Inauguration of Mr. Van Buren: Equal Rights and Whigs

We have seen that the Federal party was cast into a minority on the election of Mr. Jefferson in 1800, and contined in opposition until the close of Madison's administration in 1817, when they soon afterward became extinct as a national party; the administration of Mr. Monroe being so generally satisfactory, that opposition practically ceased. When, in 1824, Adams and Jackson, Crawford and Clay, became rival candidates for the Presidency, separate political organizations of a personal nature were formed, composed of Federalists and Democrats intermingled; but when Jackson was elected to the chief magistracy in 1828, his supporters claimed the name of Democrats. His opponents took the name of National Republicans, but when in 1833 and 1834 they were joined by seceders of the Democratic party, they took the title of Whigs. At the accession of Mr. Van Buren in 1837, the great national parties into which the people were divided were known respectively as Democrats and Whigs. Several minor parties (some of them local in their organization), such as the Anti-Masons in the Eastern States; the State-Rights men in the South, who were opposed to the removal of the deposits from the United States Bank; and the supporters of Jackson in Georgia, Tennessee and other States, who were opposed to Van Buren, generally acted with the Whig party.

Even before the elevation of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency, the Democratic party had been divided in the Northern and Middle States. There arose in its ranks, in 1835, in the city of New York, a combination opposed to all moneyed institutions and monopolies of every sort. They were the successor of the defunct Workingmen's party, formed in 1829, and called themselves the "Equal Rights Party." They acted with much caution and secrecy in their opposition to the powerful National Democratic party. They never rose above the dignity of a faction, and their first decided demonstration was made in Tammany Hall, one evening at the close of October, 1835, when the "Equal Rights" men objected to some names on the ticket to be put before the people. There was a struggle for the chair, which the "regulars" obtained, declared their ticket and resolutions adopted, and then attempted to adjourn the meeting and put out the lights. The opposition were prepared for this emergency by having "loco-foco" or friction matches in their pockets, with which they immediately restored light to the room, placed their leader in the chair, adopted an "Equal Rights" Democratic ticket, and passed strong resolutions against all monopolies. The faction was ever afterward known as the Loco-Focos, and the name was finally applied by the Whigs to the whole Democratic party. This faction became formidable, and the regulars endeavored to conciliate the irregulars by nominating Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky, their favorite candidate for the Presidency, for Vice-President, with Mr. Van Buren. The advocacy of an extensive specie currency by the latter, and his proposition for a sub-treasury, alienated another portion of the Democratic party, and they formed a powerful faction known as "Conservatives." This faction finally joined the Whigs, and in 1840 aided in the election of Harrison and Tyler.

The first extraordinary session of the Twenty-seventh Congress began on the 31st of May, 1841, and continued until the 13th of September following. Subjects of grave importance to the nation were presented to that body, chief of which was that of the finances of the country. The Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Ewing) strongly urged the necessity of a national bank, and recommended Congress to charter one with a capital of thirty-million dollars. At the request of Congress (whose action was suggested by the President), the Secretary reported a plan of a "Fiscal Bank of the United States," with a bill for its incorporation. He endeavored to free the plan from the constitutional objections to preceding institutions of a similar nature. It was known that the President had decided constitutional objections to the old bank and had assisted Jackson in his warfare upon it; and a bill was finally framed, partly upon the plan proposed by the Secretary, and partly by one proposed in the Senate by Mr. Clay, which the President, it was said, had declared met his views. It was passed on the 6th of August, as eminently the great Whig measure of the session, and one which was to restore confidence to the business community and inaugurate a day of national prosperity. It was sent to the President for his signature, when, to the great disappointment of his political friends, he returned it with his objections ten days after its passage. The Whigs in Congress were bewildered, and great anxiety was felt throughout the country. There was not a sufficient number of its supporters in Congress to enable them to carry the measure over the President's veto, and they hastened to construct a new bill that would meet his views. He was visited by two members deputed for the purpose, and a bill in accordance with his wishes was drawn up and submitted to Mr. Webster, the Secretary of State, who laid it before Mr. Tyler. The latter approved it, and it was sent to the House of Representatives and passed by that body. In conformity to his wishes the name of "Bank" was omitted in the latter.