Era of Experimentation: American Political Practices in the Early Republic

“You Must Organize Against Organization”

108 } 4 “you must organize against organization” The Presidential Election of 1824 Written during the canvass by John C. Calhoun, himself a candidate for the White House, the following appraisal of the presidential election of 1824 presents a stark contrast to the standard celebratory narrative, which paints political parties as agents of democracy: It cannot be doubted that a party has grown up in our country, who aspire to the government of the Union, not th[r]ough the confidence and attachment of the people, but by a dextrous use of what is called party machinery . The great object of the party has been to enlist in its cause political leaders, who were supposed to possess a control over the machinery and in this it has succeed[ed] to a great extent. They are now struggling to give to this machinery the highest possible force.¹ In the eyes of most modern scholars, the emergence of mass parties signaled the dawning of the Age of the Common Man. To Calhoun, however, the rise of party portended something else entirely: government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians. The object of Calhoun’s ire was William H. Crawford. Crawford and those that backed his bid for the presidency sought to make the campaign a referendum on the proper role of party in a republican polity. In their hands, they contended, party would be an organ of good government, facilitating the rule of the majority and restraining the improper ambition of individuals. But this vision did not go unchallenged. Crawford’s rivals united to condemn his version of party as a tool for self-serving politicians, while defending their own right to organize in opposition. In this chapter, then, as in chapter 1, we see that neither partisanship nor antipartisanship is as monolithic as they sometimes appear. The 1824 election also provides a lesson in the motives of these early party { 109 builders. Scholars have suggested that parties were created to serve three main functions: to engage and mobilize a mass electorate; to translate popular preferences into legislative outcomes; and to regulate access to public office .² In chapter 2 the opponents of slavery demonstrated that nonpartisan organizations were capable of performing the first of these functions, and in chapter 3 activists on both sides of the tariff issue performed the second. In the race for the White House, however, it was the third function that took precedence; campaign practices and policy agendas were dictated by the need to win votes, as the friends of each candidate forsook national consistency in order to shape their message to local circumstances. This episode underlines the remarkable diversity of political life in the United States during the early 1820s and the real differences in how contemporaries interpreted the promise of popular sovereignty. ❖ While Republicans rejoiced in “the great depression of the Federal party” following the War of 1812, the more prescient among them also recognized that their triumph would “relax the bonds by which the Republican party has been hitherto kept together.”³ Respect for James Monroe ensured that his reelection in 1820 was effectively unopposed, but five main contenders emerged from the Republican ranks to challenge for the presidency at the end of his second term. William H. Crawford displayed no hesitation in staking a claim to the White House based primarily on his devotion to party. The supporters of the secretary of the treasury styled him as “the Republican candidate,” ready to repel any threat from a resurgent Federalism.⁴ They maintained that he had “established a peculiar claim to the esteem of the republican party” by declining to challenge Monroe for the nomination when urged by many to do so in 1816.⁵ Their confidence had merit, for friends and enemies alike conceded that “Crawford is the favorite of a majority of Congress,” and custom dictated that the Republican members of that body would choose the party’s official candidate.⁶ “He intends to rest on a single ground,” recorded Calhoun, “that of being a thorough partisan.”⁷ In contrast, the candidacy of John Quincy Adams much more closely approximated the conventional republican model, at least on the surface.⁸ The secretary of state was the most eligible aspirant when measured by public character and length of service, but he was also a former Federalist, and his The Presidential Election of 1824 era of experimentation 110 } allies alleged that “the attempt to revive the distinctions and...