Book Description

During the Age of Jackson, New Hampshire was the one New England state that was consistently and firmly Democratic. In this book, Donald Cole points out the significant influence of New Hampshire Democrats on the national Jacksonian movement – an influence far out of proportion to the size of the state. Historians of the "consensus" school have theorized that Jacksonian Democracy bore little resemblance to Jeffersonian Republicanism, that Democrats differed little from their political opponents, and that issues were of no great significance in party politics. Mr. Cole differs sharply with these views. Analyzing the careers of Isaac Hill and Levi Woodbury, together the nucleus of the New Hampshire Jacksonian movement, he traces the continuous development of issues to show that in New Hampshire the Democratic Party of 1830 descended directly from the Republican Party of 1800. The author makes use of ample statistical evidence and traditional secondary sources to show that Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire appealed particularly to the common man. Radically different socioeconomic groups supported the two parties in the election of 1832. Democrats came from the poor, hilly, remote farming villages, while National Republicans inhabited the larger, more accessible and more prosperous communities.