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/