Rethinking Early Ohio Political History

Review Essay Rethinking Early Ohio Political History William H. Bergmann Donald). Ratcliffe. Party Spirit in a Frontier Republic: Democratic Politics in Ohio, 1793-1821 (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998) ISBN: 0-8142-0775-8 (cloth), 0-8142-0776-6 (paper). 394 pp. Maps. $52.50 (clotht $22.95 (paper). Donald J. Ratcliffe. The Politics of Long Division: The Birth of the Second Party System in Ohio, 1818-1828 (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000) ISBN: 0-8142-0849-5 (cloth). 344 pp. $65.00. In his preface to Party Spirit in a Frontier Republic, Donald Ratcliffe laments his "book will be dismissed ... as 'old-fashioned political history//'(ix). To his credit, neither this monograph nor its sequel, The Politics of Long Division, should be so easily swept aside. In these two works, Ratcliffe challenges much of the historiography of politics, political culture , and parties for the period from 1793 to the Jacksonian surge of 1828. By dividing his analysis into two books, Ratcliffe separately deals with overlapping historiographies. In his first volume, he addresses the "republican synthesis," or historian Andrew R. L. Cayton's argument, made in his book The Frontier Republic, that political activism virtually disappeared after Ohio statehood in 1803, as well as Ronald Fonnisano's contention, made in his book The Transformation of Political Culture, that popular party activism did not erupt until the mass social movement of the 1830S. His second volume continues to dispute Form_isano, using Ohio as his case study, while also tackling other historians' arguments that party divisions of the mid-1830S reflect earlier social and economic divisions. In Party Sprit in a Frontier Republic, Ratcliffe sets out to contest previous historians who have claimed parties did not exist before the Jacksonian period. He relies on Formisano's definition of party: "a political formation has to have a life and goals of its own, must strive to perpetuate itself, and must exist in the public mind as a social organization apart from its momentary leaders"(3). Although Ratcliffe does not want to claim parties existed in their modern form by the turn of the century, he does show that the structure and vocabulary of parties were firmly established with a national perspective by the debate for statehood. Even as the emergence of "pre-party" conflicts developed unevenly throughout the state, Ratcliffe satisfactorily reveals how Jeffersonian Republicans utilized local organization and conventions to nominate candidates against the opposing Federalist Party. After Federalists became a relatively insignificant minority throughout much of Ohio, Republicans continued to r~ly on conventions to nominate candidates. " Yet even under this "one-party system_," strong intra-party divisions emerged, especially beginning in 1808. Ratcliffe hinges these divisions within the party on two issues. The first was an attempt to gain more control over the judiciary by a faction of the Republican state legislature. The second was -the im_pending crisis with Britain. As fissures grew along these issues, Federalists took advantage. The state divided against itself, politically and geographically, leading to a political realignment between Federalists and factions of Republicans. Potential for the emergence of a legitimate opposition party in Ohio shattered as anti-war Federalists fell political victim_s following the United States' victory in the War of 1812. With a populace disillusioned by party practices, the Era of Good Feelings became a contentious period of local conflict and political chaos. Nevertheless, Ratcliffe m_aintains many Republicans continued to rely on conventions and party rhetoric, retaining the established political process. Moreover, controversy over the Bank of the United States, as well as Missouri's application for statehood, kept national political issues salient in the minds of many Ohioans. Ohio Valley History Having established pre-party strategies and participation in his first monograph, Ratcliffe focuses on ambivalent party formation during the presidential election of 1824 and the Jacksonian surge of 1828. In The Politics of Long Division, Ratcliffe makes sectionalism and regionalism, underlying themes in his previous book, n1.uch more dominant issues. Beyond reconciling the experiences of market growth and depression and the application of Missouri for statehood , Ratcliffe sees a growing attachment to the "American System"-"the combination of a high protective tariff with federally financed internal improvements"(58)-as...