The Political Culture of Middle-Period United States

ThePoliticalCultureof Middle-Period UnitedStates Kermit L. Hall. The Politics of Justice: LowerFederal Judicial Selection and the Second Parn· Srstem. 1829-61.Lincoln: l1nhersity L~f Nebraska Press, 1979.268 + xvii pp. Daniel Walker Howe. The Political Culture of the American Whigs. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979.404 + vii pp. Richard B. Latner. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson: WhiteHouse Politics, 1829-1837.Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1979.291 + ix pp. Harry L. Watson. Jacksonian Politics and Community Conflict: The Emergence of the Second American Party S\'st~min Cumberland Countv North Carolina. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981.354 + xii pp. James Roger Sharp Since the publication of Lee Benson's The Concept of Jacksonian Democracy more than twenty years ago, the progressive, socioeconomic interpretation of the Jacksonian period has been under heavy siege. A number of historians, the so-called "new political historians," following Benson's footsteps, have argued that it was ethnocultural factors such as ethnicity and religion that shaped antebellum voting patterns. Challenging the claims of the progressive historians, Benson concludes, in his study of middle-period NewYork, that "the stand of the major parties on socioeconomic issues had relatively little effect upon bloc voting." Instead, New Yorkers cast their ballots in response "to factors initially associated with positive and negative reference groups and subsequently with fulfillment of political roles." 1 A student of Benson, Ronald Formisano, tested his mentor's hypotheses in Michigan and finds similar results. It was cultural and moral issues that divided the parties, with the Democrats appealing to the ·'antievangelical social groups who rejected the moral society which pietist Protestants promoted through Anti-masonry and then Whiggery." Formisano challenged hiscolleagues to confront the "brute fact that large portions of the electorate do not have meaningful beliefs, even on issues that have formed the basis of intense controversy for substantial periods of time." 2 A different approach, but one equally critical of the issue-oriented, socioeconomic interpretation, is offered by Richard McCormick in his The Second Canadian Review of American Studies, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 1984, 49-62 50 James Roger Sharp American Party System. In an impressively detailed study of the origins of the Second Party System in the states, McCormick rejects the approach of concerning himself with "What doctrines, ideologies, or programs did each party espouse/' as being "deceptive." Rather, he concerns himself with the process of the "emergence of a new two-party system" and with parties and how they are "affected by the constitutional and legal environment within which they evolve."3 The controversy, however, is far from settled, as the four books under review would indicate. Indeed, as the political culture of the middle period is studied by historians, increasingly sophisticated questions are being posed and increasingly sophisticated answers are being given. Daniel Walker Howe, in his The Political Culture of the American Whigs, despite the "new political history" criticism of the study of ideology and "elites," analyzes the ideology of the Whig leadership and maintains that intellectual history is not the "rival" or "adversary" of political and social history, but its complement. Howe selects the term "political culture" instead of "political thought" to describe his approach since "culture" is more inclusive and is intended to mean "an evolving system of beliefs, attitudes, and techniques for solving problems, transmitted from generation to generation and finding expression in the innumerable activities that people learn: religion , child-rearing customs, the arts and professions, and ... politics" (p. 2). While the middle period is frequently referred to as the "Age of Jackson" or the "Jacksonian Period," Howe correctly points out that until the 1850s the Whigs and Democrats were remarkable evenly balanced, although the Democrats did win five of the seven presidential elections from 1828to 1852. But, more important than the Whig political strength, according to Howe, was their culture, which "was more powerful than the party." "When one looks at their broader social objectives (such as public education or the development ofdidactic domestic literature)," Howe argues, "there is a striking contrast between the brief life of their party and the lasting influence of their culture." And it was this influence through various reforms in business, religion...