The Age of Jacksonian Democracy
The Emergence of the Professional Politician
There were no professional politicians in the 1700s. Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and John Adams could be political, but they were not politicians in our sense of the term. They did not derive an appreciable part of their income from public office, nor did they spend much time campaigning for votes. By contrast, the leading public figures of the early nineteenth century—Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun—were hardly ever out of office and spent most of their time devising ways of advancing themselves politically. Unlike Jefferson or Washington, who suffered financially from serving in government, successful public officials in the later period tended to leave office richer than when they had entered.
The growing federal and state bureaucracies made it possible for ambitious young men to make politics a career. By the 1830s, the Democrats and Whigs rewarded their workers with civil servant jobs. In return, these bureaucrats “kicked back” a part of their income to the party, which used the funds to finance other campaigns. At the center of each political party, there was a corps of professionals, usually living off the public payroll, whose careers were inextricably tied to the success of the party. As one New York politician confessed, he would vote for a dog if his party nominated it.
Coincident with this development was the disappearance of all real issues from American politics. In the 1790s, politics was intensely ideological, partly because of the influence of the French Revolution and partly because party leaders were intellectuals. The second party system emerged in a nation where it seemed the white, Protestant, small farmer and his family made up the soul of society and that only their interests should be protected and advanced. There were differences of opinion about how this was to be done, but these were disputes about means rather than ends.
Because politicians must campaign on something that resembles an issue in order to distinguish themselves from their opponents, they created issues. The ideal issue was one that everyone agreed on so that endorsing it would not lose votes. Unfortunately, it was hard to get votes by being for motherhood and apple pie, because any opponent would be just as enthusiastic about them. Nevertheless, then, as now, politicians would suddenly proclaim undying devotion to common verities, which always seemed to be in danger of extinction whenever an election took place. The second best issue was one that was too complicated for the average person to understand. The tariff fitted this qualification. In his autobiography, Van Buren recorded an instance of how artfully he used the complexity of the tariff question to befuddle an audience. After his speech on the subject, he mingled with the audience and overheard the following conversation:
Van Buren was infamous for evasion and was accused by his contemporaries of having raised the art of doubletalk to a true philosophy, called "noncommitalism," but even the plain-speaking Andrew Jackson found the tariff an excellent opportunity for his own species of political hedging. Jackson never budged from his support of a “judicious” tariff, nor did he ever explain what that meant.
To say that there were no real political issues does not mean that there were no real issues. Slavery clearly violated the fundamental ideals on which the nation had been founded, and slavery was an issue that would not go away. Because divisive, controversial issues were avoided at all costs by professional politicians, the second party system closed the political forum to the question of slavery. Emancipation, when it came, had to come from outside the normal political process.
The second party system extended the reality of democracy in America. Parties eagerly enlisted young men of talent and financed their political careers, enabling sons of average families to seek high public office. The parties made politics what it remains today, an exciting spectator sport full of sound and fury, even if it often signifies nothing.
RELIVING THE PAST
Andrew Jackson dominated the political arena in the 1830s. His forcefulness was illustrated at the annual Jefferson Day dinner on April 15, 1830, in the midst of the nullification controversy. When the time for giving toasts arrived, Jackson stared at the South Carolinians present and offered “Our Union, it must be preserved!” John C. Calhoun replied, “The Union, next to our liberty most dear! May we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the states and distributing equally the benefit and burden of the Union!” Contrast the two toasts and you begin to realize that Jackson's pithiness, in an oratorical age, confirmed his reputation as a man of action. Martin Van Buren reported the above incident in his autobiography, an immensely valuable source that has not been reprinted for over sixty years.
Van Buren's great rival in New York and national politics was Thurlow Weed. He too wrote an autobiography, now out of print and not easy to find. It is a good supplement to Van Buren's because it gives us the Whig version of events. One of the characteristics that made Weed a superb politician was his ability to face reality. When asked by a political ally to agree that the Democrats could never answer Daniel Webster's attack on Jackson's veto of the Bank bill, Weed correctly predicted that, "two sentences in the veto message would carry ten electors against the bank for every one that Mr. Webster's arguments and eloquence secured in favor of it." Weed's autobiography was edited by his daughter, Harriet Weed, and was published by Houghton Mifflin and Company in 1883.
DEMOCRACY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
The 1820s and 1830s witnessed the rise of popular democracy and a swelling of national political involvement. European visitors were amazed at the equalizing tendencies that were exposed in everything from hotels to the legal and clerical professions. By the 1830s, the United States was a democratic society with notable limitations. Women and African-Americans continued to be denied political and legal rights, and among white males the inequality between rich and poor grew wider. The nation's founders believed that "democracy" contained dangerous impulses, but by the 1830s the term had become more acceptable and applicable to American institutions. Alexis de Tocqueville noticed the decline of deference and the elevation of popular sovereignty in America. "Self-made" men could now rise in stature. Americans in the 1820s and 1830s no longer feared that democracy would lead to anarchy. Each individual was to be given an equal start in life, but equality of opportunity did not mean equality of result. The American people were happy to accept a society of winners and losers.
The Democratic Ferment
By 1820, most states had eliminated property requirements for manhood suffrage and, as public political involvement swelled, a permanent two-party system became a forum for political ideas. It became understood that a "loyal opposition" was essential to democratic government. Economic questions (prompted by the Panic of 1819) and the role of the federal government were major concerns that assisted a great swelling of popular political interest. Workingmen's parties and trade unions emerged as workers became convinced that the government should protect the rights of labor as well as those of the producers. Abolitionists sought an end to slavery and supported the civil rights of free African Americans and women. Democratic ideals had a real impact on the American political system. Nearly all adult white males gained the right to vote whether or not they had property. Offices that had been appointive—such as judgeships or the electoral college—were made elective.
The greatest change took place in the style of politics. Professional politicians emerged, actively seeking votes and acting as servants of the people. Men such as Martin Van Buren in New York extolled the public benefits of a two-party system, and political machines began to develop on the state level. National parties eventually developed—the Democrats and the Whigs. Although political parties often served special economic interests, it should be remembered that American politics always retained a strong republican ideology and that all parties sought to preserve equality of opportunity. The Whigs and Democrats differed on whether this could be done best with or without active intervention by the national government, but neither party gave much thought to extending rights to anyone other than adult, white males. It was left to other, more radical, parties to argue the cause of African-Americans, women, and working people.
Social equality became the dominant principle of the age. Special privilege and family connections could no longer be counted on to guarantee success. Industrialization, however, perpetuated inequality, not in the traditional sense of birth or privilege, but in terms of wealth and attainment. Despite persistent and growing economic inequality, Americans generally believed they had created an egalitarian society, and in many ways they had. Political equality for all white males was a radical achievement, and Americans came to prefer the "self-made" man to one who had inherited wealth and refinement. The egalitarian spirit carried over into an attack on the licensed professions, and it was believed that any white male should have a chance to practice law or medicine, whether or not he was trained.
Democratic Culture
Romanticism in American literature often appealed to the feelings and intuitions of ordinary people. A mass reading audience developed, and poets, writers, and artists directed their work to a democratic populace. American artists (although striving to elevate popular tastes) were encouraged to contribute to the general welfare by supporting virtue and middle-class sentiments. The democratic ethos also affected the arts in this period. Artists no longer worked for an aristocratic elite, but for a mass audience. Many writers and painters pleased the public by turning out Gothic horror stories, romantic women's fiction, melodramas, or genre paintings that lovingly depicted the American way of life. More serious artists sought to inspire the masses with neoclassical sculpture, or landscapes of untamed nature. Only a few individuals, like Edgar Allan Poe, were truly avant-garde, romantic artists.
THE ELECTION OF 1824 AND J. Q. ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION
Popular hero Andrew Jackson rose to prominence as a result of "popular sovereignty." Despite winning a plurality of popular votes, Jackson was denied the presidency by the House of Representatives, in favor of Adams. Rumors of a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Henry Clay and controversy over tariff policy damaged Adam's administration. The election began as a scramble between five men—John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Andrew Jackson. Because no one received a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives had to decide the election, and its choice came down to Adams or Jackson. When Clay gave his support to Adams, the House elected him president. Adams began his administration under a cloud of suspicion because it was widely believed that he had "bought" the presidency. By 1826, it was apparent that Adams had failed as a president. The Jackson forces took control of Congress by simply giving every special interest whatever it wanted.
ANDREW JACKSON [See: "Hunters of Kentucky"]
Background: The industrial revolution had arrived around 1820, which led to the need for protectionism, a desire for economic independence and support of capitalistic ventures (corporation laws, internal improvements, etc.) Women began to move into the textile industry, and labor conditions began to change. The working class became separated from the land, and America began to urbanize. Family life changed, and women began to awaken to the responsibilities and opportunities of republicanism. The common man perceived that he needed the government on his side to a small extent, but he also sought protection from too much government, an American characteristic that would develop under Jackson.
ANDREW JACKSON: SYMBOL FOR AN AGE
What was Andrew Jackson, and what did he do, that he should receive such honors while living, and, when dead should gather a nation round his tomb? What was he? He was the embodiment of the true spirit of the nation in which he lived. What did he do? He put himself at the head of the great movement of the age in which he lived. . . Run the eye across the history of the world. You observe that there are certain cycles, or ages, or periods of time, which have their peculiar spirit, their ruling passion, their great, characterizing, distinctive movements. He, who embodies in its greatest fullness, the spirit of such an age, and enters with most earnestness into its movements, received the admiration of his contemporaries. . . And why? because they see in him their own image. Because, in him is concentrated the spirit that has burned in their own bosom. Because in him exists, in bodily form, in living flesh and blood, the spirit that gives them life and motion. The spirit of God descended upon the Saviour of the world in the form of a dove. The spirit of an age sometimes descends to future generations in the form of a man. . . in proportion as an individual concentrates within himself, the spirit which works through masses of men, and which moves, and should move them through the greatest cycles of time, in that proportion, he becomes entitled to their admiration and praise. . . Because his countrymen saw their image and spirit in Andrew Jackson, they bestowed their honor and admiration upon him.
Washington McCartney, “Eulogy—on the death of Andrew Jackson”
THE JACKSONIAN APPEAL:
JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY inspired respect for Constitution; people not lawless, rapacious for property; political tyranny never materialized. Its triumph saw the rise of the "common man"—the belief that every adult white male was equally important. The Jacksonians glorified instinct, ordinariness, and mediocrity, and they detested expertise, special privilege, and aristocratic pretensions. In response to these sentiments most states eliminated property qualifications for voting and made more public offices elective rather than appointive. In this democratic atmosphere, officeholders stressed their role as representatives of the people. Campaigning for votes became increasingly important as more "common men" became politically active. Political parties were now important to woo new voters in national elections, often by demagoguery.
JACKSON COMES TO POWER: THE ELECTION OF 1828
Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet
Duff Green, editor of U.S. Telegraph; Frank Blair of The Globe; The vital role of Amos Kendall, Jackson’s alter ego; Van Buren also part of it, the only "regular" cabinet member; Isaac Hill (N.H.) Jackson’s regular cabinet undistinguished, except for Van Buren, and even he was a political appointment.
The Spoils System
Jackson quickly adopted a system for replacing federal officeholders with his own supporters, a system his supporters called rotation-in-office and his opponents derisively dubbed the spoils system. Rotation was intended to inhibit the development of an entrenched bureaucracy and allow more citizens to participate in the tasks of government—a democratic concept, but not one calculated to produce efficiency in government. The fact is, most of Jackson’s appointees were not "common men," but were drawn from the social and intellectual elite.
EXPANDING DEMOCRACY
Supported by the newly organized Democratic party, Jackson returned to defeat Adams convincingly in 1828 in an election that featured massive popular turnout. Possessed of indomitable will, Jackson became one of the most forceful presidents in history. He endorsed the "spoils system" as a way to provide himself with loyal advisors. The Jackson people, who became the Democratic party, were well organized for the election of 1828. The Democrats appealed to sectional self-interest and pioneered the art of making politics exciting to the average man, but the greatest asset the Democrats had was Jackson himself. Rigid and forceful, Jackson was accepted as a* true man of the people, and he defeated Adams easily, especially in the slave-holding states. Jackson's triumph was a personal one; he stood on no political platform. As President, he democratized the office by firing at will whatever officeholders he did not like, defending the practice by asserting the right of all men to a government post.
Sectional Tensions Revived: More Rumbles of Disunion
Jackson tried to steer a moderate course through sectional differences over tariff, public-land, and internal improvements policies. At the time, low-tariff southerners were attempting to forge a sectional alliance with westerners who favored cheap public lands. Daniel Webster rose to defend northeastern interests in the Webster-Hayne debate when, in his second reply to Hayne, he denounced the states’ rights doctrine, defended the Union, and effectively prevented a West-South alliance.
THE WEBSTER-HAYNE DEBATE [q.v.]. Webster’s high-flown rhetoric defines the functioning of the Constitution.
1830 Internal improvements: Jackson vetoes the Maysville Road bill on Constitutional grounds in that it was all inside one state. Limited federal initiative.
JACKSON v. CALHOUN: House divided as Calhoun, Van Buren fight over being heir apparent. Calhoun’s position in South Carolina shaky, Van Buren secure in New York. Calhoun, Jackson’s first vice-president, hoped to succeed to the presidency. The two men were not far apart ideologically; both believed in government economy, distribution of federal surpluses, limiting the power of the national government, and Jackson often took the states’ rights view. But they were clashing personalities and the Peggy Eaton affair and revelations about Calhoun’s earlier criticism of Jackson caused Jackson to question his loyalty and honor.
THE PEGGY EATON AFFAIR
The "lively" daughter of William O’Neale, innkeeper, Peggy was the wife of Navy purser Timberlake, also probably the mistress of then Senator Eaton. Eaton and Senator Jackson hung out in O’Neale’s tavern. When Timberlake allegedly committed suicide over Peggy’s scandalous conduct, Eaton married her. (Jackson advised him to hurry up and do it.)
Floride Calhoun and the Cabinet Wives refused to accept Mrs. Eaton, did everything to make her miserable. Mrs. Donelson quit as White House hostess. Ugliness spilled over into the cabinet and irritated Jackson, who was reminded of the treatment of Rachel, which he believed had contributed to her death. "I did not come here to make a cabinet for the ladies of this place, but for the nation!" The issue impacted on the business of formal entertaining; Jackson threatened firings, Senators got into the act, etc. O’Neale driven off.
Van Buren, a widower and therefore safe, was kind to Mrs. Eaton, and as a way out of the "Eaton malaria," offered to resign and suggest the rest of the cabinet do so also. Jackson grateful to Van Buren, they draw closer. (Implications for 1836.) Jackson in Florida: Old Issues Raised. Jackson discovered that when Secretary of War, Calhoun, who had written to Jackson claiming to support him, had actually opposed Jackson’s actions and called for his court-martial.
ANDREW JACKSON AND THE TARIFF
In 1832 southerners were dissatisfied with the new Tariff of 1832, sensitive to the rise of antislavery sentiment in the North, and fearful of slave rebellion. The South also had reason to fear a strong national government that might some day decide to do something about slavery. They felt that the tariff and slavery issues symbolized the tyranny of a northern majority and they turned to nullification for defense. Led by John C. Calhoun, southern intellectuals began working out a defense of state sovereignty. The first major controversy between federal authority and states' rights came when South Carolina objected to the high tariff of 1828. The South, however, trusted Jackson to be sympathetic, and South Carolina took no action on the 1828 tariff. By 1832, the Carolinians had come to distrust Jackson, partly as a result of a personal feud between Jackson and Calhoun, but mainly because South Carolina feared a forceful president and Jackson rejected the idea of state sovereignty. When in 1832 a new tariff was passed, South Carolina, still unhappy with the rates, nullified it. Jackson’s response to this threat to the Union was twofold: He labeled the nullifiers as treasonous and called for military preparations to occupy South Carolina, but he also asked congressional leaders for a downward revision of the tariff. Congress also passed a Force Bill authorizing Jackson to use any measures to enforce the law—a power he already had under the Constitution. Other southern states did not rally to South Carolina’s defense, and with an invasion threatened, Calhoun and the South Carolinian radicals settled for a compromise tariff that gradually reduced tariff rates. South Carolina withdrew its Ordinance of Nullification, (although they nullified the force bill—now a moot issue) but embarked on a crusade to unify the South behind the states’ rights doctrine. Jackson had demonstrated the will of the federal government to rule the states, by force if necessary.
JACKSON basically supports mild tariffs, affirmed principle of protectionism in 1830, calls for moderate tariff.
THE TARIFF OF 1832 leads to the NULLIFICATION CRISIS.
THE BANK WAR AND THE SECOND PARTY SYSTEM
Mr. Biddle's Bank
Under President Nicholas Biddle the Second Bank of the United States was well-managed and acted as a central bank. It controlled the lending policies of state banks that, if left unregulated, caused inflation and exaggerated the business cycle. The Bank’s stabilizing policies won it many supporters, but it did have opponents; hard-money advocates who feared paper money and many state banks that disliked its regulating authority. To some it smacked of special privilege because it held a monopoly of public funds, yet was governed by a handful of rich investors. Jackson came into office suspecting the Bank of the United States and made vague threats against it. Biddle overreacted and asked Congress to recharter the Bank in 1832, four years before the old charter was due to expire. Henry Clay took up the Bank's cause, hoping that congressional approval of the Bank would embarrass Jackson. Jackson then declared war on this "monster" corporation, which he was convinced violated the fundamental principles of a democratic society. He vetoed the Bank Bill it on the grounds that the Bank was unconstitutional, despite a Supreme Court decision to the contrary, and called on the people for support. Jackson also claimed he vetoed the Bank charter because it violated equality of opportunity and Congress upheld the veto. Clay and Jackson took their argument to the public in the election of 1832 where Jackson's victory spelled doom for the Bank.
After the election Jackson said, "The Bank tried to kill me, but I will kill it!" He showed his opponents no mercy and proceeded to destroy the Bank by withdrawing the government's money and depositing it into selected state banks (the "pet banks"). Biddle then used his powers as a central banker to bring on a nationwide recession, which he hoped would be blamed on Jackson. That ploy failed, but Jackson's destruction of the Bank cost him support in Congress, especially in the Senate, where fears of a dictatorship began to emerge. Jackson, like Jefferson, was very hostile to banks. He once told Biddle, "It’s not this bank I don’t like, it’s all banks." He didn’t understand that the purpose of the National Bank was to prevent the very thing he was concerned about—speculation of the kind that led to the South Sea Bubble. Banks made money by manipulation, Jackson thought. There had been early attempts to politicize the bank, and Jackson believed the pro-bank people were his political enemies.
THE 1832 ELECTION: Jackson Affirmed
RISE OF THE WHIGS
By 1836 Jacksonian politics produced a fairly cohesive Democratic party. Diverse in its makeup, the party loyal nevertheless agreed on some underlying principles: suspicion of special privilege and business monopoly, equal opportunity, limited national government, political freedom, and faith in the common man. Democrats generally endorsed public education and social equality. Jackson’s opposition was less cohesive. Clay’s National Republican party was simply anti-Jackson. But, as Jackson’s term ended his opponents began to coalesce into a new Whig party. It attracted those with a Hamiltonian view of national economic development, advocates of a strong central government, intellectuals, and fierce Jackson haters. The Whig’s "favorite son" nominating tactic failed in 1836 and Martin Van Buren succeeded Jackson to the presidency.
Jackson and the Whigs
Using the cry of "executive usurpation," an opposition party, the Whigs, emerged in Jackson's second term. Led by Clay and Daniel Webster, the Whigs opposed the growth of presidential power and prerogative under "King Andrew." When overspeculation and currency devaluation staggered the country's economy, Jackson ordered the "specie circular," as economic depression set in.
Opposition to Jackson formed the Whig party. Along the way, the Whigs absorbed the Anti-Masonic party, which had suddenly flourished after 1826 when it attacked the Masons as a secret, privileged elite. The Anti-Masons brought with them to the Whig party a disgust of "loose" living and a willingness to use government powers to enforce "decency." The Democratic party was also weakened by the defection of working-class spokesmen who criticized Jackson for not destroying all banks. Furthermore, Jackson's financial policies led to a runaway inflation, followed by an abrupt depression.
JACKSONIANISM WITHOUT JACKSON: MARTIN VAN BUREN AS PRESIDENT
The Rise and Fall of Van Buren
Jackson chose his friend and advisor Martin Van Buren as his successor. Van Buren gained the presidency in 1836. He attempted to improve the faltering economy with his creation of an "independent subtreasury," but the persistent depression was beyond the control of governmental policies. The state of the economy cost Van Buren reelection in 1840 to the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison.
The Whigs, still unorganized, presented Van Buren with little opposition in the election of 1836, but Van Buren's inauguration coincided with the arrival of the depression of 1836, for which the Democrats were blamed.
Van Buren felt no responsibility to save individuals and businesses that were going bankrupt, but he did want to save the government funds in the state banks by placing them in "independent subtreasuries." It was a sign of the growing strength of the Whigs that they could frustrate Van Buren in this aim for three years. Economic historians today conclude that the Panic of 1837 was international in scope, reflecting complex changes in the world economy beyond the control of American policymakers, but the Whigs blamed Van Buren for the mess.
Van Buren, Jackson’s VP, a devoted Jacksonian Democrat. He opposed the Bank, favored state sponsored internal improvements, equivocated on tariff—preeminently a practical politician. Van Buren took office as the Panic of 1837 began, but recovery was swift. Then in 1839 a general depression set in when cotton prices collapsed and several state governments defaulted on internal improvements debts. To the dismay of activist Whigs, Van Buren assumed a hands-off approach to the depression. Van Buren’s primary maneuver was to withdraw public funds from the state banks and deposit government specie in an independent treasury. Heavy agricultural exports, foreign investment capital, and the California gold rush maintained a supply of specie in the economy.
A "Hands Off" Policy of Government
The Independent Treasury Act of 1840, an attempt to keep the government solvent. Took time to get through because opposed by Whigs.
HEYDAY OF THE SECOND PARTY SYSTEM
Promoting the idea of the "positive liberal state," the Whigs challenged the Democrats on equal terms in the 1840s. The Whigs called for a government that was active and responsive in economic affairs. Although they supported a market economy, the Whigs wanted to restrain disorder and selfish individualism by calling on the government to enforce high moral standards and community values. The Democrats appealed to small farmers, workers, rising capitalists, immigrants, and Catholics with their support for individualism and personal liberty.
INDIAN REMOVALS
Beginning in 1830, Jackson ordered the swift and forceful removal of all Indian tribes to reservations located west of the Mississippi River. Jackson ignored humanitarian protests. By 1838, the last of the southeastern tribes, the Cherokee, were forced to abandon ancestral grounds and embark on the "Trail of Tears." Jackson inherited the Indian removal policy from previous administrations and carried it to its harshest conclusion. He agreed with the southern states that the federal government had not pushed the Indians hard enough. When the Cherokee nation resisted removal, Jackson asked Congress to take stern action even though the Cherokee were "civilized," according to white standards. In 1830 Congress voted to dispossess the Cherokee, and in 1838, the U.S. Army forced the Indians to move west in a march that killed many of them. Jackson was a states’ rightist on Indian policy. He viewed Indians as savages who refused to adopt the white man’s ways, and who could best be dealt with by removal from the path of western settlement. His removal policy led to government purchase of tribal lands and relocation of the Indians to the Trans-Mississippi West. Many tribes were removed peacefully, but the Sac, Fox, and Seminole resisted. The Cherokee sought to escape removal by adopting the whites’ ways. They established an independent Cherokee Nation within Georgia. In Worcester v. Georgia the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia had no constitutional authority to govern the Cherokee. Jackson backed Georgia who ignored the Court, and thousands of Cherokee were removed along the "Trail of Tears" to the West.
JACKSONIANISM ABROAD: PUSHING AMERICAN INTERESTS
Jackson was an exaggerated patriot. Nevertheless, his forceful and unnecessarily blustering diplomacy finally opened British West Indian trade to American merchants and forced compensation from France for damages dating back to the War of 1812.
The Election of 1840: Log Cabin and Hard Cider
The election of 1840 signaled the emergence of a permanent two-party system in the United States. For the next decade, Whigs and Democrats evenly divided the electorate. Although there was much overlapping, both parties attracted distinct constituencies and offered voters a clear choice of programs. The Whigs stood for a "positive liberal state," which meant active government involvement in society. The Democrats stood for a "negative liberal state," which meant that the government should intervene only to destroy special privileges. Both parties shared a broad democratic ideology, but the Democrats were the party of the individual, while the Whigs were the party of the community.
In 1840 the Whigs were fully organized and had learned the art of successful politicking. They nominated William Henry Harrison, a noncontroversial war hero, and built his image as a common man who had been born in a log cabin. As his running mate, the Whigs picked John Tyler, a former Jacksonian, because he would attract some votes from states'-rights Democrats. Harrison and Tyler beat Van Buren, although the popular vote was close.
For the 1840 presidential election the Whigs adopted Jacksonian campaign tactics and nominated a noncontroversial military hero, Willam Henry Harrison. They contrasted Harrison’s simple, brave, honest public spiritedness with Van Buren’s "aristocratic" ways. Their log cabin and hard cider campaign was too much for Van Buren who tried to campaign on the issues. A huge turnout of voters elected Harrison. Harrison had little stomach for strong presidential leadership and Whig leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster anticipated congressional control of the administration. But Harrison died shortly after his inauguration and Vice- President John Tyler confronted congressional Whigs with unanticipated problems.
The Aftermath of Jacksonianism