TO
- - . . , .
The Conservative *
POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE.
PART I.
[ A paper read before "The Philosophical So
ciety , " of .Denver , Feb. 14. 1001 , by Louis K.
Ehrich , of Colorado Springs , Colo. ]
Representative government must , of
necessity , give birth to political parties.
The very differences of human tempera
ment will produce different phases of
public opinion. So soon , therefore , as a
people are free to think and to act , poli
tical parties spring into existence.
The overwhelming debt of loyalty and
of gratitude which the American people
owed to Washington for his noble and
self-sacrificing leadership in our struggle
for independence resulted in making his
Jf | election and re-election to the presidency
wholly free from opposition and from
any manifestation of party spirit. Be
fore the expiration of his second term ,
however , opposition began to manifest
itself , which would undoubtedly have
crystalized into the clash of party spirit
if Washington had followed the wishes
of his friends who urged him to stand
for a third term. It is this , no doubt ,
which explains Washington's allusion to
party-spirit in his "farewell address. "
The subsequent rapid development of
party is clearly shown by the fact that
at the third presidential election , John
Adams , representing the federalists , re
ceived seventy-one , and Jefferson , as
the candidate of the republicans or anti-
federalists , received sixty-nine electoral
votes.
The fourth election , which resulted in
the triumph of Jefferson , was character
ized by intense acrimony and personal
abuse. To this Mr. Jefferson alludes in
his inaugural address , saying :
"During the contest of opinion
through which we have passed , the ani
mation of discussions and of exertions
has sometimes worn an aspect which
might impose on strangers unused to
think freely'and to speak and write what
they think. "
After the year 1800 , however , and
continuing for a quarter of a century ,
the conflict of parties grew weaker and
weaker. The natural and mutual re
sentment caused by our forcible separa
tion from the mother country , the attrac
tion to France from motives of grati
tude for help in our hour of distress
alternating with the repulsion caused in
many American minds by the excesses
of the French revolution , our armed
collision with England in 1812 , the
gigantic Napoleonic wars , all these
potent foreign influences formed greater
subjects of political difference and de
bate than any questions of internal ad
ministration. Consequently , the down
fall of Napoleon affected American as
well as European politics in introducing
an era of peace. The year after Waterloo
lee , Monroe was elected by 188 out of
217 electoral votes.
The subsidence of political party feel
ing can best be illustrated by the follow-
ing interesting advice given to Monroe
by Andrew Jackson :
"Now is the time to exterminate that
monster called party spirit. By selec
ting ( for cabinet officers ) characters
most conspicuous for their probity , vir
tue , capacity and firmness , without re
gard to party , yon will go far to , if not
entirely , eradicate those feelings which ,
on former occasions , threw so many ob
stacles in the way of government. The
ihief magistrate of a great and powerful
nation should never indulge in party
feelings. His condition should bo liberal
and disinterested ; always bearing in
mind that he acts for the whole and not
a part of the community. "
Four years later all party spirit seemed
indeed to have departed. Monroe was
not opposed by any presidential candi
date , receiving every electoral vote but
one. Although the "so-called era of good
feeling" vanished with the close of
Monroe's second administration , never
theless , the following extract from the
inaugural address of his successor , John
Qnincy Adams , shows a continuing
moderation of political temper. He
says :
"Ten years of peace , at home and
abroad , have assuaged the animosities
of political contention , and blended into
harmony the most discordant elements
of public opinion. There still remains
one effort of magnanimity , one sacrifice
of prejudice and passion , to be made by
individuals throughout the nation who
have heretofore followed the standards
of political party. It is that of discard
ing every remnant of rancor against
each other , of embracing as countrymen
and friends , and of yielding to talents
and virtue alone that confidence which
in time of contention for principle was
bestowed only upon those who wore the
badge of party communion. "
' The election of Andrew Jackson as
president was a great turning point in
the organization of our political parties
and in the character of our political
contests. Eight years before , thirty-
two years after the inauguration of our
presidential form of government , party-
opposition , as we have noted , had en
tirely disappeared. Ever since the elec
tion of President Jackson such a con
dition of political harmony has not only
been non-existent , but it has become
utterly inconceivable. Whence has
arisen this remarkable and unfortunate
change ? The explanation is simple.
During the first forty years of our
national life , covering ten presidential
elections , the total number of removals
from political office was only seventy-
four. Of these , the removals under
Jefferson were thirty-nine. Consequent
ly , the total number of changes in office
under Washington , Adams , Madison ,
Monroe and John Quincy Adams were
only thirty-five , and of these thirteen
were for defalcation or for reasons non-
political. This honorable method of
political procedure had in fact become
so fixed that , under the administration
of John Quiucy Adams , there had been
only two removals , and these had been
for reasons wholly independent of poli
tical differences. Until 1828 the only
standards which had prevailed with
reference to an office-holder or a candi
date were , as expressed by Jefferson :
Is he honest ? Is he capable ? Is ho
faithful to the constitution ? " In the
Irst year of his administration , Jackson ,
who had given such admirable advice on
; he subject to Monroe only twelve years
Before , made about two thousand
changes in the political offices. In other
words , in one year he made nearly thirty
times as many removals as all his pre
decessors in office combined had made in
forty years. It was during Jackson's
first administration that Mr. Mercy
made the memorable declaration in the
senate :
"The New York politicians , when
contending for victory , avow the inten
tion of enjoying the fruits of it. They
see nothing wrong in the rule that to the
victors belong the spoils of the enemy. "
Another circumstance which is sig
nificant as showing the close relation
between "the " of
spoils system" politics
and tense party-organization , is the fact
that the close of Jackson's first term
witnessed the introduction of national
conventions for nominating purposes.
In those days travelling was slow ex
pensive and inconvenient. Up to 1832 ,
so long as the election of a candidate
signified the supremacy of a principle ,
the nominations for the presidency had
been made either by congressional
caucus or by the state legislatures. As
soon as it was realized that the election
of a president meant for many people
the possibility of the obtainment of poli
tical office , party organization at once
became more fully perfected , party
spirit more intense , and the rather loose
and flexible party relations more highly
developed into a carefully oiled party-
machine.
Another interesting and pertinent fact
as bearing on the same conclusion , and
also as indicating that for many years
the presidential choice of our nation lay
rather between men than between clear
ly defined party principles , is that from
1788 to 1882 there were only three ex
pressions of political principles which
could in any degree be regarded as
national platforms. It is evident , there
fore , that the political zeal and frenzy
with which we are so disagreeably ac
quainted , took their birth simultaneously
with the introduction of the theory and
the practice of making a presidential
campaign a huge battle for thousands of
political jobs. That the party machine
first began to be organized during the
administration of the president who in
troduced "the spoils system" cannot but
suggest the intimate relation of cause
and effect. This suggestion is strength
ened by the fact that in countries in
which the civil service is permanent ,
