<P> In economic policy Young America saw the necessity of a modern infrastructure with railroads, canals, telegraphs, turnpikes, and harbors; they endorsed the "market revolution" and promoted capitalism . They called for Congressional land grants to the states, which allowed Democrats to claim that internal improvements were locally rather than federally sponsored . Young America claimed that modernization would perpetuate the agrarian vision of Jeffersonian Democracy by allowing yeomen farmers to sell their products and therefore to prosper . They tied internal improvements to free trade, while accepted moderate tariffs as a necessary source of government revenue . They supported the Independent Treasury (the Jacksonian alternative to the Second Bank of the United States) not as a scheme to quash the special privilege of the Whiggish monied elite, but as a device to spread prosperity to all Americans . </P> <P> Sectional confrontations escalated during the 1850s, the Democratic Party split between North and South grew deeper . The conflict was papered over at the 1852 and 1856 conventions by selecting men who had little involvement in sectionalism, but they made matters worse . Historian Roy F. Nichols explains why Franklin Pierce was not up to the challenges a Democratic president had to face: </P> <Dl> <Dd> As a national political leader Pierce was an accident . He was honest and tenacious of his views but, as he made up his mind with difficulty and often reversed himself before making a final decision, he gave a general impression of instability . Kind, courteous, generous, he attracted many individuals, but his attempts to satisfy all factions failed and made him many enemies . In carrying out his principles of strict construction he was most in accord with Southerners, who generally had the letter of the law on their side . He failed utterly to realize the depth and the sincerity of Northern feeling against the South and was bewildered at the general flouting of the law and the Constitution, as he described it, by the people of his own New England . At no time did he catch the popular imagination . His inability to cope with the difficult problems that arose early in his administration caused him to lose the respect of great numbers, especially in the North, and his few successes failed to restore public confidence . He was an inexperienced man, suddenly called to assume a tremendous responsibility, who honestly tried to do his best without adequate training or temperamental fitness . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> As a national political leader Pierce was an accident . He was honest and tenacious of his views but, as he made up his mind with difficulty and often reversed himself before making a final decision, he gave a general impression of instability . Kind, courteous, generous, he attracted many individuals, but his attempts to satisfy all factions failed and made him many enemies . In carrying out his principles of strict construction he was most in accord with Southerners, who generally had the letter of the law on their side . He failed utterly to realize the depth and the sincerity of Northern feeling against the South and was bewildered at the general flouting of the law and the Constitution, as he described it, by the people of his own New England . At no time did he catch the popular imagination . His inability to cope with the difficult problems that arose early in his administration caused him to lose the respect of great numbers, especially in the North, and his few successes failed to restore public confidence . He was an inexperienced man, suddenly called to assume a tremendous responsibility, who honestly tried to do his best without adequate training or temperamental fitness . </Dd>

The democratic party is the oldest political party in the united states