Harry L. Watson, Jacksonian Politics and Community Conflict: The Emergence of the Second American Party System in Cumberland County, North Carolina (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981).

SYNOPSIS:

Watson's study concludes that slavery was not a political issue in Cumberland County for most of the period because of the unanimity of whites on the matter. Proslavery rhetoric was not, therefore, crucial to party formation in the county. Parties were built around a cluster of issues related to economic development in the region, its merits and demerits. Watson finds that Whigs centered in the main towns cultivated a republican culture of progress, banking, and state-supported railroads, while Democrats spread throughout the rural county emphasized the virtues of self-sufficient, profitable agriculture. Watson links these party developments to the Transportation Revolution. Rival communities within the county, he argues, vied for political power to achieve dominance and that "each arose from a different social framework, each had its own vision of the social future, and each followed its own privileged elite." (322)

EXCERPT:

"I have concluded that in Cumberland County, the pivotal partisan controversy arose over questions of political economy. In effect, the voters had to decide how they wanted their community to fit into the rapidly developing world of international capitalism." (14)

"These business activities made Fayetteville a bustling and ambitious town eager to share the prosperity of Jacksonian America." (37)

"The position of artisans in Fayetteville was ambiguous. The commerce of the town required a number of skilled services necessary for the export of agricultural products. Business opportunities were good for millers, tanners, blacksmiths, wagonmakers, saddle and harness makers, coopers, and wheelwrights. Fayetteville also needed the normal complement of workers to make clothing, furniture, and buildings. Successful practitioners of these trades could become leading citizens. . . . Constant turnover in the names of artisans who advertised in the columns of Fayetteville's press suggests that many skilled workers did not find enough encouragement to stay very long. Some artisans may never have owned their own shops, remaining journeymen all their lives. White workers of this description competed with black workers, both slave and free. Poor white families seeking to apprentice a son to a skilled trade sometimes met the humiliating notice that 'colored boys would be preferred.' The artisan in Fayetteville thus occupied a respectable position in society or a precarious one, depending on his luck, his skill, and the state of the economy." (43)

"Seventy years after its founding, Fayetteville's economy still depended on trade. Distant farmers were then in the habit of bringing their staples to Fayetteville for sale or barter." (36)

"If their land was fertile enough to grow staples, the favorite crops of Cumberland County farmers were cotton and corn. The cotton was sold in Fayetteville, but much of the corn was eaten locally by people or animals." (31)

"Planters were not the typical farmers of Cumberland County. The majority of farmers were not slaveholders, but in 1830, a few less than 85 percent of the rural heads of households owned their own land." (28)

RELATIONSHIP:

Watson's county bore some similarity to Augusta County. Both were not especially planter-dominated, though both were successful. Both had a strong central place and vibrant political parties and newspapers, as well as active social institutions. Augusta had a higher soil quality throughout and probably more productive agriculture in general. Watson's county grew cotton and corn, not wheat and corn, as in Augusta, and it was well below the per capita production of North Carolina as a whole. Augusta by contrast was one of the leading agricultural producers in Virginia. Watson finds that Cumberland's problem was "general economic stagnation" and a lack of growth. He places this problem at the heart of the county's political struggles and sees it as a microcosm of a larger pattern of slow growth in North Carolina. Cumberland County voted steadily Democratic throughout the second party system, while Augusta was predominantly Whig.

"Although Franklin's wealth was concentrated in its rural agricultural commodities, the county was a commercial hub with numerous businesses and shops more densely concentrated than its Southern counterpart."

"Enslaved labor was integral to Augusta's industries--woolen mills, distilleries, flour mills, lumber mills, and iron foundries--while skilled white artisan shops were small in number and scale and virtually free of enslaved labor."

"On a per capita basis, Franklin farmers grew far less corn and more wheat than their counterparts in Augusta, and their commitment to wheat was seen by many as both the symbol of the North's wealth and the evidence of its superior labor system."

"The richest farm households in Augusta, however, had a high correlation with relatively high wheat production and low corn production, and slavery enabled even greater success on these farms."

"Although Franklin's wealth was concentrated in its rural agricultural commodities, the county was a commercial hub with numerous businesses and shops more densely concentrated than its Southern counterpart."

"Enslaved labor was integral to Augusta's industries--woolen mills, distilleries, flour mills, lumber mills, and iron foundries--while skilled white artisan shops were small in number and scale and virtually free of enslaved labor."

"The Chambersburg newspapers sold a greater range of products than their counterparts in Staunton, and businesses there faced greater competition as well."

"Slavery brought not only wealth but also roads, bridges, railroads, canals, and turnpikes to Augusta, in an elaborate display of building, enterprise, and growth."