New England's Calhounites: The Henshaw Faction of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, 1828-1850.

Abstract

The faction of the Massachusetts Democratic Party led by David Henshaw was directly connected to the political fortunes of John C. Calhoun throughout the Jacksonian Period. They became Jackson supporters during the early days of the 1828 presidential campaign, largely due to their ideological affinities with Calhoun. After Jackson’s successful election, Vice President-elect Calhoun was able to ensure the Henshaw group’s prominence among office holders in Massachusetts. David Henshaw’s appointment as Boston Port Collector allowed his political group to gain a firm grasp over local party affairs for much of the first decade of the Democracy’s existence. Thus they were largely able to control local Democratic policy though Calhoun’s influence, limiting the role that intraparty rivals were allowed to assume.

Following the split between Calhoun and the Jackson administration, the Henshaw clique was unable to maintain its connection to the Carolinian, therefore abandoning their former political allegiance. With the removal of their political idol from controlling interest in the party’s affairs, this group lost control over local political affairs during the next several years. As a result, intraparty rivals more closely affiliated with President Martin Van Buren, were able to gain ascendance within Massachusetts. With Calhoun’s return to the Democracy in 1837, the clique was once again able to challenge for local party dominance during a contentious ten year period, finally regaining local party control by 1848.

The persistence of the important political connection between Henshaw’s group and Calhoun was rooted in a shared political ideology. Theirs was a belief system that revolved around the issues of state rights, limited central government, and republicanism. Furthermore, the clique’s support for policies that were labeled as favorable to the South casts doubt on the prominence of sectionalism during the time period. Because of this affinity of sentiment, the differences that many have alleged to have separated political men between geographic regions of North and South were nowhere to be found in the relationship linking Calhoun to this faction. As a result, this study provides evidence that shared ideological beliefs and party interests were stronger during the Jacksonian Period than were sectional differences.