Qass. 
 Book 
 
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 ■Of 
 
SPEECH 
 
 MR. BENTON, OF MISSOURI, 
 
 EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 
 
 ^Delivered in the Senate, January 12, 1837. 
 
 The special order of the day beinj? called, the 
 Secrelary read tlie following preamble and reso- 
 tion: 
 
 licsohitlon to expunge from the. Journal the Resolution of 
 
 the .Senate </ March 'ifi, 1S34, in relation to President 
 
 Jacksun and the Removal of the Deposiles. 
 
 ■VVherea?, on the £fith clay of December, in the year 18X3, the 
 following resolve was moved in tlie Senate: 
 
 " Resolved, That, by dismisaing the late Secretary of the 
 Treasury, b'^cause he would not, contrary to his own sense of 
 duty remove ihie money of the United States in deposite with 
 the Bank of the United States and its branches, in conlormily 
 with the President's opinion, and by appointing his successor to 
 effect such removal, which lias been done, the President has 
 assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the 
 United States, not granted him by the Constitution and laws, 
 and dangerous to the liberties.of the People;" 
 
 Which proposed resolve was altered and changed by the mo- 
 ver thereof, on the 28ihday of March, in the year 18I}1, so as to 
 read as follows: 
 
 " jReso/red, That, in taking upon himself the responsibility 
 of removing the deposite of the public money from the Bank 
 of the United Stales, the President of the United Sia'es has as- 
 sumed the c.\?rcise of a power over the Treasury of the United 
 States not 'ii^'nied to him by the Constitution and laws, and 
 ilangerous to the liberties of the People;" 
 
 Which resolve, so changed and modified by the niovei there- 
 of, on the same day and year last mentioned, was further al- 
 tered, so as to read in these words: *• 
 
 " Resolvdl, That the Prcsiilent, in the late executive proceed- 
 ings in relation to the revenue, hasa*iimed upon himself au- 
 thority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, 
 iHil m derogation of both;" . ^ 
 
 In which' last mentioned form the ?aid resolve, on the same 
 day and year last mentioned, was adopted by the Senate, and 
 became the act and judgment of that body, and, as such, now 
 rem-iins upon the journul thereof; 
 
 And whereas the said resolve was not warranted by the 
 ^Jonstitution, and was irregularly and illegally adopted by the 
 Senate, in violation of the rights of defence which belong to 
 •ve/y ciiisten, and in subvcrsioi. of the fundamental principirs 
 of law and justice; because President Jackson was thereby ad- 
 judsed and pronounced to be guilty of an impeachable olfence, 
 and a stigma placet! upon him ius a violator o( his oath of olfice, 
 and of the laws and Constitution which he was sworn to pre- 
 serve, protect, and defend, without going through the forms: of 
 an impeachment, and without allowing to him the benefits of a 
 trial, or the means ofdelence: 
 
 And wlierea.1 the stiid rc-olve, in all its various shapes and 
 form?, was unfnundcii and erroneous in pointof fact, and there- 
 fore unjust anJ unrighteous, as well aa irregular and unauthori- 
 
 zed by the Constitution; because the said President .laclcsnri 
 neither in the act of dismissing Mr. Uuane, nor in the appomt. 
 menlofMr. Taney, as specifieil in the first form of the resolve; 
 nor in taking upon himself the responsibility of removing the 
 deposiies, as specified in the second form of the sa'ne resolve; 
 nor in any act which was then, or can now, be specified under 
 the vat'ue and ambistuous terms of the general denunciation 
 contained in the third and last Ibrm of the resolve, did do er 
 commit any act in violation or in derogation ofthe laws and 
 Con-stitution, or dangerous to the liberties of the people: 
 
 And whereas the paid resolve, as adopted, was uncertain and 
 ambiguous, containing nothing but a loose and floating charge 
 for de'i-ogating from the laws and Consiitution, and assuming 
 un"-ranted power and authority in the late Executive proceed- 
 ing's in relation to the public revenue; without specilying what 
 Dart of the Executive proceedings, or what part of the public 
 revenuewas intended to be referred to; or what parts of the 
 laws and C'onstitution were supposed to have been infringed; 
 or in what part of the Union, oral what period ol his adminis- 
 tration, these late proceedings were supposed to have taken 
 place; thereby putting each Senator at liberty to vole in favor 
 of the resolve upon a separate and secret reason of his own, 
 and Icav'ng the ground iif the Senate's judgment to be guessed 
 at by the public, and to be difl^erenlly and diversely interpreted 
 by individual Senators, according to the private and particular 
 undeist.-indingof each: contrary to all the ends of justice, and 
 to all the forms of legal or judicial proceeding; to the great 
 prejudiceof the accused, who could not know against what to 
 defend himself; and to the loss of Senatorial responsibility, by 
 shielding Senators from pub'ic accountability for making up a 
 judgment upon grounds which the public cannot know, and 
 whFch, if known, might prove to be insufficient in law, or un 
 founded in fact: . ,. , ^ 
 
 And whereas the specification contained in tlie first and se- 
 • cond forms ofthe resolve havins been objected to in debate, 
 and shown to be insufficient to sirstain the charges they were ad- 
 duced to support, and it being well believed that no majority 
 could bo obtained to vole lor the said specifications, and the 
 same having been actually withdrawn by the mover in the face 
 ofthe whole Senate, in consequence of such oljection and be- 
 lief, anil before anv vote taken thereupon; the said specifica- 
 tions could notalterwards be admitted by any rule of parlia- 
 mentary practice, or by any principle of legal imjilication, se- 
 cret intendment, or mental reservation, to rtniiain and continue 
 a part ofihc wiiticn and public resolve from which they wern 
 thus withdrawn; and, if they could be so ndmitted, they would 
 not be siiflirient to sustain the charge.? therein contained: 
 
 And whereas the Senate being the constitutional tribunal for 
 the trial of the President, when charged by the IIous(! of Re- 
 presentatives with offences against the laws and the Cinstitu- 
 tioii the adoption of thesaid'resolve, before any impeachment 
 preferreii by the House, was a breach of the privileges of the 
 House; not warranted by the Consiitution; a subversion of 
 justice; a prejudication of a question which might legally 
 
E'^E^r 
 
 2 
 
 come before ihe-Senate ; and a disqualification of that body to 
 perform iis constniuional duly wiih fairness and itnpavtiality, 
 if the President should thereafter be regularly impeached by 
 the House of Ilepresentatives foi the sameolience: 
 
 And whereas the temperate, respectful, and argumentative de- 
 fence and protest of the President against the aforesaid pro- 
 ceeding of the Senate was rejected and repulsed liy that body, 
 and was voted to be a breach of its privileges, and was not per- 
 miitedtobe entered on its journal or printed among its docu- 
 ments; while all memorials, petitions, resolves, and remon- 
 strances against the President, however violent or unfounded, 
 and calculated to inllame tlie people against hnn, were dvdy 
 and honorably received, encomiasiically commented upon in 
 speeches, read at the table, ordered to be printed with the lung 
 list of names attached, referred to the Finance Commitiee for 
 consideration, filed away among the public archives, and now 
 constitute a part of the public documents of the Senate, to be 
 handed down to the latest posterity : 
 
 And whereas the said resolve was introduced, debated, and 
 adopted, at a time and under circumstances which had the 
 effect of co-operating with the Bank of the United States in the 
 parricidal attempt which that institution was then making to 
 produce a panic and pressure in the country; to desiroy"ihe 
 confidence of the people in President Jackson; to paralyze his. 
 administration; lo govern the elections; to bankrupt the Stale 
 banks; ruin their currency; fill the whole Union with terror 
 and distress; and thereby to extort from the sufferings and the 
 alarms of the people, the restoration of the deposites and the 
 renewal of its charter: 
 
 And whereas the said resolve is of evil example and danger- 
 ous precedent, and should never have been received, debated, 
 or adopted by the Senate, or admitted to entry upon its journal: 
 Wherefore, 
 
 Resolved, That the said resolve be expunged from the jour- 
 nal; and, for that purpose, that the Secretary of the Senate, at 
 such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manuscript 
 journal of the session 18.33 '34 into the Senate, and, in the pre- 
 6cnce of the Senate, draw black lines round the said resolve, 
 and write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the following 
 words: " Expunged by order op the Senate, this — day 
 
 of , IN THE YEAROPOtIR LoKD, 1837." 
 
 The resolution and preamble having been read, 
 Mr. BENTON rose and said: 
 
 Mr. President: It is now near three years since 
 the resolve was adopted by the Senate, which it 
 is my present motion to expung-e from the jour- 
 nal. At the moment tliat this resolve was adopted, 
 I gave notice of my intention to move to expuni^e 
 it; and then expressed my confident belief that the 
 motion would eventually prevail. That expression 
 of confidence was not an ebullition of vanity, or a 
 presumptuous calculation, intended to accelerate 
 the event it afiected to foretell. It was not a vain 
 boast, or an idle assumption, but was the result of 
 a deep conviction of the injustice done President 
 Jacksion, and a thorough reliance upon the justice 
 of the American people. I feltthatthe President 
 bad been wronged; and my heart told me tint 
 this wrovig would be redres.sed! The event 
 proves (hat I was not mistaken. The question of 
 expunging this resolution has been carried to the 
 people, and their decision has been had upon 
 it. They decide in favor of the expurgation; and 
 theirdecision has been both made and manifested, 
 and communicated to us in agreat vaiiety of ways. 
 A grpat number of Slates have expressly instruct- 
 ed their Senators to vote for this expurgation, A 
 very great majority of the States have elected Se- 
 nators and Representatixes to Congres?, upon the 
 express grcunti of favoring this expurgation. The 
 Tank of the United States, which took the initia- 
 tive in the accusation against the President, and 
 furnished the material, and worked the machinery 
 which was used against him, and which was then 
 so powerful on this floor, has become more and 
 more odious to the public mind, and musters now 
 but a slender phaUnx of friends in the two Houses 
 of Congress. The late Presidential election fur- 
 nishes additional evidence of public sentiment. 
 
 The candidate who was the friend of President 
 Jackson, the supporter of his administration, and 
 the avowed advocate for the expurgation, has re- 
 ceived a large majority of the suffrages of the whole 
 Union, and that after an express declaration of his 
 sentiments on this prt else point. The evidence of 
 the public will, exhibited in all these forms, is too 
 manifest to be mistaken, too explicit toreqnirt illus- 
 tration, and too imp^ raiivt to be disn-g-ardf d. Omit- 
 ting details and specific enumeration of proofs,! I 
 reler to our own filths for the i'lstnictions to ex- 
 punge, — to the complexion of the two Houses for 
 the temper of the people, — to the denational zed 
 condition of the IJank of t!ie United States (or the 
 (ate of the imperious accuser, — and to the Issue of 
 the Presidonlial election I'or the answer of the 
 Unitin. All these are pregnant proofs of the pub- 
 lic will, and the last pre eminently so; because, Loth 
 the question of the expuigiilon, and the form of the 
 process, was directly put in issue upon it. A repre- 
 .sentative of the people from the State of Kentucky 
 formally interrogated a prominent candidate for the 
 Presidency on these points, and required from him 
 a public answer for the information of the public 
 mind. The answer was given, and published, and 
 read by all the voters before the election; and I 
 deem it right to refer to that answer in this plnce, 
 not only as evidence of the points put in issue, but 
 also for the purpose of doing more ample jtisiice 
 to President Jackson by incorporating Into the 
 legislative history of this case, the high an<i hon- 
 orable testimony in his favor of theeminent citizen 
 wbohasjtist been exalted to the lofty honors of 
 the American Presidency: 
 
 "Your last question seeks to know 'my' opinion as to the con- 
 stitutional power of the Senate or House of Representatives to 
 expunge or obliterate from the journals the proceedings of a pre- 
 vious session. 
 
 You will, lam sure, be sali-sfied upon further consideration, 
 that iher" are but few ([uesiionsof a political character l^.^s con- 
 nected with the duties ot the oHice of President of the United 
 States, or that might not with equal propriety he put by an 
 elector to a'randidatefor that station, than this. With the jour- 
 nals of neither house of Congress can he propm:^ have any 
 thing to do. But, as your ([uestion has doubtless been induced 
 by the pendency of Col. Benton's Resolutions, to expunge from 
 the journals of the Senate certain other resolutions touching the 
 official conduct of President .Jackson, I prefer to say, that I re- 
 gard the passage of Col. Benton's Preamble and Resolutions to 
 be an act of justice to a faithful and greatly injured public ser- 
 vant, not only constitutional init self, but i mperiously ilemand 
 ed by a proper respect for the well known will of the people." 
 
 I do not propose, sir, to draw violent, unwar- 
 ranted, or strained inferences. 1 do not assume 
 to say that the question of this expurgation was 
 a leading, or a controlling point in the Issue of 
 this election. 1 do not assume to say, or insinuate, 
 that every individual, and every voter, delivered 
 his suffrage with reference to this question. 
 Doubtless there were many exceptions. Still, 
 the triumphant election of the candidate who had 
 expressed himself in the terms just quoted, and 
 who was, besides, the personal and politic il friend 
 of President Jackson, and the avowed approver 
 of his administration, must be admitted to a place 
 among the proofs in this case, and ranked among 
 the high concurring evidences of the public senti- 
 ment in favor of the motion which I make. 
 
 Assuming then that we have ascertained the 
 will of the people on this great question, the in- 
 quiry presents itself, how far the expression of 
 that will ought to be conclusive of our action 
 
 I 
 
liere? 1 hold tint it oiight to be binding- and oh- 
 ligatory upon ii>.! aiul thut, nnt only upon the [)rin- 
 ciples of representative GovL-rnment, which re- 
 (juires obedience to the known will of the people, 
 but also in conformity to the principles upon 
 which tiie pioccetlinij against President ,Iack>ion 
 uas conducted when the sentence against him 
 was adopted. Then every thinp;' was done with 
 especial reference to the will of the people! Their 
 impiilsion was assumed to be tlie sole motive to 
 action, and to them the ult'mate vei'dict was ex- 
 pressly referred. The whole machinery of alarin 
 and presKUie — every engine of political and mo- 
 neyed power — was put in motion, and worked f)r 
 nuny months, to excite the people ac^ainst the 
 President, and to s-tir up meetings, memorials, pe- 
 titions, travelling committees, and distress deputa- 
 tions against him; and each symptom of popular 
 discontent w:<s bailed as an evidence of public 
 will, and quoted here as proof that the people de- 
 manded the condemnation of the President. Not 
 only legislative assemblies, and memorials from 
 large assemblies, were then produced here as evi- 
 dence of publ'C opinion, but tiie petitions of boys 
 under age, the remonstrances of a few signers, 
 and the results of the most inconsiderable elec- 
 tion':, were ostentatiously paraded and mag- 
 nified as the evidence of the sovereign will of our 
 conlituents. Thus, sir, the pwblic voice was 
 every thing while that voice, partially <.b- 
 tained thro\igh political and pecuniary machina- 
 tions, was Hclvcrse to the Pre^ilent. Then the 
 popular will wis the shrine at which all worship 
 ped. Now, when that will is regularly, soberly, 
 repeatedly, arid almost universally expressed 
 throtigli the ballot boxes, at the various elections, 
 and turns ovit to be in favor of the President, cer- 
 tainly no one can disregard it, nor otherwise look 
 at it than as the solemn verdict of the competent 
 and ultimate tribunil u]ion as issue fairly made up, 
 fully argued, and duly submitted for decision. As 
 such verdict, I rcceve it. As the deliberate ver- 
 dict of the soveieign people, I bow to it. I am 
 content. I do not mean tore-open the ca-e, nor 
 to recommence the argument. I leave that woik 
 to others, if any others choose to perform it. For 
 myself, I am content; and, dispensing with fur 
 Iher argument, 1 shrdl call for judg.neut, and ask 
 to have execution done, upon that unhappy j'lur- 
 nal, which the verdict of millions of freemen finds 
 ;;uilty of bearing on its face an untrue, illegal, 
 and unconstitutional sentence of condemnation 
 against the approved President of the llepublic. 
 
 Hut, wdiile declining to re-open the argument of 
 this question, and refusing to trca 1 over apain the 
 ground already traversed, there is another and a 
 dilfei-ent task to perform; one w hich the approach- 
 ing termination of President Jackson's administra- 
 tion makes pec^li^^ly proper at this time, and 
 wliich it is my privilege, nnd perhaps my duty, to 
 execute, as being the suitable conchisiwn to the 
 arduous contest in which we have been so lotig 
 engaged: I allude to the general tenor of his ad 
 ministration, !»nd to its efi'ect, for good or for evil 
 upon tlie condition of hi', country. This is the 
 pro[)pr time for such a view to be taken. The po 
 litical existence of this great man now draws to a 
 close. In little more than forty days he ceases to 
 
 be a pulilic character. In a few brief weeks he 
 ceas' H to be an object of politictd hope to any, and 
 should cease to be sn o'lject of political hate, or 
 envy, to all. Whatever of motive the servile and 
 time-serving might have found in his exalted 
 .station for raising the altar of adulation, and 
 burning the ifceiise of praise before him, that 
 motive can no longer exist. The dispenser 
 of the patronai^e of an empire — the chief 
 of this great Confederacy of Sla'es — is soon 
 to be a private individual, stripped of all power to 
 reward, or to punish. His (jwn thoughts, a^ he 
 has shown us in the concluding piragraph of that 
 messige which is to be the last of its kind that we 
 shall ever receive from him, are directed to that 
 beloved retirement from wliich he was drawn by 
 the voice of millions of freemen, and to which he 
 now looks for that interval of repose which age 
 and infirmities require. Under these circum- 
 stances, he ceases to be a subject for the ebuhitioii 
 of t!ie passions, and passes into a character for the 
 contemplation of history. Historic 11}^ then shall 
 I view liim; and limiting this view to hi* civil ad- 
 ministration, 1 dein;ind where is there a chief ma- 
 gistrate of whom so much evil has been predicted, 
 .md fiom whi)m so much good has come' Never has 
 any man entered 11 pontile chief migi-.tracy of a coun- 
 try under such appalling predictions of ruin and wo! 
 never h.'ts any one been so pursued with direful 
 prognostications! Never has anv one been so be- 
 set and impeded by a powerful combination of 
 political and moneyed confe ler ites! Never has 
 any one in any country where the administration 
 of justice has risen above the knife or the bow- 
 string, been so lawlessly, and shameless'y, tried 
 and condemned by rivals and enemies, without 
 heiring, without defence, without the forms of law 
 or justice! History has been ransacked to find ex- 
 amples of tyrants sufficiently odious to illustrate 
 him by comparison. Language has been tortured 
 to find epithets s'llHciently strong to paint him in 
 dcscrii-)tion. Imagination has been exhausted in 
 her efforts to decic him with revolting and inhu- 
 man attributes. Tyrant, despot, usurper; de- 
 stroyer of the liberties of Ills country; rash, igno- 
 runt, imbecile; endangering the puhiic peace with 
 all foreign nutuUTi; destroying domestic prosperi- 
 ty at home; ruming all industry, all commerce, all 
 manufactories; annihilating confidence between 
 man »nd man; delivering up the streets of popu- 
 lous cities to grass and weeds, and the wharves of 
 commercial towns to the incumbrance of decaying 
 vessels, depriving labor of all reward; depriving 
 industry of all employment; destroying tlic cur- 
 rencv; plunging mi innocent and happy people 
 from the summit of felicity to the depths of mise- 
 ry, want, and despair. Such is the fabit outline, 
 lo. lowed up by actual condemnition, of the appal- 
 ling denunciations daily uttered agiinst this one 
 MAN, from the moment he became an object of 
 political competition, down to the concluding mo- 
 ment of his political existence. 
 
 The sacred voice of inspiration has told us that 
 there is a time for all things. There certainly 
 lias lieen a time for every evil that human nature 
 admits of to be vaticinated of President JacksoH's 
 administration; equally certain the time has now 
 come lor all rational and well-disposed people to 
 
compare the predictions with the facts, and to ask 
 themselves if these calamitous prognostications have 
 been verified by events? Have we peace, or 
 War, with foreign nations? Certainly, we liave 
 peace! peace with all tlie world! peace with all 
 its benign, and felicitous, and bentficept influ- 
 ences! Are we respected, or de?pis^.d abroad? 
 Certainy the American name never was more ho- 
 nored throughout the four quarters of the globe, 
 than in this very moment. Do we hear of indig- 
 nity, or outrage in any quarter' of merchants rob- 
 bed in fi:ireign ports? of vessels searched on the 
 high seas? of American citizens impressed into fo- 
 reign service? of the national fl:4g insulted «ny 
 wliere? On the contrary, we see former wrongs re- 
 paired; no new ones infiicted. France pays twenty- 
 live millions of francs for spoliations committed 
 thirty years ago; Naplespays two niilliotis one hun- 
 dred thousand ducats for wrongs oftlie same date; 
 Denmaik pays six hundred and fifty tiiousand 
 rixdollars for wrongs done a quarter of a centurj' 
 ago; Spain engages to pay twelve millions of 
 reals vtllon for it juiies of fifteen jears date; and 
 Portugal, the last in the list of former aggressors 
 admiishcr liabiii'y, and only waits the adjustnient 
 of details to close her account by adequate indem- 
 nity. So far from war, insult, contempt, and spolia- 
 tion from abroad; this denounced administration has 
 been the season of peace and good will, and the; 
 auspicious era of universal i-eparalion. So fnr 
 from suffering injuiy at the hai-ds of foreiirn 
 powers, our merchanis have received indemnities 
 for all ibrmer injuries. Itiiasbeen the day of accoun- 
 ting, of settlement, and of retribution. The long list 
 ofsrrearngev'.ext.n ling though four successive pre- 
 vious administrations, has been closed and settled 
 up. The wrongs done to commeme for thirty 
 years back, and under so manv different Presi- 
 dents, and indemnities witiihek'l from all, have 
 been repaired and paid over luiderthe beneficent 
 and glorious administration of President Jackson 
 liut one single instance of outrage hn=; occurred, 
 and that at the extremities oCthe world, and by a 
 piiatical horde, amenable to no law but tli? hw of 
 force. The Malays of Summatia committed a rob- 
 bery and massacre upon an American vessel. 
 Wretches! they did not then know that JACK- 
 SON was President of the United Stntes! and that 
 no distance, no time, no idle ceremonial of treating 
 with robbers and assassins, was to hold back the 
 arm of justice. Commodore Downes went out. 
 His cannon and his bayonets struck the otit'aws in 
 their den. ^ They paid in terror and in blood for the 
 outrag-e which was committed; and the great les- 
 son was taught to these distant pirates— to our an- 
 tipodes themselves— that not even the entire diam- 
 eter of this globe could protect them! and that the 
 jume of American citizen, like that of Roman citi- 
 zen in tile great days of the Republic and of ih- 
 empire, was to be the inviolable passi)ort of •dl that 
 ■wore it thioughout the whole extent of the habha- 
 ble world. 
 
 At home the most gratifying picture presents 
 itself to the view: The public debt paid off; 
 taxes reduced one half; the eomple'ioui of the 
 public defences systematically commenced; thf 
 com ctwith Georgia uncomplicd with since 1S02, 
 n- curried into tflect, and licr soil ready to be 
 
 freed, as her jurisdiction has been delivered, from 
 the presence and incumbrance of an Indian popu- 
 lation. Mississippi and Alabama, Ceorgia, Ten- 
 nessee and North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Missouri a.id Arkansas, in a word, all the Slates 
 encumbered with au Indian poptdation have been 
 relieved fi'otn that incumbranee; and the Inditns 
 themselves have been transferred to new and per- 
 manent homes, every way better adapted to the 
 enjoyment of their existence, the preservation of 
 their rights, and the improveip.ent of their condi- 
 tion. 
 
 The currency is not ruined! On tlie contrary 
 SKVENIY-FIVE millions of specie in the coun- 
 try is a spectacle never seen before, and is the bar- 
 rier of the peo|de against the designs of any banks 
 which may attempt to suspend payments, and to 
 force a dlihonored paper currency upon the 
 community. These seventy -five millions are 
 the security ^of the people against the dangers 
 of a depreciated and inconvertible paper money. 
 Golc', al\ur a disappearance of thirty years is rc- 
 stor. d to our country. All Eiu'ope beholds with 
 adm ra ion the success of our efrbrts in three years, 
 tost pp'y our.sclves with the currency which our 
 Con.-ti:uti(>n guaranties, and which the example 
 of France and Holland shows to be so easily at- 
 tainable, and of such incalculable value to indus- 
 try, morals, economy and solid wealth. T\\e suc- 
 cess of these efforts is styled in the best London 
 papers, not Tiierely a reformation, btit a revolution 
 in the currency ! a revolution hv which our Ame- 
 rica is now regaining from Europe the gold and sil- 
 ve which she has been sending to tiiem ibrthuiy 
 years past. 
 
 Domestic industry is not pralyzed, confidence is 
 not destroyed, factories are not slopped, work- 
 men are not mendicants for bread and employment, 
 credit is net extinguished, prices have not sunk, 
 glass is not growing in the s reets of popul,<is 
 cities, the wharves are not lumbered with decay- 
 ing vessels, columns of ciu-ses rising from the bo- 
 soms of a ruined and agonized people, are not as- 
 cending to Heaven against the destroyer of a na- 
 tion's felicity and prosperity. On the contrary, 
 the reverse of all this is true! and true to a degree 
 that asionishes and bewilders tlie senses. I 
 know that all is not gold that glitter?; that there is 
 a dilference between a specious and a solid prospe- 
 rity. I know that a part of the present prosperity 
 is apparent only, the effect of an increase of fifty 
 millions of p' per money forced nito circulation by 
 one thousand banks; but after m.aking due allow- 
 ance fior this fictitious and delusive excess, the real 
 prosperity of the country is stiU unprecedently 
 and transcendantly great. I know ih-A every flow 
 mu-.t be followed by its ebb, that every expansion 
 mu^t be follov/ed by itsconli-action. 1 know that 
 a revulsion in the paper system is inevitable; but 
 I know, also, that il'.ese SEVENTY-FiVE MIL- 
 LIONS OF GOLD AND S Ln ER is the bulvvirk 
 of the countiy, and will enable every /ioncsl. bank 
 to meet its liardlitie.s, and every prudent citizen to 
 take c.-.re of himself. 
 
 Turning to some points in the civil administra- 
 of Presiiient Jackson, and how much do we not 
 find to admire! The great cause o' the Constitu- 
 tion has been vindicated from an imputation of 
 
more th:«n[forty years' duration. He has demon 
 Ntraled by the f\<ct itself, that a national bank is not 
 ^'necefisary" to the fiscal operations of the Federal 
 Goveriinrient, and in that demonstration he lias up 
 set the argument of General Hamilton, and the de- 
 cision of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, and all that ever has been said in favor 
 of the rcn^tit^ltio^ality of a national bank. 
 All this nr.^ument and decision rested upon the 
 single assumption of the '^necessity" of that insti- 
 tution lo the J''ccieral Gavernment. He has shown 
 it is not ^'■nccessart,';'" that the currency of the Con- 
 s' itution, and especially a pold curency, is all that 
 the Federal Government wants, and that she can 
 j;et that whenever she pleases. In this slntjle act 
 he has vindicated the (Constitution from an unjust 
 imputation, and knocked from under the decision 
 of ihe Supreme Court the assumed fact on which 
 it rested. He has prepared the way for the 
 i^ver&al of that decision; and it Is a question for 
 lawyers to answer, whether the casf* is not ripe for 
 the application of that writ of most remedial na- 
 ture, as the Lord Coke calls it, and which was in- 
 vented lest in any ca'^e there shouli be an oppres- 
 sive defect of jastice! the venerable writ of audita 
 querela dffemlailis, to ascertain the truth of a fact 
 happening' since the ji-dirment, and upon the due 
 findme;' of which the jtu!i;ment will be vacated. 
 Lot tl)e lawjers i)riiig their books, and answer us 
 if there is not a case I ere presented for the appli- 
 cation of that ancient and mo'=.t remedial writ? 
 
 From I're'ident .lacksnn the country lias first 
 ]p.irried the ti uc theory and practical intent of tlie 
 Constitution, in giving to tlie Executive a qualified 
 nega'ive on the legislative power of Congress. 
 Far from being an o'lious, dangerous, or kingly 
 prerogative, tl;is power, as vested in the Presi- 
 dent, is notliing Ijut a qualified cop)' of the famf)us 
 veto power vested in the tribunes of the people 
 among the liimans, and inten»-!eil to suspend the 
 pass.ge of a law until the people themselves 
 sliould have time to consider it. The quaiificd 
 vdu of the President destroys nothing; it only de- 
 lays the passage of a law, and refers it to the 
 jieople fo:- their consideration and decision. It 
 i-i the refe'-ence of the law, not to a committee 
 of the House, or of tlie whole House, but to 
 the committee of the whole Tnion. It is a 
 recommitment nf the hill to the. I'tople. fir them 
 lo examine and considi-r; and If upon this examina- 
 tion ihoy are contend to pass it, it will pass at the 
 next session. The delay of a few months is the 
 only effect of a veto in a case where the peo- 
 ple sh'd! ultimattdy approve a law; where they do 
 not Hpprove^it, the iiiterpoKition of the veto is the 
 hurrit-r which saves them the infliction of a law, 
 the n peal of which might afterwards be almost 
 impossible. The qu'^lifi(<l negative is, therefore, 
 a beneficent power, inii lul- d, us General Hamilton 
 expressly declares in the Fi derails', to protect, 
 Jirst, the Executive Department from the encroach- 
 ments of ihe Legislative dep u'tment; and, necondli/, 
 to preserve the people from hasty, dangerous, or 
 criminal legislati:)n on the p'nrt of their representa- 
 tives. This is the design and intention of the veto 
 power; and the fear expressed hy General Hamil- 
 ton w (s that Presidents, so far from exercising it 
 too often, would not exercise it as often as tlie 
 
 safety of the people required; that they m!ght lack 
 tlie moral courage to stake themselves in opposi- 
 tion to a favorite measure of the m-joritv of the 
 two Houses of Congress, and thus deprive the peo- 
 ple, in many instances, of their right to pass upon 
 a bill before it become a final law. The cases in 
 which President Jackson has exercied the vfto 
 power has shown tlie soundness of these obte - 
 vations. No ordinary President would have 
 str.ked himself iig^lnst the IJank of the United 
 States, and the the two Houses of Congress, in 
 1832. It required President Jackson to confront 
 that power — to stem that torrent — to stay the 
 progress of that charter, and to refer it to the 
 people for their decision. His moral courage was 
 equal to the crisis. He arrested the charter until 
 it could go to the people, and they have arrested 
 it for ever. Had he not don& so, the charter would 
 have become law, and its repeal almost impossible. 
 The people of the whole Union would now have 
 been in the condition of the people of Pennsylva- 
 nia, bestrode by the monster, in daily conflict with 
 him, 'ind maintaining a doubtful contest for supre- 
 macy between the Government of a State, and 
 the directory of a moneyed corporation ! 
 
 To detail specific acts which adorn the adminis- 
 tration of President Jackson, and illustrate the in- 
 tuitive sagacity of his intellect, the firmness of his 
 mind, his disregard of personal popularity, and his 
 entire devotion to the public good, would be in- 
 consistent with this rapid sketch, intended merely 
 to present general views, and not to detail single 
 actior.^.s, howsoever worthy they may be of asplen- 
 dld page in the volume of history. Rut how cun 
 we pass over the great measure of the removal of 
 the public moneys from the Bank of the United 
 States in the autumn of 1833? that wise, heroic, 
 and masterly measure of prevention, v/hich has 
 rescued an empire from the fangs of a mer- 
 ciless, revengeful, greedy, insatiate, implica- 
 ble, moneyed power! It is a renvtik for 
 which I am indebted to the philosophic 
 observation of my most esteemed colleague 
 and friend, (pointing to Dr. Linn) tha*, whi'e it 
 requires far greater talent to foresee an evil be- 
 fore it happens, and to arrest it hy precaution'ary 
 measures, than it requires to apply an adequate 
 remedy to the same evil after it li:^3 h'^ppcned, 
 yet the applause bestowed by the world is a'wpys 
 greatest in the latter case. Of this the removal 
 of the public moneys from the Bank of the Un ted 
 States is an eminent instance. 'Ihe veto of 1832, 
 which arrested the charter which Coiij. res^ had 
 granted, immediately received the applause 
 and approbation of a luajonty of the Unlor; 
 the removal of the deposites, which prevent- 
 ed the bank from forcing a recharter, was 
 disapproved by a large majority of the coun- 
 try, and even of his own friends; yet the vttn 
 would have been unavailiofr, and the bank 
 would inevitably have been rechartercd, if the de- 
 posites had not been remove 1. The immense 
 sums of public monf.y since accumulated, would 
 have enabled the bank, if she had retained the 
 possession of it, to have coerced a recharter. 
 Nothing but the removal could Imve prevented 
 her from extorting a recharter from the suffering.-* 
 and terrors of the people. If it had not been for 
 
6 
 
 that measure, the previous veto would have been 
 unavHJinp;'; the bank would have been a^ain iti- 
 stalied in power, and this entire Federal Govern- 
 ment would have been held as an appendage to 
 that bank, and administered according to her di- 
 leclions, and by her nominees. That great measure 
 of prevention, the removal ot the deposites, though 
 feebly and iaintly supported by friends at first, 
 has expelled the bank liom the field, and driven 
 her into abeyance under a State charter. She is 
 rot dead, but, holding her capital and stockholders 
 togetlier under a State charter, she has taken a 
 position to watch events, and to profit by them. 
 The 10) al tiger has gone info tlie jungle! and, 
 crouched on his beliy, he awaits the favorab'e mo- 
 ment <or emerging from his cover, and springing 
 on the bodvofthe unsuspicious traveller! 
 
 Tlie Treasury order for excluding paper money 
 from the land ofiices is another wise measure, 
 originating in an enlightened forecast, and pre- 
 venting great mischiefs. The Pres.ident foresaw 
 the evils of .".uffering a thousand streams of paper 
 money, issuing from a thousand different banks, 
 to discliarge themselves on the national domain. 
 He foresaw that if these currents were allowed to 
 run their course, that the public lands would bt 
 swept away, the Treasury would be filled witli 
 irredeemable paper, a vast number of banks must 
 be broken by their folly, and the cry set up that 
 nothing but a national bank could regulate tlie 
 currency. He stopped the course of these streams 
 of paper; and in so doing, has saved the country 
 from a great calamity, and excited anew the ma- 
 chinal ions of those whose schemes of gain and mis- 
 chief have been disappointed, and who had counted 
 on a new edition of panic and pressure, and again 
 saluting CoHgress with the old story of confidence 
 destroyed, currency ruined, prosperity annihilated, 
 and distress produced, by the tyranny of one man. 
 They began their lugubrious song; but ridicule 
 and copitempt have proved too strong for money 
 •and insolence; and the panic letter of the ex pre- 
 sident of the denationalized bank, after limping 
 shout tor a few days, has shrunk from the lash of 
 ptiblic scorn, and disappeared from the forum of 
 public debate. 
 
 1 hed.fficuhy with Prance: what an instance it 
 presents of the superior sagacity of President 
 Jackson (jver all the common-place politicians who 
 be'et and impede his administration at home! Tiiat 
 diflicuiiy, inflamed and aggravated by domestic 
 faction, wore, at onetime, a portentous aspect: 
 the skill, firmness, elevation of purpose, and man- 
 ly frankr.e.^s of the President, avoided the dan- 
 ger, accomplished the object, commanded the ad- 
 n-:irat!on of Europe, aiid retained the friendship of 
 France. He conducted the delicate affair to a 
 successful, and mutually honorable issue. All i; 
 amicably and happily terminated, leaving not a 
 wound, nor even a scar, behind — leaving the 
 Frenchinan and American on the ground on which 
 they have stood for fifty years, and should forever 
 stand; the ground of fViendshij), respect, good 
 will, and mutujil wishes for the honor, happi- 
 ness and prosperity of each other. 
 
 But why this specification? So beneficent and 
 so glorious has been the administration of this Pre- 
 sident, that where to begin, and where to end, in 
 
 the enumeration of great measures, would be the 
 embarrassment of him who has hi^ eulogy to make. 
 He came into office tlie first of generals; he goes 
 out the first of state.'men. His civil competitors 
 have shared the fate of his military opponents; and 
 Washington city has been to the American politi- 
 cians who have assailed him, what New Orleans 
 was to the British Generals who attacked his lints. 
 Uepulsrd! driven back' discomfitted! crushed! 
 h iS been the (ate of all assailants, foreign and do- 
 mestic, civil and military. At home and abroad, 
 the impress of his genius and of his character is 
 felt. He has impressed upon the age in which 
 he Hvls the stamp of his Bims, of his di- 
 plomacy, and of his domestic policy. In a 
 wor<', so transcendant have been the merits 
 of his administraton that they have ope- 
 rated a miracle upon the minds of his most 
 inveterate opponents. He has expunged their ob- 
 jections to Military Chief ains! He has shown them* 
 that they were mistaken; that militatary men 
 were not the dangerours rulers they had imagined, 
 hut safe and prosperous conductors of the vessel of 
 St.-ite. He has changed their fear into love. With 
 visible signs they admit their error,and instead ofde- 
 precatingthty now invoke the reign of Chieftains, 
 rhey labored hard to procure a military successor 
 to the present incumbent, and if their love goes 
 on increasing at the same rate, ihe Bepublic may 
 be put to the e^pense of periodical wars, to 
 Irt-ed a perpetual succession of these chieftains 
 to ride over them and their po5.terity for ever. 
 
 To drop this irony, which the inconsistency of 
 mad opponents has provoked, and to return to 
 the plain delineations of historical painting, the 
 mind intsinctively dwells on the vast and unprece- 
 dented popularity of this President. Great is the 
 influence, great the power, greater than any m:m 
 ever before possessed in our America, whici he has 
 acquired over the public m^nd. And how has he 
 acquired ii? Not by the arts ofintrgue, or the 
 juggling tricks of diplomacy; not by undermining 
 rivals, or sacrlficiig public interests for the gra'i- 
 ficution of classes or individuals But he has ac- 
 quired it, first, by the exercise of an intuitive sa- 
 gacity which, leaving all book learning at an im- 
 measurable distance behind, has always enabled 
 him to adopt the right remedy, at the right time, 
 and to cor^quer soonest when the men of forms and 
 ofifice tliought him most near to ruin and de- 
 spair. Next, by a moral courage, whch knew 
 no fear when the public good beckoned him 
 to go on. Last, and cliiefest, he has acquired 
 it bv an open honei^'y of purpose, which knew 
 no concealments; by a str.Vight-forwaniness of 
 action, which disdained the forms of office, and 
 the arts of intrigue; by a disinterestedness of 
 motive, which knew no selfish or sordid cdcula- 
 tion; a devotedness of patriotism, wliich staked 
 every thing personal on the is«ue of every mea- 
 sure which the public welfare required him to 
 adiipt. By these qualities, and these means, he 
 has acquired his prodigious popularity and his 
 transcendent influence over the public mind; and 
 if there are any who envy that influence and popu- 
 larity, let them envy, also, and emulate, if they 
 can, the qualities and means by which they were 
 accLuired. 
 
Great has been the opposition to President 
 Jackson's administration; greater, perhaps, tlian 
 ever ha^ been exhibited against any Governmenl, 
 short of actual insurrection and forcible resistance. 
 Revolution lins been proclaimed! and every thing' 
 has been done that could be expected, to produce 
 revohilion. The country has been alarmed, agi- 
 tated, convulsed. From the Senate chamber to the 
 villag'-.- bar-room, from (-me ewd of the continent to 
 the other, denunciation, agita'iop, excitement, has 
 been the trder of tlie da). J'or eight years tlie 
 President of this Republic h^s stood upon a vol- 
 cano, vomiting- fire and flimes upon itim, and 
 threatening the country itself witli ruin and deso- 
 lation, if the pt pple did not expel the usurper, 
 despot, and tyrant, as he was called, from the 
 high plare to which the suffrages of millions of 
 Ireemen had elevated him. 
 
 Great is the confidence which he has always 
 reposed in the discernment and equity of the Ame- 
 rican people. I have been accustomed to see him 
 'for many years, and under many discouraging 
 trials; but never saw him doubt, for an instant, the 
 ultimate support of tlic people- It was my privi- 
 lege'to see him often, and during the most gloomy 
 period of the panic conspiracy, when the whole 
 earth seemed to be in commotion against him, and 
 when many friends were faltering, and stout hearts 
 were quailing, before the raging s'orm which 
 bank , machination, and Senatorial denunciation, 
 had conjured up to overwhelm him. 1 saw him 
 in the darkest moments of this gloomy period; 
 and never did I see his confidence in the uliim»te 
 support of his fellcw-citiaens, forsake him for an 
 instant. He always'said the people would stand 
 by those who stand by them; and nobly have they 
 justified that confidence! That verdict, the vulc 
 of millions, which now demands the exptirgation 
 of that sentence which the Senate and the bank 
 then pronounced upon him, is the magnificent 
 re»ponse of tlie people's hearts to the implicit con- 
 fidence which he then reposed in them. But it 
 was not in the people on'y that he had confidence; 
 there was anotlier, and a fir higher Power, to 
 which he constantly looked to save the country, 
 
 and its defenders, from every danger; and sig- 
 nal events prove that liC did not look to that iiigh 
 Power in vain. 
 
 Sir, I think it right, in approaching tlie termi- 
 nation of this great question, to jiresent this^aint 
 and rapid sketch of the brilliant, beneficent, and 
 glorious admmistration of President Jackson. It 
 Is not for me to attempt to do it justice; it is not 
 for ordinary men to attempt its l)istory. His mili- 
 tary life, resplendent with dazzling ev^^nts, wi!i de- 
 mand the pen of a nervous writer; his civd aslmin- 
 istiaiion, replete with scenes which have called 
 into action so many and such rarious passi( ns of 
 the human heart, and which has given to native 
 sagacity so many victories over practised po iti- 
 cians, will require the profound, luminous and 
 philosophical conceptions of a Livy, a Plutarch, or 
 a Sallust. Tills history is not to be wiitten in our 
 day. The cotemporaries of such events :ire not 
 the hands to describe them. Time mvst fis do 
 its office, — must sdence the passions, rem( ve ihe 
 actors, develope consequences, and canonize all 
 that is sacred to honor, patriotism, and glory. In 
 after agesthe historic genius of our America slidl 
 produce the writers which the subject demands, — 
 men far removed from the contests of this day, 
 wlio will know how to estimate this great epoch, 
 and how to acquire an Immortahty for their own 
 names by paintmg, with a master's hand, the im- 
 mortal events of the Patriot President's life. 
 
 And now, sir, I finish the task which, three 
 years ago, I imposed on myself. Solit;iry and 
 alone, and amidst the jeers and taunts of my oppo- 
 nents, I put this ball in motion. The pe >(jie iiave 
 tsken it up, and rolled it forward, and I am no 
 i iii^er any thing but a unit in the vast mass which 
 I v propels it. In the name of tl at raa^s I 
 ..eak. I demand t^.e execution of the Edict of 
 I iiiK People: I demand the expurgation of that 
 sentence which the voice of a few Senators, and 
 I the power of their confederate, the Bank of the 
 (United States, has caused to be placed on the. 
 journal of the Senate, and which the voice of n I- 
 lions of freemen has ordered to be expunged 
 from it. 
 
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