, they nevertheless refused to heed his counsel to seek betterment of conditions from within the party, and turned resolutely to the formation of a thorough-going party of reform.
The Equal Rights or Locofoco party which this faction organized, though it proved insignificant in number of adherents and in duration of existence, nevertheless has a distinct place in American political history.
More uncompromisingly, perhaps, than any other of our third-party movements of protest, this represented the humanitarian view of democracy.
The dominating and ever-present idea in the creed of the Locofocos was the equality of human beings in their political relations.
This equality, the Locofocos felt, was in peril from the "credit system" and its sponsors, and therefore they vehemently fought banks and "paper capitalism" as the money monopoly of their time.
Monopoly of any sort, in fact, was abhorrent in their eyes.
They looked upon special privileges as incompatible with democracy and claimed that constitutional government in its very essence forbade the vesting of rights in perpetuity.
They were tremendously in earnest, and their utterances had carrying power.
Even at the time there were observers who thought that they saw in the diminutive party potentialities for the future. 14
It was in reality a nascent proletarian party, while the Democratic party of the time was essentially agrarian and the Whig commercial and capitalistic.
It gathered up in a series of declarations and constitutions the formulations of the radical democracy which had been worked out in the previous decade and disseminated them. 15
At a time when the South, turning its back upon Jeffersonian philosophy, was committing itself to the doctrines of social articulation and class dominance, 16 and sympathizers with aristocracy were not wanting in the North, 17 the Locofoco party boldly reasserted the principles of the social compact and of the Declaration of Independence, and zealously proclaimed anew the tenets of ultra-idealistic democracy.
The perception by the Locofocos of the social and political divergences of the time was expressed in one of their statements as follows:
There are two opinions abroad in the world, on the subject of social relations and the government of man. . . . The theory of the one party is, that man, by reason of his ignorance, and of his corrupt nature, is not capable of self-government. . . . They assert that the Creator in his providence has produced a different order of intelligence among men, and intended that the most intelligent should be the governors and rulers, as well as the owners, and live by the labor of the other portions of the human family. . . . The other theory referred to, is that man is a rational and moral being, "that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." That by nature he is also a social being, and that on entering into society he does not give up any of his natural rights, but to secure those rights in their fullest enjoyment, "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." . . . The governments of these United States were founded on the latter theory, and it is now to be proved by after experience, whether it is capable of being carried out in practice. 18
12 Marcy to Wetmore, July 12, I837, and January 16, 1837. Marcy Papers, vol. III.
13 "Reminiscences of the Evening Post", in John Bigelow's William Cullen Bryant (1890), app., p. 327. For an appreciative biographical notice of Leggett, see the Democratic Rev., VI. 17-28.
14 Cf. Theodore Sedgwick, jr., in the Plain Dealer, June 10, 1837: "that most valuable vanguard of the Democratick host, the Equal Rights Party ". "The workingmen's party and the equal rights party have operated as causes producing effects that will shape the course of the two great parties of the United States and consequently the destinies of this great republic." Quoted by J. D. Hammond in A History of Political Parties in the State of New-York (Albany, 1842), II. 503.
15 "Resolutions" of October 29, 1835; "Declaration of Principles" by the County Convention, February 9, 1836; "Declaration of Rights", September 15, 1836; "Proposed Constitution", September 11, 1837. F. Byrdsall, History of the Loco-Foco or Equal Rights Party (New York, 1842), pp. 27, 39, 68, 163-167.
16 W. E. Dodd in the Am. Jour. of Sociology, XXIII. 735-746.
17 A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (I904), I. 182-18
18 Byrdsall, Loco-Foco Party, p. 72.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
There was an incisiveness in this young editor's thought, a penetrating quality to his utterances which aroused and urged on his disciples and brought upon him vehement hatred of opponents.
Even so cool-headed a statesman as Marcy called him crack-brained and knavish, the Peter the Hermit of a new crusade; 12 and the banking element was furious when he advocated that the Democratic party should advance beyond its warfare upon the United States bank to attack the special privileges of the state banks.
On the other hand, Leggett's friends and followers gave to him an almost adoring admiration - a feeling reflected, on his death in I839, in the well-known tribute which Bryant wrote,
. . . when the death-frost came to lie,
On Leggett's warm and mighty heart.
A more measured estimate of his character, which was made by Bryant after the lapse of many years, may be taken as fairly accurate:
He was fond of study, and delighted to trace principles to their remotest consequences, whither he was always ready to follow them. The quality of courage existed in him almost to excess, and he took a sort of pleasure in bearding public opinion. He wrote with surprising fluency, and often with eloquence, took broad views of the questions that came before him, and possessed the faculty of rapidly arranging the arguments which occurred to him, in clear order, and stating them persuasively. 13
Though the more militant portion of the radicals acknowledged the inspiration which they received from Leggett, they nevertheless refused to heed his counsel to seek betterment of conditions from within the party, and turned resolutely to the formation of a thorough-going party of reform.
The Equal Rights or Locofoco party which this faction organized, though it proved insignificant in number of adherents and in duration of existence, nevertheless has a distinct place in American political history.
More uncompromisingly, perhaps, than any other of our third-party movements of protest, this represented the humanitarian view of democracy.
The dominating and ever-present idea in the creed of the Locofocos was the equality of human beings in their political relations.
This equality, the Locofocos felt, was in peril from the "credit system" and its sponsors, and therefore they vehemently fought banks and "paper capitalism" as the money monopoly of their time.
Monopoly of any sort, in fact, was abhorrent in their eyes.
They looked upon special privileges as incompatible with democracy and claimed that constitutional government in its very essence forbade the vesting of rights in perpetuity.
They were tremendously in earnest, and their utterances had carrying power.
Even at the time there were observers who thought that they saw in the diminutive party potentialities for the future. 14
It was in reality a nascent proletarian party, while the Democratic party of the time was essentially agrarian and the Whig commercial and capitalistic.
It gathered up in a series of declarations and constitutions the formulations of the radical democracy which had been worked out in the previous decade and disseminated them. 15
At a time when the South, turning its back upon Jeffersonian philosophy, was committing itself to the doctrines of social articulation and class dominance, 16 and sympathizers with aristocracy were not wanting in the North, 17 the Locofoco party boldly reasserted the principles of the social compact and of the Declaration of Independence, and zealously proclaimed anew the tenets of ultra-idealistic democracy.
The perception by the Locofocos of the social and political divergences of the time was expressed in one of their statements as follows:
There are two opinions abroad in the world, on the subject of social relations and the government of man. . . . The theory of the one party is, that man, by reason of his ignorance, and of his corrupt nature, is not capable of self-government. . . . They assert that the Creator in his providence has produced a different order of intelligence among men, and intended that the most intelligent should be the governors and rulers, as well as the owners, and live by the labor of the other portions of the human family. . . . The other theory referred to, is that man is a rational and moral being, "that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." That by nature he is also a social being, and that on entering into society he does not give up any of his natural rights, but to secure those rights in their fullest enjoyment, "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." . . . The governments of these United States were founded on the latter theory, and it is now to be proved by after experience, whether it is capable of being carried out in practice. 18
12 Marcy to Wetmore, July 12, I837, and January 16, 1837. Marcy Papers, vol. III.
13 "Reminiscences of the Evening Post", in John Bigelow's William Cullen Bryant (1890), app., p. 327. For an appreciative biographical notice of Leggett, see the Democratic Rev., VI. 17-28.
14 Cf. Theodore Sedgwick, jr., in the Plain Dealer, June 10, 1837: "that most valuable vanguard of the Democratick host, the Equal Rights Party ". "The workingmen's party and the equal rights party have operated as causes producing effects that will shape the course of the two great parties of the United States and consequently the destinies of this great republic." Quoted by J. D. Hammond in A History of Political Parties in the State of New-York (Albany, 1842), II. 503.
15 "Resolutions" of October 29, 1835; "Declaration of Principles" by the County Convention, February 9, 1836; "Declaration of Rights", September 15, 1836; "Proposed Constitution", September 11, 1837. F. Byrdsall, History of the Loco-Foco or Equal Rights Party (New York, 1842), pp. 27, 39, 68, 163-167.
16 W. E. Dodd in the Am. Jour. of Sociology, XXIII. 735-746.
17 A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (I904), I. 182-18
18 Byrdsall, Loco-Foco Party, p. 72.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
In contrast to the idealism of the Locofocos and their sympathizers were the maxims of practical, sensible, efficient democracy which were adhered to by the conservative Republicans.
A general view of the ideas of the latter may be had from excerpts from the New York Times, which was the organ of the group.
Democracy was held by the Times to be "something more than a crusade against this or that evil ". 19
Genuine democracy is not for one class alone, but "looks to the situation and happiness of all, rich and poor alike ".
It is not visionary, aiming at unattainable perfection; but "has regard for the expedient and the useful, and binds the country together by ties of interest ". 20
An orderly social life must obtain in a democracy, and landmarks of property and of interest must be established and maintained in accordance with the experience and good sense of the people. 21
There must be, moreover, certain principles and usages by the observance of which democracy becomes disciplined, 22 and these are to be administered by the wise, the intelligent, and the virtuous, in order to overcome the levelling tendencies of anarchists.
The credit system is intimately connected with democracy, because the former is founded finally "upon moral capital-made up of skill, capacity, perseverance, integrity and enterprise." 23
He who would seek to understand the political struggles of the thirties needs some comprehension of the credit system, since it was regarded as central to the strategy of both of the contending divisions of the Democracy.
This system may be defined as the means by which capital is brought under the control of entrepreneurs. 24
Men of the entrepreneur type, it may be said, dominated the democratic organization of New York City in the early thirties.
They were men who somehow had to procure means for financing enterprises and for developing resources over a constantly widening area; for this was a time of rapidly enlarging markets and of increasing diversification of wants. 25
There was urgent need of greater facilities for exchange transactions 20 - a need which could be met only through credit operations since the scarcity of specie practically restricted the use of gold and silver to the function of a standard of values. 27
Increased banking facilities were therefore requisite for expansion of currency, and banks were indispensable instrumentalities of the system.
Confidence and prosperity were always concomitants of its right working. 28
The raison d'etre of the system was the production of wealth, the acquisition of property, and the investiture of property with legal title.
If its advocates might have disclaimed a belief that government exists primarily for human beings with property, they nevertheless insisted that business operations and the validation of property rights are a main concern of government. 29
19 N.Y. Times, November 18, 1837.
20 Ibid., October 7, 1837.
21 Ibid.; also quotation from the Washington Globe, in Byrdsall, pp. 18, 19.
22 N.Y. Times, November 3, 1835.
23 Letter from Hugh S. Legare of South Carolina, ibid., August 22, 1838. Letters from Legare appeared occasionally in the Times, and these were in accord with its political and social principles. It is interesting to note the affiliations of the New York conservatives with some of the statesmen of the South. These affiliations are especially clear with Virginia leaders; Rives, one of the latter, was working closely with Tallmadge.
24 E.D. Howard, Cause and Extent of the Recent Industrial Progress of Germany (1907), pp. 25-26; quoted in F. A. Ogg's Economic Developmnent of Modern Europe, p. 220.
25 There is a suggestive comment on the far-ramifying changes which were taking place in industry, in a report by Levi Woodbury, secretary of the treasury. Cong. Globe, 26 Cong., 2 sess., p. 7. See also discussion by Professor Commons and Helen L. Sumner, Doc. Hist., V. I9-37.
26 This matter was ably treated in a speech of Webster, Cong. Globe, 25 Cong., 2 sess., app., pp. 632-641.
27 Legare, ubi supra, note 23.
28 N.Y. Times, June 22, 1836.
29 Ibid., August 17, 1837. The Times even asserted that if titles to the public lands were alienated for considerations other than property, then "the covetous will attack all property"
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
In contrast to the idealism of the Locofocos and their sympathizers were the maxims of practical, sensible, efficient democracy which were adhered to by the conservative Republicans.
A general view of the ideas of the latter may be had from excerpts from the New York Times, which was the organ of the group.
Democracy was held by the Times to be "something more than a crusade against this or that evil ". 19
Genuine democracy is not for one class alone, but "looks to the situation and happiness of all, rich and poor alike ".
It is not visionary, aiming at unattainable perfection; but "has regard for the expedient and the useful, and binds the country together by ties of interest ". 20
An orderly social life must obtain in a democracy, and landmarks of property and of interest must be established and maintained in accordance with the experience and good sense of the people. 21
There must be, moreover, certain principles and usages by the observance of which democracy becomes disciplined, 22 and these are to be administered by the wise, the intelligent, and the virtuous, in order to overcome the levelling tendencies of anarchists.
The credit system is intimately connected with democracy, because the former is founded finally "upon moral capital-made up of skill, capacity, perseverance, integrity and enterprise." 23
He who would seek to understand the political struggles of the thirties needs some comprehension of the credit system, since it was regarded as central to the strategy of both of the contending divisions of the Democracy.
This system may be defined as the means by which capital is brought under the control of entrepreneurs. 24
Men of the entrepreneur type, it may be said, dominated the democratic organization of New York City in the early thirties.
They were men who somehow had to procure means for financing enterprises and for developing resources over a constantly widening area; for this was a time of rapidly enlarging markets and of increasing diversification of wants. 25
There was urgent need of greater facilities for exchange transactions 20 - a need which could be met only through credit operations since the scarcity of specie practically restricted the use of gold and silver to the function of a standard of values. 27
Increased banking facilities were therefore requisite for expansion of currency, and banks were indispensable instrumentalities of the system.
Confidence and prosperity were always concomitants of its right working. 28
The raison d'etre of the system was the production of wealth, the acquisition of property, and the investiture of property with legal title.
If its advocates might have disclaimed a belief that government exists primarily for human beings with property, they nevertheless insisted that business operations and the validation of property rights are a main concern of government. 29
19 N.Y. Times, November 18, 1837.
20 Ibid., October 7, 1837.
21 Ibid.; also quotation from the Washington Globe, in Byrdsall, pp. 18, 19.
22 N.Y. Times, November 3, 1835.
23 Letter from Hugh S. Legare of South Carolina, ibid., August 22, 1838. Letters from Legare appeared occasionally in the Times, and these were in accord with its political and social principles. It is interesting to note the affiliations of the New York conservatives with some of the statesmen of the South. These affiliations are especially clear with Virginia leaders; Rives, one of the latter, was working closely with Tallmadge.
24 E.D. Howard, Cause and Extent of the Recent Industrial Progress of Germany (1907), pp. 25-26; quoted in F. A. Ogg's Economic Developmnent of Modern Europe, p. 220.
25 There is a suggestive comment on the far-ramifying changes which were taking place in industry, in a report by Levi Woodbury, secretary of the treasury. Cong. Globe, 26 Cong., 2 sess., p. 7. See also discussion by Professor Commons and Helen L. Sumner, Doc. Hist., V. I9-37.
26 This matter was ably treated in a speech of Webster, Cong. Globe, 25 Cong., 2 sess., app., pp. 632-641.
27 Legare, ubi supra, note 23.
28 N.Y. Times, June 22, 1836.
29 Ibid., August 17, 1837. The Times even asserted that if titles to the public lands were alienated for considerations other than property, then "the covetous will attack all property"
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
The upholders of the credit system and of the traditions of conservative democracy, "the old Patriarchs and firm Friends of the ancient organization and tried usages of the Democratic-Republican party ", as they described themselves, 20 formed a very numerous and very influential element in New York City in 1837. 31
Among the foremost in zeal and masterfulness was Gideon Lee, a typical "merchant-capitalist" and an ex-mayor, who was now a member of Congress and reputed to be part owner of the Times. 32
No one was so hated by the Locofocos as was he.
Others of the leaders were Samuel Swartwout (of subsequent unsavory fame), Daniel Jackson, Benjamin Birdsall, and Prosper M. Wetmore.
It is worth while remarking, in passing, that Governor Marcy was in constant and intimate correspondence with the last-named gentleman during the summer of 1837.
The members of this group had grown up within the Democratic organization, many of them doubtless like Lee from obscurity and poverty.
Their democracy and their interests had coincided in enthusiastic support of the Jacksonian assault upon the "monster monopoly" whose headquarters were at Philadelphia; but to their minds an attack upon banking in general and the state system in particular was a menace to their own welfare, the rights of property, and the good order of society.
Their views were shared by a large portion of the Democratic-Republicans of the state, 33 and it was this wing of the party which Senator Tallmadge essayed to lead. 34
Between the two extremes represented on the one hand by Tallmadge and the old patriarchs of Tammany and on the other by the Locofocos was the body of the Democratic-Republican party of the state under the able leadership of Marcy and the other members of the Regency. 35
30 Thus in an address to Van Buren, September 27, 1837. Van Buren Papers, vol. XXIX., Library of Congress.
31 There were nearly seven hundred signers of a letter to Tallmadge endorsing his stand, "including a majority of the Old Men's General Committee (over two-thirds), and seventy-odd Democrats, directors in banks, insurance and railroad companies". Byrdsall, Loco-Foco Party, p. 158. Practically the same number later signed the address to Van Buren.
32 Lee was a native of Amherst, Mass., who came to New York in 1808. Engaging in the wholesale leather trade, he became one of the leading business men of the city. He and his associates were closely identified with banks and insurance companies. Biographical accounts may be found in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, VIII. 57-64, and in F.W. Norcross, A History of the New York Swamp, pp. 51-57. See also Cong. Globe, 24 Cong., I sess., app., pp. 19-20.
33 Conservative leanings were particularly noticeable at Albany in the activities of Beardsley, the attorney general, and of Dr. Wendell, chairman of the Albany General Committee.
34 Tallmadge himself was interested in the Dutchess County Bank. He wrote to Flagg urging the support of "our friends" to make it a deposit bank. Tallmadge to Flagg, September 26, 1836. Flagg Correspondence, New York Public Library.
35 The Regency group included at this time (besides Van Buren, Marcy, and Wright) Butler, attorney general of the United States; Dix, secretary of the state; Flagg, comptroller (a very important officer); Knower, a banker and father-in-law of Marcy; and Crosswell, the veteran editor of the Albany Argus. An interesting suggestion of the inner relations of the group is afforded by a letter from Wright to Flagg, January 9, 1837, Flagg Correspondence. Wright wrote, "You as the senior member of the Regency, have the prior right to all public and important communications to that body, which, of course, are private and confidential as to all the rest of the world."
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
The upholders of the credit system and of the traditions of conservative democracy, "the old Patriarchs and firm Friends of the ancient organization and tried usages of the Democratic-Republican party ", as they described themselves, 20 formed a very numerous and very influential element in New York City in 1837. 31
Among the foremost in zeal and masterfulness was Gideon Lee, a typical "merchant-capitalist" and an ex-mayor, who was now a member of Congress and reputed to be part owner of the Times. 32
No one was so hated by the Locofocos as was he.
Others of the leaders were Samuel Swartwout (of subsequent unsavory fame), Daniel Jackson, Benjamin Birdsall, and Prosper M. Wetmore.
It is worth while remarking, in passing, that Governor Marcy was in constant and intimate correspondence with the last-named gentleman during the summer of 1837.
The members of this group had grown up within the Democratic organization, many of them doubtless like Lee from obscurity and poverty.
Their democracy and their interests had coincided in enthusiastic support of the Jacksonian assault upon the "monster monopoly" whose headquarters were at Philadelphia; but to their minds an attack upon banking in general and the state system in particular was a menace to their own welfare, the rights of property, and the good order of society.
Their views were shared by a large portion of the Democratic-Republicans of the state, 33 and it was this wing of the party which Senator Tallmadge essayed to lead. 34
Between the two extremes represented on the one hand by Tallmadge and the old patriarchs of Tammany and on the other by the Locofocos was the body of the Democratic-Republican party of the state under the able leadership of Marcy and the other members of the Regency. 35
30 Thus in an address to Van Buren, September 27, 1837. Van Buren Papers, vol. XXIX., Library of Congress.
31 There were nearly seven hundred signers of a letter to Tallmadge endorsing his stand, "including a majority of the Old Men's General Committee (over two-thirds), and seventy-odd Democrats, directors in banks, insurance and railroad companies". Byrdsall, Loco-Foco Party, p. 158. Practically the same number later signed the address to Van Buren.
32 Lee was a native of Amherst, Mass., who came to New York in 1808. Engaging in the wholesale leather trade, he became one of the leading business men of the city. He and his associates were closely identified with banks and insurance companies. Biographical accounts may be found in Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, VIII. 57-64, and in F.W. Norcross, A History of the New York Swamp, pp. 51-57. See also Cong. Globe, 24 Cong., I sess., app., pp. 19-20.
33 Conservative leanings were particularly noticeable at Albany in the activities of Beardsley, the attorney general, and of Dr. Wendell, chairman of the Albany General Committee.
34 Tallmadge himself was interested in the Dutchess County Bank. He wrote to Flagg urging the support of "our friends" to make it a deposit bank. Tallmadge to Flagg, September 26, 1836. Flagg Correspondence, New York Public Library.
35 The Regency group included at this time (besides Van Buren, Marcy, and Wright) Butler, attorney general of the United States; Dix, secretary of the state; Flagg, comptroller (a very important officer); Knower, a banker and father-in-law of Marcy; and Crosswell, the veteran editor of the Albany Argus. An interesting suggestion of the inner relations of the group is afforded by a letter from Wright to Flagg, January 9, 1837, Flagg Correspondence. Wright wrote, "You as the senior member of the Regency, have the prior right to all public and important communications to that body, which, of course, are private and confidential as to all the rest of the world."
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
It is a mistake to conceive of the men of the Regency as mere machine politicians.
They were consummate politicians; but they were also men of integrity and broad-minded patriotism, and some of the group showed statesmanship of unusual merit. 36
These keen-sighted and experienced leaders perceived as clearly as any Locofoco the evils and dangers of the banking situation and in constructive fashion were trying to remedy them.
The Safety Fund banking system of New York, which had been developed largely under the leadership of members of the Regency, though it needed the elimination of monopolistic features which had survived from an earlier period, contained the elements of a sound system, and these capable financiers were seeking to democratize it and at the same time to retain its elements of stability. 37
The laborious and well-controlled processes of progressive democratic evolution were cut short, however, by the financial cataclysm of the spring of 1837.
Under stress of calamity the views of men who were seeking escape grew more intense and distinct, and the financial crisis urged on decisive political alignment.
One of the first steps was taken by a meeting of New York merchants who prepared an address to President Van Buren and appointed a committee to confer with him at Washington.
This committee returned unsatisfied and displeased and proceeded to issue a long report which was in reality a Whig manifesto.
We are not so much concerned with the specific statements of this document as we are with its general views of society and of class relationships; for these were very much the same as those held by the conservative Democrats.
It ran as follows:
The principle upon which Mr. Van Buren has uniformly acted, and uniformly succeeded, is this, that the poor naturally hate the rich. [The rightful view, on the contrary, was held to be that the interests of the capitalistic class and of the laboring class are interdependent.] . . . avow your belief that in a great majority of cases the possession of property is the proof of merit, because in a country of free laws and equal rights, property, as a general rule, cannot be acquired without industry, skill, and economy. . . . with a firm faith that the many will follow the wise and the good, call upon the men of sound morals, of intelligence and industry, throughout the nation, to forget all the distracting topics which have agitated it, and unite in defence of the institutions without which commercial society can not exist.
It is interesting to note also that an appeal "to our brethren of the South" was included, and the promise was extended "that those who believe that the possession of property is an evidence of merit, will be the last to interfere with the rights of property of any kind." 38
36 Notably, Van Buren, Wright, Dix, and Marcy. For an estimate of the last, see "A Great Secretary of State ", by J.B. Moore, Political Science Quarterly, September, 1915, pp. 377-396.
37 An editorial of the Albany Argus, the representative of the Regency (quoted in the Plain Dealer, March 4, 1837), discusses the banking situation in an able manner and reveals the earnest and sensible views taken by the responsible leaders of the Democracy: "This system was adopted, not as a measure of the banks, but for the protection of the people against the evils, abuses, and failures under a previous state of things. In its general and material provisions, viz., protection to the bill holder and to the community generally through a thorough supervision and the creation of a fund, it has fully answered the expectations and justified the sagacity of its projectors. . . . We say this, however, with qualification, and with the belief that the defects which experience has developed, are susceptible of being removed. These, we conceive, consist:
Ist. In the character of exclusiveness and monopoly which belongs in some degree to the legislative corporation of individual charters.
2nd. The combinations and corruptions attending the applications to the legislature for specific grants of banking privileges. And,
3d. The evils, as well in reference to the character and sound action of the legislature, as to the moral condition of the people, of a stock distribution by commissioners.
"The remedy which has been proposed, and which we regard as adequate to the purpose, is a General Safety Fund Law . . . so framed as to obviate the complaints arising from the nature of individual grants by the legislature, and at the same time diminish in no degree the stability of the currency." Marcy's messages as governor also contain strong presentations of the subject
38 Niles' Register, LII. 165.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
It is a mistake to conceive of the men of the Regency as mere machine politicians.
They were consummate politicians; but they were also men of integrity and broad-minded patriotism, and some of the group showed statesmanship of unusual merit. 36
These keen-sighted and experienced leaders perceived as clearly as any Locofoco the evils and dangers of the banking situation and in constructive fashion were trying to remedy them.
The Safety Fund banking system of New York, which had been developed largely under the leadership of members of the Regency, though it needed the elimination of monopolistic features which had survived from an earlier period, contained the elements of a sound system, and these capable financiers were seeking to democratize it and at the same time to retain its elements of stability. 37
The laborious and well-controlled processes of progressive democratic evolution were cut short, however, by the financial cataclysm of the spring of 1837.
Under stress of calamity the views of men who were seeking escape grew more intense and distinct, and the financial crisis urged on decisive political alignment.
One of the first steps was taken by a meeting of New York merchants who prepared an address to President Van Buren and appointed a committee to confer with him at Washington.
This committee returned unsatisfied and displeased and proceeded to issue a long report which was in reality a Whig manifesto.
We are not so much concerned with the specific statements of this document as we are with its general views of society and of class relationships; for these were very much the same as those held by the conservative Democrats.
It ran as follows:
The principle upon which Mr. Van Buren has uniformly acted, and uniformly succeeded, is this, that the poor naturally hate the rich. [The rightful view, on the contrary, was held to be that the interests of the capitalistic class and of the laboring class are interdependent.] . . . avow your belief that in a great majority of cases the possession of property is the proof of merit, because in a country of free laws and equal rights, property, as a general rule, cannot be acquired without industry, skill, and economy. . . . with a firm faith that the many will follow the wise and the good, call upon the men of sound morals, of intelligence and industry, throughout the nation, to forget all the distracting topics which have agitated it, and unite in defence of the institutions without which commercial society can not exist.
It is interesting to note also that an appeal "to our brethren of the South" was included, and the promise was extended "that those who believe that the possession of property is an evidence of merit, will be the last to interfere with the rights of property of any kind." 38
36 Notably, Van Buren, Wright, Dix, and Marcy. For an estimate of the last, see "A Great Secretary of State ", by J.B. Moore, Political Science Quarterly, September, 1915, pp. 377-396.
37 An editorial of the Albany Argus, the representative of the Regency (quoted in the Plain Dealer, March 4, 1837), discusses the banking situation in an able manner and reveals the earnest and sensible views taken by the responsible leaders of the Democracy: "This system was adopted, not as a measure of the banks, but for the protection of the people against the evils, abuses, and failures under a previous state of things. In its general and material provisions, viz., protection to the bill holder and to the community generally through a thorough supervision and the creation of a fund, it has fully answered the expectations and justified the sagacity of its projectors. . . . We say this, however, with qualification, and with the belief that the defects which experience has developed, are susceptible of being removed. These, we conceive, consist:
Ist. In the character of exclusiveness and monopoly which belongs in some degree to the legislative corporation of individual charters.
2nd. The combinations and corruptions attending the applications to the legislature for specific grants of banking privileges. And,
3d. The evils, as well in reference to the character and sound action of the legislature, as to the moral condition of the people, of a stock distribution by commissioners.
"The remedy which has been proposed, and which we regard as adequate to the purpose, is a General Safety Fund Law . . . so framed as to obviate the complaints arising from the nature of individual grants by the legislature, and at the same time diminish in no degree the stability of the currency." Marcy's messages as governor also contain strong presentations of the subject
38 Niles' Register, LII. 165.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
Because of the panic two important courses were entered upon by the state administration.
The first was embodied in a law suspending for one year the operation of the Safety Fund Act in laying liable to loss of charter any bank refusing to make specie payments.
Though the law contained careful provisos looking to a speedy resumption of specie payments, it was bitterly denounced by the Locofocos as the sort of unconstitutional favoritism which was granted to banks, but never extended to poor men when they violated law. 39
Marcy's conduct in this respect was severely reprobated by them, and agitation against legalizing suspension was kept up for many years following.
The second was the refusal of Marcy to call a special session of the legislature in order to repeal a law which forbade the issuance of bank-notes of more than five dollars. 40
This action was heartily endorsed by the Locofocos, but it made the governor chargeable with a law which, as Greeley said, "touched the people's pockets with daily distress" and gave poignancy to conservative arguments. 41
39 Byrdsall, op. cit., p. 152.
40 Niles, LII. 355. There is a statement by J.J. Knox, History of Banking in the United States (New York, 1903), p. 408, that a law was passed, May 16, 1837, which allowed the use of small bills for a few years. Marcy's language in refusing to reopen the matter (June 12, 1837) clearly contradicts this statement and gives ground for supposing that Knox (or his editor) mistook the introduction of a bill to this effect for its passage. The law described by Knox was passed on February 28, 1838. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York, 60 sess., p. 527
41 See Greeley's remarks on "The Crusade against the Small Bills", The New Yorker, February 18, 1837, p. 345.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
Because of the panic two important courses were entered upon by the state administration.
The first was embodied in a law suspending for one year the operation of the Safety Fund Act in laying liable to loss of charter any bank refusing to make specie payments.
Though the law contained careful provisos looking to a speedy resumption of specie payments, it was bitterly denounced by the Locofocos as the sort of unconstitutional favoritism which was granted to banks, but never extended to poor men when they violated law. 39
Marcy's conduct in this respect was severely reprobated by them, and agitation against legalizing suspension was kept up for many years following.
The second was the refusal of Marcy to call a special session of the legislature in order to repeal a law which forbade the issuance of bank-notes of more than five dollars. 40
This action was heartily endorsed by the Locofocos, but it made the governor chargeable with a law which, as Greeley said, "touched the people's pockets with daily distress" and gave poignancy to conservative arguments. 41
39 Byrdsall, op. cit., p. 152.
40 Niles, LII. 355. There is a statement by J.J. Knox, History of Banking in the United States (New York, 1903), p. 408, that a law was passed, May 16, 1837, which allowed the use of small bills for a few years. Marcy's language in refusing to reopen the matter (June 12, 1837) clearly contradicts this statement and gives ground for supposing that Knox (or his editor) mistook the introduction of a bill to this effect for its passage. The law described by Knox was passed on February 28, 1838. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York, 60 sess., p. 527
41 See Greeley's remarks on "The Crusade against the Small Bills", The New Yorker, February 18, 1837, p. 345.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
On May 15, 1837, the President summoned Congress to meet on September 4.
In the time intervening between the call and the assemblage, the divisions within the Democratic-Republican party in New York became clearly defined.
Both elements claimed to represent the true democracy; both hoped for the adhesion to its views of the general body of the party in the state; and both aspired to the validation of the federal administration. 42
On the side of the conservatives, the campaign was opened by a significant pronouncement of Senator Tallmadge.
The senator had signed a call for a meeting to secure the repeal of the five-dollar law, and for this had been severely upbraided by the New York Evening Post.
He replied in a letter to the Albany Argus of June 6, 1837.
In this letter he advocated the repeal of the law and repeated some of the ideas which, as indicated in his speech of June, 1836, he had earlier worked out.
"I am in favor of a well regulated credit system", he wrote, "and opposed to the chimerical scheme of an exclusive metallic currency", and he reiterated his favorite formula that "the credit system is the distinguishing feature between despotism and liberty". 43
The radical side found voice on June 13 through resolutions adopted by the Young Men's General Committee of Tammany Hall.
These opposed the suspension law and attributed the pecuniary difficulties of the time to "the unwarranted increase of specially privileged institutions, which have sent swarms of bank notes among us".
"All special banking incorporations", one of the resolutions ran, "are not only in opposition to the spirit of universal rights, but a hindrance to the accumulation of property by honest industry."
The committee proposed to be on guard against any party which affirmed that "the possession of property is a proof of merit". 44
In reply the conservative portion of Tammany publicly avowed concurrence in Tallmadge's course.
In a letter to him (July 4) they expressed their "entire approbation of the sentiments so laudably put forth in your letter".
Quoting Tallmadge's often-used phrases, they announced their hearty approval and assured the author that they believed them "to be the sentiments of a great majority of the Republican party". 45
42 It is worth while remarking the strategic positions in the national counsels which were occupied at this juncture by men from New York - the presidency, the office of attorney general, the chairmanships of the Finance Committee of the Senate (Wright) and of the Ways and Means Committee of the House (Cambreleng).
43 A copy of this letter, together with comments thereon from the Poughkeepsie Journal, is in the Tallmadge material in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society. In this material is a statement by Tallmadge that Marcy promised to back him in opposing the independent treasury.
44 The Plain Dealer, June 13, 1837.
45 The letter is given in full in Byrdsall, op. cit., p. 15
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
On May 15, 1837, the President summoned Congress to meet on September 4.
In the time intervening between the call and the assemblage, the divisions within the Democratic-Republican party in New York became clearly defined.
Both elements claimed to represent the true democracy; both hoped for the adhesion to its views of the general body of the party in the state; and both aspired to the validation of the federal administration. 42
On the side of the conservatives, the campaign was opened by a significant pronouncement of Senator Tallmadge.
The senator had signed a call for a meeting to secure the repeal of the five-dollar law, and for this had been severely upbraided by the New York Evening Post.
He replied in a letter to the Albany Argus of June 6, 1837.
In this letter he advocated the repeal of the law and repeated some of the ideas which, as indicated in his speech of June, 1836, he had earlier worked out.
"I am in favor of a well regulated credit system", he wrote, "and opposed to the chimerical scheme of an exclusive metallic currency", and he reiterated his favorite formula that "the credit system is the distinguishing feature between despotism and liberty". 43
The radical side found voice on June 13 through resolutions adopted by the Young Men's General Committee of Tammany Hall.
These opposed the suspension law and attributed the pecuniary difficulties of the time to "the unwarranted increase of specially privileged institutions, which have sent swarms of bank notes among us".
"All special banking incorporations", one of the resolutions ran, "are not only in opposition to the spirit of universal rights, but a hindrance to the accumulation of property by honest industry."
The committee proposed to be on guard against any party which affirmed that "the possession of property is a proof of merit". 44
In reply the conservative portion of Tammany publicly avowed concurrence in Tallmadge's course.
In a letter to him (July 4) they expressed their "entire approbation of the sentiments so laudably put forth in your letter".
Quoting Tallmadge's often-used phrases, they announced their hearty approval and assured the author that they believed them "to be the sentiments of a great majority of the Republican party". 45
42 It is worth while remarking the strategic positions in the national counsels which were occupied at this juncture by men from New York - the presidency, the office of attorney general, the chairmanships of the Finance Committee of the Senate (Wright) and of the Ways and Means Committee of the House (Cambreleng).
43 A copy of this letter, together with comments thereon from the Poughkeepsie Journal, is in the Tallmadge material in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society. In this material is a statement by Tallmadge that Marcy promised to back him in opposing the independent treasury.
44 The Plain Dealer, June 13, 1837.
45 The letter is given in full in Byrdsall, op. cit., p. 15
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
So simultaneously as almost to suggest concerted action there appeared an address of the Albany General Committee, which became famous as the "Albany Manifesto".
In specific assertions the address formally attempted mediation; but it praised the credit system and asserted that "The Democratick party holds no spirit in common with the radical spirit which has sprung up in New York". 46
The address was written by the attorney general, Beardsley, at the instance of Dr. Wendell and others, "who have become uneasy at anti-bankism". 47
This group had worked against the re-election of Wright as senator 48 and was in alliance with Tallmadge. 49
The state of mind of Dr. Wendell is revealed in a letter which he wrote subsequently to President Van Buren.
"Rest assured, my dear friend", he said, "nothing has ever so much alarmed and disturbed the peace and tranquility of the good people of this state, as the dread of loco-focoism".
"The cholera itself scarcely carried with it more terrors." 50
It is in connection with this address that a rift begins to be revealed in the Regency.
Emanating from Albany and published in the official organ, the address was hailed all over the country as an indication that the Van Buren organization was inclining toward the conservative position; but it was soon disavowed by the Argus to the extent of saying that it did not represent the Regency officially.
Dix wrote to Van Buren disclaiming connection on behalf of himself, Flagg, and Crosswell; 51 the last, however, had conservative leanings which soon gave concern at Washington. 52
The attitude of Marcy was of very great importance.
While he had nothing to do with getting up the address and held himself aloof from the movement which it represented, yet his confidential letters show that he viewed the former at least with favor. 53
He felt deeply his responsibility as leader of the party in the state, and, perceiving more clearly than any of his associates the grave character of the divisive tendencies in the party, he viewed these with much anxiety. 54
In case of necessity of a choice between these tendencies, however, his correspondence reveals his inner inclination; he draws away from "the taint or rot of radicalism", consistently reprobates the Locofocos and sneers at their leaders, and even dares to suggest that "our old hero" himself [Jackson] shows indiscreet "mania" in some recent letters and is like to violate that law of the drama which requires that the hero die in the last act if not before. 55
The almost instinctive reactions of Marcy against radicalism in the summer of 1837, in contradistinction to those of most of the other members of the Regency, initiated a lasting disaffection in that body, and indicated a beginning of the extensive divergence of the wings of the Democratic party of New York into "Hunkers" and "Barnburners".
46 The Plain Dealer, July 8, 1837.
47 Dix to Van Buren, July 8, 1837. Van Buren Papers, vol. XXVIII.
48 Marcy to Wetmore, July 20, 1837. Marcy Pap., vol. III.
49 Cambreleng to Abraham Van Buren, July 20, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXVIII.
50 Wendell to Van Buren, November 13, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXX.
51 Dix to Van Buren, July 5, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXVIII.
52 Flagg to Van Buren, November 5, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXX.
53 Marcy to Wetmore, July 2, 12, 1837. Marcy Pap., vol. III.
54 Marcy to Wetmore, July 20, 1837. Ibid.
55 Marcy to Wetmore, January 16, August 18, 1837. Ibid.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
So simultaneously as almost to suggest concerted action there appeared an address of the Albany General Committee, which became famous as the "Albany Manifesto".
In specific assertions the address formally attempted mediation; but it praised the credit system and asserted that "The Democratick party holds no spirit in common with the radical spirit which has sprung up in New York". 46
The address was written by the attorney general, Beardsley, at the instance of Dr. Wendell and others, "who have become uneasy at anti-bankism". 47
This group had worked against the re-election of Wright as senator 48 and was in alliance with Tallmadge. 49
The state of mind of Dr. Wendell is revealed in a letter which he wrote subsequently to President Van Buren.
"Rest assured, my dear friend", he said, "nothing has ever so much alarmed and disturbed the peace and tranquility of the good people of this state, as the dread of loco-focoism".
"The cholera itself scarcely carried with it more terrors." 50
It is in connection with this address that a rift begins to be revealed in the Regency.
Emanating from Albany and published in the official organ, the address was hailed all over the country as an indication that the Van Buren organization was inclining toward the conservative position; but it was soon disavowed by the Argus to the extent of saying that it did not represent the Regency officially.
Dix wrote to Van Buren disclaiming connection on behalf of himself, Flagg, and Crosswell; 51 the last, however, had conservative leanings which soon gave concern at Washington. 52
The attitude of Marcy was of very great importance.
While he had nothing to do with getting up the address and held himself aloof from the movement which it represented, yet his confidential letters show that he viewed the former at least with favor. 53
He felt deeply his responsibility as leader of the party in the state, and, perceiving more clearly than any of his associates the grave character of the divisive tendencies in the party, he viewed these with much anxiety. 54
In case of necessity of a choice between these tendencies, however, his correspondence reveals his inner inclination; he draws away from "the taint or rot of radicalism", consistently reprobates the Locofocos and sneers at their leaders, and even dares to suggest that "our old hero" himself [Jackson] shows indiscreet "mania" in some recent letters and is like to violate that law of the drama which requires that the hero die in the last act if not before. 55
The almost instinctive reactions of Marcy against radicalism in the summer of 1837, in contradistinction to those of most of the other members of the Regency, initiated a lasting disaffection in that body, and indicated a beginning of the extensive divergence of the wings of the Democratic party of New York into "Hunkers" and "Barnburners".
46 The Plain Dealer, July 8, 1837.
47 Dix to Van Buren, July 8, 1837. Van Buren Papers, vol. XXVIII.
48 Marcy to Wetmore, July 20, 1837. Marcy Pap., vol. III.
49 Cambreleng to Abraham Van Buren, July 20, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXVIII.
50 Wendell to Van Buren, November 13, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXX.
51 Dix to Van Buren, July 5, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXVIII.
52 Flagg to Van Buren, November 5, 1837. Van Buren Pap., vol. XXX.
53 Marcy to Wetmore, July 2, 12, 1837. Marcy Pap., vol. III.
54 Marcy to Wetmore, July 20, 1837. Ibid.
55 Marcy to Wetmore, January 16, August 18, 1837. Ibid.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: DEMOCRACY IN NEW YORK
Diverging Tendencies in New York Democracy in the Period of the Locofocos, continued ...
Author(s): William Trimble
There was immediately impending, however, an important defection.
That keen observer and vigorous exponent of sheer democracy, William Leggett, predicted at this juncture that the "in medio tutissimnus ibis democrats" [i. e., Tallmadge and associates] were about to form a distinct party or at least to withdraw from the party with which they were affiliated.
So long, Leggett said, as these could obtain all sorts of exclusive privileges from the government:
by wearing the unmeaning name of the republican party, they were content; but now that the people insist on the practical enforcement of the doctrine of equal rights; now that they demand that legislation shall be general, not special, and for the common good of all, not the peculiar good of a few, and require that government shall be democratick in fact as well as in name, the monopoly gentry think the time has come for them to hoist their own flag. 56
As we think over this interpretation, it is allowable to raise the question whether it was not about this time that the "Democratic- Republican" party, losing a conservative element, began to become (at least in the North) the modern Democratic party.
If this be true, it may be suggested that modern industrialism in the United States and the Democratic party developed contemporaneously.
56 The Plain Dealer, July I5, I837.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Author(s): William Trimble
There was immediately impending, however, an important defection.
That keen observer and vigorous exponent of sheer democracy, William Leggett, predicted at this juncture that the "in medio tutissimnus ibis democrats" [i. e., Tallmadge and associates] were about to form a distinct party or at least to withdraw from the party with which they were affiliated.
So long, Leggett said, as these could obtain all sorts of exclusive privileges from the government:
by wearing the unmeaning name of the republican party, they were content; but now that the people insist on the practical enforcement of the doctrine of equal rights; now that they demand that legislation shall be general, not special, and for the common good of all, not the peculiar good of a few, and require that government shall be democratick in fact as well as in name, the monopoly gentry think the time has come for them to hoist their own flag. 56
As we think over this interpretation, it is allowable to raise the question whether it was not about this time that the "Democratic- Republican" party, losing a conservative element, began to become (at least in the North) the modern Democratic party.
If this be true, it may be suggested that modern industrialism in the United States and the Democratic party developed contemporaneously.
56 The Plain Dealer, July I5, I837.
TO BE CONTINUED ...