i^: ST' ^ILj^ZsTQ THE WHIG PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA BY HENRY R. MUELLER, A. M. Professor of History, Muhlenberg College Sometime University Fellow in History, Columbia University SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE Faculty of Political Science Columbia University NEW YORK 1922 . • . • • • . ^4 A\ & MY MOTHER PREFACE The study was undertaken as the result of a suggestion from Professor William A. Dunning of Columbia Univer- sity. The original intention of the author was to confine the investigation to the last decade of the existence of the Whig party in Pennsylvania. As the work proceeded, it became necessary to examine portions of the early period of the party. It was soon evident that for the sake of unity and continuity the history of the Whig party in Pennsylvania should be presented from the time of its for- mation until its disappearance. The late Charles McCarthy in his excellent The Anti-Masonic Party and Miss Margue- rite G. Bartlett in The Chief Phases of Pennsylvania Politics in the Jacksonian Period have covered the period in which the Whig party was formed but not with the Whig party as the main interest. Consequently, despite the previous work in the field, the authi-r felt justified in including this mater- ial. Pennsylvania during the period of the Whig party was undergoing an extensive expansion in manufacturing and mining, which tended to draw her to the policy desired by the New England states. On the other hand, conditions similar to those existing on the frontier persisted in the mountain districts of the state until the close of the period. The relatir.n of certain sections of the state to the South through the mercantile interest was close, causing the adoj>- tion of a kindly attitude toward the slave holder. As a result of these conditions, the state, in a measure at least, reflected the sentiments of the different sections of the 253] 7 8 PREFACE [254 couiitty. Consequently, the varied and varying political arg-uments all tind expression in one or the other of the political groups within the state. During the peri<xl under study, as went Pennsylvania, so went the Union. In the niajc rity of the elections. Pennsylvania was the detemiining fact(ir. Many kindnesses were shown the author in the prosecu- tion of his work. A debt of especial gratitude is due V> Professors William A. Dunning and D. R. Fox for numer- ous suggesticms. which saved the author frc m many a pit- fall. The author wishes gratefully to acknowledge the readiness with which the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Library of Congress placed the resources of their manuscript department at his disposal. Chief reliance for newspaper material was placed upon the excellent collection of the Pennsylvania State Library, where innumerable favors were extended by the librarians. The maps were prq)are<l under the author's direction by Mr. Honvard L. Weiss, one of his students. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. The Period of Subordination, 1834-1838 11 CHAPTER II. Years of Triumph and Tribulation, 1S39-1843 56 CHAPTER III. Texas and the Tariff, 1844 -1846 92 CHAPTER IV. A Political Interlude, 1847-1848 136 CHAPTER V. The Slavery Queslion in Stace Politics, 1849-1851 160 CHAPTER VI. The Whig Party Marks Time, 1852-1853 iq3 CHAPTER VII. The Disappearance of the Whig Party, 1854-1856 208 CHAPTER VIII. Characteristics of the Whig Party 236 Bibliography 247 Index 265 255] 9 MAPS FACING PAGE Congressional Election, 1834 18 Presidential Election, 1836 34 Presidential Election, 1844 ... 112 Election for Canal Commissioner, 1846 133 Presidential Election, 1848 158 Election for Governor, 1851 190 Presidential Election, 1852. 202 Election for State Officers, 1854 215 Presidential Election, 1856 235 JO [256 CHAPTER I The Period of Subordination 1834-1838. A marked characteristic of the American people has been their tendency to fo-rm combinations for the purpose of at- taining a particular end. In no phase of their social activi- ties has this tendency been more noticeable than in the con- duct of political affairs. Political agitation never has failed to attract attention, but after the disappearance of the Federalist party interest in the maintenance of party organ- ization waned. For a short period of time organized national political parties ceased to exist. Gradually in national politics new leaders with large personal following^ appeared ; from these groups new political parties were to come. Of these leaders Andrew Jackson ai)pealed parti- cularly to the untutored laboring man. mechanic and fanner. In the presidential election of 1824 opposition to him in Pennsylvania was hardly worth the name.^ In the election of 1828 he carried the state by an overwhelming majority. Prior to the election of 1832 two political organizations opposed to Andrew Jackson had l)cen formed with l)ranches ii: the state. In 1829 the Anti-Masonic party developed strength in the counties of the interior. In Philadcli)hia ' In 1824 Jackson had l)cen rioniinatcd by two conventions in Penn- sylvania, the one said to be Federalist and Uie other Democratic; Sargent. Public Men and llvents, sol. i, p. 41. 257] " 12 THE WHIG PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA [258 the commercial element, refusing to respond to the move- ment, supported Henry Clay for the next presidential elec- tion. In the rest of the state this movement for Clay, soon assuming the name of National Republican, made little headway. Unlike the situation elsewhere, no cooperation between these two parties existed, for the Anti-Masons were just as prescriptive of the National Republicans as they were of the Jackson party. In preparation for the election of 1832 Clay urged hisi followers to assume an independent but conciliatory attitude towards the other elements of Jacksonian opposition.^ So far as the state elections were concerned, they acquiesced, making no nominations of their own. The Anti-Masons, not being eager for this cooperati(jn, viewed it with distrust. Amos EUmakcr, Anti-Masonic candidate for the vice-presi- dency, voiced it in a letter to Thaddeus Stevens, saying that " the remotest suspicion of Anti-Masons combining with any other party, or fragment of party, would be and ought * tu l>e injurious, if net fatal to the election of Ritner." After the gubernatorial election, the electoral ticket for Clay and Sergeant was withdrawn; the National Republi- cans, in the main, vcted for Wirt and Ellmaker, the Anti- Mas<'>nic nominees, who nevertheless, did not carry the 'Henry to I. Clay Thomas Wharton, July 25, 1831 ; Miscellaneous Mss. Collection of the New York Historical Society. * Letter of .Xugust 16. 1832; Publications of the Lancaster County Historical Society, vol. viii, pp. 38-44. Ritner was the Anti-Masonic candidate for governor. For the presidential election the Clay sup- porters proposed a joint electoral ticket, allowing the voters to cast their ballot for cither Clay or Wirt. General R. Rosebury, member of the Anti- Masonic state committee, on July 24, 1832, wrote the chair- " man, Joseph Wallace, I should view defeat under present circum- stances as less likely to prove prejudicial to the cause we are engaged in advocating than success that arises from a union with a party that has nothing in common with us." Wm. McPherson Mss. -^^^^ PERIOD OF 259] SUBORDINATION 13 State/ Although the Anti-Masons did not desire this sup- port, yet they could not deny its existence ; the way was thus open for future joint action, based on their consent. Jackson's determination to ruin the Bank of the United States furnished the two opposition parties within the state the incentive and the opportunity for combining. The with- drawal of funds from the bank by the government caused the officers of the bank to curtail their loans and to draw bills of exchange for short periods only.* The financial flurry and business depression which followed were attri- buted by the bank to the policy of the govemment. Instruc- tions came from Clay, showing how the indignation of the state, in which the bank liad a fair degree of popularity, might be used to political advantage."^ Following his in- structions mass meetings at Philadelphia, Chambersburg, Pittsburgh, York, Easton, Huntingdon, Beaver, Williams- port, Gettysburg, and Chester adopted resolutions, sent committees to Washington to present them to Congress, and, much to his disgust and annoyance, to interview the President on the restoration of the deposits.* The merchants of Philadelphia in openly directing the agitation acted in unison so that on the day of one of the mass meetings " nine-tenths of the mercantile houses were closed." ° Pressure was brought to bear on the directors ^ Nites' Register, vol. xlii, p. 273; vol. xliii, pp. 134, 136. Wirt had beet! unsuccessful in an endeavor to have the Anti-Masons endorse Clay; Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of lyilliam IVirt, vol. ii, pp. 356. 359. 366, 380, 381. ' Catterall, Second Bank of the United States, pp. 314, et seq. * Clay to Nicholas Riddle, Deccml>€r 21, 1833; McGrane, Correspond- ence of Nicholas Biddle, p. 218. * National Gazette, January 3, February 4, 5, 6. 8. 10, 13. 24, March 10, 11; United States Gazette, January 4, 28, 29, February 4. 5. 26, March 5, 12, 1834. Some of the memorials and reports can be found in Hazard, Register of Pennsylvania, vol. xiii. * National Gazette. March 21. 1834; ef. also Sargent. (»/>. eit., vol. i, p. 262. 14 THE WHIG PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA [260 of the Girard Bank of Philadelphia, one of the government depositories, because of their contract. A referendum to the stockholders voided the contract, which the directors had made with the government.^ The agitation against the course pursued by Jackson was apparently so effective that the National Gazette, a bank organ, was led to exclaim, " The anti-Jackson sensation extends rapidly.