"We take this opportunity," they said, "to
aver, whatever may be said to the contrary by ignorant or designing
individuals or biased presses, that we have no desire or intention of
disturbing the rights of property in individuals or the public." In the
meantime Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright organized a party of their
own, endorsing an extreme form of state paternalism over children. This
State Guardianship Plan, as it was called, aimed to "regenerate America
in a generation" and to "make but one class out of the many that now
envy and despise each other."

There were, then, three workingmen's parties in New York, none of which,
however, succeeded in gaining an influential position in state politics.
After 1830 all these parties disappeared, but not without leaving a
legacy of valuable experience. "The Working Man's Advocate" discovered
political wisdom when it confessed that "whether these measures are
carried by the formation of a new party, by the reform of an old one, or
by the abolishment of party altogether, is of comparative unimportance."

In New England, the workingmen's political endeavors were joined with
those of the farmers under the agency of the New England Association of
Farmers, Mechanics, and Workingmen. This organization was initiated in
1830 by the workingmen of Woodstock, Vermont, and their journal, the
"Working Man's Gazette," became a medium of agitation which affected all
the New England manufacturing towns as well as many farming communities.
"Woodstock meetings," as they were called, were held everywhere and
aroused both workingmen and farmers to form a new political party. "The
Springfield Republican" summarized the demands of the new party thus:

"The avowed objects generally seem to be to abolish imprisonment for
debt, the abolishment of litigation, and in lieu thereof the settlement
of disputes by reference to neighbors; to establish some more equal
and universal system of public education; to diminish the salaries and
extravagance of public officers; to support no men for offices of public
trust, but farmers, mechanics, and what the party call "working men";
and to elevate the character of this class by mental instruction and
mental improvement.... Much is said against the wealth and aristocracy
of the land, their influence, and the undue influence of lawyers and
other professional men.... The most of these objects appear very well on
paper and we believe they are already sustained by