The more things change.....................

     The Democratic press, led by the Washington Globe, constantly stressed the fact that the difference between the two parties was the difference between "the poor and the rich."  And some Whig newspapers openly conceded that they had no problem with this simplistic explanation;  only they insisted upon more accurate definition of the word "rich."  Asked the New York American on June 20, 1834:  "Who are the rich men of our country?  They are the enterprizing mechanic, who raises himself by his ingenious labors from the dust and turmoil of his workshop, to an abode of ease and elegance;  the industrious tradesman, whose patient frugality enables him at last to accumulate enough to forego the duties of the counter and indulge a well-earned leisure."  Merchants and traders and mechanics - these are the Whigs, proclaimed the New York American, and they maintain written law and legitimate authority against sycophancy and arbitrary rule by one man.

-Robert V. Remini,  Henry Clay:  Statesman for the Union