The first person to fully realize the value of organizing around a political party was the eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. The party he helped to create is still thriving today. Wilfred McClay, professor of history at Hillsdale College and author of Land of Hope, explains how Van Buren shaped America’s political destiny.
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Script:
Think for a moment about the word “politician.” What does it mean to you? Is it a term of praise?
That seems unlikely.
Instead, words like “partisan” or “corrupt” probably spring to mind.
Many of America’s Founding Fathers felt the same way. They hoped the nation could be governed without political parties, by citizen-statesmen who transcended their differences for the sake of the public good.
But that ideal proved hard to establish, and even harder to maintain.
As the country grew, the economic and political interests of different groups diverged, and disagreements over various issues — taxes, westward expansion, slavery — widened so much that they couldn’t be smoothed over by simple appeals to patriotism.
The first American leader to embrace this reality was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States—the first president who deserves to be called a professional politician.
Van Buren recognized that political conflict was unavoidable. The trick, he realized, was to make sure you had an organization to protect your interests. Thus, the significance of his crowning achievement—the forging of the Democratic Party. This was his vehicle for promoting the political ideals of the Founding Father he most admired, Thomas Jefferson, and those of the charismatic general with whom he became so closely associated, Andrew Jackson.
Their ideals—the preeminence of state and local concerns, the suspicion of a national bank that catered to Eastern elites, and the wisdom of limiting the po..
