Studies in American History 
415 
half of the votes cast. This was due to superior organization 
and greater harmony within the ranks. 
Concerted opposition to the National Democrats began in 
1831 when on November 7 and 8 a convention of Clay men, 
now calling themselves National Republicans and claiming to 
be the party of Jefferson, met in state convention at Indian- 
apolis. The spoils appointments, Indian policy, attacks on 
the Bank, and failure of retrenchment of the administration 
were condemned. Resolutions favoring a protective tariff and 
internal improvements were passed and committees of corre- 
spondence appointed. The Ohio opposition met in general 
meeting at Columbus in February, and the state central com- 
mittee, there appointed, in July issued its letter to the “Free 
and Independent Electors of the State”. Jackson’s proposed 
direct election amendment was attacked as contrary to the 
spirit of the Constitution, the spoils system and tampering 
with the courts were condemned, and the early retirement 
of Jackson recommended as a “consummation devoutly to be 
wished”. 
Democrats in the Northwest did not enter into the cam- 
paign of 1832 with overconfidence. Since 1828 the opposi- 
tion had elected the governors of both Ohio and Indiana, and 
the legislatures of these states were in their control, while in 
Illinois the contest between the adherents of Martin Van 
Buren and Richard M. Johnson for the vice-presidency, which 
was carried into the national convention, threatened to split 
the party.2^ 
2= In the second district there were four independent candidates including ex-Gov- 
ernor Ray, ex-Governor Jonathan Jennings (Clay man on national issues), John H. 
Thompson, and Isaac Howk. William W. Wick, a well known and popular campaigner, 
was the Anti-Jackson candidate, tho he became a Jackson man in 1835, and General 
John Carr was the Jacksonian candidate. These two fought it out on national issues 
while the others adhered largely to local issues. The vote was: Carr, 4,855 ; Wick, 4,610 ; 
Ray, 1,73.2 ; Jennings, 1,681 ; Thompson, 1,486 ; Howk, 454. Niles’ Register, September 
17, 1831. 
In the third the opposition was divided between O.H. Smith and John Test, while 
the Jackson party gave its vote to Jonathan McCarthy, who received 6,243 votes to 
5,289 for Smith and 3,107 for Test. Niles’ Register, September 17, 1831 ; Madison (Ind.) 
Republican, October 13, 1831. 
Scioto Gazette (Chillicothe, Ohio), February 15, 183,2. 
Many extreme Jackson men such as A.P. Field, John Dement, Zadoc Casey, and 
Joseph Duncan were for Johnson, while W.L.D. Ewing, Samuel McRoberts, and other 
“Whole Hog” Jacksonians were for Van Buren. At a Jackson meeting at Vandalia, 
January 2 and 3, 1832, McRoberts and Ewing withdrew with their followers, and left 
the Johnson men in control. The latter supported by Edwards and Reynolds declared 
against instructed delegates to the Baltimore convention. Warning from the Illinois 
Advocate (Edwardsville, 111.), that indorsement of Johnson would give Clay the state 
went unheeded, and a Johnson convention met at Vandalia to select Jackson and John- 
