Book Reviews : Jacksonian Democracy and the Working Class: A Study of the New York Work ingmen's Movement 1829-1837. By WALTER HUGINS. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1960. Pp. vi, 286. $6.00.)
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296101400425 |
| Date | 01 December 1961 |
| Published date | 01 December 1961 |
| Author | Currin V. Shields |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
980
cluding
chapter
the
author
essays
a
brief
evaluation
of
various
proposals
for
re-
form,
but
even
here
he
relies
heavily
upon
the
judgment
of
other
students
of
the
problem
and
attempts
very
little
by
way
of
independent
analysis.
In
order
to
answer
satisfactorily
some
of
the
questions
which
he
poses
-
e.g.,
the
probable
operation
of
these
reforms
if
they
were
adopted
and
the
kind
of
conditions
neces-
sary
to
their
success
-
the
author
should
have
undertaken
a
much
more
detailed
and
penetrating
analysis
of
the
theoretical
and
practical
functioning
of
the
politi,
cal
branches
of
American
national
government
with
particular
emphasis
given
to
the
evolving
role
of
political
parties.
Had
this
been
done,
this
very
able
histori-
cal
work
might
have
been
the
definitive
study
of
the
subject.
University
of
California,
Davis
CLYDE
E.
JACOBS
Jacksonian
Democracy
and
the
Working
Class:
A
Study
of
the
New
York
Work-
ingmen’s
Movement
1829-1837.
By
WALTER
HUGINS.
(Stanford:
Stanford
University
Press,
1960.
Pp.
vi,
286.
$6.00.)
Here
is
a
very
interesting
book
with
a
very
misleading
title.
This
quite
tech-
nical
historical
study
has
little
to
do
with
&dquo;Jacksonian
Democracy&dquo;
and
even
less
to
do
with
&dquo;the
Working
Class.&dquo;
As
the
subtitle
honestly
reports,
it is
a
study
of
a
&dquo;Workingmen’s
Movement&dquo;
in
New
York
City
in
the
years
1829-1837.
These
&dquo;working
men&dquo;
composed
a
disorganized,
divided,
political
protest
move-
ment,
active
mainly
in
municipal
politics;
the
movement
functioned
as
a
quasi
&dquo;third
party.&dquo;
It
included
butchers,
bakers,
and
candlestick
makers
-
and
doc-
tors,
lawyers,
bankers,
merchants,
and
other
entrepreneurial
chiefs
as
well.
In
fact
the
movement
was
a
cross-section
of
New
York
occupations
of
the
day,
when
anyone
gainfully
employed,
either
self-employed
or a
journeyman
&dquo;mech-
anic,&dquo;
was
called
a
&dquo;worker,&dquo;
farmers
included.
The
heir
of
these
&dquo;Workingmen&dquo;
in
our
contemporary
economy
are
no
doubt
esteemed
members
of
merchants
and
manufacturers
associations
and
chambers
of
commerce.
From
the
painstakingly
detailed
and
documented
account
by
Professor
Hugins,
who
teaches
history
at
San
Jose
State
College,
the
&dquo;Workingmen’s&dquo;
prin-
cipal
opposition
was
Tammany.
But
the
members
managed
to
disagree
about
every
political
issue
of
their
day,
even
the
question
of
opposition
to
Tammany.
The
one
exception
is
that
the
&dquo;Workingmen&dquo; -
at
least
most
of
them
most
of
the
time
-
were
opposed
to
&dquo;monopoly&dquo;;
this
is
about
all
they
had
in
common
with
Jacksonian
Democracy.
In
fact
the
author
tells
us
they
&dquo;became&dquo;
Jackson-
ians
in
1834
(two
years
after
Jackson’s
re-election
to
the
Presidency),
and
it
ap,
pears
that
they
more
often
voted
with
the
Whigs
than
against
them.
A
curious
breed
of
&dquo;Jacksonian,&dquo;
to
say
the
least.
Professor
Hugins
has
divided
his
study
into
three
main
parts:
the
Party,
the
Men,
and
the
Program.
His
label
for
the
biographical
studies
is
apt;
he
might
well
have
made
&dquo;party&dquo;
and
&dquo;program&dquo;
plural
as
well.
As
a
&dquo;party,&dquo;
the
best
the
&dquo;Workingmen&dquo;
were
able
to
do
was
run
a
poor
second
in
the
1829
State
As-
sembly
races,
polling
31
per
cent
of
the
vote
against
Tammany’s
55
per
cent.
In
other
election
contests
their
candidates
ran
poor
thirds
with
from
4
to
16
per
cent
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