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Second Party System

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The Second Party System is the term historians give to the political system existing in the United States from about 1824 to 1854. It was characterized by rapidly rising levels of voter interest, as shown in election day turnout, rallies, partisan newspapers, and a high degree of personal loyalty to party. It replaced the First Party System, and was followed by the Third Party System. The major parties were the Democratic party, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig party, led by Henry Clay. Minor parties included the Anti-Masonic Party, which was an important innovator from 1827–34, the Liberty Party in 1840, and the Free Soil Party in 1848 and 1852. The Second Party System reflected and shaped the political, social, economic and cultural currents of the Jacksonian Era.

Contents

Patterns

McCormick is most responsible for defining the system. He concluded (McCormick 1966 pp 14-16):

Leaders

Among the best-known figures (on the Democratic side) were: Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun, James K. Polk, Lewis Cass, and Stephen Douglas. On the Whig side, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, William H. Seward, Thurlow Weed, and Abraham Lincoln.

The 1824 presidential election, operated without political parties, came down to a four man race. Each candidate (Henry Clay, William Crawford, Andrew Jackson, and John Quincy Adams) had a regional base of support involving factions in the various states. With no electoral college majority, the choice devolved on the House of Representatives. Clay was not among the three finalists, but as Speaker of the House he negotiated the settlement. Jackson, who had the most popular votes and the most electoral votes, was counted out. John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was elected, and he immediately chose Clay as Secretary of State. Jackson, the most famous of the nation's Indian fighters, and an authentic hero of the War of 1812, loudly denounced the "corrupt bargain." Campaigning vigorously, and appealing both to local militia companies and to state political factions, Jackson assembled a coalition that ousted Adams in 1828. Martin Van Buren, brilliant leader of New York politics, was Jackson's key aide, bringing along the large electoral votes of Virginia and Pennsylvania. His reward was Secretary of State and (1832), Vice President and heir to the Jacksonian tradition.

Jackson's reforms

Jackson considered himself a reformer. More exactly he was committed to the old ideals of Republicanism, and bitterly opposed anything that smacked of special favors for special interests. While Jackson never engaged in a duel as president, he had shot political opponents before and was just as determined to destroy his enemies on the battlefields of politics as his adversary on the battlefields of war. The Second Party System came about primarily because of Jackson's determination to destroy the Second Bank of the United States. Headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices in major cities around the country, the federally chartered Bank operated somewhat like a central bank (like the Federal Reserve System a century later). Local bankers and politicians annoyed by the controls exerted by Nicholas Biddle grumbled loudly. Jackson did not like any banks (paper money was anathema to the Old Republican--God intended only gold and silver ["specie"] to circulate.) After Herculean battles with the wily Henry Clay, the chief protagonist, Jackson finally broke Biddle's bank.

Modernizing Whigs

Meanwhile economic modernizers, bankers, businessmen, commercial farmers and planters across the country were mobilized into a new anti-Jackson force; they called themselves Whigs. In the northeast, a moralistic crusade against the highly secretive Masonic order matured into a regular political party, the Anti-Masons, which soon combined with the Whigs. Jackson fought back by aggressive use of federal patronage, by timely alliances with local leaders, and with a rhetoric that identified the Bank and its minions as the greatest threat to the Republican spirit. Eventually his partisans called themselves "Democrats." The Whigs had an elaborate program for modernizing the economy. To stimulate the creation of new factories, they proposed a high tariff on imported manufactured goods. The Democrats said that would fatten the rich; the tariff should be low--for "revenue only" (thus not to foster manufacturing). Whigs argued that banks and paper money were needed; no honest man wants them, countered the Democrats. Public works programs to build roads, canals and railroads would give the country the infrastructure it needed for rapid economic development, said the Whigs. We don't want that kind of complex change, said the Democrats. We want more of the same--especially more farms for ordinary folks (and planters) to raise the families in the good old traditional style. More land is needed for that, Democrats said, so they pushed for expansion south and west. Jackson conquered Florida for the US. Over intense Whig opposition, his political heir, James Polk (1844-48) added Texas, the Southwest, California, and Oregon. Next on the Democratic agenda would be Cuba.

Party organization

The Whigs built a strong party organization in most states; they were weak only on the frontier. The Whigs used newspapers effectively, and soon adopted the exciting campaign techniques that lured 75 to 85% of the eligible voters to the polls. Abraham Lincoln emerged early as the leader in Illinois--where he usually was bested by an even more talented politician, Stephen Douglas. Douglas was the dominant figure in the Democratic party throughout the late 1840s and 1850s. While Douglas and the Democrats were somewhat behind the Whigs in newspaper work, they made up this weakness by emphasis on party loyalty. Anyone who attended a Democratic convention, from precinct level to national level, was honor bound to support the final candidate, whether he liked it or not. This rule produced numerous schisms, but on the whole the Democrats controlled and mobilized their rank and file more effectively than the Whigs did.

Whig parade in 1840
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Whig parade in 1840

The biggest problem for the Whigs was not lack of leadership or organization. Rather it was that they were always a close second. Party loyalty was strong, and it was hard to convert 48% of the vote into 51%. Clay was the towering leader of the party, but he repeatedly lost (in 1824, 1832, 1844). The Whigs had their most luck with famous generals (like William Henry Harrison, winner in 1840, and Zachary Taylor, winner in 1848), but even that did not always work (Harrison lost in 1836; Winfield Scott lost in 1852).

Most of the prominent men in most towns and cities were Whigs, and they controlled local offices and judgeships, in addition to many state offices. Thus the outcome of the political process was mixed. By the 1850s even the Democrats were starting to accept Whiggish ideas, and no one could deny the economic modernization of factories and railroads was moving ahead rapidly. The old economic issues died about the same time old leaders like Calhoun, Webster, Clay, Jackson and Polk passed from the scene. New issues, especially the questions of slavery and religion came to the fore. 1852 was the last hurrah for the Whigs; everyone realized they could win only if the Democrats split in two. With the healing of the Free Soil revolt (1848), Democratic dominance seemed assured. The Whigs went through the motions, but both rank and file and leaders quietly dropped out. The Third Party System was ready to emerge.

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