Barnburners

in American politics, a progressive section of the Democratic party in New York. They were in reality bolters, who were displeased by the election of President Polk in 1844. They were represented as willing to destroy their party in an effort to reform it. The nickname was given them in allusion to an anecdote then current of a Dutchman who set fire to his barn to clear it of rats. The Barnburners favored canal construction and opposed the extension of slavery into new territory. Locally they supported the knot of political managers known as the "Albany Regency," as opposed to the National Democracy controlled by the friends of James K. Polk. Among the leaders admired by the Barnburners were William L. Marcy, Silas Wright, Martin Van Buren, and John A. Dix. Later this wing of the Democracy was merged with the Free-Soilers. See Free Soil Party