Barnburner: the radical division of the 1840s Democratic Party in New York
Also known as Young Democracy, the Cincinnati Ohio Union describes Barnburners in a flattering editorial as men who "have sympathies with the people" and "who believe in and favor progress." Barnburners wanted to break up large corporations because of abuses in the system and were against the extension of slavery into the territories. They also opposed old-style machine politics with its "spoils" system. Barnburners reportedly received their nickname from a member of Tammany Hall, home of New York's Democratic machine politics, who said, "These men are incendiaries; they are mad; they are like the farmer, who, to get the rats out of his granary, sets fire to his own barn." The speaker was referring to an anecdote that was familiar at the time, in which an old Dutch farmer sets fire to his barn to get rid of the rats. Barnburners returned the favor by labeling the conservative wing of the party Old Hunkers.
Barnburners were partly responsible for the Democrats losing the 1848 presidential election. Disgusted with the Party's failure to move against the expansion of slavery, they abandoned the nominating convention and formed their own third party. They ran former president Martin Van Buren as their presidential candidate. The result, predictably, was a win for the Whig Party's Zachary Taylor.