Page 74 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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The Rise of Majoritarianism
These structural developments, which would have been impossible in
1800, proceeded because of the new communication capacity and in
turn deepened the dependence of the political system on the new com-
munication. In other words, broad, citizen-level politics both depended
on and fostered broad, citizen-level exchange of political information.
The question of slavery was in many ways the first political proving
ground for the new forms of collective action made possible by the infor-
mationrevolutionofthe1820sand’30s.Thescoresofantislaverysocieties
formed during and following this period depended on the new commu-
nicationsystemtoreachmembersandsympathizers.Bythe1830s,citizen
groups mobilized through mail and newspapers were flooding Congress
with letters about slavery in what was arguably the first sustained
“grassroots” policy campaign in the United States. 61 In 1835, a group
called the American Anti-Slavery Society undertook a remarkably
modern effort, acquiring the names of 20,000 prominent southerners
and mailing them well over 100,000 abolitionist pamphlets. 62 At the
same time, the American Temperance Society and other groups were
experimenting with mass mail for distribution of antialcohol tracts and
educational information. 63 The long-term success of the parties them-
selves depended even more on the new communication capacity, both
because citizens could themselves engage in issues of the day and because
party elites could reach out to citizens in strategic ways.
TheterrainofAmericanpoliticswasthereforefundamentallydifferent
by midcentury than it had been at the start, for reasons that are rooted
as much in communication as in processes that political scientists tradi-
tionally label institution building. The newspapers were a key vehicle for
generating and directing political interest in the newly active electorate.
Party officials used the local papers to call meetings, to list delegates to
conventions and caucuses, and to publicize the political rallies and events
that eventually became such an important feature of nineteenth-century
politics. At the same time, the papers also published notices of meetings
and events involving the broader array of civic organizations, from re-
ligious clubs to boards of directors of local banks and businesses. 64 The

61 James L. Sundquist, Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of
Political Parties in the United States, rev. ed. (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution,
1983).
62
John, Spreading the News.
63
JackS.Blocker,Jr.,AmericanTemperanceMovements:CyclesofReform(Boston:Twayne
Publishers, 1989).
64
Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics
in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
57