American Sans Culottes

[Diabolical Materialism]

Been listening to the Revolutions Podcast and it got me thinking, to what extent did the urban working class in late 18th century America exist.

How large was the early American urban class? What were their political leanings? How did they view the revolution?

[Republican Party Stalwart]

Closest thing would probably be the multiple "Mechanics'/Workingmen's Parties" that sprung up between c.1824-c.1850 - including that of Robert Dale Owen in NYC and that of Andrew Johnson and his allies in Greeneville, Tennessee (including during the local elections of 1829, in which Johnson was elected to his first-ever political office) - along with the associated "Locofoco" faction of the Democratic Party that existed from 1835-c.1850. An earlier example might be found in the small "radical" faction led by William J. Duane within the Jeffersonian Republican and Jacksonian Democratic Parties, during the 1800's through the 1830's.

The Democratic Party-backed Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island in 1841-42, of which the Democratic Party-affiliated supporters were known as "Dorrites," definitely also merits mention.

Perhaps you could also mention the "Barnburner" faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s.

Also the "Bonus Army" of 1932.