As a result of various economic sanctions enacted against the United States by Great Britain and France, including the practice of impressment, where the British Royal Navy captured and forced Americans into naval service, the War of 1812 began. After a little over two years of warfare, the Treaty of Ghent was signed and ended the war, resulting in a draw as the U.S. gave up on their demand for the British to stop impressment, and Great Britain's ability to reclaim land lost in the Revolutionary War was no longer. Also, the Canadian border would be left alone, and British attempts to create a Native American barrier state in the Northwest were halted. But the war’s domestic effects on America were even more extensive, as it stimulated nationalism, discredited the Federalist Party, and led to economic growth. As Federalists began to lose more and more influence and power, especially after the Hartford Convention, a new era began and a shift within American politics ensued. Within this new era, the “Era of Good Feelings”, a lack of political opposition to the Democratic-Republicans caused infighting and factions within the party to occur, which would lead to the formation of a second party system, expansion of suffrage that emphasized the rights of the “common man”, and the development of the spoils system, all of which dramatically changed participation in and tone of political campaigns and elections in the United States between 1815 and 1840.
During the “Era of Good Feelings”, while Democratic-Republicans dominated the political field, pushing policies of republicanism, political equality, and expansionism, opposition against and within the party was not lost, affecting the tone of and participation in political campaigns and elections. Before the Federalist Party’s official cease of operations in 1824, a New York jurist, legal scholar, and Federalist James Kent felt the opposing party’s push for greater democracy, especially in the sense of universal suffrage, was dangerous and undermined the fundamental rights of wealthy private property owners, as it could be said that if more poor people could vote, they would vote in favor of the confiscation of said property (Doc. 1). This threatened and frightened people like Kent, not only because he was a Federalist, but also a law professor at Columbia and chief judge of the New York supreme court. This meant he was a part of the wealthy and elite class, and the expanded rights of middle and lower-class people would lead to a decrease in his political power. Nevertheless, the New York government enacted democratic provisions such as the removal of property qualifications for white men over the age of 21 so long as they paid taxes at the state’s 1821 state Constitutional Convention, providing evidence of the country’s push, even at the state level, to Democratic-Republican policies rather than the beliefs of Federalists. Just six years after the state’s convention, another New York politician and Jacksonian named Martin Van Buren wrote that the country would be better off if old party distinctions resurfaced within American politics (Doc. 2). What Van Buren meant by this was that it would be simpler to revive a two-party system rather than build one from scratch, and he would help do so with the Albany Regency. Made up of various politicians, the Regency controlled New York’s state government from 1822 to 1838 as one of America’s first political machines. It was an influential body amongst Democratic-Republicans, developing factions within the party, such as the Bucktails and the Hunkers, which would contribute to the party’s eventual split into two factions after the 1824 presidential election. Because America was essentially a one-party country of mainly Democratic-Republicans, the election pitted fellow Democratic-Republicans John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson against each other. But it was the results of the election that Van Buren and other Jacksonians took issue with, as Jackson won a plurality of votes, both popular and electoral, but Adams ended up winning through the House of Representatives and became president. Jacksonians attributed Adams’ win to a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and Henry Clay that ensured Adams won the presidency if Clay was appointed Secretary of State. As a reaction against this bargain, Jackson and his supporters would split from the Democratic-Republican to establish the Democratic Party, Adams, and his supporters then became the National Republican, or Anti-Jacksonian, Party, and the Second Party System began and would continue for years to come, leading to an even greater change to the tone of and participation in political campaigns and elections via expanded suffrage that emphasized the rights of the “common man” and the spoils system.
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An emphasis on the rights of the “common man” was an election tactic that Andrew Jackson relied on leading up to the 1828 presidential election and during his presidency that signified a change in who was involved and included in politics, giving way to the development of an American spoils system. Considered a spokesperson for the “common man”, Jackson had come from humble beginnings, and supported decentralization, and an agrarian-based democracy. Jackson’s focus on the “common man” appealed to the working class, as the goal of Jackson and his supporters aimed to decrease hardships faced by farmers, shopkeepers, artisans, and other working-class members that inhibited them from garnering a larger percentage of the nation’s wealth. Involving all white men regardless of wealth or property ownership in politics was a relatively new concept in many states in America, as Working Man’s Party founder George H. Evans contended politicians had deceived working and laboring class men, especially in New York (Doc. 3). Evans’s Working Man’s Party had a platform opposed to labor injustices, such as unfair wages, excessive hours, child labor, and more, but parties like these dissolved because their leaders were inexperienced and vulnerable to manipulation by other more experienced professionals. As a result, constituents of working-class parties became a part of Jacksonian Democrats, strengthening Andrew Jackson’s “common man” campaign and helping him win the presidential election in 1828, especially with most states having universal white male suffrage. Additionally, the newspaper market saw an exponential increase from only 31 different newspapers produced in 1775, to 1,200 in 1835, providing ordinary and working-class Americans with information about the political world via a reasonably priced outlet, allowing them to become more aware and knowledgeable of the political world (Doc. 4). Another factor that contributed to Jackson’s popularity, as well as a shift in American politics, was Van Buren’s Albany Regency’s increased influence within the Democratic-Republican and then Democratic party, as it was with the help of their newspaper Albany Argus, that the political machine was able to control nomination conventions and use a spoils system that gave incentives to its supporters (Doc. 1). When elected, Jackson also put to use a spoils system in which he gave benefits, jobs, and incentives to his supporters as a reward for them being loyal and contributing to his electoral victory. This practice was seen as corrupt, despite both Argus and Jackson standing against corruption within politics. An Anti-Jacksonian politician named David Crockett was critical of many of Jackson’s policies, including the Indian Removal Act, but understood the nature of politics and how Jackson was electorally successful. He noted that to be engaged and successful in politics during the mid-1800s, candidates must make empty promises and speeches, connect with families, kiss babies, and be seemingly patriotic (Doc. 5). These were the winning tactics with the new Second Party System, as it was by appealing to ordinary or working-class people and their interests and hardships that would garner votes, just as Jackson did to win the presidency in 1828 and 1832. It was through Jackson’s emphasis on the rights of the “common man” and use of a spoils system that the tone of and participation in politics from 1815 to 1840 changed, as it laid the foundation for universal white male suffrage that was achieved in 1856, but also allowed for government corruption to persist as the appointment of jobs were based on loyalty to an administration or machine and not merit or experience until after the Civil War.
Between 1815 and 1840, the participation in and tone of political campaigns and elections drastically changed as it was within the “Era of Good Feelings” that a lack of political opposition to the Democratic-Republicans caused infighting and factions within the party to occur, leading to the formation of a second party system, expansion of suffrage that emphasized the rights of the “common man”, and the use of a spoils system. While it was through Jackson’s administration that all white men got the right to vote, the extent of his corruption cannot be overlooked, as he not only used the spoils system, but owned hundreds of slaves, and through the policies he set in place, thousands of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their land and subjected to starvation, disease, and death via the Trail of Tears from 1831 to 1877.
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