Conservative Movements From the Colonial Period to the Civil War

Lecture 3

May 18

Colonial Period

Puritans

The Reformation in England (1530s)

Migration to America (1610-1620)

Expansion throughout New England

Conservative Character of Puritans

• Higher Law

• Human Nature

• Community-Culture

• Civic Duty

• Vocation

Leading Puritan writers:

• John Winthrop

• John Cotton

• Nathaniel Ward

• John Eliot

among others

Instances of Conservatism:

1) Witch Trials

More info

2) Opposition to Independence from England

The Revolution

Loyalists

Revolutionaries

Conservative Character of Loyalists & Revolutionaries

The Effects of Change on:- Order- Prosperity- Culture- Life, Liberty and Property

Leading Loyalist writers:

• Joseph Galloway

• Samuel Seabury

• William Franklin

• Thomas Hutchinson

Famous quote:

• Samuel Seabury wrote, "If I must be enslaved let it be by a King at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless Committeemen."

Leading Revolutionary writers:

• John Adams

• George Washington

The Founding

• Federalists• Successful Independence from Britain• Failure of the Articles

To promote prosperityTo promote orderTo provide security

• Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787)

Conservative Character of the Federalists

- Suspicion of Human Nature- Limited Government- Order and Safety- Protect Property- Protect certain institutions- Opposition to Bill of Rights

Leading Federalist writers

- James Madison

- John Adams

- Alexander Hamilton

- John Marshall

John Marshall’s Conservative Legacy

• Judicial LegacyProperty Rights Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

Dartmouth College vs. Woodward (1819)

Judicial Review Marbury vs. Madison (1803)

FederalismGibbons vs. Ogden (1824)McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819)

Some quotes:

“The utility of the UNION to your political prosperity -- The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union The additional security which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, to liberty, and to property.”

Alexander Hamilton Federalist 1

Some quotes:

“God Almighty has decreed in the creation of human nature an eternal aristocracy among men. The world is, always has been and ever will be governed by it”

John Adams

Some quotes:

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern

men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”

 James Madison Federalist 51

Important tradeoffs:

Titles of NobilityProvision of Representation

No-Property Qualifications for Federal office holdings.

New States eq. to olderNo Religious Test

Bill of Rights

The Whig Party• Lack of an Opposition Party • Opposition to Jackson’s policies:

Universal Suffrage“Manifest Destiny”

The Conservative Character of the Whig Party

• Support for Modernization (Capitalism)• Against Universal Suffrage• Avoided discussion of Slavery (status quo)• Weak coalition that had three major

conservative groups:NativistsMoralists

**Gave birth to the Republican, Constitutional Union and Know-Nothings Party

Famous quote:

“Universal suffrage, for example, could not long exist in a community where there was great inequality of property. In the nature of things, those who have not property, and see their neighbors possess much more than they think them to need, cannot be favorable to laws made for the protection of property. When this class becomes numerous, it grows clamorous. It looks on property as its prey and plunder, and is naturally ready, at all times, for violence and revolution.”

Daniel Webster First Settlement of New England 1820

The Road to the Civil War

• Conserving the Union• The Southern Tradition• Human Nature• Origin of Inequality• Institution of Slavery

Leading Conservative Writers

• John C. Calhoun

• George Fitzhugh

Famous quote:

“The Southern States are an aggregate, in fact, communities, not of individuals. Every plantation is a little community, with the master at its head, who concentrates in himself the united interests of capital and labor., of which he is the common representative. […] Hence the harmony, the union, the stability of that section.”

John Calhoun