The Boss and the Machine | Page 5

despised Washington for his noble neutrality. But
more than these, Jefferson won over a number of distinguished men
who had worked for the adoption of the Constitution, the ablest of
whom was James Madison, often called "the Father of the
Constitution."
The Jeffersonians, thus representing largely the debtor and farmer class,
led by men of conspicuous abilities, proceeded to batter down the
prestige of the Federalists. They declared themselves opposed to large
expenditures of public funds, to eager exploitation of government

ventures, to the Bank, and to the Navy, which they termed "the great
beast with the great belly." The Federalists included the commercial
and creditor class and that fine element in American life composed of
leading families with whom domination was an instinct, all led,
fortunately, by a few idealists of rare intellectual attainments. And,
with the political stupidity often characteristic of their class, they
stumbled from blunder to blunder. In 1800 Thomas Jefferson, who
adroitly coined the mistakes of his opponents into political currency for
himself, was elected President. He had received no more electoral votes
than Aaron Burr, that mysterious character in our early politics, but the
election was decided by the House of Representatives, where, after
seven days' balloting, several Federalists, choosing what to them was
the lesser of two evils, cast the deciding votes for Jefferson. When the
Jeffersonians came to power, they no longer opposed federal
pretensions; they now, by one of those strange veerings often found in
American politics, began to give a liberal interpretation to the
Constitution, while the Federalists with equal inconsistency became
strict constructionists. Even Jefferson was ready to sacrifice his theory
of strict construction in order to acquire the province of Louisiana.
The Jeffersonians now made several concessions to the manufacturers,
and with their support linked to that of the agriculturists Jeffersonian
democracy flourished without any potent opposition. The second war
with England lent it a doubtful luster but the years immediately
following the war restored public confidence. Trade flourished on the
sea. The frontier was rapidly pushed to the Mississippi and beyond into
the vast empire which Jefferson had purchased. When everyone is busy,
no one cares for political issues, especially those based upon
philosophical differences. So Madison and Monroe succeeded to the
political regency which is known as the Virginia Dynasty.
This complacent epoch culminated in Monroe's "Era of Good Feeling,"
which proved to be only the hush before the tornado. The election of
1824 was indecisive, and the House of Representatives was for a
second time called upon to decide the national choice. The candidates
were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William
H. Crawford. Clay threw his votes to Adams, who was elected, thereby

arousing the wrath of Jackson and of the stalwart and irreconcilable
frontiersmen who hailed him as their leader. The Adams term merely
marked a transition from the old order to the new, from Jeffersonian to
Jacksonian democracy. Then was the word Republican dropped from
the party name, and Democrat became an appellation of definite and
practical significance.
By this time many of the older States had removed the early restrictions
upon voting, and the new States carved out of the West had written
manhood suffrage into their constitutions. This new democracy flocked
to its imperator; and Jackson entered his capital in triumph, followed by
a motley crowd of frontiersmen in coonskin caps, farmers in
butternut-dyed homespun, and hungry henchmen eager for the spoils.
For Jackson had let it be known that he considered his election a
mandate by the people to fill the offices with his political adherents.
So the Democrats began their new lease of life with an orgy of spoils.
"Anybody is good enough for any job" was the favorite watchword.
But underneath this turmoil of desire for office, significant party
differences were shaping themselves. Henry Clay, the alluring orator
and master of compromise, brought together a coalition of opposing
fragments. He and his following objected to Jackson's assumption of
vast executive prerogatives, and in a brilliant speech in the Senate Clay
espoused the name Whig. Having explained the origin of the term in
English and colonial politics, he cried: "And what is the present but the
same contest in another form? The partizans of the present Executive
sustain his favor in the most boundless extent. The Whigs are opposing
executive encroachment and a most alarming extension of executive
power and prerogative. They are contending for the rights of the people,
for free institutions, for the supremacy of the Constitution and the
laws."
There soon appeared three practical issues which forced the new
alignment. The first was the Bank. The charter of the United States
Bank was about to expire, and its friends sought a renewal. Jackson
believed the Bank an enemy of the Republic, as its officers were