THE SUFFRAGE CONTEST
1820-1822
Tammany Hall now entered upon a step destined to change its composition
and career, and greatly affect the political course of the State and
nation.
From its inception the society had declared among its objects the
accomplishment of two special reforms--the securing of manhood suffrage
and the abolition of the law for the imprisonment of debtors. No steps
so far had been taken by either the organization or the society toward
the promotion of these reforms; first, because the leaders were engaged
too busily in the contest for office, and second, because Tammany Hall,
though professing itself devoted to the welfare of the poor, was,
to repeat, essentially a middle-class institution. Having property
themselves, the men who controlled and influenced the organization were
well satisfied with the laws under which Tammany had grown powerful
and they rich; they could not see why so blissful a state of affairs
should be changed for something the outcome of which was doubtful. The
farmer, the independent blacksmith, the shoemaker with an apprentice
or two, the grocer--these had votes, and though they looked with envy
on the aristocratic class above them, yet they were not willing that
the man with the spade should be placed on a political equality with
themselves. In addition, most of the aristocratic rich were opposed
to these reforms, and the Tammany leaders were either ambitious to
enter that class or desirous of not estranging it. Lastly, the lower
classes had sided with Clinton generally; they regarded him as their
best friend; to place the ballot unrestrictedly in their hands, Tammany
Hall reckoned, would be fatuous. As to the debtors’ law, the tradesmen
that thronged Tammany were only too well satisfied with a statute that
allowed them to throw their debtors, no matter for how small an amount,
into jail indefinitely.
Agitation for these two reforms, begun by a few radicals, gradually
made headway with the public. The demand for manhood suffrage made
the greater progress, until in 1820 it overshadowed all other
questions. The movement took an such force and popularity that Tammany
Hall was forced, for its own preservation, to join. Agreeable to
instructions, the _National Advocate_, September 13, 1820, began to
urge the extension of the right of suffrage and the abolition of
those cumbersome relics of old centralizing methods, the Council of
Appointment and the Council of Revision--the latter a body passing
finally on all laws enacted by the Legislature. On October 7, a meeting
of Democrats from all parts of the State was held in the Wigwam,
Stephen Allen presiding, and the Legislature was called upon to provide
for a constitutional convention for the adoption of the amendments.
The aristocracy and all the powers at its command assailed the proposed
reforms with passionate bitterness. “Would you admit the populace,
the patron’s coachman to vote?” asked one Federalist writer. “His
excellency (the Governor) cannot retain the gentry, the Judges, and
the ‘manors’ in his interest without he opposes either openly or
clandestinely every attempt to enlarge the elective franchise.” “We
would rather be ruled by a _man_ without an estate than by an estate
without a _man_,” replied one reform writer. The Legislature passed a
bill providing for the holding of a constitutional convention, and the
Council of Revision, by the deciding vote of Clinton, promptly rejected
it. Doubtless this action was due to the declared intention of the
advocates of the constitutional convention to abolish this body. Again
an assemblage gathered at Tammany Hall (December 1) and resolved that
as the “distinction of the electorial rights, the mode of appointment
to office and the union of the judiciary and legislative functions were
objectional and highly pernicious,” the next Legislature should pass
the pending bill.
Upon this issue a Legislature overwhelmingly favorable to the extension
of suffrage and other projected reforms was elected. The aristocratic
party opened a still fiercer onslaught. But when the Legislature
repassed the convention bill, the Council of Revision did not dare to
veto it. The convention bill was promptly submitted to the people and
ratified. On the news of its success the Democratic voters celebrated
the event in the Wigwam, June 14, 1821.
Beaten so far, the Federalists tried to form a union with the
reactionary element in Tammany Hall by which they could elect delegates
opposed to the projected reforms. All opposition was unavailing,
however; the reformers had a clear majority in the convention, and
the new amendments, embodying the reforms, were submitted to the
people. They were adopted in January, 1822, the city alone giving them
4608 majority.[1] When the Legislature took oath under the revised
constitution on March 4, the bells of the city churches were rung;
flags were flung on the shipping and public buildings; “a grand salute”
was fired by a corps of artillery from the Battery; the City Hall was
illuminated at night, and the municipality held a popular reception
there. In Tammany Hall a gala banquet was spread, one toast of which
ran: “The right of suffrage--Corruption in its exercise most to be
apprehended from its limitation to a few.” After that pronouncement, so
edifying in view of later developments, came another as instructive:
“The young and rising politician--May integrity and principle guide
him--studying the public good, not popularity.”
So Tammany Hall built for itself a vast political following, which soon
made it practically invincible.
FOOTNOTES
[1] A considerable increase in the number of voters was made by the
suffrage reform. The last remnant of the property qualification was
abolished in the State in 1826 by a vote of 104,900 to 3,901.
The abolition of the Council of Appointment carried with it a clause
vesting the Appointment of the Mayor in the Common Council. It was
not until 1834 that the Mayor was elected by the people. By the
Constitutional Amendments the gubernatorial term was changed to two
years and the election time to November.