The Emergence of the Whig Party in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1834-1840 Author(s): Henry O.

Robertson Source: Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Summer, 1992), pp. 283-316 Published by: Louisiana Historical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4232959 . Accessed: 18/07/2011 15:24
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The Emergence of the Whig Party in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1834-1840

By HENRY 0. ROBERTSON'

In early 1828, the British visitor Mrs. Frances Trollope boarded a steamboat in New Orleans and headed up the Mississippi River. The prim English lady remarked that few of the Americans on board would ever receive the title of in Europe. and gentleman Nearly all were roughnecks absolutely vulgar in their behavior. On the journey, she was confined to a small cabin with the ruffians and had to endure their "uncouth" speech as well.' She recalled one incident in particular: The little conversation that went forward while we remained in the room was entirely political, and the respective claims of Adams and Jackson to the presidency were argued with more oaths and more vehemence than it had ever been my lot to hear. Once a colonel appeared on the verge of assaulting a major, when a huge seven-foot Kentuckian gentleman horse-dealer asked of the heavens to confoundthem both, and bade them sit still and be d-d.2

*Anativeof Greenville, SouthCarolina, authoris a graduateof Randolphthe MaconCollegein Virginia,and is currentlya Master'scandidateat Louisiana State University-Baton the Rouge. This articlewas awarded 1992HughRankin Prize. This prizeis awarded graduatestudentsin History. to 'FrancesTrollope,DomesticMannersof the Americans,in RichardMullen, ed. (Oxford, 1984),p. 15.

283

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Unknowingly, Mrs. Trollope had just heard some of the first stirrings of a second American party system. Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams that fall and went on to complete two terms as president. Before the end of his last term, opposition to his policies and actions crystallized into a new political force, the Whig party. In the 1830s, two-party competition expanded beyond those initial jousts of the Adams and Jackson men. The political struggles of the new party system motivated more and more partisans who increasingly refused to sit still. The second American party system thus became a mass system that at times mirrored the rowdy confrontation Mrs. Trollope witnessed. Unfortunately, Mrs. Trollope never realized the significance of the arguing she heard. Her attention was riveted on the manners of the partisans and not the deeper meaning of their dispute. Mrs. Trollope was on a steamer bound for Natchez and so her last view of Louisiana came as the boat went up the western edge of the Florida Parishes.3 By 1832, the area was divided into East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, East Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, St. Tammany and Washington parishes. Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville were added to these to make up the Second Congressional District of Louisiana.4 During the years 1834 to 1840, the Whig party emerged in this district and quickly became a viable opposition to the Jacksonian Democrats who had dominated the area. In the 1830s, the Florida Parishes were somewhat different from the rest of Louisiana. Population growth, immigration, and other demographic changes did not radically change the human landscape there as was happening in the northern and southern parts of the state.6 Most importantly, and in contrast to
3See below for information regarding the origins of the name Florida Parishes. 4For all 1830s congressional district boundaries in Louisiana, see Kenneth Martis, The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts 1789-1981 (New York, 1982). The Second District boundaries stayed the same between 1834 to 1840. For all parish boundaries see: John Kyser, "Evolution of Louisiana Parishes in Relation to Population Growth and Movements" (Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1938). Parish boundaries did not change between 1834 and 1840. The 1838 Catesby GrahamMap in Hill Memorial library is one of the best maps of Antebellum Louisiana. See also William Thorndale and William Dollarhide, Map Guide to the United States Federal Census, 1790-1920 (Baltimore, Md., 1987). 6See tables in D.L.A. Hackett, "The Social Structure of Jacksonian

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most of nineteenth-century Louisiana, the number of families of French descent was very small. Only Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville had a significant French-speaking population.6 These three "French" parishes would play an important though not dominant role in the politics of the region. As Joseph Tregle stated in his path-breaking study of Jacksonian Louisiana, nativity politics were not a factor in the area because, "nowhere was the control of the Americans so complete as in the Florida Parishes."7 The Americans ruled over a vast and expanding cotton kingdom not an entrenched sugar empire as existed downriver. In the early 1830s, the plantation system was most evident along the Mississippi, into the Felicianas and through parts of St. Helena on the edge of the eastern hilly country where yeomen farmers scratched out a living.8 The planters who lived along the river, especially those of French descent, usually supported the National Republicans. The states-rights planters and yeomen farmers who initially outnumbered the Adams and Clay men typically voted Democratic. Not surprisingly, Andrew Jackson defeated Adams in the area by 1,239 votes, and in 1832 Henry Clay lost by about the same amount.9 Alexander Barrow, a states-rights planter in West Feliciana, supported

Louisiana," in Mark T. Carleton, et al., eds., Readings in Louisiana Politics (Baton Rouge, 1988), p. 158. 6Ibid.,148. 7Joseph G. Tregle, "Louisianain the Age of Jackson: A Study in Ego Politics" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1954), p. 66. 8See Perry H. Howard, Political Tendencies in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1971), p. 10. Other overviews of the area may be found in Lewis Gray, History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1933), p. 899; Amy Quick, "The History of Bogalusa, the 'Magic City' of Louisiana," Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIX (1946), 86; and several local histories: Frederick S. Ellis, St. Tammany Parish: L'Autre Cot4 du Lac. (Gretna, La., 1981); Edward Livingston Historical Association, History Book Committee, History of Livingston Parish (Dallas, Tex., 1986); Elizabeth Kellough and Leona Mayeux, Chronicles of West Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge, 1979); James P. Banghman, "A Southern Spa: Antebellum Lake Pontchartrain," Louisiana History, HI (1962), 5-32. 'The vote totals for the 1828 and 1832 presidential races in the Florida parishes may be found in Leslie Norton, "Origins of the Whig Party in Louisiana," (M.A. Thesis, Louisiana State University, 1933), p. 117.

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In 1824 when Jackson was first Jackson in both contests. advanced as a candidate for president, Barrow wrote to assure William S. Hamilton, a Democratic leader in West Feliciana, that, "I am thoroughly persuaded in favor of Jackson."10 In less than a decade, Barrow would lose the Jacksonian persuasion. In these early days when Barrow was a Democrat, antiJackson sentiment was not entirely absent from the Florida Parishes (see Table A). West Baton Rouge gave over sixty per-

TABLEA COMBINED PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL VOTES CAST AGAINST ANDREW JACKSONFROMTHE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 1828 AND 1832 OF PARISH' PC 33 WBR IBR 62 31 H EBR 40
WF

31

EF 12 L

STF 24

LIV 20 1832

STH WHN 12 18 L

NOTES: H=highest, L=lowest and 1832 was the first year that Livingston held a presidential election. The anti-Jacksonpercentage was calculated by adding the total votes of Adams in 1828 to the total votes of Clay in 1832 and then dividing that combined Adams-Clay total by all the votes cast in both the 1828 and 1832 elections. As a formulafor each parish: Total votes of Adams, 1828 + Total votes of Clay, 1832 Total Votes of 1828 + Total Votes of 1832 *PARISHKEY PC.............Pointe Coupee WBR.........West Baton Rouge IBR ..........Iberville EBR.........East Baton Rouge WF...........West Feliciana EF...............East Feliciana STT................ St. Tammany LIV.....................Livingston STH ....................St. Helena WHN............... Washington

cent of its combined votes of 1828 and 1832 to the National candidates.11 The other two parishes that had Republican
"William S. Hamilton Papers, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries, Louisiana State University. Letterof July 9, 1824. "Table A was constructed using election returns from the Norton thesis. See note 9 above.

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significant "French" populations gave over thirty percent of their votes to Adams and Clay as did East Baton Rouge and West Feliciana, commercial parishes along the Mississippi River. The anti-Jackson forces thus had a viable base on which to build a major opposition party from the old National Republican In "Who Were the Southern Whigs?", Charles supporters. Sellers wrote that the Whig party in Louisiana was essentially the old National Republicans under a different name.'2 The Sellers thesis holds true for the early members who formed the Whig party in the Florida Parishes.'3 Yet to win elections in the area, as the Whigs eventually did, many more people besides the old National Republicans would have to join the anti-Jackson fold. One of the most prominent National Republicans and early members of the Whig party was the old hero of the West Florida Rebellion, Gen. Philemon Thomas. Thomas had led a band of revolutionaries against the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge back in 1810.14 The Florida Parishes won a short-lived independence and became more than just a geographic area after they joined the United States. The people there shared a political identity and a common history with Thomas as their "GeorgeWashington." A fervent patriot who had also fought in the American Revolution, Thomas believed in nationalist policies such as the American System that his old friend Henry Clay devised.'5 Along with Thomas, many other Louisianians supported the American System's trinity of the tariff, internal improvements, and a national bank. The tariff was especially favored in Louisiana because the main staple, sugar, had foreign competition. The state's sugar
"2CharlesG. Sellers, "WhoWere the Southern Whigs?"American Historical Review, LIX(1954), 344. '3Leslie Norton, "Origins of the Whig Party in Louisiana" (M.A. thesis, Louisiana State University, 1933). Norton argued that the early Whig party in Louisiana drew its membership almost entirely from supporters of the National Republicans.
14Bennett Wall, et al., Louisiana: A History (Arlington Heights, Ill., 1990), pp. 102-103. Also see Eugene Sterks, "The Military and Political Career of Philemon Thomas"(M.A. thesis, Louisiana State University, 1946), p. 14.

"5Thomashad lived in Kentucky and knew Clay quite well. See "Thomas, Philemon," in Glenn R. Conrad ed., Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, 2 vols. (New Orleans, 1988), II, 788; and Sterks, "PhilemonThomas,"passim.

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planters appreciated any protection the government gave them. Interest in a vigorous program of internal improvements no doubt arose because the state's many waterways served as major transportation routes and any improvement in their quality benefited all, especially commercial interests.16 As early as 1826, Louisiana had a board of internal improvements and spent a significant portion of its state budget on public works.17 By 1833, commerce in Louisiana had expanded and more improvements were desired by the proponents of commerce. The major port in the state, New Orleans, was also the most extensive commercial and banking center in the South. Planters and merchants across the state benefited greatly from its several state-chartered banks and also from the New Orleans branch of the Bank of the United States.18 As William Adams argues in The Whig Party of Louisiana, the destruction of the national bank was the main catalyst for the formation of the Whig party in Louisiana because many people were hurt by the loss of the bank and the Jacksonian assault upon the "money interest." In point of fact, Louisiana was one of the few Southern states to instruct its congressional representatives to make every effort to pass the recharter bill.'9 Around the time of the bank's difficulties, Philemon Thomas was elected to Congress. He defeated an anti-bank Democrat, Gen. Eleazer W. Ripley, for the second district seat.20In an 1832 letter to the Baton Rouge Gazette, Thomas made his position on the bank clear: On the incidental preliminaryquestion connected with the
'6John C. L. Andreassen, "Internal Improvements in Louisiana 1824-1837," Louisiana Historical Quarterly,XXX (1947), 15-16. 44. 17Ibid., '8For the best banking histories of antebellum Louisiana see George Green, Finance and Economic Development in the Old South: Louisiana Banking, 1804-1861 (Palo Alto, Calif., 1972). Also see Larry E. Schweikart, Banking in the American South From the Age of Jackson to Reconstruction (Baton Rouge, 1987) and Stephen Caldwell, A Banking History of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1935). "9William Adams, The Whig Party of Louisiana (Lafayette, La., 1973), pp. H. 54-55. This book is indispensable to the study of the Whig party. Eleazer W.," in Conrad, ed., Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, I, 20"Ripley, 78.

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Bank, I have generally voted with the friends of the institution, from the conviction of its great and paramount usefulness both to the ends and objects of Government, and to the commercial enterprise of individuals. I should regard its destruction as a national calamity, and as detrimental to the interest of our
state.21

Thomas and other friends of the bank could do little to save it after the veto and the removal of its funds. Most Whigs subsequently supported banks on the state level to make up for the loss of the national institution.22 The destruction of the national bank did not anger too many Democrats in Louisiana. Alexander Barrow, still a Democrat, probably applauded its demise. In 1833, Barrow was first elected to the state house where he played a key role for most of the decade.23 The old National Republicans or emerging Whigs had control of the house that session and Barrow was not happy with many of the bills under consideration. He wrote to his friend, Hamilton: "The legislature has been in session six weeks, and nothing has been done beneficial for the state but much is being done, that will prove a course among other items of mischief."24 Barrow singled out a state bank charter as one of the three worst bills that was passed after he left the chamber at the end of the session.26 Barrow did not agree with the banking policies of the emerging Whig party. Yet as it turned out, his political opinions were changing and very shortly thereafter his views became compatible with the new party that was taking shape. In that same letter to Hamilton, Barrow said that his support of South Carolina in the recent nullification controversy had won him ill favor with most legislators. He wrote, "I am now put
under the house . . . denounced as a nullifier."26 Most

2'Quoted in Sterks, "PhilemonThomas," p. 82. 22Sellers, "Southern Whigs," 341 23"Barrow, Alexander," in Conrad, ed., Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, I, 42. 24WilliamS. Hamilton Papers, letter of February 19, 1833. 25Ibid. 26Ibid.

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Louisianians, such as a group that met at Baton Rouge, condemned nullification.27 In the letter, Barrow was very critical of Andrew Jackson's strong-arm tactics and trampling of states' rights. Barrow's emotions flared as his pen scratched in fearful anger: "All my sympathies are with them and as the nullifiers are contending laws which are against and ruinous to the South, I unconstitutional, unjust, oppressive, never will consent to sir them but by military force."28Barrow had become so upset with Jackson that only a short time later he referred to the president as "Andrewthe first."29Barrow left the Democratic party in disgust and found a new political home with the emerging Whigs who shared his anti-Jackson sentiments. The new convert would eventually rise in the party ranks to the post of senator from Louisiana.30 In the Florida Parishes, the Whig party was born as men like Alexander Barrow and Philemon Thomas found common cause by opposing the policies and actions of Jackson and all his stalwarts. The new party debuted in the state elections of 1834.31 In general, the Whigs did well. They won the legislature, the governor's race, and almost all other contests except those in the Democratic bastion of the Florida Parishes.32 The defeats there were not a great setback for the new party and, if anything, the contests signaled to the Democrats that a new and determined foe was active. One disadvantage the Whigs had in 1834 was that a local favorite, John B. Dawson of West Feliciana, was running for governor against Edward D. White, a resident of the lower part of the state. The local candidate was sure to get many more votes. While the Whigs had a dim chance of winning the gubernatorial election in the area, their chances in the
27Baton Rouge Gazette,January 26, 1833. 28Hamilton Papers, letter of February 19, 1833. letter of January 1, 1834. 291bid., 30New Orleans Bee, July 10, 1840. Barrow served in the U. S. Senate from March4, 1841, until his death on December29, 1846. 3"Forelection returns of the 1834 races across the state see local newspapers aroundJuly 1834. 32Adams,Whig Party, p. 65.

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congressional race would have been better had only two candidates been running. Philemon Thomas decided to retire rather than run for a second term.33 His old opponent, Gen. Eleazer W. Ripley, ran again and a much more extreme Democrat, James Bradford, also joined the fray. The Whigs were represented by the sugar planter Thomas W. Chinn of A friend of Chinn's, Clark West Baton Rouge Parish. Woodruff, also ran.34 Early in the 1834 campaign, Edward D. White attempted to rekindle an old feud that had its origins in the 1826 impeachment proceedings of Judge Thomas W. Chinn. White remembered that John Dawson (and Alexander Barrow) had assisted the prosecution in Chinn's trial and both had nearly fought a duel with Chinn's attorney, Clark Woodruff.35 Dawson was appointed to Chinn's vacant judgeship after the affair, so bad feelings between Chinn and Dawson must have run deep.36 If White could get Chinn and Woodruffto attack Dawson or busy Dawson with attacking the others, he stood a better chance of lessening the assaults from Dawson and possibly making inroads among Democratic voters. White's scheme failed. Chinn and Dawson did not attack each other at all.37 In fact, Chinn endorsed Dawson for governor.38 The National Intelligencer was startled that a Whig would do such a thing and asserted that Chinn lost his own race because of this indiscretion.39 Knowing as he did that Dawson was the home-town favorite, Chinn was probably very shrewd to come out in favor of his mortal enemy. Chinn needed votes and an easy way to win them, or keep from losing them, was to support the Democratic favorite. The National Intelligencer did
33Sterks, "Philemon Thomas," 104. 34Adams,Whig Party, p. 66. 35ElrieRobinson, Early Feliciana Politics (St. Francisville, La., 1936), p. 20. 36"Dawson, John Bennett," in Conrad, ed., Dictionary Biography, I, 220. of Louisiana

37Diedrich Ramke, "Edward Douglas White, Sr., Governor of Louisiana, 1835-1839,"Louisiana Historical Quarterly,XIX (1936), 291. 38Leslie Norton, "A History of the Whig Party in Louisiana" (Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1940), pp. 100-101. 39Ibid.

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not understand the political situation in the Florida Parishes. The Whigs were a minority and had to win the favor of voters any way possible. Chinn's race was not an easy one because Woodruff drew off votes and his main Democratic opponent, Ripley, was a popular lawyer and hero of the War of 1812.40 Chinn made an early appeal to the voters in a letter to the Whig paper, the Baton Rouge Gazette. His appeal revealed much about the issues that Whigs in 1834 thought were important, though Chinn may have catered his letter to a Democratic audience. Chinn addressed the tariff issue first. Instead of approaching it from a sugar planter's point of view, he argued for the tariff as a means to national prosperity. He wrote, "I have always thought, and still do, that Congress has the power under the Constitution of the United States, of enacting laws for the protection and encouragement of our domestic manufactures . . . I am a matter of fact man. I have been accustomed to look at things and to Judge of them by their results." Chinn judged that the tariff was a success because it brought a visible "degree of prosperity and happiness without parallel" to the nation. Chinn also remarked that he would not labor to change the compromise tariff that had settled the nullification controversy.41 Chinn even announced that he opposed nullification, though he was quick to add that the nullifiers were "good men and indeed worthier of a better cause." Chinn argued that constitutional questions such as nullification should be resolved by judges, ballot boxes, or all states in convention. By making this broad pronouncement, Chinn avoided the controversial issue because he offered many ways a constitutional question could be addressed, and not the way he preferred. On internal improvements, Chinn was equally vague and tried to appeal to a wide range of voters. He argued, "that Congress could appropriate any portion of Revenues of the country to any other purposes of internal improvement which they may deem expedient provided they do not encroach upon the reserved rights of the States." Chinn did not elaborate on what the "reserved rights of the states" were, and he only went on to say that of all the states in the Union, Louisiana would benefit most by
40Tregle,"Louisiana in the Age of Jackson," p. 209. 41Baton Rouge Gazette,April 2, 1834.

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internal improvements. Chinn cloaked his views on the bank issue as well. He asserted that a national bank was desirable, necessary, and that Congress could create one. He did not mention that he was strongly in favor of a bank because this opinion might hurt his candidacy in this heavily Democratic district. Overall, his letter was a positive plea designed to present views that would appeal to both Whig and Democratic voters. This strategy and some other schemes he tried were not entirely successful.42 On April 26, 1834, the Baton Rouge Gazette, reported that L. H. Moore, T. G. Davidson, and A. Penn had endorsed Chinn as their candidate for Congress. These three men were some of the most powerful Democratic legislators in the district. The editors of the Louisiana Democrat were stunned that these faithful Jacksonians would abandon their party so easily. The Baton Rouge Gazette responded with some anti-party rhetoric and praise for the three.43 The endorsements of these prominent Jacksonians may not have been entirely sincere because in June the Baton Rouge Gazette was defending Chinn from attacks by the editors of the Iberville Gazette. The Iberville newspaper charged that Chinn, a director of the branch Bank of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, arranged a special "loan" for Davidson in exchange for that Democrat's support. Chinn's views from his April letter were also questioned. The Iberville editors rightly claimed that he was evasive on the issues of the day.4 Chinn was obviously on the defensive and struggling as his plans to get Democrats to vote for him crumbled. General Ripley's views were highlighted in the May 3 issue of the Baton Rouge Gazette. The Gazette argued that Ripley's antibank opinions, "encourag[ed] destruction of currency and the ruin of national industry."45 Chinn's views were summed up again as well. The Gazette said Chinn advocated domestic economy, industry, enterprise, and the rights of the states according to the spirit of the Constitution. The paper added that Chinn was in favor of a literal interpretation of the Constitution
42Ibid. 43Ibid., April 26, 1834. 44Ibid., June 7, 1834. 45Ibid., May 3, 1834.

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not a broad one. According to the Gazette, Chinn was friendly to institutions but opposed party intrigue, nullification, and secession.46 Again, Chinn was appealing to Democratic voters with strict-constructionist views and no mention of his support for the national bank. Back in 1827, Chinn had led a West Baton Rouge convention that endorsed John Quincy Adams for president. Chinn was not a new convert to Whig views or a Whig who held only anti-Jackson opinions.47 Chinn was a dedicated Whig with shrewd, though unsuccessful campaign tactics. The final vote totals of the 1834 elections showed that only West Baton Rouge was strongly Whig with White and Chinn obtaining large majorities there (See Tables D and E).48 Yet Iberville and Pointe Coupee gave the Whigs many votes as well. The National Republicans in West Baton Rouge, Iberville, and Pointe Coupee easily transferred their allegiance to the Whigs. The election results in the other Florida Parishes were not as promising. White and Chinn lost in most other parishes yet Chinn made a good showing in the commercial parishes of East Baton Rouge, West Feliciana, and St. Tammany. The future of the Whig party in the Florida Parishes was bright and its supporters could take comfort in their victories in the rest of the state. For the first two years of White's administration, 1835-1836, the state experienced significant economic growth.49 The legislature approved many charters of banking, railroad and other commercial ventures. The Whigs were not alone in supporting the ventures and promoting internal improvements. The Democrats sponsored many charters too and no great efforts were made to restrict or control the growth of new companies.50
46Ibid.

47Ibid., July 14, 1827. "The 1834 election returns were taken from the Bee, July 11 and 12, 1834, and Louisiana House Journal, Twelfth Legislature, first session (1835). 49Merl Reed, "Boom or Bust-Louisiana's Economy during the 1830's," in Mark T. Carleton, et al., eds., Readings in Louisiana Politics (Baton Rouge, 1988), passim. 50Thisstatement is based on a survey of the legislative journals for the 1830s. See Louisiana Senate Journal 12th Legislature, 1st Session, 21, and Louisiana Senate Journal 12th Legislature, 1st Session, 12, for examples of Democrats and Whigs proposing and supporting bills of a similar nature.

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Land speculation increased, and the banking system stretched its resources to meet the capital needs of planters and merchants. The legislature helped by approving six new banks that were incorporated at some sixteen million dollars.5" The legislature did not carefully regulate banking practices in the 1830s, though after 1837, the Democrats and Whigs moved towards reform.62 As for internal improvements in the 1830s, the legislative record was similar to the banking issue. Some partisanship existed in the legislature, such as with expensive ventures, yet men in both parties offered bills for projects at one point or another. The Whig governor, Edward White, even came into office with an anti-internal improvement stance because he thought that most of the projects were too costly.53Improvementof roads and grants of ferry privileges got the most attention from the legislature and from police juries that administered local improvements. Most plans for local internal improvements such as bridges or road maintenance passed through the juries unanimously and so it was difficult to determine if great partisanship existed in the functions of the jury. Most of the business the jury conducted was routine administrative work done almost by consensus."4A study of the police jury records from most of the Florida Parishes indicated that partisanship was not greatly evident in police jury activities, or if such conflicts went on, they were not carefully recorded.55 Most Whig and Democratic politicians

5"Joseph G. Tregle, "Edward Douglas White," in Joseph Dawson, ed., Iberville to Edwards (Baton Rouge, 1990), p. 116. 52George Green, Finance and Economic Development in the Old South: Louisiana Banking, 1804-1861 (Palo Alto, Calif., 1972), p. 26. 53Andreassen, "Internal Improvements," 49; Ramke, "Edward Douglas White," 310. 54The 1830s police jury records of the Florida Parishes are scattered and fragmentary. One notable characteristic of the police juries was that they rarely met at their scheduled time. Usually members were tardy and the meetings were postponed a day or two for lack of a quorum. See in particular the East Baton Rouge Police Jury Records. The records do not give any clear evidence of party competition. 55This statement comes from a survey of the East Baton Rouge police jury minutes 1827-1834, 1837-1840;the East Feliciana minutes 1839, the St. Tammany

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served on a jury early in their careers. The elite of both parties were also trustees of most of the area's educational institutions. An examination of six major colleges and academies revealed that the number of Whigs and Democrats on the boards were about even.56 A similar conclusion came from looking at the two rail lines built in the parishes during the 1830s. Both Democrats and Whigs supported the endeavors, served as trustees, and saw the completion of the lines.57 As official legislative representation went, the Florida Parishes continually sent a majority of Democrats to each session. This trend continued through the late 1830s.58 A broad and survey of the socioeconomic status of the legislators candidates of each party found that all of the men who ran for office were wealthy.59 Constitutional requirements for holding office were partly responsible for this characteristic.60 From this brief survey of the activities and status of the party leaders, one could state that

minutes 1833, and the West Feliciana minutes 1840. Most were located at Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University and their respective courthouses. 56The six institutions were the College of Louisiana, the College of Baton Rouge, Clinton Female Academy, Montpelier Academy in St. Helena Parish, Franklin Academy in Washington Parish, and Academy of Baton Rouge. Lists are in Henry A. Bullard and Thomas Curry, eds., A New Digest of the Statue Laws of the State of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1842), pp. 294, 305, 316, 317, 311. For the Franklin Academy list see Quick, "TheHistory of Bogalusa," p. 84. 57MerlReed, New Orleans and the Railroads: The Struggle for Commercial Empire (Baton Rouge, 1966), p. 11. Also see Elizabeth Dart, "Workingon the Railroad: The West Feliciana, 1828-1842"Louisiana History, XXV (1984), 2956. 68Asurvey of the membership of Louisiana House and Senate members was done to arrive at this conclusion. See house and senate journals for the twelfth through the fourteenth sessions for actual listings of Florida Parish representatives. The July 28, 1836, issue of the New Orleans Bee listed all the legislators who were Van Buren men. A comparison of that list and the Florida Parish representatives confirmed that the vast majority of the area's representatives were Democrats. 59Abroad survey of slaveholding, land purchases and occupation was done of the major candidates mentioned in this essay to arrive at this conclusion. 60Adams, Whig Party, pp. 5-6. The 1812 Constitution prescribing large property requirements for holding office may be found in Benjamin W. Dart, Constitutions of the State of Louisiana and Selected Federal Laws (Indianapolis, 1932).

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the conclusions of Thomas B. Alexander about Alabama Whigs would probably apply to the Whig party in the Florida Parishes.61 The party gained support from all economic levels with river planters inclined to vote Whig more often. The great difference between the Whigs and Democrats appeared to rest in their political beliefs not in their wealth or social activities. The economic boom that brought prosperity to Louisiana's river planters also produced anxieties about the slave population. As the economy expanded, slave labor intensified, bringing more tension into the master-slave relationship. The master worked his slaves hard and altered his work force at will to maximize profit.62 Ann Patton Malone has demonstrated that the slave trade kept pace with the expansion of agriculture. In the 1830s, only thirty-nine percent of slaves in the state lived in a nuclear family. That number had been around fifty-one percent before the boom.63The internal cohesion of the slave community was thus much less and the chances of restlessness among the slaves was likely much greater. Slaveholders feared challenge-especially from these slave communities that were unsTable. The specter of the Nat Turner rebellion, the growing abolitionist criticism from the North, and the large number of slaves in their midst became concerns that began to make many Louisianians feel uneasy. Most residents of the Florida Parishes owned slaves. Only in Livingston did less than forty percent of the families have slaves. In Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and Iberville, the number of slave-owning families was often as high as seventyIn two percent of the white population.64 1835, white males in the Florida Parishes were outnumbered by male slaves by almost two to one (see Table B). By comparing white males to slave males rather than comparing all whites to all slaves, a more accurate sense of anxiety comes through, because the white
61Thomas B. Alexander, "Who Were the Alabama Whigs?" Alabama Review, XVI (1963), 5-19. 62Theconceptual framework for this section on slavery and the politics of the Florida Parishes comes from ideas presented by William J. Cooper, Jr., in The South and the Politics of Slavery (Baton Rouge, 1978), and James Oakes in Slavery and Freedom:An Interpretationof the Old South (New York, 1990). 63AnnPatton Malone, "Searching for the Family and Household Structure of Rural Louisiana Slaves, 1810-1864,"Louisiana History, XXVII(1987), 367. 64Hackett,"Social Structure," 154.

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males were the ones who would have to confront the potentially dangerous male slave force if rebellion rocked the Florida Parishes. The anxiety over the threat of slave rebellion was

TABLEB COMPARISON WHITE OF MALESTO SLAVEMALESIN THEFLORIDA PARISHES, 1835 White Males ages 18-45 PC* WBR IBR EBR WF EF STT STH WHN 306 (12)** 214 596 (270) 838 (129) 643 (86) 786 (182) 293 530 285 4491 Slave Males ages 17-55 1228 662 1452 914 1598 1107 507 287 119 7874 Ratio 4.01 3.09 2.43 1.09 2.48 1.40 1.73 .54 .41

From: "TabularStatement referred to in the Adjutant General's Report."Louisiana Senate Journal, 12th legislature1stsession. NOTES: *Parish Key (from Table A). **Indicates number of men who were under arms at last inspection. No returns given for Livingston. Figures reveal that slave males outnumbered white males by almost 2 to 1 in the area. "Ratio"is number of slave males divided by the numberof white males. As a formula: Slave Males = Ratio

WhiteMales

heightened by a series of events demonstrating that slavery haunted the mind of the white Southerner. In 1835, the American Anti-slavery Society sent some twenty to fifty thousand pieces of abolitionist propaganda South for several weeks.65 Many of the "incendiary" publications arrived in Louisiana. The Whig governor, Edward White, brought the mail to the legislature and roundly condemned the abolitionists. He raved that the abolitionists, "were plotting treason against the state and using the shield of the freedom of
reprint ed., Baton Rouge, 1968), p. 232.
65Charles Sydnor, The Development of Southern Sectionalism, 1819-1848 (1948;

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the press intended for the protection of liberty as an agency for her destruction."6 Several resolutions were unanimously adopted in support of the governor's condemnation.67 The Democrats and Whigs closed ranks and were eager to defend their way of life. The fear of insurrection grew during the mail campaign and that summer the paranoia surfaced in Mississippi with the rumor of a great slave rebellion-the Murrell Conspiracy.68 Some itinerant doctors implicated in the supposed plot were arrested and hysteria swept Madison and Hinds counties when one suspect admitted that a Christmas day revolt was planned.69 What followed was, as William Freehling described it, "a never-to-be-broken antebellum record for lynching."70The total number of people killed may never be known. Whites, slaves, and any other suspicious folk were beaten and hanged as officials became obsessed with rooting out the legendary Murrell gang.71 The fear spread south. In Baton Rouge and St. Helena, whites and slaves were flogged and hanged too.72 Later that December in East Feliciana, a supposed plot was uncovered and several slaves were hanged. The morbid tragedy of the whole affair was that the conspiracy was a hoax. An accomplice of John Murrell, at best a petty thief, wrote a pamphlet fabricating the whole plot.73The violence that a mere rumor produced illustrated that slavery had a deep influence on slaveholders as the 1836 elections came around the next year. The defense of slavery quickly became the dynamic of
66Ramke,"EdwardDouglas White," 305-306. 67Norton,"AHistory of the Whig Party," 110-113. 68D. L. A. Hackett, "'The Days of this Republic Will Be Numbered: Abolitionism, Slavery and the Election of 1836,"Louisiana Studies, XVI (1976), 140-141.
6Ibid. 70William Freehling, The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854

(Oxford,England, 1990), p. 110.

7Ibid.
72

and History (Columbia,Mo., 1981), p. 150.

73Ibid., p. 27.

James Penick, The Great Western Land Pirate: John L. Murrell in Legend

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competition that the Whigs and Democrats adopted in 1836 because the voters were concerned about the previous year's threats and no other political issue of great importance could be harnessed for electoral advantage. As William J. Cooper, Jr., has argued in his study of antebellum Southern politics, each party tried to prove that they could defend slavery better than their opponents.74 William Freehling recently wrote that, "the Whigs and Democrats in the South did brawl and brawl about who was true-blue to slavery."75 Loyalty to the South and allegiance to slavery thus became paramount to the success of each party. The parties tried to stir up excitement at charges of treason or disloyalty to the South's way of life.76 The defense of slavery was then a crucial element that assisted in the formation of the Whig party in the South and Louisiana. The Whigs gained a deeper motive to organize and show that they, and not their opponents, were more faithful to the South. The agitation of the slave community in the 1830s, the rising paranoia of the South, and the emergence of the Whig party were all linked. The Whigs learned, as the Democrats did, that electoral success came from channeling the tensions, fears, and energy of the "flush times" into mass parties where pent-up anxieties and strong emotions could be vented in the rage of political competition. Joseph G. Baldwin, a former Alabama legislator and author who coined the term "flush times," wrote that indeed, "politics are the safety-valves that let off the discontent, and the surplus energies of our people."77 The Whigs had no national strategy for their first presidential election. Several candidates ran with Hugh Lawson White as the Southern contender. The Whigs ran White and an anti-abolitionist campaign to unify their supporters.78 White was an anti-Jacksonian who held statesrights, anti-bank, and anti-tariff views.79 The Whigs who
J. 74William Cooper,Jr., The South and the Politics of Slavery (Baton Rouge, 1978). Road to Disunion, p. 299. 7?Freehling, 76lbid., 301-302. pp. 77JosephG. Baldwin, Party Leaders (New York, 1855), p. 279. 78RichardP. McCormick, "Was There a Whig Strategy in 1836?"Journal of the Early Republic, IV (1984), 70. Also see Cooper,Slavery, p. 58. 79Cooper, Slavery, pp. 78-79; and Arthur Cole, The WhigParty in the South, pp.

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nominated him at the Louisiana state convention were not enthusiastic about their candidate.80 White did not support the economic issues they held dear. The Whigs chose Alexander Barrow as one of their electors probablybecause his states rights, anti-Jackson opinions made him closer to the presidential nominee than any other Whig.8' The Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren. The New Orleans Bee mentioned that many Whigs were disgruntled with White and some had even attended a Martin Van Buren meeting.82 The Louisiana campaigns that year were a curious mix of furious attacks in which each side charged the other was not true to slavery, and empty, almost apathetic, lulls of inactivity. That summer, the Bee commented that its editors were "at a loss to know what source to attribute the present inactivity on both sides."83 The congressional race in the Florida Parishes was equally quiet with the Clinton Democrat reporting that General Ripley would be re-elected by "acclamation."84 He may well have been given that honor considering no known election returns for the 1836 race
survive.

That fall, Bennett Barrow, a cotton planter in West Feliciana, went to town to vote. He wrote in his diary on November 8: "Voted yesterday for Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee for President of the U. States-& John Tyler of Virginia for Vice President states rights candidates Martin Van Buren Elected President and R. M. Johnson Vice President strong government men."85 Barrow was a Whig, though a Whig
41-42. 80William H. Adams, "The Whig Party of Louisiana," (Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University 1960), p. 91. (All other Adams references are to his book.)
81Ibid.

82New OrleansBee, October20, 1836. SIbid., July 11, 1836. 84Reportedin Planters Intelligencer and Rapide Avoyelles and Catahoula Advertiser, May 25, 1836. 8SEdwin Davis, Plantation Life in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana: The Diary of Bennett Barrow (New York, 1943), p. 183.

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similar in opinion to his distant relative Alexander Barrow.86 He was not very different from any other planter in West Feliciana, though he was somewhat atypical in his political choice that fall. Only ninety-seven other voters in his parish cast a ballot for White and Tyler. Van Buren won the election and the Florida Parishes, though he did not win them by as great a margin as Jackson had in 1828 or 1832.87 Hugh White lost badly in all the parishes except the Whig bastion of West Baton Rouge. White's total vote, 855, was nonetheless much larger than what either Clay or Adams had ever obtained. The election returns for the presidential contest revealed that Whig support grew beyond the old National Republican base (see Table C). In each parish, the Whig percent of the total vote was higher than the calculated anti-Jackson sentiment (see Tables A and C). The overall vote totals for both parties in the 1836 election were, however, very low and probably reflected apathy the voters had with the two candidates, one a Northerner, and the other an opponent of the American system.

TABLE C WHIGPERCENTAGE TOTALVOTESIN FLORIDA OF PARISH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 1828-1840. PARISH 1828 1832 1836 1840 PC* WBR IBR 42 47 26 15 82 38 36 74 45 51 52 69 EBR 38 43 44 51 WF 30 31 39 47 EF 15 8 34 46 ST 22 25 24 72 LIV 20 50 38 STH WHN 15 17 7 17 19 17 42 52

NOTES: *ParishKey (from Table A). Livingston was not a parish in 1828. Its 1836 returns are inconsistent and therefore dubious. The 1828-1836 returnsfrom Washington parish are dubious too. Notice the socioeconomic dichotomy of western versus eastern parishes that survived into the second party system. The returns indicate that the early Whigs had sustained support from the more commercial parishes along the Mississippi river while the interior parishes remained largely Democratic.

`Ibid., pp. 13-14. 87The 1836 presidential election returns can be found in Walter Dean Burnham, comp., Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892 (Baltimore, 1955), pp. 490499.

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The slavery issue did not generate a large number of votes for either party. The electorate was concerned about slavery, yet not excited enough to turn out in mass. Issues of political economy, that had previously motivated voters, were not at stake in the 1836 election. If the Whigs could bring those issues back into the political arena and make an urgent appeal for votes, their National Republican faction would come out strong and the overall excitement might generate even wider support. The next year, Louisiana's economy deteriorated and Whig prospects brightened. In the spring of 1837, a tidal wave of economic distress hit New Orleans after soaking markets in both London and New York. Prices plunged, credit disappeared, and most banks suspended specie payments.88 An economic depression followed. Many people blamed the previous years of speculative mania for the crash.89 The New Orleans banks had been much more conservative in their financial policies than other banks in the country, and Louisiana was not hit as hard as the rest of the Union.90 Still, the panic ended prosperous times. The people who lived during the panic did not have access, as historians do today, to elaborate Tables and charts explaining the causes of the distress, so the Whigs and Democrats were free to blame the other party for the hard times. As with the slavery issue, the two parties brawled and brawled over who was responsible for the latest calamity. The Whigs had the advantage of their long opposition to Jacksonian banking policies. The party was quick to blame the Democrats and all of Jackson's banking "experiments," such as the specie circular, for the distress. The Democrats were an easy target, but they did not stand still for long. That summer in Clinton, the parish seat of East Feliciana, the newspaper The Louisianian began publication. In one of its early issues, the
88Dennis Under Governor AndreBienvenuRoman,1831Burge, "Louisiana StateUniversity,1937)pp. 73-74. Also (M.A.thesis, Louisiana 1835;1839-1843" 89For BennettBarrow's viewof the panicsee Davis,Plantation Life,p. 170. 90SeeThomasRedard,"Economic Historyof the Port of New Orleans18201860"(Ph.D. dissertation,LouisianaState University,1985), pp. 93-97 for an assessmentof the bank panicon the state. Chaptersfour and five concerning commerce New Orleansare also helpfulin assessingthe economic in impactof the panic.

see Green, Finance and Economic Development; and Peter Temin, The Jacksonian Economy (New York, 1969).

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newspaper attacked the Whig plan for a national bank as an inadequate way to solve the economic distress. The newspaper railed on the privilege a bank bestowed and denounced it as a "monstrous monopoly."91 The opening salvos of the 1838 elections had begun. The elections that year were significant because only two candidates ran in each race.92 Mass participation was high and 1838 marked the arrival of the second American party system to Louisiana. Andre Roman returned to politics as the Whig candidate for governor and many voters remembered his successful term as governor in the early 1830s. His election was assured. Roman ran on a platform of public education, internal improvements, and the protective tariff. He conspicuously avoided the bank issue.93 His Democratic opponent was of French descent, too, and the "French"population divided their support. Thomas W. Chinn returned for another try at the congressional seat. General Ripley had been ill the past two years and was in no condition to run for office in 1838. He died the day before his second term ended in 1839.94Chinn faced a capable state legislator from East Feliciana, and Ripley's new son-in-law, Thornton Lawson.95 In The Louisianian, Chinn He started by calling began an aggressive campaign. Lawson's supporters "resin heels," a particularly pejorative term since many of the heavily Democratic parishes such as St. Helena and Livingston had vast pine forests.96 The Democrats responded with equal nastiness, boasting that Chinn and his "blue-light" principles "will lose many votes and dance behind them."97 Harry L. Watson found "blue light" in the political rhetoric of Cumberland County, North Carolina. That term
9"Louisianian, August 23, 1837. 92RichardP. McCormick, The Second American Party System (New York, 1966),p. 318. 93Adams,Whig Party, p. 85; and New Orleans Bee, May 1838. 94Louisianian, January 12, 1838, reported his sickness. Charles Corning, "Eleazer Wheelock Ripley," typescript in Louisiana State Museum, p. 1. 95NotarialRecord I, p. 374, East Feliciana Parish Courthouse, Clinton, La. 96Louisianian,March 30, 1838. 97Ibid.

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linked its bearer to the Northern men who attended the infamous Hartford Convention in 1815.98 The Democrats had learned much from the 1836 contests. They knew that labeling Chinn a man of Northern sympathies would make him close to a traitor to many Southerners. The Louisianian strengthened the stigma and lambasted Chinn's nationalist outlook. In a diatribe signed "Jefferson," the Whig candidate was called a Federalist and "political brother of the N.E. abolitionists." He was criticized for supporting the American system and even the tariff. The writer then sniped at Chinn's checkered past by decrying the opportunismhe displayed as a judge when he bent to help the poor and orphans.99With each charge the Democrats heightened the contest to the level of a personal battle that caught the interest of voters. In June, both candidates wrote letters to the Louisianian. Lawson fervently opposed a national bank. He thought that it was a monopoly that benefited only a few people.100 The letter Chinn wrote contrasted greatly with the one he had sent to the Baton Rouge Gazette in his first bid for Congress. Chinn came out in favor of a national bank and a national paper currency. He wanted a bank so that the nation's financial affairs would be healthy and so its commercial operations would run well. Chinn expressed faith in a strong government because he believed that only it could take control of financial affairs and deliver the country from the current distress. No strictconstructionist or states-rights views clouded his message.101 Chinn expressed his true opinions and had little fear that in doing so he might lose votes. The political environment had changed in the last four years, particularly since the panic. The Whig party presented its ideas to an audience more receptive to new plans and criticisms of the Jacksonians. In a piece entitled "The Times No. 3," "Antaeus" explained exactly what the Whigs told voters. His description of the Whig
98Harry L. Watson, Jacksonian Politics And Community Conflict: The Emergence of the Second American Party System in Cumberland County, North Carolina (Baton Rouge, 1981), p. 125. 99Louisianian, May 4, 1838. lIbid., June 2, 1838. "Ibid., June 15, 1838.

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campaign tactics that year is worth full quotation: The Federal Whigs knowing the smallness of their numbers in the District, and aware that if they recruit at all, they must recruit from the ranks of the democraticparty, have adopted the following technique: When the Whigs meet a poor man in debt who knows not a lot about finances the Whig tells him that there is one way out of his situation, and one way to make cotton 20 a pound and 'that is by the re-establishment of the United States Bank. All will go well and the poorman's debt will be paid in the twinkling of a bad post.' It is rather amusing to see a Whig actually grinding the last dollar out of the poor devils pocket saying 'Oh! my good friend, Jackson and Van Buren are the cause of these hard times, they tampered with the currency,they brought about all this distress, they have ruined you, and if you don't quit them and vote the Whig ticket, you'll be a beggar all the days of your life.102 The Louisianian reported that Roman and Chinn were making visits in the district and the two probably gave similar arguments from the stump.103 The Democratic author explained that the people of the district were too smart for this Whig sophistry. The yeomen knew that the only way out of debt was through industry and honesty. On election day, July 4, Bennett Barrow wrote in his diary that he "went to town to vote for members to Congress Governor & Barrow recorded that he voted, "Roman for legislature." Governor" and that Judge Chinn and Lawson were running for Congress. Barrow explained that, "Chinn's a rank Federalist & Lawson any thing Can't vote for either."104 In the congressional race, Barrow's abstention made little difference. Chinn won a stunning victory by over five hundred votes.10 Roman won his race, yet, he lost in the Florida Parishes by a slim 59 votes. The Whigs even recaptured the legislature that '02Ibid., 25, 1838. May "Ibid.,April13,June22, 1838. Plantation "'4Davis, Life,p. 121. l05Election returnsforthe 1838racesmaybe foundin the July 1838issues of New Orleans Bee, Woodvillle,Mississippi, Republican, the Clinton Louisianian,and fromLouisianaHouseJournal, 14th Legislature,1st session, (1839).

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they had lost in 1836.106

The elections

of 1838 were thus a

smashing victory for the Whig party. On July 6, Clinton Democrats lamented, "we are beat."107 A comparison of the gubernatorial results from the 1834 and 1838 campaigns revealed an increase in Whig party support and greater voter participation in the electoral process. Almost 430 more people voted in the 1838 gubernatorial race than had in 1834. The increase in votes in each parish was often small, such as in St. Tammany where only six more votes were cast. East Baton Rouge had the largest increase in total votes cast, 111. The average increase in votes between 1834 and 1838 for all the parishes was 42.9. The mass party system brought more voters to the polls, though not in tremendous numbers. The severe constitutional restrictions on the franchise account for the small increases in the total number of new voters.108 Louisiana was one of the few states which did not relax its voting qualifications in the 1820s or 1830s. Its first constitution, drawn up in 1812, remained in effect until 1845.19 Only white males at least twenty-one years of age who had been residents of a parish for one year and who had paid a state tax six months prior to the election could vote.110 More than half of the adult white males were disenfranchised, and by 1840, a mere fifty-one percent could satisfy all the requirements.11 A brief look at one parish will illustrate that despite the restrictions, an electoral transformation occurred in the Florida Parishes. In St. Tammany Parish, where several voter poll books survive, the number of men on the 1833 rolls was 288. That number actually fell to 221 in 1837. The number of men on the sheriffs list of ineligible voters, however, stayed about the
same, sixty-two in 1833 and sixty-five in 1837.112 An interesting
'6Norton, "WhigParty," 132. l7Louisianian,July 6, 1838. 08For the actual text citing qualifications see Benjamin W. Dart, Constitutions of the State of Louisiana and Selected Federal Laws (Indianapolis, 1932). The '09McCormick, Second American, p. 312. "nDart,Constitutions,p. 500. "'McCormick, The Second American, p. 312. "2Martin Holden, "St. Tammany Parish Louisiana Miscellaneous Records,"

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conclusion is derived when one compares the number of qualified voters in both 1833 and 1837 to the actual number of votes cast in the 1834 and 1838 gubernatorial races. By making such a comparison, one sees that more men who were eligible to vote in 1838 actually voted than those who were eligible in 1834. In 1834, seventy-four percent of the men qualified to vote cast a ballot in the governor's race. In 1838, that percentage rose to
99.5.113

Various explanations

could be given for the increase in

voter turnout between 1834 and 1838. Since similar numbers from all the parishes can not be assembled, any conclusion would be suspect. The calculations above indicate that despite restrictions on the franchise, the second American party system got underway in St. Tammany not because great numbers of people came to the polls but because a greater interest in the outcome of the elections prevailed. More eligible voters decided to vote in 1838 than had in 1834. The political events and issues between 1834 and 1838 obviously led to increased participation in the electoral process, especially after the panic. For St. Tammany Parish, the second American party system and the rise of the Whig party occurred without extension of the franchise. Concerns about political economy and slavery helped start the new party system not Jacksonian democracy. In the 1838 gubernatorial election, the Whigs increased their share of votes in almost each parish. They lost votes only in the three "French" parishes (see Table D). The divisions in the community over the two French gubernatorial candidates likely account for the losses. Elsewhere, the Whigs gained a substantially higher percentage of votes than they had in the past, especially in East Feliciana, St. Helena, and Washington parishes. In the three most commercial parishes-East Baton in East Rouge, West Feliciana, and St. Tammany-and Feliciana, the Whig percentage rose to about fifty percent of the total votes cast. In the three largely Democratic parishesLivingston, St. Helena, Washington-the Whig total ranged

pp. 128-136, located in Louisiana State Archives.

113Itook the total vote of St. Tammany Parish in the governor's race of 1834, 214, and divided it by 288, the number of men on the 1833 voter rolls to obtain the percent of men who voted in 1834. I followed the same procedure with the 1837 rolls and the 1838 election returns for the comparison.

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from twenty to sixty percent. The wide range of Whig increases proved that the party gained significant support for their gubernatorial candidate in 1838 that they did not have in 1834. TABLE D
WHIGPERCENFAGE TOTALVOTESIN GUBERNATORIAL OF OF ELECTIONS 1834 AND 1838. PC* WBR IBR 1834 1838 44 21 88 69 70 44 EBR 47 56 WF 12 48 EF 13 53 STT 15 51 LIV 17 26 STH WHN 4 43 10 66

*Parish Key (from Table A). For sources of the election returnsused to constructall Tables, see notes 9, 48, 87, 105, 124, and 132. For the 1832 congressional numbers see Eugene Sterks, "TheMilitaryand Political Careerof PhilemonThomas,"92.

A comparison of the congressional races of 1834 and 1838 revealed similar patterns as found in the gubernatorial contests (see Table E). Only 177 more men voted in the 1838

TABLE E WHIGPERCENTAGE TOTALVOTESIN FLORIDA OF PARISH CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS,1832-1840. 1832 1834 1838 1840 PC* WBR IBR 92 61 95 43 81 51 80 93 54 51 52 69 EBR 69 55 58 52 WF 87 38 60 40 EF 29 13 51 41 STT 33 42 77 62 LIV 26 3 19 48 STH WHN 37 48 46 34 42 52

NOTES: *Parish Key (from Table A). 1836 Congressional retums for all parishes were not

located.Washington retumrns 1834and1838aremissingtoo. for parish

congressional election than had voted in 1834, not a great Just as in the gubernatorial number, though an increase. contest, East Baton Rouge had the largest increase in the number of votes cast, 115, and St. Tammany had the smallest increase at three. The average increase in votes was 40.5, only two lower than the increase in the governor's race. In the 1834 race in St. Tammany 72.9 percent of those congressional

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qualified to vote actually cast a ballot. In 1838 that percent rose to 96.3 percent. So the congressional race in 1838 drew out a larger percentage of qualified voters in St. Tammany than had come out in 1834, just as had happened in the governor's race. One may conclude that voter interest in the elections for two different contests, governor and congress, with two different sets of candidates, increased significantly between 1834 and 1838 with the Whigs picking up many new supporters. In the two congressional races, the Whig candidate was Thomas W. Chinn. Chinn's percentage of the total vote remained well above fifty percent in the three "French" parishes for both elections (see Table E). His percentage of the total vote stayed well below fifty percent in the three most Democratic parishes for the two elections. In the commercial parishes of West and East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, and St. Tammany, Chinn got an average of thirty-seven percent of the total vote in 1834. In 1838 that average jumped to 61.5 percent. Since the "French" parishes stayed above fifty percent and the Democratic parishes well below fifty, the increase in the commercial parishes made all the difference in why Chinn won in 1838. The congressional race was more than likely decided by economic concerns in the commercial parishes. The panic of 1837 convinced people to change their votes from the anti-bank men that the Democrats had in 1834 and 1838 to the pro-bank man, Chinn. Harry Watson argues in his study of Cumberland County, North Carolina that after the panic of 1837, "voters made economic connections between what the national parties did and what was happening at home. The politicians had made such connections before the panic."114 One of the results of the panic, and an early hallmark of the second American party system in Cumberland and the nation, was that politicians brought the economic concerns they held to the people to sway them to one party or another. Certainly the Whigs in the Florida Parishes demonstrated their ability to get the people to make connections between the Jacksonians and the panic. The "Times No. 3" in The Louisianian was a telling example of the persuasive the Whigs employed. As shown above, the techniques commercial parishes were crucial to the election of 1838, a contest where the issues of economic reform were dominant in
"4Watson, Jacksonian Politics, p. 280.

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the rhetoric of the campaigns. So the panic of 1837 had to be most responsible for the growth of the Whigs and the new party system not just on a county or parish level, but on this congressional level as well. Two years after the 1838 elections, the presidential contest illustrated that the Whig party could compete on an equal footing with the Democrats. The Whigs appealed to the masses as they had in 1838 and won many votes. In 1840, Whig strength rested in getting votes from the people by persuasion and increasingly As Michael Holt has argued in by organized mobilization. "The Election of 1840, Voter Mobilization, and the Emergence of the Second American Party System," continuing financial difficulties were the main issues of the campaigns, and the Whigs again blamed the Democrats and gained many In January 1840, the Whigs of the Second followers.115 Congressional District re-nominated Thomas W. Chinn as their standard bearer. In March, Chinn sent Thomas Gibbs Morgan, the president of the convention, a printed letter in which he regretfully declined the nomination. Chinn cited the Washington climate as too detrimental to his health and well being.116 Chinn's letter then went on for fourteen pages to give a detailed critique of the Van Buren administration and the economic troubles that the Jacksonians had caused over the past decade. Chinn implored the voters of the Second District to remove the men who had abused their positions in government."7 He described how the prosperity of the nation was destroyed by Jackson's veto of the bank bill, the removal of the deposits, and the specie circular."8 Chinn concluded that "the history of the financial administration of those in power is a record of continual blunders and impostures."ll9 He then took a
"'Michael Holt, "TheElection of 1840, Voter Mobilization, and the Emergence of the Second American Party System" in William J. Cooper, Jr., ed. A Master's Due: Essays in Honor of David HerbertDonald (Baton Rouge, 1985), p. 53.
l16Thomas W. Chinn, letter of Thomas W. Chinn to Hon. Thomas Gibbs

Morgan...

(Washington, D. C., 1840), p. 3.

7Ibid.,p. 4. '1Ibid., pp. 5-7.

"9Ibid., p. 9.

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characteristically Whig perspective on events, writing that "the administration of Mr. Adams was charged with extravagance, and was displaced by the Party now in power, who came in on the ground of retrenchment and reform. But the expenses of the whole four years of Mr. Adams's administration were tens of millions less than one-half of those of Mr. Van Buren's first three years."'20 Chinn then introduced the Whig candidate for president. Chinn explained that Gen. William Henry Harrison had not been his first choice for a presidential nominee, "I preferred HENRY CLAY," he wrote. He told the voters of the Second District that Harrison "has a strong attachment to the South; and we may rest assured that, under his administration, our domestic institutions will ever find in the General Government a defender against the encroachments, and interference, and seditious proceedings of the northern fanatics."1'2 The Whigs had learned many lessons from the 1836 campaign. Chinn promised the voters that he had personally examined Harrison's views and was convinced that the General was a "zealous supporter of the South."'22 While economic concerns received the most attention in Chinn's letter, the politics of slavery were still an all-important factor that he did not leave to chance. With Chinn out of the race, Thomas Gibbs Morgan became the Whig nominee for Congress. For some reason, Morgan was not very popular in the district. The Baton Rouge Gazette endorsed his opponent, the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, John B. Dawson.123 No evidence exists to indicate that Chinn came out for Dawson in this race as he had in the 1834 governor's race. The bonds of party and Whig strength had grown substantially over the years. The new party no longer needed to beg for Democratic votes. Nevertheless, Morgan lost his race by only 13 votes in the July elections.124 The Baton Rouge
120Ibid., 11. p.

'2Ibid., p. 13.
122Ibid. 123BatonRouge Gazette,February22, 1840. 124Theelection returns for the 1840 race can be found in the New Orleans Bee and the Baton Rouge Gazettein July 1840.

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Gazette reported that there were music and marching in the streets after the election.126 The Whigs and Democrats were obviously mobilizing voters with political clubs and massThe excitement that charged the participation activities. environment in July would continue through the fall. As the campaign progressed, log cabin symbols were brought out, accompanied by many more speeches and conventions held across the state. The aged veteran, General Philemon Thomas, even came out of retirement to run for the legislature, attend the barbecues, and preside at a Whig convention.126 Thomas gave a rousing speech to the delegates:
I am an old man-an old Whig! I have borne arms under the Whig flag sixty-one years ago . . . it was Whiggery, gentlemen that won you your independence. Stick to the vessel,

gentlemen,as long as the plank is left. Never give up the old Whigshop . . . Teachyourchildrento be Whigs,that they, too, may fight for the inheritanceyou will, if you are true to your principles, bequeathto them. Teachyourchildrento be Whigs! andthe republic be safe. 127 will Thomas evoked the mystique of the Revolution and the patriotic duty of loyalty to a party that he said would ensure the safety of the republic and all its future inhabitants. At an October convention, the Whigs of the Florida Parishes displayed banners that conveyed some of the same themes that Thomas delivered in his speech. Each parish had a banner and a motto on it that typified Whig thought in the parish. The West Baton Rouge banner had a picture of Harrison and the motto, "Our ship is in danger/we want another pilot." Thomas also used a ship metaphor in his speech when he described the Whig party as a vessel that members should stick to as long as its planks were in place. These two references to ships illustrates that a commercial interest was active in the area's Whig party.128 The banners of West and East Feliciana conveyed
25Baton Rouge Gazette,July 18, 1840. 12Sterks, "Philemon Thomas," p. 105.
127Quotedin ibid., p. 106. Originally from the Baton Rouge Gazette,March 14, 1840.

128Baton Rouge Gazette,October3, 1840.

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moral messages. The West Feliciana one read, "Truth, honor, and political virtue." East Feliciana had a picture of Harrison on it and the motto, "Not for himself, but for his country." The theme these two parishes touched on was that the Whigs were virtuous, and by implication, the Jacksonians were corrupt. The two banners labeled the Democrats as having selfinterested candidates because Harrison was running "not for himself," or a party, but "forhis country." The patriotic appeal that Thomas made was echoed too because the ultimate objective of virtue, honesty, and truth was the betterment of the nation.129 The other banners gave various messages that would strike a chord with the voters who saw the banners or read about them in the newspaper. The Iberville banner had a picture of a ballot box and the motto, "All right, go ahead. Sober second thoughts." This motto appealed to Democratic voters who may have had second thoughts about Van Buren and the Democrats. The Iberville Whigs were shrewd to convey this message in a district where the Democrats still commanded many votes. The East Baton Rouge Whigs used another clever message to appeal to voters. Their banner read, "His triumph will be our triumph. The ladies of East Baton Rouge to the Whigs of their parish." The banner insinuated that if Harrison won the election, the ladies won and the men who helped in that triumph would be
special.130

The St. Helena banner had a pine tree on it and the motto, "The pine tree district votes for a log cabin candidate." Because St. Helena Parish was a Democratic bastion, its Whigs thought it best to give the "resin heels" two symbols they recognized, pine trees and log cabins. In doing so, they linked a beloved local symbol, the pine tree, to the national political icon of the Whig party that year, the log cabin. The link between the two became complete when one realizes that St. Helena yeomen may have built log cabins with pine trees. The Whigs appealed to the Democratic yeomen of the pine tree parish to help build a sturdy Whig party cabin.131 In November, Harrison won the Florida Parishes by a slim 36
129Ibid. 13Ibid. 1311bid.

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votes of some 4,212 cast.'1 The voter turnout was the largest ever and the Whigs gained strength in all the parishes, winning the same ones that Morgan had held in the congressional race back in July (see Tables C and E). For the first time, the Democrats lost the presidential contest. Iberville was one of the five parishes that went from supporting the Democrats in 1836 to voting for the Whigs in 1840.133The lberville banner obviously had sent its message to a receptive audience. The 1840 election confirmed that the Whigs could change the minds of people on the national and local level, mobilize the vote, and compete on even terms in a previously Democratic district. The 1834 to 1840 election returns for the Florida Parishes demonstrate that the Whigs slowly gained new voters with the election of 1840 marking the grand culmination of some six years of steady growth. In presidential contests, the Whig percentage of the total vote grew evenly in the "French" parishes, except in West Baton Rouge, and moderately in the commercial parishes (see Table C). In the strongly Democratic parishes, the Whigs gained a greater share of the votes cast with increases in their percentage of the total vote the sharpest between 1836 and 1840. The Whigs were thus most successful in winning converts from the Democratic party, particularly after the Panic of 1837. By 1840, the Whigs attained close to fifty percent of the total vote in the area, a great accomplishment considering the small anti-Jackson sentiment that existed in 1828. West Baton Rouge was the major Whig parish with the other "French"parishes forming a strong base for Whigs in all the elections of the late 1830s. St. Helena, Livingston, and Washington remained the most Democratic parishes despite the important inroads made there. The most significant factor to note in the congressional races was that Whig strength peaked in 1838-after the 1837 panic-and when economic concerns dominated the rhetoric of the election campaigns (see Table E). The "market revolution" of the 1830s was largely responsible for creating the issues that sparked party conflict in the Florida Parishes from 1834 to 1840.134 The Whigs and Democrats
132The1840 presidential returns may be found in Burnham, Presidential Ballots, pp. 490-499. 133Ibid., 188-189,486. pp.
134For a discussion of the effect of the "market revolution" on Jacksonian

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competed most over concerns about political economy, especially a national bank. The rush to defend slavery that began in the 1830s also stemmed from the increased commercial activity that agitated the slave communities. The debate over slavery never left a central place in the political dialogue of the new party The national argument over slavery would system. increasingly take center stage as the sectional conflict loomed. In early 1849 some twenty years after Mrs. Trollope traveled on the river, a Florida Parish Whig boarded a steamer headed for This Whig, President-elect Zachary Taylor, Washington. would see the full power of the politics of slavery just before his untimely death in 1850.135 The slavery issue would shortly thereafter contribute to the demise of the Whig party and the breakdown of the second American party system. The Florida Parish Whigs slowly disappeared into other political movements and the coming storm of civil war.

politics, see Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power (New York, 1990). 135For biography of Taylor, see Holman Hamilton, Zachary Taylor, 2 vols. (Hamden, Conn., 1966).