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.Van Buren was an Old Republican.That is, hewas a Democratic Republican like Thomas Jefferson and JamesMadison before they became presidents.He believed in a strongstate government and a weak national government.There was a rea-son.New York had a strong state government and it had done somewonderful things, like building the Erie Canal.Van Buren was notabout to permit the federal government to compete with New York orassist some other state to do it. VIOLENCE AND WHITE MILITANCY " 347What Van Buren wanted to do was set up a national political coali-tion that would believe the same as he.The best place to find suchpeople was in the South, where they opposed a strong federal gov-ernment on principle.So, in the election of 1824, he supportedWilliam H.Crawford of Georgia.In the election of 1828, he was forAndrew Jackson.Van Buren used Jackson s popularity to front forhis coalition.He was secretary of state and assisted in Jackson sbreak with John C.Calhoun, Old Hickory s vice president.Van Bu-ren became vice president in 1832 because of his loyalty to Jack-son s first administration and president in the election of 1836 be-cause of his loyalty to Jackson s second administration.Van Burenhelped Jackson orchestrate the destruction of Philadelphia as themain economic engine of the nation in favor of New York City in theBank War.It has remained that way ever since.But as president, Van Buren was checked by the Panic of 1837.Against the worst depression before the Civil War, the Little Magi-cian lost his charm and was crushed by William Henry Harrison inthe election of 1840.Back home in New York, Van Buren opposedthe annexation of Texas, which cost him re-nomination for the pres-idency in the election of 1844.He got involved with tumultuous statepolitics and emerged as a Free-Soil Party presidential hopeful in theelection of 1848, opposing the extension of slavery into the West.Hereturned to the Democrat fold only to oppose secession and died inthe midst of the Civil War.Van Buren s political flexibility was ad-mired and criticized, then and now.As John Randolph of Roanokeonce put it: He always rowed to his objective with muffled oars. VELASCO, TREATY OF.See LONE STAR REBELLIONS.VESEY, DENMARK.See THE CHARLESTON REVOLT (1822).VIOLENCE AND WHITE MILITANCY.Southern social mores didnot change very fast from the 18th century.But those in the Northdid.By the 1830s, the North was where the South would be in the1930s, a 100-year gap in social perceptions.In the 19th century, theSouth still believed in a closeness to the God of the Old Testamentthe one who spoke of an eye for an eye.The South held that honorwas the most important social value from which all the rest sprung: 348 " VIOLENCE AND WHITE MILITANCYgovernment, law and order, family, and societal values.Important toone s self-worth was what the community at large thought.It was im-portant to build this community sanction by displaying a ferocity ofwill as a sign of one s inner merit.Honor gave structure to life, gen-der, family, and community.Hospitality, gambling, and personal combat were the three thingsthat made an honorable man and determined in what part of societyhe belonged.Southern hospitality was a way to differentiate theSouth from the North.Sociability and manners were more importantthan intellect or book learning.Family name was a history of whoone was.For this reason so many Southern men, and some women,had no common English first name.Rather a family name from thematrilineal branch or perhaps of a close family friend or relative wasused.The Southern woman was stereotyped in the sanctity of virgin-ity, glorification of motherhood, and the noble self-sacrifice as a ma-tron.But she was subordinate to male concepts of what was proper.Gambling, the willingness to take a chance, to risk all for victorywas typically Southern.Wrestling, like what Abraham Lincoln in-dulged in on the Illinois frontier, was present in the South, but usu-ally it took the form of rough and tumble, meaning no holds barred.Men tried to bite off an opponent s ear or nose or rip a lip off to thechin.In lower classes on the frontier, men grew and trimmed and pol-ished select fingernails so that they might assist in the plucking outof an opponent s eye.Men with missing fingers, eye patches, andmaimed limbs were common enough to be noted in journals of Yan-kee and foreign visitors.But as weapons became more sophisticated, men graduated fromteeth and bare hands to Bowie knives and pistols.Street fights, likeAndrew Jackson s shootout with the Benton Brothers, were com-mon and considered manly, especially if one s own side were out-numbered and won.James and Resin Bowie made their reputationson a sandbar fight in the middle of the Mississippi with the knife oftheir own design.Formal duels were engaged in by, but not limited to, the upper-class gentry
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