TheBarnburners andHunkers were the names of two opposingfactions of theNew York Democratic Party in the 1840s and early 1850s. The main issue dividing the two factions was that ofslavery, with the Barnburners being theanti-slavery faction. While this division occurred within the context of New York politics, it reflected the national divisions in theDemocratic Party in the years preceding theAmerican Civil War.[1][2]
TheBarnburners were theradical faction. The termbarnburner was derived from a folktale about aDutch farmer who burned down his ownbarn in order to get rid of arat infestation.[3] In this case it was applied to men who were thought to be willing to destroy all banks and corporations in order to root out their abuses.[4]
The Barnburners opposed expanding thepublic debt, and were opposed to the power of large state-establishedcorporations. They also generally came to oppose the extension ofslavery. They also stood for local control[vague] by theAlbany Regency, as against thePolkpolitical machine which the new administration was trying to build up in New York.[vague]
At the1848 presidential election, the Barnburners left the Democratic Party, refusing to support presidential nomineeLewis Cass. They joined with other anti-slavery groups, predominantly the abolitionistLiberty Party and some anti-slaveryConscience Whigs fromNew England and theMidwest, to form theFree Soil Party. This group nominated former President Van Buren to run again for the presidency. Their vote divided Democratic strength.Zachary Taylor, theWhig nominee, was elected to office.[citation needed]
After theCompromise of 1850 temporarily neutralized the issue of slavery and undercut the party's no-compromise position, most Barnburners who had joined the Free Soil Party returned to the Democratic Party. In 1854, some Barnburners helped to form theRepublican Party.
TheHunkers were the relatively pro-government faction. They opposed the Barnburners, and favored state banks,internal improvements, and minimizing the slavery issue. A defining characteristic of the Hunkers was their willingness to compromise on the issue of slavery to maintain political unity and the continuation of the Democratic Party. They generally opposed the anti-slavery agitation of the Barnburners. : Hunkers typically supported state-funded internal improvements. They represented a more traditional element within the Democratic Party, tracing their roots back to Martin Van Buren's political machine.[6]
Following the 1848 election, the Hunkers themselves split over the question of reconciliation with the Barnburners, with theSofts, led by Marcy, favoring reconciliation, and theHards, led by Dickinson, opposing it. This split would be exacerbated following the1852 presidential election, when disputes over patronage led to an even broader split between Hards and Softs and helped lead to the defeat of the Soft governor, Horatio Seymour, running forre-election in 1854.[7]
