Post on 16-Dec-2015
Party Politics in Antebellum Ohio
Ohio votes, 1992-2004
Ohio votes, 1832-1844
Party politics
• What is characteristic of a political party?
• What is a faction?
• How have party’s in Ohio developed and changed?
Party system theory
• Factions sort themselves into two distinct parties to address the urgent issues of the day
• A crisis that cuts across party lines causes the major parties to fracture
• A realignment of factions or interests into two “new” parties occurs
Party system theory
• 1st party system (1796-1814)– Federalist v Republican
• 2nd party system (1832-1850)– Democrat v Whig
• 3rd party system (1856-1890)– Republican v Democrat
• 4th party system (1896-1932)– Republican v Democrat
The 1st party system in Ohio
Factors structuring politics in frontier Ohio
• Arthur St. Clair, the Federalists, and the Northwest Ordinance
– “court” faction– “country” faction
• Settlement patterns
Settlement patterns
Ohio population, 1800
The election of 1804
• Republicans sweep the election of state offices
• Federalists destroyed as a state-wide entity, although they remain strong in the southeast and individual Federalist gain office
• Run-up to the War of 1812 pushes all Ohioans into pro-War, Republican camp
An “era of good feelings”?
• In most counties, factional politics comes to fore
• “Party” as an organizing principle nearly disappears
• Republicans dominated state politics until sectional crisis of 1820
• Republican block began to fracture before the Jacksonian revolution– National Republicans (followers of John Q.
Adams)
The 2nd party system in Ohio
The “founder” of the “second party system”
• Old Hickory• His issues
– The Bank– “Rotation”
• Patronage• Spoils system
– The courts
• Was he a demagogue or potential dictator?
The second “founder”
• Henry Clay• The American
System– Domestic
improvements.– Tariffs.– Class concord rather
than conflict.– Respectability.
Voter participation in Ohio
The election
of 1828
Party strongholds 1828
Ohio votes, 1832-1844
Characteristics
• Few “swing” counties (5/75).• Handful of marginal counties (10/75).
• Victory hinged upon– Uniting party factions– Building party organization.– Turnout.
• The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The 3rd party system in Ohio
The 3rd Party System
• Collapse of the Whig party over sectional differences
• Consolidation of the anti-Democrats into the Fusion party (1854) in response to Kansas-Nebraska Act– Whigs, Free Soil
• Creation of the Republican party
Presidential elections
Gubernatorial elections
Thomas Corwin1794-1865
• An attorney, raised in Lebanon Ohio
• Five terms in House• Governor, 1840-1842• Senate, 1844-1850• Popular orator (Wagon
Boy), anti-War Whig, anti-slavery but sought to preserve the Union during 1858-1860
• Ambassador to Mexico
Sources
• Donald Ratcliffe, The Politics of Long Division. The Birth of the Second Party System in Ohio (Columbus: OSU Press, 2000).
• Donald Ratcliffe, Party Politics in Frontier Ohio. Democratic Politics in Ohio, 1793-1821 (Columbus: OSU Press, 1998).
• Stephen Maizlish, The Rise of American Democracy (Kent State University Press, 1988).
Internet resources
• http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/index.html
• http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/