literary works Politics Some of Tucker's writing reflected a growing political skepticism of the workings of democracy beginning with the 1796 election. By the late 1820s, he was persuaded that political leadership positions should be reserved primarily for prosperous people with a tangible, and taxable, interest in government. Andrew Jackson's election in 1828 was for Tucker an example of the "triumph of democratic demagoguery which could bring about class warfare." Tucker worked arduously in Virginia to oppose Jackson and was a solid supporter of Henry Clay, with his second choice being Daniel Webster. He opposed universal suffrage, and favored limiting the franchise to half of free men, and allowing slaveholders to cast votes on behalf of three-fifths of their slaves; he also argued in favor of eliminating the secret ballot. Tucker also promoted the Second National Bank and strongly criticized Jackson for defunding it. Works of fiction Tucker's premier literary work was The Valley of Shenandoah (1824), the first fictional tale of life in Virginia. His writing began on July 1 and the book was completed by August 31. In relating the downfall of an aristocratic family in the commonwealth's valley, it drew upon his personal witness of the financial ruin of his in-laws, the family of Charles Carter, and described the inability of an estate owner to manage his monetary affairs, such as he had personally experienced. Tucker further used the novel's characters, again reflecting personal experience, to emphasize that happiness in love and life resulted from the moderation of one's passions. The Valley stressed Tucker's professorial objective, that history must inform the reader with "the progress of society and the arts of civilization; with the advancement and decline of literature, laws, manners and commerce." He also conveyed through the fiction his view that gentility was independent of wealth, that the relationship between masters and slaves was imbued with mutual trust and happiness, and that the strong currents of socio-economic change were on the whole beneficent. In his negotiations with the publisher Harpers, Tucker relates: "As an excuse for not offering me more liberal terms, one of them, the eldest partner, said, “Why, we shall have to give a man fifty dollars to read your book. 'Oh,' said I, 'what chance have you then to sell it if you have to hire a man to read it?'" Harpers offered to pay him $500, which he declined, and the publication