De Witt Clinton and the Rise of the People's Men

The authors not only provide an in-depth analysis of the interplay of interests and ideology behind the People's movement but also establish relationships between the emergent political culture that bolstered that movement and the Whig and Democratic parties of the later second-party system. Moreover, they demonstrate that the central objective of the People's movement was not simply to enhance American political democracy: it was also fuelled by a determination to avoid taxation of personalty (personal property or estate), which quickly won the support of canny and well-heeled backers both in upstate New York and in New York City.