• ^ * •- ■ tlTije Hifararp of t\)C ZOnibersitp of iSortij Carolina ai Cnbotoeb bp ®l)e JBialectit anb ^l)ilantt)ropic ^ocietiesJ rp J^12 ^_ ;-^. UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00031717072 This book must not be taken from the Library building. THIS TITLE HAJ BEEN MICROFILICD 1' Form No. 471 1 VT-nrra i w American ^tategfmen EDITED BY JOHN T. MORSE, JR. Stnicritan ^tatc^men ANDREW JACKSON AS A PUBLIC MAN WHAT HE WAS, WHAT CHANCES HE HAD, AND WHAT HE DID WITH THEM BY WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER PBOFESSOa OF POUTICA.L AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN YA1.E COLLEOS BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY NEW VORK: 11 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET 1892 Copyright, 1882, Bt WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER. AU rights reserved. CONTENTS. CHAPTER L PAOl The First Forty-five Years op Jaok80n*8 Life 1 CHAPTER II. The Creek Was and the War with Enoland . 26 CHAPTER nL Jackson in Florida , . . . . . 49 fJHAPTKR IV. Election op 182' ........ 73 CHAPTER V. Adams's Administration ...... 100 CHAPTER VI. The Relief System op Kentucky . . , .119 CHAPTER VII. [hternal History of Jackson's First Administra- tion 136 CHAPTER Vm. Public Questions of Jackson's First Administra* HON -I. 164 (a.) 1. West India Trade; 2. Spoliation Claims. ^t^ {b.) \ Federal Judiciary ; 2. Indians. VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PASI Public Questions of Jackson's First Administba- TION. — II 184 3. Land; 4. Internal Improvements; 5. Tariff. CHAPTER X. E*UBLio Questions op Jackson's Fikst Administba- TION. — III 207 6. Nullification. CHAPTER XL Public Questions of Jackson's Fikst Administra- tion. — IV ... 224 7. Bank. CHAPTER XIL Thb Campaign of 1832 250 CHAPTER Xin. Tariff, Nullification, and Bank during Jackson's Second Administration 277 CHAPTER XIV Speculation, Distribution, Currency Legislation, AND End of the Bank of the United States . 322 CHAPTER XV. Ihb New Spirit in Various Points of Foreign Bt of passage. Ship captains became immigration agents. (Foi full titles of books referred to see the list at the end of the vo> ime.) 1 ANDREW JACKSON. I in South Caroliua. In Jackson's Proeiamation of 1832^ in a letter of December 24, 1830,^ and in his wiU, he Bpeaks of himself as a native of South Carolina. It appears that Andrew Jackson's mother abandoned the settlement which her husband had commenced, and it is probable that she owed much to the assistance of her relatives and connections while Andrew was a child. Circumstances of birth more humble than those of this child can scarcely be imagined. It was not, probably, hard to sustain life in such a frontier community. Coarse food was abundant ; but to get more out of life than beasts get when they have enough to eat was no doubt very difficult. The traditions of Jackson's educa- tion are vague and uncertain. Of book-lq^rning and school-training he appears to have got very little indeed. The population of the district was heterogeneous, and, when the Revolutionary War broke out, the differences of nationality and creed divided the people by oppos> ing sympathies as to the war. The English penetrated the district several times in the hope of winning re- cruits and strengthening the tories. On one of these raids Andrew Jackson was wounded by an officer, who struck him because he refused to brush the officer's boots. He and his brother were taken prisoners to Camden. The war cost the lives of both Andrew's brothers, and also that of his mother, who died while on a journey to Charleston to help care for the prisoners there. An- drew Jackson accordingly came to entertain a vigorous Viatred of the English from a very early age. In 1781 kie was alone in the world. What means of sui)port he had we do not know, but, after trying t^.e saddler's trade, he became, in 1784, a student of law at SaUshury, Noiii ^ 39 Kiles, 385, THE STUDY OF LAW. 2 Caroliua. The traditions collected by Parton of Jack- Bon's conduct at this time give us anything but the pict- ure, so familiar in political biography, of the orphan boy hewing his way up to the jiresidency by industry and Belf-denial. K the information is trustworthy, Jacksou was gay, careless, rollicking, fond of horses, racing, cock-fighting, and mischief. Four years were spent in this way. It is necessary to note the significance of the fact that a young man situated as Jackson was should undertake to " study law." In the generation before the Revolution the intellectual activity of the young men, which had previously been expended in theology, began to be directed to the law. As capital increased and property rights became more complicated there was more need for legal training. In an agricultural community there was a gTeat deal of leisure at certain seasons of the year, and the actual outlay required for an education was small. The stand- ard of attainments was low, and it was easy for a farm- er's boy of any diligence to acquire, in his winter's lei- sure, as much book-learning as the best colleges gave. In truth the range of ideas, among the best classes, .ibout law, history, political science, and political econ- omy, was narrow in the extreme. What the aspiring >lass of young men who were self-educated lacked, as compared with the technically " educated," was the bits of classical and theological dogmatism which the colleges taught by tradition, and the culture which is obtained by frequenting academical society, however meagre may be the positive instruction given by the institution What the same aspiring youths had in excess of the regularly educated was self-confidence, bred by igno * ANDREW JACKSON. >| ranee of their own short-comings. They were therefore considered pusliing and offensive by the colonial aris- tocracy of place-holders and established families, who considered that " the ministry " was the proper place for aspiring clevernesSj^ and that it was intrusive when it pushed into civil life. The restiveness of the aspiring class under tliis repression was one of the great causes of the Revolution. The lawyers became the leaders in the revolt everywhere. The established classes were, aa classes, tories. After the war the way was clear for every one who wanted office, or influence, or notoriety, to attain these ends. The fii'st stej) was to study law. If a young man heard a public speaker, and was fired by the love of public activity and applause, or if he became engaged in political controversy, and was regarded by his fellows as a good disputant, or if he chanced to read something which set him thinking, the result was very sure to be that he read some law. The men, whose bi- ographies we read because they rose to eminence, present us over and over again the same picture of a youth, with only a common school education, who spends his leisure in reading law, while he earns his living by teaching or by farm work. Those, however, whose biographies we read are only the select few who succeeded, out of the thousands who started on the same road, and were ar- rested by one circumstance or another, which threw them back into the ranks of farmers and store-keepers. We shall see that Andrew Jackson so fell back into the position of a farmer ana store-keeper. Chance plays a great role in a new com/nunity, just as it does in a primi- tive civilization. Jhance had vary much to do with Tackson's career. We have no evidence tliat he was dissatisfied with his circumstances, and set himself to JACKSON GOES TO TENNESSEE. 5 jvork to get out of them, or that he had any stiong am- bition towards which the law was a step. There is no proof that he ever was an ambitious man ; but rather the contrary. He never learned any law, and never to the end of his life had a legal tone of mind ; even his admirer, Kendall, admits this.* His study of law had no influence on his career, and no significance for his character, except that it shows him following the set or fashion of the better class of young men of his gener- ation. If conjecture may be allowed, it is most probable that he did not get on well with his relatives, and that he disliked the dinidgery of farming or saddle-making. A journey which he made to Charleston offers a very possible chance for him to have had his mind opened to plans and ideas. In 1788, Jackson's fi'iend, John McNairy, was ap- pointed judge of the Superior Court of the Western District of North Carolina (z. e., Tennessee), and Jack- son was appointed public prosecutor. Jackson arrived in Nashville in October, 1788. Tennessee was then a wild frontier country, in which the Whites and Indians were engaged in constant hostilities. It was shut off from connection vnth. the Atlantic States by the mount- ains, and its best connection with civilization was down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Such frontier com- munities have always had a peculiar character. In them the white man has conformed, in no small decree, to the habits and occupations of the Indians. Cut off from tools, furniture, clothing, and other manufactured ^>-rticles such as civilized men use, he has been driven to Buch substitutes as he could produce by bringino- hit •ntelligence to bear on the processes and materials 'j«»M 1 Jackson^ 109. 6 ANDREW JACKSON. by the Indians. Living where game is abundant, and where the forests make agriculture difficult, he has often sunk back to the verge of the hunting stage of civili- zation.^ The pioneers, so much lauded in song and story, were men who first broke the path into the wil- derness, but who derogated from the status of their race to do it. They became incapacitated for the steady labor of civilized industry, and when the country became BO filled up that game was scarce, agriculture a necessity, and " law " began to be recognized and employed, the pioneers moved on into the wilderness. In theu' habits they were idle and thriftless, and almost always too fond of strong drink. The class of settlers who suc- ceeded them were but little better in their habits, al- though they began to clear the forests and till the soil. They were always very litigious. Court day was an occasion which drew the men to the county town, form- ing an event in a monotonous existence, and offering society to people oppressed by isolated life. This con- course of people furnished occasion for gossip and news- mongering, and the discussion of everybody's affairs for miles around. " Public opinion " took control of every- thing. Local quarrels involved the whole county sooner or later. Friendships, alliances, feuds, and animosities grew up and were intensified in such a state of society. If there was an election pending the same concourse of people furnished an opportunity for speech-making and argument. The institution of "stump-speaking" was born and developed in these circumstances. In the >?ourt itself the parties to the suits and the jury enjoyed ^ place before the public eye. The judge and the counsel ^ See Collins's Kentucky, Pntpam's M * idle Tennessee, an4 Kendall's Jackson^ 74. FRONTIER SOCIETY. 7 made reputation day by day. The lawyers, as actual or prospective candidates for office, were directly and constantly winning strength with the electors. They passed from the bar to the stump or the tavern parlor, and employed the influence which their eloquence had won in the court room to advance the interests which they favored in the election. There are features of American democracy which are inexplicable unless one understands this frontier society. Some of our greatest pohtical abuses have come from transferring to om' now large and crowded cities maxims and usages wliich were convenient and harmless in backwoods county towns. Another feature of the frontier society which it is important to notice is, that in it the lack of capital and the intimacy of personal relations led to great abuses of credit. Idleness, drink, debt, and quarrels produced by gossip have been the curses of such society. The courts and the lawyers were always busy with the per- sonal collisions which arose where no one was allowed to practise any personal reserve, where each one's busi- ness was everybody's business, where gossip never rested, and where each one was in debt to some others. In such a state of society the public prosecutor is the general of the advancing army of civilization. He has to try to introduce law and order, the fulfilment of con- tracts, and the recognition of rights into the infant so- ciety. This was the task which Jackson undertook in Tennessee. It required nerve and vigor. The westerr counties of North Carolina were in a state of anarcliy resulting from the attempt to set up the state of Frank nn, and the population were so turbulent and lawless that the representative of legal order was at open wu? S'ith them. The Indians and Whites were also engaged 6 ANDREW JACKSON. - in the final struggle of the former before yielding theii huntino:-2'rounds to the cultivation of the vvliite man. Jackson had to travel up and down the countiy in the discharge of his duties, when he was in danger of his life upon the road. He brought all the required force and virtue to the discharge of the duties of this office. He pursued his way without fear and without relenting. He made strong enemies, and he won strong friends. Kendall says that Jackson settled at Nashville, because the debtors there tried to drive him away, he having taken some collection cases.^ His merits as prosecutor ' are vouched for by the fact that Governor Blount said of him, in reference to certain intruders on Indian lands who were giving trouble, " Let the District Attorney, Mr. Jackson, be informed. He will be certain to do his duty, and the offenders will be punished.'-' ® Among the earlier settlers of Tennessee was John Donelson, who had been killed by the Indians before Jackson migrated to Tennessee.'* Jackson boarded with the widow Donelson. In the family there were also Mrs. Donelson's daughter, Rachel, and the latter's hus- band, Lewis Robards. Robards, who seems to have been of a violent and jealous disj^osition, had made in- jurious charges against his wife with reference to other persons, and he now made such charges with reference Ko Jackson. Robards had been married in Kentucky k Older Virginia law. There was no law of divorce in Virginia. Robards, in 1791, petitioned the Legislature 1 KendaU's Jackson, 90. '^ He was appointed district atto>«4ey bj Washington in 179"" ifter the western counties of North Curolina were ceded. » Putnam, 351. « Putnani, 613 fg. JACKSON'S MARRIAGE. 9 of Xirginia to pass an act of divorce in his favor, mak- ing an affidavit that his wife had deserted him, and wa. living in adultery with Jackson. The Legislature of Vir- ginia passed an act authorizing the Supreme Court of Kentucky to try the case with a jury, and, if the facts proved to be as alleged, to grant a divorce. Robards fcook no action for two years. September 27, 1793, he obtained a divorce from the Court of Quarter Sessions of Mercer County, Kentucky. In the mean time, Jackson and ]\Irs. Robards, upon information of the legislative act of 1791, which they assumed, or were informed, to be an act of divorce, were married at Natchez, in July or August, 1791. In January, 1794, upon hearing of the action of the Mercer County Court, they were married again.^ The circumstances of this marriage were such as to provoke scandal at the time, and the scandal, which in the case of a more obscure man would have died out during thirty years of honorable wedlock, came up over and over again during Jackson's career. It is plain that Jackson himself was to blame for contract- ing a marriage under ambiguous circumstances, and for not protecting his own wife's honor by proper pre- cautions, such as finding out the exact terms of the act of the Legislature of Virginia. He clung to this lady until her death, with rare single-mindedness and devo- tion, although she was not at all fitted to share the des- tiny which befell him. He cherished her memory until his OA\Ti death in a fashion of high romance. An im- putation upon her, or a reflection upon the regularity of -is marriage, always incensed nim more than any othei personal attack. Having put her in a false position. 1 Telegraph Extra, p. 33. Report of a Jar.kson eommittee ii 828. 10 ANDREW JACKSON. against which, as man and la^vye^, he should have pro tected her, he was afterward led by his education and the current ways of thinking in the society about him to try to heal the defects in his marriage certificate by shooting any man who dared to state the truth, that Baid certificate was irregular. Jackson was a member of the cojivention which met at Knoxville, January 11, 1796, and framed a Constitu- tion for the State of Tennessee. There is a tradition that he proposed the name of the river as the name of the State. ^ This Constitution established a freehold qualification for voting and holding the chief offices, and declared that the people of Tennessee had an inalien- able right to navigate the Mississippi river to its mouth. The federalists in Congress opposed the admission of Tennessee, because it was a raw frontier community; but it was admitted June 1, 1796. In the autumn Jack- son was elected the first federal representative. A year later, Blount, one of the senators from Tennessee, hav- ing been expelled, Jackson was appointed senator in his place. He held this position only until April, 1798, when he resigned. In December, 1796, therefore, at the age of thirty, ackson first came in contact with a society as cultivated lus that of Philadelphia then was. Except for the brief visit to Charleston in 1783, above referred to, he had seen no society but that of Western North Carolina and Tennessee. He came to Philadelphia just as the presi- dential election of 1796 was being decided. Tennessee roted for Jefferson, and we may believe that whatever political notions Jackson had were Jeffersonian. He identified himself with the opposition to Washington*! • Ramsey, 655. IN CONGRESS. 11 idminlstration In the most factious and malicious a«t wliich it perpetrated, namely, the vote against the ad- dress to Washington at the close of his administration. He and Edward Livingston were two out of twelve in the House who refused to vote for the address. It is not known what Jackson's reasons were. Some refused to vote that Washington's administration had been wise. Others objected to the hope that Washington's example would guide his successors.^ The grounds of objection to the administration were Jay's treaty and Hamilton's financial measures. In the light of history the " irrec- oncilable " minority which opposed these measures to the bitter end must stand condemned. The republican party, in 1796, was filled with ill-informed and ill-regu- lated sympathy for the French Revolutionists, and, if it could have had its way, it would, under the lead of ref- ugee editors filled with rancor and ignorant zeal, have committed this country to close relations with France, and would, by importing Jacobinism into this country, have overthi'own constitutional hberty here. The feder- alists, on the other hand, fell into a panic about sedition and sans-culottism quite similar to that which prevailed in England at the same time. Washington's adminis- tration had the hard task of maintaining statesman-like steadiness and wisdom between these two tendencies, and of establishing sound precedents for the details of the p-overnment under the Constitution. It succeeded BO well in this task that the wider the perspective of history in which it is regarded the more clearly does the 1 In IS.'^O Livingston attempted an elaborate defence of hia rote. He tried to distinguish between. Washington and his ad ninistratiou, a Aicious and untenable distinction Hunt's Ltt^ nqstofi, 340. 12 ANJJJiEW JACKSON. moderation, wisdom, and statesmanshij) of that adinini* tration appear. Jay's treaty was a masterpiece of di- plomacy, considering the time and the circumstances of this country. Those who objected to it could propose nothing but a policy of bluster, which tlie country was not prepared to follow up, or the imbecile device of a commercial war. JefPerson, in 1806, had a renewal of this treaty offered to him. He took the opposite coui'se from that which "Washington had taken : he rejected it. He tried the commercial war ; adopting legislation as tyrannical as any that ever stained a statute-book in the effort to carry it out, subjecting the Union to the sever- est strain, accomplishing nothing, and finally leading to a fiTiitless war. As for Hamilton's funding scheme, few will now be found, whether lawyers, statesmen, or financiers, to ques- tion its propriety or the ingenuity and skill with which it was carried out. His bank is open to more question. He and the other federalists had too much of a feeling that they must invent artificial bonds and clamps to hold the Union together. They did not sufficiently perceive that the Union must consolidate itself in time by the ex- perience which the people would win of its inestimable value and political necessity. Public credit and Union, however, were then, as they always have been, insepa- rably bound up with each other. The history of the old bank is so obscure that it is difficult to form a judg- ment about it. In making any attempt to do so, it is necessary to bear in mind the fact that the currencies of Europe were nearly all confused and depreciated during the existence of this bank, and that this fact acted as protection to save the Bank of the United States fronc the ordinary penalties of a certain measure of bad bank EARLY POLITICAL OPINIONS. Ig ing. It is certain that there was a great deal of job- bing in the shares of the bank when it was first founded, and it very probably over-issued its notes. It did not publish statements of its affairs. After 1793 the risks of neutral commei'ce and its gains were both very great. American merchants made and lost fortunes by violat- ing belligerent regulations. In 1797 and 1798 these transactions culminated in a crisis and commercial j^anic here, connected, to judge from all the information we can obtain, with the crisis of 1797 and the bank re- striction in England. All this trouble was charged, without further discussion, to the bank. Every time since the formation of the Union, when the strain on the national finances has been gi-eat, we have been forced to have recourse to national banks ; — 1781, 1792, 1816, 1863. History has not, therefore, justified the position on these great political questions taken by the party with which Jackson allied himself while he was in the nar tional legislature. In the Senate, Jackson voted, with only two others, against a bill to authorize the President to buy or lease cannon foundries, in view of possible war with France. He voted against a bill to authorize the arming of mer- chant ships, in favor of an embargo, and against a pro- viso that the United States should not be bound to cancel the Indian title to land on behalf of any State.^ We know nothing of any activity or interest shown by Jackson in any measure save a claim of Hugh L. VYliite, an ' an act to reimburse Tennessee for expenses incurred in an Indian war. The latter case was one ••hich has been constantly renewed in the frontiei- Statea * Annals of G^ngress; 5th Congress, I. 485-532 14 ANDREW JACKSON. Tennessee thought that the federal government was 8lo\^ and negligent about defending her against the Indians. The federal government thought that Tennessee waa hasty and aggressive towards the Indians. Jackson gained this point on the claim of Tennessee while he was in the House, to the gi'eat advantage of his popu- larity at home. We must infer from his conduct that he did not enjoy political life and did not care for it. He certainly did not become engaged in it at all, and he formed no ties which he found it hard to break at a moment's warn- ing. He does not appear to have made much impres- sion upon anybody at Philadelphia. Gallatin recalled him years afterwards as " a tall, lank, uncouth-looking personage, with long locks of hair hanging over his face, and a cue down his back tied in an eel-skin ; his dress singular, his manners and deportment that of a rough backwoodsman." * There is, however, ample tes- timony that Jackson, later in life, was distinguished and elegant in his bearing when he did not affect roughness and inelegance, and that he was able to command enco- miums upon his manners from the best bred ladies in the country. Jefferson said of him, in 1824 : " When I was President of the Senate he was a senator, and he could never speak on account of the rashness of his feel- ings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, and as often choke with rage." ^ Ir 1798 Jackson was made judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. Nothing is known of his conduct In this position. No records or decisions of the cour* from that period remain. 1 4 Hildreth, 692. 2 1 Webster's Corr. 371. MAJOR-GENERAL OF MILITIA. 15 While Jackson was on the bench of the Supreme Court, he and ex-Governor Sevier were in feud with each other. The origin of the quarrel is obscui-e and not worth picking out from the contra^Uctory backwoods gossip in which it probably originated. It is enough to notice that the two men were too much alike in temper to be pleased with "each other. Sevier was fifty-seven years old in 1801, and had been a leading man in the counti-y for years. Jackson was only thirty-four in that year, and a rising man, whose success interfered with Sevier's plans for himself. In 1801 the field officers of the militia tried to elect a major-general. Sevier and Jackson were the candidates. The election resulted in a tie. The governor, Archibald Roane, who had the casting vote, threw it for Jackson. Jackson had not taken'' part in the Nickajack expedition, or otherwise done military service, so far as is known, except as a private in an Indian fight in 1789. On that occasion one of his comrades described him as " bold, dashing, fearless, and mad upon his enemies." ^ In 1803 Sevier was elected governor, and he and the judge-major- o-eneral drew their weapons on each other when they met. Each had his faction of adherents, and it was only by the strenuous efforts of these persons that they were prevented from doing violence to each other. Ken- dall says that Jackson's popularity was increased by his quarrel with Sevier.^ In 1804 Jackson resigned his position as judge. Parton gives letters of Jackson from this period which are astonishingly illiterate for a man in his position, even when aU the circumstances are taken into consideration. Jackson was made a trustee ftf the Nashville Academy in 1793." I Putnam, 318. ^ Kendall's Jackson, 108. f Putnam. 410. 16 ANDREW JACKSON. In 1804 Jackson was once more a private citizen, a planter, and a store-keeper. Neltlier ])olities nor law had apparently touched any chord of interest in him. The turning point in his career was the vote which made him major-general of militia, but the time had not yet arrived for him to show that all there was in him could be aroused when thei-e were public enemies to be crushed. He had been engaged in trade for six years or more before 1804, and was now embarrassed. He devoted himself to business for several years. Mention has already been made of the general abuse of credit in the frontier communities. Money is scarce because capital is scarce, and is so much needed that the community is unwilling to employ any of it in secur- ing a value currency. It is true that the people always have to pay for a value currency, whether they get it or not, but they always cheat themselves with the notion that cheap money is cheap. Food and fuel are abun- dant, but everything else is scarce and hard to get- Hopes are strong and expectations are great. Each man gives his note, which is a draft on the glorious future ; that is, every man makes his own currency ai he wants it, and the freedom with which he draws his drafts is as unlimited as his own sanguine hopes. The hopes are not unfounded, but their fruition ie often de- layed. Continued renewals become necessary, and liqu dation is put off until no man knows where he stands. A general liquidation, with a period of reaction and stagnation, therefore, ensues upon any shock to credit. tn Tennessee, between 1790 and 1798, land was used as a kind of currency ; prices were set in it, and it was transferred in payment for goods and services. During the same period there was a great speculation in ne^ FRONTIER CODE. 17 land tlu'oughout tlie country. Prices of land were in- flated, and extravagant notions of tlie value of raw lan(? prevailed.^ After the crisis of 1798 land fell in value all over the country, to the ruin of thousands of speculators. Values measured in land all collapsed at the same time.. Jackson was entangled in the system of credit and land investments, but he seems to have worked out of his embarrassments during the next three or four years, after which he abandoned trade and became a planter only. Another feature of this early southwestern frontier society which excites the surprise and contempt of the modern reader is, that store-keepers and farmers and lawyers, who lived by their labor, and had wives and children dependent on them, are found constantly quar- relling, and in all their quarrels are found mouthing the " code of honor." The earlier backwoodsmen quarrelled and fought as above described, but they fought with fists and knives, on the spur of the moment, as the quarrel arose. It was a genteel step in advance, and marked a new phase of society, when the code of the pistol came into use, and the new higher social caste prided itself not a little on being " gentlemen," because they kept up in the backwoods a caricature drawn by tradition and hearsay from the manners of the swaggerers about the courts of France and England a century before. An- drew Jackson was a child of this society, an adherent of its doctrines, and in his t'lrn a propagandist and ex- pounder of them. He proved himself a quarrelsome man. Instead of making peace he exhausted all the chances of conflict which offered themselves. He was remarkably genial and gentle when things 'vent on to ^ On the fallacies about the value of land, see p. 1 a 18 ANDREW JACKSON. luit him, and when he was satisfied with his companions. He was very chivah'ous about taking up the cause ol any one who was unjustly treated and was dependent. Yet he was combative and pugnacious and over-ready to adjust himself for a hostile collision whenever there was any real or fancied occasion. The society in which he lived developed, by its fashions, some of his natural faults. In 1795 he fought a duel with a fellow lawyer named Avery, over some sparring which had taken place be- tween them in a court room, when they were opposing counsel. His quarrel with Sevier has been mentioned. While on the bench he also quari;elled with his old friend Judge McNairy, on account of an appointment made by the judge which injured an old fi'iend of both.^ In 1806 he fought a duel with Charles Dickinson, who had spoken disparagingly of Mrs. Jackson in the course of a long quarrel which involved, besides Jackson, thi-ee or four others, and which was a capital specimen of the quarrels stirred up by the gossip and backbiting of men who had too much leisure. This was the real cause of Jackson's anger, although on the surface the quarrel was about a strained and artificial question of veracity concerning a bet on a horse-race, and it was inflamed by some sarcastic letter-writing in the local newspaper, and by some insulting epithets. Jackson's friends de- clared that there was a plot to drive Jackson out of the country. Each man meant to kill the other. They met May 30, 1806. Jackson was wounded by a bullet wrhich grazed his breast and weakened him for life. Dickinson was mortally wounded, and died the sam*^ Kenda.]]' s Jackson. U)f» WESTERN FEELING ABOUT LOUISIANA. 19 Jackson had made the acciuaintaiK^e of Burr when in Congress. In 1805 Burr visited Jackson, and made a contract with him for boats for the expedition down the Mississippi. The people of Kentucky and Tennessee had always regarded it as a vital interest of theirs to have the free navigation of the Mississippi. So long as a foreign power held the mouth of the river, plots were formed for sei)arating the trans-AUeghany country from the Atlantic States, the strength of which plots lay in the fact that the tie of interest which made the basis of a union with the holder of New Orleans was stronger than the tie of interest wliicli united the two sides of the Alleghanies. In 1795 the United States by treaty with Spain secured a right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, and these separation plots lost all theii strength. The " Annual Register " for 1796 (anti-fed- eralist) very pertinently pointed out to the Western people the advantages they enjoyed from the Union. " If they had been formed into an independent republic, the court of Madrid would have scorned to grant such a fi'ee navigation " ^ (i. e., as it granted in the treaty of 1795). Spain ceded Louisiana to France by the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso, October 1, 1800. This treaty )ecame known in 1802 after the peace of Amiens. In the same year Spain, which still held possession of Louisiana, withdrew the right of deposit, and the West- ern country was thrown into great excitement. In 1803 the whole matter of the navigation of the ISIississippi was settled by the purchase of Louisiana by the United States, but then a new set of questions was opened. In the treaty of 1795 S2)ain had acknowledged the parallel of 31° as the boundary of Florida from the Mississippi ^Ann. Reg. (1796) p. 83. 20 ANDREW JACKSON. to tlie Cliattalioochee, although she had been slow about surrendering posts held by her north of this line and east of the Mississippi. Hence there had been com- plaints and bad feeling. Now a new question arose as to how far Louisiana extended east of the Mississij^pi river, and this question was of great im})ortance to the Gulf territories, because if, by the Louisiana purchase, the United States had become owner of the territory east as far as the Perdido, then the Gulf coast with the valu- able harbor of Mobile was available for the whole South- west. Si)ain denied that Louisiana included anytliing east of the Mississippi except the city of New Orleans, and the bit of territory south and west of the Iberville and the two lakes.^ The territory remained in dispute, and the relations between the two countries continued to be bad, until Florida was purchased in 1819. In 1802 a treaty was made with Spain for the payment by her of claims held by American citizens, but Spain did not ratify the treaty until 1818. She had her grievances also, at first about Miranda's expedition, and afterwards about aid to her revolted colonies. In 1810 the Presi- dent ordered the Governor of Orleans to occupy the territory as far as the Perdido, and to hold it in peace and order, subject to the final decision of the pending controversy with Spain. In 1812, Congress, by tsvo acts, divided the country east as far as the Perdido into two parts, and added one part to Louisiana, which was admitted as a State, and the other part to the Missis- «Ippi territory. It has seemed convenient to pursue these proceedingg dp to this point, because future reference to them wiL » See the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States In Foster v. Neilson, 2 Peters, 253. BURRS SCHEMES. 21 be necessary. To return now to Burr and liis expo- dition : — It will be understood what were the relations of the United States to Spain in 1805 and 1806, and especially what part of those relations peculiarly affected tlie people of the Southwest at that time. Their col- lisions with Spain no longer concerned New Orleans, but West Florida and Mobile. It is- still a mystery what Burr really intended. Napoleon's career had fired the imagination of men of a military and romantic turn all over the world. It is quite as reasonable an exjila- nation of Burr's scheme as any other that he was re- serving all his chances, and meant to do much or little, according to the turn of events, and that he did not himself define to himself what he was aiming at. His project had an unmistakable kinship with the old plans for setting up a republic of the Mississippi, with its capital at New Orleans. For that, however, he was ten years too late. If he had intended to go on a filibus- tering expedition against the Spaniards in Mexico, he would have obtained secret aid and sympathy in Ken- tucky and Tennessee, and the aid which he did get was given under that belief.^ If his scheme was aimed in any manner against the United States he could not find any aid for it. Since the purchase of Louisiana, and the accession to power in the Union of the party to which the great majority of the Western people be- longed, there was no feeling for Burr to work on.^ In 1805 Burr found a cordial welcome and aid. He was evidently trying to use Jackson without startling him. His letter of March 24. 1806, which Parton ^ives,* is a very crafty leHer, for the purpose of engag 1 2 Amer. Reg. ('80/) lfy3, note. 2 Cf. Jefferson's Message of January 22, 1807. 8 I Parton, 313. £2 ANDREW JACKSUli. ing Jackson's name and influence to raise troops fui his enterprise without defining it. In 1806 Burr was again in Nashville. His proceedings then aroused sus- picion. It appears that Jackson was mystified. He did not know whether he ought to aid Burr or oppose him, or aid him secretly and oppose him openly. It seema to be very clear, however, that he took sides against Burr, if Burr was against the United States. January 15th he wrote to Campbell, member of the House of Representatives, and gave November as the time when lie fii'st heard of a plan to seize New Orleans, conquer Mexico, carry away the Western States, and set up a great empire.^ He says that he was indignant at being tlie dupe of such an enterprise, and that he called Burr to account. Burr denounced and ridiculed the notion that he intended anything hostile to the United States.' He claimed to have the secret countenance of the Sec- retai-y of War. It seems that Jackson must have been convinced afterwards that Burr had been calumniated and unjustly treated. He was at Richmond as a witness in Burr's trial. He there made a pubhc speech against Jefferson. Jackson had previously been ill-disposed to- wards Jefferson because Ji»fferson did not give him the .>ffice of Governor ol Orleans, for which he had aiDphed. Jackson's strong personal contempt and dislike for Gen- eral Wilkinson, the commander at New Orleans, who appeared as Burr's accuser, also influenced his judg- ment.* Throughout his life he was unable to form an 1 Teleqrdjih Extra, 481 fg. - Whc'U Burr was arrested in Kentucky l>e g 've his \vo^* o. bor. 01 to liis counsel that he intended nothing against the United States. ( Kendall's ./aci-son, 120.) 2 His hatred of Wilkinson was greatly strengthened after Rrards, but he shows it, and the influence of it, iu his letter U Campbell. SILAS DINSMORE. 23 anbiassed opinion on a question of fact or law, if he liad any personal relations of friendship or enmity with the parties.^ From 1806 to 1811 Jackson appears to have led the life of a planter without any noticeable incident. The next we hear of him, however, he is committing another act of violence. Silas Dinsmore, the Indian agent, re- fused to allow persons to pass thi-ough the Indian coun- try with negroes unless they had passports for the ne- groes. It was his duty by law to enforce this rule. There were complaints that negroes ran away or were stolen. His regulation, however, interfered with the trade in negroes. This trade was then regarded as dis- honorable. It has been charged that Jackson was en- gaged in it, and the facts very easily bear that color. He passed through the Indian country with some ne- groes without liindrance, because Dinsmore was away, but he took up the quarrel with the agent, and wrote to Campbell to tell the Secretary of War that, if Dinsmore was not removed, the people of West Tennessee would bui-n him in his own agency. There is a great deal of fire in the letter, and not a little about liberty and free government.^ Dinsmore was suspended, and things took 'uch a turn that he lost his position and was reduced to pove'i-ty. Parton gives a story of an attempt by Dins- more, eight years later, to conciliate Jackson. This at- tempt was dignified, yet courteous and becoming. Jack- son repelled it in a very brutal and low-bred manner. Dinsmore did not know until 1828, when he was a pe- titioner at Washington, and the papers were called for lliat Jackson had been the cause of his ruin.* ^ On Burr, see 2 Pickett, caaD. xxix. •i SANiles. 110. « 8 Adams, 61. 24 ANDREW JACKSON. The time was now at hand, however, when Andrew Jackson would have a chance to show how he could serve his country. At the age of forty-five he had com- menced no career. He was a prominent man in his State, but he had held no political ofl&ces in it, and had not, so far as we know, been active in any kind of pub- lic affairs, although we infer that he had discharged all his duties as general of militia. He had shown himself a faithful friend and an implacable enemy. Every man who has this character is self-centred. He need not be vain or conceited. Jackson was not vain or con- ceited. He never showed any marked selfishness. He had a great deal of amour propre. All things which interested him at all took on some relation to his person, and he engaged his personality in everything which in- terested him. An opinion or a prejudice became at once for him a personal right and interest. To approve it and further it was to win his gratitude and friend- ship. To refute or oppose it was to excite his animos- ity. There was an intensity and vigor about him which showed lack of training. His character had never been cultivated by the precepts and discipline of home, or by the discipline of a strict and close society, in whicb extravagances of behavior and excess of amour propre are promptly and severely restrained by harsh social penalties. There is, to be sure, a popular philosophy that home breeding and culture are of no importance. The fact, however, is not to be gainsaid that true honor, truthfulness, suppression of undue personal feeUng, self i'ontrol, and courtesy are inculcated best, if not exclu- sively, by the constant precept and example, in earlies* fthildhood, of high-bred parents and relatives. There b pothing on earth which it costs more labor to produce STRONG PERSONAL FEELING. 25 iian a liigli-bred man. It is also indisputable that home discipline and training ingrain into the character of men the most solid and valuable elements, and tliat, without such training, more civilization means better food and clothes ratlier than better men. It is charac- teristic of barbarians to put their personality always at Btake, and not to distinguisli the man who disputes their notions from the man who violates their riohts. It is possible, however, that the military virtues may flourish where moral and social training are lacking. Jackson was unfortunate in that the force of his will and the en- ergy of his executive powers had never been disciplined, but the outbreak of the second war with Enc^land af forded him an arena on which his faults became yu" fy CHAPTER n. IHE CREEK WAR AND THE WAR WITH ENGLAND. In no place in the world was Napoleon more ardently admired than in the new States of this country. The pojiular enthusiasm about him in those States lasted long after he was rated much more nearly at his true value everywhere else in the world. The second war mth England was brought on by the policy, the opin- ions, and the feelings of the South and West, repre- sented by a young and radical element in the Jeffer- sonian party. The opinion in the South and West, in 1811 and 1812, was that Napoleon was about to unite the Continent for an attack on England, in which he was sure to succeed, and that he would thus become master of Europe and the world. It was thought that it would be well to be in at the death on his side. It is not necessary to point out in any detail the grounds for this opinion which might have been put forward at that time, or to show the partial and distorted information on which it was founded. It is certain that the persons who held this notion were very ill-informed on Euro- pean politics, and their opinions were strongly biassed by party conflicts at home. For twenty years the do- mestic politics of the United States had been organized on sympathy with one or the other of the belligerent parties in Europe. This country was weak in a military point of view, but conmiercially it would have been a JEFFERSON'S POLICY. 27 great advantage to either belligerent to have free inter- course with the Unite*! States, anrl to keep his enemy from it. The English policy towards the United States was arrofifant and uisolent. That of France was marked by duplicity and chicanery. Party spu'it here took pos* session of the people to such an extent that the federal- ists made apology for any injury from England, no mat- ter how insolent, and the democrats could not see any wrong in the acts of Napoleon, in spite of the evident fact that he was using this country for his own selfish purposes while cajoling it with shameless lies. The course of the weak neutral between two such belligerents was very difficult. Washington succeeded in maintaining neutrality by Jay's treaty, but at the cost of bitter hostility at home. Adams was driven to 'the verge of war with France by his party, but succeeded in averting war, although his party was destroyed by the reaction. Jefferson cannot be said to have had any plan. The statesmen of his party tried to act on the belligerents by destructive measures against domestic commerce and industry, chas- tising ourselves, as Plumer said, with scorpions, in order to beat the enemy with whips. They tried one measure after another. No measure had a rational origin or effect calculated and adjusted to the circumstances of tie case. Each was a new blunder. The republican "ilers in France in 1792 could do nothing better for a man who claimed protection from the Jacobin mobs than to put him in prison, so that the mob could not get at him. Jefferson's embargo offered the same kind of protection to American shipping. Before the embargo, merchants and ship-owners went to sea at great risk of tapture and destruction ; after it, they stayed at bom« 28 ANDREW JALi^SON. ftnd were sure of ruin. Jefferson has remained a popo* lar idol, and has never been held to the responsibility which belonged to him for his measures. The alien and sedition laws were not nearly so unjust and tyrannical ^ as the laws for enforcing the embargo, and they did not touch one man where the embargo laws touched hun- dreds. The commercial war was a device which, if it had been sensible and practical, would have attained national ends by sacrificing one group of interests and laying a much inferior burden on others. New England was denounced for want of patriotism because it re- sisted the use of its interests for national purposes, but as soon as the secondary effects of the embargo on agri- culture began to be felt, the agricultural States raised a cry which overthrew the device. Yet criticisms which are justified by the most conclusive testimony of history fall harmlessly from Jefferson's armor of popnlar plati- tudes and democratic sentiments. He showed the traits which we call womanish. He took counsel of his feel- ings and imagination ; he planned measures like the embargo, whose scope and effect he did not understand. He was fiery when deciding initiatory steps, like the re- jection of the English treaty ; vacillating and timid when he had to adopt measures for going forward in the path which he had chosen. His diplomacy, besides being open to the charge that it was irregular and un- usual, was transparent and easily turned to ridicule. It was a diplomacy without lines of reserve or alternatives, 80 that, in a certain very possible contingency it had no course open to it. Jefferson finally dropped the reins of government in despair, and, on a theory which would 1 See Carey's Olive Branch, page 50, for the opiuion of a dein ocrat on these laws after party spirit had cooled down. CAUSES OF THE SECOND WAR. 29 make each presidential term last for three years and eight months, with an interregnum of four months, he left the task to his successor. He had succeeded in keejoing out of war with either belligerent, but he had shaken the Union to its foundations. The extremists in the democratic party now came forward, and began to push Madison into a war with England, as the extreme federalists had pushed Adams into war with France. Madison, therefore, had to inherit the consequences of Jefferson's policy. An adherent of Jefferson describes the bequest as follows : " Jefferson's honest experiment, bequeathed to Madison, to govern without army or navy, and resist foreign enemies without war, proved total failures, more costly than war and much more odious to the j^eopl^, and dangerous to the Union." ^ The young and radical democrats, amongst whom Clay was prominent, were restive under the predomi- nance of the older generation of democrats of revolu- tionary fame, and their favorites. The young democrats wanted to come forward without the patronage of the Virginia leaders. The presidential election of 1812 was the immediate occasion of their action. The Jefferso- nian policy had produced irritation at home and humili- ation abroad. The natural consequence was a strong war spirit. It was believed that the country would njot eally be engaged in military operations, because Eng- jand would be fully occupied in Europe ; that Canada could be conquered ; that we should cojne in on the win- ning side at the catastrophe of the great conflict in Europe ; and that all this would be verj popular in the South and West. Madison was compelled greatly against "US will to yield to the war party, as a condition of hii ^ Ingersoll, 70 \ — grammar of the original. 80 ANDREW JACKSON. reelection.^ England pointed out that Naj/olcon had not complied with the terms of the American demands on both belligerents, but had falsified a date and told a lie. She withdrew her orders in coimcil, and there re- mained only impressment as the ostensible cause of war. September 12, 1812, Admiral Warren offered an armis- tice. Madison refused it unless the practice of impress- ment was suspended. Warren had not power to agree to this. For purposes of redress the war was, therefore, unnecessary, and the United States was duped into it by Napoleon, so far as its avowed causes were concerned.^ General Jackson offered his services, with those of 2,500 volunteers, as soon as he heard of the declaration of war. January 7, 1813, he set out under orders for New Orleans, an attack on that place being regarded as a probable movement of the enemy. Jackson thi*ew himself into the business with all his might, and at once displayed activity, vigilance, and skill. His letter to the Secretary of War when he started shows with what en- thusiasm he set to work. He assured the Secretary that his men had no " constitutional scruples," but would, if so directed, plant the American eagle on the walls of Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine. In March he was at Natchez engaged in organizing his force, and waiting for orders. While there he had a quarrel -with General Wilkinson on a question of rank. Thomas H. Benton, who was serving under Jackson, thought Jackson Avrong on the point in question. This produced discord between him and Jackson. Suddenly Jackson received orders to dismiss hii ^oops, as it did not aj^jjear that the enemy were mtend ' 1 Statesmaji^s Manual, 348. 1 Colton's Clay, 161. « See 1 Gallatin's Writings, 517 ; 2 ditto, 196, 211, 499. QUARREL WITH THE BE NT ON S. 31 tag to attack New Orleans. He was, of course, greatly chagrined at this order. He was also enraged at the idea of disbanding his men, without pay or rations, five hundred miles from home, to find their way back as best they could. A subsequent order repaired part of this error by ordering pay and rations, but Jackson liired transportation on his own responsibility, and marched his men home in a body. Thomas H. Benton, in June following, succeeded in obtaining from the federal au- thorities reimbursement of the expenses which Jackson had incurred. This act of Benton would perhaps have extinguished the memory of the trouble about rank at Natchez, but, in the mean time, Jackson had stood second to another man in a duel with Jesse Benton, brother of Thomas. A feud was speedily created out of this by the gossip and tale-bearing already described. Up to this time Jackson had had as many enemies as friends, but his course in leading home the troops from Natchez had made him very popular, and his conduct in acting as second in the duel, although chivalrous in one point of view, was overbearing in another. He tlireatened to horsewhip Thomas Benton, and a rencontre between him and the two brothers took place in a tavern at Nashville. Blows and shots were exchanged, and Jack- son came away with a ball in his shoulder, which he car- ried for twenty years. Tliis affair occurred September 4, 1813. The great Indian chief Tecumseb had been trying for jrears to unite all the red men against the whites.^ There would have been an Indian war if there had »een no war with England out the latter war seemed ^ Drake's Tecumseh. g2 AADREW JACKSON. to be Tecumseh's opportunity. Among the southwest- ern Indians he found acceptance only with the Creeks, who were abeady on the verge of civil war, because Bome wanted to adopt civilized life, and others refused. The latter became the war party, under Weatherford, a very able half-breed cliief. The first outbreak in the Southwest, although there had been some earlier hos- tilities, was the massacre of the garrison and refugees at Fort Mims, at the junction of the Alabama and Tom- bigbee rivers, August 30, 1813. There were 553 per- sons in the fort, of whom only five or six escaped.^ If Tecumseh had lived, and if the English had been able to o-ive their attention to an alliance wdth him, he would have united the Indians from the Lakes to the Gulf, and the " young democrats " would have found out what Bort of a business it may be to start a war for party effect. The result of the massacre at Fort Mims was that Alabama was almost abandoned by whites. Terror and desii'e for revenge took possession of Georgia and Tennessee. Sej^tember 25th the Tennessee Legislature voted to raise men and money to aid the people of the Mississippi territory against the Creeks. Jackson was still confined to his bed by the wound which Benton had given him. He and Cocke were the two major-generals of the militia of Tennessee. They concerted measures. As soon as he possibly could, Jackson took the field. Georgia had a force in the field under General Floyd. General Claiborne was acting at the head of troops from Louisiana and Mississippi This Indian war had a ocal character and was outside the federal operations Jthough in the end it had a great effect upon them Folio State Papers, 1 Indian Affairs, 845 fg. a 2 Pickett, 266. ANNOYANCES IN THE FIELD. 38 U}3 to this time little liad oeeii known at Washington ol Jackson, save that he had been a friend of Burr, an enemy of Jefferson, and that he had just acted in a somewhat insuuordinate manner at Natchez, reflecting on the administration and winning popularity for him- self. The Creek war ^ was remarkable for three things ; (1) the quarrels between the generals, and the want of concert of action ; (2) lack of provisions ; (3) insubor- dination in the ranks. Partly on account of the lack of provisions, for which he blamed General Cocke (as it appears, unjustly), Jackson fell into a bitter quarrel with his colleague and junior officer. The lack of pro- visions, and consequent suffering of the men, was one cause of insubordination in the ranks, but the chief cause was differences as to the term of enlistment. The enlistment was generally for three months, and constant recruiting was necessary to keep up the army in the field. A great deal of nonsense has been written and spoken about pioneer troops. Such troops were always insubordinate ^ and homesick, and very dependent for success on enthusiasm for their leader and a prosperous course of affairs. For these reasons the character of the commander was all-important to such an army. On three oc casions Jackson had to use one part of liis army to prevent another part from marching home, he and they differing on the construction of the terms of enlist- ment. He showed ve:y strong qualities under these trying circumstances. He endured delay with impa- lence, but with fortitude, and without a suggestion of See Eaton's Jacks-.n and Pickett's Alabama. 2 See descriptions of Kentucky militi> in Kendall's Autobi^g yapky, 124, 131. 4 34 ANDREW JACKSON. dbandoning the enterprise,* although he was in wretclied health all the time. He managed liis soldiers \nt\\ en- ergy and tact. He understood their dispositions. He knew how to be severe with them without bringing thera to open revolt, and he knew how to make the most effi- cacious appeals to them. In the conduct of the movements against the enemy his energy was very remarkable. So long as there waa an enemy unsubdued Jackson could not rest, and could not give heed to anything else. Obstacles which lay in the way between him and such unsubdued enemy were not allowed to deter him. This restless and absorb- ing determination to reach and crush any tiling which was hostile was one of the most marked traits in Jack- son's character. It appeared in all his military opera- tions, and he carried it afterwards into his civil activity. He succeeded in his military movements. This gave him the confidence and adherence of his men. The young men of the State then hastened to enlist with him, and his ranks were kept well filled, because one who had fought a campaign with him, and had a story to tell, became a hero in the settlement. Jackson's mihtary career and his popularity thus rapidly acquired mo- mentum from all the circumstances of the case and all the forces at work. He was then able to enforce disci- pline and obedience, by measures which, as it seems, no other frontier commander would have dared to use. On the 14th of March, 1814, he ordered John Wood to be shot for insubordination and assault on an officer This was the first of the acts of severity committed by ^ To Governor Blount, who jjroposod that he sliould retire from ,ke expedition, Jackson wrote a strenuous remonstrance, even as ^Jmonition. ( Eaton's JacA;,«o??, 101.) EXECUTION OF WOOD. 35 Jackson as a commanding officer, which were brought ap against him in the presidential campaigns. Wood was technically guilty. He acted just as any man In the frontier army, taught to reverence nobody and sub- mit to no authority, would have acted under the cir- cumstances. If it had not been for the great need of enforcing discipline, extenuating circumstances which existed would have demanded a mitigation of the sen- tence. Party newspapers during a presidential cam- paign are not a fair court of appeal to review the acts which a military commander in the field may think necessary to maintain discipline. Jackson showed in this case that he was not afraid to do his duty, and that he would not sacrifice the public service to curry popu- larity. At the end of March Jackson destroyed a body of the Creeks at Tohopeka, or Horse-Shoe Bend, in the northeast corner of the present Tallapoosa County, Ala- bama. With the least possible delay he pushed on to the last refuge of the Creeks, the Hickory Ground, at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and the Holy Ground a few miles distant. The medicine men, ap- pealing to the superstition of the Indians, had taught them to believe that no white man could tread the latter ^ound and live. In April the remnant of the Creeks surrendered or fled to Florida, overcome as much by the impetuous and relentless character of the campaign against them as by actual blows. Fort Jackson was built on the Hickory Ground. The march down through A-labama was a great achievement, considering the cir- 'umstances of the country at the time. Major-General riiomas Pinckney. of the regular army, came to Fort Va^kson, Ajiril 20th, and took command. He gave t* S6 ANDREW JACKSON. Jackson's achievements the most generous recognition both on the spot and in his reports. Ajiril 21, 1814 the West Tennessee militia were dismissed, and they marched home. The Creek campaign lasted only seven months. In itself considered, it was by no means an important In- dian war, but in its connection with other military movements it was very important. Tecumseh had been killed at the battle of the Thames in Canada, October 5, 1813. His scheme of a race war died with him. The Creek campaign put an end to any danger of hos- tilities from the southwestern Indians, in alhance either with other Indians or with the English. It was hence- forth possible to plan military operations and pass thi'ough the Indian territory without regard to the dis- position of the Indians. This state of things had been brought about very summarily, while military events elsewhere had been discouraging. This campaign, therefore, was the beginning of Jack- Bon's fame and popularity, and from it dates his career. He was forty-seven years old. On the 31st of May he was appointed a major-general in the army of the United States, and was given command of the department of the South. He established his headquarters at Mobile in August, 1814. That town had been occupied by "Wilkinson, April 13, 1813. There were fears of an at- tack either on Mobile or New Orleans. English forces appeared, and took post at Pensacola. Jackson natu rally desired to attack the enemy where he found him The relations of the parties must be borne in mind. Spain was a neutral and owned Florida, but the boun iaries of Florida were in dispute between Spain and th« 1 See page 20 CAPTURE OF PENSACOLA. 37 United States. Jacksou would not have been a South- western man if he had not felt strongly about that dispute. We have seen^ that one of Jackson's first thouirhts when war with England broke out, was that Florida might be conquered. Now Spain allowed Eng- lajid to use Florida as a base of operations. Jackson wrote to Wasliington for leave to attack Pensacola. Ii did not suit his temper to sit still under a great anxiety as to wliich spot on a long coast might be chosen by the enemy as the point of attack. The Secretary of War (Armstrong) replied to Jackson's application that it was necessary, before invading Spanish territory, to know certainly whether Spain voluntarily yielded the use of her territory to England. This letter did not reach Jackson until the war was over. All Jackson's letters of this period to the state and federal authori- ties have a tone of lecturing which gives deep insight into the character of the man. He meant no disre- spect, but the case seemed so clear to him that he set it forth with an unconscious directness of language. Jackson had but a very small force at Mobile, very inadequately provided with any of the necessaries of war. The government at Washington was falling to pieces. On the 24th of August the English captured Washing- ton and burned the public buildings. Jackson could not :)btain either assistance or orders. September 14th the English attacked Fort Bowyer, on Mobile Point, and were repulsed with energy and good fortune. They retired to Pensacola. Jackson advanced against Pen- sacola without orders from Washington, and reached that place November 6th, in'th S,000 men. He easily itormed the town. The Spaniards surrendered the fort* 1 See page 30. 38 ANDREW JACKSON. near the town. The English blew up the fort at Bar- rancas and departed.^ .lackson immediately returned to Mobile, fearing a new attack there. This energetic ac- tion against Pensacola, which a timid commander would have hesitated to take, although the propriety of it could not be seriously questioned, was the second great step in the war in the Southwest. If the Creeks had not been subdued, Mobile could not have been defended. If Pensacola had not been captured, New Orleans could not have been defended three months later. Jackson had extraordinary luck. All the accidents fell out in his favor, and all contributed to his final success. On the 2d of December, 1814, Jackson reached New Orleans, where he expected the next blow to fall. Noth- ing had been done there to prepare for defence, and no supplies were there, — not even arms. Edward Liv- ingston and a Frenclmaan named Louaillier were alone active in preparmg even the minds of the people for defence. Jackson declared martial law as a means of impressing soldiers and sailors, and began preparations for defending the city, in spite of discouragements and "ihe lack of all proper means. He seemed to be pos- sessed by a kind of frenzy or fanaticism at the idea of any one '' invading " American territory. As soon as he heard of the landing effected by the English after the}- had destroyed the flotilla on the lakes, he set out to meet them with such forces as he had. He ar rested their advance as far from the city as possible, pushed on his preparations with redoubled energy and activity, and was indefatigable in devising and combin- ng means of defence. " The energy manifested by General Jackson spread, as it were, by contagion, ana I 7 Niles, 271. Latour, 44 fg. BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. 39 eommuiiicated itself to the whole army. I shall add, that there was nothing which those who composed it did not feel themselves capahle of performing, if he ordered it to be done. It was enough that he expressed a wish, or threw out the slightest intimation, and innnediately a crowd of volunteers offered themselves to carry his views into execution." ^ He made the utmost of all the means he possessed and devised substitutes for what he lacked. Thus, with every day that passed, his position became stronger. The enemy were veteran troops, amply provided with all the best appliances of war, but, as it appears, not well commanded. An energetic ad- vance on their part, at the first moment, would have won the city. It was, however, Jackson who made the en- ergetic advance at the first moment, and he never let them get any farther. The story of the battle which took place is a strange one. Everything fell out favor- ably for Jackson as if by magic. The English lost their way, fired into each other, adopted foolish rumors, dis- obeyed orders, neglected precautions. The two parties built redoubts out of the same mud, and cannonaded each other aU day through a dense smoke. At night the American works were hardly damaged, while the Eng- lish works were battered to pieces and the cannon dis- mounted. On the 8th of January, 1815, the English made their grand assault on Jackson's works. Latour Bays that they were over-confident, and that they disre- garded the obstacles. They were repulsed with great slaughter. Their loss in general and field officers was especially remarkable. Onlji on the west bank of the river did the English gain some advantage. General Jackson said then — and he always afterwards refused 1 Latour. Preface, p. 17 iO ANDREW JACKSON. to withdraw the assertion, in spite of the remonstrances of General Adair, and in spite of a long controversy — that the Kentucky troops on the west side " ingioriously fled." ^ This is worth noticing only because it shows that Jackson would not recede from what he thought true, either to soothe wounded pride or to win popular- ity. If the EngHsh had had a little larger force on the west side, they would have won that position, and would have more than counterbalanced all Jackson's success on the east bank, for the batteries on the west bank could easily have been made to command Jackson's camp and works. The English withdrew after their repulse. Their loss, January 8th, was over 2,000 killed, wounded, and missing ; Jackson's was seven killed and six wounded.^ The treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent December 24, 1814, two weeks before the battle took place. Before the English attempted any further operations in Louisiana, the news of the peace was re- ceived. They captured Fort Bowyer in a second attack, February 12, 1815. A brilliant victory was the last thing any one in the United States had expected to hear of from New Or- leans. The expectations under which the war had been undertaken had all been disappointed. Canada had not been conquered. The United States had ranged itself with the defeated, and not with the successful party in Europe. The war had been more than nominal, but on land it had been anything but glorious. Only on the Bea did the few frigates which the federalists had built n^hile they controlled the federal government, vindicate 1 7 Niles, 373. Latoar, App. 52. Latour makes an apology •r thcKeutuckians, p. 174. 2 Latour, App, 55, 153. THE WAR AND THE WAR PARTY. 41 ihe national honor by brilliant successes. Jefferson's a priori navy of gunboats had disappeared and been for- gotten. The war party had looked upon Gallatin as their financier. He had told them in 1809 that war could be carried on without taxes, but they had squan- dered, against his remonstrances, resources on which he relied when he so declared, and they had refused to re-charter the bank as he desired. When the war broke out he went out to Russia, as one of the peace commis- sioners. There was no one competent to succeed him, and the democrats never forgave him for the embar- rassments which they suffered in trying to manage the finances.^ He did not resign his secretaryship, bu was superseded February 9, 1814. Good democrats thought that sending liim abroad was a repetition of the course they had blamed in Jay's case.^ It certainly was a very strange policy to leave the treasury without a regular head in war-time. The banks suspended, the currency fell into confusion, heavy taxation became nec- essary, and the public finances were brought to the verge of bankruptcy. The party which had made such an outcry about direct taxes, national bank, and eight per cent loans imitated Hamilton's system of direct taxes and excise throughout. They were discussing a big paper-money bank on the day (February 13th) when news of the Treaty of Ghent reached Washington, and they would have adopted it if the war had continued. They sold six per cent bonds for eighty and eighty-fiva in a currency of bank rags depreciated twenty or twenty- five per cent. A grand conscription bill was also ir preparation, and the Hartford convention had just ad >■ See Ingersoll, 74. * ("arey's Olive Branch. 63. 42 ANDREW JACKSON, Mourned, having done much or little according as peace or war might make it expedient to put* one sense o? another on ambiguous phrases. AVlien Napoleon fell, and England was left free to devote her attention to this country as her only remaining foe, the war took on a new aspect. June 13, 1814, Gallatin wi-ote home that 1 large force was fitting out in England against Amer- ica. Admiral Cochrane wi'ote to Monroe that he had orders to devastate the coasts of the United States. The first conditions of peace talked of by England in- volved cession of territory in Michigan and the Oldo territory, as well as concessions of trading privileges and navigation of the Mississippi, — terms which could not be accepted until after a great deal more hard fio-htino-. The feelinof. here in the autumn of 1814 was one of deep despondency and gloom. ^ The victory of New Orleans was the cause of boundless delight, espec- ially because the news of it reached the North at just about the same time as the news of peace, and there was no anxiety about the future to mar the exultation. The victory was a great consolation to the national pride, which had been sorely wounded by military fail- ures, and by the capture of Washington. The power of Great Britain had been met and repulsed when put forth at its best, and when the American resources were scanty and poor. To the administration and the war party the victory was political salvation. The pub- lic plainly saw, however, that the federal administration had done nothing for the victory. Jackson had been 1 See Niles's Register, vol. 7 ; Pres. Message, 1814 ; I Goodrich Letter xxx ; Carey's Olive Branch, i)reface 4th and 6th ed. lu gersoll finds room for the opinion that the prospects for 1815 wen bright. RESULTS OF THE WAR. 43 the soul of the defence from the beginning, and to his energy and perseverance success was due. He therefore got all the credit of it, and the administration uas only too glad to join in the plaudits, since attention ^vaa thereby diverted from its blunders and failure. These facts explain Jackson's po])ularity. In the space of time between Sei)tember, 1813, and January, 1815, he had passed from the status of an obscure Tennessee planter to that of the most distinguished and popular man in the country. In the treaty of peace nothing was said about im- pressment, the "principle" of which was what the United States had been striving about ever since 1806, and which was the only cause of the war. The war was therefore entirely fruitless as to the causes wliich were alleged for it at the outset. Nevertheless, the second war with England was a great and beneficial event in our history. What the course of things might have been, if a wiser statesmanship had adopted Monroe and Pinkney's treaty, and pursued a steady course of peace and industrial growth, so far as the state of the world would allow, is a matter of speculation ; but, in the course which things did take, there are especial and valuable features of our history which are to be traced to the second war \vith England as their origin. The discontent of New England faded away at once, and there was a stronger feeling of nationality and confi- dence throughout the country than there ever had beer, before.^ From that time on the Union had less of the character of a temporary experiment. The country had also won respect abroad, and wf»s r-;cognized in the family of nations as it had not ueeu oefore. From 1789 ^ Gallatin expressed this opinion. 1 Gallatin's Writings. 700. 14 ANDREW JACKSON. to 1815 the European nations were absoibed by Euro pean politics and war. At tlie end of this period they tiu'ned to find that a new nation had begun to grow up on the Western continent. The Americans liad shown that they could build ships of war, and sail them, and fight them, on an equal footing. To the militaiy states of Europe this was a fact wliich inspired respect. To return to our more immediate subject : There had been another dispute about terms of enlistment at Fort Jackson in September, 1814. About 200 men, some of whom broke open a store-house to get sujDplies, marched home -without the consent of their commanding ofiicer. Most of them came back : some being compelled, others thinking better of it, and others after assuaging their homesickness. Six were put under arrest and tried by court-martial. They were condemned to death, and, by Jackson's oixlers, were executed at Mobile, February 21, 1815.^ The question of law involved was a difficult one. The men took the risk of acting on their own view of that question, while they were under mihtary law. Jackson's reason for his course was to enforce discipline. There had never been such discipline in an American army,^ least of all in the West ; but that was just his contention. He said that there must be disci- pline, and that this was the only way to establish it. Some of the cases were very sad, and a less penalty would probably have accomplished all the purpose. After the English departed from New Orleans Jack- son relaxed none of his vigilance, but continued to itnngthen his force by all the means at his command- ^ The documents are given in 34 Niles, 55. 3 Jackson's apologists made much of an alleged parallel caw undei Washington. MARTIAL LAW AT NEW ORLEANS. 45 [n this he acted like a good and wise commander, Avho iid not mean to be caught. He could not assume that the enemy would not make another attack, and he knew notliing yet of the peace. He maintained the attitude of alert preparation until he was sure that the war was at an end. He maintained martial law in the city, and ue administered it with rigor. The possession of abso- lute and arbitrary power did not have a good effect on him. The exliilaration and self-confidence of success and flattery affected his acts. It appears that he did not thoroughly respect all the inhabitants of the city. They were a motley crowd, and he thought that some of them were not ready to do what he thought they ought to do to defend the city.^ Any one who would not go to the last extreme for that object could count on Jackson's contempt. He meant to hold the city in such shape that he could make every man in it contribute to its defence, if the occasion should arise. Frenchmen had certain privileges for twelve years, under the treaty of 1803. They had generally cooperated in the defence, but, after the English departed, they sought certificates of nation- ality in order to secure the privileges and exemptions to which they were entitled. To Jackson this seemed like shirking a share of the common burdens. Livingston, who had been on an embassy to the English fleet, brought back news on the 18th of February ^ of the peace. Jackson would not alter his attitude or proceed ings on account of this intelligence, which came through 1 See his defence in reply tf ri all's writ, 8 Niles, 246. ' Latour says on the 10th. This date is important for the inestion whether Jackson knew, at least unofficially, before he illowed the six militiamen to be executed, that peace had been made. iO ANDREW JACKSON. the enemy. On February 28th he ordered all who had certificates of French nationality to go to Baton Rouge before March 3d, on the ground that he would have no man in the city who was not bound to help defend it. March 8th he suspended this order, except as to the French consul. March 3d the same LouaiUier who had been conspicuous as an advocate of energetic de- fence, wrote an article for a local paper, criticising the order of February 28th, and urging that martial law should be abolished. The editor, when called to ac- count for this article, gave up his contributor. Louail- lier was arrested March 5th. Judge Hall, of the United States District Court, issued a writ of habeas corpus for him. Jackson received news of the peace from Wash- ington on March 6th, but by some blunder the courier did not bring the document containing the official notifi- cation. On that day Jackson convened a court-martial to try Louaillier. He sent an officer to arrest Judge Hall, and to obtain from the clerk of the court the orig- inal writ of habeas corpus. On the 8th he disbanded the militia. The court-martial struck out all the charges against Louaillier except one (illegal and improper con- duct), for want of jurisdiction, and acquitted him on ".hat. Jackson disapproved of this finding, and defended his own proceedings. On the 11th of March he sent Hall four miles out of the city and released him. Lou- aillier was kept in prison until the official document an- nouncing the peace was received. On the 22d of March the United States District Court ordered Jackson to Bhow cause why an attachment should not issue against aim for contempt of court in wresting an original docu nent from the court, disobeying the writ of habeas 2or pfis^ and imprisoning the judge. Jackson refused t« JACKSON'S FINE. 47 answer save by a general vindication of his proceedings. This the judge refused to hear, and fined him $1,000.* In 1842 Tyler recommended Congress to refund this tine without reflecting on the court. J. Q. Adams said in a speech, January 6, 1843, that this was auctioneering for the presidency, all the factions desiring Jackson's Bupport.^ In 1844 Congress refunded the fine with interest, — total S2,700. In a letter to L. F. Linn, March 14, 1842,^ Jackson refers to the fine as having been laid because he declared martial law. In this incident Jackson displayed some of the faults of which he afterwards showed many instances. He spoiled his military success by this unnecessary collision vdth the civil authority. He proved liimself wrong- headed and persistent in a course in which every step would have warned him of his error, if he had been willing to learn. Being committed by his first passion- ate and hasty step, he was determined to push through on the course he had adopted. He knew to a moral certainty from the 6th of March that the war was at an end. All these mischievous proceedings took place on and after that date. A very little concession and good win at any time would have avoided the whole trouble, but Jackson acted as if he was determined to grind out of the opposing opinions aU the friction of which they were capable. April 12th, Dallas, acting Secretary of War, wrote a ^ Report of a committee of the House of Representatives ; 64 Niles, 61 (1843). Cf. the account in 8 Niles, 246, and Judge Hall's response, Ibid. 272 (1815). 9 63 Niles, 312. 8 62 Niles, 212. For Jackson's own story of the 6ne, see 69 Niles. 326. 48» ANDREW JACKSON. dispatch to Jackson, expressing the President's " sur-, prise and solicitude," and asking for explanations of the proceedings of which reports had reached Washington ; but as the matter was all past and dead, and no one desired to mar the exultation of the public or the per- sonal satisfaction of Jackson, it was allowed to drop. In the autumn of 1815 Jackson was in Washington ; conferring with the War Department about the peace footing of the army. In the spring of 1816 he was at New Orleans on business of his military department. CHAPTER m. JACKSON IN FLORIDA- ANDREW Jackson took no important part in the elee tion of 1816. He had favored Monroe in 1808, and he preferred him to the other candidates in 1816. Craw- ford was, at this time, Jackson's pet dislike. The reason for this was that Crawford, as Secretary of War, had modified Jackson's treaty with the Creeks, ahoul which the Cherokees, deeming the terms unjust to them, had appealed to the President. Jackson resumed the negotiation, and bought again the lands ceded before. As the people of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama were hiterested in the cession, Jackson, by re-obtaining it after it had been given back, greatly increased liis pop- ularity.^ In October, 1816, a letter, signed by Jackson, was ad- dressed to Monroe, in anticipation of his election to the presidency, urging the appointment of Wm. Drayton, of South Carolina, as Secretary of War. Wm. B. Lewis, Jackson's neighbor and confidential friend, husband of me of Mrs. Jackson's nieces, wrote this letter. As Par- don says, one has no trouble in distinguishing those let- ters signed Jackson which have been copied and revised by Lerns, Lee, Livingstor, and others, from those which have not been tlirough that process.^ It is difficult to 1 11 Niles, 143. 3 A specimen of an unpolished Ta'.kson letter may be m6B ii die extract on page 384. 4 50 ANDREW JACKSON. Bee the significance of this letter and others which Jack Bon wrote during this winter (1816-17), unless he was being used to advance an intrigue on behalf of Drayton. Dra}i;on had been a federalist. He belonged to the South Carolina aristocracy. No ties of any kind are known to have existed between him and Jackson, either before or after this time. Jackson said (in 1824) that he did not know Drayton in 1816.^ Drayton was not appointed. These well-composed letters failed entirely of their immediate object ; and tliey reposed in obscu- rity for seven years. Lewis was an astonishingly far- Bighted man. We shall see abundant proofs, hereafter, of his power to put down a stake where he foresaw that it would be needed a little later, but it does not seem credible that he can have foreseen and prepared for the ultimate purpose which these letters served. In the course of his argument on behalf of Drayton, Jackson was led (in the letters) to discuss the general theory of appointments, and to urge Monroe to abandon the pro- scription of the federalists, to appoint them to office, and to promote reconciliation and good will. In the same letter he declared that he would have hung the leaders of the Hartford convention, if he had been in command in the eastern department in 1815. In 1823 and 1824 the letters were used with great effect to draw federalists to the support of Jackson. They were de- lighted with the tone and sentiment of them,^ although a few winced at the reference to the Hartford conven tion. In 1828 the other aspect of the letters rathei predominated. The democrats were not quite please 1 15 Niles, 394. BEMINOLE WAR IN CONGRESS. 66 -'J, and all loyally adhered to it, the secret of their first opinion being preserved for ten years. Calhoun ^^Tote to Jackson in accordance with the agreement, congratu- lating and approving. Jackson inferred that Calhoun had been his friend in the cabinet all the time, and that his old enemy, Crawford, had been the head of the hos- tile party. The political liistory of this country was permanently affected by the personal relations of Jack- son to Calhoun and Crawford on that matter. Monroe had a long correspondence with Jackson to try to rec- oncile him to the surrender of the forts to Sj)ain. In that correspondence Jackson did not mention the Rhea letter. At the next session of Congress (1818-19) the pro- ceedings in Florida were made the subject of inquiry, and were at once involved in the politics of the day. Clay was in opi30sition to the administration because he had not been made Secretary of State. He refused the War Department and the mission to England. His opposition was factious. After the administration as- sumed the responsibility for Jackson's doings, Clay opened the attack on them. Here began the feud be- tween Clay and Jackson. The latter was in a doubly irritable state of mind between the flatterers on one side and the critics on the other. The personal element came to the front. Any one who approved of his acts was his friend ; any one who criticised was his enemy ; whether any personal feeling was brought to the dis- cussion of a question of law and fact or not. There are Bome facts which look as if Clay and Crawford had be- gun to regard Jackson as a possible competitor for the presidency. Crawford was in communication with the •ommittees ou the Seminole war, apparently instigating 66 ANDREW JACKSON. action, while Calhoun tried to quell the excitement and avert action, out of loyalty to the decision adopted by the administration of which he was a member.^ The Georgian friends of Crawford in Congress led the attack on Jackson.'^ Crawford and Calhoun were enemies. Adams was writing dispatches and preparing instruc- tions, by which, both with England and Spain, he suc- ceeded in vindicating Jackson's proceedings. He and Jackson were, at this time, friends, and one scheme waa to make Jackson Vice-President on a ticket with Adams.' Adams's defence of Jackson was very plausible, and it was fortified Hne by line with references to the docu- mentary ])roofs, yet if it had been worth any one's while, either in England or this country, to examine the al- leged proofs, all the case against Arbuthnot would have been found baseless. Adams quotes a certain letter as proof that Arbuthnot was not truly a trader, but had concealed purposes. The letter bears no testimony at all to the fact alleged.^ Rush cited to the English minister another proof of this, wliich is equally frail, and oidy proves that Arbuthnot had taken trouble to try to serve the Indians out of pity for them.® His letter to his son, besides warning him to save as much as possible of their property, contained a message to Boleck not to 1 See Lacock's letter of June 2.5, 1832, in answer to Jackson's interrogatories. (43 Niles, 79.) 2 8 Adams, 240. ^ Adams said (in 1824) that the vice-presidency would he a nice place for Jackson's old age. Jackson was four months older than Adams. This is not so ridiculous as it would be if Jacksor fij'.d not pleaded old age and iUness as a reason why he should act go to the Senate in 1823. (See G Adams, 633.) ♦ Document A, 20, cf. 147. * 2 Rush, 52, cf. Document A, 215. PURCUASE OF FLORIDA. 67 resist the Americans.^ The Senate cominittee roported February 24, 1819 (LacoPk's Report), strongly against Jackson on all the points from the independent recruit- Lno: down to the taking- of Pensacola."^ No action was taken. Jackson had been in "Washington during the winter watching the ])roceedings. In February he made an excursion as far north as New York. He was re- ceived everyAvhere with enthusiasm. There was a story that he was so angry at some of the proceedings in censure of him that he went to the Senate chamber to waylay some persons who had displeased him. He denied this. In 1819 the purchase of Florida was effected, al- though the treaty was not ratified until February 22, 1821. In this treaty the western boundary of the Louisiana purchase was for the fu'st time defined. Adams, while the negotiations were pending, called ou Jackson, and consulted him about the boundary to be contended for.^ Jackson's interest then centred in Florida, and he cared comparatively little for the wilder- ness of Texas. He thought that the line of the Sabine might well be accepted, if Florida could thereby be secured. Monroe and his cabinet seem to have cared just as little for Texas. Adams's diary shows that he was not heartily supported in the efforts he was willing to make to push the line westward. Jackson's opinion about claiming Texas was of no value, but the fact that he was consulted showed the amount of respect and con- sideration which the administration was willing to pay him. In 1836, and again in 184-S, \dams, citing his diary, declared that Jackson had been consulted, and had approved the Florida treaty. Jackson contradicted tnd denied it in a violent and msulting manner 1 Doc,nm«nt. A ' ^"^ ^ 1 6 ^iles. 33. » 8 Adams. 238-9 08 ANDREW JACKSON. In the spring of 1821 Jackson was appointed Gov error of Florida, under tlie belief that the j^ublic would he glad to see liini so honored. On July 21st of the same year he published general orders,^ taking leave of his army, a reduction having been made by which he had been tlu-own out. In these orders, or in a post- script to them, he managed to come into collision with his colleague and senior, Major-General Brown, then chief in command of the army of the United States, by taking up and criticising an order '* signed Jacob Brown," especially in regard to the punislmient for desertion. Brown was a New York militia general, some eight years younger than Jackson, who had dis- tinguished himself, in the general ill-success of the war, by some small successes on the northern frontier. He seemed to be the coming military hero of the war until he was eclipsed by Jackson. He took precedence of Jackson by senioi-ity of aj^pointment, and so became chief in command. It had become evident now that Jackson needed much room in the world for all his jealousies and animosities, and that his fellow-men must put up with a gi'eat deal of arrogance and misbehavior on his part. His popularity shielded him. He had become a privileged person, like a great nobleman of the last century. To offend liim was to incur extraor- dinary penalties. To get in his way was to expose one's self to assaults which could not be resented as tliey would be if they came from another man. All this he had won by military success. One is led, then, to inquire, what was the measure of this militaiy ser- vi(^e ? It was but a little over two years of Indiar Hghting, with only one battle against a civilized foe ^ SI Niles, 53. GOVERNOR or FLORIDA. 09 A.t kast It seemed fair to expect that lie would obser?o military discipline and decorum. Bat he did not do so, md no one dared call Inm to account. Cono-ress did not have time to legislate for the terri- tory of Florida, after tlie treaty was ratified, before the end of the session. An act was passed extending to tho new territory only the revenue laws and the law against the slave-trade. Jackson was appointed Governor in April, with all the powers of the Captain-General of Cuba and the Spanish Governors of Florida, except that he could not lay taxes or grant land. His position was therefore a very anomalous one, — an American Gov- ernor, under Spanish law, of an American territory hot yet under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Long delays, due to dilatoriness and inef- ficiency, postponed the actual cession until July 17th. Meanwhile Jackson was chafing and fuming, and strengthening his detestation of all Spaniards. In September certain persons represented to Jackson that papers wliich were necessary for the protection of their interests were being ])acked up, and would be car- ried away by the Spanish ex-Governor, contrary to the ti-eaty. There were five or six sets of jjaj^ers about property and land grants ^ which were in demand. There had been complaints against the Spaniards foi granting lands belonging to the crown between the making and the ratification of the treaty. Jackson no doubt believed the worst against them. The persons who claimed his aid were weak and poor. With charac- Deristic chivalry and impetuosity he sent an oificer to »eize the papers. The ex-Go^er-or, Callava, refused x> give up any papers uidess they weri described, and 1 21 NileB. '50. 70 ANDREW JACKSON. a demand for them was addressed to hiiu as Spanish commissioner. He and Jackson seem to have worked at cross-purposes unnecessarily. It is hard to make out what the misunderstanding was (although the iL'^e of two languages might partly account for it), unlfs? Jackson was acting under his anti-Spanish bias. Jack- son ended by sending Callava to the calaboose. Parton, w ho gives some special and interesting details derived from Brackenrldge, the alcalde and interpreter, says that Callava saw the ridiculous side of the affair, and that he and his friends "made a night of it " in the calaboose. Jackson sent an officer to Callava's house to take the papers, and then ordered Callava to be discharged. Eligius Fromentin, of Louisiana, had been appointed judge of the western district of Florida. He, upon application, issued a writ of habeas corpus for Callava. Jackson summoned Fromentin before him to show cause why he had interfered with Jackson's authority as Gov- ernor of the Floridas with the powers of the Captain- General of Cuba, as " Supreme Judge," and as " Chan- cellor." Fromentin sent an excuse on the oround of illness. The next day he went to see Jackson, and aftev a fierce interview each prepared a " statement " to send to Washington. Callava went to Washington to seek satisfaction. Some of his friends published, at Pensa cola, a statement in his defence. Thereuj)on Jackson ordered them out of Florida at four days' notice, on ^lain of arrest for contempt and disobedience, if thev vere found there later. After all, the heirs of Vidal, who stirred uj) the whole trouble, were, according to Parton. indebted to the F'orbcs firm, against which they (ranted to protect themselves.^ This would not affect 1 2 Parton, 638. AFFAIR OF CALLAVA. 71 their right and interest in securing i)apers pi-operl^y theirs. Whether the papers were being carried away^ and did properly belong to the claimants, is not knovvn.^ About the time of the trouble with Callava, Worth- ington, the Secretary and acting Governor of East Flor- ida, was having a contest with Coppinger, the Spanish Governor of East Florida, about papers which the former seized under Jackson's orders. Here, then, was another trouble which Jackson had prepared in about six months' service for his unhappy superiors. He was ill and disgusted with his office. He resigned and went home in October. It is plain that he had acted from a good motive against Callava, and, being sure of his motive, he had disregarded diplo- matic obligations, evidence, law, propriety, and forms of procedure. Those things only enraged him because they balked him of the quick purpose, born of his sense of justice and of his sympathy with an ex parte appeal to his power. Such a man is a dangerous person to be endowed with civil power. As to his quarrel with Fro- mentin, it was a farce. If Jackson had been a man of any introspection, he must have had, ever after, more sharity for the whole class of Spanish governors, when he saw what an arrogant fool he had made of himself while endowed with indefinite and irresponsible power. Monroe's cabinet unanimously agreed that, as the only laws which had been extended to Florida were the rev- enue laws and those against the slave-trade, Fromentin'a jurisdiction was limited to those laws,^ and he could not 1 All the documents are in Folio State Papers, 2 Miscellan '99. The important papers are in 21 Niles. 2 For Froracntin's own thef 7 of bis action, which was plaiul} •rroneous, see 21 Niles, 252. 72 ANDREW JACKSON. issue a \vrit of habeas corpus. The President, Calhoun, and Wirt thought that he was not amenable for his er- ror to Jackson. Adams took Jackson's part in this matter also. He said that Fromentin had violated Jack- son's authority.^ The cabinet discussed the subject for tlu'ee days without reacliing a decision. They were gi'eatly perplexed as to the law and justict of the mat ter, and also as to its political effect. Congress took i1 up, and the newspapers were filled with it. At first tho tide of opinion was against Jackson, but liis popularity reacted against it, and the affair did not hurt him. In 1823 Jackson was offered the mission to Mexico. He declined it. Soon afterwards he published in the Mobile " Register " a letter stating his reasons for de- clining. These reasons were a reflection on the adminis- tration, because they showed cause why no mission ought to be sent. The letter was calculated to win capital out of the appointment at the expense of the administra- tion which had made it.^ Monroe must have been often reminded of what Jefferson said to him, in 1818, when he asked whether it would not be wise to give Jackson the mission to Russia : " Why, good G — d, he would breed you a quarrel before he had been there a month ! " * i 5 Adams, 359, 368 to 380. 2 24 Niles, 280. « 4 Adams, 76. CHAPTER IV. ELECTION OF 1824. The congressional caucus met April 8, 1820. The O[uestion was whether to nominate any candidates for President and Vice-President. Adams says that the caucus was called as part of a plan to nominate Clay for Vice-President. About forty members of Congress attended. R. M. Johnson offered a resolution that it was inexpedient to nominate candidates. This resolu- tion was adopted, and the caucus adjourned.^ Monroe received, at the election, every electoral vote save one, whicli was cast by Plumer, in New Hami)shire, for Adams. Tomkins was reelected Vice-President, but he received fourteen less votes than Monroe. His repu- tation was declining. In raising money for the pub- lic service during the war he had engaged his own security. His book-keeping was bad, and his accounts and the public accounts became so entangled that he could not separate them.^ On the one hand, he claimed that he was a creditor and heavy loser by the steps which he had taken out of patriotic zeal for the pub- lic service, which steps had been of great benefit to the country. On the other hand, the controller of the State of New York found that Tomkins could not ac- count for all the money which had passed thi'ough hia hands, and which amoimted to over three million dol 1 5 Adams, ft8, 60. 2 i Hammond, 508 ig. ANDREW JACKSON. lars. The affair was immediately entangled in tlie fac- tion fights of New York, the Bucktails taking sides with Tomkins, and the Clintonians against him. The con- troller of the State and the Vice-President of the United States were engaged, in 1818 and 1819, in a bitter cor- respondence.^ Tomkins became bankrupt, and acquired the reputation of a defaulter. Finally, in 1821, an act was passed by the state Legislature to balance his ac« counts without payment either way.^ He was not able for some years to draw his salary as Vice-President, because he stood a defaulter also on the books of the federal treasury. He stood a suit in 1822 in the United States District Court and won it.^ In 1823 a committee of the House reported in his favor,* and an act ajjpropri- ating $35,190 for his relief was passed. In April, 1824, Monroe sent in a message, the matter having been re- ferred to him, in which he found $60,239 ^ due Tom kins. The trouble was that, in order to show himself a creditor, Tomkins had to include in his accounts interest, commissions, damages, allowances, etc., with interest on them all ; that is, all the ordinary and extraordinary charges which a broker would make for finding funds lor an embarrassed client. If these charges were all allowed, Tomkins could claim no credit for patriotism. If he was to keep the credit of extraordinary patriotism, he was a debtor. In 1816 he was very poj^ular and had high hopes of the presidency. In 1825 he retired neg- lected and forgotten. He died in June, 1825. During Monroe's second term each of the persona factions was intriguing on behalf of its chief, and striv » 15 Mks, 425 ; 17 Niles, 21. 2 j Ilammond, 542. « 22 Niles, 242. ♦ 23 Niles, 406. • 26 Niles, 168. TARIFF IN 1820. 76 ing to kill off all the others. There were no real issues. On the return of peace in 1815, the industries which liad grown up here during the war to supply needs, which could not, under the then existing laws, be supplied by importation, found themselves threatened with ruin. The tariff of 1810. although its rates were of course far beloAV the " double duties " which had been levied dur- ino- the war, was supposed at the time to be amply i)ro- tective. It had been planned to that end. The embargo, non-intercourse, and war had created entirely artificial circumstances, which were a heavy burden on the na- tion as a whole, but which had given security and favor to certain manufacturing industries. There was no way to '' protect " the industries after peace returned except to reproduce by taxes the same hardship for everybody else, and the same special circumstances for the favored industries, as had been produced by embargo and war. In 1819 a great commercial crisis occurred, which pros- trated all the industry of the country for four or five years. So long as vicious and depreciated currencies existed in Europe, there was less penalty for a vicious currency here ; but as fast as European currencies im- proved after the return of peace, gold and silver began to go to the countries of improving currency, and aw^ay from the countries where the currency still remained bad. The "hard times" were made an argument to show that more protection was needed ; tliat is, that the country had been prosperous during war, and that the return of peace had ruined it, unless taxes could be de- vised which should press as hard as the war had done. The taxes had not indeed been made so heavy as that, and so more were needed. Currency theorists also arose to anticipate all the ^sdom of xater days. Tht-y i)roved 76 ANDREW JACKS OX. uhal Ae people of the United States, with a great conii* nent at their disposal, coiild not get out of the continent on ahundance of food, clothing, shelter, and fuel be- cause they had not enough bits of paper stamped " one dollar " at theu* disposal. The currency whims, how- ever, hardly got into politics at that period. In 1820 a strong attempt was made to increase the tariff, to do away wdth credit for duties, and to put a check on sales at auction. As the presidential election was uncontested, power to carry these bills could not be concentrated. In 1824 the case was different. No fac- tion dared vote against the higher tariff for fear of losing support.^ The tariff was not, therefore, a party ques- tion. The act was passed May 22, 1824, by a combi- nation of Middle and Western States against New Eng- land, and on a combination of the iron, wool, hemp, whiskey, and sugar interests. New England, as the commercial district, was then for free trade. Jackson had been elected to the Senate in the winter of 1823-24. Parton brings the invaluable testimony of William B. Lewis as to the reason why and the way in which Jackson was elected.'^ John Williams had been senator. His term expired. He was an opponent of Jackson. He was a candidate for reelection, and was BO strong that no Jackson man but Jackson himself could defeat him. Hence the men who were plamiing to make Jackson President, of whom Lewis was the chief, secured Jackson's election to the Senate. While the tariff question was pending, a convenient person — Dr. Coleman, of Warrenton, Va. — was found to in torrogate Jackson about it. His letter in reply was th? first of the adroit letters or manifestoes by means a 1 24 Niles, 324. 2 3 Partou, 21. WIRE-PULLING 77 rhich the Jackson managers carried on the campaign in Jackson's favor. They developed this art of electioneer- ing in a way then not conceived of hy other factions. The Coleman letter was a model letter of its kind. It said nothing clear or to the point on the matter in ques- tion. It used some ambiguous phrases which the reader could interpret to suit his own taste. It muddled the question by contradictory suggestions, bearing upon it from a greater or less distance, and from all points of view, and it failed not to introduce enough glittering platitudes to make the whole pass current. Jackson voted for the tariff and for a number of internal im- provement schemes, which votes were afterwards quoted against liim.^ Jackson was therefore fairly started as a candidate for the presidency. Among all the remarkable acci- dents which opened his way to the first position in the country, it was not the least that he had William B. LeM-is for a neighbor and friend. Lewis was the great father of the wire-pullers. He first practised in a mas- terly and scientific way the ai-t of starting movements, apparently spontaneous, at a distance, and in a quarter from which they win prestige or poinilarity, in order that these movements may produce, at the proper time and place, the effects intended by the true agent, who, in the mean time, prepares to be acted on by the move- ment in the direction in wliicli, from the beginning, he desired to go. On tliis system political activity is ren- dered theatrical. The personal initiative is concealed There is an adjustment of rOJes, a 7)1186 en scene, and A constant consideration of effect Each person acts on fche other in prearranged wavs. t^ues are given and 1 38 Niles, 285. 78 ANDREW JACKSOJV. taken, and the effect depends on the fidelity of eacl to liis part. The perfection of the representation is reached when the audience or spectators are disre- garded until the finale, when the chief actor, having reached the denoimient towards which he and his com- rades have so long been laboring, comes to the foot- lights and bows to the " will of the people." Lewis Bhowed great astuteness in his manoeuvres. There was nothing vulgar about him. There was a certain breadth of generalship about his proceedings. He was very far- sighted and prudent. He had the great knowledge re- quired by the wire-puller, — knowledge of men. He knew the class amongst whom Jackson's popularity was strongest. He knew their notions, prejudices, tastes, and instincts. He knew what motives to appeal to. He wrote very well. When he wanted to go straight to a point he could do so. When he wanted to produce effects or suggest adroitly, without coming to the point, he could do that too. He also knew Jackson well. He no doubt sincerely loved and admired Jackson. He threw his whole soul into the undertaking to elect Jack- son, but he never showed any selfish or interested pur- poses in that connection. So long as Jackson was unin- formed or unprejudiced on any matter he was at the disposition of any one who had won his confidence, and who desired to influence him on that matter. He could then be led to accept any view of it which was put be- fore liim in a way to strike his mind. Lewis knew how to put a thing before Jackson's mind. However, when Jackson had adopted any view or notion, his mind be- came set or biassed, and it was not easy, even for those who first influenced him, to deflect his mind from rigid- ity of i'^ference, or his conduct from direct deduction PROJECT TO NOMINATE JACKS 0^. 79 lie often outstripped the wishes and intentions of those vrho had moved him first. To contradict him, at that Btage, would have been to break friendship. Lewis treated him with great tact and influenced him very often, but he did not control him or manage him. It would have been a good thing for the country if no worse man than Lewis had ever gained influence over Jackson. Parton obtained from Lewis a description of the first steps towards Jackson's nomination. Lewis teUs how he used Jackson's letters to Monroe to win influential federalists to Jackson's support. It was after Jack- son's return from Florida, in 1821, that the project was definitely decided upon. At first Jackson rejected, with some temper, the suggestion that he could or would run for President. He did not consider himself the right sort of man, and he felt old and ill. In the sjH'ing of 1822 Lewis went to North Carolina, and worked up his connections there for Jackson. On the 20th of July, 1822, the Tennessee Legislature made the formal nom- ination. During the next two years Jackson's sup- porters were gaining connections and undermining the caucus, for he w^as an independent candidate and a " disorganizer," because he was raised up outside of the machine, and without any considtation with the es- tablished party authorities. Certain features of Jackson's character have appeared already. We have seen some of his elements of strength and some of his faults. Thf^ nation wanted to reward him for military achievements and tor a display of mil- •tary virtues. They had discarded dukedoms, pensions, ribbons, and orders, and they had no sign of national gratitude to employ but election to civil office. So far KO ANDREW JACKSON., Jackson had not made public display of any qualities but those of a military man, and violence, indiscretion, obsti- nacy, and quarrelsomeness. In the campaign, those who opposed him called him a "murderer." The only in* cideHts of his life which the biographer can note, aside from liis military service, are successive acts of impro- priety and bad judgment. Negatively, however, there was more to be said for Jackson. He was above every 8i3ecies of money vice ; he was chaste and domestic in his habits ; ^ he was temperate in every way ; he was not ambitious in the bad sense. There w'ere already four other candidates in the field, who all belonged to the democratic-republican party. Niles gives an instance in which seven democrats met at Philadelphia, who all were for Schulze, the democratic candidate for Governor. Each candidate for President had a supi)orter among them, and no candidate had over two.^ De Witt Clinton was not altojxetlier out of consideration. A caucus of the South Carolina Legisla- ture nominated Lowndes. * John Quincy Adams stood first among the candi- dates by his jiubtic services and experience. He was fifty-seven years old. He went to Europe with Jiis father w^ien he was eleven years old, and studied there for several years. He was, through his father, intimate from his earliest youth wdth public and diplomatic af- fairs. As far as education and early training could go, he had the best outfit for a statesman and diplomat. He enjoyed great respect. Those who thought that a man Dught to advance to the presidency through lower grade* of public employment looked upon him as the most sui* 1 The only contrary suggestion known is in Binns, 245. * 24 Niles, 369. » 5 Adams, 468. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 81 able candidate. He was not a man of genius, but one of wide interests, metliodical habits, and indefatigable industry. It is hard to see what he ever did, from his earliest youth, for amusement and entertainment. He would have been a better statesman if he had been more frivolous. He was unsocial in his manners, had few friends, and rejDelled those who would have been his friends. So far as we can learn, he engaged in no in- trigues for the presidency. He certainly had the small- est and least zealous corjDS of workers. His weakness was that the great body of the voters did not have any feeling that a man with the qualifications which he pos- sessed was needed for the presidential office. He had been a democrat since 1807, when he went over to the administration party because he believed that the New England federalists were plotting secession. His sound- ness in " democratic principles " was doubted. He was earnestly disliked by all the active jDoliticians. In the campaign he was called a '" tory." Adams was charged with offering, at Ghent, to yield to the English the right of navigating the Mississippi, if they would renew the rights to fish in Canadian waters ; that is, with offering to sacrifice a Western interest to serve an Eastern one. He published a small volume to expose the untruth of this charge and the character of the evi' dence by which it was suj^ported.^ In his own opinion, this attack helped him.^ He was in favor of the tar- iff as it stood in 1824. He thought that it gave enough protection. He was also in favor of internal improve- ments, but t)iought they might be abused.^ He was ao- 1 The Duplicate Letters, ihe Fisheries and the Mississippi. « 6 Adams, 263. » 6 Adams, 353, 451 82 ANDREW JACK SOX. eused of undemocratic care for etiquette, and also oA slovenliness in dress. Calhoun enjoyed great popularity in New England, in New York city, and in Pennsylvania, as well as at liome. He was forty-two years old, and was the " young men's candidate." He had actively favored the tariff of 1816 and the bank, and also plans for internal improve- ments. In October, 1822, Adams \vi'ote : "• Callioun has no petty scruples about constructive powers and state rights." ^ Calhoun and Adams had been strong friends, and there Avas some idea of putting Calhoun on the ticket Avith Adams until 1822, when some members of Congress nominated Calhoun for President.'"^ Web- ster preferred Calhoun to all the other candidates.^ His brother A\Tote that Callioun was the second choice of New Hamiishire.* Calhoun took the War Department in 1817, when it was in great disorder. He had to bear a great deal of abuse before he got it in order, but later he was much praised for the system he had introduced.^ He and Crawford were especial rivals, because Crawford was the " regular " Virginia and Southern candidate. In 1822 attempts were made to injure Calhoun by an investigation of a contract for building the Rip Raps at Old Point Comfort. The contract was private, not com- petitive. He was exonerated by a committee of the House.* As we shaU see, Calhoun withdrew his name before the election. J 6 Adams, 75. - 6 Adams, 42. 3 1 Curtis's Webster, 218, 236. * 1 Webster's Correspondence, 323. ^ 20 Niles 5C. Adams thought this praise undeaerved. (7 Ad ims, 446.) • 2a NUes. 251. WILLIAM HARRIS CRA l\ FOR J. 8S Crawford was the regular candidate. He was fifty- two years old. In 1798 he had been an " Addresser,' that is, an orthodox federalist.^ He had also been a supporter of the old bank, and had been the leader in tlie Senate for the renewal of its charter. He had also opposed the embargo.'"^ He had been very eagerly work- ing for eight years to reach the presidency. In the campaign he was called an " intriguer." As Secretary of the Treasury during the crisis of 1819, he had a very difficult task to jjerform. He had undertaken even more than liis duty required, for he had aimed to " do justice " between the banks, and to keep them from en- croaching upon each other. To this end he distributed his deposits, and in some cases favored certain banks. When the crash came his funds were locked up in some of these banks. He was then open to the charge, which Ninian Edwards made over the signature " A. B.," that he had used the treasury funds to win political capital, and had corruptly put the funds in unsound banks. Cra^vford was exonerated by a committee of the House, but he barely escaj^ed ruin." He introduced the limited period of service, by the Act of May 15, 1820, into the Treasuiy Department. This act limits the pe- riod of office of all persons engaged in collecting the rev- enue to four years, at the expiration of which time they go out of office or come up for reappointment.* It is one of the most important steps in the history of the abuse of the civil service. Crawford was believed by his colleasnies to have sacrificed tlie administration to make capital for himself. Adams says that Crawford 1 24 Niles, 132. - Cobb, 143 Folio State Papers ; 5 Finance, . * 7 Adams, 424. 84 ANDREW JACKSUH. and Monroe quarrelled to the verge of violence during the last montlis of the administration.^ In order to win strength for Crawford, Van Buren was nominated for Vice-President by the Legislature of Georgia. Thia proposition was overAvhelmed by ridicule.^ Cra^^'ford was physically disabled from September, 1823, to Sep- teniber, 1824. He could not sign his name, and was apparently a wieck. He used a fac-simile stamp on public paj^ers, or it was used by a member of his family under his direction. Clay had already assumed the chamj^ionship of the protective system. He had been one of the strongest 02> ponents of the re-charter of the fii'st bank. He had also made " spnpathy with nations struggling for liberty " one of his points, and had been zealous for the recog- nition of the South American republics. He was a great party leader. He had just the power to win men to liim and to inspire personal loyalty which Adams had not. On the other hand he lacked industry. He was eloquent, but he never mastered any subject which required study. His strength lay in facility and practical tact. He was forty-seven years old. lie was stigma- tized as a " gambler " by his opponents in the campaign. From 1820 to 1823 he was not in public life, but was retrieving his private fortunes. His enemies said that his affairs had been embarrassed by gambling. He was Speaker from 1815 to 1820, and again from 1823 to 1825. He was one of the commissioners who made tlie tieaty of Ghent. The Crawford men wanted a congressional caucus \r 1824, because they had control of the machine. The lupporters of the other candidates opposed any caucus 1 7 Adams, 81. 2 Cobb, 209. CAUCUS OF 1824. 85 but secretly, because the caucus was now an established institution. The opponents of the caucus found a strong ally in Niles, who opened fire on the caucus in his " Register " witliout any reserve. His sincerity and singleness of i)urpose are beyond question. He did not use his paper to support any candidate. He was an old Jeffersonian republican of 1798, and he believed sin- cerely in all the "principles." He assailed the caucus, because in his view it usurped the right of the people to govern themselves. He denounced it steadily for more than a year, and he succeeded in casting odium upon it. The Legislatures of New York and Virginia passed reso- lutions in favor of a caucus, because these two States, wliile united, could control the presidency through the caucus. New York being rent by democratic faction fights, and Virginia being led by a close oligarchy. New York became an appendage to Virginia in their co- alition. Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Ma- ryland adopted resolutions against the caucus. The Legislature of Pennsylvania declared against a " partial caucus." ^ As the time for the caucus approached, ne- gotiations for bargains between the candidates became active, but it would be tedious to gather the recorded reports and rumors of such transactions. The caucus met in the chamber of the House of Rep resentatives February 14, 1824.^ Of 216 democrats in Congress, 66 were present. Two, who were ill at home, sent proxies. If proxies were allowable, the members of Congress, when assembled iu presidential caucus, must have been regarded as independent i)owers, pos- sessed of a prerogative, like peers or sovereigns. The «ote was : Crawford, 64 ; AJums, 2 ; Jackson, 1 ; Macon, 1 6 Aaams. 232. * «5 NUes. 388. B6 ANDREW JACKSON. I : t. e., all but the Crawford men stayed away. Gal- latin was nominated for Vice-President by 57 votes. An address was published, defending the caucus, and arguing its indispensability to the party.^ Some ques- tion was raised about Gallatin's eligibility on account of his foreign birth, but he possessed the alternative quali- rication allowed by the Constitution. He had been a commissioner at Ghent and a friend of Crawford. Hid nomination did not strengthen the ticket. There was still a great deal of rancor against him for forsaking the Treasury Department when the war broke out. He soon withdrew his name because the caucus was so un- popular. Martin Van Buren was chief engineer of this last con- gressional caucus. He was senator from New York. He and his friends, under the new Constitution of 1821, had established a very efficient party organization, which they had well in hand. They were known as the Regency, and they had renewed the alliance with Vir- ginia to control the machine and elect Crawford. A project which threatened to mar their scheme was the proposition, in 1823, to take the election of presidential electors from the Legislature of New York and give it to the people. The Regency-Tammany party oiDjJosed this, as it would render useless all their machinery The advocates of the change (being the opponents of CraAvford, Tammany, and the Regency), formed the " people's party." Clinton was for Jackson, so he was allied with the people's party against Crawford. Al- though Clinton was the soul of the canal enterprise, he vas removed from his office of canal commissioner tc iry to break up this combination. It would never d< ^ 25Nile8, 391. INTRIGUES IN NEW YORK. 87 for the Regency to oppose directly and oi^enly a propo- sition to give the election to the people. When the law was proposed, the Regency managed to twist it into such preposterous shape that a general ticket was to be voted for, and if there should not be a majority (which, with four in the field, was a very probable result) the State would lose its vote. The bill passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate.^ The popular indignation was BO great that the next Legislature was carried by the people's party, and a joint ticket of electors was elected, on which were 25 Adams men, 7 Clay men, and 4 Cra\^^ord men.^ Some of them must have changed their votes before the election. A federalist convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1824, nominated Jackson.^ At a primary meeting at Philadelpliia, Dallas withdrew Calhoun's name from the first place and nominated him for the second. Calhoun was strong in Pennsylvania, but Jack son had superseded him. This move was a coalition of Jackson and Calhoun. The democratic convention at Harrisburg, March 4th, was stampeded for Jackson. Only one vote was given against him.^ Another demo- cratic convention, called " regidar," was convened Au- gust 9th. It repudiated Jackson and adhered to Craw- ford.^ Jackson and his followers were denounced as " disorganizers." The Albany " Argus " said of Jackson, " It is idle in this State, however it may be in others, to strive even for a moderate svij)port of Mr. Jackson. He \s wholly out of the questior. as far as the votes of New 1 2 Hammond, \?2. 2 27 Niles, 186. Hammond statement is obscure. (See % Hammond, 177.) ^ 1 Sargent, 41. * 26 Niles. 20. ^ I Sargent, 4J. 88 ANDREW JACKSON. York are in it. Independently of the disclosures of his political opinions, he could not be the republican candi- date. He is respected as a gallant soldier, but he stands, in tlie minds of the people of tliis State, at an immeasur- able distance from the executive chair." ^ After the " Argus " changed its mind about Jackson, any one who held the very judicious opinion embodied in this para- graph was regarded by it as a " federalist," wliich was as much as to say, an enemy of the American people. Niles says that John Randolph opposed Jackson in a public speech in 1822 because he was the candidate of the Bank of the United States, and his election would unite " the purse and the sword." ^ Jefferson said, " I feel very much alarmed at the prospect of seeing Gen- eral Jackson President. He is one of the most unfit men I know of for the place. He has had very little respect for laws or constitutions, and is, in fact, an able military chief. His passions are terrible. . . . He has been much tried since I knew him, but he is a dan- gerous man." * On the contrary, Jackson's courtly bearing won for him all the ladies. Webster wTote, " General Jackson's manners are more presidential than those of any of the candidates. He is grave, mild, and reserved. My wife is for him decidedly." ^ Jackson's friends induced him to have a kind of reconciliation with Scott, Clay, and Benton. The last was a supportei of Clay, but when Clay was out of the contest he turned to Jackson.^ Adams says that Benton joined Jackson after Jackson's friends obtained for him the nominatior 1 Quoted 49 Niles, 188. 2 22 Niles, 73. ' 1 Webster's Correspoudence, 371. * 1 Webster's Correspondence, 346. He went first to Crawford, then to Jackson. (Cobb, Si5., VOTE OF 1824. 89 AS minister to Mexico. When Adams came in he would not ratify the ajjpointment.^ During the winter some sort of a peace was made between Jackson and Craw- ford.2 The result of the electoral vote was : Jackson, 99 ; Adams, 84 ; Crawford, 41 ; Clay, 37. For Vice-Presi- dent the vote was : Callioun, 182 ; Sanford, 30 ; Macon, 24 ; Jackson, 13 ; Van Buren, 9 ; Clay, 2 ; blank, 1. New York voted : Jackson, 1 ; Adams, 26 ; Crawford, 5 ; Clay, 4. The electors were chosen by the Legislature in Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, South Carolina, and A^ermont. In the other States the popular vote stood (in round numbers) : Jackson, 155,800 , Adams, 105,300; Crawford, 44,200; Clay, 46,500. The second choice of Clay's States (Ohio, Kentucky, and IVIissouri) was Jackson. In Pennsylvania Jackson had 36,000 votes, and aU the others together had less than 12,000. Only about one third of the vote of the State was polled, because it was known that Jackson would carry it overwhelmingly.^ The intrigiiing for the election now entered on a new stage. Clay was out of the contest in the House, but he had great influence there, and it has often been as- serted that the House would have elected him if his name had come before it as one of the three highest. He was courted by all pai-ties. It would be tedious to collect the traces of various efforts to form combinations. The truth seems to be this : Washington was filled dur- ing the winter with persons, members of Congress and others, who were under great excitement about the election. All sorts of busybodi^s were runnmg about 1 f Adams, 522. a 6 Adams, 478, 4»5. « 27 Niles, ISC. .^0 ANDREW JACKSOIV. talking and jjlanning, and proposing >vliat seemed to each to be good. Persons who were in Washington. and were cognizant of some one line of intrigue, or of the activity of some one person, have left records ol what they saw or heard, and have vehemently main- tained each that his evidence gives the only correct clew to the result. Every candidate's name is connected witli some intrigue, or some proposition for a coalition. In no case is the proposition or intrigue brought home to the principal party as a conscious or responsible par- ticipator, and yet it appears that the negotiations were often of such a character that they could have been taken up and adopted if they had proved satisfactory. The election in the House took place February 9, 1825. On the first ballot, Adams obtained the votes of thii'teen States, Jackson of seven, and Crawford of four. For the first few days Jackson seemed to bear his defeat good-naturedly. He met Adams on the evening of the election at the President's reception, and bore himself much the better of the two.^ It was soon rumored that Clay was to be Secretaiy of State. After a few days Clay accepted that post. The charge of a corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams was then started. It was an inference from Clay's aj)- pointment, and nothing more. Any man can judge to- day as well as any one could in 1824 whether that fact leads straight and necessarily to that inference. Not a particle of other evidence ever was alleged. We have ndver had any definition of the proper limits of combi- nations, bargains, and pledges in politics, but an agree- ment to make Clay Secretary of State, if made, could not be called a corrupt bargain. He was such a mai 1 Cobb. 226. CHARGE OF CORRUPT BARGAIN. 91 that he was a fit and proper person for the place. No one would deny that. Therefore no public mteresl would be sacrificed or abused by his appointniLiit. A corrupt bargain must be one in which tliere is collusion for private gain at the expense of the ])ublic welfare. Bargains which avoid this definition must yet be toler- ated in all political systems, although they impair the purity of any system. The men around Jackson — Eaton, Lewis, Livingston, Lee, Swartwout — knew the value of the charge of corrupt bargain for electioneering purposes, and the political value of the appeal to Jackson's supporters on the ground that he liad been cheated out of his election. Did not they first put the idea into Jackson's head that he had been cheated by a corrupt bargain ? Is not that the explanation of his change of tone from the lofty urbanity of the President's assembly to the rancorous animosity of a few days afterwards ? Such a conjecture fits all the circumstances and all the charac- ters. The men around Jackson might see the value of the charge, and use it, without ever troubling themselves to define just how far they believed in it ; but Jackson would not do that. Such a suggestion would come to him like a revelation, and his mind would close on it with a solidity of conviction which nothing ever could shake. Benton always scouted the notion of the bargain.^ He says that he knew before Adams did, that Clay in- tended to vote for Aiams. Benton would not follow Clay. Clay's reason for voting for Adams was that Crawford was incapacitated by his broken health,'' and 1 1 Benton, 48. • Crawford was taken to -he Capitol for a few hours, a day or 92 ANDREW JACKSOK. that a military hero ^Yas not a fit person to be President January 8th Clay Avrote to F. P. Blair ^ that the friends of all the candidates were courting him, but tliAt ha should vote for Adams. January 24th Clay and the ma- jority of the Ohio and Kentucky delegations declared that they ^^ ould vote for Adams. In a letter to F. Brooke, January 28, 1825, Clay stated that he would vote for Adams for the reasons given.^ The Clay men generally argaied that if Jackson was elected he would keej3 Adams in the State Def)artment. It would then be difficult, in 1828, to elect Clay, another Western man ; but Adams would have more strength. If Adams should be elected in 1824, the election of Clay, as a Western man, in 1828, would be easier, especially if Ad- ams would give him the Secretaryship.^ On the 25th of January, the day after the Western delegations came out for Adams, an anonymous letter appeared in the " Co- lumbian Observer," of PhiladeliDhia, predicting a bar- gain between Adams and Clay. Kremer, member of the House from Pennsylvania, avowed his responsibility for the letter, although it has generally been believed that he could not have written it. Clay demanded an investigation in the House, and a connnittee was raised, but Kremer declined to answer them. The letter was Another case of the general device of laying do^^'n anch- ors for strains which would probably need to be ex- erted later. It would not do for Kremer to admit that two before the election, but he was apparently a wreck. (Cobl 218.) 1 Blair and Kendall, in 1824, were Clay men. They were botl ictive, 'n 1 825, in urging Clay men to vote for Adams. (40 Nilei 73; Telegraph Extra, 300 fg.) « 27 Niies. 386. " Telegraph Eztra, 331. ADAMS AND CLAY. 98 the assertion in tlie letter was only a surmise of his. It eertainly was a clever trick. The charge would either prevent Clay from going into Adams's cabinet, lest he should give proofs of the truth of the imputation, or, if he did go into the cabinet, this letter would serve as a kind of evidence of a bargain. Immediately after the mauguration Kxemer made this latter use of it in an address to his constituents.^ On the 20th of February Jackson wrote a letter to Lewis, in which he affirmed and condemned the bargain. Lewis published this letter in Tennessee. February 22d Jackson wrote a letter to Swartwout, in wliich he spoke very bitterly of Clay, and resented Clay's criticism of liim as a " military chief- tain." He sneered at Clay as not a military chieftain. But he did not allege any bargain. Swartwout published this letter in New York."^ Both letters were plainly pre- pared by Jackson's followers for publication. Clay re- plied at the end of March in a long statement.^ Jackson remained in Washmgton until the middle of March. He was present at the inauguration, and pre- served all the forms in his public demeanor towards Adams. ^ His rage was all dii'ected against Clay. In the Senate there were fifteen votes against Clay's con- firmation, but no charges were made there. ^ On his way home Jackson scattered the char^;e as he went. It is to his own lips that it is always traceable when it can be brought home to anybody. Up to this time it is ques- tionable whether Jackson was more annoyed or pleased it beins: run for Preside^it. Now that the element of 1 28 Niles, 21 « 28 Niles, 20. « 28 NUes, 71 '28 Niles, 19. * Brauch made some illusions an 1 vague cc Tamer to. (33 Nilei !2.) 94 ANDREW JACKSON. personal contest was imported into the enterprise hia vrhole being became absorbed in the determination to achieve a victory. There was now a foe to be crushed a revenge to be obtained for an injury endured. He did not measure his words, and the charge gained amj^H- tude and definiteness as he repeated it. In March, 1827, Carter Beverly, of North CaroHna, wrote to a friend an account of a visit to Jackson, and a report of Jackson's circimistantial assertion, at his own table, that Clay's friends offered to sujDport Jackson if Jackson would promise not to continue Adams as Secretary of State. Beverly's letter was published at Fayetteville, North Carolina.^ In June Jackson wi*ote to Beverly an explicit repetition over his own signature.^ The charge had now a name and a resj^onsible person behind it, — Jackson himself. Clay at once called on him for his authorities and proofs. Jackson named Buchanan as his authority.' Buchanan had been one of the active ones ^ that win- ter, but he had blundered. He now made a statement which was not straightforward either way, but it did not support Jackson's statement. He distinctly said that he had never been commissioned by the Clay men for any- thing he said to Jackson about appointing Adams.^ Clay then called on Jackson to retract, since his only authority had failed. Jackson made no answer. He never forgave Buchanan. In 1842 Carter Beverly wrote to Clay that the charge had never been substan tiated, and that he regretted having helped to spread it.' kt Maysville, in 1843, Adams made a solemn denial oJ 1 32 Niles, 162. 2 32 Niles, 315. « »2 Niles, 415. * Markley'8 Letter, 33 Niles, 167. * SS Nilef , 416. « 61 Nile«, 40S. ADAMS AND CLJ Y 95 )he charge.^ May 3, 1844, Jackson reiterated the charge in a letter to the " Nashville Union." He said : " Of the charges brought against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay at that time I formed my opinions, as the country at laro;e did, from facts and circumstances which were indisputable and conclusive, and I may add that this opinion has undergone no change." ^ Of course this means that he inferred the charge from Clay's appoint- ment, never had any other ground for it, and therefore had as nmch ground in 1844 as in 1825. Clay never escaped the odium of this charge while he lived. At Lexing-ton, Ky., in 1842, he said that he thought he would have been wdser if he had not taken office under Adams.^ On the publication of Adams's "Diary," probably all students of American political history turned to see what relations with Clay were noted in the winter of 1824—25. Clay and Adams had never been intimate. Their tastes were by no means congenial. There was an " adjourned question of veracity " outstanding be- tween them, because Clay had given vague support to the charofe asfainst Adams about the fisheries and the Mississippi, and Adams had challenged him to produce the proof which would impeach Adams's own story of he negotiations at Ghent. Clay had never answered. Jecember 17, 1824, Letcher, as one of Clay's nearest friends, called on Adams. " The drift of all Letcher's discourse was . . . that Clay would willingly support me, if he could thereby serve himself, and the substance of his rueaning was that if Clay's friends could know that he would have a prominent s^iare in the administraf 1 11 Adams, 431. ^ f6 Nile*, 247. «3 Niles, 291. 96 ANDRE IV JACK soy. tion, that might induce them to vote for me, even hi the face of instructions. But Letcher did not jjrofess to have any authority from Clay for what he said, and he made no definite propositions." ^ January 1, 1825, Clay and Adams met hy Letcher's intervention. Adams re- corded in 1828 ^ that Letcher told him, January 2, 1825, that Kentucky would vote for him. January 9th Clay told Adams that he should vote for him, and said that Cravrford's friends and Adams's friends had approached him with personal considerations. January 21st Scott, of Missouri, who held the vote of that State, told Ad- ams that he wanted Clay to be in the administration. Adams replied that he could give no assurances, but that, in looking for a Western man, he could not over- look Clay. On the same day, in answer to fears that he would proscribe the federalists, he answered that he would try to break up the old parties. February 3d Web- ster called on Adams about the proscription of the feder- alists.^ Adams said that he could give no assurances about his cabinet, but would try to harmonize parties.* The Jackson men found another grievance in the elec- tion of Adams. They revived a doctrine which had been advocated in 1801, to the effect that the House of Representatives ought simply to carry out " the will of the people," as indicated by the plurality vote. Benton is the chief advocate of this doctrine.^ He faces all 1 6 Adams, 447. ^ 7 Adams, 462. * The federalists all hated Adams for "ratting." In 1828 Timothy Pickermc: was a Jackson man ; not that he loved de- •nocracy more, Dut that he hated Jackson less. (34 Niles, 246/ * 1 Cartis's Webster, 237. * 31 Nilcs, 98, gives a homely but very luiugent criticism o Bentc'i's doctrine. It consists in showing what the " will of th* people " is, when the state divisions, Senate equality, and negrt representation are taken into acr/>nnt.. DEMOCRACY VERSUS THE CONSTITUTIOS 97 Ihe consequences of it without flincliing. He says plainly that there was a struggle " between the theoi'y of the Constitution and the democratic principle." The Constitution gives to the House of Representatives the right and power to elect the President in a certain con- tingency. There is no provision at all in the Constitu- tion for the election of President by a great national democratic majority. The elected President is the per- son who gets a majority of the votes constitutionally described and cast, and the power and right of the House of Representatives in the contingency which the Consti- tution provides for is just as complete as that of the electoral college in all other cases. But the electoral college by no means necessarily produces the selection which accords with the majority of the popular vote. The issue raised by Benton and his friends was there- fore nothing less than constitutional government versus democracy. The Constitution does not put upon the House the function of raising a plurality vote to a ma- jority, for the obvious reason that it woidd be simpler *-o let a plurality elect. The Constitution provides only specified ways for ascertaining " the will of the people," and that will does not rule unless it is constitutionally expressed. That is why we are, fortunately, under a constitutional system, and not under an unlimited and ever-changing democracy. Benton and those who agreed with him we»e, as he avows, making an assault on the Constitution, when they put forward their doctrine of the unction of the House. On that doctrine the Constitu- tion is every one's tool while it answers his purposes, and the sport of every faction wlifch finds it an obstacle, if they can only manage to carry \n election. Their might md their right become one and the same thing, — 98 ANDREW JACKSON. guarantees of each other. Such a doctrine is one of the most pernicious political heresies. A constitution is tc a nation what self-control under established rules of con- duct is to a man. The only time when it is of value is just the time when the temptation to violate it is strong, and that is the time when it contravenes temporary and party interests. In its practical aspects, also, the election of 1824 showed how pernicious and false Benton's doctrine is. " The will of the j^eople," to which he referred as par- amount, was an inference only. The moment we de- part from constitutional methods of ascertaining the wiU of the people, we shall always be driven to inferences which will, in the last analysis, be found to rest upon nothing but party prejudices and party hojDes. In the vote of 1824 the facts were as follows : Clay's states indicated, as their second choice, Jackson. Jackson's friends inferred that, if Clay had not been running, Jackson would have carried those States and would have been elected. Going farther, however, we Und that in New Jersey and Maryland the Crawford men supported Ja>5Jkson to weaken Adams. In North Car- olina Adams men supported Jackson to weaken Craw- ford. In Louisiana, Adams men and Jackson men combined to weaken Clay.^ Hence Jackson got the whole or a part of the vote of these four States by bar- gain and combination. How many more undercurrents of combination and secondary intention there may hav« been is left to conjecture. Wliat then becomes of the notion of " the will of the ])eople," as some pure and sacred emanation, only to be heard and obeyed ? No election produces any such pure and sacred product, bit 1 1 Annual Register, 40. DEMOCRACY VERSUS THE CONSTITUTION. 99 only a practical, most limited, imperfect, and approxi- mate expression of public opinion, by which we manage to caiTy on public affairs. The " demos krateo princi- ple," to use Benton's jargon, belongs in the same cate- gory witli Louis Fourteenth's saying : L'etat c'est moi. One is as far removed from constitutional liberty aa the other. Crawford went home to Georgia, disappointed, broken in health, his political career entirely ended. He re- covered his health to some extent. He became a cir- cuit judge, and gave to Calhoun, five years later, very positive evidence that he was still alive. He died in 1834. CHAPTER V. ADAMS's ADMIXISTRATIOX. The presidency underwent a great change at the elec* don of 1824. The congi-essional caucus had, up to that time, proceeded on the theory that the President was to be a great national statesman who stood at the head of his party, or among the leaders of it. There were enthusiastic rejoicings that " King Caucus " was de- throned and dead. What killed the congressional cau- cus was the fact that, with four men running, the ad- herents of tliree of them were sure to combine against the caucus, on account of the advantage which it would give to the one who was expected to get its nomination. However, it was a great error to say that King Caucus was dead. Looking back on it now, we see that the caucus had only burst the bonds of the chrysalis state and entered on a new stage of life and growth. Jackson was fully recognized as the coming man. There was no fighting against his popularity. The shrewdest politician was he who should seize upon that popularity as an available force, and prove capable of controlling it for his purposes. Van Buren proved him- KeJf to be the man for this function. He usurped the position of Jackson leader in New York, which seemed by priority to b )long to Clinton. He and the other Crawford leaders had had a hard task to run a man who seemed to be physically incapacitated for the duties of the presi THE OPPOSITION. 101 iency, but when Crawford's health broke do^vn it was too late for them to change the whole plan of their eampaign. After the election they joined the Jackson party. The " era of good feeling " had brought into politics a large number of men,^ products of the con- tinually advancing political activity amongst the least educated classes, who were eager for notoriety and spoils, for genteel living without work, and for public position. These men were ready to be the janissaries of any party which would pay well. They all joined the opposition because they had nothing to expect from the administration. All the factions except the Adams fac- tion, that is to say, all the federalists, and all the non- Adams personal factions of the old republican jDarty went into opposition. These elements were very inco- herent in their political creeds and their political codes, but they made common cause. ^ They organized at once an opposition of the most violent and factious kind. Long before any political questions arose, they devel- oped a determination to oppose to the last whatever the administration should favor. They fought for four years to make capital for the next election, as the chief business of Congress. John Randolph, who by long practice had become a virtuoso in abuse, exhausted his powers in long tirades of sarcasm and sensational denun- ciations, chiefly against Clay. The style of smartness which he was practising reached its climax when he called 4;he administration an alliance of Blifil and Black George, the Puritan and the Black-leg. He and Clay fought a duel, oji which occasion, however, Randolph 1 3 Ann. Reg. 10 2 The new groupings caused ictense astonishment to almple* ninded observers. ^See 32 Niles, 339.) 102 ANDREW JACKSON. fired in the air. After Jackson's election, Randolph was given the mission to Russia, and was guUty of a number of the abuses which he had scourged most freely. He had to endure hostile criticism, as a matter of course, and he learned the misery of a public man forced to make " explanations " under malignant charges. He proved to be as tliin-skinned as most men of his stamp are when their turn comes.* Van Buren initiated the opposition into the methoda and doctrines of New York politics. Ever since the repubUcans wrested the State from the federalists in 1800, they had been working out the methods by which an oligarchy of a half dozen leaders coidd, under the forms of democratic-republican self-government, control the State. As soon as the federalists were defeated, the republicans broke up into factions. Each faction, when it gained power, proscribed the others. Until 1821 the patronage, which was the cohesive material by which party organization was cemented, was in the hands of a ' council " at Albany. After 1821 the patronage, by way of reform, was converted into elective offices. It then became necessary to devise a new system adapted to tliis new arrangement, and all the arts by wliich the results of primaries, conventions, committees, and cau- cuses, while following all the forms of spontaneous ac- tion, can be made to conform to the progTamme of the oligarchy or the Boss, were speedily developed. If now the presidency was no longer to be the crown of. public service, and the prize of a very limited number of states- men of national reputation, — if it was conceivable that AD Indian fighter like Jackson could come within th« •juige of choice, — then the presidency nmst be eve» 1 2 Garland's Randolph, 339. THE SPOILS SYSTEM. 108 %fter the position reserved for poi)ular heroes, or, in tht absence of such, for " available " men, as the fionre- heads with and around whom a faction of party leaders eoidd come to power. King Caucus was not dead, then. He had lost a town and gained an empire. It remained to develop and extend over the whole country an or- ganization of which the public service should constitute the network. There would be agents everywhere to re- ceive and execute orders, to keep watch, and to make reports. The central authority would dispose of the whole as a general disposes of his army. The general of the " outs " recruited liis forces from those who hoped for places when the opposition should come in. As there were two or three " outs " who wanted each jjlace held by those who were " in," recruits were not lackino-. It was during Adams's administration that the opposition introduced on the federal arena the method of organiz- ing federal parties by the use of the spoils, which method had been previously perfected in the state jjoUtics of New York. The opposition invented and set in action two or three new institutions. They organized local Jackson com- mittees uji and down the country, somewhat on the plan if the old revolutionary committees of correspondence and safety. It was the duty of these committees to carry on a propaganda for Jackson, to contradict and refute charges against him, to make known his services, to assail the administration, and to communicate facts, arguments, reports, etc., to each other. Partisan news- paper writing was also employed to an unprecedented extent. The partisan editor, who uses liis paper to reiterate and inculcate statements of fact and doctrin« tesigned to a^ect the mind of the voter, was not a new . L04 ANDREW JACKSON. figure in politics, but now tliere appeared all over the country small local newspapers, edited by men who as- sumed the attitude of party advocates, and pursued one side only of all public questions, disregarding truth, right, and justice, determined only to win. In 1826, at Calhoun's suggestion, an " organ " was started at "Wash- ington, the " Telegraph," edited by Duff Green, of jSIis- souri. The organ gave the key to all the local party newspapers. Adams showed, in his inaugural, some feeling of the unfortunate and unfair circumstances of his position. He said, " Less possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence." In October the Legislature of Tennessee nominated Jackson for 1828, and he ap- peared before the Legislature to receive an address and to make a reply. He resigned the senatorsliip in a very careful and well-written letter,-^ in wliich he urged (re- ferring, as everybody understood, to Clay's appointment) that an amendment to the Constitution should be adopted forbidding the appointment to an office in the gift of the President of any member of Congress during, or for two years after, his term of office in Congress.^ In this let- 1 29 Niles, 156. 2 Robert G. Harper once testified in a court of law his personal belief, founded on general knowledge and inference, that Burr could have been elected in 1801 if he would have used " certain means," and his belief that Jefferson did use those means. (23 Kiles, 282.) He referred to the appointment by JcfFerson to lu- crative offices of Linn, of New Jersey, and Claiborne, of Ten Iiessee (each of whom controlled the vote of a State), and also bt Livingston, who could have divided the vote of New York .'36 Niles, 197.) According to a return ma.l-j to a call by Coa METHODS OF THE OPPOSITION. 105 fcer he said that the senatorship had been given to liiin ji 1823 without effort or solicitation ; also that he made it a rule neither to seek nor decline office. In his speech before the Legislature he spoke more freely of the cor- ruption at Washington, from which he sought to escape by resigning.^ He now had Livingston, Eaton, Lee, Van Buren, Benton, Swartwout, Duff Green, and Lewis manaoinjr his canvass, some of them at Washinjrton and Bome in Tennessee. They kept close watch over him, and maintained constant communication with each other. The first overt acts of the opposition were the objec- tion to Clay's confii-mation and the rejection of the treaty with Colombia. Clay had been a champion of the South American republics, and everything in the way of intimacy with them was capital for him. These votes occurred in JSIarch, 1825. The " Annual Regis- ter," commenting, over a year later, on these votes, said : " The divisions wliich had been taken on the foregoing questions [those mentioned] left little doubt that the new administration was destined to meet with a sys- tematic and organized opposition, and, previous to the next meeting of Congress, the ostensible grounds of oi> position were set forth at public dinners and meetings, BO as to prepare the community foi a warm political contest until the next election." ^ The public was greatly astonished at the uproar among the politicians. The nation acquiesced in tlife result of the election as perfectly constitutional and regular, and it cost great ef- press in. 1826, the number of members of Congress nppointed to office by the Presidents dowu to that time was, by Wasliington, 0, by Adams, 13 ; by Jefferson, 25; by Madison, 29; by Men- -oe, 35 ; by J. Q. Adams, in his 5rst year, 5. (36 Niles, 267.) » 1 Ann. Reg. 21. ^ I ^nn. Heg, 38. 106 ANDREW JACKSON. fort to stir up an artificial heat and indignation about it. The " bargain " formed the first stock or capital of the opposition. The claim that Jackson had been cheated out of his election was the second. Some attempt was made to get up a cry about " family influence," but thia did not take. The charge of bargain and fraud was so assiduously reiterated that, in 1827, there were six sena- tors and forty representatives who would not call on the President.^ It was during the session of 1825-26 that the discordant elements of the opposition coalesced into a party,^ the modern democratic party. Near the end of the session a prominent Virginia politician declared that the combinations for electing Jackson were alread formed.' It was proposed to adopt a constitutional amendment taking away the contingent power of the House to elect a President, but no agreement could be reached. A committee on executive patronage was raised, in reality to jDrovide electioneering material. This committee re- ported six bills, the most important of which provided that the President might not appoint to office any person who had been a member of Congi-ess during liis own term in the presidential office, and that the President, ii he should remove any officer, should state his reasons to the Senate on the appointment of a successor. No action was taken. The topic, however, on which the opposition most dis tinctly showed their spirit was the Panama mission Benton misrepresents that affair more gi'ossly than any other on which he touches. The fact is that the opposi I 7 Adams, 374. The federal members of Congress wonl« jot Tisit Madison in 1815. (1 Curtis's Webster, 135.) « 1 Ann. Reg. 22. » Ibid. THE PANAMA MISSION. 107 don were forced by their political programme to oppose a measure which it was very awkward for them to op- pose, and they were compelled to ridicule and misrepre- sent the matter in order to cover their position. Sar- gent ^ tells a story of an opposition senator, who, when rallied on the defeat of the opposition in the vote on eonfirming the commissioners, replied, " Yes, they have beaten us by a few votes after a hard battle ; but if they had only taken the other side and refused the mission, we should have had them ! " When the Si)aniards withdrew from South America, in 1824, the newly independent States of South America and Mexico drew together by natural instinct, and hav- ing borrowed their new political institutions from the United States, which institutions were for them exotic and ill-understood, they sought friendly intercourse with the Northern Union. There were then questions of in- ternational law pending, in which the new continent needed to make a stand against the old. The United States, on its part, wanted commercial intercourse with the states of Central and South America. It was pro- posed by the Central American states to hold a Con- gress for considtation. This scheme grew into one of a general American Congress, in which the United States was asked to join. Adams accepted the invitation and appointed two commissioners. The question on the con- firmation of these commissioners, and on appropriating money for their salaries, gave rise to wordy and violent debates in Congress, in which very extraordinary doc- tiines were laid down aoout the i)ower of the Executive in diplomatic affairs. It was declared that the mission Qieant a general poller of foreign interference and " en- 1 Sargent, 117. 108 ANDRE iV JACKSON. taiiQliiiQ: alliances." The Monroe doctrine was vehe mently denounced. The commissioners were finally con* firmed. One died on the way ; the otlier arrived too late for the meeting, which took place June 22, 1826. The Congress adjourned to meet again, but, political troubles breaking out, nothing came of it. Benton says that the result proved the foUy of the original plan. In order to judge of that, it is necessary to form some opinion as to what would have been the advantage polit- ically to the South American republics of a close and friendly relation wdth us, and what would have been the advantage commercially to us of a close and friendly relation with them. It is not at all improbable that a grand chance for good to all concerned was lost. As to " entangling alliances," the CongTess was no doubt a grand chance for a " jingo " policy. Everything de- pended on the instructions with which the commis- sioners were sent. The opposition would not print the insti'uctions, because they plainly refuted all the in- flated denunciations. It was not until 1829 that public opinion forced the printing of the instructions,^ but then the whole matter was dead. It has passed into history and popular tradition under a very false light. Adams had strong convictions about points of public policy. He held that it was the duty of the President to advise and recommend to Congress such measures as he thought desirable in the public interest, and then to leave to Congress the responsibility if nothing was done.* He therefore set out in his messages series of acts aiid measures which he thought should be adopted. Hfl thereby played directly into the hands of the opposition for they then had a complete programme before them o> 1 They are to be found 4 Ann. Reg. 29. ADAMS'S POLICY. 109 «^hat they had to attack. Adams lield the active theory af statesmanship. He was not content to let the people alone. He thought that a statesman could foresee, plan, prepare, open the way, set in action, encourage, and otherwise care for the people. To him the doctrine of implied powers meant only that the Constitution had created a government complete and adequate for all the functions which devolved upon it in caring for all the interests which were confided to it. He reaarded the new land as a joint possession of all the States, the sale of which would provide funds which ought to be used to build roads, bridges, and canals, and to carry out other works of internal improvement, which, as ke thought, woidd open up the continent to civilization.^ He cared more for internal improvements than for a protective tariff.^ He wanted a national university and a naval school. He favored expenditures on fortifications and a navy and an adequate array. He wanted the federal judiciary enlarged and a bankruptcy law passed. Some of the opposition found the party exigency severe which forced them to oppose all the points in this programme. In 1824 Crawford had been the only stickler for state rights and strict construction. Men of that stamp were now called " radicals." Calhoun and his friends had Deen on the other side. The old-fashioned pettifogging of the strict constructionists, and the cast-iron dogma- tism of the state-rights men, were developed in the heat of the factious ojDposition of 1825-29. AU that, how- ever, was at that time considered extreme or " radical." Van Buren, on his reelecticr tc the Senate in 1827, rrrote a letter in which he proraisKl co recover for the 'Itates the " rights of which tliey had been deprived by 1 9 Adams, 162. '8 Adams, 444. 110 ANDREW JACKSON. construction," and to save what rights remained.* Ham mond expresses the quiet astonislunent which this cre- ated in the minds of the people, even democrats like himself, who were not aware that the States had suf fered any wrong, especially at the hands of the exist- ing administration. The country was in profound peace and stupid prosperity, and the rancor of the politicians seemed inexplicable. The public debt was being re- funded advantageously. Immigration was large and growing. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 opened up the great lakes to navigation, and the adja- cent country to settlement. Public affairs were in fact dull. TliQ^ following passage from the " Annual Reg- ister " shows the impression made by the agitation at Washington : ^ — " Nearly all the propositions which were called for by the popular voice were defeated, either from want of time for their consideration, or by an influence which seemed to exert itself for the sole purpose of rendering those who administered the government unpopular. The community Avas generally disappointed as to the results of the session. . . . Many of the members were new to political life. . . . Others were predetermined to oppo- sition, and from the first assembling of Congress devoted themselves to thwarting the measures which its [the ad- ministration's] friends urged upon the consideration oi Congress. The Vice-President and his friends were most prominent in this clas« of politicians. . . . The manner, too, in which the opposition attacked the administration displayed an exasperated feeling, in which the commu iiity did not sympathize, and a general suspicion was felt that its leaders were actuated by private griefs, anc 1 2 Hammond, 246. » 1 Ann. Beg. 149. ADAMS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE. H] hat the public interests were neglected in their earnest itruggle for power. The pride of the country, too, had received a deep wound in the prostration of the dignity of the Senate." Calhoun appointed committees hostile to the adininis- ti'atiou, wliich could not bring their own paity to the support of their reports. Calhoun also ruled that it was not the duty of the Vice-President to preserve order save upon the initiative of some senator on the floor. Great disorder occurred, and John Randolph especially took advantage of this license. The Senate was led at the end of the session of 1825-26 to take from the Vice-President the duty of appointing the committees of the Senate. Letters wliich appeared in one of the Wash- ington newspapers, signed " Patrick Henry," criticising Calhoun's course, were ascribed to the President. An- swering letters, signed " Onslow," were ascribed to the Vice-President.^ Adams took no steps to create an administration party. He offered the Treasury to Crawford, who re- fused it. He then gave it to Rush, who had voted against him. The Secretaries of War and of the Navy had likewise supported other candidates.^ Adams re- fused to try to secure the election of Jeremiah Mason, an administration man, to the Senate.^ He had de- clared, before the election, that he should reward no one, and proscribe no one. He adhered to this faith- fully. • Clay urged him tc avoid pusillanimity on the one hand, and persecution on the otLer.^ The election being over, Clay said that no officer ought to be allowed '*to hold a conduct in opec and tontinual disparage* 1 Harper's Calhoun, 3' 2 perkius, 289. « 7 Adais.8. 14. * 6 Adams, 546. 112 ANDREW JACKSON. mcmt of the administi-ation and its head." Adams re plied that, in the particular case under discussion (col- lector at New Orleans), there had been no overt act that four fifths of all the custom-house officers had been unfavorable to his (Adams's) election, and were now in his power ; that he had been urged to sweep them all away ; that he could not do this as to one without open- ing the question as to all, and that he would enter on no such policy. In 1826 Clay urged Adams to remove the custom-house officers at Charleston and Philadelphia. Adams refused, although he thought that these officers were using the subordinate offices in their control against the administration.^ He appointed federalists when he thought that they were better qualified than other can- didates. This did not conciliate the federalists, and it aroused all " the wormwood and the gall " of the old party hatred.*^ In 1827 Clay and others urged him to confine aiDpointments to friends. He refused to adopt that rule.^ He expressed the belief thaj the opposition were spending money to poison public opinion through the press, but he would not do anything for Binns, an administration editor.'* In June, 1827, he refused to go to Philadelphia, to make a speech in German to the fanners at the opening of the canal, because he objected to this style of electioneering.^ In October, 1827, Clay made a warm protest against Adams's action in retain- ing McLean, the Postmaster-General. Clay alleged thai McLean was using the post-office patronage actively against the administration. McLean hated Clay and loved Calhoun,^ but he claimed to be a loyal friend o^ » 7 Adams, 163. . 27 Adams, 207. « 7 Adams, 257. * 7 Adams, 262. • r Adams, 297. ^ 7 Adams, 364. ADAMS ON ELECTIONEERING. 113 the administration. Adams would not believe him a traitor.^ A campaign story was started that Adams's accounts with the Treasury were not in order. Clay desired that Adams would correspond Avith an election committee in Kentucky, and refute the charge. Adams refused, because he disai)proved of the Western style of electioneering and stump-speaking.^ Binns, an Irish refugee, editor of the " Democratic Press " of Phila- delphia, ought by all affinities to have been a sujoporter of Jackson, but he took the wrong turning after Craw- ford's disappearance, and became a supporter of Adams. He plaintively describes the results. He tried to talk to Adams about appointments. " I was promptly told that Mr. President Adams did not intend to make anv removals. I bowed respectfully, assuring the President that I had no doubt the consequence would be that he would himself be removed so soon as Ae term for which he had been elected had expired. This intimation gave the President no concern, and assuredly did in no wise affect his previous determination." ^ Binns, however, was wise in his generation. Adams's administration had a majority in the Senate until the 20th Congress met in 1827, when both Houses had opposition majorities. Adams says this was the first time in the history of the country that such had been the case.* The session of 1827-28 was almost en- tirely occupied in manufacturing political capital. A committee on retrenchment and reform presented a majority and a minority report. The majority ex- pressed alarm at the increasing expenditures of the federal government and th^ eyti'avagance of the ad ^ 7 Adams, 343. « 7 Adams, 347. 8 Binns, 250. ♦ 7 Adarai, 867 8 114 ANDREW JACKSON. tninistration. The minority said that no expenilitures had been made which Congress had not ordered, and that the expenditures had not increased unduly, when the size and population of the countiy were considered. It was charged that large sums had been spent in dee- orating the President's house, especially the " East Room." Congress had appropriated $25,000 for the White House, of which $6,000 had been spent. The rest was returned to the Treasury. As soon as Jack- son was elected, the " Courier and Enquirer " said that the " East Room " was very shabby, and would at once be made decent.^ There was no attempt to be fair or truthful in these charges. They were made solely with a view to effect. Clamor and reiteration availed to spread an opinion that the administration had been extravagant. The campaign was conducted, on both sides, on very ruthless methods. Niles said it was worse than the cam- paign of 1798.^ Campaign extras of the " Telegraph " were issued weekly, containing partisan material, ref- utations of charges against Jackson, and slanders on Adams and Clay. The Adams party also published a monthly of a similar character. The country was del- uged with pamplilets on both sides. These pamphlets were very poor stuff, and contain nothing important on any of the issues. They all appeal to low tastes and motives, prejudices and jealousies. Binns issued a number of hand-bills, each with a coffin at the head, known as " coffin hand-bills," setting forth Jackson's bloody and lawless deeds.' One Jackson hand-bill hac. 1 Quoted 37 Ni'Iph, 229. 2 35 Njies, 33. " BiuLs says he isMied these hand-bills and was mobbed in 182-1 It ieeins that his memory failed him. TONE OF THE CAMPAIGN. 115 % broad-axe cut of John Quincy Adams driving off with a horsewhip a crippled old soldier who dared to speak to him, to ask an alms. In short, campaign literature took on a new and special development in this cam- paign, and one is driven to wonder whether the Ameri- can people of that day were such that all tliis drivel and vidgarity could affect their votes. It appears certain that they had not yet learned the art of reading news- papers, more especially campaign literature ; an art in which the average American citizen has since become a great adept. It requires a very active party interest now to break down the cynicism and skepticism with which everything in a partisan newspaper is read by an educated man of forty. Against Jackson was brought up his marriage, and all the facts of his career which could be made the sub- ject of unfavorable comment. Against Adams were brought charges that he gave to Webster and the fed- eralists, in 1824, a corrupt promise ; that he was a monarchist and aristocrat ; that he refused to pay a sub- scription to turnpike stock on a legal quibble ; that his wife was an Englishwoman ; that he wrote a scurrilous poem against Jefferson in 1802 ; that he surrendered a young American servant-woman to the Emperor of Russia ; that he was rich ; that he w^as in debt ; that he had long enjoyed public office ; that he had received inmaense amounts of public money, namely, the aggre- gate of all the salaries, outfits, and allowances he had ever received ; that his accounts with the Treasury were not in order ; that he had charged tor constructive journeys ; that he had put a billiard-table in the White House at the public expense ; ^ tha, lie patronized duel- ^ Levi Woodbury was especially SLocked h^ tliis. (Plumer'i ^^umer, 513.) 116 ANDREW JACKSON. lists (Clay) ; that he had had a quarrel with his father who had disinherited him ; that he had sent out men in the pay of the government to electioneer for him ; that he had corrupted the civil service ; that he had used the federal patronage to influence elections. The fed- eralists, in their turn, charged him with not having kept his promise to Webster. McLean's conduct towards the end of Adams's term caused more and more complaint. He had been a Methodist minister, and some administration men did not want liim dismissed lest the Methodists should be offended.* Bache, the postmaster at Philadelphia, was a defaulter. McLean had known it for eighteen months. Finally he removed Bache, and ap2)ointed Thomas Sar- gent, who had been allied with Ingham, Dallas, and other Jackson men. Adalns would not remove McLean.^ In October, just before the election, but too short a time before it to have any effect on it, Adams became involved in a controversy with William B. Giles about the circumstances and motives of his (Adams's) going over to the administration in 1807. On account of reve- lations which were made in this controversy, Adams was involved in another with the descendants of the old liigh federalists, who called him to account for allegations that the federalists of 1803-1809 were secessionists. The controversy developed all the acrimony of the old quarrel between the Adamses and the high federalists. John Quincy Adams prepared a full statement of the facts on which he based his opinions and statements, but it was not published until 1877.^ I 7 Adams, 540. 2 g Adams, 8, 25, 51. * New England Federalism, by Henry Adams. See also Pli> ner's Plumer, aud Lodge's Cabnt THE VOTE IN 1828. 117 In September, 1827, the Tammany General Commit- tee and the Alhany " Argus ' came out for Jackson,* aa it had been determined, in the programme, that they Bhoiild do. A law was passed for casting the vote of New York in 1828 by districts. The days of voting through- out the country ranged from October 31st to November 19th.^ The votes were cast by the Legislature in Dela- ware and South Carolina ; by districts in Maine, New York, Maryland, Tennessee ; elsewhere, by general ticket. Jackson got 178 votes to 83 for Adams. The popular vote was 648,273 for Jackson ; 508,064 for Adams.^ Jackson got only one vote in New England, namely, in a district of Maine, where the vote was, Jack- son, 4,223 ; Adams, 4,028.* New York gave Jackson 20 ; Adams, 16. New Jersey and Delaware voted for Adams. Maryland gave him 6, and Jackson 5. Adams got not a single vote south of the Potomac or west of the Alleghanies. In Georgia no Adams ticket was nominated.^ Tennessee gave Jackson 44,293 votes, and Adams 2,240. Parton has a story of an attempt, hi a Tennessee village, to tar and feather two men who dared to vote for Adams.^ Pennsylvania gave Jackson 101,652 votes; Adams, 50,848. For Vice-President, Richard Rush got all the Adams votes ; Calhoun got all the Jackson votes except 7 of Georgia, which were given to William Smith, of South Carolina. General Jackson was therefore triumphantly elected President of the United States, xn the name of reform. I 2 Hammond, 258 ^ Telegraph Extra, 565, 8 3 Ann. Reg. 31. The figires for the popular vote vary \v iifferent authorities. * 35 Niles, 177. * See page 179. « 3 Parton, 151. 118 ANDREW JACKSON. aud as the standard-bearer of the people, rising in their might to overthrow an extravagant, corrupt, aristoci atic, federalist administration, wliich had encroached on the liberties of the people, and had aimed to corrupt elec- tions by an abuse of federal patronage. Many people believed tliis picture of Adams's administration to be true. Andrew Jackson no doubt believed it. Many people believe it yet. Perhaps no administration, ex- cept that of the elder Adams, is under such odium. There is not, however, in our history any administration which, upon a severe and impartial scrutiny, appears more worthy of respectful and honorable memory.^ Its chief fault was that it was too good for the wicked world in which it found itself. In 1836 Adams said, in the House, that he had never removed one person from office for political causes, and that he thought that was one of the principal reasons why he was not reelected.'^ The " Annual Register " ^ aptly quotes, in regard to Adams, a remark of Burke on Lord Chatham : " For a wise man he seemed to me, at that time, to be governed too much by general maxims. In consequence of having put so much the larger part of his opposers into power, his own principles could not have any effect or influence in the conduct of affairs. When he had executed his plan he had not an inch of ground to stand upon. When he had accomplished his scheme of administration h« iraa no longer a minister." 1 See Morse's Adams ^ 50 Niles, 194. ' « Ann. Beg. 34. CHAPTER VI. THE *^' RELIEF " SYSTEM OF KENTUCKY. Before entering upon the history of Jackson's ad- ministration it is necessary to notice a piece of local history, to which frequent subsequent reference must be made, on account of influences exerted on national jjoli- tics. A great abuse of paper money and banking took place in the Mississippi Valley between 1818 and 1828. It was an outcome of the ajJiDlication of political forces to the relations of debtor and creditor. It necessarily fol- lowed that political measures were brought into collision with constitutional provisions, and with judicial insti- tutions as the interpreters and administrators of the same, in such points as the public credit, the security of contracts, the sanctity of vested rights, the indepen- dence of the judiciary, and its power to pass on the con- stitutionality of laws. Kentucky was the scene of the ttrongest and longest conflict between the constitutional guarantees of vested rights and the legislative measures for relieving persons from contract obligations, when the hopes under which those obligations were undertaken had been disappointed by actual experience. It was from Kentucky, also, that tlie influewes arose which were brought to bear on national ])olitic>. Some very early incidents in the history of Kentucky snow the spirit whi-jl: was at work 'ii the later troubles. kn insurance company was chartered in 1801, an oh- J 20 ANDREW JACKSON. scure clause in whose charter gave the power to itssuo currency. At that time the Jeffersonian party was under its anti-bank impulse, and, that party then being in control, the power to issue currency would not have been given intentionally.-^ In 1803, Judge Muter, of the Court of Appeals, " being very poor and rather super annuated," was induced to resign by a pension of S300 guaranteed by the Legislature. The following year the pension was repealed, as being unconstitutional. In 1809 the Bank of Kentucky was founded, with a capital of a million. The State owned part of the capital stock. In 1816 great popular hostility was manifested to the practice of quoting English decisions in the courts. This was one of Duane's ^ pet points of hostility to the judiciary. Of course it appealed to popular prejudice. All the English decisions breathed the spirit of perma- nent institutions and tradition? established to control moving interests and wishes. A law was passed in Kentucky forbidding the citation of any English cases since July 4, 1776. The negative was left out of this law. The cases were cited in the reports, but were not read in court. The law fell into disuse. Dui'ing the period of inflation east of the Alleghanies (1812-18),* the States west of the Alleghanies had plenty of silver, and were free from financial disturbance. At the session of 1817-18, the Legislature of Kentucky plunged that State into the mflation system by charter- mg forty banks, which were to issue notes redeemable in Bank of Kentucky notes. The popular party was now under the dominion of a mania for banks, as tin ^Mtititutions for making the poor rich. Clamorous de 1 CollinS; 56. ' See page oo9 • See page 229. BANK MANIA. 121 jn&nds were, at the same time, made for a share in the blessings which the Bank of the United States was to Bhower over the country, and two branches were es- tablished, one at Lexington and one at Louisville. Prices immediately began to rise, specie was ex])orted, contracts were entered into, in the expectation of a con- stant advance of the " wave of prosperity." All has- tened to get into debt, because to do so was not only the way to get rich, but the only way to save one's self from ruin. In June, 1819, it is reported : " The whole State is in considerable commotion. The gross amount of debts due the banks is estimated at ten millions of dollars. . . . Several county meetings have been held. Their purpose is : (1) a suspension of specie payments ; (2) more paper money ; (3) an extra session of the Legislature to pass some laws on this emergency. What did we tell the people of Kentucky when they littered their banks ? " ^ In 1819 the banks of Teimessee and Kentucky and nearly all in Ohio suspended specie payments. They generally ascribed their ruin to the Bank of the United States. They overissued their notes, which accumulated in the branch of the bank, that being the strongest holder. These notes were presented for redemption. The local banks construed that as "• oppression," and eagerly warded off all resi)onsibility from themselves by representing theniselves as the victims of an alien mon- ster, which crushed them whil.'^ they were trying to con- fer blessings on the people about them. The big bank was bad enough, but the plea of the local banks was in- geniously false. It availed, however, to turn the popu- lar indignation altogether against the Bank of the United States. 1 leNiles, 2fl. 122 ANDRE W J A CKSON. Illinois chai-tered the Bank of Illinois, a private insti- tution, in 1816 ; also the City and Bank of Cairo, tc build a city, and to issue notes as a means of getting other people's capital to do it with. In 1819 the State Bank of Illinois was founded,^ but its charter was soon repealed, because it was too preposterous to stand. An- other State Bank was founded in 1821. which was a gieat paper-money machine, and produced ten years of confusion and loss.^ As early as 1816, Illinois had an endorsement and replevin law. July 26, 1820, the Bank of Tennessee was established, to last until 1843, with a branch at Knoxville. Its amount of issue was a million. Its notes were to be loaned on mortgage security under an apportionment be- tween the counties, according to the taxable property in 1819.^ There was already a Bank of Tennessee, which would have nothing to do with the new " bank.** The Legislature of Tennessee also passed a law that both real and personal property sold under execution should be redeemable within two years by paying the purchaser ten per cent advance. Jackson is mentioned as having been a prominent and energetic opponent of the relief system.'* In June, 1821, the Court of Appeals of Ten- nessee pronounced the replevin law unconstitutional, and the relief system in that State came to an end.* Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri were, at the same period, more or less entangled in the same system. In 1817 the circulation of the Bank of Kentucky waa $417,000. The forty banks and the two branches ol the national bank went into operation in that year 1 16 Nilos, 208. - Edwards, 165, 174, 204. « 18 Niles, 452 ; Gouge, 39. * Ibid. » 21 Niles, 402. rUKCED LiaUlDATIOy. 123 The Bank of Kentucky could not therefore sustain its formei» circulation. It imported $240,000 in silver, and reduced its circulation, November, 1818, to Sl9r),000. Nevertheless, it fell aeavily in debt during 1818 and 1819 to the branches of the Bank of the United Stales.* In November, 1819, the latter bank ordered the debt to be collected. The Bank of Kentucky suspended a^d compromised. Its notes were at fifteen per cent dis- count. A great reduction of the paper was forced, be- cause the Bank of the United States came in to demand payment. Where any one strong creditor did that the credit system fell. May 4, 1820, the stockholders of the Bank of Kentucky voted to suspend specie payments. This suspension became permanent. Intense rage was excited against the Bank of the United States, but if the facts are as alleged the Bank of Kentucky must have been extending its loans, and if the Bank of the United States had not called for payment it would have been forced to stand back, and see the Bank of Kentucky use the capital of the Bank of the United States as a means of profit. Kentucky had laid a tax of $60,000 on each of the branches of the national bank, in January, 1819. At the same time the Sujreme Court of the United States declared the bank constitutional."^ In December the Kentucky Court of Appeals unanimously sustained the state tax, on the ground that the bank was uncon- stitutional. Two judges thought they must yield to the Supreme Court of the United States. The third, Rowan, thought they ought to stand out and force further trial in the interest of state rights.^ December 15, 18? 9, the Legis\ature of Kentucky Kendall's Autobiography, 203. « See pago 128. « Kendall's Autobiography, 20P 124 ANDREW JACKSON. passed, over a veto, a law ^ to suspend for sixty dayi sales under executions, if the defendant gave bonds that the goods levied on should be forthcoming at the end of that time. The Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky was established November 29, 1820, as a further " relief " measure for the benefit of the debtors, victims of the forty feanks of 1818. As a further meas- ure of relief a replevin law was passed, December 25, 1820, according to which the debtor was to have two years in which to redeem, under an execution, unless the creditor should endorse on the note that he would take notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth, if the debtor could pay them. Another act was passed, De- cember 21, 1821, which forbade the sale of land on execution, unless it should bring three fourths of its value as appraised by a jury of neighbors. The Bank of the Commonwealth was authorized to issue notes for thi'ee millions of dollars. It had no stockliolders. The president and directors were elected annually by the Legislature. Their salaries were paid by the State. They were incorporated. The notes were issued in loans on mortgage security, and were apportioned be- tween the counties in proportion to the taxable property in each in 1820. Loans were to be made, in 1820, only to those who needed them, " for the purpose of paying his, her, or their just debts," or to purchase the products of the country for exportation. The bank had twelve branches. Its funds were to be : all money thereafter paid in for land warrants, or land west of the Tennessee river ; the produce of the stock owned by the State in the Bank of Kentucky after that bank should be wound Dp ; the unexpended balances in the treasury at the enc' 1 Kendall's Autobiography, 227. judge-breaking: 125 of the year. The profits of the bank were to go to the State. Stripped of all pretence, therefore, the bank was the state treasuiy, put into the hands of a commission elected by the Legislature, and incorporated. Its funds were the current receipts of the treasury from land, and its current balance, if it had one ; also the capital already invested in the old bank, whenever that should be released, wliich never was done. The notes of the bank were legal tender to and from the State. The Legislature appropriated $7,000 to buy books, jJaper, and plates for printing the notes. This is all the real capital the bank ever had. It was, therefore, just one of the grand swindling concerns common at that period, BO many of which are described in the pages of Niles and Gouge.^ In 1822 Judge Clark, of the Circuit Court of Ken- tucky, declared the replevin law of that State unconsti- tutional.^ He was cited before the House of Represen- tatives of the State, and an effort was made to have him removed by the Governor on the resolution of the Legis- lature. The vote was 59 to 35 ; not two tliirds, as le- quired by the Constitution for this method of removal. In tliis year the Legislature used its power in the election of directors of the old Bank of Kentucky to put in "re lief " men who would make that bank accept Common- w^ealth notes. The effect was that the stock of the ol 1 bank at once fell to fifty, an"", it suspended.® In Oc- tober, 1822, a specie dollar was worth $2.05 in Com- 1 See 8 Peters, 118; 11 Peters 257. 2 23 Niles, Supp. 153; '.suppI^-iien* io the 22tl vol.). The fudge's decision, the legislative pr^ceedingr" and tt? judge's de tence are there given. 8 Collins, 8i». 126 ANDREW JACKSON. monwealth notes.* A Kentucky correspondent wi'ites, February, 1823 : The Bank of the Commonwealth " has nearly destroyed all commerce or trade, extinguished personal credit, and broken down confidence between man and man, as well as damped and depressed the industry of the State ; but the peoj^le are beginning to get tired of its blessings, and its paper-mill will soon cease working, leaving a debt, however, due to it from the poorest of the people to the amount of two and a half or three millions of dollars." ^ In 1823 the notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth began to be withdrawn and burned. Governor Adair, in his message of that year, approved of the relief system, and denounced the courts for deciding the replevin laws unconstitutional. This proceeding of the courts seems to have been then regarded very generally by the people of Kentucky as a usurpation by the judges, and an as- sault on the liberties of the people. After Adair's term expired, he petitioned for redress, on account of the payment of his salary in depreciated paper. In 1823 the Court of Appeals of Kentucky declared the relief laws unconstitutional. The Legislature, in January, 1824, affirmed the constitutionality of said laws, and an issue was made up on the right and power of courts to annul, on the ground of unconstitutionality, laws passed by the representatives of the people. The relief system thus brought directly to the test the power of a system of constitutional g-uarantees, administered by an independent judiciary, to protect rights against an interested and corrupt majority of debtors, wliich was 1 23 Niles, 96. * 2.\ Niles, 337. Kendall justly described the relief system ii 1891. (Autobiography, 246.) OLD COURT AND NEW COURT. 127 ttsing its power, under democratic-republican self-govern- ment, to rob the minority of creditors. The state elec- tion of 1824 was fought on the effort to elect a Legis- lature two thirds of which would memorialize the Gov- ernor for the removal of the judges who had decided the reUef laws unconstitutional. A majority was obtained, but not two tliirds. Another course was then taken. The legislative act by which the state judiciary was organized and the Court of A])peals created was re- pealed. Reference was made, in defence of this action, to the repeal of the federal judiciary act, at the begin- ning of Jefferson's administration.^ A new Court of Ap- peals was constituted by a new act. William T. Barry was appointed chief justice. The old court denied the constitutionality of the repeal and of the new court, an(? continued its existence, so that there were two courts. In 1825 the parties in the State were •' Old Court " and '' New Court." ^ The new court party affirmed, some- times with vehemence, sometimes with solemnity, that liberty and republicanism were at stake, and that the contest was to see whether the judges should be above the law. The old court party won a majority in the lower House. The Senate, which held over, was still of the new court party. The House voted to abolish the new court, but the Senate did not agree. By this time the contest had developed a whole school of ambitious, rising politicians, who appealed with demagogical ad- dress to the passions and distress of the embarrassed debtors. In November, 1825, Niles quotes a Ken- tucky paper that more persons had left that State than nad come to it for many years. It is plain "hat two tlasse's of persons were driven away by the reUsf system . CoiUus. 90. ^ 28 Nilee, 2-7. i28 ANDREW JACKSON. (1) those who wanted, by steady industry and accumula lion without borrowing, to acquire capital and to be so cure in the possession of it: and (2) those who could not, ander the prevailing depression, work off the mortgages which they had eagerly given to the Bank of the Com- monwealth for its notes, in the hope of thus escaping from old embarrassments. After five years their con- dition was hopeless, and if they had any energy they started westward to begin again. In the mean time there had been a number of decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States which irri- tated the people of Kentucky, and enhanced their alarm about the assaults of the judiciary on hberty. We have seen how the state banks used the Bank of the United States as a scapegoat for all their sins, and for all the bad legislation of the States. The next swino- of the pendulum of popular feeling was over into hatred of the Bank of the United States. Several States, of which Kentucky was one, tried to tax the branches out of ex- istence. In McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819),^ and in Osborn vs. Bank of the United States (1824),^ the Su- preme Court of the United States declared that the States could not tax the bank. In Sturges vs. Crownin- shield (1819),^ the same court set limits to the state in- solvent laws and thereby prevented the favor to debtors wtiich the embarrassed States desired to provide. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, proposed an amendment to the Constitution, January 14, 1822, giving appellate juris- diction to the Senate in any case to which a State was 9 party, arising under the laws, treaties, etc., of the United States.* In Bank of the United States vs. Halstea»f ' 4 Wheaton, 316. ^ 9 Wheatou, 739. » 4 Wheaton. 122. * 7 Benton's Abridgment, 145. ALLEGED FEDEPAL ENCROACHMENTS. 129 (1825),^ the Supreme Court decided that it had juris- diction in suits to which the Bank of the United States tvas a party, and that a law which forbade sales of land ander execution for less than three fourths of the ap- praised value did not apply to writs of execution issued hj federal courts. The question of the constitutionality of such a law was avoided. In Wayman vs. Southard (1825),*^ the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the replevin and endorsement law of Kentucky did not apply to a writ of execution issued from a federal court. In the Bank of the United States vs, the Plant- ers' Bank of Georgia (1824),* it decided that if a State became a party to a banking or commercial enterprise the State could be sued in the course of the business. This decision seemed to threaten the Bank of the Com mon wealth of Kentucky. In Green vs. Biddle (1823),^ the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the laws of Kentucky of 1797 and 1812, which reduced the liability of the occupying claimant of land to the successful contestant, on account of rent and profits, as compared with the same liability under the law of Vir- ginia at the time of the separation, and which in a cor- responding manner increased the claims of the occupying claimant for improvements, were null and void, being in violation of the contract between Kentucky and Vii'ginia at the time of separation.^ In Dartmouth College vs. 1 10 Wheaton, 51. 2 lo Wheaton, 1. 8 9 Wheaton, 904. 8 Wheaton, 1. 6 Kentuc-kv sent to Congjress, May i, 1824, a remonstrance Bgainst this decision. Letcher, of Kentucky, introduced a reso- lution to amend the law, so that more than a majority of judges should be necessary t* declare a state law void. (8 Benton'i ibridgment, 51.) 9 130 ANDREW JACKSON. Woodward (1819),^ the Supreme Court had decided that the charter of a private corj)oration was a contract which a state Legislature might not violate, and had thus put certain vested rights beyond legislative caprice.^ Other decisions had also been made, bearing on state rights and the powers of the federal judiciary in a more general way. In Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee (1816),' the constitutionahty of the 25th section of the judi- ciary act (power of the Supreme Court to pass upon the constitutionality of state laws) was affirmed, and the authority of the coui't in a case under a federal treaty was maintained against the Court of Appeals of Virginia. In Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824),^ the court overruled the Supreme Court of New York, and declared an act of the Legislature giving exclusive privileges in the waters of New York unconstitutional and void. In Cohens vs. Virginia (1821),^ it was decided that, if a citizen of a State pleads against a statute of his own State an act of Congress as defence, the 25th section of the judiciary act gives the federal Supreme Court jurisdiction to test whether that defence be good. In the case of the " Marmion " (1823), the Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States (Wirt) had rendered an opin- ion * (1824) that a law of South CaroUna (1822), according to which any free negro sailors who should come into that State on board a ship should be impris- oned until the sliip sailed again, was incompatible with the Constitution and with the international obligations of the United States. The District Court of the Unites States had decided (1823) to the same effect.' ^ 4 Wheaton, 518. ^ I Webster's Correspondence, 283. * 1 Wheaton, 304. * 9 Wheaton, l! ^ e Wheaton, 264» ® 1 Opinions of the Attorneys-General, 659. T 25 Niles, 12. GROWTH OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. 131 From our present stand-point of established doctrine »n the points of constitutional law above enumerated, It is difficult to understand the shocks which many or ill of these decisions gave to the Jeffersonian school of politicians. The assertion that the reserved rights of the States had been invaded ^ is to be referred to these judicial decisions, not to executive acts. The strict- eonstruction, state-rights school felt every one of these decisions as a blow from an adversary against whom there was no striking back, and the fact undoubtedly is that the Supreme Court, under the lead of Marshall and Story, was consolidating the federal system, and secur- ing it against fanciful dogmas and exaggerated theories wliich would have made the federal government as ridiculous as the German Bund. Readers of to-day are surprised to find that a great many people were alarmed about their liberties under the mild and timid rule of Monroe. '^ It was, however, by no means the scholastic hair-splitters and hobby-riders in constitutional law alone who were astonished and bewildered by the course of the decisions. It needs to be remembered that the system of the Constitution, even after the second war, was yet, to a great degree, unestablished and unformed. Actual experience of any legislative act or constitutional provision is needed to find out how it will work, and what interpretation its terms wdll take on from the growiih of institutions and from their inter-action. It is impossible, upon reading a constitutional provision, to figure to one's self, save in the vaguest way, what will be the character and working of the institution which it 1 See page 109-10. * See Garland's Randolph, especially IL 211, on Giabons vm dgden. 132 ANDREW JACKSON. creates. It was one of the most fortunate circumstances in the history of the United States that the judicial in- terpretation and administration of the Constitution was, during its formative period, for a long time in the hands of men who shaped the Constitution in fideUty to its original meaning and spirit, to secure at once dignity and strength to the federal system, and constitutional liberty to the nation. It is fortunate that they were men of profound legal attainments and historic sense, and neither abstractionists of the French school, nor dialecticians under the state-rights and strict-construc- tion dogmas. The history of the country has proved the soundness and wisdom of the constitutional princi- ples they established, but while they were doing this they had to meet with a great deal of criticism and abuse. Kentucky had furnished a number of the cases, and at least two important interests of hers (relief sys- tem and contested land titles) had been decided ad- versely to the interests of the classes which had least education and property. The message of Governor Desha of Kentucky, No- vember 7, 1825,^ deserves attentive reading from any one who seeks to trace the movement of decisive forces in American political liistory. The Governor denounces all banks, and especially the Bank of the United States, because they are all hostile to the power and rights of the States. He says that the Bank of the United States has been taken under the protection of the federal Supreme Court, and that these two foreign powers, sft illied, have overthrown the sovereignty of Kentucky He complains of the State Court of Appeals, which had lijclared the law taxing the Bank of the United State# 1 29 Niles, 219. DESHA'S MESSAGE OF 1825. 18J^ \o be constitutional, for not maintaining its ground, but receding, and deferring to the contrary decision of the Sujireme Court of the United States. He congratulates the State, however, that the abolition of the old court has removed the compliant head from the state judiciary, and that the new court will maintain the sovereignty of the State against federal encroachments. He declares that the emigration from the State was due to the de- cision about the occupying claimant law. He denounces the federal courts for not recognizing the state relief laws in regard to writs issued by themselves, and he regards the State as robbed of self-government by this intrusion of foreign courts, which bring mth them an independent code of procedure. He defends the relief system, and, altliough he does not distinctly say so, what he means is that the federal courts, by their intrusion, enable foreign creditors to escape the treatment which Kentucky cred- itors have to submit to under the laws of their country. This was the invasion of the "sovereignty" of Ken- tucky which was resented most. In the same message Desha suggested that the Legis- lature should abolish both the Courts of Appeals, and he promised that, if this should be done, and a new court Bhould be established, he would select the judges for it equally from the two existing ones. In 1826 the state election was again a contest between old court and new court. The old court carried both Houses.^ The re- plevin laws were repealed. The acts of the new court were treated as null. The new court seized the records, and held them by military force. Civ'l war was avoided •)nly by the moderation of the old court party. The ^Legislature repealed the law constituting the new court. 1 Colling, 93 134 ANDREW JACKSON. but the Governor vetoed the repeal.^ It was passed over his veto December 30, 1826. By resignations and new appointments among the judges, the court was reconstituted as a single anti-relief body in the years 1828-9. In 1827 the currency of the States in the Mississippi Valley was fairly good. There remained only S800,000 of Commonwealth paper out, and this was merchandise, not currency.^ The bank held notes of individuals to the amount of one and a half millions, and real estate worth $30,592. Hence there was due to it a balance from the public, after aU its notes should be paid in, of $600,000. Its debtors had this to pay in specie or its equivalent, or else the bank would get their property. This sum, therefore, fairly represents the net final swin- dle wliich the relief system perpetrated on its dupes, to say nothing of its effects on creditors and on the general prosperity of the State. The bank never had over $7,000 cajji-tal even spent upon it. Its total issue of bits of paper was printed with the denomination dollars up to three millions. By this issue it had won $600,000 worth of real property, or twenty per cent in five years. Who g-ot this grain ? It seems that there must have been private and personal interests at stake to account for the lage which was excited by the decisions which touched tliis bank, and by the intensity of friendship br it which was manifested by a leading political clique. In 1828 the parties were still relief and anti-relief . the former for Jackson, the latter for Adams. The ideas, however, had changed somewhat. A " relief ' man, in 1828, meant a state-rights man and strict con itructionist, who wanted to put bounds to the supposec 1 31 Niles 310. - -Vl Niles, 37. OTHER DECISIONS. 135 encroachments of the federal power, especially the judiciary, and indeed to the constitutional functions of the judiciary in general. Metcalf, the anti-relief candidate for Governor, in 1828, defeated Barry, the relief candidate, after a very hard fight,^ but the State gave 7,912 majority for Jackson. Two later decisions of the Supreme Court may here be mentioned, because they carried forward the same constitutional tendency which has been described. They were connected with the political movements which have been mentioned, and with those which came later. In the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs, Wister et al. (1829),^ it was held that the bank must pay specie on demand in return for a deposit which had been made with it of its own notes, although these notes were, when deposited, worth only fifty cents on the dollar. It had been provided in the act estabUshing the bank that it should pay specie. The bank tried to plead the non-suability of a State, but it was held that, if the State was sole owner and issued as a sovereign, it would be non-suable. Then, however, the notes would be bills of credit. If the State issued as a banker, not a sover- eign, then it was suable under the decision in the case of the Planter's Bank of Georgia. In Craig vs. Mis- souri (1830),* a law of Missouri (1821) establishing loan offices to loan state currency issues on mortgages was declared unconstitutional as to the notes issued, which were bills of credit In this decision bills oi jredit were defined. 1 Collins, 93. 2 2 I'eten, SI 8. « 4 Peters, 410. CHAPTER Vn. rNTKRNAIi HISTORY OF JACKSON's FIRST ADMINTSTRA TION. Jackson came to power as the standard-bearer of a new upheaval of democracy, and under a profession of new and fuller realization of the Jeffersonian demo^ cratic republican principles. The causes of the new strength of democracy were economic. It gained strength every year. Everything in the situation of the country favored it. The cotton culture advanced with great rajDidity, and led to a rapid settlement of the Southwestern States. The Ohio States filled up with a very strong population. Steamboats came into common use, and they had a value for this country, with its poor roads, but grand rivers, bays, sounds, and lakes, such as they had for no other country. Other forces have al- ready been mentioned. Railroads began to be built just after Jackson's election. The accumulation of capital in the country was not yet great. It' was inade- quate for the chances which were offered by the opening up of the continent. Hence the industrial organization did not take the form of a wages organization. Indi- viduals, however, found the chances of very free and independent activity, which easily produced a simpli abundance. The conditions were such as to gfive to eaclr ft sense of room and power. Individual energy anr* tnterprise were greatly favored. Of course, the effect SOCIAL NOTIONS AND CHANGES. 137 on the character of the people was certain. They be- came bold, mdependent, energetic, and enterprising rhey were versatile, and adapted themselves easily to circumstances. They were not disturbed in an emer- gency; and thty v\'ere shrewd in dealing with difficul- ties of every kind. The state constitutions became more and more purely. Ciemocratic, under the influence of this character of the people. Social usages threw off all the forms which had been inherited from colonial days. The tone of mind was developed which now marks the true, unspoiled American, as distingxiished from all Europeans, although it has scarcely been noticed by the critics who have compared the two : namely, the tone of mind which has no understanding at all of the notion that A could demean himself by talking to B, or that B could be raised in his own estimation or that of other people by being spoken to by A, no matter who A and B might be. Ceremonies, titles, forms of courtesy and etiquette, were distasteful. Niles did not like it that members of Congress were called " honorable." * He criticised diplomatic usages. He devoted a paragraph to denunciation of a fashionable marriage in Boston, which took place in King's (!) Chapel, and at which the people cheered the groom. He objected to the term "cabinet,"^ and said, very truly, that there is no cabinet in our system. He was displeased by public honors to the President (Monroe). The people of the period found themselves happy and prosperous. Their lives were easy, free from gross cares, and free from great political anxieties. They knew little and cared less about other countries. They were generally satisfied with some crude notions and 1 37 NQes. 378. ^ 40 Niles. 145. 138 ANDREW JACKSON. easy prejudices about institutions and social states oi which they really had no knowledge. Isiles knew no more of the English Constitution and English politics than a Cherokee Indian knew of the ,)olitics of tiie United States. The American peopl e dil not think of their economic and social condition -o\s peculiar or ex- ceptional. They supposed that any oJ-^'^r nation could be just like the United States if it chose. They thought the political institutions, or, more strictly, the political " principles," of this country made all the difference. They gave their confidence to the great principles, accordingly, all the more because those prin- cii^les flatter human nature. One can easily discern in Jackson's popularity an element of instinct and personal recognition by the mass of the people. They felt, " He is one of us." " He stands by us." " He is not proud, and does not care for style, but only for plenty of what is sound, strong, and good." " He thinks just as we do about this." The anecdotes about huu which had the greatest currency were those which showed him tramp- ling on some conventionahty of polite society, or shock- ing the tastes and prejudices of people from " abroad." In truth Jackson never did these things except for effect, or when carried away by his feelings. The Jackson party flocked to Washington to attend the inauguration. " They really seem," said Webster,^ " to think that the country has been rescued from some ^reat danger." There was evidently a personal and class feeling involved in their triumph. At the in- auguration ball a great crowd of people assembled wha had not been accustomed to such festivities. Jackson 1 1 Curtis's Webster, 340. On the crow(\, see Webster'g Cot re^pondence, 470, 473. JACKSON'S INAUGURATION. 189 refused to call or. Adams, partly l)ecause, as he said, Adams got his office by a bargain, and jiartly because he thought that Adams could have stopjied the runipaign references to Mrs. Jackson. That lady had died in the previous December, and Jackson was in a very tender frame of mind in regard to her memory.^ Adams was hurt at the slight put upon him, and thought that he had deserved other treatment from Jackson."^ In March, 1832, R. M. Johnson came to Adams to try to bring about a reconciliation with Jackson. Nothing came of it.« The inaugural address contained nothing of any im- portance. There was a disj^osition to give Jackson a fair chance. Every one was tired of party strife,* and there was no disposition in any quarter to make factious opposition. The opposition had taken the name of national republicans. They never acknowledged any succession to the federalists. They claimed to belong to the true republican party, but to hold national theo- ries instead of state-rights theories. The Jackson party was heterogeneous. In opposition it had been held to- gether by the hope of success, but it had not been welded together into any true party. No one yet knew what Jackson thought about any political question. It had been an unfortunate necessity to send him to the Senate in 1823. He had made a record on tariff and internal improvements. His Coleman letter, it is true, left him safely vague on tariff, but he could only lose, he could not possibly gain, by making a record on any- ^ The New York Ameri-a'^ followed her even beyond the grave with a scurrilous epitaph 2 8 Adams, 128. i A iama, 484. * 5 Ann. Reg. 1 . 140 ANDREW JACKSON. thiug. His advantage over the " statesmen " was tnat every one of them was on record a dozen times on every public question. Calhoun had been reelected Vice-President. He now understood that Jackson would take only one term, and that he (Calhoun) would have all Jackson's support in 1832. Van Buren, however, who had come into Jackson's jiolitical family at a late date, had views and ambitions which crossed this programme of Calhoun. These two men came into collision in the formation of the cabinet. Jackson introduced two innovations. He put the Secretaries back more nearly into the place in which they belong by the original theory of the law. He made them executive clerks or staff officers. The fashion has grown up of calling the Secretaries the President's " constitutional advisers." It is plain that they are not anything of the kind. He is not bound to consult them, and, if he does, it does not detract from his responsibility. Jackson, by the necessity of his character and preparation, and by the nature of the position to which he had been elected, must lean on somebody. He had a number of intimate friends and companions on whom he relied. They did not hold important public positions. They came to be called the " Kitchen Cabinet." The men were William B. Lewis, Amos Kendall, Duff Green, and Isaac Hill. If the Secretaries had been the " constitutional advisers " of the President, their first right and duty would have been to break off the intimacy with these irresponsible peisons, and to prevent their influence. Jackson' second umovation was that he did not hold cabinet councils. Hence his administration lacked unity and discipline. It did not have the strength of hearty anc JACKSON'S CABINET. 141 jonscious cooperation. Each Secretary went Lis waj', lind gossip and newsmongering had a special field of activity open to them. The cabinet was not a strong one. Van Buren was Secretary of State. S. D. Ing- ham was Secretary of the Treasury. He had been an active Pennsylvania politician, and a member of the House for the last seven years. John H. Eaton, of Kentucky, was Secretary of War. He had married, for his first wife, one of Mrs. Jackson's nieces, and had been ftn intimate fi'iend of Jackson. He was brother-in-law of Lewis. He finished, in 1817, a life of Jackson, wliich had been begun by Major John Reid. He had been in the Senate since 1818. John Branch, of North Caro- lina, was Secretary of the Navy. He had been in the Senate since 1823.^ John M. Berrien, of Georgia, was Attorney-General. He had been in the Senate since 1824. William T. Barry, of Kentucky, was Postmaster- General, with a seat in the cabinet, a privilege to which that ofiicer had not previously been admitted. McLean passed into high favor with the new administration, and was asked to keep the postmaster-generalship with its new rank. When the general proscription began he would not admit it as to his department. He was trans- ferred to the bench of the Supreme Court.^ Ingham, Branch, and Berrien were understood to be the Calhoun men in the cabinet. The men who controlled the administration were the members of the kitchen cabinet. Lewis does not ap- pear to have had any personal ambition. He wanted to return to Tennessee, but Jackson remonstrated that Ijewis must not abandon him "n the positi ^n to which h« 1 See page 9? and note '"'. « 8 Adams, 112. 142 ANDREW JACKSON. had been elevated.* Lewis was made Second Auditoi of the Treasury. He only asked for an office with little work to be done.^ His character and antecedents have already been noticed. Ainos Kendall was born in Massacuusetts in 1789. He was a graduate of Dart- mouth College. In 1814 he went to Washington. In 1815 he was a tutor in Henry Clay's family. He edited a newspaper, the " Frankfort Ai'gus," and prac- tised law, and was postmaster at Georgetown, Kentucky. He became a leading "relief" man, director in the Bank of the Commonwealth, and as such an enemy ol the Bank of the United States. Many of Clay's old 6upj)orters, who became relief men, were carried over to Jackson between 1824 and 1828. Kendall was one of these. He had expected an office from Clay, and was offered one, but it did not satisfy him. He had an acrimonious correspondence with Clay in 1828.^ He was in debt. Clay was one of his creditors. His war with Clay won him Jackson's favor. Kendall was an enigmatical combination of good and bad, great and small traits. His ability to handle important state ques- tions and his skill as a politician are both beyond ques- tion. He prostituted his talents to partisan purposes, and was responsible for the bad measures adopted by Jackson as much as any other one man. In his private character he showed admirable traits of family devotion and generosity. As a public man he belonged to the worst school of American politicians. He brought the vote of Kentucky to Washington, and was appointed Fourth Auditor of the Treasury. As time went on he proved more and more the master spirit of the adminis 1 3 Parton, 180. "^ Kendall's Autobiography , 308. • Tdeqraph Extra, 305. THE KITCHEN CABINET. 143 h-atioii. Harriet Martineau wrote of him, in 1836, as follows: "I was fortunate enough once to catch a glimpse of the invisible Amos Kendall, one of the most remarkable men in America. He is supposed to be the movino- spring of the whole administration, the tliinker, plaimer, and doer ; but it is all in the dark. Documents are issued of an excellence which prevents their being attributed to persons who take the responsibility of them ; a correspondence is kept up all over the country for which no one seems to be answerable ; work is done, of goblin extent and with goblin speed, which makes men look about them with a superstitious wonder ; and the invisible Amos Kendall has the credit of it all. ... He is undoubtedly a great genius. He unites with his ' great talent for silence ' a splendid audac- ity." ^ She goes on to say that he rarely appeared in jublic, and seemed to keep up the mystery. She at- j'ibutes some of Lewis's work to Kendall, but the pas- sage is a very fair representation of the opinions of Washington society about Kendall. He had very great executive and literary ability. Duff Green was a fight- ing partisan editor. He had the virtue of his trade. He was loyal to the standard to wliich he had once sworn. He was a Calhoun man, and he continued to be a retainer of the most unflinching loyalty. For the first years of Jackson's administration. Green, as editor of the " organ," stood on guard all the time to advance the cause of the administration. Isaac Hill was born in IMassachusetts in 1788. His education was picked up V.1 a printing-office. In 1810 he bought and began to ^dit the '^ Patriot," published at Concord, New Hamp 1 1 Marti aeau's Western Trav^ , 155. (y also 1 Society i% Aminica, 45. 144 ANDREW JACKSON. eliire. He edited his paper ^vith skill and ability, prop agating " true republicanism " in partibus infidellmn for the people about him were ahnost all federalists. He gained adherents. His paper became influential, and he built up a democratic jjar^^y in New Hami)shire.^ He had long favored strict party proscription. In 1818 he remonstrated with Governor Plumer for appointmg a federalist sheriff.^ He had the rancorous malignity of those men who have been in a contest with persons who have treated them from above downwards. He was not able to carry New Hampshire for Jackson in 1828, but the vote was 24,000 for Adams to 20,600 for Jackson. Hill was immediately taken into the inner- most circle at Washington. The election of Jackson meant that an uneducated Indian fighter liad been charged -with the power of the presidency, and that these four men wielded it through and for him. Van Buren followed, in order to win the aid of Jackson for the succession. He did not put forth any guiding force. Eaton had some share in the kitchen cabinet. No other member of the cabinet had any influence. Barry, another relief man, but personally quite insignifi- cant, was at the disposal of tlie kitchen cabinet. Henry Lee had made himself " impossible "by an infamous domestic crime. He was offended at the poor share in ^ lie had kejit a boarding-house, at which members of the Legislature, etc., boarded. In 1823 he is referred to as a power (1 Webster's CoiTesjioiulence, 324.) During the New Hampsliire ♦election of 1830, forged documents were sent on from Washing- f.on to prove Ui)hani, the anti- Jackson candidate for Governor puilty of .smugglinor under the embargo. (39 Niles, 1.56.) Mason caarged Hill with having sent the papers. ' . Webster's Corre- tpondenct, 495.) * Plumer 8 Plumzr, 471. THE VICTORS AND THE SPOILS. 145 the spoils offered to him, and withdrew, relieving the administration of a load. Edward Livingston was in the Senate, but no direct influence by him on the ad- ministration, during the first two years, is discernible. The same may be said of Benton. Some vague expressions in the inaugural about " re- form " and the civil service frightened the office-holders, who had already been alarmed by rumors of coming proscription. There was an army of office-seekers and editors in Washington, who had a very clear and posi- tive theory that the victory which they had won, under Jackson's name, meant the acquisition and distribution amongst them of all the honors and emoluments of the federal government. They descended on the federal administration as if upon a conquered domain. The office-holders of that day had generally staked their ex- istence on the mode of getting a Uving wliich the civU service offered. It did not pay well, but it was supposed to be easy, tranquil, and secure. AU these persons who were over forty years of a^'e saw ruin staring them in the face. It was too late for them to change their habits or acquire new trades.^ All the stories by eye- witnesses testify to the distress and terror of the " ins," and the rapacity of the " outs," at that time. It is cer- tain that the public service lost gi-eatly by the changes. Sometimes they were made on account of trivial dis- respect to Jackson.2 It is not clear who was the author or instigator of the policy. Lewis is said to have op- 1 Washington removed nine persons, one a defaulter; Adams, ten one a defaulter ; Jefferson, thirty-nine ; Madison, five, thre« defaulters; Monroe, nine; Adams, two. both for cause. (5 Am Reg. 19.) ^ I Curtis's Webster, 348, 10 146 ANDREW JACKSON. posed it. i'endall does not appear to have started with the intention of proscription. March 24, 1829, h« wrote to the editor of the Baltimore " Patriot " * : " The interests of the country demand that the [Fourth Audit- or's] office shall be filled with men of business, and not with babbling politicians. Partisan feelings shall not enter here, if I can keep them out. To others belongs the whole business of electioneering." Probably Jackson believed that the departments were full of corrupt per- sons, and that Adams and Clay had demoraUzed the whole civil service, so that a complete change was necessary. It would be quite in character for Jackson to take all the campaign declamation literally. One man, Tobias Watkins, Fourth Auditor, was found short in his accounts.^ This seemed to offer proof of all that had been affirmed. The proscription was really en- forced by the logic of the methods and teachings of the party while in opposition. The leaders had been taken literally by the party behind them, and by the workers, writers, and speakers who had enlisted under them. If they had failed to reward their adherents by the spoils, or if they had avowed the hoUowness and artificiality of their charges against the last administration, they would 1 49 Niles, 43. Cf. Kendall's Axitobiorjraphy, 292. 2 Adams calls this " the bitterest drop in the cup of my afSic- tions" (8 Adams, 144) ; and again he says, " The wrong done to me and my administration by the misconduct of Watkins de- sen'es a severer animadversion from me than from Jackson.' S Adams, 290.) lie there depicts Jackson's rancor agains*^ Watkins. Niles describes the virulent political animus of the prosecution. (36 Niles, 421.) After Watkins's term of imprison- ment was over, he was detained on account of an unpaid fine By Jackson's ])ersonal order a label, " Criminal's Apartment, iras put over the door of the room in which he was kept. ORIGIN OF THE SPOILS SYSTEM. 147 have tlu-own their party into confusion, and would have destroyed their power. It has been shown above how the spoils system had been developed, since the begin- ning of the century, in Pennsylvania and New York.* It is a crude and incorrect notion that Andrew Jackson corrupted the civil service. His administration is only the date at which a corrupt use of the spoils of the pub- lic service as a cement for party organization under democratic-re])ublican self-government, having been per- fected into a highly finished system in New York and Pennsylvania, was first employed on the federal arena. The student who seeks to penetrate the causes of the corruption of the civil service must go back to study the play of human nature under the political dogmas and institutions of the States named. He cannot rest satis- fied with the explanation that " Andrew Jackson did it." Thirty-eight of Adams's nominations had been post- poned by the Senate, so as to give that patronage to Jackson. Between March 4, 1829, and March 22, 1830, 491 postmasters and 239 other ofiicers were removed, and as the new appointees changed all their clerks, dep- uties, etc., it was estimated that 2,000 changes in the civil service took place." Jackson, as we have seen, had made a strong point against the appointment of mem- bers of Congress to offices in the gift of the President. In one year he appointed more members of Congress to office than any one of his predecessors in his whole term.^ The Senate, although democratic, refused to confirm many of the nomination? made. Henry Lee, Appointed consul tc Algiers, and James B. Gardner 1 Page 102. 2 Holmes's speech in the Se:jate, April 28, "830 » 5 Ann. Reg. 20. 148 ANDREW JACKSON. register of the land office, were unanimously rejected Others were rejected by large votes.^ Isaac Hill was one of these. Webster said that, but for the fear oi Jackson's popularity out-of-doors, the Senate would have rejected half liis appointments.^ The Senate ob- jected to the ob\dous distribution of rewards among the partisan editors who had run country newspapers in Jackson's influence.* Eaton had visited Binns, and had made to him a distinctly corrupt j)roposition to reward him with public printing,^ if he would turn to Jackson. The rejection of the editors was construed by the Jac]<- Bon men as a proscrijDtion of " printers " by the " aristo- cratic " Senate.^ Kendall was confirmed by the casting vote of Calhoun, for fear that he would, if not confirmed, set up a newspaper in competition with Green's " Tele- graph " for the position of administration organ.* On subsequent votes some of the appointments were con- firmed, for it was found that Jackson was thrown into a great rage against the Senate w^hich dared reject his appointments. He was delighted when Hill, in 1831, was elected by the Legislature of New Ham^^shire a member of the Senate which had refused to confirm him as Second Comptroller of the Treasury. Jackson threw all the administration influence in favor of Hill's election. Here we have an illustration of a method of his of which we shall have many illustrations here- after When he w^as crossed by any one in a course in which he w^as engaged, he drew back to gather force with which to carry his point in some mode so much more distasteful to his opjjonents than his first enterprise 1 5 Ann. B.eg. 21. ~ 1 Webster's Correspondence, 501. 8 1 Webster's Correspondence, 488. * Binns, 253. * Kendall's Autobiography , 370. ' Kendall's Autobiography, 371. THE EATON AFFAIR. 149 that it would be a kind of punishment to them and a re- dress to him. Van Buren and Calhoun at once be^an to strucde for the control of the patronage which was made dis- posable by the system of proscription. Their contest for the succession rent the administration. It was a very noteworthy fact that this administra- tion, which represented a certain contempt for social forms and etiquette, should immediately go to pieces on a question of that kind. So true is it that etiquette is never burdensome until we try to dispense with it. In January, 1829, John H. Eaton married Mrs. Tim- berlake, widow of a purser in the navy, who had, a short time before, committed suicide, while on service in the Mediterranean, because he coidd not conquer habits of excessive drinking. Mrs. Timberlake was the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper. As Peggy O'Neil she had been well known about Wasliinoton. Eaton had paid her such attention, before her husband's death, as to provoke gossip. He consulted Jackson be- fore the marriage. Jackson, having in mind the case of his own ^vife, was chivalrously ready to take sides with any woman whose reputation was assailed. He made no objection to the marriage. When it occurred, several persons remonstrated with Jackson about it, on the ground that Eaton was to be in the cabinet, and that it would hurt the administration. Jackson replied with •pirit to the effect that Mrs. Eaton was not to be in the cabinet. If he had kept that attitude towards the matter there might have been no trouble. By Eaton's appoint- ment his wife was introduced to the fii-st circle in Wash- ington. The wives of the other Secretanes and the wife >f the Vice-President did not recognize her. She Iried 150 ANDREW JACKSON. to force her way, and General Jackson tried to help her He made a political question of it. R. M. Johnson war the agent for conferring with the Secretaries to prevail on them to persuade their wives to recognize Mrs. Eaton. The gentlemen were approached individually. Each said that he left such matters to his wife, and could not un- dertake to overrale her judgment. This answer had no effect on Jackson. Mrs. Donelson, wife of Jackson's nephew and private secretary, and presiding lady at the AVhite House, was as recalcitrant as any one. She was banished to Tennessee for some months. Mrs. Huyghens, wife of the Dutch minister, refused to sit by Mrs. Eaton at a public ball. Jackson threatened to send her hus- band home. September 10, 1829, he held a meeting of his cabinet, before which Ely and Campbell, two clergy- men who were held by Jackson partly responsible for tha stories about Mrs. Eaton, were called to appear. Jack- son interrogated them, argued with them, and strove to refute their statements, as a means of convincing the members of the cabinet that there was no ground for the position their wives had taken. Of course this fool- ish and unbecoming proceeding had no result. Van Buren, being a widower, was in a certain posi- tion of advantage, which he used by showing ]VIrs. Eaton public and private courtesies. In this way he won Jack- son's heart, for as the matter went on Jackson became more and more engaged in it. On the other hand, Calhoun suffered in Jackson's good graces by the fault of Mrs. Calhoun, who had been conspicuous for dis- approval of Mrs. Eaton. Jackson had been gro'W'ing cold towards Callioun for some time. He doubted if IJalhoun was thoroughly loyal to him in 1825 ^ or in 1 Wise (p. 82) says that Jacksou was very angry with Calhoni iftsr the election in 1825. JACKSONS RELATIONS WITH CALHOUN. loi 1828. He thought that Calhoun, in 1825, would havt made other arrangements than those with Jackson, if any more convenient ones had been offered him. Cal- houn did, in fact, declare, in 1825, that he was quite neutral as between Adams and Jackson. He did not interfere at all with the election.^ The Eaton affair was either a pretext or a cause of widening the breach between them. The factions opposed to Calhoun tried to increase the bad feeling. Jackson was led to believe, and he often affirmed, that the attack on Mrs. Eaton was a plot to drive P^aton out of the cabinet. When forced to justify his own interference, he put it on this gi'ound. He said that Clay was at the bottom of the attack on Mrs. Eaton. All this trouble in the cabinet remained for the time unknown to the public. Lewis's statement, given by Parton,^ covers the his- tory of all Jackson's relations with Calhoun. Lewis had an inkling, in 1819, that Calhoun had not, as Jackson supposed, been Jackson's friend in Monroe's cabinet, in the Seminole war affair. LeAvis wrote to the " Aurora," suggesting that opinion, but Jackson wrote to him from Washington to dismiss any suspicion as to Callioun's un- friendliness in that matter. It seems to be necessary to read between the lines of Lewis's statement, on pages 315-30. Did he not always retain his suspicion of Cal- houn ? Was he not on the wktch for any evidence to confirm it ? He speaks as if he had rested content with Jackson's assurance, and Lad been corrected later by ac- cident or entirely on the initiative of otners. He does Dot mention the first attempt made by the old Crawford men to get over into the Jackson camp. It was not ao lasy march, for in 1824 the Crawford men, as the " reg ' Cobb. 219. SPartou, 310. 152 ANDREW JACKSON. olars," hated intensely the Jackson men, as upstarts and disorganizers. Crawford had carried into liis re- tirement a venomous and rancorous sjiirit, the cliief ob- ject of which was Calhoun. He could join any one to hurt Calhoun. In 1828 there was a project to run Crawford for Vice-President ^\•ith Adams.^ Adams re- fused." Crawford also, in 1828, by private letters to the Georgia electors, tried to persuade them not to vote for Calhoun.^ In the same year he made friends with Clay, writing to him that the charge of bargain was absurd. In April, 1827, Van Buren and Cambreleng visited Craw Eord, and first established ties between him and Jackson. The first effect was a letter from Crawford to Balch, a neighbor of Jackson, December 14, 1827, stating that Calhoun and his friends bandied about the epithet " mili- tary chieftain ; " also that Calhoun favored Av.ams until Clay came out for Adams ; ^ and adding that it would do Jackson a service to obtain assurances for Crawford that Jackson's advancement would not benefit Calhoun.^ This letter was meant to sej)arate Jackson and Calhoun, and it may have had a general effect. Specific consequences cannot be traced to it. According to Lewis's story, James A. Hamilton, on a Jackson electioneering tour, went to see Crawford, in January, 1828, in order to reconcile him with Jackson. LeAvis instructed Hamilton what to say to Crawford on Jackson's part. Hamilton did not see Crawford. He left the business in the hands of Forsyth. Forsyth soon wrote to Hamilton that Crawford affirmed that Jackson'j ^ 33 Niles, 31.^. 27 Adams, 390. 3 Cobb, 240. * Cf. Lewis, in 3 Parton, 315, on the allusion to Banquo's gho^ ■1 Webster's reply to Hayue. ' 40 Niles, 12. CRAWFORD'S REVELATION. 158 immlty against him was groundless, since it was not he, but Calhoun, in Monroe's cabinet, who had tried to bave Jackson censured for his proceedings in Florida in 1818. In April or May Lewis was in New York. Hamilton Bhowed him Forsyth's letter. For the time, Lewis kej^t tills information quite to himself. He was too clever to .spoil the force of it by using it too soon, and he well un- derstood how, in the changes and chances of j^olitics, a conjuncture might arise in which such a fact would gain tenfold force. In April, 1828, Henry Lee tried to draw Callioun into a correspondence about the construction of the orders to Jackson in 1818. Calhoun offered to give Jackson any statements or explanations, but declined to correspond with any one else.^ In November, 1829, at the height of the Peggy O'Neil affair, Jackson gave a dinner to Monroe. At this dinner Ringold affirmed that Monroe alone stood by Jackson in 1818. If Ringold did not have his cue, he was by chance contributing astonishingly to Lewis's plans. After dinner Lewis and Eaton kept up a con- versation, within ear-shot of Jackson, about what Ringold had said. Of course Jackson's attention was soon ar- rested, and he began to ask questions. Lewis then told him that he had seen, eighteen months before, the above- mentioned letter of Forsyth to Hamilton. Jackson dispatched Lewis to New York the next morning to get that letter. In all this story, it is plain how adroitly these men managed the General, and how skilful they tvere in producing " accidents." It is evident that they did not think it was time yet to bring about the explo« lion. Lewis came back from New York without Foi> - 40 Nilea, U. 154 ANDREW JACKSON. cyth's letter, and said that it was thought best to get a letter directly from Cra^yford, containing an explicit Rtatement. In this position the matter rested all whiter. It is perfectly clear that the Jackson managers lost laith in Calhoun's loyalty to Jackson and the Jackson party, and that they were hostile to him in 1827-28, but could not yet afford to break vnth. him. Jackson clung to his friendships and aUiances with a certain tenacity. As Calhoun was drawn more and more into nullihcation, the Jackson clique took a positive attitude in opposition to it. In the autumn of 1829 the clique around Jackson had decided that he must run again, if he should live, in 1832, in order to consolidate the party, which no one else could lead to victory at that time, and that Van Buren must succeed him in 1836.^ Lewis was already committed to Van Buren, and Parton brings us some more of Lewis's invaluable testimony as to this arrange- ment.^ Here, for once, a wire-puller put on paper a clear description of his proceedings in a typical case. There was fear in the Jackson camp, in 1829, on ac- count of Jackson's very bad health, that he might not live through his term. Lewis says that he and Jackson were both anxious that Van Buren should succeed Jack- son, and they believed that, if Jackson should die, a pn- litical testament left by him would have great influence. Accordingly, Jackson wrote a letter to his old friend, Judge Overton, of Tennessee, dated December 31, 1829, praising Van Buren, and expressing grave doubts about Calhoun. A copy was duly kept, for Judge Overton 1 Partou says that Benton was booked for the period 1844-52 ,3 Parton, 297.) 2 3 Parton, 293, 297 PLOTS FOR 1832. 155 was U(*t informed of the contingent use for which the letter was intended, and no risk was taken as to his care in preserving the letter. This provision having been made for the case that Jackson should die, the next tiling was to provide for his reelection, in case he ^should Hve. December 19, 1829, the " Courier and Enquirer " came out in favor of Van Buren for the succession, if Jackson should not stand for reelection. The " Tele- graph " was annoyed at tliis, called it ••' premature," and likely to produce division.^ These two papers, repre- sentinof the Van Buren and Calhoun factions in the ad- ministration party, were engaged, during the winter, in acrimonious strife.^ Niles no doubt expressed the senti- ment of sensible people when he said, April, 1830, that he did not see the necessity of action on the subject at that time. His statement, however, only showed how little he understood the processes by which the people manifest their power of self-government. March 11, 1830, Lewis wrote to Colonel Stanbaugh, of Pennsylvania, suggesting that the Pennsylvania Legis- lature should address to Jackson an appeal to stand for reelection. To the end that they might send just the proper appeal, Lewis inclosed it to them, already pre- pared for their signatures. Lewis wrote to Stanbaugh that he did not think it would be wise for Jackson's friends in Washington to [be known to] lead in the movement for his reelection, and Pennsylvania, the Btronghold of his popularity, seemed to be the most ad- vantageous place from which the movement might [ap- pear to] start. The add;*ess 'jame back duly signed «nth sixty-eight names. It vas published in the " Penn- 1 37 Niles, 300. 2 33 jjiles, 169. 1.56 ANDREW JACKSON. Bylvania Reporter," and copied all over the eountiy as a Bpontaneous and irrepressible call of the people to the '^ old hero " not to desert his country. The enterprise did not run off quite so smootlily as Lewis's narrative would imply. There was strong ojjposition by the Cal- houn faction to Jackson's renomination, and a distinct rcnoraination could not be carried.^ In April a caucus of the New York Legislature declared that it responded **to the sentiment of the Legislature of Pennsylvania." This caucus was prompted from Washington, and man- aged by the editor of the " Courier." ^ As soon as the example was set, other Legislatures followed it. In January, 1831, the " Globe " said that General Jackson might be regarded as before the country for reelection." Af)ril 13, 1830 (Jefferson's birthday), while still the letter from Crawford was not received, but while Jack- son's mind was full of suspicion against Calhoun, a banquet was prepared at Wasliington, which was in- tended to be a nullification demonstration.'* Jackson gave as a toast, " Our federal Union : It must be pre- served." This was a bomb-shell to the nullifiers, and a declaration of war against Calhoun, who at the same banquet offered a toast and made a speech, the point of which was that liberty was worth more than union. How much the personal element of growing suspicion and ill-will towards Calhoun had to do witli the attitude which Jackson took up towards nullification is a matter of conjecture and inference. His opinions, however, deduced from hatred of the Hartford convention, had %lways been strongly favorable to the Union, and the tnen in the kitchen cabinet, except Green, were strong 38 Niles, 1 70. 2 /^/^f. « 39 Niles, 385. < 1 Benton, 148 THE JEFFERSON'S BIRTHDAY BANQUET. 157 rjnionists, although Jackson and they all were likewise strong state-rights men. Ten years earlier KtLdaU had maintained the major premiss of nullification with great zeal.^ At the same banquet Isaac Hill offered the following toast and " sentiment : ' ■* " Democracy : ' Wherefore do I talce my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand ? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' " The quotation is from Job xiii. 14, and " he " is usually interpreted as referring to God. This " sentiment " therefore exalts democracy higher than any other known exjDression, but it is best worth remembering as an il- lustration of the slave-like spirit which is bred by ad- herence to absolutist doctrines, whether the absolute sovereign be an autocrat or a popular majority. All together, the Jefferson's birthday banquet was a mem- orable occasion. A letter from Crawford's own hand, disclosing the attitude of Callioun in Monroe's cabinet towards Jack- son and his proceedings in Florida in 1818, was at last received about May 1, 1830. In this letter the John Rhea letter from Jackson to Monroe first comes into history, and is the pivot on which the whole Seminole war question, in its revived form, is made to turn. Crawford said that that letter was produced in the cab- inet, and that it brought him over to Jackson's side, but that Callioun persisted in hostility. Monroe and every member of his cabinet, when appealed to, denied that the Rhea letter was produced, or brought into con- sideration in 1818 at all. Jacksor. immediately, May 1.3th, inclosed a copy of Crawford's letter to Calhoun, *nd demanded an explanatioc of Calhoun's apparent 1 Autobiography, 222. * 38 Niles, 153. 158 ANDREW JACKSON. perfidy, as he construed it. Jackson's main point in this letter, wliich was evidently " copied " for him, is that Calhomi well knew, by virtue of his position in the cab« inet, and as he had shown by his orders,^ that Jackson, in all that he did, had the aj^proval and connivance of the administration. This brougfht out all the tangled misunderstandings about Jackson's letter to Monroe and John Rhea's supposed reply. Calhoun at once recog- nized his position. He could not understand the allu- sions to previous understandings which had never existed, but it was plain that Crawford had opened an irreparable breach between Calhoun and Jackson, and that all the hopes Calhoun had built upon his alliance with Jackson were in ruins. He also saw that the whole movement was a Van Buren victory over him. He replied on May 20th, complaining and explaining. He really had no charge to repel. He had done notliing wrong, and was guiltless of any injustice or perfidy towards Jack- son. The whole matter was a cabinet secret. Crawford had violated confidence in making known the nature of the preliminary discussions which preceded the adoption, by Monroe's cabinet,- of a definite policy as to Jackson's proceedings. Calhoun was not to blame for any of the misunderstandings about the previous authorization which Jackson thought he had received. It seems that Callioun might have set forth this position with dignity. He did not do so. Jackson replied to him. May 30th, in a very haughty tone, declaring a comj^lete breach be- tween them on the ground of Calhoun's dupUcity. This letter was plainly prepared by the persons who were jvorking on Jackson's strong personal feeling about his Florida cam])aign to bring him to a breach with Cal 1 See p:i;;(> 56. THE ''GLOBE'' FOUNDED. 159 houn, and to tlu'ow him into a close alliance with Van Buren. The plan was a complete success. Lewis says that Jackson sent Calhoun's letter of May 20th to Van Buren, that he might read it and give advice ahout it, but that Van Buren would not read it because he did not want to be involved in the affair at all. Lewis further says that Van Buren had nothing to do with getting up the quarrel. We may well believe all this. Lewis was not such a bungling workman in a job of that kind as to commit his principal to any inconvenient knowledge or compromising activity. The quarrel with Calhoun brought on a quarrel with Duff Green and the " Telegraph." Amos Kendall sent for Francis P. Blair, an old Kentucky friend and co-worker of liis, and liis successor as editor of the " Frankfort Ai'g-us." Blair was then thirty-nine years old. He was another old Clay man, converted by Kentucky relief politics into a Jackson man. He was a fanatical opponent of the Bank of the United States, and strongly opposed to nullification. Parton says he was forty thousand dollars in debt. He had been president of the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was indebted to the Bank of the United States.^ Blair started the " Globe," and took Green's place in the kitchen cabinet, which now contained a very large element of Kentucky relief politics. Blair was the prince of partisan editors, a man made to run an organ. For he was not a mere mouth-piece. He w^as independe:it and able to go alone, but had infinite tact, discretion, and shreAvdness, so that he was a,n easy man to work with. The organ, therefore, worked perfectly. Every expression u> it came directly from the White House. If Blair s])oke without consult ^ Kendall's Autobi^jrapny, 372. 160 ANDREW JACKSON. in^ Jackson, the harmony and sympathy of their ideaa was such that Jackson's mind was con-ectly interpreted. If Jackson wanted anytliing said, Blair was in such accord that it cost him nothing in the way of conces- sion to say it. He and Kendall went with Jackson »vhen no one else did, and they were the leading spirits in the government of the country until 1840. The first number of the " Globe " was issued December 7, 1830. Since Blair had no capital, the paper was at first semi- weekly, but Lewis and Kendall brought their connections to bear on the office-holders to make them transfer their subscriptions from the " Telegraph " to the " Globe." ^ Parton says that Jackson compelled the departments to give Blair their printing. The quarrel between the President and the Vice-Pres- ident did not become known until the end of the year. Adams first refers to it in liis diary under date of De- cember 22, 1830. Niles mentions it as a rumor January 29, 1831. In February, 1831, Calhoun published a large pamplilet about the whole matter.^ The next tiling for his enemies to do was to get his three friends, Ingham Branch, and Berrien, out of the cabinet. To this end those who were in the secret resigned, as a means of breaking up the cabinet and forcing a reconstruction. Barry was asked to remain in his office. Eaton re- signed fii'st, April 7, 1831. Van Buren resigned April 11, 1831, in a letter which was so oracular that no one could understand it.' The main ideas in his letter of resignation and in Jackson's reply were, (1) that Jack- son did not intend to have any one in his cabinet who was a candidate for the succession. Tliis indicated Van Buren as such a candidate. (2) That the cabinet wai 1 40 Niles, 318. 2 40 Njjgg^ ^ 8 40 Niles, U5. DISRUPTION OF TUE CABINET. 161 •riginally a " unit," and that Jackson wanted to keep his cabinet a unit. This hint had no effect on the other Secretaries. They wanted to be dismissed, and a sepa- rate quarrel was necessary in the case of each. It was in this connection that the Peggy O'Neil affair ^ and all the old misunderstanding about the Seminole war came to a public discussion. Van Buren was aj^pointed min- ister to England, and he went out. At the next sessiou of Congress a great political conflict arose over his con- firmation. When McLane was sent out to P^gland, in 1829, he had instructions from Van Buren to reopen the negotiations about the West India trade,^ and, as a basis for so doing, to point out to the English government that the party which had brought that question into the posi- tion in wliich it then stood had been condemned by the people at the election. Tliis introduced the internal party contests of the country into diplomacy, and instead of representing this nation to foreign nations as a unit, having, for all its international relations, a continuous and consistent life, it invited foreigners to note party changes here, as if they had to negotiate at one time with one American nation, and at another time with another. The fact that Van Buren had given these instructions was alleged as a reason for not confirming his appointment, but the debate took a wide range. His confirmation was defeated by the casting vote of Calhoun. This check to Jackson's plans gave just the requisite spur of personal pique to his desire to make Van Buren Presi- dent, and he jDursued that purjiose from this time on with all his powers. It was in the debate on Van ^ Webster knew of that affair and its poU*-«eal bearings in Jan lary, 1830. (1 Correspondence, AS ^.] * See below, page 169. 11 162 ANDREW JACKSON. Buren's confirmation that William L. Marcy cynically avowed the doctrine : " To the victors belong the spoils.' Eaton was in a state of ungovernable rage at the dis- cussion of his \vife's reputation by the newspapers from one end of the country to the other. He challenged Campbell, one of the clergymen mentioned above as prominent in connection with the scandal. June 18, 1831, he challenged Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury. Ingham declined to fight. A few days later Ingham complained to Jackson that he had been waylaid and hindered in his duties by Eaton, Lewis, Randoli^h, and i)thers. They denied that they had molested him, or had intended to do so.^ Jackson's plan had been that Hugh L. White, senator from Tennessee, should resign, and that Eaton should take his place. White was to be Secretary of War.^ White, however, who perhaps was piqued that he was not made Secretary of War in 1829, declined to fulfil his share of this programme. He became alienated from Jackson. Eaton was made Governor of Florida. From 1836 to 1840 he was minister to Spain. Parton says he quarrelled with Jackson, and was a whig in 1840.^ He died in 1856. Mrs. Eaton died about 1878. The new cabinet was: Edward Livingston, of Loui- siana, Secretary of State ; Louis McLane, of Delaware, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Secretary of War ; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire (who had given up to Hill his place in the Senate; ^ Secretary of the Navy ; Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, Attorney-General. Adams mentions a story that th€ War Department was offered to William Drayton 1 40 Xiles, 302. 2 Huut's Livingston^ 358. 2 3 Parton, 368, 6.'59. See, also, page 273. THE NEW CABINET. 163 leader of the Union party of South Carolina.^ This cabinet was a "' unit," and a unit for Jackson and the successor on whom he had determined. We have now brought the intimate and personal his- tory of Jackson's first administration down to the time when the campaign for his reelection opened. We have seen how Jackson construed the presidential office in its Immediate bearings, and how he addressed himself to iU immediate and personal duties. 1 9 Adams, 182. CHAPTER Vm. rUBLIO QUESTIONS OF JACKSON's FIRST ADMTNTSTBA TION. 1. It is proposed in this and the three following chapters to take up, in categorical order, the great questions oJ public policy with which Jackson had to deal, to shoT\ how each question stood when he was elected President, and to show what was done about it, more especially how he acted upon it, during his first administration down to December, 1831, when the camjjaign of 1832 opened. The first two points to be noticed are questions of foreign relations. I. Tlie trade between the United States and tlie British West Indies had been a source of irritation and dissatisfaction ever since the United States had been in- dependent. Great Britain declined, in 1815, to include the West Indies in the commercial treaty then nego- tiated. In the negotiations of 1818, Rush and Gallatin «)ffered complete reciprocity as to ships and goods, but England would not give up her colonial system.^ The act of Congress of April 15, 1818, was intended to coun- tervail the English navigation system. It introduced a policy of retaliation in which, at that time, much faith was placed.^ This act provided that no British shi])8 should come here from any port to which an American 1 I Rush, 417. 2 See page 197. WEST INDIA TRADE 166 ihip might not go, and that an English ship, clearing aere, should give bonds not to land her cargo where an American ship might not go. This law hurt the islands. England then made Halifax and St. John's free ports for goods in transit to the West Indies. This arrange- ment drew American products to the ports mentioned, from which they were taken to the West Indies in Brit- ish ships. Negotiations, which were attempted, came to notliing, because the English insisted on laying differen- tial duties to favor their northern colonies. By the act of May 15, 1820, the United States forbade all trade with the British West Indies in British vessels, and all importation of, British West India goods save in direct trade from the place of production. This closed the trade with the British colonies and forced concessions from England, which greatly strengthened faith in the " countervaihng " policy. By an act of Parliament of June 24, 1822, the British West Indies were opened to foreign vessels, at specified ports, for specified goods, subject to the colonial duties and to a ten per cent dif- ferential duty to favor the products of British North America.^ The voyage of an English ship then was to the United States, thence to Halifax, thence to the West Indies, thence to England. Monroe's proclamation of Aug-ust 24, 1822, responded to the act of Parliament by opening the ports of the United States to British ships bearing West India goods, under a differential tonnage duty of $1.00 per ton, and a differential impost of ten per cent. Neither an American nor a British vessel 30idd then bring West India goods from a northern British colony, nor products of a northern colony from Uie West Indies.' By the act of March 1, 1823, tlie 1 23 Niles, 28. * TMAsarj Circular, 23 Niles, 86 166 ANDREW JACKSON. United States confined the trade in English bottoms to the direct trade, and the differential tonnage duty was put at ninety-six cents. The demand of the United States tlien was, to be put on the same footing in the British "West Indies as the British North American col onies. If this claim had been made on a general free- trade theory, it would have been wise and laudable, but in advance of the age. Under the idea of trade which then prevailed, it was thought to be an unbecoming de- mand. The King of England, by an order in council, July, 1823, laid a retaliatory differential tonnage duty of 4s. 2>d. per ton on American ships in the West Indies. Thus the statesmen of the two countries were trying to see what mischievous devices they could invent*to crip- ple trade, and to treat a ship coming from such a port, ► or with such goods, as if it were a pirate or pest-laden. The Ensrlish restrictions were aimed at the Americans, but it was very plain to the West Indians that it was they, and not the Americans, who bore the weight of all the taxes and restrictions by which the shipping of Great Britain was protected and the northern colonies were favored. The American ships fell back into the old-fashioned illicit trade, and did more and more of the business, in spite of all the regulations. The geography of the islands offered the greatest facilities for such irade. The islanders connived at it. Why should planters in Jamaica pay ten per v^ent extra duty, at the bidding of statesmen in England, in order to buv inferior flour of farmers in New Brunswick ? No men of the Aneg. 265. » 43 Nileg, 419. REMV'AL OF THE GULF INDIANS. 183 In executing this duty they killed one Owens. The state authorities attempted to try for nnirder the soldiers through whose action the man met his death. The mili- tary authorities would not consent. The federal govern ment, taught by nullification, took a firmer position than in the case of Georgia. By a compromise, the reserva- tion was made smaller, and the white intruders were al- lowed to buy titles from the Indians.^ In September, 1830, a treaty was negotiated at Danc- ing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaws, over whom Missis- Bippi had extended her laws, by which they ceded their lands and went west of the Mississippi. They were to be provided with land, transportation, houses, tools, a year's subsistence, $50,000 for schools, $20,000 a year for twenty years, $250 each, for twenty years, for four chiefs, and $500 for another, as president of the nation, should such an officer be chosen. When this treaty was before the Senate for ratification the preamble was stricken out, because it recited that " the President of the United States has said that he cannot protect the Choctaw peojDle from the operation of these laws " of Mississippi.^ During the next eight years the tribes were all half persuaded, half forced, to go. The Indian Terri- tory was roughly defined by an act of June 30, 1834. Part of the Cherokees had gone in 1818, because they wanted to follow their old mode of life. In 1836 all the rights of the Cherokees east of the Mississippi were bought for five million dollars and the expenses of re- moval.^ In the same year the Creeks broke into hostili- ties, and were forced to migrate. In 1838 the civilized Clierokees migrated, except a few, who disappeared aa Indians have disappeared ev 3rywhere else. 1 45 Niles, 155 ; Hodgson, 179. '^ 40 Niles. 106. « 50 Nlles. 265. CHAPTER IX. PUBLIC QUESTIONS OF JACKSON's FERST .LDMDOS'nU TION. II. III. The land system of the United States had been adopted in 1800, when the price was fixed at S2.00 per acre, and long credit was given, or at the rate of $1.64 per acre, cash.^ In 1820 the price was reduced to $1.25 per acre, cash, as a minimum price. There were heavy arrears due for lands sold on credit. The policy to be pursued with the lands came to be a great political ques- tion. TJie popular notion was that the lands, while wild and in the hands of the government, were a great property. The earth's surface is an abode for man, and a source from which he can get a supply of the things to satisfy his needs, if he will work hard enough for them. In its natural state the land is only an oper chance, worth a great deal to a man who has no other chance, but not attractive to a man who has any com- mand of the resources of life wliich may be employed in civilized communities. The earth's surface is not a boon or gift of nature to man, and cannot be a thing of value while wild. To subdue the land to the use of man costs hardship, labor, and self-denial. Often it costs dis" base, and the premature death of generations. What ilien, can any one afford to give for wild land ? He car Mily afford to give a remuneration for the survey whici 1 Seybert, 354. POLITICAL KCOyOMY OF LAND. 185 secures liim a definite description and identification of the land which he has approjDriated, and for the author- ity of a civil government which protects his title. If, then, the purchaser does not occupy and till, he looks to the demand for land, which will advance as the country fills up with population, to give him a profit on his out- lay. He has appropriated part of a natural monopoly, and advancing demand will give liim profit. In the mean time interest and taxes are running against him. Hence it has happened again and again that land spec- ulators have been ruined in financial revidsions. If the purchaser occupies and tills the land, he is putting cajj- ital into it all the time, and he and his neighbors, as they build up a commonwealth, gain incidentally by the monopoly principle, and by cooperation. Any holder who seeks only the monopoly profit on raw land is work- ing against himself, unless he can divide his possessions, and sell part and witliliold part in a judicious adjust- ment. Then, however, a great capital and a long time are necessary. The federal government was in this last position. Its lands, therefore, were not a source of in- come or a valuable possession to it. Down to Septem- ber 30, 1832, the lands had cost $49.7 million, and the total revenue received from them had amounted to $38.3 million. Various plans for dealing with the lands had been proposed previous to Jackson's accession. One was that the States should seize the lands by virtue of their " sov- ereignty." Tliis short and easy method recommended itself to the politicians of the enijihatic and metaphy- sical school. It meant simply that ihe trst settlers should buy some land, organize a State, and get " sovereignty," \nd then take possession of the rest of the land withiir 186 ANDREW JACKSON. the civil jurisdiction. Another plan was to sell to the States at a nominal price. Another : to sell all the land at graduated prices, for what it would bring. Another : to give the land to actual settlers (since realized in the honaestead law). Another: to use the lands as a fund for internal improvements and education (since realized in the railroad subsidies and aoricultural collegfe land grants). It is plain that if the federal government buys territory by treaties like those of Louisiana and Florida, and surveys the lands, and maintains civil institutions over all the territory, and then gives the lands away, what it gives is the outlay necessary to bring the land to the point where a civilized man can begin to use it. Of course the new States wanted population, and were eager that the federal government should encourage im- migration by making this outlay and giving away the product of it. The old States, especially the tariff States, then saw distinctly the relation of the lands to the tariff. Every- thing which enhanced the attractiveness of the land and made it easier to get at it was just so much force draw- ing the man w^ho had no land and no capital away from the old States and out of the wages class. Every im- provement in transportation ; every abolition of taxes and restrictions like the corn laws, which kept American agricultural products out of England ; every reduction in the price of land, increased the chances of the man who had nothing to become by industry and economy an independent land-owner. The capitalist employer in the old States was forced to offset this attractiveness of the land by raising wages. This of course is the rea- Bon why wages in the United States are high, and why no wages class has ever yet been distinctly differentiated TARIFF ANL LANp. 187 here. It might justly be argued that it was Improper for the federal government to raise funds by taxation on the old States, and expend them in buying, surveying, and policing wild land, and then to give the land away to either " the jioor " or the rich ; but the protectionists distmctly faced the issue which was raised for their pet dogma, and deman led that the lands should not be sur- veyed and sold abundantly and cheaply, but should be kept out of the market. The effect of this would be to prevent the population from spreading thinly over the whole continent, to make it dense in the old States, to raise the value and rent of land there, to produce a class dependent on wages, i. e., a supply of labor, and to keep wages down. At the same time all the taxes on clothing, furniture, and tools would reduce the net return of the agriculturist and lower the attractiveness of the land. Lower wages would then suffice to hold the laborer in the East. These two lines of leg-islation would therefore be consistent and support each other ; but they were sorely unjust to the man who had noth- ing save his stout hands with which to fight the battle of life and his good-\\'ill to work. The free-trade States of the South and the free-land States of the West, therefore, fell most naturally into the " coalition " which the tariff men and national re- publicans denounced. The latter said that the Southern- ers had agreed to surrender the lands to the West as a price for the assistance of the West against the Eastern States and the tariff.^ The sudden and unaccountable popularity of Jackson in rural Pennsylvania threw that State, in spite of the tariff interests of her capitaUsts, into the combination to which JacKson belonged sectionally, 1 9 Adamj, 235. 188 ^ ANDREW JACKSON. and the amtitious politicians of New York, seeing the need of joining Jackson, brought as much as they could of that State to his support. These combinations con- stituted the Jackson party, in regard to the incoherency of whose elements something has been said and more will appear. Clay was operating his political career through tariff and internal imi)rovements, with the lands as a fund for colonization, canals, roads, and education. This gave him no strength in the West, and he could not break Jackson's phalanx in Pennsylvania, where his own policy should have made him strong. Hence he never could consolidate a j)arty. Benton antagonized Clay in the West by taking up the policy of free lands. In 1827 Rush, Secretary of the Treasury, included in his annual report a long dissertation on lands, tariff, arid internal imjjrovements. He sees and states dis- tinctly and correctly the relation between free land and free trade, restricted land sales and protection.^ He makes an argument out of it for protection and for not selling the lands cheaply, although he does not venture positively to urge the latter. He lays down the dogma that " the creation of caj)ital is retarded by the diffusion of a thin population over a great surface of soil," — a dogma which is the very oj)posite of the truth. He also declares that the price at which the lands were being sold was an encouragement by legislation to agriculture, which is not true, and would not be true unless the lands were sold for less than the cost of buying, survey- ing, and policing. The fig-ures above given show that the lands had been sold as nearly as possible at cost pi oe. Leaving out these errors, his recognition of the economic relations and their effects is correct ; y«t they 1 33 Niles, 250. FOOTS RESOLUTIONS. 189 seem to him to sustain an argument for restriction on trade and restriction on the sales of land, and he dis- tinctly favors the plan of making it hard for the non- capitalist to get upon the land, in order that the non- capitalist may be kept in the old States, and may be more wdlling to work there for wages. One tiling, at least, must be admitted to the credit of the statesmen of chat day who believed in the restrictive system. They did not give away the lands by a homestead law, and distribute them to railroads which were to render the new land easily accessible, while they laid restrictions on imports to encourage manufacturing, and they did not propose to pay subsidies to ships for bringing goods in, while they were laying duties to keep goods out. Their system was vicious, but the abuse was perpetrated only once ; it was not multiplied into itself three or four times. It was based on an error, but the error was at least logical and consistent with itself. In January and February, 1829, Illinois and Indiana adopted resolutions questioning the right of the federal government to the lands in those States. They did not adopt the Georgia tone, but they seemed disposed to adopt the Georgia policy in case of a disagreement with the federal government. Jackson had no settled policy in regard to land. In his first message he favored distribution of the surplus revenue among the States, so soon as the debt should be paid. December 29, 1829, Foot, of Connecticut, offered in ♦he Senate a resolution that the Committee on Public .^ands should inquire into th-^ expediency of restricting sales of land to inds not yet sold at the minimum price, V. e.f within the areas which rp to that time had been 190 ANDREW JACKSON. put upon the market. It was in the debate on thia resolution that Webster and Hayne became involved in their famous argument on the theory of the confedera- tion. Benton introduced a bill for selling the lands at graduated prices, so that those remaining unsold at $1.25 should not be reserved, but sold at lower prices, after they had been three years on the market. The Senate passed tliis bill May 7, 1830. It was not acted on in the House. In January, 1831, the subject came up again in the House, on an appropriation for surveys,^ and produced a long debate, in w^hich all the views of the question were represented. In his annual report for 1831, McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, proposed that the lands should be sold to the States in which they lay at a fair price, and that the sum thus obtained should be divided amongst the States. March 22, 1832, Bibb moved, '^ in the Senate, that the Committee on Manufactures should report, as a preliminary to the consideration of the tariff, on the expediency of reducing the price of the lands, and also on the expediency of surrendering the lands to the States. Clay reported from that committee against both propositions, and in favor of giving ten per cent of the proceeds of the lands to the new States, in addition to whf^t they were already entitled to, and dividing the residue among all the States. Clay's report was re ^erred to ^'he Committee on Public Lands, which re- ported. May 18th, adversely to his propositions, anM recommended a minimum price of $1.00 ; lands remain- ing unsold at that price for five years to be then sold for fifty cents ; fifteen per cent of the proceeds to be divided amongst the new States. No action was takej 1 6 Ann. Reg. 81. » 7 Ann. Reg. 57. EARLY POLICY ABOUT IMPROVEMENTS. 191 on account of the disagreement of the two Houses, but the administration, by its attitude on the land question^ gained strength in the Western States for the presiden- tial election of 1832. rV. Internal improvements. In 1802 appropria- tions were made for a road to the northwestern terri- tory. In 1807 Gallatin made an elaborate report on public works, laying down doctrines which no one would dispute about the advantage of pubhc highways and means of transportation. The Jeffersonians were tunid on the point of constitutionality, but they did not raise the question of expediency, and there was no party question about internal improvements. By the act of May 11, 1812, provision was made for the survey of a road from Robinstown, Maine, to St. Mary's, Georgia. This was a north and south road, proposed, in the inter- est of justice, to offset the Cumberland road from east to west. The vice of the policy, therefore, presented itself at once. It was impossible to select only the enterprises which were of a national character, and were really demanded by public necessity and con- venience. Local jealousy and self-interest demanded " equal " favor, and the enterprises were either all im- possible, or could be carried out only by log-rolling to include them all. February 16, 1816, Calhoun moved for a committee ^o inquire into the expediency of setting apart the bonus tnd profits from the Bank of the United States as a ind for internal improvements. At the next session a bill to that effect was passea. Madison vetoed it, becpuse the federal government had not the power tc engage in such enterprises. Monroe declared, in his tirst message, that he held the same views as Mad J 92 ANDREW JACKSON. ison on this subject.^ In 1817 the subject of internal improvements was much agitated, but without action, on account of Monroe's well-known views on the sub- ject. Popular opinions were strong to the effect that all government expenditures were a boon or favor which the government ought to distribute equally, and it was very common to hear a congressman complain that the federal government derived more revenue from liis dis- trict than the sums expended there. Congressmen were also beginning to find out how the public expenditures could be used to make capital for themselves. May 4, 1822, Monroe vetoed a bill for collecting tolls on the Cumberland road, and keeping it in repair. In this veto message he discussed the whole subject of internal im- provements. He admitted that expenditures for that purpose were advantageous and proper, if the enter- prises were national in character ; but he objected to them strenuously when they were local and special, and he thought that Congress had no constitutional power to carry them out in either case. By the act of April 30, 1824, $30,000 were appropri- ated as an annual appropriation for surveys, to be made by the board of engineers, of such roads, canals, and river imjjrovements as the President might designate. The theory of this act was that the engineers might be advantageously employed, in time of peace, in finding out what worlvs were practicable and likely to be worth executing. In the session of 1827-28 the whole subject eame up again on a (piestion of passing the annual ai> propriation of S30/)00, The question of internal im provements then first took on a party character, and party exigency forced not a few men on either side U 1 6 Ann. Reg. 68. VETO OF THE MAYSVILLE ROAD. 193 ihange their opinions. Crawford alone of the candi* dates in 1824 had been understood to be a strict con- structionist. Calhoun had favored improv^ements. Clay was not, at this time, earnestly in favor of them.^ The ojjposition assailed the policy as unconstitutional, and some of the finest pettifogging of the political scholastics and casuists was done on this question. Little was said about the expediency of the policy Oakley, of New York, in the House, March 1, 1828, declared that under the act of 1824 the President had been exposed to a constant assault from Governors, members of Con- gress, Legislatures, mayors, and corporations, to cause the surveys for local and private enterprises to be made at the expense of the United States. The opposition did not dare to oppose directly all projects under the vicious system. Their proposition was to distribute funds for internal improvements to the States. The appropriation, in 1828, was finally carried, with a pro- viso that the surveys were to be made only for works of a national character. Jackson, in liis first message, indicated hostility to the general policy of internal improvements, and favored distribution.'^ May 27, 1830, he vetoed a bill for sub- Bcription, by the United States, to the stock of the Maysville and Lexington road.^ In his veto message he placed liimseK on the constitutional doctrine of Madison and Monroe. The local and political interests which liad become involved in the system at this time were very numerous and very strong. The evil of special 1 7 Adams, 191. • 2 gee paoe 189. ^ This road was to run through the strongest Jac ular notion was that the tariff tax bore on the foreigner in some way or other, and helped the domestic producer to a victory over the foreigner. Since the object of the tariff was to prevent importations of foreign goods, it would, if it succeeded, make the foreigner stay at home, and keep his goods there. This of course dej^rived him of a certain demand for his goods, and prevented him from reaching a gain which, "under other conditions, ho might have won, but it could not possibly render him or his capital in anyway available for " encouraging Amer- ican manufactures." The American consumer of Amer- ican products is the only person whom American laws could reach in order to make him contribute capital to build up American industry. So far, then, as the Amer- ican protected industries were concerned, they preyed upon each other with such results of net gain and loss as chance and stupidity might bring about. So far as American non-protected industries were concerned, they, being the naturally strong and independent industries of the country, sustained the whole body of protected in- instries, which were simply parasites apon them. Tlii 14 210 ANDREW JACKSON. protective theory, as a theory of wealth, therefore pro posed to organize national industry as an independwit body with a parasite upon it, while the free-trade theory proposed to let industry organize itself as so many in- dependent and vigorous bodies as the labor, capital, and land of the country could support. The grievance of the South in 1828 is undeniable. So long as the exports of the country were ahnost ex- clusively Southern products — ^cotton and tobacco — and so long as the federal revenue was almost entirely de- rived from duties on imports, it is certain that the Southern industries either supported the federal govern- ment or paid tribute to the Northern manufacturers. The Southerners could not even get a hearing or patient and proper study of the economic questions at issue. Their interests were being sacrificed to pretended national interests, just as, under the embargo, the interests of New England were sacrificed to national interests. In each case the party which considered its interests sacrificed came to regard the Union, only as a cage, in which all were held in order that the stron2:er combination might plunder the weaker. No amount of precej)t or emphasis can make the Union, which is the paramount civil inter- est of the American people, strong and permanent, if any section or party in it has reason to believe that its interests are sacrificed in the Union ; and the Union neve, can be secure unless there is a disposition in the predominant majority at any time to listen with patience to any remonstrance, and to exercise power with moder- ation and justice. The more thoroughly the economist and politica philosopher lecognlzes the grievance of the Southerner! in 1828, the more he must regret the unwisdom of thf VOTES ON THE TARIFF OF 1828. 211 Southern proceedings. The opponents of the tariff of 1828 adopted the policy of voting in favor of all the " abominations " on points of detail, in the hope that they could so weight down the bill that it would at last fail as a whole. ^ Hence those Southerners who sup* ported Jackson voted with the Pennsylvania and Ne;v York high-tariff men for all the worst features of the bill, while New England and the Adams men, who started as high-tariff men, voted on the other side. The Southern Jackson men wanted to give way suffi- ciently on the tariff to secure one or two doubtful States. For instance, they were willing to protect whiskey and hemp to win Kentucky from Clay to Jackson. They were, in fact, playing a game which was far too delicate, between their economic interests and their political party affiliations. They were caught at last. In the vote on the previous question in the House, the yeas were 110, of whom 11 were Adams men and 99 Jackson men ; the nays were 91, of whom 80 were Adams men and 11 Jackson men. The nays were those who wanted a tariff, but who wanted to amend the bill before them a great deal more before they passed it ; that is, they wanted to take out the abominations which the anti- tariff men had voted into it. On the final passage of the biU, the yeas were 105, of whom 61 were Adams men and 44 Jackson men ; the nays were 94, of whom 35 were Adams men and 59 were Jackson men. Of the yeas only 3 were from south of tlie Potomac. The policy of the Southern free-traders, like most attempts Rt legislative finesse, proved an entire failure- The bigli-tariff men, although every man had intense objec- tion to something in the bill voted for it rather tlian 1 35 Niles ^2. 212 ANDREW JACKSON. defeat the bill entirely. The New England men did not know how to vote. In the end 23 of them voted against the bill and 16 for it.^ The bill passed the Senate, 26 to 21. Webster did not know on May 7th how he should vote.^ He voted for it, and then went home and defended the vote on the ground that he had to take the good and evil of the measure together.' After all, the tariff made no capital for anybody. The protectionists by threatening both parties forced both to concede the tariff, after which the protectionists voted with either party, according to their preferences, just as they would have done if both had resisted instead of both yielding. Van Buren obtained " instructions " from Albany to vote for the tariff, in order to be able to do so without offending the Southerners.'* Calhoun declared, in a speech in the Senate, February 23, 1837, that Van Buren was to blame for the tariff of 1828.^ The South had already begun to discuss remedies be- fore the tariff of 1828 was passed. Colonel Hamilton, of South Carolina, at a public dinner in the autumn of 1827, proposed " nullification " as a remedy, the term being borrowed from the Virginia and Kentucky reso- lutions of 1798. Those resolutions now came to have for a certain party in the South the character and authority of an addendum to the Constitution. They 1 35 Niles, 52. 2 7 Adams, 534. « 1 Webster's Works, 165. * Mackeinzie, 103; Hammond's Wright, 105. 5 Green's Telegraph Extra, 271, says Adams wanted to ret« the tariff of 1828, and throw himself on the South, uniting with CalhouTi, but that Clay woukl not let him do so, because thai would ruin him and the American system. Thi>' is a \ery doubt inl I'-OTj. THE RESOLUTIONS OF 1798. 213 jrere, in truth, only the manifesto of a rancorous oppo- lition, and they belong, in the history of the country, in the same box of curious products of political passion with the resolutions of the Hartford convention. Yet, ftt that time, to call a man a "federalist" would have been a araver insult throuohout the South than it would be now, in the North, to call a man a secessionist. An examination of the resolutions of 1798, as they were adopted, will fail to find nullification in them. The resolutions, ^^dth a number of other most interesting documents connected therewith, are given by Niles in a supplement to his 43d volume. By examination of these it appears that Jefferson's original draft of the Kentucky resolutions contained, in the eighth resolution, these words : " Where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the right remedy." The Legislature of Kentucky cut out this and nearly all the rest of the eighth resolution. The executory resolution, as drawn by Jefferson, ended thus : ' The co-States [he means those States w^hich adopt these i^esolutions] . . . will concur in declaring these acts [the alien and sedition laws] void and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither of these acts . . . shall be exercised within their respective territories." The Legislature struck this out, and adopted, as the executory resolution: "The co- States . . . will concur in declaring these [acts] void and of no force, and will each unite with this common- wealth in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress." Some of the other States responded to these resolutions, and in 1799 Kentucky passed a resolution hi which occurs this statement •' A nullification by those lovereignties of all unauthorized acts done under coloi 214 ANDREW JACKSON. oi that instrument [the Constitution] is the rightful remedy." Madison's Virginia resolutions do not con- tain nidlification either in form or substance, least of all as a j^ractical remedy. They declare the alien and sedition acts unconstitutional, and that " the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each [of the con- curring States] for cooperating with this State " to pre- serve the reserved rights of the States and people. In 1799 Madison made a long report to the Virginia House of Delegates, in which he analyzed and defended the resolutions of 1798, and especially defended the rem- edy proposed, namely, a solemn resolution and protest, communicated to the other States. He construed this remedy strictly. In May. 1830, Madison 'v\Tote to Liv- ingston, approving of an anti-nulliiication speech made by him on March 15th of that year. He thus states the error of the nullifiers : " The error in the late com- ments on the Virginia proceedings has arisen from a failure to distinguish between what is declaratory of opinion and what is ipso facto executory ; between the rights of the parties and of a single party ; and between resorts within the purview of the Constitution ard the ultima ratio which apj^eals from a Constitution can- celled by its abuses to original rights, paramount to all Constitutions." In 1830 Madison also wrote two long letters, one to Edward Everett, the other to Andrev Stevenson, in which he interprets the Virginia resolu- tions. He certainly softens them down somewhat, which is a proof that party heat influenced him when he wrote them. He lays especial stress on the limited and harmless nature of the proposed action of Virginia His two letters are the best statement of " Madisoniai federalifera." JEFFERSON AND NULLIFICATION. 21.') It IS certain that the nulHlicatioii of a federal law in a State, by a state authority, as a practical and available remedy against an offensive measure, found no sanction in 1798-99, except in the supplementary resolution of Kentucky, when the heat of the controversy favored an extreme position. It was a notion of Jefferson, in wliich Madison did not join, and which neither Legis- lature adopted, except as stated. Never until 1827 was any body of men found to take up the notion, and try to handle it as reasonable and practical. Nullification is jacobinism. It is revolution made a constant political means, and brought into the every-day business of civil life. Nothing is more astonisliing in American political history than the immunity enjoyed by some men, and the unfair responsibility enforced against others. Every school-boy is taught to execrate the alien and sedition laws, and John Adams bears the odium of them, but no responsibility worth speaking of for nullification attaches to Jefferson. He was the father of it and the sponsor of it, and the authority of his name was what recom- mended it in 1827. In December, 1827, the South Carolina Legislature raised a committee on the powers of the federal govern- ment in regard to tariff. In the winter of 1827-28 the Legislatures of several Southern States passed resolutions about protective tariff legislation. South Carolina had been a federal State in the previous generation. She had not been opposed to the federal government save 'n the matter of her " police bill." Georcria had been he turbulent State, — the one which had had the most fiequent collisions with the federal government, and had behaved on those occasions witn violence and folly, ^outh Carolina in Monroe's time was latitudinarian and 216 ANDREW JACKSON, inti-radical, and as such was opposed to Georgia.' South Carolina now declared the tariff, internal im- provements, and appropriations for the colonization so^ ciety unconstitutional. Georgia declared the tariff and internal improvements unconstitutional ; declared that Georgia would not submit to the action of Congress, and affirmed the right of secession.^ The old Cra^^'iord party, however, took sides against nullification, and pre- vented Georgia from ranging herself with South Caro- lina. At a meeting at Athens, August 6, 1828, pre- sided over by Crawford, a coimnittee, consisting of Wayne, Berrien, Cobb, Gilmer, Clayton, Troup, and others, reported an address and resolutions denouncing the tariff, but disclaiming all disunion sentiments or purposes, and favoring ^ constitutional remedies. In 1832 Crawford advocated a theory that secession was wrong until after a convention to amend the Constitu- tion had been tried and proved a failure.^ North Caro- lina protested, in 1828, against the new tariff, declaring that it violated the spirit of the Constitution and opposed the interests of that State. Alabama denied the con- stitutionality of the tariff, and denounced it as pillage ( I that State. The proceedings of South Carolina did not remedy the maHer at all. They altered the issue very much to the satisfaction of the protectionists. The Union and the supremacy of the law were sometliing on which a much better fight could be made than on the tariff, and the 23rotectionists, having secured the law, wanted noth ing better than to draw away attention from the criti tism of it by making the fight on nullification. Cai 1 38 Niles, 154. 23 ^„„. n^g. 64. « 35 Niles, 14. « 42 Niles, 389. REASONH FOR EXASPERATION. 217 ttoun and the South Carolinians had changed the fighting from free trade to nullification, and on that they stood ftlone. They threw away a splendid chance to seciu'O a sound policy on one of the first economic interests of the country. In the debate between Webster and Hayne the latter won a complete victory on tariff and land. Webster made the fighting on the constitutional question, and turned away from the other questions al- most entirely. He had no standing ground on tariff and land. He was on record in his earliest speeches as an intelligent free-trader, and his biographer ^ has in- finite and fruitless trouble to try to explain away the fact. When Hayne opened the constitutional question he gave Webster every chance of victory. The action of Congress in passing the tariff of 1828, in spite of the attitude of the South, seemed to the Southerners to indicate an insolent disregard of their expostulations. Of course it was not a question to be settled by a majority. A remonstrance against injustice and wi'ong cannot be put down by any majority. There may be many answers to the remonstrance, or it may not be practicable to yield to it, but to disregard it and answer it by a heavier and more reckless imposition of the same kind is not good government, whether it be a democratic majority which levies a tariff", or a despot who levies a forced loan. The supporters of the tariff were forced to argue that it was a wise public and na- tional policy, just as it might be argued that a state church or a state theatre is a beneficial public institution, vhich it is expedient to support by taxation ; but the i^emonstrance of one man, paying only one dollar tax, who should say that he did not believe in these institi* I 1 Curtis's Webster, 207 fg. 218 ANDREW JACKSON. tions, and did not want to contribute to their support, would at least be entitled to respectful consideration in any Legislature, and it would suffice to condemn, in the forum of political philosophy, the policy of support- ing such institutions by taxation. In the winter of 1828-29 the South Carolina Legislature sent to the Sen- ate an " Exposition and Protest " against the new law. Georgia wanted to nullify both Indian legislation and tariff. Virginia adopted the principle of nullification. North Carolina denounced the tariff, but nullification also. Alabama denounced the tariff, but recognized the right of Congress to levy revenue duties, with incidental protective effect. In 1829 Alabama went nearer to nul- lification. This was the high water mark of nullifica- tion outside of South Carolina. All these States were taunted, in answer to their remonstrances, with the votes erf the Southern members on the details of the tariff of abominations. Neither party could let the tariff rest. A high tariff IS in a state of unstable equilibrium. If legislators could ever gain fidl and accurate knowledge of all the circum- stances and relations of trade in their own country, and in all countries with which it trades ; if they had suffi- cient wit to establish an artificial tax system which should just fit the complicated facts, and produce the re- sults they want without doing any harm to anybody's interests ; and if, furthermore, the circumstances and re- lations of trade would remain unchanged, it would oe possible to make a permanent and stable tariff. Each of tliese conditions is as monstrously impossible as any- thing in economics can be. Hence constant new efforts are necessary, as well to suit those to whom tlie tariff ioe« not yet bring what they expected from it as tc EFFECT OF JACKSON'S TOAST. 219 eilence those who are oppressed by it. The persons whose interests were violated by the tariff of ISliS tried every means in their power to evade it. January 27, 1830, Mallary brought in a bill to render the custom house appraisal more stringent and effective. McDuffie responded with a proposition to reduce all taxes on woollens, cottons, iron, hemp, flax, molasses, and indigo to what they were before the tariff of 1824 was passed. The whole subject was reopened. McDuffie's bill was defeated, and Mallary's was passed. By separate bills the taxes on salt, molasses, coffee, cocoa, and tea were reduced. In April, 1830, came Jackson's Union toast.^ It was a great disappointment to the mass of the Southerners, who had been his ardent supporters, and who had hoped, from his action in regard to Georgia and the Indians, that he would let the powers of the federal government go by default in the case of the tariff also.^ The per- sonal element, w^hich always had such strong influence with Jackson, had become more or less involved in the nullification struggle with which Calhoun was identified. The Georgia case involved only indirectly the authority and prestige of the federal government. The immediate parties in interest were the Indians. Nullification in- volved directly the power and prestige of the federal goveriunent, and he would certainly be a most excep- lional person who, being President of the United States, would allow the government of which he was the head to be defied and insulted. On the 22d of Noveml er, 1 830, a bill for a state con- sention failed to get a two tliiids vote in the South Carolina Legislature. An atten ^t was then made to ^ See page 156. 2 Hodg;son, 166-"' 220 ANDREW JACKSON. ' test the constitutionality of the tariff in the coui'ts by refusing to pay duty bonds, and pleading " no consider* ation " for the taxes levied ; but the United States Dis- trict Court, in 1831, refused to hear evidence of " no consideration " drawn from the character of the tariff of 1828.^ June 14, 1831, Jackson wrote a letter to a committee of citizens of Charleston, in answer to an invitation to attend the celebration of the Fourth of July at that city, in which he indicated that a policy of force would be necessary and proper against nidlification. The Governor of the State brought this letter to the notice of the Legislature, which adoj^ted resolutions denounc- ins: the act of the President in writing: such a letter, and denying the lawfulness of the steps which he de- scribed. North Carolina now denounced nullification, but the other States as yet held back. On the 5th of October, 1831, a free-trade convention met at Philadelphia. On the 26th of October a protec- tionist convention met at New York. Gallatin wrote the address published by the former. Of course it was ail free trade, — no nullification. A. H. Everett wrote the address issued by the New York convention. The public debt was being paid off with great rapidity, and the leed for revenue was all the time declining. The free-traders said : In that case, let us abolish the taxes, and not raise a revenue which we do not need. It will be an additional advantage that Ave can do away, with- out any complicated devices, with all the protective taxes which one citizen pays to another, and which take shelter under the revenue taxes. Let the people keep ind use their own earnings. The protectionists wante bank The branches, espe- cially the distant ones, when they issued these drafts, did liot lend their own capi.;al, but that jf the bank at ^ Doccment B 236 ANDREW JACKSON Philadelpliia. At the same time, therefore, thej fell in deht to the parent bank. This stimulated their issues. The borrowers used these drafts to sustain what were called " race-horse bills." These were drafts drawn between the different places where there were branches, so that a bill falling due at one place was met by the discount of a bill drawn on another place. This system was equivalent to unlimited renewals. It kept up a constant inflation of credit. Up to the time of Jackson's accession these drafts had not yet done much harm, and had attracted no adverse criticism. At the session of 1827-28, P. P. Barbour brought forward a proposition to sell the stock owned by the United States in the bank. A debate arose concerning the bank, and it seems that there was a desire on the part of a portion of the opposition to put opposition to the bank into their platform.^ The project failed. Bar- bour's resolution was tabled, 174 to 9. The facts which are now to be narrated were not known to the public until 1832. They are told here as they occurred in the order of time. June 27, 1829, Levi Woodbury, senator from New Hampshire, wrote to Samuel Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury, making confidential complaints of Jeremiah Mason, the new president of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, branch of the Bank of the United States, because (1 ) of the general brusqueness of his manner ; (2) of his severity and partiality in the matter of loans and collections. He added that Mason was a friend of Webster. " His political character is doubtless known to you." He also said that the complaints were genera] and from all political parties. Ingham enclosed thi 1 3a Niles, 275. CORRESPONDENCE OF IN GUAM AND BIDDLE. 237 ►etter to Bicldle, pointing out that the letter seemed to have been called out by the political effects of the action of the branch. He said that the administration wanted no favors from the bank. Biddle replied that he would investigate. One great trouble with Biddle, wliich appeared at once in this correspondence, was that he wrote too easily. When he got a pen in his hand, it ran away with him. In this first reply, he went on to write a long letter, by wliich he drew out all the venomous rancor of Levi Woodbury and Isaac Hill against the old federal- ists and Jeremiah Mason and the bank, all which lurked in Ingham's letter, but came out only in the form of innuendo and suggestion. The innuendoes stung Biddle, and he challenged the suggestions instead of ignoring them. Thus he gave them a chance to come forth with- out sneaking. He was jauntily innocent and unconscious of what spirit he was dealing with and what impended over him. He stated (1) that Mason had been appointed JO a vacancy caused by the resignation, not by the re- moval, of his predecessor ; (2) that the salary of the position had not been increased for Mason ; (3) that, after Mason's appointment, Webster was asked to per- suade him to accept. He quoted a letter from Wood- bury to himself, in July, in which Woodbury said that Mason was as unpopular with one party as the other Biddle inferred, no doubt correctly, that Mason, as banker, had done his duty b} the bank, without re- gard to politics. He explained that the branch had previously not been well n-anaged, and that Mason was put in as a competen': banker ara lawyer to put it right Rgain. It is easy to see that Mason, in order to put the bank right, had to act severely, and that he especially 238 ANDREW JACKSON. disappointed those who, on account of political sym- pathy, expected favors, but did not get them. Politics had run high in New Hampshire for ten or twelve years. Mason and Webster on one side, and Hill, Woodbury, and Plumer on the other, had been in strong antagonism. The relations had been amicable between some of them, but Hill and Mason were two men who could not meet without striking fire. HUl was now president of a small bank at Concord, and business jealousy was added to political animosity. Woodbury had been elected to the Senate as an Adams man, and the personal and political feelings were only more in- tense, because Adams was called a republican. The federalists were first invited to support him, then they were ignored,^ and Woodbury and Hill were working for Jackson. Biddle, as if dissatisfied with whatever prudence he had shown in his first letter, wrote another, in which he declared that the bank had nothing to do with politics ; that people were aU the time trying to draw it into politics, but that it always resisted. July 23d Ingham wi*ote again to Biddle, insisting that there must be grounds of complaint, and that exemption from party preference was impossible. He added that he represented the views of the administration. In August the Secretary of War ordered the pension agency transferred from the Portsmouth branch to the bank at Concord, of which Isaac Hill had been presi- dent. The parent bank forbade the branch to comply wni^h this order, on the ground that it was illegal. The ^rdei was revoked. September 15th Biddle wrote again to Ingham. H/ * 1 Webster's Correspondence, 415, 419. BID OLE TO INGHAM — 1829 239 had \risited Buffalo and Portsmouth during the rammer. His letter is sharp and independent in tone. He says that two memorials have been sent to liim by Isaac Hill, Second Controller of the Treasury, one from the busi- ness men of Portsmouth, and the other from sixty mem- bers of the Legislature of New Hampshire, requesting Mason's removal, and nominating a new board of di- rectors, " friends of General Jackson in New Hamp- shire." Those proceedings were evidently planned by the anti-bank clique at Washington to provoke Biddle. He hastened to crown that purpose with complete suc- cess. He says that public opinion in the community around a bank is no test of bank management, and that the reported opinion at Portsmouth, upon examination, " degenerated into the personal hostility of a very limited, and for the most part very prejudiced, circle." He then takes up three points which he finds in Ing- ham's letters, suggested or assumed, but not formulated. These are : (1) That the Secretary has some super- vision over the choice of officers of the bank, which comes to him from the relations of the government to the bank. (2) That there is some action of the govern- ment on the bank, which is not precisely defined, but of which the Secretary is the proper agent. (3) That it is the right and duty of the Secretary to make known to the president of the bank the views of the administra- tion on the political opinions of the officers of the bank. He til en says that the board acknowledge no responsi- bility whatever to the Secretary in regard to the polit- 'cal opinions of the officers of the bank ; that the bank is responsible to Congress only, and is carefully shielded by its charter from executive control. He indignantly ( donies that freedom from politica! bias is imnossible 240 ANDREW JACKSON shows the folly of the notion of political " checks and counter-balances " between the officers of the bank, and declares that the bank ought to disregard all parties. He won a complete victory on the argument of hia points, but delivered himself, on the main issue, without reserve into the hands of his enemies. ^ Ingham's letter of October 5th is a masterly specimen of cool and insidious malice. In form it is smooth, courteous, and plausible, but it is full of menace and deep hostility. He discusses the points implied by him, but, in form, raised by Biddle. He says that if the bank should abuse its powers the Secretary is authorized to remove the deposits. Hence the three points which Biddle found in his former letter are good. It does not .appear that Biddle ever thought of this power as within the range of the discussion, or of the exercise of it as amongst the possibilities. Ingham says there are two theories of the bank : (1) That it is exclusively for national purposes and for the common benefit of all, and that the " employment of private interests is only an incident, — perhaps an evil, — founded m mere con- venience for care and management." (2) That it is intended " to strengthen the arm of wealth, and coun- terpoise the influence of extended suffrage in the dispo- tition of public affairs," and that the public deposits are one of its means for performing this function. He says tliat there are two means of resisting the latter theory : the power to remove the deposits, and the power to ap- point five of the directoi-s. He adds that, if the bank Bhould exercise political influence, that woidd afford liim ihe strongest motive for removing the (]e})osits. Bid Jle's reply of October 9tli shows that he recognizes a Ust what tempe)- he has to deal with. He is still gaj ^ THE BANK CORRESPONDENCE. 241 imd good-natured, and he recedes gracefully, only main Uining that it is the policy of the bank to keep out ol politics. In Ingham's letters of July 23d and October 5tli is to be found the key to the " bank war." Ingham argues that the bank cannot keep out of politics, that its offi- cers ought to be taken from both parties, and that, if it meddles with politics, he will remove the deposits. The only road left by which to escai)e from the situation he creates is to go into politics on his side. No evidence is known to exist that the bank had interfered in poli- tics. The administration men are distinctly seen in this correspondence, trying to drive it to use political in- fluence on their side, and the bank resists, not on behalf of the other party, but on behalf of its independence. It is the second of the alleged theories in the letter of October 5th, however, which demands particular atten- tion. The Jackson administration always pretended that the managers of the bank construed the character and function of the bank according to that theory. It is the Kentucky relief notion of the bank in its extreme and most malignant form. The statement is, on its face, invidious and malicious. It is not, even in form, a formula of functions attributed to the bank. It is a construction of the political philosophy of a national bank. It is not parallel with the first statement. It was ridiculous to allege that the stockholders of the bank had subscribed twenty-eight million dollars, not even for party purposes, but to go crusading against democracy and universal suffrage However, the justice or injustice of the al.egatiors m thest letters, which could be submitted to no tribunal, and which touched tiitttives, not acts, was immaterial. The administration 242 ANDREW JACKSON. liad determined to make war on the bank. The ultimate agents were Amos Kendall, who brought the Kentucky relief element, and Isaac Hill, who brought the element of local bank jealousy and party rancor. Ingham pub- lished, in 1832,^ after the above correspondence had been published, an " Address " in his own defence. He says that he found, to liis surprise, soon after he entered Jackson's cabinet, that the President and those nearest in his confidence felt animosity against the bank. He saw that the persons who had the most feeling influ- enced the President's mind the most. Allegations of fact were reported in regard to political interference by the bank. Ingham says that when he was urged to action about the bank he tried to trace down these stories to something tangible. He quotes the only state- ment he ever got. It is a letter by Amos Kendall, giving second or third hand reports of the use of money by officers of the bank in the Kentucky election of 1825, when the court question was at issue. ^ The man whom Kendall gave as his authority failed, when called upon, to substantiate the assertion. In Kendall's Autobiog- raphy there is a gap from 1823 to 1829, and the origin of his eager hostility to the bank is not known. Jackson is not known to have had any opinion about the bank when he came to Washinoton. He is not known to have had any collision with the bank, except that, when he was on his way to Florida, as Governor, the branch it New Orleans refused his request that it would ad- vance money to him on his draft on the Secretary oi Stat^.® Hill and Kendall, either by telling Jackson that the bank had worked against him in the election. 9T by other means, infused into his mind the hostility l^ * 42 Niles, 315. - See page 127. '2 Parton, .596 HINTS OF THE COMING BANK WAR. 243 It which had long rankled in theirs. They were soon reenforced by Blair, who was stronger than either, and more zealously hostile to the bank than either. In November, 1829, about a week before Congress met, Amos Kendall sent privately ^ a letter to the '' Courier and Enquirer," Jackson organ at New York, in which he insinuated that Jackson would come out cioainst the bank in the annual message. A head and tail piece were put to this letter, and it was put in as an editorial. It attracted some attention, but, its origin being of course unknown, it was received with a great deal of skepticism. In its form it consisted of a series of queries,^ of which the following may be quoted as the most significant, and as best illustrating the methods of procedure introduced in Jackson's administration. We must remember that these queries were drawn up by a man in the closest intimacy with the President, who helped to make the message what it was, and we must further remember what we have already learned of William B. Lewis's methods. " Will sundry banks throughout the Union take measures to satisfy the general government of their safety in receiving deposits of the revenue, and transacting the banking concerns of the United States ? Will the Legislatures of the several States adopt resolutions on the subject, and instruct their senators how to vote ? Will a proposition be made to authorize the government to issue exchequer bills, to the amount of the annual revenue, redeemable at pleasure, •"o constitute a circulating medium equivalent to the liotes issued by the L^nited States Bank 't " So far as appears, no one saw in these queries *^he oracle whicb 1 Memoirs of Bonietl, 11... 3 It is quoted 37 Niles, 3'S {January 30, 1830.) 844 ANDREW JACKSON. foretold the history of the Uuited States for the next ten or fifteen years. Jackson's first annual message contamed a paragraph on the bank which struck the whole country with as- tonishment. " We had seen," says Niles, " one or two dark paragraphs in certain of the newspapers, which led to a belief that the administration was not friendly to this gi'eat moneyed institution, but few had any sus- picion that it would form one of the topics of the first message." ^ After mentioning the fact that the charter would expire in 1836, and that a recharter would be asked for, the message said that such an important question could not too soon be brought before Congi-ess. , " Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating this bank are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow citizens, and it must be admitted by all that it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency." The question is then raised whether a bank could not be devised, " founded on the credit of the government and its revenues," which should answer all the useful purposes of the Bank of the United States. No period in the history of the United States could be mentioned when the country was in a state of more profound tran((uillity, both in its domestic and foreign elations, and in a condition of more humdrum prosper- ity in its industry, than 182;). The currency never had been as good as it was then, for the troubles of the early '20's, both in the East and in the West, had been U) a great extent overcome.^ The currency has nevei i 37 Niles, 257. See the tables in 2 Macgregor, 1140; also Gallatin on th *Jnmr,cy and Banking System of the Unued States. CRITICISM OF THE MESSAGE. 246 l>ecii better and more uniform, if we take the whole comitry over, since 1829 than it was then. The pro- ceedings, of which the paragraph in the message of 1829 v\'as the first warning, threw the currency and banking of the country into confusion and uncertainty, one thing following upon another, and they have never yet re- covered the character of established order and routine operation which they had then. The bank charter was not to expire until March 3, 1836 ; that is, three years beyond the time when Jackson's term would expire. He seems to apologize for haste in bringing up the ques- tion of its renewal. It certainly was a premature step, and can only be explained by the degree of feeling which the active agents had mingled with their opinions about the bank. It was, moreover, a new mode of state- ment for the President to address Congress, not on his own motion, and to set forth his own opinions and rec- ommendations, but as the mouth-piece of '* a large por- tion of our fellow citizens." Who were they? How many were they ? How had they made their opinions known to the President? Why did they not use the press or the Legislature, as usual, for making known their opinions ? Who must be dealt with in discussing the opinions, the President or the " large portion," etc. ? What becomes of the constitutional responsibility of the President, if he does not speak for himself, but gets his notions before Congress as a quotation from somebody else, and that somebody " a large portion of our fellow citizens " ? Then again the question must arise : Does \he President correctly quote anybody ? No proofs can be found that any hundred persons in the United States Uad active doubts of the constitutionality and exi)ediency if the bank, or were looking forward to its recharter as 246 ANDREW JACKSON. a political crisis to be prepared for. If the theorelicai question had been raised, a great many people would have said that they thought a national bank unconstitu- tional. They would have said, as any one must say now, that there was no power given in the Constitution to buy territory, but they did not propose to give up Louisiana and Florida. Just so in regard to a national bank. The Supreme Court had decided in McCulloch vs. Maryland that the bank charter was constitutional, and that was the end of controversy. The question of the constitutionality of the bank had no life, and oc- cupied no place in public opinion, so far as one can learn from newspapers, books, speeches, diaries, corre- spondence, or other evidence we have of what occupied the minds of the people. Jackson's statement was only a figure of speech. The observation which is most im portant for a fair judgment of his policy of active hos- tility to the bank is, that any great financial institution or system which is in operation, and is performing its functions endurably, has a great presmnption in its favor. The only reasonable question for statesman or financier is that of slow and careful correction and im- orovement. The man who sets out to overturn and iestroy, in obedience to " a principle," especially if he Jiows that he does not know the possible scope of his 3wn action, or what he intends to construct afterwards, issumes a responsibility which no jjublic man has any right to take. ^ The vague and confused proposition of the President foi' some new kind of bank added alarm to astonish- rnewt. What did he mean by his bank on the credit dnd revenues of the government ? It sounded like a big paper-money machine. If there was anv intelligibU ACTION OF CONGRESS ON THE BANK. 247 idea in it, it referred to something like the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky on a still larger scale The stock of the bank declined from 125 to 116 on account of the message.^ It was supposed that the President must have knowledge of some facts about the bank. The part of the message about the bank was referred in both Houses. April 13, 1830," McDuffie made a long report from the Committee on Ways and Means. He argued that the constitutionality of the bank was settled by the decision of the Supreme Court and by prescription. He defended the history and expediency of the bank, and ended by declaring the bank proposed by the President to be very dangerous and inexpedient, both financially and politically, — 'the latter because it would increase the power of the Executive. In the Senate, Smith, of Maryland, reported from the Com- mittee on Finance in favor of the bank.^ The House, May 10, 1830, tabled, by 89 to 66, resolutions that the House would not consent to renew the charter of the bank, and on May 29th it tabled, 95 to 67, a series of resolutions calling for a comprehensive report of the proceedings of the bank. As yet there were no allega- tions against the management of the bank. The stock rose to 130 on the reports of the committees of Con- gress. A great many politicians had to " turn a sharp cor- ner," as Niles expressed it. when Jackson came out Igainst the bank. His supporters in Pennsylvania titles were nearly all bank m }n. Van Buren, Marcy, ind Butler had signed a petition, in 1826, for a branch I 38 Niles, 177. ^ 38 Niles, 183. 38 Niles, 126. 248 ANDREW JACKSON. of the bank at Albany.^ The j^etition was refused. In January, 1829, Van Buren, as Governor of New York, referred to banks under federal control as objectionable. The administration party was not yet consolidated. It was still only that group of factions which had united in opposition to Adams. The bank question was one of the great questions through which Jackson's popularity and his will hammered them into a solid party phalanx. All had to conform to the lines which he dre^v for the party, under the influence of Kendall, Lewis, and Hill. If they did not do so, they met with speedy discipline. In his message for 1830, Jackson again inserted a paragraph about the bank, and proposed a bank as a "branch of the Treasury Department." The outline is very vague, but it approaches the sub-treasury idea. No notice was taken of this part of the message in the session of 1830-31. On a test question, whether to refer the part of the message relating to the bank to the Committee on Ways and Means or to a select com- mittee, the bank triumphed, 108 to 67. Benton offered a joint resolution, in the Senate, February 2, 1831, "That the charter of the Bank of the United State? ought not to be renewed." The Senate refused leave, 23 to 20, to introduce it. In July, 1831, the Secretary of War ordered the pension funds for the State of New York to be removed from the New York branch. Bid- die remonstrated, because there was no authority of law for the order, and the Auditor had refused to accept such an order as a voucher in a previous case. Secre- tary Cass revoked the order, March 1, 1832. In the message of 1831 Jackson referred to the bank questior IS one on which he had discharged his duty and freeil 1 Mackeinzie, 98 MCLANE IN FAVOR OF THE BAXK. 249 his responsibility. The Secretary of the Treasury, Mc- Laiie, in his annual report, December, 1831, made a long and strong argument in favor of the bank. If we may judge from the tone of the message of 1831, Jack- son was willing to allow the bank question to drop, at least until the presidential election should be over. There is even room for a suspicion that McLane's argu- ment in favor of the bank was a sort of " hedging ; " for although the Secretary's report was not necessarily sub- mitted to the President,^ Jackson was hardly the man to allow a report to be sent in of which he disapproved. We have now concluded our review of the public questions which occupied attention during Jackson's first administration, and have brought the history of those questions, and of his proceedings in regard to them, down to the time when the presidential campaigQ ol 1832 opened, — December, 1831. 1 See page 302. CHAFrER XII THE CAaiPAIGN OF 1832. Clay was the leading man in the opposition, but the opposition was by no means united. A new factor had been gaining importance in politics for the last few years. The politicians had ignored it and sneered at it, but it had continued to grow, and was now strong enough to mar, if it could not make, a national election. In 1826 a bricklayer, named William Morgan, who lived at Batavia, N. Y., and was very poor, thought that he could earn something by writing an exposure of the Becrets of free-masonry,^ he being a mason. The masons learned that he had written such a book. They caused his arrest and imprisonment over Sunday on a frivolous civil complaint, and searched his house for the manuscript during his absence. A month later he was arrested again for a debt of $2.10, and imprisoned under an execution for $2.69, debt and costs. The next day the creditor declared the debt satisfied. Mor- gan was released, passed at the prison door into the hands of masked men, was placed in a carriage, taken to Fort Niagara, and detained there. A few days later a body was found floating in the river, which was iden- tified as Morgan's body. The masons always denied that this identification was correct. Morgan has never 1 Eeport of the Special Agent of the State of New York. S Ann. Reg. 537. OUTRAGE ON MORGAN. 251 been seen or heard of since. In January, 1827, certain persons were tried for conspiracy and abduction. They pleaded guilty, and so prevented a disclosure of details.* The masons confessed and admitted abduction, but de- clared that Morgan was not dead. The opinion that Morgan had been murdered, and that the body found was his, took possessions of the minds of those people of Western New York who were not masons. Popular legend and political passion have become so interwoven with the original mystery that the truth cannot now be known. The outrage on Morgan aroused great indignation in Western New York, then still a simple frontier country. Public opinion acted on all subjects. A committee ap- pointed at a mass-meeting undertook an extra-legal investigation, and soon brought the matter into such shape that no legal tribunal ever after had muc!i chance of unravelling it. After the fashion of the time, and of the place also, a political color was immediately given to the affair. As Spencer, the special agent appointed by the State to investigate the matter, declared in his re- port, the fact of tliis political coloring was disastrous to the cause of justice. The politicians tried to put down the whole excitement, because it traversed their plans and combinations. They asked, with astonishment and with justice, what the affair had to do with politics. The popular feeling, however, was very stronfj, and it was fed by public meetings, committee reports, etc. The monstrous outrage deserved that a strong public opi-iion should sustain tlie institutions of justice in finding out and punishing tne perpetrators. Some of Jie officers w(.'ie too lax and indifferent in the dischaige ^ 2 Hamrvond, 376. 252 ANDREW JACKSON. of their duties to suit the public temper. They were masons. Heir^e the inference that a man who was a mason was not fit or competent to be entrusted with public duties. The political connection was thus ren* dered logical and at least plausible. Many persons re- solved not to vote for anyone who was a mason for any public office. Moreover, the excitement offered an unexampled opportunity to the ambitious young orators and politicians of the day. It was a case where pure heat and emphasis were the only requirements of the orator. He need not learn anything, or have any ideas. A number of men rose to prominence on the movement who had no claims whatever to public influence. They of course stimulated as much as they coidd the popular excitement against masonry, which furnished them their opportunity and their capital. Many masons withdrew from the order. Others foolishly made light of the outrage itself. For the most part, however, the masons argued that masonry was no more responsible, as an in- stitution, for the outrage on Morgan than the Christian church is responsible for the \\Tongs done in its name by particular persons and groups. These discussions only sharpened the issue, and masons and anti-masons came to be a division which cut across all the old party lines hi the State of New York. In 1828 the anti-masons were the old Clintonians,^ the rump of the federalists, and many buck-tails, with whom horror at the Morgan outrage was a controlling motive. Jackson, Clinton, and Van Buren were then allied. Jackson and Clinton were masons. The Clmtonians who would not follow Clinton to the support of Jackson, either because they •I'sliked the man or because he was a mason, and th« 1 CV.utoii died Fcbruarj 11, 1828. POLITICAL EFFECTS OF ANTI-MASONRY. 253 buck-tails who would not vote for a mason, were Adams men. The great hody of the buck-tails (amongst whom party discipline was stronger than in any other faction), the CUntonians who followed Clinton into the Jackson camp, and the masons who let defence of the order con- trol their politics, were Jackson men. Hence the New York vote (which was taken by districts in 1828) was divided. The regency buck-tail democrats, being in control of the state government, tried to j)ut down the excite- ment by indirect means, because of its disorganizing effects. This made them appear to suppress inquiry, and to be indifferent to the outrage. It only fanned the flame of popular indignation, and strengthened anti- masonry. The anti-masons came out as an anti-ad- ministration party in 1830. They held a convention at Utica in August, and framed a platform of national principles. This is the first " platform," as distinguished from the old-fashioned address. The anti-masons had come together under no other bond than opposition to masonry. If they were to be a j)ermanent j)arty, and a national party, they needed to find or make some polit- ical principles. This was their great political weakness and the sure cause of their decay. Their party had no root in political convictions. It had its root elsewhere, and in very thin soil too, for a great political organizar tion. Since the masons were not constantly and by the ^fe principle of their order perpetrators of outrages and murders, they could not furnish regular fuel to keep up the indignation of the anti-masons. The anti-masons, then, put on their principles as an after-thought. For this reason, however, they needed an explicit statement of them, if possible, in a caiegorical form, i. e., a plat 254 ANDREW JACKSON. form, far more than a party which liad an historical origin, and traditions derived from old political contro- versies. Anti-masonry spread rapidly through New York and large parts of Pennsylvania and Massachu- setts. Vermont became a stronghold of it. It is by no means extinct there now. It had considei-ible streng-th in Connecticut and Oliio. It widened into hostility to all secret societies and extra-judicial oaths. Perhaps it reached its acme when it could lead men like J. Q. Adams and Joseph Story to spend days in discussing plans for abolishing the secrecy of the Phi Beta Kappa Bociety of Harvard College.^ It only showed to what extent every man is carried away by the currents of thought and interest which prevail for the time being in the community. The anti-masons next invented the national political convention.^ They held one at Philadelphia, September 11, 1830,^ which called another, to meet September 26, 1831, at Baltimore, to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President. At the latter date 112 delegates met.^ William Wirt, of Maryland, was nomi nated for President, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsy) vania, for Vice-President, almost unanimously. Wirt had been a mason, and had neglected, not abandoned, the 1 8 Adams, 383. 2 A convention of delegates from eleven States nominated De Witt Clinton, in 1812. Binns (page 244) claims to have invented the national convention, but his was a project for introducing into the congressional caucus of the republican party special dele- gates from the non-republican States, so as to make that body eprcsent the whole party. 3 39 Xiles, 58. * 41 Niles, 83, 107. Twelve States were represented. W. U Bawani and 'I'i\addeus Stevens were in the convention. ANTl-MASONlC NOMINATIONS. 256 order. In liis letter of acceptance ^ he said that he had often spoken of " masonry and anti-masonry as a fitter subject for farce than tragedy." He circumscribed and tamed doAATi the whole anti-masonic movement, and put himself on no platform save hostility to oaths which might interfere with a man's civic duties. He put the whole Morgan case aside, except so far as, on the trial, it appeared that masonry hindered justice. The anti- masons were, in fact, aiming at political power. They had before them the names of McLean, Calhoun, and J. Q. Adams.'^ New York wanted McLean. He de- clined.^ The anti-masonic convention published a long address, setting forth the history and principles of the party."* There was a hope, in which Wirt seems to have shared, that when the anti-masons presented a separate nomination Clay would withdraw, and the national republicans would take up Wirt.^ When this liope had passed away, Wirt wanted to withdraw, but could not do so.^ He had from the first desired Clay's election, and had agreed to stand only when assured that Clay could not unite the anti-Jackson men. Clay refused to answer the interrogatories of the anti-masons. He said, " I do not know a solitary provision in the Constitution of the United States which conveys the slightest authority to the general government to inter- fere, one way or the other, with either masonry or anti-masonry." He said that if the President should 1 2 Kennedy's Wirt, 350. ^ s Adams, 412, 416. 8 41 Niles, 259. * 41 Niles, 166. 6 Judge Spencer thought that Wir*. could unite the opposition. if Clay would stand back, and that Wirt could be elected ovei Jackson. (I Curtis's Webster, 402.) « -1 Kennedy's Wirt, 356, 3r2. 366. 256 ANDREW JACKSON. meddle vnth that matter he would be a usurper and a tyrant.^ The opposition therefore went into the contest divided and discordant. The anti-masons were strong enough to produce that state of things, and of course their con- duct showed that the opposition was not united on any political policy whatever. Jackson, on the contrary, had been consolidating a paHy, which had a strong con- sciousness of its power and its purpose and a vigorous party will. Jackson had the credit of recovering the West India trade, settling the spoliation claims, and placing all foreign relations on a good footing. He also claimed that he had carried the administration of the government back to the Jeffersonian ideas. In general tliis meant that he held to the non-interference theory of government, and to the policy of leaving j)eople to be happy in their own way. He had not yet been forced to commit liimself on land and tariff, al- though he had favored a liberal policy about land ; but on internal improvements he had spoken clearly, and inferences were freely drawn as to what he would do on land and tariff. He had favored state rights and strict construction in all the cases which had arisen. He had discountenanced all heavy expenditures on so-called na- tional objects, and had prosecuted as rapidly as possible the payment of the debt. Here was a strong record and a consistent one on a number of great points of policy, and that, of course, is what is needed to form a party. The record also furnished two or tliree good party " cries." The general non-interference policy strengthens any government which recurs to it. AT governments in time depart from it, because they al 1 41 Niles. 260 ; 8 Adams. 430. JACKSON'S PARTY. 257 irays credit themselves with power to Jo better for the people than the people can do for themselves. In 1831-32 Jackson had not yet reached tliis stage in his career. The delicate points in his record were tariff and bank. If he assailed the tariff, wonld he not lose Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky ? If he favored it, would he not lose the South ? This was the old division in the body of his supporters, and it seemed that he might now be ruined if that cleft were opened. Also, \i he went on with the '' bank war," would he not lose Pennsylvania ? His mild message on the bank in 1831 seemed to indicate fear. Clay declared unhesitatingly that the campaign re- quired that the opposition should force the fighting on tariff and bank, especially on the latter. We have seen * what liis demeanor and demands were in the conference at Washington. For the fight out-of-doors he thought that the recharter of the bank was the strongest issue he could make. Of course Benton's assertion ^ that the bank attacked Jackson is a ridiculous misrepresentation. Clay did, hov,^ever, seize upon the question which Jack- son had raised about the bank, and he risked that im- portant financial institution on the fortunes of a political campaign. The bank was very unwilling to be so used. Its disinterested friends in both parties strongly dis- suaded Biddle from allowing the question of recharter to be brought into the campaign.* Clay's advisers tried to dissuade him. The bank, however, could not oppose Uie public man on whom it depended most and the party leaders deferred at last to their chief. Jackson aever was more dictatorial and obstinate than Clay was ftt this juncture. Clay was the chainpion of the system • Page 22? 2 1 Benton, 227. 3 lu^reraoll. 868. 17 258 ANDREW JACKSON. of state-craft which makes public men undertake a tute- lage of the nation, and teaches them not to be content to let the nation grow by its own forces, and according to the shapmg of the forces and the conditions. His sys- tem of statesmansliip is one which always offers shelter to numbers of interested schemes and corrupt enter- prises. The pubHc regarded the bank, mider his polit- ical advocacy, as a part of that system of state-craft. The national republican convention met at Baltimore, December 12, 1831.^ It consisted of 155 delegates from seventeen States. Abner Lacock, of Pennsylvania, who as senator had made a very strong report against Jack- son on the Seminole war, was president of the conven- tion. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, was nominated for Vice-President. The convention issued an address, in which the bank question was put forward. It. was declared that the President " is fully and tlii*ee times over pledged to the people to negative any bill that may be passed for rechartering the bank, and there is little doubt that the additional influence which he would ac- quire by a reelection would be employed to carry through Congress the extraordinary substitute which he has repeatedly proposed." The appeal, therefore, was to defeat Jackson in order to save the bank and prevent he device proposed by Jackson from being tried^ Such a challenge as that could have but one effect on Jackson. It called every faculty he possessed into activity to compass the destruction of the bank. Instead of retiring from the position he had taken, the moment there was a fight to be fought, he did what he did at New Orleans. He moved his lines up to the last point he could command on the side towards the enemy Th« 1 41 Niles. 301. PETITION FOR RECHARTER. 259 witi-bank men, Kendall, Blair, and Hill, must have been delighted to see the adversary i)ut spurs into Jackson's animosity. The proceedings seemed to prove just what the anti-bank men had asserted : that the bank was a great monster, which aimed to control elections, and to set up and put down Presidents. The campaign of 1832 was a struggle between the popularity of the bank and the popularity of Jackson. His popularity in rural Pennsylvania had never had any rational basis, and hence could not be overthi'own by rational deductions. His s^Dirit and boldness in meeting the issue offered by Clay won him support. His party was not broken ; it was consolidated. On the 9th of January, 1832, in prosecution of the programme, the memorial of the bank for a renewal of its charter was presented in the Senate by Dallas, and in the House by McDuffie. These men were both "bank democrats." Sargent^ says Biddle told him that the bank wanted Webster, or some such unequivocal friend of the bank, to present the memorial, but that Dallas claimed the duty as belonging to him. There was great and just dissatisfaction with Dallas for the way in which he managed the business. He intimated a doubt whether the application was not premature, and a doubt about the policy of the memorial, lest " it might be drawn into a real or imaginary conflict with some liigher, some more favorite, some more immediate wish or pur- pose of the American people." In the Senate the peti- tion was referred to a select 3onmiittee, and in the House to the Committee on Ways and JMeans. The Sen- nate committee reported favorably March 13th and rec- ommended only a few changes in the old '^•harter. They 1 1 Scirgent, 215. 260 ANDREW JACKSON. proposed to demand a bonus of one and a half millions in three annual instalments. In the House, McDufl&e reported February 9th.^ He said that the proposition to recharter had called out a number of wild j^ropositions. The old bank was too large, but one was proposed with a capital of fifty miUions. He criticised the notion that all citizens should have an equal right to subscribe to the stock of the bank. If A has $100 on balance and B owes $100 on balance, their " equal right " to sub- scribe to bank stock is a strange thing to discuss. Benton ^ says that the opponents of the bank in Con- gress agreed upon a policy. They determined to fight the charter at every point, and to bring the bank into odium as much as possible. He says that he organized a movement to this effect in the House, incited Clayton, of Georgia, to demand an investigation of the bank, and furnished him with the charges and specifications on which to base that demand. Clayton moved for an investigation, February 23d. He presented Benton's charges, seven important and fifteen minor ones. Mc- Duffie answered the charges at once, but the investiga- tion was ordered to be made by a special connnittee. They reported, April 30th. The majority reported that the bank ouoht not to be rechartered until the debt was all paid and the revenue readjusted. R. M. Johnson sif;ned this report, so as to make a majority, out of good- uacure. He rose in his place in Congress and said that he had not looked at a document at Philadelphia. The minority rej^orted that the bank ought to be rechartered ; that it was sound and useful. John Quincy Adama ^ade a third report, in which he brought his character «tic industry to bear on the question, and discussed al » Document C. ^ 1 Benton, 236. CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK. 261 Ihe points raised in the attack on the bank. It is fco his report that we are indebted for a knowledge of the Rorrespondence of 1829 between Biddle and Inghain., and the controversy over the Portsmouth branch, which was the first skirmish in the "bank war." ^ The charges against the bank, and the truth about them, so far as we can discover it, were as follows : — (1.) Usury. The bank sold Bank of Kentucky notes to certain persons on long credit. When these persons afterwards claimed an allowance for depreciation, it was granted. A case which came to trial went off on tech- nicalities, which were claimed to amount to a confession by the bank of a corrupt bargain.^ The bank had also charged discount and exchange for domestic bills, when these two together amounted to more than six per cent, the rate to which it was restrained by its charter. This charge was no doubt true. The device was used by all banks to evade the usury law. (2.) Branch drafts issued as currency. The amount of these outstanding was $7.4 miUions. The majority of the committee doubted the lawfulness of the branch drafts, but said nothing about the danger from them as instruments of credit. Adams said they were useful, but likely to do mischief. These drafts were in form redeemable where issued, but in intention and practice they were redeemed hundreds of miles away, and they had no true convertibility. There was no check what- ever on the inflation of the currency by them so long as credit was active. Carabreleng very pointedly asked Biddle how the branct draft arrangement differed from 1 Document B. « Cf. Bank of the United States "s. WiUiam Owena e< ai, » '»cterP, 527. £62 ANDREW JACKSON. Kn obligation of a Philadelphia bank to redeem all the notes of all the banks in Pennsylvania. Biddle replied that the Bank of the United States controlled all the branches wliich issued branch drafts on it. That was, to be sure, the assumption, but he liad had hard ex- perience all winter that it was not tiae in fact.^ (3.) Sales of coin, especially American coin. The bank had bought and sold foreign coin by weight. The majority held that such coins were not bidlion, because Congress had fixed their value by law. Adams easily showed the fallacy of this. All gold coins, then, Ameri- can included, were a commodity, not money.'^ The bank had sold S84, 734.44 of American gold coin. (4.) Sales of public stocks. The bank was forbidden by the charter to sell public stocks, the object being to prevent it from manipulating the price of the same. In 1824, in aid of a refunding scheme, the bank took some public stocks from the government, and had spe- cial permission by act of Congress to sell them. The majority disapproved of the sale. (5.) Gifts to roads, canals, etc. The bank had made two subscriptions of $1,500 each to the stock of turn- pike companies. The other cases were all petty gifts to fire companies, etc. The majority argued that, since ^he administration had pronounced against internal im- \)rovements, the bank ought not to have assisted any such works. Adanis said that the administration had opposed internal improvements, on the ground that they were unconstitutional when undertaken by the federal govern- went ; but he asked what argument that furnish ^»] against such woi-lis when undertaken by anybody else. (6.) Builfling houses to rent or sell. The bank hac ^ See below, page 270-1. ^ gee page 3.?3. CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK. 263 been obliged, in some cases, to take real estate for debts. When it could not sell, it had, in a few cases, improved. These points were the alleged viokitions of the charter. Bid die denied the seventh charge, of non-user, in failing to issue notes in the South and West for seven years. Adams pointed out that these charges would only afford ground for a scire facias to go before a jury on tht facts. The charges of mismanagement, and the truth about them, so far as we can ascertain, were as follows ; (1.) Subsidizing the press. Webb and Noah, of the " Courier and Enquirer " (administration organ until April, 1831 ; then in favor of the bank). Gales and Seaton, of the " National Intelligencer " (indej)endent opposition). Duff Green, of the "Telegraph" (adminis- tration organ until the spring of 1831), and Thomas Ritchie of the Richmond " Enquirer " (administration) were on the books of the bank as borrowers. The change of front by the " Courier and Enquirer " was re- garded as very significant. Adams said that there was no law against subsidizing the press, and that the plu-ase meant nothing. He protested against the examination of the editors. The case stood so that, if the bank dis- counted a note for an administration editor, it was said to bribe him ; if for an opposition editor, it was said to subsidize him. (2.) Favoritism to Thomas Biddle, second cousin of the president of the bank. Reuben M. Whitney was the witness on this charge. T. Biddle was the brokei •>f the bank. N. Biddle admitted that the bank had k)llowed a usage, adopted by other banks, of allowing .ash in the drawer to be loaned out to particular persons, ind replaced by securities, which were jiassed as casli, !or a few days. He said the practice had been discon 264 ANDREW JACKSON. dnued. Whitney made a very circumstantial charge that T. Biddle had been allowed to do this, and that he had paid no interest for the funds of the bank of which he thus got the use. N. Biddle proved that he was in Washington when Whitney's statement implied his presence in Pliiladelphia. Adams said Wliitney lied. It was certaiidy true, and was admitted, that T. Biddle had had enormous confidential transactions with the bank, but Whitney was placed, in respect to all the im- portant i)art of his evidence, in the position of a con- victed calumniator. He went to Washington, where he was taken into the kitchen cabinet and made special agent of the deposit banks. In 1837 he published an " Address to the American People," in which he reit- erated the charges against Biddle.^ (3.) Exporting specie, and drawing specie from the South and West. The minority state that the usual current was, that silver was miported from Mexico to New Orleans, and passed up the Mississippi and Ohio, and was exported to China from the East. From 1820 to 1832, $22.5 million were drawn from the South and West to New York. The bank was charged with draining the West of specie. So far as the current oi; silver was normal, the bank had nothing to do with it. If there had been no banks of issue, the West would have kept enough specie for its use, and the current would have flowed through and past, leaving always enough. The j)aj)er issues in the valley drove out the specie, and little stayed. The branch drafts after 1827 helped to produce this result, and the charge was. in 80 far, just.^ Tlie bank was also charged with exiiorb 1 52 Nilos, lOG. * Groage BBJ8 that, in 1828, there was no local bai.k in op<>ra CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK. 265 ing specie as a result of its exchange operations. It Bold drafts on London for use in China, payable sLx months after sight. They were sold for the note of tlic buyer at one year. The goods could be imported and sold to meet the draft. This produced an inflation of credit, since one who had no capital, if he could get the bank accommodation, could extend credit indefinitely. The majority made a point on this, but they added the following contribution to financial science : " The legiti- mate object of banks the committee believe to be grant- ing facilities, not loaning capital." On that theory there would have been no fault to be found with the China di-afts, which must have been a great " facility " to those who could get them, and who had no other capital. (4.) The improper increase of branches. It was true that there were too many. Cheves, in his time, thought some of them disadvantageous to the bank, but it had been importuned to establish them, and there was complaint if a branch was lacking where the government or influential individuals wanted one. (5.) Expansion of the circulation by $1.3 million be- tween September 1, 1831, and April 1, 1832, although the discounts had been reduced during the winter. The bank was struggling already with the branch drafts, and the facts alleged were produced by its efPorts to cope with the effects of the drafts. (6.) Failure of the bank to serve the nation. The majority made another extraordinary blunder here. They said that the duties were paid at New York and Philadelphia, and that drafts on these cities were al- ways at a premium. Hence they argued that the bank tion in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, or Mis«ouri, and only one »ach in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama (Gouge, 39.) 266 ANDREW JACKSON. gained more the further it transferred funds for the government. The minority ridiculed this as an anni- hilation of space, a means of making a thing worth more the further it was from where it was wanted. (7.) Mismanagement of the public deposits. The majority state what they think the bank ought to do. It ought to use its capital as a permanent fund, and loan the public deposits on time, so as to be ])ayable near the time when they would be required by the government for the debt payments. If the bank had done tliis it would have carried to a maximum the disturbances in the money market which were actually produced by the semi-annual payments on the debt. It would have ui- flated and contracted its discounts by an enormous sura every six months. (8.) Postponement of the payment of the three per cents. These stocks were issued in 1792 for the accrued interest on the Revolutionary debt. They were to be paid at 100. The Secretary informed the bank, March 24th, just before the bank committee was raised, that he should pay half the three per cents ($6 miQion) in July. Biddle hastened to Washington to secure a post- ponement ; not, as he affirmed, for the sake of the bank, but for two other reasons : (1) that $9 million duty bonds would be payable July 1st, and the merchants would be put to inconvenience if the debt payment feU at that time , (2) a visitation of cholera was k) be feared, which would derange industry ; and the payment of the debt, with the recall of so much capital loaned to merchants, would add to the distress. The friends of the bank said that these reasons were good and suffi eient. Its enemies said that they were specious, but wer« •lily pretexts. The Secretary agreed to defer the pay CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK. 26T ment of $5 million of the three per cents until October 1st, the bank agreeing to pay the interest for thi-ee months.^ This matter will be discussed below. (9.) Incomj^lete number of directors. Biddle waa both government director and elected director, so that there were only twenty-four in all. (10.) Large expenditures for printing : $6,700 in 1830 : $9,100 in 1831. From 1829, the date of Jack- son's first attack, the bank spent money on pamphlets and newspapers to influence public opinion in its favor. (11.) Large contingent exjienditures. Tliere was a contingent fund account, the footings of which, in 1832, were $6 million, to sink the losses of the first few years, the bonus, premiums on public stocks bought, banking house, etc., etc. (12.) Loans to members of Congress in advance of approf)riations. Adams objected to this as an evil prac- tice. He said afterwards that the investigation into this point was drop23ed, because it was found that a large number of congi'essmen of both parties had had loans. (13.) Refusal to give a list of stockholders resident in Connecticut, so that that State might collect taxes from them on their stock. (14.) Usurpation of the control of the bank by the exchange committee of the board of directors, to the exclusion of the other directors. This charge was de- nied. In all this tedious catalogue of charges we can find nothing but frivolous complaints and ignorant criticism successfully refuted, except when we touch the branch drafts. The majority of the committee, if all theii 1 Document D. 868 ANDREW JACKSON. points are taken together, thought that the hank ought to lend the puhllc dej^osits liberally, and draw them in promptly when wanted to pay the debt, yet refuse no accommodation (especially to any one who was em- barrassed), not sell its public stocks, not increase its circulation, not draw in its loans, not part with its specie, not draw on the debtor branches in the West, not press the debtor state banks, and not contract any temporary loans. The student of the evidence and re- ports of 1832, if he believes the hank's statements in the evidence^ will say that the bank was triumphantly vin- dicated. Two facts, however, are very striking : (1) The most important of the charges against which the bank successfully defended itself in 1832 were the very acts of which it was guilty in 1837-38, and they were what ruined it; these were the second charge, which involved Whitney's veracity, and the fourteenth charge, which the bank denied. (2) Whether the bank was thoroughly sincere and above-board in these matters is a question on wliich an unpleasant doubt is thrown by the certainty that it was not thoroughly honest in some other matters. In regard to the three per cents, it is certain that Biddle wanted to defer the payment for the sake of the bank. He was embarrassed already by the debt of the Western branches, which had been produced by the oj^eration of the branch drafts. Their effect was just beginning to tell seriously. There was a great movement of free capital in the form of specie to this country in 1830, on account of revolutions in Europe. Tn 1830 and 1831 the United States paid its stock note in the capital of tlie bank. Capital was easy to borrow. In October, L'^^l, a certain stringency set in. Th« branch drafts were transferring the capital of the ^n^ BIDDLE'S riAUSlBlLITT. 269 ko the Western branches, and locking it up there in accommodation paj^er, indefinitely extended by drawing and redramng. Biddle could not make the Western branches pay. He was forced to curtail the Eastern branches. At such a juncture it was impossible for him to see with equanimity a debt which bore only three per cent interest paid off at one hundred, when the market rate was seven or eight per cent. He wanted to get possession of that capital. Even before he re- ceived notice that the three per cents were to be paid, he tried to negotiate with Ludlow, the representative of a large number of holders of the tliree per cents, for the purchase of the same. Ludlow had not power to sell.^ Great consequences hung on the strait into which the branch drafts had pushed the bank, and this meas- ure of relief to which Biddle had recourse. Biddle was too plausible. In any emergency he was ready to write a letter or report, to smooth things over, and present a ^ood face in spite of facts. Any one who has carefully studied the history of the bank, and Biddle's " state- ments," wlQ come to every statement of his with a dis- agreeable sense of suspicion. It is by no means certain, whatever the true explanation of the contradiction may be, that Whitney told a lie in the matter in which his word and Biddle's were opjjosed. Biddle's theory of bank-note issues was vicious and false. He thought that the business of a bank was to furnish a paper medium for trade and commerce. He thought that this medium served as a token and record of transactions, the exchange turning upon itself, as it ivere, so that the transactions to be -iccomplished called wit the paper, and when accomplished brought the papey 1 Polk's Minority Report, 833, Document E. 270 ANDREW JACKSON. Dack. There could then be no inflation of the paper, ii it was only put out as demanded for real transactions. Therefore he never distinguished betrv^een bills of ex- change and money, or the true paper surrogate for money, which is constantly and directly interchangeable with money, so that it cannot degenerate into a negoti- able instrument like notes and bills. His management of the bank was a test of his theory on a grand scale. The branch drafts were a special test of it. It was proven that they had none of the character of convertible bank-notes or money, but were instruments of credit, and, like all instruments of credit which have cut loose from actual redemption in capital, there was no more limit to their possible inflation than to the infinity of human hopes and human desires. Only a few months after this investigation, November, 1832, the president of the Nashville branch wrote to Biddle, " Be assured, sir, that we are as well convinced as you are that too many bills are offered and purchased, — amounting to more than the present crop of cotton and tobacco will pay ; I mean, before all these papers are taken up." It does not appear that, in the spring of 1832, Biddle yet perceived the operation of the branch drafts, and it 30uld not be said that sincerity required that he should avow a mistake to a hostile committee ; but his letter to Clayton, appended to the report of 1832, is meretricious and dazzling, calculated to repel investigation and cover up weakness by a sensational assertion. " The whole policy of the bank for the last six months has been ex- clusively protective and conservative, calculated to miti- gate suffering and yet avert danger." He sketches out \ii broad and bold outlines the national and interna tional relations of American industry and commerce BIDDLE'S INSINCERITY. 271 and the financial relations of the Treasury, with the hank enthi-oned over all as the financial providence of the country. This kind of writing had a great effect on the uninitiated. Who could dispute with a man who thus handled all the puhlic and private finance of the whole country as a school-master would tell hoys how to do a sura in long division ? However, it was all humbug, and especially that part which represented the bank aa watching over, and caring for the public. As Gouge most justly remarked, after quoting some of Biddle's rhetoric : " The true basis of the interior trade of the United States is the fertility of the soil and the industry of the people. The sun would shine, the streams would flow, and the earth would yield her increase, if the Bank of the United States was not in existence."^ If the bank had been strong, Biddle's explanations would all have been meretricious ; as it was, the bank had been quite fully occupied in 1831-32 in taking care of itself, nitigating its own sufferings and averting its own dan- gers. No doubt the bank was the chief sufferer from the shocks inflicted on the money market by the sudden and heavy payments on the public debt. Long credits were given for duties. When paid they passed into the bank as public deposits. They were loaned again to mer- chants to pay new duties, so that one credit was piled upon another already in this part of the arrangement. Then the deposits were called in to meet drafts of the Treasury to pay the debt, and so passed to the former fund-holders. These latter next entered the money market as investoxS, and the capital passed into new em- ^loyments. Therefore Benton's argument, which all tb« ^ Gk)age, 56. 272 ANDREW JACKSON. anti-bank men caught up, that the financial heats and chills of this period were certainly clue to the malice of the bank, is of no force at all. The disturbances were such, they necessarily lasted so long, and they finally settled down to such uncalculable final effects that all such deductions as Benton made were unwarranted. A public debt is not a blessing, but it is not as great a curse as a public surplus, and it is very possible to pay off a debt too rapidly. We shall, on two or three fur- ther occasions in this history, find the " public deposits " banging about the money market like a cannon ball loose in the hold of a ship in a high wind. While the committee was investigating the bank the political strife was growing more intense, and every chance of dealing dispassionately Avith the question of recharter had passed away. In January, Van Buren's nomination as minister to England was rejected by the Senate.^ The Legislature of New York had passed resolutions against the recharter of the bank.^ This hurt Van Buren in Pennsylvania. Such was the strange combination of feelings and convictions at this time that Jackson could demolish the bank without shaking his hold on Pennsylvania, but Van Buren was never for- given for the action of his State against the bank. It illustrated again the observation made alcove, that the popular idol enjoys an unreasonable immunity, while others may be held to an unreasonal)le responsibility. AH Jackson's intensest personal feelings, as weU as the choice of the kitchen cabinet, now converged on Vair Buren's nomination. The Seminole war grudge, hatred af Calhoun, the Eaton scandal, and animosity to thi Senate contributed towards this end. 1 fee page 161. * 2 Hammond, 351. DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION -1832. 273 Parton gives us one of Lewis's letters, which shows the wire-pulling which preceded the fii'st democratic convention. Kendall was in New Hampshire in the spring of 1831. Lewis wrote to him to propose that a fconvention should be held in May, 1832, to nominate Van Buren for Vice-President. He suggested that the New Hampshire Legislature should be prompted to propose it. Kendall arranged this and wrote a letter, giving an account of the meeting, resolutions, etc., which was published anonymously in the " Globe," July 6, 1831. The " Globe " took up the proposition and approved of it. The convention met at Baltimore, May 21, 1832. John H. Eaton was a delegate to the con- vention. He intended to vote against Van Buren, for, although Van Buren had taken Mrs. Eaton's part, he had not won Eaton's affection. Lewis wrote to Eaton that he must not vote against Van Buren " unless he was prepared to quarrel with the general." Van Buren was nominated by 260 votes out of 326. The *' spontaneous unanimity " of this convention was pro- vluced by the will of Andrew Jackson and the energetic discipline of the kitchen cabinet. It may well be doubted whether, without Jackson's supjDort, Van Buren could have got 260 votes for President or Vice-Presi- dent in the whole United States, in 1832. The " Globe " dragooned the whole Jackson party into the support of Van Buren, not without considerable trouble. The con- vention adopted an address prepared by Kendall, con- lainins: a review of Jackson's first administration.^ May 7, 1832, a national republican convention of J'oung men met in Washington. WJliam Cost Jolmson ras president. The convention ratified the nominatioB ' Kendall's Autobioyraphf 296. 16 274 ANDREW JACKSON. if Clay and Sergeant, and passed a series of resolutioTia in favor of tariff and internal imj^rovements, and ap- proving tlie rejection of Van Buren's nomination.^ During the spring and summer Biddle took quarters in Washington, from which he du-ected the congTessional campaign on behalf of the recharter. He was then at the zenith of his power and fame, and enjoyed real re- novm in Europe and America. He and Jackson were pitted against each other personally. Biddle, however, put a letter in Livingston's ^ hands, stating that he would accept any charter to which Jackson would consent.' Jackson never fought for compromises, and nothing was heard of this letter. Jackson drew up a queer plan of a "bank," which he thought constitutional and suitable, but it remained in his drawer.* The anti-bank men affirmed that Biddle was corrupting Congress. The charter passed the Senate June 11th, 28 to 20, and the House, Jidy 3d, 107 to 85. It was sent to the President July 4th. The Senate voted to adjourn July 16th. It was a clever device of theirs to force Jackson to sign or veto by giving him more than ten days. They wanted to force him to a direct issue. It is not prob- able that there was room for his will to be any fui'ther stimulated by this kind of manoeuvring, but he never flinched from a direct issue, and the only effect was to put him where he would have risked his reelection and everything else on a defiant reply to the challenge 1 42 Niles, 206, 236. 2 Livingston was on the side of the bank. (Hunt's Livingston, ?53.) • Ingersoll, 268. On the same page it is said that Biddle waf aiked of for President of the United States. * Ingersoll, 283. VETO OF THE BANK. 275 »ffered. Niles says ^ that, a week before the bill passed, fche best informed were " as six to half a dozen," whether the bill, if passed, would be vetoed, but that, for the two or three days before the bill was sent up, a veto was confidently expected. The veto was sent in, July lOth.^ The reasons given for it were : (1) The bank would have a monopoly for which the bonus was no equivalent. (2) One fifth of the stockholders were foreigners. (3) Banks were to be allowed to pay the Bank of the United States in branch drafts, which in- dividuals could not do. (4) The States were allowed to tax the stock of the bank owned by their citizens, which would cause the stock to go out of the countiy. (5) The few stockholders here would then control it. (6) The charter was unconstitutional. (7) The business of the bank would be exempt from taxation. (8) There were strong suspicions of mismanagement in the bank. (9) The President could have given a better plan. (10) The bank would increase the distinction between rich and poor. The bill was put to vote in the Senate July 13th, but failed of two thirds (22 to 19). If the bank was to continue to exist it was now necessary to defeat Jackson. The state bank interest, however, had now been aroused to the great gain it would make if the Bank of the United States should be overthrown. The Jackson party thereby won the adhesion of an important faction. The «af ety-fund banks of New York were bound into a solid phalanx by their system, and they constituted a great po- 1 42 Niles, 337. 2 Congress has chartered national banks as follows: 1791, «5 (vetoed), 1816, 1832 (ve^j^ed 1841, two bills, both vetoed! '863. 276 ANDREW JACKSOX. litical power. The, chief crime alleged against the Bank of the United States was meddling with jxditics. The safety-fund banks of New York were an active political power under Van Buren's control, and they went into this election animated by the hope of a share in the de- posits. The great bank also distributed pamplilets and subsidized newspapers, fighting for its existence. The Jackson men always denounced this action of the Bank of- the United States as corrupt, and as proof of the truth of Jackson's charges. Jackson got 219 electoral votes ; Clay, 49 ; Floyd, 11 (of South Carolina, the nullification ticket) ; Wirt, 7 (of Vermont). There were two vacancies (in Mary- land). Clay carried Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, Delaware, and Kentucky, and five votes in IMaryland. For Vice-President Van Buren got 189. Pennsylvania would not vote for him. She gave her 30 votes to William Wilkins. Sergeant got 49 votes ; Henry Lee, of Massachusetts, 11 (of South Carolina) ; EUmaker, 7. At this election South Carolina alone Jirew her vote by her Legislature. The popular vote was 707,217 for Jackson ; 328,561 for Clay ; 254,720 for Wirt. Jackson's majority, in a total vote (excluding Sc^th Carolina) of 1,290,498, was 123,936. In Ala- bama there was no anti-Jackson ticket. CHAPTER XIII. TARIFF, NULLIFICATION, AND BANK DUKING JAOKSOX's SECOND ADMINISTRATION. General Jackson now advanced to another develop- ment of his political philosophy and his political art. No government which has felt itself strong has ever had the self-control to practice faithfully the non-interference theory. A popular idol at the head of a democratic republic is one of the last political organs to do so. The belief in himself is of course for him a natural product of the situation, and he is quite ready to be- Heve, as he is constantly told, that he can make the people happy, and can "save the country" from evil and designing persons, namely, those who do not join the chorus of adulation. A President of the United States, under existing social and economic circum- stances, has no chance whatever to play the role of Cae- sar or Napoleon, but he may practise the methods of Dersonal government within the limits :)f the situation. Jackson held that his reelection was a triumphant vindi- cation of him in all the points in which he had been engaged in controversy with anybody, and a kind of charter to him, as representative, or rather tribune, of the people, to go on and govern on his own judgment over and against everybody, including Congress.) His action about the Cherokee Indians, his attitude to the Supreme Court, his construction of his duties under tho £78 ANDREW JACKSON. Constitution, his vetoes of internal improvements and the bank, his defence of Mrs. P]aton, his attitude toward Calhoun and Clay, his discontent with the Senate, all thino-s, orreat and small, in which he had been active and interested, were held to be covered and passed upon by the voice of the people in his reelection.^ Adulation and success had already done much to make Jackson a dan« gerous man. After his reelection, his self-confidence and self-will became tenfold greater.^ Moreover, his in- intimates and confidential advisers, Kendall, * Lewis, Blair, and Hill, won more confidence in themselves, and handled their power with greater freedom and certainty. It has already been shown in this liistory that they were perfect masters of the art of party organization, and they had a strong hatred of the bank ; but they had no statesman-like ideas in finance or public policy, and they governed by playing on the prejudices and vanity of Jackson. 1 We may test this theory in regard to one point, the bank. The Legislature of Pennsylvania, on the 2d of February, 1832^ within eight months of the election at which Jackson got three fifths of the vote of Pennsylvania, instructed the senators and representatives in Congress from that State, by a unanimoua vote in the Senate, and by 77 to 7 in the House, to secure the re- charter of the bank. 2 "The truth is, I consider the President intoxicated with power and flattery." " All the circumstances around him [when he came to office] were calculated to make him entertain an ex- ilted opinion of himself, and a contemptuous one of others. Hia ,wn natural passions contributed to this result." (Duane, 133, vinder date October, 1833.) "There is a tone of insolence and rnsult in his intercourse with both Houses of Congress, especially lince his reelection, which never was witnessed between the Ex icutive and the Legislature before." (9 Adama, 51 : Becembei i, 1835.} PERSONAL GOVERNMENT. 279 Jackson's modes of action in his second term were those of personal government. He proceeded avow- edly, on his own initiative and responsibility, to experi- ment, as Napoleon did, with great publico institutions and interests- It came in his way to do some good, to check some bad tendencies and to strengthen some good ones ; but the moment the historian tries to ana- lyze these acts, and to bring them for purposes of generalization into relations with the stand-point or doctrine by which Jackson acted, that momeiit he per- ceives that Jackson acted from spite, pique, instinct, prejudice, or emotion, and the influence he exerted sinks to the nature of an incident or an accident. Then, al- though we believe in personal liberty with responsibility, and in free institutions ; although we believe that no modern free state can exist without wide popular rights ; although we believe in the non-interference theory, and oppose the extension of state action to internal improve ments and tariffs ; although we recognize the dreadful evils of bad banking and fluctuating currency ; and although we believe that the Union is absolutely the first political hiterest of the American people, yet, i'f we think that intelligent deliberation and disciplined reason ought to control the civil affairs of a civilized state, we must say of Jackson that he stumbled along through a magnificent career, now and then taking up a chance without really appreciating it ; leaving behind him dis- torted and discordant elements of good and ill, just fit to produce turmoil and disaster in the future. We have already seen, in some cases- what was the tyi-anny of his popularity. It crushed out reason and common lense. To the gi-avest argumerts and remonstrances, lie answer was, literally, " Hurrah for Jackson ! " Is, i80 ANDREW JACKSON. then, that a sound state of things for any civilized state ? Is that the sense of democracy? Is a democratic re- pubhc working fairly and truly by its theory in such a case ? Representative institutions are degraded on the Jacksonian theory, just as they are on the divine-rij^lil theory, or on the theory of the democratic empire. There is not a worse perversion of the American system of government conceivable than to regard the President as the tribune of the people, endowed by his election with prerogative to check, warn, correct, guide, and watch the representatives of the nation in Congress as- sembled. One of the most remarkable modes of personal rule employed by Jackson was the perfection and refinement given to the " organ "as an institution of democratic government. In the hands of Blair the " Globe " came to be a terrible power. Every office-holder signed his allegiance by taking the " Globe." In it both friend and foe found daily utterances from the White House a propos of every topic of political interest. The sug- gestions, innuendoes, queries, quips, and sarcasms of the " Globe " were scanned by the men who desired to recommend themselves by the zeal which anticipatas, and the subserviency which can even dispense with, a command. The editorials scarcely veiled their inspira- tion and authorization. The President issued a message to his party every day. He told the political news con- fidentially, and in advance of the mere newspaperSj while deriding and denouncing his enemies, praising the lidherents who pleased him, and checking, warning, oi stimulating all as lie thought best to promote discipline and efficiency. "When we say "he " did it, we speak, ol sourse, figuratively. If it was Blair's voice, Jacksov NULLIFICATION CONVENTION. 281 ratified it. If it was Jackson's will, Blair promulgated it. The South Caroliuians thought that the limit oi proper delay and constitutional agitation had been reached when the tariff of July, 1832, was passed. In the year 1832 the nullifiers, for the fii'st time, got con- ti'ol of South Carolina. The Legislature was convened, by special proclamation for the 22d of October 1832, — a month earlier than usual. An act was passed, October 25th, ordering a convention to be held on the 19th of November. The ■ Legislature then adjourned until its regular day of meeting, the fourth Monday in Novem- ber. The convention met as ordered ; Governor Hamil- ton was president of it. It adopted an ordinance that the acts of Congress of May 19, 1828, and July 14, 1832, were null and void in South Carolina. These proceed- ings conformed to a theory of the practice of nullification which the South Carolina doctrinaires had wrought out : namely, that the Legislature could m)t nullify, but that a convention, being the State in some more original capacity, and embodying the " sovereignty " in a purer emanation, could do so. The theory and practice of nullification was a triumph of metaphysical politics. The South Carolinians went through the evolutions, by which, as they had persuaded themselves, nullification could be made a constitutional remedy, with a solem- nity which was either edifying or ridiculous, according as one forgot or remembered that the adverse party attached no significance to the evolutions. /* The ordinance provided that no appeal from a South Carolina court to a fedaral court should bo allowed in any case arising under any of the laws passed in pursuance of the ordinance ; such an appeal to be a 282 ANDREW JACKSON. eonteinpt of court. All officers and jurors were to take an oath to the ordinance. South Carolina would secede if the United States should attempt to enforce anything contrary to the ordinance. November 27th the Legis- lature met again, and passed the laws requisite to put the ordinance in operation. Goods seized by the custom- house officers might be replevied. Militia and volun- teers might be called out. A thousand stand of arms were to be purchased. A Union convention met at Columbia early in Decem- ber. It declared itself ready to support the federal government. It appeared, therefore, that there would be civil war in South Carolina. Tlie Union men were strong: in Charleston and in the Western counties. Jackson immediately took up the defiance which South Carolina had offered to the federal government. He ordered General Scott to Charleston, and caused troops to collect within convenient distance, although not so as to provoke a collision. He ordered two war vessels to Charleston. He issued, December 10th, a proclamation to the people of South Carohna. It was wi'itten by Livingston, who, as we have seen,^ had taken up a position against nullification more than two years before. He represented the only tariff State in the South, — Louisiana. It has been asserted that Jackson did not like the constitutional doctrines of the procla- mation, which are Madisonian federalist, and not such as he had held, but that he let the pajjer pass on account of the lack of time to modify it.^ There is nothing of 1 See page 214. 2 Lewis in 3 Parton, 466; Tyler's Taney, 188. Taney re- torded, in 1861, that he should have objected to some of the doo trineB of thf> proclamation, if he had been in Washington at th» Ume. ( Ibid. J ANTI-NULLIFICATION PROCLAMATION. 283 tlie Jacksonian temper in the document. It is strong, moderate, eloquent, and, at last, even pathetic.^ It ia very long : The following j)assage is perhaps the most important in it : "I consider the power to annul a law of the United States, assimied hy one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for wliich it was formed." This proclamation voiced the 02)inion and feeling of the whole country, except the nullifiers in South Carolina and a few of their comrades in other Southern States. The dignified tone of the paper was especially satisfactory. It was the right tone to take to men who had allowed their passionate temper to commit them to unworthy and boyish proceedings, and who had sought a remedy for civil grievances in acts which made liberty and security impossible. Jackson found him- self a national civil hero for once, and he enjoyed the plaudits of people who had detested him the most earnestly. He lives in popular memory and tradition chiefly as the man who put down this treason, but the historian must remember that, if Jackson had done his duty in regard to Georgia and the Indians, nullification would never have attained any strengtli. The Southern- ers were astonished at the proclamation. It seemed to them inconsistent, even treacherous.^ The constitutional theories were not at all such as Jackson had been under- Btood to hold. They ascribed Jackson's attitude on thia * Jackson contributed a sugges*"ion of the pathos. (Hunt'i Livingston, 373.) ^ Hodgson, 173. Cf. Resolution of he South Carolina Legli iiture, 43 Niles, 300. 284 ANDREW JACKSON. question to hatred of Calhoun. Old Jolm Randolph, who was in a dying condition, roused himself as the champion of state rights, although he had been a strong adherent of Jackson, and went through the counties of Virginia, in which he had once been a power, in his carriage, to try to arouse the people to resist the danger- ous doctrines of the proclamation,^ and yet to uphold the Union. December 20th, Governor Hayne of South Carolina issued a proclamation in answer to Jackson's. Calhoun resignecf the vice-presidency, December 28th. He was elected senator in Hayne's place. He had been Vice- President for eight years. He now returned to the floor and to active work. He never afterwards took position in any party. He was an isolated man, who formed alliances to further his ends. South Carolina also remained an isolated State until 1840, when she voted for Van Buren and came back into the ranks. Calhoun seemed to have lost the talent for j^ractical statesmanship which he had shown in his earlier years. He involved liimself tighter and tighter in spinnings of political mysticism and fantastic specidation. Harriet Martineau calls him a cast-iron man, and describes his eager, absorbed, over-speculative type of conversation and bearmg, even in society.^ " I know of no man who lives in such utter intellectual solitude. He meets men and harangues them by the fireside as in the Senate. He is wrought like a piece of machinery, set going vehemently by a weight, and stops while you answer He either passes by what you say, or tmsts it into suit- ability with what is in his head, and begins to lecture 1 2 Garland's Randolph, 360. ^ 1 Martineau, Western Travel, 14ft. JACKSON ASKS FOR INCREASED POWERS. 285 j^aiu." He " is as full as ever of his nullification doc- trines [1836], and those who krow the force that is in him, and his utter incapacity of modification hy other minds, . . . will no mor§ expect repose and self-reten- tion from liim than from a volcano in fuU force. Re- laxation is no longer in the power of his will. I never saw any one who so completely gave me the idea of possession." In his message of 1832, Jackson said that the pro- tective system must ultimately be limited to the commod- ities needed in war. Beyond tliis limit that system had already produced discontent. He suggested that the subject should be reviewed in a disposition to dispose of it justly. December 13th the Senate called on the Secretary of the Treasury to propose a tariff bill. De- cember 27th, in the House, the Committee on Ways and Means reported a bill based on the Secretary's views. It proposed an immediate and sweeping reduction, with a further reduction, after 1834, to a " horizontal " rate of fifteen per cent or twenty per cent. January 16, 1833, Jackson sent in a message, in which he informed Congress of the proceedings of South Carolina, and asked for power to remove the custom house and to hold goods for customs by military force ; also for pro- visions that federal courts should have exclusive juris- diction of revenue cases, and that the Circuit Court of the United States might remove revenue cases from state courts. Calhoun, in reply to this message, declared that South Carolina was nov hostile to the Union, and he i Ann. Rrq. 4 '. ^ j Curtis's Webster, 434, 455. ENFORCEMENT AND COMPROMISE. 289 Enasterly arguments ever made for free trade, to defend protection by such devices as he could. Now he de- rided Adam Smith and the other economists.^ He first paltered with his convictions on the tarifP, and broke his moral stamina by so doing. Many of the people who liave been so much astonished at his " sudden " apostasy on slavery would understand it more easily if their own judgment was more open to appreciate his earlier apostasy on free trade. February 13th, he introduced resolutions against the compromise.^ The enforcing act passed the Senate, February 20, 1833, by 32 to 8. On the 21st the compromise tariff was taken up in the Senate. On the 25th the House recommitted the tariff bill which was there pending, with instructions to the committee to report the com- promise bill. On the 26th the latter was passed, 119 to 85. On the same day the Senate laid Clay's bill on the table, took up the same bill in the cojDy sent up from the House, and passed it, 29 to 16. On the 27th the House passed the enforcing bill, 111 to 40. Thus the olive branch and the rod were bound up together. There was one moment in January when ex-Governor Hamilton seemed ready to precipitate a conflict, and when Governor Hayr^e seemed ready to support him ; ' but the leadino; nuUifiers determined to wait until Con- gress adjourned. February 1st was the day ajjpointed ror nullification to go into effect, but all action was post- poned. The Legislature replied to Jackson's procla- mation by a series of resolutions which charged him Vith usurpation and tyranny.^ Jackson was annoyed 1 1 Webster's Correspondence, 50" a 43 Niles, 406. » 8 Ann. Reg. 290 * 43 NUes, 300. 19 290 ANDREW JACKSON. by tliese resolutions, and made threats against the lead ing nullifiers in January. The Governor had summoned the convention to meet again on March 11th. The com- })romise tariff was regarded as a substantial victory. It became a law on March 3d, the day on which the tariff of July 14. 1832, went into effect. The convention repealed the ordinance of nullification, passed another ordinance nullifjnng the enforcement act, and adjourned. It is not quite clear whether the last act was a bit of fireworks to fete the conclusion of the trouble, or was seriously meant. If it was serious, it strongly illus- trated the defective sense of humor which characterized all the proceedings of the nullifiers. The gentlemen who had nullified a tax, and then nullified a contingent declaration of war, would probably, in the next stage, have tried, by ordinance, to nullify a battle and a de- feat. The compromise tariff settled nothing. The fact was that Clay had been driven, by the rapacity of the pro- tected interests, to a point from which he could neither advance nor recede, and Calhoun had been driven by the nullification enterprise into a similar untenable position. Benton says that Calhoun was afraid of Jack- son, who had threatened to hang the nullifiers. Curtis, pn the authority of Crittenden, says that Calhoun, in alarm, sought an interview with Clay, and that Clay in- tervened.^ They met and })atched up the compromise, by which they opened an escape for each other. For ten years afterwards they wrangled, in the Senate, over »he ';iuestion who was in the worse predicament and whc won most in 1833. Clay claimed that he rescued pro Section from the slaughter which awaited it in Vol 1 1 Curtis's Webster, 444. THE BANK AND THE THREE PER CENTS. 291 plaiick's bill. Calhoun claimed that the coir. promise tariff was a free-trade victory, won by nullification. Clay said that he made the compromise out of pity for Calhoun and South Carolina, who were in peril. Cal- houn said that nullification killed the tariff, and that Clay was flat on his back until CaLlioun helped him to lise and escape by the compromise. The protected in- terests were as angry with Clay as if he had never served them. They accused him of treachery. He never gained anytliing by his devotion to protection. He was right at least in saying that j^rotection would have been overthrown in 1833 if it had not been for the compromise tariff.^ Jackson's animosity towards the bank, in the autumn of 1832, had gathered the intensity and bull-dog ferocity which he always felt for an enemy engaged in active resistance. In the matter of the three per cents, the bank gave him a chance of attack. In July General Cadwallader was sent to Europe to try to negotiate with the holders of the three per cents for an extension of the loan for a year beyond October, the bank becoming the debtor, and paying, if necessary, four per cent on the extension. The bank, then, instead of paying the iebt for the government, desired to intrude itself into the position of the Treasury, and extend a loan wliich the Treasury wanted to pay. Its object of course was to get a loan at three or four per cent. This j)roceed- ing was obviously open to grave censure. The obliga- tion of the Treasury would not cease, although the banl< rould have taken the public money appropriated to the ^ See a speech by Cla^^ton on Hugh L. White's aciioD, Or. to'oer 5, 1842. (63 Niles 106 ) Tarton (III. 478) has the fam# «torv. 292 ANDREW JACKSON. payment of the debt. Five million dollars were in fact ^^ansfelTed, in October, to the Redemption of the Public Debt Account. It seems to be indisputable that the bank, in this matter, abused its relation to the Treasury as depository of the public funds. August 22d General Cadwallader made an arrangement with the Barings, by which they were to pay off all the holders of the stocks who were not willing to extend thein and take the bank as debtor. The Barings bought $1,798,597, and extended $2,376,481. The arrangement with the Barings was to be secret, but it was published in a New York paper, October 11th. October 15th, Biddle re- pudiated the contract, because, under it, the bank would become a purchaser of public stocks, contrary to the charter. Would he have repudiated the contract if it had not been published ? The message of 1832 was temperate in tone, but very severe against the bank. The President interpreted the eagerness of the bank to get possession of the three per cents as a sign of weakness, and he urged Congress to make a " serious investigation " to see whether the public deposits were safe. An agent, Henry Toland, was appointed to investigate on behalf of the Treasury. lie reported favorably to the bank. The Committee on Ways and Means also investigated the bank. The President's message created considerable alarm for a time, and, at some places, theie were signs of a run on the branches.^ February 13, 1833, Polk reported a bill V sell the stock owned by the nation in the bank. It was rejected, 102 to 91. The majority o^ the Committetj '^n Ways and Means reported (Verplanck's report) tlial ihe bank was sound and that the deposits were safe 1 43 NUes, 315. REPORTS OF 1833 ON THE BANK. 298 Ou January 1, 1833, the assets were $80.8 million, the liabilities $37.8 million ; leaving $43 million to pay $35 million of capital. The circulation was $17.5 million ; specie $9 million. The state banks were esti- mated to have S68 million circulation and $10 million or $11 million specie. The minority rei)ort (Polk's) doubted if the assets were all good, and hence doubted the solvency of the bank. It referred to the Western debts, and the minority gave, in a supplemental report, evidence of the character of these debts. The com- mittee investigated the proceedings of the bank in re- lation to the three per cents. The minority reported that they could not find out clearly what was the final arrangement made by the bank, but it appeared that the certificates had been surrendered, and that the bank had, by and through the former transaction, obtained a loan in Europe. The majority said that the bank had receded from the project, and that there was nothing more to say about it.^ October 4, 1832, Biddle informed the directors thai the bank was strong enough to relax the orders given to the Western branches, in the previous winter, to con- tract their loans and remit eastward. He then supposed that the arrangement with the Barings about the thi-ee per cents had been concluded. The Western affairs, however, were at this time approacliing a crisis. The supplementary report (Polk's) by the minority of the Committee on Ways and Means, March 2, 1833,^ con- jiins conclusive evidence that the Western branches were in a very critical conaition ; that there had beer, drawing and redrawing between the branches, and that Biddle knew it. The directors aad testified to the 1 Document E * ^6»<^- 294 ANDREW JACKSON. committee that they knew nothing of any such proceed mgs. Some of the most important points in evidence are as follows. September 11, 1832, the cashier of the branch at Lexington, Kentucky, wrote that he was en- during a run. Two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars were sent to him from Philadelphia, Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Natchez. A letter from Biddle to the president of the Nashville branch, dated November 20, 1832, shows plainly that he knew that redrawing was going on. In a letter from the president of the Nashville branch, November 22d, the following passage occurs : " We will not be able to get the debts due this office paid ; indeed, if any, it will be a small part ; the means are not in the country." The same branch officer, in a letter of November 24th, plainly states that he had been forced to collect drafts drawn on him by the parent bank, and the New York, Balti- more, Washington, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Lexington branches, and that he could not prevent a protest save by redrawing on New Or- leans. Again, November 26th, he states that he had, within a year, collected drafts for a million dollars for the bank and branches, '' which, with smaU exceptions, have been paid through our bill operations." The majority of the committee of 1832-33 had interpreted the fluctuations in the amount of bills at Nashville as proof that, when the crops came in, the debts were can- celled. The minority show that these fluctuations were due to the presence of the " racers " at one or the other end of the course. It is quite beyond question that a mass of accommodation bills were cliasing each othei from brancli to branch in the years 1832-33, and tha they formed a mass of debt, which the bank could not 'or the time, control. g^ ^^ THE DRAFT ON FRANCE. 296 March 2, 1833, the House adopted, 109 to 46, a resohitlon that the deposits might safely be continued in the bank. The reports of the committee had not been carefully considered by anybody. The bank question was now a party question, and men voted on it accord- big to i)arty, not according to evidence. Whatever force might be attributed to any of the facts brought out by Polk in the minority report, it does not apj^ear that anybody in Congress really thought that the bank was insolvent and the deposits in danger. His supj^lemental report bears date March 2d. Polk did not propose to withdraw the deposits. He wanted to avoid any posi- tive action. McDuffie objected to this policy that, if Congi'ess took no action, Jackson would remove the deposits on the principle that silence gives consent.^ The first instalment of the payment by France was due February 2, 1833. The Secretary of the Treasmy did not draw until February 7th. Then he drew a sight draft, wliich he sold to the bank for $961,240.30. Con- gress, March 2d, passed an act ordering the Secretary to loan this sum at interest. The treaty of July 4, 1831, was unpopular in France, and the French Chambers had not passed any appropriation to meet the payments pro- vided for in it. The draft was therefore protested, and was taken up by Hettinger for the bank, because it bore the indorsement of the bank. The bank had put the money to the credit of the Treasury, and it claimed to prove, by quoting the account, that the funds had been drawn. Hence it declared that it was out of funds for twice the amount of the bill. It demanded fifteen per cent damages under an old law of Maryland, which Wh^ *he law of the District of Colombia. The Trea& 1 44 Niles, 108. 296 ANDREW JACKSON. vay paid the ainount of the bill, and offered to pay the actual loss incurred. July 8, 1834, Biddle informed tlie Secretary of the Treasury that the sum of S170,041 would he retained out of a three and a half per cent dividend payable July 17th. on the stock owned by the United States. March 2, 1838, the United States brought suit against the bank, in the federal Circuit Court of Pennsylvania, for the sura so withheld. It got judgment for S251,243.54. The bank appealed to the Supreme Court, which, in 1844, reversed the judgment, finding that the bank was the true holder of the biU and entitled to damages.^ On a new trial the Circuit Court gave judgment for the bank. The United States then appealed on the gTOund that a bill drawn by a govern- ment on a government was not subject to the law mer- chant. The Supreme Court sustained tliis view, in 1847, and again reversed the decision of the Circuit Court.^ No further action was taken. In the spring of 1833, McLane was transferred from the Treasury to the State Dej)artment. He was opjDosed to the removal of the deposits by executive act, which was now beginning to be urged in the imnost adminis- tration circles. William J. Duane, of Pennsylvania, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. This appointment ;ras Jackson's own personal act. He had admired Duane 's father, the editor of the " Aurora," and he de- clared that the son was a chip of the old block. In this he was mistaken. Duane was a very different man from his father.* He was a lawyer of very good stand- 1 2 Howard, 711. 25 Howard, 382. - Parton obtained from William B. Lewis an iuside account at ih; removal of tlie deposits. Duane wrote a full account of it lind there is anothor account iu KtMidall's Anfohiofjra/thu hut 'i '* by the editor, and onlv at second liuid from Keiid;ij PROJECT OF REMOVING THE DEPOSITS. 297 iiig. He had never been a politician or office-holder, but had shunned that career. Lewis says that he does not know who first proposed the removal of the deposits, but that it began to be talked of in the inner adminis- tration circles soon after Jackson's second election. In tlie cabinet McLane and Cass were so earnestly opposed to the project that it was feared they would resign. McLane sent for Kendall to know why it was desired to execute such a project. This was before McLane left the Treasury. Kendall endeavored to persuade him. Cass finally said that he did not understand the ques- tion. Woodbuiy was neutral. Barry assented to the act, but brought no force to support it. Taney strongly 8upf)orted the project. He was an old federalist, who had come into Jackson's party in 1824, on account of Jackson's letters to Monroe about non-partisan appoint- ments.^ He was Jackson's most trusted adviser in 1833 : BO liis biographer says, and it seems to be true. Van Buren warmly opposed the removal at first. Kendall persuaded him. He seems to have faltered afterwards, but Kendall held him up to the point. ^ Benton warmly approved of the removal, but was not active in bringing it about. Lewis opposed it. The proceeding is traced, by all the evidence, to Ken- dall and Blair as the moving spirits,^ with Reuben M. Whitney as a coadjutor. These men had no public official responsibility. They certainly were not recog- Viized by the nation as the men who ought to have a controlling influence on pubde affairs. They were ani- mated by prejudice and rancor sixteen years old. An- irevY Jackson's power and popularity, moving noT» * Tyler's Taney, 158. ^ Kendall's Autobiography, 383. * Kendall's Autobiography, 375. •• 298 ANDREW JACKSON. under the Impulse of the passions which animate ai Indian on the war-path, were the engine with whieL these men battered down a great financial institution. The bank had been guilty of great financial errors, but they were not by any means beyond remedy. The Bank of England, at the same period, was guilty of great financial errors. Blair and Kendall were not working for sound finance. Blair's doctrine was that the bank would use the public deposits as a means of corrupting the political institutions of the country. If that were true, it proved the error of having a great surplus of public money in the Treasury, i. e., in the bank. He said that the bank would corrupt Congress.^ In August Duane wrote, " It is true that there is an irresponsible cabal that has more power than the people are aware of." " What I object to is that there is an under-current, a sly, whispering, slandering system pur- sued." ^ In his history of the matter, written five years later, he says : " I had heard rumors of the existence of an influence at Washington, unknown to the Consti- tution and to the country ; and the conviction that they were well founded now became irresistible. I knew that four of the six members of the last cabinet and hat four of the six members of the present cabinet op- posed a removal of the deposits, and yet their exertions were nullified by individuals, whose intercourse with the President was clandestine. During his absence [in New England] several of those individuals called on me, and made many of the identical observations, in the identical language used by himself. They represented Congress as corruptible, and the new members as in Sieed of special guidance. ... In short, I felt satisfied ' Lewis in 3 Parton, 503. - Duane, 130. •• REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. 299 from all that I saw and heard, that factious and selfish dews alone cruided those who had influence with the Executive, and that the true welfare and honor of the country constituted no part of their objects." ^ Lewis gives a report of a conversation with Jackson, in which he (Lewis) tried to persuade Jackson to desist from the project. Jackson's points were, "I have no con fidence in Congress." '' If the bank is permitted to have the public money, there is no power that can prevent it from obtaining a charter ; it will have it if it has to buy up all Congress, and the public funds would enable it to do so ! " " If we leave the means of corruption in its hands, the presidential veto will avail notliing." "^ The statements in Kendall's '' Autobiogra- phy " are in perfect accord with these. It is perfectly plam who was at the bottom of this project, what theu- motives were, how they set to work, how they gave a bias to Jackson's mind, and furnished him ^vith argu- ments and phrases. It is also worthy of the most care- ful attention that they and Jackson were now busy "saving the country," holding in check the constitu- tional organs of the country, above all Congress ; and that they were proceeding upon assumptions about the motives and purposes of the bank which were not true, and had not even been tested, and upon assumptions in regard to the character of Congress which were insult- ing to the nation. The Jeffersonian non-interference theories were now all left far behind. Jacksonian democ- racy was approaching already the Napoleonic ty])e of the democratic empire, in which "the elect of the nation " is charged to pr )tect the state against every- body, chiefly, however, against any cc istitutional organsi 1 Duaiie, 9. 2 Lewis in 3 Parton, 505 f^. 300 ANDREW JACKSON. On the first day of Duane's official life, June 1, 1833^ Wliitney called on him, obviously in a certain ambas Badorial capacity, and made known to him the project to remove the deposits from the bank, and to use state banks as depositories and fiscal agents. A few daya later Jackson started on a progress through New Eng- land. The recent overthrow of nullification had ren- dered him very jJOjiular. No one knew of any ne\» trouble brewing, and there was a general outburst of en- thusiasm and satisfaction that a great cause of j)olitical discord had been removed, and that peace and quiet might be enjoyed. Jackson was feted enthusiastically and generally. Harvard College made him a Doctor of Laws. Adams said that it was " a sycophantic compli- ment." Jackson was very ill at tliis time. Adams wrote a spiteful page in the " Diary," alleging that " four fifths of his sickness is trickery, and the other fifth mere fa- tigue." " He is so ravenous of notoriety that he craves the sympathy for sickness as a portion of his glory." ^ The low personal injustice which is born of party hatred is here strikingly illustrated. Duane did not accept the role for which he had beep selected. He objected to the removal of the deposits. Jackson sent to him from Boston a long argument, written by Kendall, to try to persuade him. Jackson re- turned early in July. The question of the removal waa then debated between him and Duane very seriously, Duane standing his ground. It is evident that Taney wag then asked to take the Treasury in case Duane should continue recalcitrant. Jackson left Washington on an excursion to the Rip Raps without having come to ai irranfjement with Duane. "^ 1 4 Adams, 5. ^ In May, 1833, Jucksou laid the corner-stou^|^^^Hiumem KENDALL'S NEGOTIATIONS. 301 In July rumors became current that the Presiden intended to remove the deposits.^ August 5, 1833, while Jackson was absent, Taney wrote to hun, encourag- mg him to prosecute the project of removal, and thor- oughly approving of it. It is a sycophantic letter.^ In August Kendall went on a tour through the Middle and Eastern States to negotiate with the state banks so as to find out whether tliey would undertake the fiscal duties. His first project seems to have been based on the New York Safety Fund system. He got no en- couragement for this.® To more general inquiries as to a willmgness to enter into some arrangement he got a number of favorable replies.'' Commenting on these replies, Duane says, " It was into this chaos that I was asked to plunge the fiscal concerns of the country at a moment when they were conducted by the legitimate agent with the utmost simplicity, safety, and despatch." ^ On Jackson's return he took up the business at once. Of course Kendall's negotiations could not be kept se- cret. " Niles's Register " for September 7, 1833, con- tains a long list of extracts from different newspapers presenting different speculations as to the probability of "he removal of the deposits. The money market was, of course, immediately affected. The bank had ordered :o Washington's mother. On his way to the site of the monu- ment, while the steamboat was at Alexandria, Lieutenant Ran- dolph, who had been dismissed from the navy because he could not make his accounts good, committed an assault on the Pres ident, and attempted to pull his nose. Considerable politico heat was excited by the ex'ra 'egal measures taken to punish Randolph for his outrage. (44 NiL-s, J 70.) 1 44 Niles, 353. 2 T/ler's Taney, 195. • Document F. page 10. * Document F. • Duane, 96. 802 ANDREW JACKSON. its branches to buy no drafts having over ninety days to run. This was too short a time for " racers," consid- ering the difficulty of communication. The Western debts had now been considerably curtailed by the stren- uous efforts which had been made during the year. In the cabinet, Duane was still resisting. The sixteenth section of the bank charter gave to the Secretary of tho Treasury, by specific designation, the power to remove the deposits. By the acts of July 2, 1789, and May 10, 1800, the Secretary of the Treasury reports to the House of Rep resentatives. John Adams objected to the position thus created for the Secretary of the Treasury.^ At other times also it has caused complaint.^ His position cer- tainly was anomalous. His powers and responsibilities were in no consistent relation to each other. He was independent of the President in his functions, yet might be removed by him. He reported to Congress what he had done, yet could not be removed by Congress except by impeachment. Jackson now advanced another step in his imperial theory. He said to Duane : I take 'hu responsibility ; and he extended his responsibility over Duane on the theory that the Secretary was a sub- ordinate, bound only to obey orders. What then was the sense of providing in the charter that the Secretary might use a certain discretion, and that he should state to Congress his reasons for any use he matle of it ? Jackson's responsibility was only a figure of speech ; he was elected for a set term, and could rot and would not 1 1 Gibbs, 569. 2 4 Adams, 501. See a history of the Treasury Department is % report of the Coiiirnittee on Ways and Means, March 4, 18^4 i4«iNilos, 3%) n •• PAPER READ IN THE CABINET. 303 tand agaiu. As Congress stood there was no danger oi impeachment. His position, therefore, was simply that he was determined to do what he thought best to do, because there was no power at hand to stop him. On the 18th of September the President read, in the meeting of his cabinet, a paper prepared by Taney,* in which he argued that the deposits ought to be removed. The grounds were, the three per cents, the French bill, the political activity of the bank, and its unconstitu- tionality. He said that he would not dictate to the Secretary, but he took all the responsibility of deciding that, after October 1st, no more public money should be deposited in the bank, and that the current drafts should withdraw all money then in it. Daane refused to give the order and refused to resign. He was dismissed, September 23d. Taney was transferred to the Treas- ury.- He gave the order. Taney told Kendall that he was not a politician, and that, in taking a political office, he sacrificed his ambition, which was to be a judge of the Supreme Court.^ Duane at once published the final correspondence between the President and liimself, in which he gave fifteen reasons why the deposits ought not to be removed.^ One of them was, " I believe that the efforts made in various quarters to hasten the re- moval of the deposits did not originate with patriots or statesmen, but in schemes to promote factious and self- ish purposes." The administration press unmediately turned upon Duane with fierce abuse. The removal of the deposits was a violent and unnec- sssaiy step, even from Jackson's stand-point, as Lema tried to persuade him.^ The bank had no chance of a ' Tyler's Tan^y, 204. Kendaa's J'i(o6i:»yrat»%386. « 45 Nilos. 336. * Lewis in 3 I drtou. 506. :.04 ANDREW JACKSON. recharter, unless one is prepared to believe that it could and vrould buy enough congressmen to get a two-tliirds majority. If it had been willing to do that, it had enough money of its own for the purpose, even after the de})osits were withdrawn. The removal caused a great commotion, — even a panic.^ Bank stock fell one and one half per cent at New York. But it recovered when the paper read in the cabinet was received, because the gi'ounds were only the old charges. The public con- fidence in the bank had not been shaken by the charges, investigations, and reports. The bank replied to the President's paper by a long manifesto, in which it pur- sued him point by point.^ No doubt Biddle \^Tote this paper. In order to defend the bank in the matter of the three per cents, he resorted to the tactics noticed before. He said that there was heavy indebtedness to Eurof)e in 1832, on account of the importations of 1831. He wanted to prevent an exportation of sjiecie and give the country leisure to pay that debt. He says that the bank was at ease, and would have kept quiet if it had considered only its own interests. Nothing less than the movements wliich involve continents and cover years will do for him to explain his policy. No motive less than universal benevolence will suffice to account for the action of the bank. These pretences were, as similar ones almost always are, not true. The average monthly balance in the bank, to the credit of the Treasury, from 1818 to 1833, was S6.7 million. In 1832 it was $11.3 million. In 1833 it was $8.5 million. In SejDtember, 1833, it was $9.1 million.' Kendall reported to a cabinet meeting tlif results of his negotiations with the banks. One bani - 45 Niles. 6.*:. 2 45 Niles. 248. 3 Document H. DISORDER IN THE FISCAL SYSTEM. 305 was objected to " on political grounds." ^ Twenty-three were selected before the end of the year. The chanct for favoritism was speedily perceived. The first in- tention was to use the Bank of the Metropolis, Washing- ton, as the head of the system of deposit banks, although no system was devised. In fact, the administration had taken the work of destruction in hand with great vigor, but it never planned a system to take the place of the old one. The Bank of the United States had, of course, been compelled to devise its own measures for carrying on the business of the Treasury, so far as it was charged with that business. The Treasury was now forced to oversee, if it did not originate, the system of relations between the deposit banks. January 30, 1834, Silas Wright made a statement which was understood to be authoritative. He said that the Executive had entered again ujDon the control of the public money which be- longed to him before the national bank was chartered ; that the administration would bring forward no law to regulate the deposits, but that the Executive would pro- ceed with the experiment of using state banks. Webster expressed strong disapjiointment and disapproval, claim- ing that there should be a law.^ March 18, 1834, Web- ster proposed a bill to extend the charter of the Bank of the United States for six years, without mono^Doly, the public money to be deposited in it, it to pay to the Treasury $200,000 annually on March 4th, none of its notes to be for less than S20.00. The bank men would not agreo to su23port it. It was tabled and never called ap.^ April 15, 1834, six mop*.hs after the deposits -were 1 Kendall's Aittobiographi/, 387. 2 ^^ Niles, 400. 8 46 Niles, 52 ; 1 Curtis's Webster, 485 ; 4 Webster's Work«. It. 90 306 ANDREW JACKSON. removed, Taney sent to the Committee on Ways and Means a plan for the organization of the deposit hank system, but it was a mere vague outline.^ December 15, 1834, Woodbury sent in a long essay on currency and banking, but no positive scheme or arrangement. It was not until June, 1836, that the system was regu- lated by measures aiming at efficiency and responsibility. Taney desired that Kendall should be president of the Bank of the Metropolis and organize the system, but Kendall's readiness, which had not before failed, had now reached its limit. The Bank of the Metropolis was then asked to admit Whitney as agent and corre- spondent of the deposit banks. The bank refused to do this, and the plan of making that bank the head was given up.^ The banks were recommended to employ Wliitney as agent and correspondent at Washing-ton for their dealings with the Treasury. He was thus placed in a position of great power and influence. He did not escape the charge of having abused it, and an investigar tion, in 1837, produced evidence very adverse to his good character. Part of the correspondence between him and the banks was then published. From that cor- respondence it is plain that the chief argument brought to support an application for a share of the deposits, or other favor, was devotion to Jackson and hatred of the Bank of the United States.^ It is not proven that the deposits were ever used by the Bank of the United States for any political purpose whatever. It is cod- elusively proven that the deposits were used by Jack- son's administration, through Whitney's agency, to re- ward adherents and to mn supporters. The first banki 1 4<5 Niles. 157. - Kendall's Autobiography, 388. " 5? Niles ri THE TRANSFER DRAFTS. 307 nrliich took up the system also, in some eases, used the deposits which were given to them to put themselves in the position which they were recjuired, by the theory of the deposit system, to occupy. Taney assumed that the Bank of the United States would make a spiteful attempt to injure the deposit banks by calling on them to pay balances. It was then considercnl wrong and cruel for one bank to call on another to pay balances promptly. Taney, therefore, placed some large drafts on the Bank of the United States in the hands of officers of the dej^osit banks at New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, so that they might offset any such ma- licious demand. Otherwise, the drafts were not to be used. The bank took no steps which afforded even a pretext for using these drafts, but the president of the Union Bank of Maryland cashed one of them for $100,000 a few days after he got it, and used the money in stock speculations.^ For fear of scandal this act was passed over by the Executive, but it led to an investiga- tion by Congress. Taney was a stockholder in the Union Bank.^ The Manhattan Company used one of these drafts for $500,000.^ Taney claimed the power to make these transfers. He referred it back to a pre- cedent set by Crawford,^ who, in his turn, when he had been called to account for it, had referred it back to Gallatin. The source of the stream, however, was not 1 Kendall's Aatohiographj , 389. Cf. Document H. page 339 It is well worth while to read these two passages together in Drder to see how much deceit there was in tne proceedings about the removal of the deposits 2 Quincy's Adams, 227. lie sold his stock Feoruary 18, 18.%4 Document M.) 8 Document H. Documeut F. 508 ANDREW JACKSON. Gallatin, but "William Jones, Acting Secretary.* ITi* baneful effects of the large surplus of public money are plain enough. At the session of 1833-34 the message alleged, as the occasion of removing the deposits, the report of the government directors of the bank, which showed, as Jackson said, that the bank had been turned into an electioneering engine. ) It was never alleged that the bank had spent money otherwise than in distributing Gallatin's pamphlet on currency, McDuffie's report of 1830, and similar documents. Some might think that it was not wise and right for the bank so to defend it- self, since politics were involved ; but its judge was now the most interested party in the contest, the one to whom that offence would seem most heinous, and he insisted on Imposing a penalty at his own discretion, on an ex •parte statement of liis own aj)pointees, and a penalty which could not be considered appropriate or duly measured to the offence. He also charged the bank with manufacturing a panic. Taney reported " his " reasons for the removal. He argued that the Secretary must discharge his duties under the supervision of the President ; that the Secretary alone had power to re- move the deposits ; that Congress could not order it to be done ; that the Secretary could do it, if he thought best, for any reason, not necessarily only when the bank had misconducted itself. He jjut the removal wliich had beon executed on the ground of public interest. The people had shown, in the election, that they did not Vrant the bank rechartered. It was not best to remove 1 American State Papers, 4 Finance, 266, 279. Cf 1 Gal latin's Writings, 80. It has been asserted that Hamilton nset she same power. (lugersoll 279. Cf. 6 Hamilt')u's Works. 175,' WAR WITH THE SENATE. 809 die deposits suddenly when the charter should expire. He blamed the bank for increasing its loans from De- cember 1, 1832, to August 2, 1833, from $61.5 million to $64.1 million, and then reducing them, from that date until October 2, 1833, to $60 million. He said that the bank had forfeited public confidence, had excluded the government directors from knowledge to which they were entitled, had shown selfishness in the affair of the French bill, had done wrongly about the three per cents, had granted favors to editors^and had distributed docu- ments to control elections, ^e favored the use of the state banks as fiscal agents of the government/ December 9th the bank memorialized Congress against the removal of the deposits as a breach of contract. A great struggle over the bank question occupied the whole session. The Senate refused, 25 to 20, to confirm the reappointment of the government directors, who were said to have acted as the President's spies. Jackson sent the names in again with a long message,^ and they were rejected, 30 to 11. Taney's appointment as Secre- tary of the Treasury was rejected, to Jackson's great indignation. Taney was then nominated for judge of the Supreme Court, and again rejected. Marshall died in July, 1835. Taney was appointed Chief Justice, De- cember 28, 1835, and confirmed, March 15, 1836. December 11th Clay moved a call for a copy of the paper read in the cabinet. Jackson refused it on the ground that Congress had no business with it. The document, in fact, had no standing in our system of government. It was another extension of personal government, by the adoption of a Napoleonic procedure. The Emperor made known his vill by a letter of in 1 46 Niles, 180. 310 ANDREW JACKS Oy. Btinictions to his minister, and this, when published informed the public. Jackson used liis " paper read in khe cabinet " in just that way. By publishing it he violated the secrecy and privilege of the cabinet, and made it a public document, but when it was called for he fell back on cabinet privilege.^ If Jackson's doctrine was sound, there would be modes of froverninof this country without any responsibility to Congress, and the " cabinet," as such, would come to have recognized functions as a body for registering and publisliing the rescripts of the President. It was a thoroughly con- sistent extension of the same doctrine that Jackson, in his reply, in which he refused to comply with the call of the Senate, professed his responsibility to the Amer- ican people, and liis willingness to explain to them the grounds of his conduct. Such a profession was an insult to the constitutional organ of the mind and will of the American peojDle worthy of a military autocrat, and al- though it might have a jingle which would tickle the ears of men miseducated by the catch-words of democ- racy, a people which would accept it as a proper and lawful expression from their executive chief would not yet have learned the alphabet of constitutional govern- ment. In January, 1834, Jackson seiit in a message com- plaining that the bank still kept the books, papers, and funds belonging to the pension agency with which it had Hitherto been charged. The Senate voted, May 26th, 26 to 17, that the Secretary of War Imd no authority to remove the pension funds from the bank. Clay introduced resolutions which finally took thif *hape : '' Resolved, (1) That the President, in the lat# 1 45 Niles, 247. CENSURE OF JACKSON. 311 Mceciitive proceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assunietl upon himself authority and power not con- ferred by the Constitution and the laws, but in deroga tion of both. (2) That the reasons assigned by the Secretaiy for the removal are unsatisfactory and insuf- ficient." Benton offered a resolution that Biddle should be called to the bar of the Senate to give the reasons for the recent curtailments of the bank, and to answer for the use of its funds for electioneering.-' January 5, 1834, Webster reported from the Committee on Finance in regard to the removal of the deposits. Clay's second resolution was at once adopted, 28 to 18. March 28th the first resolution was adopted, 26 to 20. April 15th, Jackson sent in a protest against the latter resolution. The Senate refused to receive it, 27 to 16, declaring it a breach of privilege. The main points in the protest were that the President meant to maintain intact the rights of the Executive, and that the Senate would be the judges in case of impeachment, but for that reason ought not to express an oi^inion until the House saw fit to impeach. The bank charter provided that the Secre- tary should rejDort his reasons to Congress. On the doctrine of the protest, however, one House of Congress coidd adopt no expression of opinion on the report sub- mitted, because it must wait for the other. The ad- ministration press kept up truculent denunciations of the Senate all winter. The " Pennsylvanian " said : " The democrats never heartily sanctioned it, and now, having the power, should amend or get rid of it once and for- jver."^ The New York " S'ia.idard " called the seuar '.ors " usurpers." ^ 1 45 Niles, 332. 2 45 Niles, 131. « fhid. 147. 812 ANDREW JACKSON. >'^The debates of the winter were acrimonious in the extreme. Probably no session of Congi-ess before 1860—61 was marked by such fierce contention in Con- gress and such excitement out-of-doors. Chevalier, who was an acute and unprejudiced observer, said that the speeches of the administration men resembled the French republican tirades of 1791-92. They had the same distinguishing trait, — emphasis. " Most generally Ihe i)ictures ])resented in these declamations are fantas- tical delineations of the moneyed aristocracy overnin- ning the country, with seduction, corruption, and slavery in its train, or of Mr. Biddle aiming at the crown." ^ The chief weapon of debate was emphasis instead of fact and reason. With an " old liero " to sujDport and the " money power " to assail, the politicians and orators of the emphatic school had a grand opportunity. There is also an unformulated dogma, which seems to command a great deal of faith, to this efEect, that, if a man is only sufficiently ignorant, his whims and notions constitute " plain common sense." There are no questions on which this dogma acts more perniciously than on ques- tions of banking and currency. Wild and whimsical notions about these topics, propounded with vehemence and obstinacy in Congress, helped to increase the alarm put-of-doojj^ 'Senators Bibb, of Kentucky, and White, of Tennes- see, went into opposition. .Calhoun, also, for the time, allied himself' heartily with the opposition. The Virginia Legislature passed resolutions condemn mg the dismissal of Duane and the removal of the da posits. In pursuance of the dogmas of Virginia demoo •Bcy, Rives, senator from that State and supporter of th« ^ Chevalier, 61. EXPUNGING AND INSTRUCTIONS. 813 idministration measures, resigned. B. "W. Leigh was elected in his place. As soon as the resolution of censure was passed, Ben- ton gave notice of a motion to expunge tlie same from the records. He introduced such a resolution at the next session, and the Jackson i)arty was more finnly consoli- dated tlian ever before in the determinatioj to carry it. Tlie personal element was present in that enterprise, with the desu'e for revenge, and tlie wish to demonstrate loyalty. March 3, 1835, the words " ordered to be ex- punged " were stricken from Benton's resolution, 39 to 7, and the resolution was tabled, 27 to 20. The agita- tion was then carried back into the state elections, and " expunging " came to be a test of party fealty. Ben- ton renewed the motion December 26, 1836. The Leg- islature of Virginia adopted instructions in favor of it. John Tyler would not vote for it, and resigned. Leigh would not do so, and would not resign. He never re- covered party standing.^ Rives was sent back in Tyler's place. This martyrdom and Tyler's report on the bank, mentioned below, made Tyler Vice-President.^ The vice of the doctrine of instructions was well illustrated in these proceedings. If the Virginia doctrine were ad- mitted, senators would be elected, not for six years, but until the politics of the State represented might change. The senator would not be a true representative, under the theory of representative institutions, but a delegate, or ambassador. It would be another victory of purd democracy over constitutional institutions. The administration had a majority in the Senate in 1836, but Benton says that a caucus was held on expung ^ See his letter of reply ; [,0 Niles, 28. 2 Wise, 158. B14 ANDREW JACKSON. uig. The resolution was passed, 24 to 19, that blacL ines should be drawn around the record on the journal 1)1 the Senate, and that the words " expunged, by order of the Senate, this 16tli day of January, 1837," should be written across it. It was a great personal victory for Jackson. The Senate had risen uj) to condemn hun for sometliing which he had seen fit to do, and he had suc- cessfully resented and silenced its reproof. It gratified him more than any other incident of the latter part of his life. It was still another step forward in the de- velopment of his political methods, according to which his personality came more and more into play as a political force, and the constitutional institutions of the country were set aside. The day after the resolution was expunged, leave was refused, in the House, to bring in a resolution that it is unconstitutional to expunge any part of any record of either House.* March 4, 1834, Polk rei)orted from the Committee on Ways and Means on the removal of the deposits, sup- porting Jackson and Taney in aU their positions. He offered four resolutions, which were passed, April 4th; as follows : (1) that the bank ought not to be re chartered, 132 to 82 ; (2) that the deposits ought not to be restored, 118 to 103 ; (3) that the state banks ought to be depositories of the jDublic funds, 117 to 105 ; (4) that a select committee should be raised on the bank and the commercial crisis, 171 to 42. The com- 1 There was a case of expuugins: in Jefferson's time. A re.<*- jlutiou which had been passed contained a statement that cer- tain filibusters thought that they had executive sanction. This was expi;no:ed. (1 Adams, 439.) A case is mentioned in Massiv ehusetts. Quincy's resolution ap^ainst rej'iicing' in naval victoriei was expunged. (Ingersoll, 23.) For a discussion of other prece jents ses the speeches of Hives and Leiyh. {.50 Niles, 168, 173- REPORTS OF 1834. 816 mittee last mentioned reported May 22d.* The ma- jority said that the bank had resisted all their attempts to investigate. They proposed tliat the directors should be arrested and brought to the bar of the House. The position of the bank seemed to be, at this time, thai since the bank charter was to expire and the deposits had been withdrawn, any further investigations were only vexatious. The minority of the committee (Ed- ward Everett and W. W. Ellsworth) reported that the committee had made improper demands, and that the instruction given to the committee to examine the ban.1 in regard to the commercial crisis was based on im proper assumptions. The Senate, June 30th, instructed, the Committee on Finance to make another iirvestiga tion of all the allegations against the bank made b' Jackson and Taney in justification of the removal. Tha* committee reported December 18, 1834, by Jolm Tyler.^ The report goes over all the points, with conclusions favorable to the bank on each. The time was long gone by, however, when anybody cared for reports. The excitement about the removal of the deposits was greatly exaggerated. The public was thrown into a panic, because it did not quite see what the effect would be. It is untrue that the bank made a panic, and it is untrue to say that there was no real crisis. The statistics >f loans, etc., which the hostile committees were fond of gathering, proved nothing, because they proved anything. If the bank loans increased, the bank was extending its loans to curry favor. If they decreased, the bank was punishing the public, and making a panic. As bank cans always fluctuate, the argument nev^r slackened. Vhe figures appended to Tyler's rej on cover the whol« » 46 Niles, 221. 225. - Document I. 316 ANDREW JACKSON. history of the bank. There are no fluctuations there which can be attributed to malicious action by the bank Th5 root of all the wrong-doing of the bank, out oi which sprang nearly all the charges which were in any measure just, was in the branch drafts and the bad banking in the West. The loans increased up to May, 1832, when they were $70.4 million. The increase, so far as it was remarkable, was in the Western branches. The operation of the " racers " is also distinctly trace- able in the accounts of the parent bank and some of the branches. The effect of the general restraint imposed can also be seen, and the movement can be traced by which the bank, drawing back f^om the perilous position into which it was drifting in 1832, got its branches into better condition, and improved its whole status from October, 1832, to October, 1833. It was this course which afforded all the grounds for the charge of panic- making. The bank was very strong when the deposits were removed. The loans were $42.2 million; domestic exchange, $17.8 million ; foreign exchange, $2.3 mill- ion ; specie, $10.6 million ; due from state banks, $2.2 million ; notes of state banks, $2.4 million ; pub- lic deposits, $9 million ; private deposits, $8 million ; circulation, $19.1 million. It also held real estate worth $3 million. During the winter of 1833-34 there was a stringent money market and commercial distress. The state banks were in no condition to take the public deposits. They were trying to strengthen themselves, and to put themselves on the level of the Treasury re- '^uirements in the hope of getting a share of the deposits. [t was they who operated a bank contraction during tha» irinter. i It was six months, and then only by the favo» COMMERCIAL CRISIS. 311 *nd concession of the Treasury, before the local banks, " pet banks " as they soon came to be called, could get into a position to take the place of the Bank of the United States.^ This was the "chaos" into which Duane, like an honest man, and man of sense, had re- fused to plunge the fiscal interests of the country. The administration, however, charged everything to Biddle and the bank. Petitions were sent to Conjrress. Benton and the others said that there was no crisis, and that the petitions were gotten up for effect, to frighten Jackson into restoring the dej)osits. The proofs of the genuineness and severity of the crisis, in the forty-fifth volume of " Niles's Register," are amjDle. In January, 1834, exchange on England was at one hundred and one and a half (par one hundred and seven) ; capital was loaning at from one aiid a half per cent to three per cent per month ; bank-notes were quoted at varying rates of discount.^ Delegations went to Washington to represent to Jackson the state of the country. He be- came violent ; told the delegations to go to Biddle ; that he had all the money ; that the bank was a " mon- ster," to which all tlie trouble was due. In answer to a delegation from Philadelphia, February 11, 1834, Jack- Eon sketched out the buUionist programme, which the administration pursued from this time forth as an off- set to the complaints about the removal of the deposits.^ Up to this time it had been supposed that Jackson rather leaned to paper-money notions. He now pro- posed, as an "experiment" (so he called it), to induce 1 46 Niles, 133. ^ Taney made the first oflSc.al statement of the plan of the ad luiiL5tration iu a letter to the Coin.iiit.ee ^n Wa/s and Means, vpril 15, 1834. B18 ANDREW JACKSON. the banks, by promising them a share in the deposits, to give up the use of notes under $5.00, later to do away with all under $10.00, and finally to restrict bank-notes to 820.00 and upwards, so as to bring about a circulation of which a reasonable part should be specie. The no- tion was good as far as it \vent, but had precisely the fault of a good financial notion in the hands of incompe- tent men ; the scheme did not take into account all the consequences of distributing the deposits as proposed. It persuaded the banks to conform to external rules about circulation, but, under the circumstances, these rules did not have the force they were supposed to have, and the bank loans were stimulated to an enormous in- flation, wliich threw the whole business of the country into a fever, and then produced a great commercial crisis. For a short period, in the summer of 1834, the currency was in a very sound condition. The Bank of the United States was, by the necessity of its position, under strong precautions. The state banks, by their efforts to meet the Treasury requirements, were stronger than ever before. The popular sentiment, however, had now swnns: over asain to the mania for banks. Each district wanted a deposit bank, so as to get a share in the stream of wealth from the public Treasury. K a deposit could not be obtained, then the bank was formed in order to participate in the carnival of credit and specu- lation, for a non-dej)osit bank could manage its affairs as recklessly as it chose. The deposit banks speedily drew together to try to prevent any more from being admitted to share in the public deposits. The mania for bankinof was such that formal riots occurred at th« subscription to the stock of new banks.^ The favore(? 1 42 Niles, 257 ; 44 Niles, 371. See some of these facts an^ •■ke nse made of them in Brothers's Umt^H S*rUf.s p. ''n MAN /A FOR BAXKS. 319 few, who could subscribe the whole, sold to the rest at ftn advance. To be a commissioner was worth from $500 to $1,000.^ There was a notion, borrowed per- haps from the proceedings of the government of the United States in the organization of both national banks, that to make a bank was a resource by which a group of insolvent debtors could extricate themselves from their embarrassments. The Tamraany society being in debt, a plan was formed for paying the debt by making a bank.2 When the great five occurred in New York, De- cember, 1835, a proposition was made to create a bank as a mode of relieving the sufferers. ^To make a bank," said Niles, " is the great panacea for every ill that can befall the people of the United States, and yet it adds not one cent to the capital of the community."/ The effect of this multiplication of banks, and of the scramble between them for the public deposits, was that an enormous amount of capital wap arbitrarily distrib- uted over the country, according to political favoritism and local influence, and in entire disregard of the in- dustrial and commercial conditions./ The public debt was all paid January 1, 1835. After that date the pub- lic deposits increased with great rapidity, and there was no occasion to spend them. The state of things waa therefore this : an immense amount of capital was being collected by taxes, and then was being distributed to favored corporations, as a free loan for an indefinite period, on which they could earn profits by lending it at interest. No monster bank, under the most malicious management, could have produced as much harm, either political or financial, as this system produced wlule it lasted. 1 46 Niles, 188. ^ Mackeinzie, 7 J M9 Niles, 298. B20 ANDREW JACKSON. November 5, 1834, Secretary Woodbury informed the Bank of the United States that the Treasury would not receive branch drafts after January 1, 1835. This led to a spirited correspondence with Biddle, in which the latter defended the drafts as good, both in law and finance.^ In the message of 1834 Jackson recapitulated the old complaints against the bank, and recommended that, on account of its " liigh-handed proceedings," its notes should no longer be received by the Treasury, and that the stock owned by the nation should be sold. The session of 1834—35 was, however, fruitless as to banking and currency. January 12, 1835, on Benton's motion, the Committee on Finance was ordered to investigate the specie transactions of the bank. Tyler took fire at this, because it reflected on the report which he had just made. In \4ew of subsequent liistory, it is worth while to notice the profession of faith which was ch'a^vn from Tyler at this time. He said that he was opposed to any national bank on constitutional grounds, but that he was free from Jacksonism, and that he wanted to be just to the existing bank. January 10th Polk introduced a bill to forbid the receipt of notes of the Bank of the United States at the Treasury, unless the bank would pay at once the dividend which had been withheld in 1834. Bills were also proposed for regulating the deposits in the deposit banks. No action resulted. In the message of 1835 Jackson referred to the war which (as he said) the bank had waged on the govern- ment for four years, as a proof of the evil effects of such an institution. He declared that the bank belonged to R, system of distrust of the popular will as a regulator of political power, and to a policy which would supplan/ 1 Document J. REVIEW OF THE BANK WAR. 321 •UT system by a consolidated government. Here, then, at the end of the bank war, we meet again with the sec- ond of the theories of the bank which Ingham formulated in his letter to Biddle of October 5, 1829,^ at the be- ginning of the bank war. Ingham said that some peo- ple held tliat theory. The assumption that the bank held that theory concerning itself had been made the rule of action of the government, and the laws and ad- ministration of the country had been made to conform to that assumption as an established fact. At the ses- sion of 1835-36 an attempt was made to investigate the transactions of members of Congress with the bank. It was abandoned when Adams declared that a similar attempt in 1832 had been abandoned, because it cut Doth ways. ^ See page 240. 21 CHAPTER XrV. IPECUli^TION, DISTRIBUTION, CURRENCY LEGISLATION AND END (3F THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. In the spring of 1835 the phenomena of a period ol Bpeculation began to be distinctly marked. There was great monetary ease and prosperity in England and France, as well as here. Some imj)ortant improvements in machinery, the first railroads, greater political satisfac- tion and security, and joint stock banks were especially favorable elements which were then affecting France and England. The price of cotton advanced sharply dm'ing 1834-35. Speculation seized upon cotton lands in Mississippi and Louisiana, and on negroes. Next it affected real estate in the cities at wliich cotton was handled commercially. The success of the Erie Canal led to numerous enterprises of a like nature in Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Capital for these enterprises was not at hand. The States en deavored to draw the capital from Europe by the use of their credit. The natm^al consequence was great recklessness in contracting debt, and much " financier- ing " by agents and middle-men. The abundant and ".heap capital, here and abroad, of 1835-36 favored all the improvement enterprises. These enterprises were, however, in their nature, investments, returns from ivhich could not be expected for a long period. In Uie mf the act, and no note under S20.00 after March 3 1837, If the public deposits in any bank should ex 1 50 Nilea. 281. « 1 Curtis's Webster. 537. THE DEPOSIT AND DISTRIBUTION ACT. 327 eeed one fourth of the capital of the bank, it was to pay two per cent interest on the excess. No transfer of de posits from bank to bank was to be made by the Sec- retary, except when and because the convenience of the Treasury required it. In that case, he was to transfer from one deposit bank to the next deposit bank in the neighborhood, and so on ; i. e., not from one end of the country to the other. As to distribution, the bill pro- vided that all the money in the Treasury, January 1, 1837, in excess of $5 million, was to be deposited with the States in the proportion of their membership in the electoral college, and in four instalments, Januaiy, April, July, and October, 1837. The States were to give nego- tiable certificates of deposit, payable to the Secretary or his assigns on demand. If the Secretary should negoti- ate any certificate, it should bear five per cent interest frt)m the date of assignment. While not assigned, the certificates bore no interest.^ In his message of 1836 Jackson offered a long and very just criticism on this act. His objections were so pertinent and so strong that we are forced to believe that he did not veto only on account of the j)ending election. A number of doubtful States were " improve- ment States ; " that is, they had plunged recklessly into debt for canals, etc., which were not finished, and credit was declining while the money market was growing stringent. Those States were very eager (or, at least, many people in them were) to get the money in the fed- eral Treasury with wliich to go on with the works. Jackson argued in favor of the redaction and abolition nf all the taxes with wdiich the compromise tariff allowed !^ongress to deal, and he exposed completely the silly 1 50 Niles. 290 328 ANDREW JACKSON. device by which the whigs tried to justify distributiou separating the revenue in imagination, and pretending to distribute the jjart which came from hind. Jackson made a hime attempt to explain the recommendations which he had made in his early messages in favor of dis- tribution. He gave a table showing the effect of dis- tribution according to the ratio of membership in the electoral college as compared with that on the ratio of federal population. The small and new States gained enormously by the plan adopted. The best that can be said in excuse for distribution is that the surplus was doing so much mischief that the best thing to do with it was to tlirow it away. Unfort- unately, it could not be thrown away without doing other harm. We have already noticed the shocks given to the money market by the debt-paying ojjeration.-^ The removal of the de^iosits took place before that was com- pleted, and produced a new complication. The credit relations formerly existing towards and around the great bank were rudely cut off, and left to reconstruct them- selves as best they could. As soon as the new state of things had become a little established, there was an accu- mulation of a great surplus, nominally in the deposit banks, really loaned out to individuals, and fully en- gaged in speculative importations with credit for duties, or in speculative contracts payment on which was to be received in state bonds and scrip, or in still other inde- scribable repetitions of debt and contract. The capital, when thus fully absorbed, was next all called in again, in order to be transferred to the States. The States did not intend to loan the capital, they intended to spend it in public works ; that is, for the most part, corsidering ^ See page 271. STATE L EPOS IT FUNDS. 329 the acthfil facts as they existed, to sink it entiroly. In one way or another these funds were squandered by all the States, or worse than squandered, since they served corruption and abuse. In 1877 it was declared that the Controller of New York did not know what had become of the deposit fund of the State. For many years the commissioners of only nine counties had made any re- port. The Controller asked for $15,000 with which to find out what had become of the $4 million which was the share of New York. The fact that the funds were squandered was the least of the purely financial evils at- tendant on distribution. The effect on all the relations of capital, credit, and currency, that is, the effect on every man's rights and interests, was the most far-reach- ing and serious consequence. On the 1st of June, 1836,^ the deposit banks stood thus : capital, $16.4 million ; due to the Treasurer of the United States, $37.2 million ; due to public officers, $3.7 million ; circulation, $27.9 million ; other depos- its, $16 million ; due to other banks, $17.1 million. Contra : loans, $71.2 million ; domestic exchange, $37.1 million ; due from banks, $17.8 million ; notes of other banks, $10.9 million ; specie, $10.4 million. It appears then that these banks owed the United States $41 mill- ion, while their whole capital was only $46 million , that is to say, the j^ublic deposits furnished them with a capital nearly equal to their own. If their '' other depos its " had been all cash capital deposited, four elevenths of all their loanable funds would have been public de- posits, which would have Vjeen " called " by the act of June 23, 1836. It is also noti'eabie what a large sum IS due to and from other banks. The feeling that bank* ^ 50 Niles. 313. 830 AJSVUKW JACKSON. ought to forbear demands on each other seems to hava been an outgrowth of the war against the Bank of the United States. The consequence was that the banks were all locked together, and when the trouble came they all went down together. In December, 1836, Calhoun introduced another dis- tribution bill to distribute any surplus which might be in the Treasury on January 1, 1838. It was finally added as a " rider " to an appropriation bill, providing money for fortifications. The Senate passed the bill and rider, but the House rejected the whole. Clay also intro- duced another land distribution bill. Schemes of dis- tribution were great whig measures down to Tyler's time. The first and second instalments of the distribution of 1837 were paid in specie, in January and April. The commercial crisis began in March. The banks suspended in May. The third instalment was paid in notes in July. Before August the Treasury, which was giving away $35 million, was in the greatest straits. Van Buren was forced to call an extra session of Con- gress. That body had no more urgent business than to forbid the Secretary to negotiate any of his " deposit " certificates, or to call on any of the States for th© money deposited with them. The payment of the fourth in- stalment was postponed until January 1, 1839. At that date there was debt, not surplus, and the fourth Instalment never was paid. Congress has never re- called any part of the other three instalments. Even when the civil war broke out, it would not venture to do >his. The amount of the three instalments, $28 mill- ion, stands on the books as unavailable funds. The Secretary of the Treasury was obliged to draw his firs? SPECIE CURRENCY. 831 khree instalments where he could get them, so he drew them from the North and East, the banks of the South- west being really ruined. The fourth instalment re- mained due from the banks of the Southwestern States. It was years before any part of it could be recovered. The Southwestern States participated in the distribu- ion of the three instalments.^ Reference has been made above ^ to the plans of the administration for a specie currency, as a complement or offset to the removal of the deposits and destruction of the bank.^ Benton, who was the strongest bullionist in the administration circle, was under an exaggerated opinion of the efficacy of a metallic currency to prevent abuses of credit. A metallic currency is not liable to certain abuses, and it requires no skill for its manage- ment. In contrast witli paper, therefore, it is surer and safer. It, however, offers no guarantees against bad banking. At most it could relieve the non-capitalist wage-receiver from any direct share or risk in bad bank- ing. In contending against plutocracy democracy ought to put a metallic currency liigh up on its banner. The most subtle and inexcusable abuse of the public which has ever been devised is that of granting to corporations, without exacting an equivalent, the privilege of taking out of the circulation the value currency, for which the public must always pay, whether they get it or not, and putting into it their own promises to pay. The subtlety of this device and the fallacies which cluster about it and impose upon uneducated people are a full justification for men of democratic convictions, if they say : We do not understand it well enough to control it. We 1 See table, 53 Niles, 35. 2 gge page 317. • The Globe in 46 Nilea, 33 i. 882 ANDREW JACKSON, fannot spend time and attention to watch it. We will not allow it at all. Such confession of ignorance and abnegation of power, however, is hardly in the spirit of democracy. As a matter of history, the bullionist ten- dencies of a section of the Jacksonian party were at war with other parts of the policy of the same party, notably the distribution of the public deposits in eighty banks, with encouragement to loan freely. The opposition party, on the other hand, took up cudgels for banks and bank paper, as if there would be no currency if bank paper were withdrawn, and as if there would be no credit if there were no banks of issue. In their arguments against the bullionist party, they talked as if they believed that, if the public Treas- ury did its own business, and did it in gold, it would get possession of all the gold in the country, and that this would give it control of all the credit in the country, because the j)aper issue was based on gold. In 1834 the administration was determined to have a gold currency. The Committee on Ways and Means reported, April 22, 1834,^ that it was useless to coin gold while the Tating remained as it was fixed by the laws of 1792 and 1793. The coinage law had often been discussed before. Lowndes studied it and re- ported on it in 1819 ; J. Q. Adams in 1820. In 1830 Sanford, of New York, proposed a gold currency with subsidiary silver. In the same year Ingham made a report, recommending the ratio 1 : 15.625. In 1831 a coinage bill passed the Senate, but was not acted on in the House. At the session of 1831-32 White and Vej^ planck, of New York, wanted silver made sole money On account of the difficulty and delicacy of the subject 1 46 Niles, 159. BULLION MARKET. 333 iio action had been reached. In 1834 a new interest eanie in. The gold product of the Southern Alleghaniea was increasing. In 1832 there came to the mint from that region $678,000 value of gold, and in 1833 $868,000. There was a protectionist movement in be- half of gold, the interest of which was that gold should supplant silver, to which end an incorrect rating was desired.^ By the laws of 1792 and 1793 the gold eagle weighed 270 grains and was \\ fine. The silver dollar weighed 416 grains and was |f f | fine, givmg a ratio of 1 : 15. The market ratio was, from 1792 to 1830, about 1 : 15.6. Therefore gold was not money, but merchan- dise. From 1828 to 1833 the average premium on gold at Philadelphia was 4| per cent.^ The reports before Congress in 1834 showed that the real ratio was be- tween 1:15.6 and 1:15.8. The mint put 1:15.8 as the highest ratio admissible. Duncan, of Illinois, in a speech, showed that the ratio since 1821 had been, on an average, 1:15.625.^ These authorities were all disre- garded. The administration politicians had determined to have gold as a matter of taste, and the Southern gold interest wanted it. The law of June 28, 1834, made the gold eagle weigh 258 grains, of which 232 grains were to be pure ; fineness, .8992. The silver dollar was unaltered. The ratio of gold to silver, by tliis law, was therefore 1 : 16.002. The old eagles were worth in the new ones $10,681, or old gold coins were worth 94.827 cents per pennyweight in the new. Taking gold to silver at 1 : 15.625, an old silver dollar was worth $1,024 in the new gold one, and as the silver dollar had been the standard of prices and contracts, and the new gold one 1 Rrtguet, 236. a Ragnet 250. » 47 Niles, 29 334 ANDREW JACKSON. aow was such, the money of account had been depre- ciated 2\ per cent. In the new standard a pound ster- ling was worth, metal for metal, $4.87073, and if the old arbitrary par, £1 :=i: S4.44|, were 100, the true par of exchange woidd be 109.59. Of course the supposed gain to the gold producers from the incorrect rating was a pure delusion. They got no more goods for their gold than they would have got before, save in so far as the United States added some small increment to the previous demand in the whole world for gold. The bullion brokers won by exchanging gold coins for silver coins and exjDorting the latter. In December, 1834, Woodbury, who had become Secretary of the Treasury, gave the following statistics of the circulation on December 1st : state bank paper, from $57 million to $68 million ; Bank of the United States j)^Gr, $16 million ; gold, $4 million ; silver, $16 million ; total active circulation per head, $7.00. In bank : specie, $18^ million ; paper, $35 million ; grand total per head, $10.00.^ The currency was then in a very sound condition ^ The bank paper increased before the gold could be brought into circulation, and the gold currency never was made a fact. Silver rose to a premium, and was melted or exported.^ The new mint law therefore produced the inconvenience of driving out silver just when the administration was trying to abolish small notes. A gold dollar had been proposed in the new ^w, but the provision for it was stricken out. The silver dollars then on hand appear to have been aL flipped or worn.* The first which had been coined sinci 1 Document K. p. 64. - See page 318. » 47 Niles, 147. * 37 Xi'les, 393. THE *' SPECIE CIRCULAR.*' 835 1805 were coined in 1836.^ They could not, howeverj be kept in circulation. By the act of January 18, 1837, two tenths of a grain were added to the pure contents of the eagle. This made the fineness just .900. The pure contents of the silver dollar were left unaltered, but the gross weight was reduced to 412^^ grains, so that the fineness of this coin also was .900. The ratio of the metals in the coinage was then 1:15.988. One pound sterling was then worth $4.8665, or, if $4.44| be as- sumed 100, par of exchange was 109f . As soon as the crisis broke out, in 1837, all specie disappeared, and notes and tickets for the smallest denominations came into use. At the session of 1835-36 Benton tried to get a reso- lution passed that notliing but gold or silver should be taken for public lands. He did not succeed. After Congress adjourned, July 11, 1836, the Secretary of the Treasury issued, by the President's order, a circular to all the land offices, known afterwards as the " specie circular," ordering that only gold, or silver, or land scrip should be received for public lands. The occa- sion for tliis order was serious. The sales of public lands were increasing at an extraordinary rate. Lands weve sold for $4.8 million in 1834 ; for $14.7 million m 1835 ; for $24.8 million in 1836. The receipts for the lands consisted largely of notes of irresponsible banks. Land speculators organized a " bank," got it ap- pointed a deposit bank if they could, issued notes, bor- rowed them and bought land ; the notes were deposited, they borrowed them again, and so on indefinitely. The ^arantees required of the lejDOsit banks were idle %gainst such a scheme. There was, of course, little 1 51 Niles 241. 536 ANDREW JACKSON. Kpecie in the West on account of the flood of papei there. The circular caused inconvenience, and bad temper on the part of those who were checked in theii transactions. It also caused trouble and expense in transporting specie from the East, and it no doubt made a demand for specie in the East against the banks there. In the existing state of the Eastern banks, this demand was probably just the touch needed to push down the rickety pretense of solvency wliicli they were keeping up. Specie could not be drawn in from Europe, except by a great fall in prices and a large contraction of the currency. Either through demand for specie or fall in prices, the inflated currency must collapse, and the crisis was at hand. IMoreover, the banks were un- der notice to surrender, on January 1st, one fourth of the public deposits. Thousands of people who were carrying commodities or property for a rise, or who were engaged in enterprises, to finish which they de- pended on bank loans, found themselves arrested by the exorbitant rate for loans. The speculative period in England had also run its course, and the inflation here could no longer be sustained by borrowing there. FroiD all these facts, it is plain that the specie circular may have played the role of the spark which produces an ex plosion when all the conditions and materials have been prepared ; but those who called the circular the cause of the crisis made a mistake which is only too common in the criticism of economic events. A similar circular was issued in Adams's administration, wliich has hardly been noticed.^ There was a great deal of outcry agains* he President for high-handed proceedings in this mat- ter, Viit without reason. There were only two forms o 1 7 Adams. 427. WINDING UP THE UNITED STATES BANK. 337 ■currency which were at this time hy law receivable foi »ands, — si)ecie and notes of specie value.^ The notes rrhich were beins: received in the West were not of specie value. A bill to annul the specie circular passed the Senate, 41 to 5, and the House, 143 to 59. The President sent it to the State Department at 11.45 P. M., March 3, 1837, and filed his reasons for not signing it, it having been sent to him less than ten days before the end of the session. His reason for not signing the bill was that it was obscure. The charter of the Bank of the United States was to expire March 3, 1836. The history of the internal affairs of the bank, after Tyler's report in 1834, was not known to the public until 1841, when committees of the stockholders published reports, from which we are able to state the internal history of the bank in its true liistorical connection. March 6, 1835, by a resolution of the directors, the exchange committee was directed to loan the capital of the bank, so fast as it should be re- leased, on call on stock collateral. The exchange com- miteee, from this time on, secured entire control of the bank. During the year 1835 branches were sold for bonds having from one to five years to run. Down to November, fifteen branches had been sold.^ In No- vember projects began to be talked about for getting a state charter from Pennsylvania.^ There was a great deal of jealousy at this time between New York and Pliiladelphia. There was a proposition for a great fifty- million-dollar bank at New York, and it seemed that if 1 Eeport by Silas Wright, May 16 .838, with history of the laws about currency receivable at the Treasury, 55 Niles, iu6 a 49 Niles, 182. » 49 Niles, 162. 838 ANDREW JACKSON. Philaclelpliia lost her bank, and New York got one, thk financial hegemory would be permanently transferred In December, 1835, after the great fii'e in New York, the Bank of the United States was asked to give aid. It dii so by opening credits for S2 million in favor of the insurance companies.^ The act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, by which the United States Bank of Pennsylvania was chartered, is, on its face, a piece of corrupt legislation. Its cop- ruption was addressed to the people of the State, not to private individuals. It comprised three projects in an obvious log-rolling combination, — remission of taxes, public improvements, and bank charter. The bank was chartered ^ for thirty years. It was to pay a bonus of $2^ million, pay $100,000 per year for twenty years for schools, loan the State not over a million a year in tem- porary loans at four per cent, and subscribe $640,000 to railroads and turnpikes. Personal taxes were re- pealed by other sections of the bill, and $1,368,147 were appropriated, out of the bank bonus, for various canals and turnpikes. Either this bill was corruptly put together to win strength by enlisting local and per- sonal interests in favor of it, or else the Pennsylvanians, having got their big bank to themselves, set to work to plunder it. The charter passed the Senate, 19 to 12, ^nd the House, 57 to 30.^ Inasmuch as the democrats aad a majority in the Senate, it was charged that private corruption had passed the bill. An investigation re- sulted in nothing. There was found, in 1841, an entry, of about the date of the charter, of $400,000 expendi- ture, vouchers for which could not be produced."* Biddle i *: Niles, 307. ' 49 Niles, 377, 396. ♦9 Niles, 434. '» Second report, 1841, 60 Nilea, 2M RETROSPECT OF THE BANK WAR. 38 S represented the case as if ihe proposition that the State should charter the bank had orijnnated with leading members of the Legislature, who asked the bank if it would accejDt a state charter.^ The act was dated February 18, 1836. The bank accej)ted the charter, and presented a service of plate to Biddle.^ In the story of the bank war, which has been given in the preceding images, the reader has perceived that the writer does not believe that Jackson's administration had a case against the bank, or that the charges it made were proven. To say this is to say that Jackson's ad- ministration unjustly, passionately, ignorantly, and with- out regard to truth assailed a great and valuable financial institution, and caluminated its management. Such was the opinion of jieople of that generation, at least until March 3, 1836. Jackson's charges against the bank were held to be not proven. The effect of them naturally was to make confidence in the bank blind and deaf. In January, 1836, when it was ex- pected that the bank would wind up m two months, its stock stood at 116. For four years afterwards, nothing seemed able to destroy j^ublic confidence in the bank. One tiling alone suggests a doubt, and makes one hold back from the adoption of a positive judgment in favor of the bank, even down to the end of its national char- ter : that is, a doubt of Biddle's sincerity. If he was not sincere, we have no measure for the degree of mis- 'epresentation there may have been in his jDlausible statements and explanations, or for how much may have been hidden under the financial exj^ositions he was so fond of making, and which were, liKe the expositions of \ juggler, meant to mystify the audience still more. ^ Biddle to Adams, 51 Niles, 230. 2 4* Niles, 441. 840 ANDREW JACKSON-. The final catastrophe of the bank has always affected the judgment which all students of its history have formed of the merits of its strufjole with Jackson. The Jackson men always claimed that the end proved that Jackson and his coterie were right all the time. Tliig has probably been the general verdict. The whigs felt the weight of the inference, and they tried to distin- guish between the Bank of the United States and the United States Bank of Pennsylvania. A little reflec- tion Avill show that both these views are erroneous. A bank may go on well and be sound for twenty years, and then go wrong. It may make mistakes and re- cover, and then make more mistakes and perish. We must go by the facts all the way along. The state bank and the national bank of the United States had an unbroken life. The attempt to save one and condemn the other, aside from an investigation of the merits, is a partisan proceeding. It is not sound historically or financially. We have now reached as just an opinion as we can form about the bank up to the time of its state charter. The bank started on its new career under very bad auspices. It never threw off the suspicion which at- tached to its legislative birth. It was too laroe for its new sphere, yet pride prevented its reduction. It had other aims than to wan profits by sound banking. It wanted to prove itself necessary, or to show itself a public benefactor, or to sustain the rivalry of Philadel- phia with New York. Biddle, freed from the restraints of the old organization, launched out into sensational banking, and tested his theories of banking to th* Utmost. There is scarcely anything vicious and un •ouni in banking which the great bank did not illustratt UNITED STATES BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA. 341 during the next five years. Its officers plundered it. Its end was so iunoniinious that no one wanted to re- member that he had ever believed in it. On the 1st of February, 183G, the account of the bank ^ showed a surplus of ST. 8 million, which was ex- pected to pay off the bonus, notes, etc. There were S20 million loaned on stocks, and there was the state bonus, the oovernment stock, and the circulation of the old bank to be paid. New stock was sold to pay off the government stock. £1 million were borrowed in Lon- don, and 12.5 million francs in Paris."^ Jaudon was sent to England as agent of the bank. In May, the money market at New York being very stringent, the bank was asked for aid, which it gave.^ By an act of June '15, 1836, Congress repealed the 14th section of the bank charter. This put an end to the receipt of the notes of the old bank by the Treasury, and crippled the circulation of the bank. In October there was a report that the bank would surrender its state charter if it could get back its bonus.'* In that same month, however, Biddle wrote another letter to Adams to show the A^'rong of trying to rejieal the state charter. June 23d, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to treat with the bank for the payment of the govern- ment stock. No agreement was reached, but, February 25, 1837, the bank sent a memorial to the Speaker, in wliich it offered to pay off the public shares, at $115.58 per share, in four instalments, September, 1837-38- 39-40. This proposition was accepted March 3, 1837, ind the instalments w^ere all paid. In his message, 1836, Jackson discharged a lasl 1 60 Niles, 106. 2 Y\x&t report, 841, 60 Niles, 106. • 50 Nilea, 267. * 51 Niles, 113. 342 ANDREW JACKSON. broadside at the bank. He seemed to be as angry that the bank had escaped annihilation as he was in 1818 that Billy Bowlegs got across the Suwanee river. He complained tliat the bank had not paid off the public stock, and was reissuing its old notes. This latter pro- ceeding was stopped by an act of July 6, 1838. The bank failed three times during the years of commercial distress which followed, namely, May 10, 1837, with aU the other banks ; October 9, 1839, when it carried down with it all which had resumed, except those in New York and a few in New England ; February 4, 1841, when it was entirely mined. Its stockholders lost all their capital. Biddle had resigned March 29, 1839, but he had been 60 identified with the bank that its ruin was attributed to him. He fell into disgrace. He was arraigned for conspu'acy to plunder the stockholders, but escaped on a technicality. He died, insolvent and broken-hearted, February 27, 1844, aged fifty-eight.^ Webster declared, in 1842, that a bank of the United States founded on a private subscription was an " obso- lete idea ; " ^ but perhaps the unkindest cut of all wag that the Whig Almanac for 1843 could refer to " Nick Biddle " as a rascal, and to " his bank " as one which was " corruptly managed." 1 Ingersoll, 285 ; a very touching description of Biddle '• lad rears. « 2 Webster's Works, 135. CHAPTER XV. tHIC KEW SPIKIT IN VARIOUS POINTS OF FOREIGPf AJTD DOMESTIC POLICY. The neglect of France to fulfil the stipulations of the treaty of July 4, 1831, offered the occasion for the most important diplomatic negotiation in which Jackson was engaged. In his message of 1834, he gave a full ac- count of the treaty and of the neglect of the French Chambers, at two sessions, to appropriate money to meet engagements which had been made, on behalf of the French nation, by the constitutional authorities of France. The King had shown strong personal interest in the matter,^ and had exerted himself to secure a satisfactory settlement and to prevent any bad feeling from arising between the two nations. In the meari time the United States had reduced the duties on wine, according to the engagement in the treaty, by an act of July 13, 1832, and France was getting the benefit of the treaty without performing her share of it. It seemed to Jackson that this state of things called for spirited action. Moreover, Livingston wrote a very important dispatch from Paris, November 22, 1834,^ in which he laid that there was a disposition in France to wait and iee what the message would be ; also that the moderate - Livingston's dispatch, 47 Niles, 417 Kires came hcwe in 1831. Livingston went out in 1833. « 47 Niles, 417. f^44 ANDREW JACKSON. tone of the United States up to this time had had a bad effect. " From all this you may imagine the anxiety I shall feel for the airival of the President's message* On its tone will depend very much, not only the pay- ment of our claims, but our national reputation for energy." If Jackson had made a bad effect by toe great moderation, that was precisely the error he knev how to correct, and our " reputation for energy " wa>s just what he was prepared to sustain. Accordingly he prepared his message for 1834. The Due de Broglie, the French minister, afterwards declared that the ap- propriation would have been passed in December, 1834, if cojDies of this message had not been just then received. Jackson was under erroneous information as to the time of meetinof of the French Chambers. The Due de Broglie had also, in the March previous, when the bill drawai by the American Treasury went to protest, found fault with the American government for selling the bill to a bank, instead of receiving the money through a liplomatic agent. ■^ He argued that the United States Dught not to have regarded the treaty as definitive until all the organs of the French government had assented to it. In his message, before mentioned, Jackson suggested that, if Congress inferred from the inaction of France that she did not intend to fulfil the treaty, it might pro- ceed to measures of coercion, amongst which he men- tioned, as suitable and ''peaceable," reprisals. He proposed that a law should be passed authorizing re- prisals, if France should neglect the fulfilment of the reaty beyond a certain time. He added that this sug gestion ought not to be regarded by France as a '* menace." Chevalier thought that Jackson, having 1 47 Niles, 327. RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 345 aad his bout with the iiullifiers, found his blood heatea md his appetite for war reawakened ; that he satisfied this appetite first in the banlc war, and then in th(< difficulty with France.-^ The message caused great excitement in France. The French joui-nals all regarded it as a menace. J he feeling was aroused that France could not then pay without dishonor.'^ Additional embarrassment arose from the fact that the King's active intotest was re- vealed by the documents published in America. The bad temper of the French was still further increased when they read Rives's letters, in which he seemed to boast of having outwitted the French minister, and Livingston's letter, in which he suggested that France never would pay unless the message brought her be- havior before Congress in a spirited way. The Com- mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate made a report,^ in which they expressed fidl agreement with the President on all the essential points, but they regarded the proposition to employ reprisals as premature, and likely to embarrass the negotiations. In the House two reports were made,* but they were not important. The Senate voted unanimously, January 14, 1835, that it was not expedient to adopt any legi?'' ative measures in re- gard to the relations with France. In the House, J. Q. Adams took the lead in sustaining Jackson's position, ftnd was largely influential in securing the ado23tion by the House, unanimously, March 2, 1835, of a resolution Ihat the execution of the treaty should be insisted on. The French minister tc the United States was recalled ^ Chevalier, 177. See his estimate of Jackson's character. 2 Freuch newspapers quoted, 47 Niles, 327. • 47 Niles, 344. * 48 Niles, 5 and 6. 846 ANDREW JACKSON. His final note of January 14, 1835, was not received by Jackson, but was referred back to the French govern ment. They ajiproved of it. In December, 1834, the French Chambers rejected a bill appropriating money to j^ay the indemnities. A cabinet crisis followed, not on account of this vote, but also not entirely, as it appears, without reference to it. The Due de Broglie, however, returned to office with the understanding that jirovision was to be made for fulfilling the treaty. April 25, 1835, the French Chambers passed the appropriation, but with a condi- tion that no money should be paid until " satisfactory explanations " of the President's message of 1834 should be received. The original condition in the law was, " until it shall have been ascertained that the government of the United States has adopted no meas- ures injurious to French interests ; " ^ but it was after- wards changed to the other form^ by amendment. Livingston wrote a note, April 25, 1835, declaring that the message was a domestic document, for which no responsibility to any foreign power woidd be admitted ; that the message of 1834 itself contained a sufficient disclaimer ; and ^hat the condition which had been in- corporated in the act of the French Chambers would pre- vent it from being a satisfactory settlement.^ He then came home. In Congress, whose session ended March 4tli, an amendment to the usual appropriation bill for fortifications was proposed, by which $3 million were appropriated for extraordinary expenditures for defence, in case such should become necessary before the next Bession. The whole bill was lost, borne down, as it ap pears, by this amendment. As the relations with Franci I 47 Niles, 436. 2 4g Niieg, 220. ^ 4^ ^Xqs, 318. RUPTURE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATION &. 347 were still more critical when Congress next met, and notliinjx had been clone for defence on account of the failure of that bill, a great deal of crimination and re- crimination took place in an effort to fix the blame and responsibility- No result was reached. It is an interesting instance of the working of the element of responsibility under the American system.^ In the message of 1835 Jackson reviewed the whole affair, insisted that he had never used menace, and alluded to Livingston's final note to the French minister as having clearly so stated. He said that he would never apologize. A long dispatch of the Due de Brog- lie to the Il'rench charge here, in June, 1835, set forth the French case. It was read to Forsyth, but he de- clined to receive a copy.^ Jackson directed Barton, charge d'affaires at Paris, to make a specific inquiry what France intended to do. The Due de Brooflie re- plied that France would pay whenever the United States would say that it regretted the misunderstanding, that the misunderstanding arose from mistake, that the good faith of France had not been questioned, and that no menace was ever intended. This question and answer were exchanged in October, 1835.^ Barton came home in January, 1836, and Pageot, the French charge, was recalled at the same time, so that diplomatic relations were entirely broken off. January 18, 1836, Jackson sent in a special message on the relations with France,^ sending copies of Bar- ton's correspondence. Livingston toned down ^ this message somewhat from the first intention ; nevertheless Jackson again reconmiended coerci"e measures. He 1 49 Niles, 446. 2 jg jj.-jes, 3 >3. ^ 49 j^ijes, S47. • 49 Niles 345. ^ Hunt's Livingston, 42* S48 ANDREW JACKSON. proposed to exclude French skips and products from the ports of the United States ; that is to say, his reserve of force by which to sustain his spirited diplomacy was the old, imbecile, and worn-out device of a commercial war. He said that France was strengthening her navy ; Lf against us, an apology from us was out of the ques- tion. Thus this question had been pushed into the worst kind of a dij^lomatic dead-lock, out of which neither party could advance without fighting, and neither could recede without (sujiposed) dishonor. That is the evil of spirited diplomacy, for good diplomacy would avoid Buch a dead-lock as one of the worst blunders possible hi the profession. The English government now inter- vened, and offered its good offices as mediator. The French government declared to the Enghsh that the President's message of 1835 had removed the bad im- pressions of that of 1834. This declaration was made known to Forsyth by the English minister at Washing- ton, and was transmitted to Congress, with a message, by the President, February 22, 1836.^ It was very good-natured of France to regard the message of 1835 p-s compliance with the demands which had been made to Barton in October. She simply covered her retreat, for she had been in the wrong on the merits of the question from the beginning, and she justly bore half the blame of the diplomatic dead-lock. March 19, 1836, the King of France ordered four instalments of the indemnity to be paid at once, in order to settle the matter down to date, according to the terms of the treaty Barry, the Postmaster-General, was the only membei 1 49 Niles, 442. THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 349 of the cabinet retained in 1831. In his hands the ad* ministration of the Post-Office Department, both in ita business and its finance, steadily declined. The com- plaints in 1834-35 of the irregularity and delay of the mails were very numerous and bitter. The department was also running in arrears in its finances. Both Houses of Congress, at the session of 1834-35, investigated the department. Barry's personal honesty does not seem to have been questioned, but his chief clerk, Rev. Obadiah B. Brown,^ became for the time a very distin- guished man, on account of relations with mail contract- ors, which, if innocent, were very improper. The contractors had made use of familiar devices, " straw bids," " unbalanced bids," " expedited service," etc., if not of corrupt influences on subordinates in the depart- ment, by which devices shrewd men take advantage of inefficient public officers.^ Barry refused to answer some of the questions put to him, and, after the fashion of the time, published an "Appeal to the American People," ^ instead. Brown resigned in an official docu- ment, imitated apparently from Van Buren's resignation of 1831.^ He also published an " Appeal," etc. Jack- Bon selected Kendall for Barry's successor, May 1, 1835. Kendall's administrative ability was great, and he speedily reorganized the dejmrtment, and restored its efficiency. There was great doubt, however, when he was aj3pointed, whether he would be confirmed. Barry was sent as minister to Spain, but died on his way thither. The emancipation of the slaves in the British West [ndies in 1833 gave a great impulse in the United 1 See page 377. a 47 Niles, 381, 393. 8 46 Niles, 338. * 47 Niles, 39r.. 850 ANDREW JACKSON. States to abolition sentiment and etfort, which had not been active since the compromise of 1820 was adopted The new spirit was manifested in the organization of societies, distribution of pamplilets and newspapers, peti- tions to Congress to aboHsh slavery in the District of Columbia, and other forms of agitation. The first efforts of this kind were frowned down all over the North, but the general movement grew. The senti- ments of democracy and of religion were both against slavery, and every stej) which was taken to arrest the agitation — the gag law in Congress, by wliich peti- tions about slavery were practically shut out, and the mob violence which was employed against the agitators — only strengihened it. Towards the end of Jackson's second administration the antislavery agitation was a real growing movement, and an element in the social and civil life of the nation. The story of these things has been often told in detail, and may be passed over here. The history of the United States has, in fact, been studied by the present generation chiefly with re- gard to the slavery question. Jackson's administration was not called upon to act on the slavery issue save in one or two points. The abolition societies adojjted the policy of sending documents, papers, and pictures against slavery to the Southern States. If the intention was, as was charged, to incite the slaves to revolt, the device, as it seems to us now, must have fallen far short of its object, for the chance that anything could get from the post-office into the hands of a black man, without going through the hands of a wliite ma^i, was poor indeed. Tbese publica tions, however, caused a panic and a wikl indignation in the South. The postmaster at Cliarleston, being lect KENDALL'S ORDER ABOUT THE MAILS. 351 ared by the people there on his ckity, turned to the Postmaster-General for orders. Auj^ust 4, 1835, Ken- dall gave an ambiguous reply, so far as orders were concerned. He, however, threw the postmaster on his own discretion, and then said fur himself, " By no act or direction of mine, official or i)rivate, could I be in- duced to aid, knowingly, in giving circulation to papers of this description, directly or indirectly " (i. e., papers alleged by the postmaster to be " the most inflammar tory and incendiary, and insurrectionary to the last deoree "). "We owe an obligation to the laws, but a hioher one to the communities in which we live, and, if the former be perverted to destroy the latter, it is pa- triotism to disregard them. Entertaining these views, I cannot sanction, and will not condemn, the step you have taken " [in refusing to deliver certain mail-matter]. Auoaist 22d Kendall wrote a long letter to Gouverneur, postmaster at New York, elaborating and defendmg his position.^ Politics were already combined with the slavery question in this incident. Kendall's confirma- tion by the Senate was very doubtful, and Van Buren's Southern support was ready to abandon him at a mo- ment's notice if slavery came into account. Kendall won enough Southern votes to carry his confirmation. When J. Q. Adams, in 1819, was negotiating with the Spanish minister the treaty by which the western boundary of the United States was defined, he could get no encouragement from Monroe or any of his ministers JO try to push the boundary westwards.^ Monroe a]> peared to think the United States would be weakened by including territory west of the Sabine.^ It was not Jong, however, before the Southern slave-holding in I 49 Niles. 8. ^ See page 67 * U Ada-na 348. 352 ANDREW JACKSON. terest began to see the error of tins view of the matter After the Missouri Compromise was adopted, it appeared that wild land for the formation of new free States was owned north of that line from the Mississippi to the Pacific, while south of that line similar land, available for new slave States, extended only to the Sabine and the 100 degree meridian. Only a few persons, however, as yet perceived this view of the matter. Tn 1819 (June 23d), one James Long proclaimed the independence of Texas.^ In 1821 Austin colonized three hundred famil- ies in Texas, by permission of Mexico. In 182G some American immigrants at Nacogdoches declared Texas independent. In 1824 the Emperor of Russia tried to establish exclusive control over the Northern Pacific, and the attention of the most far-seeing statesmen was drawn to the interests of the United States in the North- west and on the Pacific. It seems necessary to bear in mind, all through the history of the annexation of Texas, the connection of that question with the acquisition of California, including the port of San Francisco, which was then the chief reason for wanting California. Adams, when President (1827), sent to Poinsett, min- ister of the United States in Mexico, orders to try to buy Texas for a million dollars. Poinsett did not make the attempt. He gave as his reason the danger of irritating Mexico by a proposition which was sure to be rejected.^ In 1824 Mexico took the first steps towards the aboli- tion of slavery. By a decree of September 15, 1829 1 17 Niles, 31 ; Jay. 2 The attempt to buy Texas seems to have been Clay's act Cf . 7 Adams, 239, 240; 9 Adams, 379; especially 11 Adams 9M. SLAVERY IN TEXAS. 353 slavery was definitively abolished. In tlie mean time, A.mericans had emigrated to Texas, chiefly from the Southern States, and had taken slaves thither. They resisted the abolition decree, and the Mexican govern- ment saw itself forced to except the State of Texas from tlie decree. It, however, united Texas with Coa- huila, as a means of holding the foreign and insubor- dinate settlers in check. The abolition of slavery by Mexico affected the Southern States doubly : first, it lessened tlie area open to slavery ; second, it put a free State on the flank and rear of the slave territory. The interest of the Southwestern States in the independence of Texas, or its annexation, was at once aroused. A fanciful doctrine, in the taste of the Southwestern states- men, was immediately invented to give a basis for stump-speaking in defence of a real act of violence. It was declared that the United States must RE-annex what had once been maliciously given away by a Northern statesman. The gravity and care with wliich re-annpx- ation was talked about had its parallel only in the theatrical legislation of nullification. In 1780 Spain claimed that the eastern boundary of Louisiana was such as to include nearly all the present State of Alabama, and the Hiawasee, Tennessee, Clinch, and Cumberland rivers through what is now Tennessee and Kentucky.^ Inside of this claim she would take what she could get. The boundaries to the westward were still more vajrue. Therefore, any one who chose to dabble In the author- ities could prove an}i;hing he liked, and think himself no contemptible scholar into the bargain. " Texas," as R State of the Mexican confederation, embraced only 1 Ramsey, 523 S8 354 ANDREW JACKSON. the soutlieastern corner of the territory now included in the State of that name.^ In the summer of 1829 Van Buren sent instructions to Poinsett to try to buy Texas, and five million dollars were offered for it. In 1830 Mexico, which had at first welcomed the immigrants, forbade Americans to settle in Texas. Of course this law had no effect. We are indebted to a Di. Mayo, who was a hanger-on at Washington during Jackson's time, for a Httle book in which most of the Texas intrigue is laid bare. Mayo was in the way of picking up certain information, and more came to liim by accident. He gives also many documents. He was intimate with ex-Governor Samuel Houston, of Tennessee, an old companion in arms of Jackson, who came to Washington in 1829 to get Jack- son's connivance at an enterprise which Houston had in mind for revolutionizing Texas. That Jackson did connive at this enterprise, just as he supposed Monroe connived at his own proceedings in Florida, cannot be established by proof, but it is sustained by very strong inference.'' April 5, 1832, two treaties with Mexico were pub- lished, — one of commerce and one of boundaries, — confirming the boundary of the Florida treaty. In 1833 a revolution broke out in Mexico, which threw the whole country into anarchy, Texas with th« rest. Santa Anna gradually established his authority. 1 Carey & Lea's Atlas, 1822. Cf. Carey's map of 1814. on which Texas v-^eems to be delineated as extending from the Nue- CCS to the Sabine. 2 See 11 Adams, 41, 347, 357, 363; and his Fifteen Day Speech, of June, 1838. Wise {Decades, 148), affirms it very pos itively. He is better authority on this point than on some other* «hi.>at which he is very positive, e. g., the Adams-Clay barj^aiu. INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS. 355 In the autiinm of 1835 he tried to extend it over Texas, but he met with armed resistance, and was de- feated. In July, 1835, Jackson authorized an offer of an additional half million dollars if Mexico would allow the boundary, after the cession of Texas, to follow the Rio Grande up to the thirty-se^'entll degree, and then run on that parallel to the Paciiic.^ All propositions to purchase failed. After the Texans proved able to beat the Mexicans in battle, no further propositions of that kind were made. March 2, ISoi), a Declaration of Independence, on behalf of Texas, was adopted. March 6th the fort of the Alamo was taken by the Mexicans, and its de- fenders massacred. On the 27th Colonels Fannin and Ward, with other Texan (or American) prisoners, were massacred. On the ITtli of March the Constitution of Texas was adopted. It contained the strongest pro- visions in favor of slavery. The massacres aroused great indignation in the Southwest, and hundreds of adventurers hastened to Texas, where Houston was now cliief in command, to help him win independence."^ The decisive battle was fought at San Jacinto April 21st, when Santa Anna was routed and captured. He prom- ised everytliing in captivity, but cancelled his promises after he was released. In Jmie, 1836, Judge Catron wrote to Webster, from Tennessee, that the spirit was abroad through the whole Mississippi Valley to march to Texas.^ Perhaps the disposition to march was not 80 strong elsewhere, but immense speculations in land Sad already been organized, and great speculatiors in 1 11 Adams, 362. 2 j^y 28. 3 1 Webster's Correspondence^ 523. B56 ANDREW JACKSON. Texan ^ sociintles soon after began, which enlisted the pecuniary interests of great numbers of people in the independence of Texas. A correspondence now began between the representa- tives of the governments of the United States and Mexico, which no American ought to read witliout shame. It would be hard to find an equally gross in- stance of bullying on the part of a large State towards a small one. Jackson had ordered that General Gaines should enter the territory of Texas, and march to Nacogdoches, if lie thought there was any danger of hostilities on the part of tlie Indians, and if there was suspicion that the Mexican general was stirring up the Indians to war on the United States. Here we have another reminiscence of Florida revived. Gaines under- stood his orders, and entered the Mexican territory. Understanding also, no doubt, that the Jacksonian pro- ceedinos of 1818 had now been leg^itimized as the cor- rect American line of procedure for a military officer, he called on the governors of the neighboring States for militia. Although comj^anies were forming and march- ing to Texas under full organization, this " call " was overruled by the War Department. The energetic re- monstrances of the Mexican minister finally led to an irder to Gaines to retire from Texan territory, not, (lowever, until after the Mexican minister had broken off diplomatic relations. In July, 1836, both Houses voted, the Senate unani mously, that the independence of Texas ought to be acknowledged as soon as Texas had proved that she The first issue of Texan bonds was authorized in Noveml)e! 1836. The first Treasury notes were issued November 1, 1837 'Gouge 6 Texas, 57, 71.) DEFINITION OF ''TEXAS.'' 357 loiild maintain it. Texas was already represented by ftgents applying for annexation. Jackson reconnnended longer delay in a message of December 21, 1836. The fact Avas that the geographical definition of " Texas " was not yet satisfactorily established, and it was not de Birable to have annexation settled too soon. An act was passed by the Legislatnre of Texas, December 19, 1836, by which the Rio Grande was declared to be the western boundary of Texas. In liis message of Decem- ber 22d Jackson submitted the report of his agent that the boundaries of Texas, before the last revolution, were the Nueces, the Red, and the Sabine rivers, but that she now claimed as her boundary the Rio del Norte to its source, and from that point eastward and south- ward the existing boundary of the United States.^ That is as if Maine should secede and claim that her boun- daries were the AUeghanies and the Potomac. Jackson's message distinctly pointed out that in taking Texas then, or later, the United States would take her with her new boundary claims. That is as if Maine should join the Dominion of Canada, and Elngland slioidd set up a claim to the New England and Middle States based on the " declaration " of Maine above supj^osed. The policy was to keep the Texas question oj)en until California could be obtained. The Mexican war ultimately be- came necessary for that purjjose, and for no other ; for Texas, even to the Rio Grande, could have been ob- tained without it.^ Another reason for delay was that oi)position to the annexation of Texas had been aroused in the North, and there was not }t^^ strength enough to carry it. May 25, 1S36, Adams ^ mad'? a speech against ^ Document L. - 3 Von Hoist, 67, 81, 103, 108, 112; Jay, ISC • 50 Niles, 276 358 ANDREW JACKSON. a war witli Mexico to conquer Texas, which had great influence in the North. March 1, 1837, the Senate recognized the indepen- dence of Texas, 23 to 19. The House did not concur in full form, hut in effect. In 1836 the government of the United States opened a new hattery against that of ^Mexico in the shape of a series of claims and charges. The dij^lomatic agent of the former power, Powhatan Ellis, performed his duties in such a rude and peremptory manner that one is forced to suspect that he acted by orders, especially as his rank was only that of charge d'affaires. The charges were at first 15 in number, then 46, then 57. They were fi-ivolous and forced, and bear the character of at- tempts to make a quarrel.^ Ellis abruptly came home. In AugTist, 1837, the agent of Texas, Memucan Hunt, made a formal proposal for annexation. Van Buren declined it. Mexico next proposed a new negotiation with arbitration in regard to the claims and charges made against her by the United States. The opposition to annexation in the North had grown so strong that de- lay was necessary, and negotiations were opened which residted in the convention of August 17, 1840. Mexico itould not fulfil the engagements she entered into in that treaty, or in a subsequent one of 1843, and so the ques- tion was reopened, and finally was manoeuvred into a war. It appears that Van Buren had the feeling which any President will be sure to have, adverse to any war durino; his administration. The Mexican war was forced yii by a cabinet intrigue, and Tyler forced it on Polk. The Texas intri"ue and the Mexican war were full of Jacksonian acts and j^rinciples. There are constan} 1 Jay. 36 fg. BRJSCOE vs. BANK OF KEXTUCKY. 359 mtcroppiiigs of the old Seminole war proceedings and doctrines. The army and navy were corrupted by swagger and insubordination, and by the anxiety of the office/s to win popularity by the methods of which Jack- son had set the example.^ The filibustering spirit, one law for ourselves and another for every one else, gained a popularity for which Jackson was much to blame. During the Texas intrigue Jackson engaged in private and personal correspondence on j^ubHc questions with diplomatic agents, who were not always accredited, after the fashion of Louis XV. in the King's Secret.^ His " spirited diplomacy " was reduced to a farce when two such men as Polk and Buchanan tried to employ it in the Oregon question. In 1834 the case of Briscoe vs. The Bank of the Com- monwealth of Kentucky was argued before the Supremo Court.3 Briscoe and others gave a note, in 1830, which they did not pay at maturity. In the state Cir- cuit Court, Briscoe pleaded " no consideration," on the ground that the note was given for a loan of notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth, which were " bills of credit " within the prohibition of the Constitution, and therefore of no value. The state court found for the bank. The state Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. The case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ of error. The court consisted, b 1834, of Chief Justice Marshall, of Virginia, ap- pointed by Adams in 1801 ; and Associate Justices 1 In 1824 Commodore Porter was guilty of an ontra^-e at Foxardo, Porto Rico. lYben court-mart-ailed, he made an Blaborate comparison of his proceedings with those of Jackson in Florida, by way of defence. ,28 Niles, 370., He was cashiered ' H Adams, 357 3 8 Peters, 118, 860 ANDREW JACKSON. Johiisoii, of South Carolina, appointed by Jefferson in 1804 ; Duvall, of iMaryland, appointed by Madison in 1811 ; Story, of Massachusetts, appointed in the same year by the same ; Thompson, of New York, appointed by Monroe in 1823 ; McLean, of Ohio, apjDointed by Jack- son in 1829 ; and Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, appointed by Jackson in 1830. Johnson was absent all the term. Duvall was absent part of the term. Of the five who heard the argument in Briscoe's case, a majority thought that the notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth were bills of credit under tlie decision in Craig vs. Missouri,^ but there were not four, a majority of the whole, who concurred in this opinion. The rule of the court was not to pronounce a state law invalid for unconstitution- ality unless a majority of the whole court should concur. Hence no decision was rendered. The Circuit Court of Mercer County, Kentucky, de- cided in 1834, under the decision in Craig vs. Missouri, that the notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth were bills of credit.^ Judge Johnson died in 1834. Duvall resigned in January, 1835. Wayne took his seat January 14, 1835. Hence there was one vacancy in 1835, and Briscoe*8 case went over. Marshall died July 6, 1835. In 1836 there were only five judges on the bench of the court. Taney was confirmed March 15, 1836. P. P. Barbour, of Virginia, was confirmed on the same day. This made the court complete again. Three changes had taken place since 1834, and five of the seven judges were now Jackson's appointees. Briscoe vs. The Bank was decided in January, 1837 The decision was by McLean. It was held that a bL I Sea page 135. 2 45 Njes, 210. DEFINITION OF BILLS OF CREDIT. 861 ii credit " is a pajDer issued by the sovereign power, Eontaiiiing a pledge of its faith and designed to circulate fts money." Notes, to be bills of credit, must be issued by the State and bind the faith of the State. Connnis- Bioners of issue must not impart any credit by signature, nor be responsible. Hence it was held that the notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth were not bills of credit. Story rendered a very strong and unusually eager dis- senting opinion. In it he gave a summary history and analysis of " bills of credit " as they existed before the Revolution, and as they were undei'stood by the Consti- tution-makers. He explicitly referred to the former hearing of the case, and said that Marshall had been in the majority against the constitutionality of the is- sues. The decision in Briscoe's case marks the beginning of 1 new era in the history of the constitutional law of the United States. Up to that time the court had not failed to pursue the organic development of the Consti- tution, and it had, on every occasion on which it was put to the test, proved the bulwark of constitutional liberty, by the steadiness and solidity of judgment with which it had established the interpretation of the Con- Btitution. Our children are familiarized, in their school- books, with the names of statesmen and generals, and popular tradition carries forward the fame of men who have been conspicuous in public life ; but no one who really knows how the national life of the United States has developed Avill dispute the assertion that no man can be named to whom the nation is more indebted for solid and far-reaching services than it is to John Marshall. The proceedings of the Suj^reme Court are almost always iverlooked in ordinary narrations of liistory. but he who 362 ANDREW JACKSON. looks for real construction or growth in the institutions of the country should look to those jjroceedings first oi all. Especially in the midst of a surging democracy, exposed to the chicane of 2)olitical mountebanks and the devices of interested cliques, the firmness and cor- rectness with which the court had held its course on behalf of constitutional liberty and order had been of inestimable value to the nation. The series of great constitutional decisions, to which reference has been made in the preceding pages, have now entered into the commonplaces of our law. They have been tested thi'ough three quarters of a century. To see in the ret- rospect that they were wise, and that the contrary decis- ions would have produced mischief, is one thing ; to see at the time, in the heat of controversy and under the clamor of interests, what was the sound and correct in- terpretation, and to pronounce it in spite of abuse, was another tiling. In Briscoe's case the court broke the line of its de- cisions, and made the prohibition of bills of credit nugatory.^ If the degree of res23onsibility and inde- pendent authority which the directors of the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky possessed, and the amount of credit they gave to the notes aside from the credit of the State, was sufiicient to put those notes out- side the prohibition of the Constitution, then no State could find any difiiculty in making a device for escaping the constitutional prohibition. Wild-cat banking was granted standing ground under the Constitution, and the ^ " A Tirtual and incidental enforcement of the depreciated ootes of the state banks, by their crowding out a sound medium though a great evil, was not foreseen." (Madison to C. J. Ingei •oil, February 22, 1831 ; 4 Elliott, 641.) EFFECT ON THE COURT. 86S boast that the Constitutional Convention had closed and barred the door against the paper money with wliich the colonies had been cursed was without foundation. The great " banks " set up by the southwestern States be- tween 1835 and 1837 were protected by this decision. Tliey went on their course, and carried those States down to bankruptcy and repudiation. The wild-cat banking which devastated the Ohio States between 1837 and 1860, and miseducated the people of those States until they thought irredeemable government issues an unhoped-for blessing, never could have existed if Story's opinion had been law. The legal-tender notes of 1862 and the decisions of the Supreme Court on the constitu- tionality of the legal-tender act must have borne an entirely different color, if Marshall's opinion had pre- vailed in Briscoe's case. Jackson's appointments introduced the mode of actioD by the Executive, through the selection of the judges, on the interpretation of the Constitution by the Supremt^ Court. Briscoe's case marked the victory of Kentucky relief finance and state-rights politics over the judiciaiy. The effect of political appointments to the bench is al ways traceable, after two or three years, in the reports, which come to read like a collection of old stump speeches. The climax of the tendency which Jackson inaugurated was reached when the court went to pieces on the Dred Scott case, trying to reach a decision which should be politically expedient, rather than one wliich should be legally sound. A later and similar instance is furnished by the legal-tender cases. As for the immediate effect of JacKson s appointments, it may oe most decorously stated by quoting from Story's reasons, in 1845, for proposing to resign : " I have been vGi ANDREW JACKSON. long convinced that the doctrines and opinions of the old court were daily losing ground, and esjjecially those on great constitutional questions. New men and new opinions have succeeded. The doctrines of the Consti- tution, so vital to the country, which, in former times, I'eceived the supj^ort of the whole court, no longer main- tain their ascendency. I am the last member now living of the old court, and I cannot consent to remain where I can no longer hope to see those doctrines recooTiized and enforced." ^ During Jackson's second term the growth of the nation in wealth and prosperity was very great. It is plain, from the history we have been pursuing, in spite of all the pettiness and provincialism which marked political controversies, that the civil life of the nation was growing wider and richer. It was just because there was an immeasurable source of national life in the physical cu'cumstances and in the energy of the people that the pohtical follies and abuses could be endured. If the politicians and statesmen would only let the nation alone it would go on, not only prosperously, but smoothly ; that is why the non-interference dogma of the democrats, which the whigs denounced as non-govern- jaent, was in fact the highest political wisdom. On re- flection it will not be found strange that the period 1829 to 1837 should have been marked by a great deal of violence and turbulence. It is not possible that a grow- ing nation should spread over new territory, and feel the thrill of its own young energies contending success- fully with nature in all her rude force, without social commotions and a certain recklessness and uproar. The •jontagion of these forms of disorder produces other am? 1 2 Story'B Story, 527. VIOLENCE 865 less excusable forms. On account of the allowance to be made for violence and lawlessness under the circum- Etances, and also on account of the disagreeableness of recalling-, if it can be avoided, old follies, no recapitu- lation of the outrages, mobs, riots, etc., of the period will liere be attempted. Sutiice it to say that they were worse and more numeious than either before or since. Brawls and duels between congressmen, and assaults on congressmen by persons who considered themselves ag grieved by words spoken in debate, were very frequent at Wasliington. The cities possessed, as yet, no police. The proposition to introduce police was resented as an assault on liberty. Rowdies, native Americans, protest- ants, firemen, anti-abolitionists, trades-unionists, anti- bank men, etc., etc., in turn produced riots in the streets of the great Eastern cities. From the South came hideous stories of burning negroes, hanging abolition- ists, and less heinous violence against the mails. From Charlestown, Massachusetts, came the story of the cruel burning of a convent. Niles, in August, 1835, gathered three pages of reports of recent outrages against law and order.^ A month later he has another catalogue, and he exclaims in astonishment that the world seems upside down.^ The fashion of the time seemed to be to pass at once from the feeling to the act. That Jackson's char- acter and example had done sometliing to set this fashion is hardly to be denied. Harriet Martineau and Richard Cobden, both friendly critics, were shocked and disappointed at the social condition. Adams, in 1834, wrote thus : " The prosperity of the coantry, indepen- ile«t of all agency of the government, is so great that the ueople have nothing to disturb them but their own way- 1 48 Niles, 439. 2 49 Nileg, 49 366 ANDREW JACKSON. wardnesa and corruption. They quarrel upon dissen* Bions of a doit, and split up in gangs of partisans of A, B, and C. without knowing why they prefer one to another. Caucuses, county, state, and national conven- tions, public dinners and dinner-table speeches, two or three hours long, constitute the operative power of electioneering ; and the parties are of working men, temperance reformers, anti-masons. Union and state- rights men, nullifiers, and, above all, Jackson men, Van Buren men. Clay men, Calhoun men, Webster men, and McLean men, whigs and tories, republicans and democrats, without one ounce of honest principle to choose between them." ^ In his long catalogue he yet omitted abolitionists and native Americans, the latter of whom began to be heard of as soon as foreign immigra- tion became great. Great parties did not organize on the important political questions. Men were led off on some petty side issue, or they attached themselves to a great man, with whom they hoped to come to power. The zeal of these little cliques was astonishing. One feels that there must have been a desire to say to them : No doubt the thing you have taken up as your hobby is fairly important, but why get so excited about it, and why not pursue your reformatory and phUantlii'opic ;rork outside of politics ? Why not go about your pro- posed improvement soberly and in due measure ? The truth was that nearly all the cliques wanted to reach their object by the short cut of legislation, that is, to force other people to do what they were convinced it was a wise thing to do, and a great many of them also wanted to make political capital out of their " causes.*' There was something provincial about the gossip an^ 1 9 Adams, 187. ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF JACKSON. 367 D6Ws-raoiigering over small things, and about the din- ners and ovations to fourth-rate men. One wonders if the people had not enough interesting things to occupy them. Thev could not have been very busy or hard- worked, if they had time to spend on all these things. There was something bymbastic, too, about the way in which an orator took up a trifle. Everything in the surroundings forced him to be inflated and meretricious, in order to swell ujd to the dimensions of the occasion the trifle with which he Avas forced to deal. At the same time serious things, like nullification, were treated by the same inflated method, which made them ridicu- lous. On every occasion of general interest the peo- ple ran together for a public meeting. Their method of doing their thinking on any topic seemed to be to hear some speeches about it. No doubt this was onv) reason why there was so much heat mixed up with all opinions. The prevailing disposition to boast, and the over- sensitiveness to foreign criticism which was manifested, were additional symptoms of immaturity. January 30, 1835,^ Jackson attended the funeral, at the Capitol, of Warren R. Davis, of South Carolina. As he came out through the rotunda, a man named Richard Lawrence snapped two pistols in succession at him. Neither was discharged. Lawi'ence gave half a dozen inconsistent reasons for the act. He was plainly insane. Jackson immediately gave the attack a political Bignificance. Some days after it occurred Harriet Mar- tineau called upon him, and referred to the " insane at- tempt." " He proteste*!, in the presence of many itraugers, that there was no insanity 'n the case. I was 1 4: Niles, 340. fMi8 ANDREW JACKSON. Bileut, of course. He protested that there was a plot, and that the man was a tool." ^ He went so far as to name Senator Poind exter, of Mississippi, as the insti- gator. He was at feud with Poindexter, although the latter had been with him at New Orleans, and had de- fended him in Congress in the Seniinole war affair. Harriet Martineau says it was expected at Wasliington that they would have a duel as soon as Jackson's tenu was out. Tliis was probably based on a reputed speech of Poindexter, to which the " Globe " gave currency.^ That paper, nearly a month after the attempted assassinar tion, treated the charge against Poindexter as not at all incredible. Poindexter obtained an investigation by the Senate, when the charge was, of course, easily proven to rest upon the most frivolous and untrustworthy asser- tions, no one of which would bear the slightest exami- nation, and some of wliich were distinctly false. The incident, however, illustrated one trait of Jackson's char- acter, which has been noted several times before. The most extravagant and baseless suspicion of a personal enemy in connection with an injury to himself struck his mind with such a degree of self-evident truth that ex- ternal evidence to the contrary had no influence on him. In the present case, this fault laid him open to a charge of encouraging persons who had committed perjury and suborned others to do so. Lawrence, on his trial, con- tinually interruj^ted the proceedings. He was acquitted ind remanded to custody as an insane person. A faction arose in New York city in 1834-35, whicli 1 1 Martineau, Western Travel, 162. She was in the Capita when the attack occurred. « 48 Niles, 33. THE EQUAL RIGHTS PARTY. 369 called itself the " equal rights party," or tlie '• Jeffer Bonian anti-monopolists." The organization of the Tannnany Hall democrats, under Van Buren and the regency, had become rigid and tyrannical. The equal lights faction revolted, and declared that Tammany w IS aristocratic. They re])resented a new upheaval of democracy. They took hterally the dogmas which had been taught them, just as the original Jackson men had done ten years before, only that now, to them, the Jack- son party seated in power seemed to have drifted away from the pure principles of democracy, just as Monroe had once appeared to the Jackson men to have done. The equal rights men wanted " to return to the Jeffer- sonian fountain " again, and make some new deductions. They revived and extended the old doctrines wliich Duane, of the "Aurora," taught at the beginning of the century in his "Politics for Farmers," and similar pamphlets. In general the doctrines and propositions might be described as an attempt to apply the procedure of a township democracy to a great state. The equal rights men held meetings at first secretly, at four differ- ent places, and not more than two successive times at the same place.* They were, in a party point of view, conspirators, rebels, — " disorganizers, " in short ; and .hey were plotting the liighest crime known to the polit- ical code in which they had been educated, and which they accepted. Their platform was : No distinction be- tween men save merit ; gold and silver the only legiti- mate and proper circulating medium ; no perpetuities or monopolies ; strict construction of the Constitution ; no bank charters by States (because oanks of issue Cavor gambling, and are " calculated tc build up and 1 Byrdsall, 16. 24 370 ANDREW JACKSON. Btreiigthen in our country the odious distribution ol wealth and power against merits and equal rights ") ; approval of Jackson "s administration ; election of Presi- dent by direct popular vote. They favored the doc- trine of instructions. They also advocated free trade and direct taxes. ^ They had some very sincere and pure-minded men among them, a large number of over- heated brains, and a still larger number of demagogues, who were seeking to organize the faction as a means of making themselves so valuable that the regular managers would buy them. The equal rights men gained strength BO rapidly tliat, on the 29th of October, 1835, they were able to offer battle to the old faction at a primary meet- ing in Tammany Hall for the nomination of a con- gressman and other officers. The " regular " party entered the hall by the back entrance, and organized the meeting before the doors were opened. The anti- monopolists poured in, nominated a chairman and elected him, ignoring the previous organization. The question of " equal rights " between the two chairmen was then settled in the old original method which has prevailed ever since there has been life on earth. The equal rights men dispossessed the other faction, and so proved the justice of their principles. The non- equal rights party then left the hall, but they " caused " the equal rights men " to be subjected to a deprivation of the right " to light by turning out the gas. The equal rights men were thus forced to test that theory of natural rights which affirms that said rights are only the chance to have good things, if one can get them In spite of their dogma of the equality of all men, whick would make a prudent man no better than a carelesf 1 Byrdsall, 103. THE ''LOCO-FOCOSr 371 Dne, and a man with capital no better than one without capital, the equal rights men had foreseen the emer- gency, and had provided themselves with capital in the Bhape of candles and loco-foco matches. They thus established their right to light, against nature and against their enemies. They duly ado})ted their plat- form, nominated a ticket, and adjourned. The regular leaders met elsewhere, nominated the ticket wliich they had previously prepared, and dispensed, for that occar sion, with the ornamental and ceremonious formality of a primary meeting to nominate it. On the next day the " Courier and Enquirer " dubbed the equal rights party the loco-focos, and the name clung to them.^ Hammond quotes a correspondent ^ who correctly declared that " the workingmen's party and the equal rights party have operated as causes, producing effects that will shape the course of the two great parties of the United States, and consequently the destinies of this great republic." The faction, at least in its better elements, evidently had convictions and a programme. It continued to grow. The " Even- ing Post " became its organ. That paper quarrelled with the administration on Kendall's order about the mails, and was thereu2)on formally read out of the party by the " Globe." ^ The loco-focos ceased to be a re- volting faction. They acquired belligerent rights. The faction, however, in its internal economy ran the course of all factions. It went to extremes, and then began to split up. In January 1836, it declared its indepen- dence of the democratic-republican party. Tliis alienated jill who hated the party tyranny, but who wanted re* 1 49 Niles, 162. -J 2 Hammond, 503. • 49 Niles, 78. 872 ANDREW JACKSON. form in the party. The faction declared itself opposed to all acts of incorporation, and held that all such acts were repealable. It declared that representative insti- tutions were only a practical convenience, and that Legislatures could not create vested rights.^ Then it went on to adoi)t a platform of " equality of position, as well as of rights." In October, 1836, Tammany made overtures to the equal rights men for a reunion, in preparation for the presidential election. Some of the loco-focos wanted to unite ; others refused. The latter were the men of conviction ; the former were the traders. The former called the latter " rumj^s ; " the latter called the former " buffaloes." ^ Only one stage now remained to com- plete the old and oft-repeated drama of faction. A man named Slamm, a blatant ignoramus, who, to his great joy, had been arrested by order of the Assembly of New York for contemjDt and breach of privilege, and who had profited to the utmost by this incident to make a long " argument " against the " privilege " of an American Legislature, and to pose as a martyr JO equal rights, secured his own election to the posi- tion of secretary of the equal rights party. He then secured a vote that no constitutional election could be held unless called by the secretary. He never would call one. There were those who thought that he sold out the party. Thus the faction perished ignominiously, but it wag not without reason that its name passed, a little later, ;o the whole Jackson- Van Buren party ; i. e., to the rad cal anti-paper currency, not simply anti-United States Bank, wing of the national democratic party. The 1 Byrdsall, 41. « Byrdsall, 178. INFLUENCE OF THE L0C0-F0C08. SIS iqiial riglits men maintained impracticable doctrines of civil authority and fantastic dogmas about equality, but when these were stripped away there remained in their platform sound doctrines and imperishable ideas. They first put the democratic party on the platform which for five or six years it had been trying to find. When it did find that platform it was most true to itself, and it contributed most to the welfare of the country. To- day the democratic party is, by tradition, a party of hard money, free trade, the non-interference theory of government, and no special legislation. If that tradi- tion be traced up to its source, it will lead back, not to the Jackson party of 1829, but to the loco-foeos of 1835 CHAPTER XVI. THE ELECTION OF 1836. EXD OF JACKSOX'S CAREER. The attempt was made in 1834 to unite and organize the whole opposition to Jackson. Niles first mentions the party name "whig "in April, 1834.^ He says that it had come into use in Connecticut and New York. It was adopted with antagonistic reference to the high prerogative and (as alleged) tory doctrines of Jackson. The anti-masons and national republicans ultimately merged in the new whig party, but time was required to bring about that result. In 1834 it was impossible. The anti-masons insisted on acting independently. Their candidate for President then was Francis Granger.^ Clay would not run in 1836 because he could not unite the opposition. He was disgusted with public life, and desired to retire.^ The administration party, on the other hand, was perfectly organized. The corps of federal office-holders had been drilled by the " Globe " into thorough disci- pline and perfect accord of energy and will. Each offi- •».er was held to " revere the cliief," and to act in obedi- ence to the indications of his will which came tlii-ough the " Globe." They did so. There was no faltering. There was only zealous obedience. It caused some tewilderment to remember that this was the party which Had denounced Adams for using the federal officers ta 1 46 Nilen, 101. ^ 50 Kiles 234. « 9 Adams, I7a DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION— 1835. 375 electioneer. Lewis had been known to interfere di- rectly in elections, and Blair had done the same in his private capacity.^ The party had been wonderfully held together. In 1830 there were only four anti-Jackson Legislatures in the Union, namely, Vermont, Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware. In the six years from 1830 to 1835, both inclusive, twenty-seven States held 162 sessions of their Legislatures. Of these 116 had Jackson majorities, 40 anti- Jackson, and 4 Cal- houn.^ There was some talk of a third term for Jack- son, but it never grew strong. The precedents were cited ao-ainst it. Jackson's bad health and Van Buren's aspirations were perhaps stronger objections. Adams Bays that Jackson had " wearied out the sordid subser- viency of his supporters." ^ That is not at all improb- able. The democratic convention was held at Baltimore, May 20, 1835. Jackson had written to Tennessee recommending that a convention should be held of " candidates fresh from the people." There were not wanting those who called this convention a caucus, and said that it was the old congressional monster in a new mask. Tennessee did not send any delegates. Even Jackson could not bring that State to support Van Bu- ren. Tennessee was a vvliig State until 1856. Her hostility to Van Buren was adroitly combined with that of Pennsylvania, in 1844, by the selection of Polk as a eandidate, to defeat Van Bur^n. In 1835 a caucus of the New Hampshire Legislature, which nominated Hill for Governor, passed a resolution begging Tennessee not to divide the party.'* Tennessee, however, had another 1 40 Niles, 299. ^ 63 Niles, 308. 8 9 Adams. 312. * 48 NUea. 322. 376 ANDBEW JACKSON. very popular candidate, Hugh L. Wliite, a former friend of Jackson, whom Jackson now hated as a traitor and renegade.^ John Bell, the Speaker, was a su2)porter of White, and he and his friends claimed that they were not in opposition ; that they and White were good repub- licans, and that they preferred White to the man whom Jackson had selected.^ The " Globe " attacked Bell with bitterness. Jackson was greatly enraged, and ex- erted himself personally and directly against White.^ One Tennessee man, being in Baltimore when the con- vention was held, took upon himself to represent that State. His name was Rucker, and to " ruckerize " passed into the political slang of the day, meaning to as- sume functions without credentials. The Baltimore convention was largely composed of office-holders. Twenty-one States were represented.* Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, was chairman. The two-thirds rule was adopted, because Van Buren was Bure of two thirds. He actually got a unanimous vote, 265. For Vice-President, R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, got 178 votes ; W. C. Rives, of Vii'ginia, 87. The Virginia delegation declared, on the floor of the con- vention, that Virginia would never vote for Johnson, be- cause he favored tariff, bank, and internal improve- ments, and because they had no confidence in his principles or character.^ Van Buren, in his letter of acceptance,* said that he had been mentioned as Jack- son's successor " more through the ill-will of opponents han the partiality of friends." That statement was JO adroit that it would take a page to tell whether i* 1 See page 312. 2 Bell's speech in 48 Niles, 334. « 49 Niles, 35. * 48 Niles, 207, 227, 244. » 48 Niles, 248. « 48 Niles, 257. CANDIDATES AND PLATFORAfS — 1S36. 377 «^as true or not. He made a full and eager declaration that he had asked for no man's support. He said that he would " endeavor to tread generally in the footsteiDS of President Jackson, — happy if I shall be able to per- fect the work which he has so gloriously begun." Johnson, in his letter of acceptance,^ declared that he was opposed to the old bank, or to one like it, but thought that such a bank as Jackson talked of in his earliest messages might be a good thing. On tariff and internal improvements he said that he agreed with Jackson. Van Buren was fifty-four years of age and Johnson fifty-six. Johnson had been in Congress ever since 1807, except during the second war with England, when he took the field. He served with some distinc- tion, but a ridiculous attempt to credit him with the kill- ing of Tecumseh has caused his real merits to be for- gotten. As a 2)ublic man he managed to be as near as possible to the head of every popular movement, and to get his name connected with it, but he never contrib- uted assistance to any public business. His name is also met with frequently as a messenger, middle-man, manipulator, and general efficiency man of the Jackson party. He made a report, in 1829, on the question of running the mails on Sunday, wliich was one of his claims to fame. It was wi'itten for him by the Rev. O. B. Brown. ^ A chance was found in this report to utter some noble sentiments on religious liberty, and to lay down some specification of American principles in that regard which were not likely to provoke contradiction. This valuable production was printed on cloth, and hung ap in stage offices and bar-rooms all c^er the country 1 48 Niles, 329, • See page 349. Kendall's Autobiography, 107. 378 ANDREW JACKSON. Johnson had no\irished presidential aspirations for some years. He did not abandon them till 1844. The anti-Jackson men, in 1834-35, were opposed, on principle, to a national convention. They said that the convention was King Caucus revived. The anti- masons held a state convention at Harrisburg, Decem- ber 16, 1835.^ It was decided not to caR a national convention. They thought the free action of the people would be best brought out by state conventions. They nominated William H. Harrison by 89 votes to 29 for Webster and 3 for Granger. For Vice-President, Granger got 102 votes ; Hugh L. White, 5 ; William Slade, of Vermont, 5 ; and William A. Palmer, of Ver- mont, 7. The whigs of Pennsylvania adopted the nom- inations of the anti-masons, and coalesced with them. Webster was very anxious, at this time, to be nominated and supported by the whigs. It pleases some peojile to think that Webster ought not to have had this ambition. He was a strange compound of the greatest powers and some mean traits. To such a man the presidential am- bition is very sure to mean moral shipwreck. Still it was not wrong for Webster to want the insignia of suc- cess in his career. His dissatisfaction was well-founded when, after his !^ plendid services, he saw William Henry Harrison preferred before him ; and it is a point which deserves careful attention, that, if Webster's just am- bition had been fairly gratified, he would have been a better man. He was nominated by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, was nominated by the Legislatures of Alabama, Tennessee, and Illinois. Judgt McLean was nominated in Ohio. He had had presi 1 49 Nilea, 265, 287. • ADMISSION OF MICniGAN. 379 dential aspirations ever since 1828.^ Tlie Northern whigs supported Harrison, and the Southern wliigs sup ported White. Thus the opposition went into the cam- paign disorganized and devoted to defeat. Harrison and White were of the same age, sixty-three. Harrison was a man of no education. He had done some good service as an Indian fighter. The anti-Jack- son men, who had derided Jackson's candidature be- cause he was not a statesman, selected, in Harrison, the man nearest like him whom they could find. They hoped to work up a popularity for him on the model of Jackson's popularity.' Harrison answered the anti- masons that he was not a mason, and did not like masonry, but that the federal government had notliing to do with that subject. This did not satisfy Thaddeus Stevens, who wanted Webster.^ White has been men- tioned several times. He had a fair education, a good character, and was very much respected, but he was a man of only ordinary ability. During the winter of 1835-36 there was a great strug- gle in the House over a contested election in North Car- ohna. It was thought very probable that the presiden- tial election might be thrown into the House, and the vote of North Carolina might decide the result. The sitting member (Graham) was unseated, and the case was referred back for a new election. There were two States whose admission was pending when the election approached, — Arkansas and Michi- gan. In 1835 Michigan became involved in a boundary ^ Kendall's Autobiography, 304 2 For an estimate of Harrison, written in 1828, which is per haps too highly colored to quo' 3, see 7 Adam*, 530 8 9 Adams, 273 380 ANDREW JACKSON. dispute with Ohio. Tlie act which organized the terri toiy of Michigan, January 11, 1805, described, as its southern boundary, a due east and west hne running through the southernmost point of Lake INIichigan. The Constitution of Ohio gave that State, as its northern boundary, a line drawn from the southernmost point of Lake Michigan to the northernmost cape of Maumee Bay. Indiana's northern boundary had been described as a due east and west line ten miles north of the southernmost point of Lake Michigan. The northern boundary of Dlinois had been placed on the parallel of 42° 30'. Michigan, therefore, found her territory re- duced. Jackson, at first, on the advice of Butler, the Attorney-General, took the side of Michigan. The peo- ple of Michigan held a convention in September, 1835, and framed a Constitution, which was to go into effect in November. In October, the Assistant Secretary of State, Asbury Dickens, wrote, at the President's orders, that no such reorganization of the government could take place without the consent of Congress. In 1835-36 there was some danger of an armed collision between Ohio and Michigan ; but it is not easy, on account of the rhetoric which was then in fashion, to judge how great this dan- ger was. June 15, 1836, Arkansas and Michigan were admitted together ; but Micliigan was put under the condition that she must accept the southern boundary which resulted from the northern lines of Indiana and Ohio, and accept compensation on the peninsula north of Lake Michigan. The Legislature of Michigan, in July, called a convention, which met September 26th, and re- jected the condition. On the 5th and 6th of December by the spontaneous action of the people, delegates wert elected to a convention, which met December 14, 1836 THE VOTE IN 1836. 381 md assented to the condition. Jackson, in a messaofe, December 26tli, informed Congress of the action of Micliigan.^ Micliigan was admitted January 26, 1837. She offered a vote in the presidential election. In an- nouncing the vote, the vote of Michigan was included in the alternative form. In the spring of 1836 Sherrod Williams interrogated the candidates for President. Harrison ^ favored dis- tribution of the surplus revenue and of the revenue from lands ; opposed internal improvements except for works of national scope and importance ; would charter a bank, but with great reservations ; thought that neither House of Congress had a right to expunge anything from its rec- ords. Van Buren opposed national bank, internal im- provements, and all distribution. The equal rights men interrogated the candidates. The committee reported that they were greatly pleased with Johnson's replies, but that Van Buren's were unsatisfactory. Many " ir- reconcilable " equal rights men refused to vote for Van Buren. Later, however, he became fully identified with that wing of the national democratic party which took up the essential features of the loco-foco doctrine. In the election * Van Buren received 170 votes, count- ing 3 of Michigan ; Harrison, 73 ; White, 26 (Georgia and Tennessee) ; Webster, 14 (Massachusetts) ; W. P Mangum, of North Carolina, 11 (South Carolina). Van Buren's majority over all was 46. Van Buren's and Harrison's votes were well distributed geographically. Van Buren carried Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Isl- and, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi. Louisiana, Uli lois, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan. Harrison carried i 51 Nilea, 278. ^ 51 N'les, 23 » 58 Niles, 392. 382 ANDRE IT JACKSON. Vermont. New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky Oliio, and Indiana. The pjpular vote was : for Van Buren, 761,549 ; for all others, 736,656 ; Van Buren's majority, 24,893.^ For Vice-President, R. M. Johnson got 147 votes ; Francis Granger, 77 ; Jolm Tyler, 47 , William Smith, of Alabama, 23 (Virginia). As no one had a majority, the Senate elected Johnson. In Janu- ary, 1837, Webster wrote to Massachusetts ^ that he should resign his seat. He intended to retire from pub- lic life, at least temjDorarily. Van Buren was now at the height of his ambition ; but the financial and commercial storm which had been gathering for two or three years, the accumulated result of rash ignorance and violent self-will acting on some of the most delicate social interests, was just ready to burst. High prices and high rents had already before the elec- tion produced strikes, trades-union conflicts, and labor riots,^ things which were almost unprecedented in the United States. The price of flour was so high that 493,100 bushels of wheat were imported at New York in 1836, and 857,000 bushels before April, in 1837.'* Socialistic notions of course found root, and flourished like weeds at such a time. An Englishwoman, named Fanny Wright, became notorious for public teachings of an " emancipated " type. The loco-focos were charged with socialistic notions, not without justice. There were Bocialists amongst them. The meeting held in the City Hall Park, at New York, February 13, 1837, out of \vhich the " bread riots " sprang, was said to have beei 1 American Almanac for 1880. The figures in Niles are full o jbvious erroi 3. . * 2 Webster's Correspondence, 25 fg. » 48 Niles, 171 ; 50 Niles, 130. ♦ 52 Niles, 147. THE BREAD RIOTS. 385 lalled by them. They certainly had habituated the city populace to public meetings, at which the chance crowd of idlers was addressed as " the people," with all the current catch-words and phrases, and at which blatant orators, eager for popularity and power, harangued the crowd about banks, currency, and vested rights. 01 course in these harangues violence of manner and lan- guage made up for poverty of ideas, and the minds of the hearers were inflamed all the more because thev could understand nothing of what the orators said, except that they were bemg wronged by somebody. On that day in February the crowd got an idea which it under- stood.^ Some one said : Let us go to Hart [a provision merchant], and offer him eight dollars a barrel for his flour. If he will not take it — I In a few hours the mob destroyed five hundred barrels of flour and one thousand bushels of wheat. The militia were needed to restore order.^ The park meetings were continued. The commercial crisis burst on the country just at the beginning of March, when Jackson's term ended. There was a kind of poetic justice in the fact that Van Buren had to bear the weight of all the consequences of Jackson's acts which Van Buren had allowed to be committed, because he would not hazard his standing in Jackson's favor by resisting them. Van Buren dis- liked the reputation of a wire-puller and intriguer, but he had weU earned his title, the " little magician," by Ihe dexterity w4th which he had manoeuvred himself across the sUppery arena of Washington politics and up to the first place. He had just the temper for a poli* 1 Byrdsall (103) says the riot was aot "ine fault of the loc» - 51 Nili-s. 403. 384 ANDREW JACKSON. tician. Nothing ruffled him. He was thick-skinned, elastic, and tough. He did not win confidence from anybody. He was, however, a man of more than aver- age ability, and he appears to have been conscious of lowering liimself by the poHtical manoeuvring which he had practised. As President he showed the honorable desire to have a statesman-like and high-toned adminis- tration, and perhaps to prove that he was more than a creature of Jackson's whim. He could not get a fair chance. The inheritances of party virulence and dis- trust which he had taken over from Jackson were too heavy a weight. He lost his grip on the macliine with- out winning the power of a statesman. He never was able to regain control in the party. American public life is constituted out of great forces, which move on in a powerful stream, under constantly changing phases and combinations, which it is hard to foresee. Chance plays a great role. If a man, by a chance combination of circumstances, finds himself in one of the greater currents of the stream, he may be carried far and high, and may go on long ; but if another chance thi'ows him out, his career is, almost always, ended forever. The course of our political history is strewn with men who iv^ere for a moment carried high enough to have great ambitions and hopes excited, but who, by some turn in the tide, were stranded, and left to a forgotten and dis- appointed old age. Van Buren illustrated all these Rases. Parton quotes a letter of Jackson to Trist,^ written March 2, 1837, in whicli he says : " On the 4th I hop« lo be able to go to the Capitol to witness the glorioui scene of Mr. Van Buren, once rejected by the Senate, I 3 Parton, 624 JACKSON'S LAST DATS. 885 jwoni into ofiBce by Chief Justice Taney, also being to- jectecl by the factious Senate." The election of Van Buren is thus presented as another ])ersonal triumph of Jackson, and another illustration of his remorseless pur- suit of success and vengeance in a line in which any one had dared to cross liim. This exultation was the temper in which he left office. He was satisfied and triumph- ant. Not another President in the whole list ever went out of office in a satisfied frame of mind, much less with a feeling of having completed a certain career in triumph. On the 7th of March Jackson set out for Tennessee. He was surrounded to the last with affection and re- spect. On his way home he met more than the old marks of attention and popularity. He was welcomed back to Nashville as he had been every time that he had returned for twenty years past. These facts were not astonishing. He retained his popularity. Hence he was still a power. It was still worth while to court him and to get his name in favor of a man or a measure. Parton says that office-seekers pursued and pestered him up to his last days. Politicians sought to get let- ters from him which they could use for their purposes. In 1843 a letter was obtained from him favoring the annexation of Texas, which was then being pushed for- ward by a new intrigue in and around Tyler's cabinet. This letter was evidently prepared for Jackson after the fashion of Lewis. It was held back for a year, and then published with a false date. So Jackson was used by the annexation clique to ruin his friend Van Buren. The party which he and Van Buren had consolidated passed, by the Texas intrigue, away fi'om Van Buren md under the control rf ths slavery wing of it. The 25 886 ANDREW JACKSON. last-mentioned letter of Jackson brought him again into collision with Adams, for in it Jackson repeated hia former assertions that he had always disapproved of the treaty of 1819, and of the boundary of the Sabine. Adams produced the entries in his " Diary " as proof to the contrary. Jackson lent all liis influence to Polk in 1844. Probably he was mortified that Tennessee voted for Clay, although by only 113 majority in a vote of 120,000. Letters signed by him favoring Polk were constantly circulated through the newspapers, and they no doubt had their effect. This was his last public ac- tivity. He died June 8, 1845. He had had honors beyond anything which his own heart had ever coveted. His successes had outrun his ambition. He had held more power than any other American had ever pos- sessed. He had been idolized by the great majority of his countrymen, and had been surfeited with adulation. He had been thwarted in hardly anything on which he had set his heart. He had had his desire upon all hii^ enemies. He lived to see Clay defeated again, and to help to bring it about. He saw Calhoun retire in de- spair and disgust. He saw the bank in ruins ; Biddle arraigned on a criminal charge, and then dead broken- hearted. In his last years he joined the church, and, on that occasion, under the exhortations of his spiritual adviser, he professed to forgive all his enemies in a body. It does not appear that he ever repented of anything, ever thought that he had been in the wrong ic mything. or ever forgave an enemy- as a specific inii fidual. FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO EN THlTS VOLUME, IN THE ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF THE SHORTER DESIGNATIONS BY WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN CITED. Adams : Memoirs of John Quiucy Adams, Comprising Portions of his Diary from 1795 to 1848; edited by Charles Francis Adams. 12 vols. Lippiucott : Philadelphia, 1876. American Annual Register for 1796. Philadelphia. American Register. 7 vols. 1806-1810. Conrad: Philadelphia Annual Register : The American Annual Register. 8 vols, [numbered for the purposes of the present work as follows] : L 1825-6; II. 1826-7; IIL 1827-8-9, Part L; IV. 1827-8-9, Part IL ; V. 1829-30; VI. 1830-1; VII. 1831-2; VIIL 1832-3. Benton : Thirty Years' View ; or, A History of the Working oi the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850; by a Senator of Thirty Years [Thomas H. Benton]. 2 vols. Appleton : New York, 1854. Binns : Recollections of the Life of John Binns ; written by him- gelf. Philadelphia, 1854. Brothers : The United States of North America as They Are, Not as they are Generally Described: Being a Cure for Rad- icalism ; by Thomas Brothers. Longman & Co. : London, 1840. Byrdsall : The History of the Loeo-Foco or Equal Rignts Party ; by F. Byrdsall. Clement & Packard : New York, 1842. ...arey's Letters: Nine Letters to Dr. Adam Seybert ; by Mat- thew Carey. Author: Philadelphia, 1810. Carey's Olive Branch : The Olive Branch ; or. Faults on Both Sides, Federal and Democratic ; by Matthew Carey. Author : Philadelphia, 1818. ( 10th Edition ) '. hevalier : Society, Manners, and Politics 'n the United States : Being a Series nf Letters ou North America; by Michael flevalier (translated). Weeks, Jordan & Co: Boston, 1839 588 FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. Cobb : Leisure Labors ; or, Miscelhinies, Hi.-torical, Literary, and Political, by Joseph B. Cobb. Appleton : New York, 1858. Cobbett's Jackson : Life of Andrew Jackson ; by William Cob bett. Harpers: New York, 1834. Collins : Historical Sketches of Kentucky ; by Lewis CoUina Cincinnati, 1847. Colton's Clay: The Life and Times of Henry Clay; by C: Col ton. 2 vols. Barues : New York, 1846. Curtis's Webster : Life of Daniel Webster ; by George Ticknoi Curtis. 2 vols. Ap])leton : New York, 1870. Documents Kelating to New England Federalism, 1800 to 1815 edited by Henry Adams Little, Brown & Co. : Boston, 1877 Document A, 15th Congress, 2d Session, Reports, No. 100. Document B. 22d Congress, 1st Session, 4 Reports, No. 460. Document C. 22d Congress, 1st Session, 2 Reports, No. 283. Document D. 22d Congress, 2d Session, 1 Exec. Docs. No. 9. Document E. 22d Congress, 2d Session, Reports, No. 121. Document F. 23d Congress, 1st Session, 1 Senate Docs. No. 17. Document G. 23d Congress, 1st Session, 1 Senate Docs. No. 2. Document H. 23d Congress, 1st Session, 1 Senate Docs. No. 16. Document I. 23d Congress, 2d Session, 1 Senate Docs. No. 17. Document J. 23d Congress, 2d Session, 1 Exec. Docs. No. 9. Document K. 23d Congress, 2d Session, 2 Senate Docs. No. 13. Document L. 24th Congress, 2d Session, 2 Exec. Docs. Document M. 23d Congress, 1st Session, Senate Docs. No. 238. Drake's Tecumseh : Life of Tecumseb, and of his Brother, the Prophet, with a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians; by Benjamin Drake. Morgan: Cincinnati, 1841. The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries, and the Mis>i.' Coohnme, Admiral, 42. Code of honor, 17. Coffin hand-bill.«, 114. Cohens vs. Virginia, 130. Coin, 262. Coleman, Pr., 76 ; li-iter to, 139 Colombia, 105. Colonial system, 164. Colonies, Spanish, 20. Colonization Society, 216. Columbia, S. , 282. Columbia, District of, 295 350 Columbian Observer, 92. Committee, party, 102, 103. Common sense, plain, 312. Community, frontier, 2, 3, 5, 16, 17, 251. Compromise, the Missouri, 350, 352 ; tariff. See Tariff of lSo3. Concord, N. II., 238 Congress : American, 107, 108 ; of the United States, 101, 104, 105, 108, 330 ; Jackson a member of, 10-13. Connecticut, 254, 267, 374. Conscription, 41. Constitution, the, 97, 104, 109, 128, 130-132. 212-216, 246, 255, 273, 283, 298, 3li, 361-363; the English, 138; state, 137. Constitutional theories, 285, 286. Constitutionality, 119, 126-130, 173, 860. Continental system, 170. Contracts, 119, 121, 130. Controller of New York, 73, 74. Controversy between Adams and the federalists, 116. ConTention : 87, 102, 216 ; anti-ma- sonic state, 253, 378 ; the contt„itu- tional, of 1787, 333 ; free trade, 220; Ilarrisburg tariff. 201, 204; Hartford, 41, 50, 157, 213; nullifi- cation, 219, 281, 290 : protectionist, 220; union, 282.; national, 254, 378 ; of anti-masons, 254, 255 ; of democrats, 273, 375 ; of national republicans, 258, 273. Coosa, 177. Coppinger, 71. Corn laws, 202, 203, 2)6. Correspondence of Jackson and Mon- roe. See AppointTnfnt.s. Corruption, political, 105, 329. Cotton, 136, 322. Countervailing, 164, 165, 168, 170, 196. 197, 198, 206. See Recirrrority. Courier and Enquirer, 114, 155, 156, 243, 263, 271. Court : contempt of, 46, 173, 174, 282 ; supreme, of the United States, 12S, 132, 277, 359, 351. Craig vs. Missouri, 135, 360. Crawford, W. II., 49, 51, 65, 66, 82 83, 86, 89, 99, 101, 109, 111, 113 152-158. m, 216, 229, 307. Credit : 226, 265, 328. 332 ; abuse of 5, 16, 126, 234, 323 ; bills of, 135 359-362 ; for duties, 76, 206, 271 288, 328; public, 12, 119, 231; system, 123, 323. Creeks, the, 32, 35, 37, 38, 49, 62, 55 60, 63, 174-183. Crisis: commercial, 229, 318, 336; of 1798, 13, 17 ; of 1819, 75, 234 ; of 1825, 197 ; of 1834, 315-317 ; of 18S7, 330, 383. Crittenden, J. J., 290. Cumberland Road, 191, 192. Currency, 229, 312, 331. See Circu- lation; of Europe, 12, 75; of th« States, 16, 120, 134, 135 ; of the United States, 41, 75, 76, 229, 231- 234, 24a-245, 318, a32, 334, 336 ; specie, 317, 331, 332, 334, 369; value, 331. Curtis, G. T., 290. Dallas, S. M., 47, 87, 116, 259. Damages. See Franre, Draft on. Dancing Rabbit Creek, 183. Dartmouth College, 142 ; vs. Wood ward, 129. Davis, W. R., 367. Dearborn, H. A. S., 221. Debt : 121, 126, 222, 256, 260, 322 ; the public, 110, 189, 220, 266, 272, 319, 323. Debtors, 119, 124, 126-128, 319. Defaulter, 74, 116, 145. Democracy, 7, 97, 127, 136, 157, 234, 241, 280, 299, 310-313, 331,332, 350 362, 369. Democratic Press, 113. Democrats. See Party. Deposit Act of 1836, 325, 326. Deposits : the public, 228, 232, 240, 243, 265, 271, 272, 276, 292, 295, 298, 299, 304, 307, 316-319, 326, 329, 332, 336, see Reinoval ; regu- lation of the, 305, 306, 320, 325, 326. Desertion, 68. Desha, Governor, 132, 133. Diary of J. Q. Adams, 95, 160, SOtt 386. Dickens, A., 380. Dickenson, C, 18. Differential duties, 165,166, 168, 206 Dinsmore, S. , 22. Directors, government, 308, 309. Disorgan-zers, 79, 87, 152, 2;-)3, 339 Distribution, 189, 193, 325-330 District attorney, Jackson, 8. 396 INDEX. DlTidend withheld. See France, Draft on. Divorce, 8, 9. Donelson, J., 8, Donel.son, Mrs. A. J., 150 Donelson, Mrs. J., 8. Do elson, Rachel, 8. Drayton, \V., 49, 50, 163. Dred Scott case, 363. Duane, W., 120, 296, 369. Duane, W. J., 296, 298 300, 302, 303, 312, 817. Duel,18, 52, 101. Duncan, J-, 333. Kast Room, the, 114. Eaton, J.. H., 91, 105, 141, 144, 148- 153, 160-162. 272, 273. Eaton, Mrs. J. II., 149-153, 161, 162, 273, 278. Editors, 145, 148, 159. Education, Jackson's, 2. Edwards, N., ^3. Election : 79, 97, 98, 116, 118, 127, 182, 242, 313, 326 ; contested, 379 ; presidential, of 1796, K* ; of 18a0, 104; of 1808, 49; of 1812, 29; of 1816, 49 ; of 1820, 73, 76 ; of 1824, 89, 90, 98, 105, 151 ; of 1828, 105, 106, 116, 242, 253 : of 1«32, 182, 221, 223, 249,250-276 ; of 1836,372, 379 ; of 1844, 375, 386. Electioneering, 77, 91, 106, 112, 113, 146,152.308,311,366,375. Electors, 87. Ellis, P., 358. Ellmaker, A., 254. Ellsworth, \V. W., 315. Elv, Rev. Mr., 150. Embargo, 13, 27, 28, 75, 83, 210. Emissaries, 57, 59, 63. Emphasis, 185, 252, 312, 367, 383. Empire, the democratic, 299. Encroachments, federal, 133, 135. Eneigy : Jackson's, 33, 34, 33, 43, 170 ; American, 136. Enforcement Act, 285, 287, 289, 290. England: 11, 13, 17, 27, 57, 62, 66, 161, 165, 167-169, 174, 357 ; King of, 166. English, the, 2, 52, 53, 58. Enquirer, the Richmond, 263. Epitaph, 139. Era of good feeling, 101. Etiquette, 82, 137, 149. Etowah, 177. Everett, A. II., 220. Everett, Edwurd, 315. Bxch.ange committee, the, 267. Exchanges : the domestic, 233 f :r- el?n, 317, 323, 324. Sxchequer bills, 213. Execution, sales under, 122,124, 129 Executive, the, 107, 217, 278, 299 305. 311, s-^^a. Expedition : Burr's, 21 ; Miranda '• 20; the Nickajack, 15. Experiment, 315, 317. Expunging. See Resolution. Extravagance, 113. Factions, 74, 76, 77, 101-103, 109, 110 139, 151, 155, 249, 366, 371. Fair-traders, 196. Fannin, Colonel, 355. Federalism, 214, 282. Federalist, 88, 213, 228, 297. 8e« Party. Filibusters, 53, 314, 359. Financiering, 322. Finances, public, 41. Fine, .Jackson's, 47. Fire at. New York, 319, 338. Fisheries, 81, 95. Flint River, 177. Florida : 19. 36, 37, 52, 54, 56, 153 157, 159, 162, 354, 3-56, 359 ; cessioB of, 69 ; invasion of, 60-65, see War Sejniyiole ; Jackson governor of 68, 70, 71, 242; laws for, 69; pur chase of, 20, 67, 69, 246. S«« Treaty of 1819. Foot, S. A., 166. Forbes, firm of, 70. Forsyth, J., 153, 154. 347, 348. Fort : Bowyer, 37, 40 ; Jackson, 35, 44; Mims, 32; Negro, 52, 63; Ni- agara, 250 ; Scott, 56. Fortifications, 109, 330, 346 Fowltown, 55, 56, 63. Foxardo, 359. France : 13, 17, 27, 170, 171, 295 324 325, 343-348; draft on, 295, 303 309, 320, 344, 345 ; King of (Louii •Philippe), 343, 345, 848. Franklin, 7. Freemasons and masonry, 250, 252. Free trade, 76, 166, 167, 210, 217, 220 289, 370, 373 ; convention, 220. Fromentin, E., 70, 71. Frontier, 2, 5, 35, 251 Funding, 12. Funds, state deposit, 323. Gaines, General, 53-55, 356. Gales and Seaton, 263. Gallatin, \., 14, 41, 42, 86, 164, 168 191, 220, 22S, 307, 308. Galphinton, 175. Gardner, J. B., 147. Georgia, 53, 56, 84, 117, 17&-183,215 218, 283. Ghent, 40, 41, 46, 69, 60, 81, 84, 8< 95, 231 INDEX. 897 libbons vs. Ogden, 130. Hies, W. B., 116. Mlmer, Governor, ISl, 216. rlobe, the, 156. 151), 160, 273, 280, 326,368,371, 374,376. ulold, 332-3a4. iouge, \7., 125, 264,271. Oouverneur, S. L. ,3ol. iovcmment: constitutional, 97 ; pa- ternal, 109, 258 ; personal, 277 279, 280, 299, 302, 309, 314 ; non-iater- ference theory of, 256, 277, 279, 299, 364, 373^ Granger, F., 374, 378. Jreat Britain. See England. Greeley, II., 182. ireen. Duff, 104, 106, 140, 143, 157, 159, 263. areen vs. Biddle, 129. irundy, F.,286. [lABE.is Corpus, 46, 70, 72. Halifax, 165. Hall, Judge, 46. Hamilton, A., 11, 41, 227, 230, 231, 308. Hamilton, James, 212, 289. Hamilton, James A., 152, 153. Hammond, J., 371. Hard Times, 75, 204. Harper, R. G., 104. Harrison, W. II., 378, 379, 381. Harvard College, 254, 300. Hayne, R. Y., 152, 190, 198, 217, 284, 289. Health, Jackson's, 34, 154, 300. Hiawassee, 177, 353. Hickory Ground, 35, 177 Hill, I. , 140, 143, 148, 157, 163, 237- 239, 242, 248, 259, 278, 375. Hillis Ilajo, 58. Himollemico, 53. Holston, 176. Holy Ground, 35. Honorable, title of, 137. Hopewell, 175. Horse Shoe Bend, 35. Hottinger, 295. House of Representatives, 64, 190, 230 ; on the Bank, 247, 248, 274, 314 ; power of, to elect President 97. Houston, S., 354, 355 flunt, M.,358. Huskisson, W., 167, 197, 198. Huyghens, Mrs., 150. li,Li!f0is,122, 189,380. Illiteracy, Jackson 8, 15, 49. immaturity, 367. Immigration, 110. 'inpe&.am«nt, 174, 302, 908, 311- Impressment, 30, 43. Improvement.'', internal, '(7, 81, 82 109, 188, 191-194, 216, 221, 256,262 278, 279, 327. Inaugural, Adams's, 104. Inaugural, Jackson's, 139, 146. Inauguration, Adams's, 93. Inauguration, Jackson's, 138. Incendiary publications, 350. Indiana, 189, 3S0. Indians, 174-1S3, 219, 283; aggrwi^ sions by or on, 14, 31, 54, 56, \1W 356 ; treaty rii:ht.>5 of, 181. Indian Spring, 177. 178. Indian Territory, 179, 180, 183. Indian title to land. 13, 176. Inflation, 120, 236, 261, 270, 318, 824 325. Ingham, S. D., 116, 141, 160, 162,288- 242,261,321,332. Insolvent laws, 128. Institutions, representative, 280, 813 372. Instructions, 96, 108, 212, 243, 278 313, 370 ; to McLane, 161, 169. Insubordination, 33, 34, 44, 359. Interference theory. See Goverw ment, paternal. Intrigues, 90. Iron, 206. Irreconcilablea, 13 Jackson, A., Sen., 1. Jackson, A., Jr., 2. Jackson, Mrs. A., Jr., 9, 18, 49, 139 149. Jacksonism, 320. Jacobinism, 11, 215. Jaudon, S., 341. Jay, J., 11, 41. Jefferson, T., 10, 12, 14, 22, 27-29, 33, 41, 72, 88, 104, 115, 127, 145, 166 171, 174, 213, 215, 228, 314. Jeffersonians. See Party. Jeffersonian school, 131, 256. Jingo policy, 108. Johnson, R. M., 73, 128, 139, 145,280 376, 377, 381. Johnson, W. C, 273. Jones, W. 308. Jamaica, 166. Judge, Jackson a, 14. " Judge-breaking." 125, 127. Judiciary, the, 119, 120, 126, 127, 863 ; the federal, 1 '9, 127-130, 186, 171- 174, 180. Judiciary Act, 130. Kendall, A., 1, 5, 8, 15, 140, 142, 148 146. 148, 257, 159. 160. 242, 243, 248 259, 273 278, 296-306 849, 861 371. - 898 INDEX. Kentucky, 9* 19, 21, 96, 119, 121, 123, 126, 128, 129, 132 193, 204, 211, 222, 242, 257, 353. King's Chapel, 137 Kremer, G., 92. Lacock, a., 67, 258. Land, 16, 17, 69, 109, 184-186, 191, 256, 325, a35. Latour, 39. Taw, alien and sedition, 13, 213-215 ; coinage, 332-334 ; constitutional, 131, 361: endorsement and replevin, 122, 124-126, 129, 133 ; the " gag,'- 350 ; homestead, 1S6, lb9 ; insol- Tent, 128 ; international, 62, 107; martial, 38, 45, 46 ; merchant, 296 ; occupying claimant, 129, 133 ; rev- enue, 69 ; student, Jackson a, 2 ; the study of, 3, 4 ; Spanish, 69. Lawless, L., 174. Lawrence, R., 367, 368. Laws, Jackson a Doctor of, 300. Lawyers, 4. Lee, II., 49, 91, 105, 144, 147, 153. Lecral-tender, 125 ; act, 363 ; cases, 363 ; notes, 363. Leigh, B. W., 313, 314 Letcher, J., 95, 96, 129. Letters, campaign, 76, 93. Lewis, W. B., 49, 50, 76-79, 91, 93, 105, 140-145, 151-162, 243, 248, 273, 278, 282, 296, 297, 299, 375, 335. r>exington, Ky., 121, 29i, 303. Liberty, constitutional, 99, 132, 224j 279, 283, 361,362 ; religious, 377. * Liquidation, 16, 234. Livingston, E., 11, 38, 45, 49, 91, 105, 145, 162, 214, 274, 282, 313, 345- 347. Loco-focos. See Party. Log-rolling, 191 Long, J., 352. Louaillier, 38, 46. Louisiana, 19, 20, 67, 98, 201, 246, 282 3'^'^ 353 Louis' xTv., 99; XV., 359 ; PhiUppe, 170- See France, King of. Louisville, Ky., 121. Lowndes, W., 332. Maosine, 79, 84. Madison, J., 29, 30, 145, 191, 193,214, 216, 230. STidisouian feJerali.sm, 214, 282. Mails, incendiary' documents in the, 350,372; Sunday, 377. tfaine, 179, 323, 357. Vtajor-general, Js^kson a, 15, 36. Wajority, the, 15/, 210, 217, 224. Hallary, >l. C, 200, 202-204, 219. Manners, Jackson's, 14, 88, 138 .Marcy, W . L., 162,247,324. " Marmion,"' the, 130. Marriage, Jackson's, 9, 115. Marshall, J., 131, 182, 309, 361. Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee, 130. Martineau, H., 284, 365, 367. Maryland, 98. Mason, J., Ill, 144, 236-239. Miisons. See Freemasons. Massachusetts, 254, 314, 378. Massacre, 32, 55, 355. Mayo, Dr., 354. McCulloch vs. Marvland, 128, 246. McDuffie, G., 207, 219. 221, 222, 24'" 259, 260, 295, 308. McGillivray, 175. McGregor, 54. Mcintosh, 177. McLane, L., 161, 162, 169, 190, 223 249 296 297. McLekn, J., 112, 116, 141, 254, 378 McNairy, J.,5, 18. Message, 280 ; Adair's, 126 ; Adams's 108 ; Desha'8, 132 ; Jackson's, o 1829, 179, 189, 193, 243, 244, 247 of 18:50, 248 ; of 1831,222, 248, 249 257 ; of 1832, 285, 292 ; of 1833, 308 of 1834, 344, 346, 348 : of 1835, 347 348 ; of 1836, 341 ; special, on French relations, 347, 348 ; special, on Texas, 357. Metcalf, Governor, 135. Methodists, 116. Mexico, 107, 264, 352-359 : mission to 72, 89. Michigan, 379-381. Military service, Jackson's, 61. Militiamen, " the six," 44. Minimum, 199, 200, 205, 2J8. Missionaries, 181, 182. Mississippi, 180, 183,322; river, 10 19, 20, 42, 81, 95, 352 ; valley, 119 134, 355. Missouri, 96, 135. Mitchell, ex-Governor, 54, 55. Mobile, 21,30,36,37. Money, 16 ; money-market, 231, 268 267, 271, 272, 301, 3'24, 327, 328, 341 " mouev power,'' 225-230, 312. Monroe, j"., 42-193 pa.i.urn, 351, 354 369. Monroe doctrine, 108. Morgan, W., 250-252, 255. Mortgage, 122, 124, 128, 135. Muter, Judge, 120. Nacogdoches, 352, 356 Napoleon Bonaparte, 21, 26, 27, df 42, 170 277, 279. National i lar-icter, 136. National Intelligencer, 263 INDEX. 399 NashviUe, 5,8, 270, 294. Natchez, 9, 30, 33. Naral echool, 109. Nayigation system, 164, 167, 168. Navy, the, 40, 41, 359. Negro fort, 53, 69. Ne},'roe8, 52, 57, 130. " Nflw Court,-' 127, 133, 242. New England, 28, 76, 82, 198, 204, 211, 3U0. New Hampshire, 82, 144, 273. New Jersey, 98. New Orleans, 19. 30, 36, 38, 42, 44, 48, 112, 242, 368 ; battle of. 39. Newspapers, partisan, 35, 103, 104, 112, 115, 148. New York city, 67, 82, 337, 338, 840. New York State, 8o, 100, 147, 179, 254, 272, 329, 374. Nichols, Colonel, 57. Niles, H., 52-374 pasxim. Nomination of Calhoun, 1822, 82; of Clay, 1832, 258, 274 ; of Jackson, 1822, 79, 87 ; 1825, 104 ; 1832, 154- 156 ; of Van Buren, 1832, 154, 161, 272, 273. Nominations by Jackson, 147 Non-intercourse, 75. Non-interference. See Government. Non-user, 263. North Carolina, 7, 8, 79, 98, 216, 218, 220, 379. Nova Scotia, 168. Nueces, 357. Nullification, 154^159, 183, 207-223, 281-291, 300, 345, 353 Oaklet, T. J., 193. Obligations, international. 130. Occupying claimant, 129, 132, 133. Office-holders, 145, 160, 374, 376. Office-seekers, 145, 385. Ohio, 121, 204, 254, 257, 380. " Old Court." See " New Court.'' Oligarchy, 102. O'Neil, Peggy. See Mrs. J. H.Eaton. " Onslow," 111. Order, Jackson's departmental, 51 ; Jackson's general, 68 ; Kendall's mail, 350, 371 ; in council, 30, 166 168. Oregon, 359. Organ, 104, 143, 148, 159, 160, 280. Osbom vs. United States Bank, 128 Overton, Judga, 155. Owens, 183. Pacipio, the, 352. Palmer, W. A., 378. Pamphlets, 114, 267, 276. Panama Congress, 106-I08k ••anic, 304, %° 315, 316 f Paper money, 119, 121, 122, 126, 230 246, 363. Parliament, Act of, 165, 167, 168. Parton, J., 1, 3, 15, 21, 23, 49, 70, 78 79, 117, 151, 154, 159, 160, 162, 273 291, 296, 384, 385. Party, 280; the anti-Jackson, 260 256, 374, 378, 379 ; the anti-masonic, 253-255, 374 ; the anti-monopoly, see the equal-rights ; the demo* cratic-republican Jeffersonian, IL 18, 21, 26, 27, 29, 41, 50, 80, 101, 102, 106, 120, 136, 144, 173, 191 228-230, 234, 253, 371, 372; the equal-rights, or loco-foco, 369-373 381, 382; the federal, 11, 12, 2« 50, 96, 101, 102, 112, 115, 116, 139 144, 238, 252 ; the Jackson, 139 154, 173, 188j^205, 236, 248, 256, 257, 313, 374, 375 ; the Jackson- Van Buren, 372 ; the national republi- can, 139, 187, 374 ; the nullifica- tion, 212; the people's, 86; the whig, 328, 330 332, 340, 374, 379 ; the union, 163; discipline, 248, 313; exigency, 109, 192; hatred, 300, 384 ; policy, 221 ; strife, 139. "Patrick Henry," 111. Patriot, the New Hampshire, 143 ; th Baltimore, 146. Patronage, 102, 106, 112, 116, 118, 147, 149. See Civil Service. Peck, Judge, 173. Pennsylvania, 82, 117, 147, 155, 187 188, 204, 205, 211, 227, 254, 267 • 272, 278, 337, 375. Pennsylvania Reporter, 156. Pennsylvanian, the, 311. Pensacola, 30, 36-38, 53, 56, 60, 64, 67, 70. Pension, 120, 221 ; agency, 238, 248, 310. People, will of the, 96-98. Perdido, 20. Personal feeling, Jackson's, 23, 24, 65, 156, 162, 219, 272, 313, 314. Phi Beta Kappa, 254. Philadelphia, 10, 14, 80, 87, 112, 116, 231, 233, 254, 324, 337. 338, »40. Pickering, T., 96. Pinckney, T., 35. Pinkney, W., 43. Pioneers, 6, 33. Piracy, 54. Pitkin, T., 228, 231. Planter, Jackson a, 16, 17 Plaster trade, 197. Platform, 253. Plumer, W., 27, 73. 144, 238. Plutocracy 225, 831. See Mimef potoer. Poind/* xter, Q., 888 400 INDEX, Poinsett, J. R., 352, 364. Police, 365. Political philosophy, Jackson's, 277. Politics, 104 ; domestic, 26 ; national, 119 ; New York, 102, 103. Polk, J. K., 292, 314, 320, 358, 359, 375, 386. See Report. Popularity, Jackson's, 14, 15, 31, 34- 36, 43, 49, 63, 64, 68, 72, 78, 100, 135, 156, 187, 259, 279, 297, 379, 385. Porter, P. B., 179 ; Commodore, 359. Portsmouth, N. H.,236, 238,239,248, 261. Post, N. Y. Eyening, 371. Post-office, 349-351. Potomac, 117, 357. Powers, implied, 109. Presidency, the, 47, 100, 102. President, the. See the Executive. Press, the, 263. Prices, 121, 382. Primary, 87, 102. Principles, political, 138, 246, 286. Printing, public, 148, 160. Priyateers, 53. Privileges, 130. Procedure, 172. 17a Proclamation, anti-nullification, 282, 289; on West India trade, 169; Monroe's, 165. Prohibitory taxes, 221. Proscription, party, 102, 111 , 112, 141, 144-146, 149; of the federalists, 96 ; of printers, 148. Prosperity, llO, 121, 364, 365. Protectionists, 167, 170, 187, 209,212, 216, 220, 291. Protective duties, 75, 81, 84, 196, 206, 220, 221, 223, 326 ; system, 166, 168, 188, 207, 208, 210, 285, 286, 288-290, 333. See Tariff. Protest, Jackson's, 311. Proxies, 85. Public prosecutor, 5, 7. Puritan, 101. QoARREL, 52 ; of Jackson and Cal- houn, 158, l60. Quarrelsomeness, Jackson's, 17, 47, 52, 60, 67, 72, 80. Quincy, J., 314. Rabun, Governor, 60 'Rice-horse bills," 236, 294, 302, 316. Radicals, 109. Randolph, J., 88, 101, 102, 111,174, 284 ; Lieutenant, 162, 301. Ratio of value, gold to silver, 333. Becharter of the first national bank, U, 83. 84, 228, 229, 245, 248 ; of the second, 244, 257, 259, 260, 272, 274 275, 304, 308. Reciprocity and retaliation, 164, W^ 168, 195-197. See Countervailing. Redrawing, 293, 294. Red River, 357. Red Sticks, 55. Reelection, Jackson's interpretatios of his, 277, 278. Tleform, 113, 117. Regency, 8r3, 87, 369. Register, the Annual, 19, 105, 110 118, 202, 203; the MobUe, 72 Niles's, 85, 200, 301, 317. Reid, Major, 141. Relief svstem, 122, 124, 126, 127 132-130, 142, 159, 172, 241, 242,36a Removal, from office, 106, 113, 118 145, 147 ; of judges, 125, 127, se« " Judge-breaking ; " of the publle deposits, 2.32, 240, 241, 295-304, 306-^15, 325, 328, 331. Rents, 382. Report, on the bank, 247, 259, 260, 268, ^92-294, 295, 308, 315, 33/ ; on manufactures, 221 ; on the Mor- gan outrage, 251 ; on the removal of the deposits, 308; on the Semi* nole war, 64, 67, 258 ; on the tariff, 207, 223. Republicans. See Party. Resignation, Jackson's, of senator- ship, 104 ; Clay's, 374 ; Webster's, 378. Resolutions, Virginia and Kentucky, 21-2, 213, 215; Calhoun's, 287; Clay's, censuring Jackson, 310- 313 ; Benton's expunging, 313, 314. Responsibility of the President, 245, 310. Resumption of specie payments, 231^ 233. Retaliation. See Reciprocity and Countervailing. Retrenchment, 113. Revenue taxes, 221, 223; surplus, 325, 328. Revolutions, 170, 268, 354. Rhea, J., 56, 65, 157, 153. Rights, belligerent, 63 ; protection of, 126 ; natural, 370 ; notioni about, 230, 260 ; vested, 119, 13) 372. Ringold, 153. Rio Grande del Norte, 367. Riots, 318, 382.383. Ritchie, T., 263. Rives, W. C, 170, 312-314, 34f5, 8tf 376. Roane, A., 16. Robards, L., 8,9. Robards, Mr». L., S 9. INDEX. 401 Robinstdvn.Me., 191. Bowan, J., 123, 172. Rucker, to " ruckerize," 376. " Rumps," 372. Rush, R., 66, 111, 164, 188, 202, 235. Russia, Emperor of, 115, 352 ; mis- sion to, 72, 102. Sabine, 67, 351, 352, 357, 386. Saddler, Jackson a, 2. St. Augustine, 64. St. John's, 165. St. Mark's, 57-60, 64. St. Mary's, Ga., 191. Salisbury, N. C, 2. Sanford, N., 332. San Francisco, 352. San Jacinto, 355. Santa Anna, 354, 355. Sargent, N., 107, 259. Sargent, T., 116. Scandal, 52. Scire facias, 263. Scott, General, 51, 88, 282 Scott, J., 96. Secession, 116, 216, 282. Secessionist, 213. Secret, the King's, 359. Self-government, 102, 127, 147, 165, 226. Self-will, Jackson's, 278. Senate, 67, 106, 111, 113, 128, 147, 148, 172, 177, 189, 190, 230, 268 ; democracy vs. the, 311 ; on the Bank, 247, 248, 274, 275, 315 ; Jack- son's quarrel with the, 272, 278, 314, 384 ; committees of the. 111. Senator, Jackson a, 10, 76. Sergeant, J., 258. SeTier, Governor, 15, 18. Seward, W. H., 254. Seybert, A., 229. Shoulder Bone Creek, 175. Silver, 120, 123, 332, 333. Blade, W., 378. Slamm, 372. Slavery and slaves, 349-352, 355. Blave-trade, 23, 54, 69. Smith, A., 289. Smith, S., 247 Socialists, 382. §outh American republics, 84, 105, 107, 108, 202. South Carolina 215-220, 281-291 ; poUce act, 130, 173, 215. Sovereignty, 185, 224, 281. Spain, 19, 21, 36, 63, 64,67, 62, 64, 66 107, 353. epecial legislation, 194. Ipecie, 120, 121, 123, 125, 134, 135, 231,264,268,304,318,320.823,835- 837 ; circular, the, 335-337 ; pay- 26 ments, 121, 230, 232. See Rtsump. tion, Suspension, and Currency. Speculation, 32".i-324 ; Texan la^d and stofk, 355. Spencer, A., 255. Spencer, J. C, 251. Spoils, 103, 146, 147, 162. Spoliation claims, 170. 171, 221, 256. Staubaugh, Colonel, 155. Standard, the. New York. 311. State rights, 82, 109, 123, 130-134, 13ft 157, 173, 256, 284, 363. Steamboats, 136. Stevens, Thad., 254, 379. Stevenson, A., 202, 376. Stock-jobbing, 13. Storekeeper, Jackson a, 16. Story, J., 131, 254, 361,363. Strict construction, 109, 134, 256. Strikes, 382. Stump speaking, 6, 113. Sturges vs. Crowninshield, 128. Suability of a State, 129, 135. Sub-treasury, 248. Suspension of specie payments, 121 123, 229, 330. Suwanee River, 58, 342. Swartwout, 91, 93, 105 Tammany, 86, 117, 369, 372. Taney, R. B., 163, 282, 297, 300-309 314, 317, 385. Tariff, 188, 194-209, 212, 215. 218, 221, 222, 279, 285, 286, 288-291, see Protective duties and Nullification; of 1789, 286 ; of 1816, 75 ; in 1820, 76 ; of 1824, 76, 197 : of 1828 (*' of abominations "), 206, 207, 211,212, 216-220, 281; of 1832, 222, 223, 281, 288, 290; "compromise," of 1833, 285, 288, 289-291, 327 ; J. Q Adams on the, 81, 109 ; Calhoun on the, 82 ; constitutionality of the, 220, 285; convention, 220; Jackson on the, 76, 139, 256, 257 ; and land, 186, 188, 190. Tassel, G., 180, 181. Taxes, 69, 75, 187, 217, 218, see Pro. hibitory. Revenue, and Protective : levied on the United States Bank 123, 128, 132. Tecumseh, 31, 32, 36, 377. Telegraph, the, 104, 114, 148, 156 159, 160, 263. Tellico, 176. Tennessee, 6, ", 8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 19 21, 56, 104, 105, 117, 121, 122, 160 353, 375, 386 ; river, 353. Texas, 67, 362-359, 385. Thames, battle of the, 36. Theatricalism in po itice, 77. Third term, 376. 402 INDEX. Three per cents, the, 266, 268, 269, 29l493, 303, 304, 309. Timberlake, Mrs. See Mrs. J. H. Eaton. Titles, contested land, 129, 132; of courtesy, 137. Toast, Jackson's union, 156. 219 Tohopeka, 35. Tolaud, U., 292. Tomkins, D. D., 73. Trade, illicit, 166 169, 170. Trades unions, 382. Tran.sfer drafts, 307. Treasury, the federal, 74, 114, 116, secretary of the, 232, 302, 308, 311. Treaty, with France (1778), 195 : with England (1795), 11, 12, 27, 130 ; with Spain (1795), 19 ; of St. Jldefonso, 19 ; with France (1803), .186; proposed with England (1806), 28 ; with Spain (1819), 20, 67. 69, 186,354,386; with France (1831), 171, 295, 343, 344, 346 ; with Mex- ico (1832), 354, (1840 and 1843), 358 ; commercial, 164, 194, 195 ; Indian, 174-183. Trist, N. P., 384. Troup, Governor, 177, 178, 216. Trustee, Jackson a, 15 Tyler, J., 47, 313, 325, 330, 358, 386. Union, the, 12, 19, 29, 157, 210, 216, 279, 283-285. Union, the Nashville, 95. University, national, 109. Usages, diplomatic, 137- Usury, 261. Van Bdren, 84-384 j»as5iOT. Veracity, "adjourned question of," 95. Vermont, 254. Verplanck, G. C, 292, 332. See Re- port. Veto, 124, 134, 193, 194, 230,274,275, 299, 325. Vidal, heirs of, 70. Vindictiveness, Jackson's, 148, 386. Violence, mob, etc., 360, 363, 365. Virginia, 8, 9, 86, 129, 130, 218, 288, 812, 313, 376. f ote for President, 89, 90, 117, 276, £81 Votes cast by Jackson, 18, 77, 139. Wages, 136, 186, 189. War, 285 ; civil, 1^, 282, 330 ; con> mercial, 12, 27, 28, 348 ; the Creek 33, 35 ; with France, 13, 29 ; In dian, 15, 32, 33, 175,176 ; the Mex ican, 357, 358 ; Revolutionary, 2, 3 62, 174; 361 ; of 1812, 26, 29, 30 40, 42, 43, 68, 75, 234 ; the Seiri nole, 55, 61, 65. 151, 157, 161, ^A 272, 356, 359, 368. Ward, Colonel, 355. Warren, Admiral, 30. Washington, G., 8, 10-12, 27, 145 175; mother of, 301. Washington, city of, 33, 87, 42, 48 70, 105, 138, 143, 146, 149, 166, 166 221, 231, 239. Watkins, T., 146. Wayman vs. Southard, 129. Wayne, J. M., 216. Weatherford, 32. Webb, J. W., 263. Webster, D., 82-379 poasiwi West Indies, 202, 349. West India trade, 161, 164-170, 266. ^Vhig. See Party. Wheat imported, 323, 382. White, C. P., 332. White, n. L., 13, 162, 291, 312, 878 378, 379. White House, 114, 115, 150, 160,280. Whitney, R. M., 263, 268, 269, 297 300, 306. Wilkinson, General, 21, 80, 36. Williams, J., 76. Williams, S., 381. Wire-pulling, 77, 154, 273. Wirt, W., 72, 130, 173, 236, 254 255. Wood, J., 34. Woodbury, L., 116, 162, 236-238,297 306, 320, 334. Wool, 199. Woollens, 198, 199, 203, 207- Woollens bill, 200, 201. Worcester, missionary, 181 Worthington, 71. Wright, Fanny, 382. Wright, S., 204, 805. Writs of execution, 129, 188, 172 ; o error, 181, 182 S; :T American Statesmen. A Series of Biographies of Men famous in the Political History of the United States. Edited by John T. Morse, Jr. Each volume, i6mo, gilt top, $1.25; half morocco, $2.50. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. By John T. Morse, Jr. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. By Henry Cabot Lodge. JOHN C. CALHOUN. By Dr. H. Von Hoist. ANDREW JACKSON, By W. G. Sumner. JOHN RANDOLPH. By Henry Adams. JAMES MONROE. By D. C. Gilman. THOMAS JEFFERSON. By John T. Morse, Jr. DANIEL WEBSTER. By Henry Cabot Lodge. A LBER T GA LLA TIN By John A ustin Stevens. JAMES MADISON. By Sydney Howard Gay. JOHN ADAMS. By John T. Morse, Jr. JOHN MARSHALL. By Allan B. Magruder. SAMUEL ADAMS. By James K. Hosmer. THOMAS H. BENTON. By Theodore Roosevelt. HENRY CLAY. By Carl Schurz. 2 vols. PA TRICK HENRY. By Moses Coit Tyler. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. By Theodore Roosevelt. MARTIN VAN BUREN. By Edward M. Shepard. GEORGE WASHINGTON. By He?iry Cabot Lodge. 2 vols. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By John T. Morse, Jr. JOHN J A Y. By George Pellew. LEWIS CASS. By Andrew C. McLaughlin. Others to be annouficed hereafter. CRITICAL NOTICES. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. ^^^^ Mr. Morse's con- •^ ^ elusions will in the main be those of posterity we have very little doubt, and he has set an admirable example to his coadjutors in respect of interesting narrative, just proportion, and judicial candor. — N^ew York Evening Post. TTAMTTTD/V The biography of Mr. Lodge is calm and njimij^A uiM. ^jg.^if^ed throughout. He has the virtue — rare indeed among iDiographers — of impartiality. He has done his work with conscientious care, and the biography of Hamilton is a book which cannot have too many readers. It is more than a biography ; it is a study in the science of govern- ment. — St. Paid Pioneer-Press. CAT HOTIN Nothing can exceed the skill with which the political career of the great South Carolinian is portrayed in these pages. The work is superior to any other number of the series thus far, and we do not think it can be sur- passed by any of those that are to come. The whole discussion in relation to Calhoun's position is eminently philosophical and just. — The Dial (Chicago). f^Afz^^nAT Professor Sumner has ... all in all, made •^ ' the justest long estimate of Jackson that has had itself put between the covers of a book. — Ne7a York Times. T? A TVTXIT PIT '^^^ book has been to me intensely inter- esting. . . It is rich in new facts and side lights, and is worthy of its place in the already brilliant series of monographs on American Statesmen. — Prof. Moses Coit Tyler. MO NROF ^^^ clearness of style, and in all points of liter- ary workmanship, from cover to cover, the volume is well-nigh perfect. There are also a calmness of judg- ment, a correctness of taste, and an absence of partisanship which are too frequently wanting in biographies, and especially in political biographies. — Amej'icajt Literary CInirchman (Bal- timore). '^FFFER SO IV '^^^ book is exceedingly interesting and. -^ ' readable. The attention of the reader is strongly seized at once, and he is carried along in spite of him- self, sometimes protesting, sometimes doubting, yet unable to lay the book down. — Chicago Standard. . Vf/'R^STER "'■* ^"^^ ^^ "c^-aL^L by students of history ; it will be invaluable as a work of reference ; it will be an authority as regards matters of fact and criticism ; it hits the keynote of Webster's durable and ever-growing fame ; it is adequate, calm, impartial ; it is admirable. — Philadelphia Press. f A T T AT'TM It is one of the most carefully prepared of these very valuable volumes, . . . abound- ing in information not so readily accessible as is that pertaining to men more often treated by the biographer. . . . The whole work covers a ground which the political student cannot afford to neglect. — Boston Corrcspoiidoit Hartford Cotcra/it. AfjJjT^QJY '^^^ execution of the work deserves the high- est praise. It is very readable, in a bright and vigorous style, and is marked by unity and consecutiveness of plan. — The Nation (New York). 70IIN ADAMS. A g°°^ p!^^^ °^ Wiex^xj work. . . . It -^ covers the ground thoroughly, and gives just the sort of simple and succinct account that is wanted. — Evening Post (New York). ATA R SHALL Well done, with simplicity, clearness, pre- cision, and judgment, and in a spirit of moderation and equity. A valuable addition to the series. — New York Tribune. SAMUEL ADAMS. Thoroughly appreciative and sym- pathetic, yet fair and critical. . . . This biography is a piece of good work — a clear and simple presentation of a noble man and pure patriot ; it is written in a spirit of candor and humanity. — Worcester Spy. 'RPNTOJSF "^^ interesting addition to our political liter- ature, and will be of great service if it spread an admiration for that austere public morality which was one of the marked characteristics of its chief figure. — The Epoch (New York). QX^jl Y. W^ have in this life of Henry Clay a biography of one of the most distinguished of American states- men, and a political history of the United States for the first half of the nineteenth century. In each of these important and difficult undertakings, Mr. Schurzhas been eminently successful. Indeed, it is not too much to say that, for the period covered, we have no other book which equals or begins to equal this life of Henry Clay as an introduction to the study of American pol- itics. — Political Science Quarterly (New York). ffEJS/R Y Professor Tyler has not only made one of the best and most readable of American biographies ; he may fairly be said to have reconstructed the life of Patrick Henry, and to have vindicated the memory of that great man from the unappreciative and injurious estimate which has been placed upon it. — New York Evening Post. MORRIS ^^^' I^oosevelt has produced an animated and intensely interesting biographical volume. . . . Mr. Roosevelt never loses sight of the picturesque background of politics, war - governments, and diplomacy. — Magazine oj American History (New York). y^T^ B UREN ^° more generous, appreciative, or j»isi biography, and no more interesting or philosophical piece of political history has appeared in this valu- able series . . . than this absorbing book. . . . To give any ad- equate idea of the personal interest of the book, or its intimate bearing on nearly the whole course of our political history would be equivalent to quoting the larger part of it. — Brooklyji Eagle. WASHINGTON ^'^' Lodge has written an admirable biography, and one which cannot but confirm the American people in the prevailing estimate concern- ing the Father of his Country; but its deepest and most impor- tant significance appears to us to consist in its testimony to the exaltation and the uniqueness of a character whose like comes seldom to the world, and only in periods of great stress and cri- sis, — New York Tribune. FRANKLIN ^^ ^^^ managed to condense the whole - mass of matter gleaned from all sources into his volume without losing in a single sentence the freedom or lightness of his style or giving his book in any part the crowded look of an epitome. He has plenty of time and plenty of room for all he wishes to say, and says it in the very best and most interesting manner. — The Independent (New York). *jif* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price by the Publishers, HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 4 Park St., Boston; ii East 17TH St., New York. American 0itn of i^ctters. EDITED BY CHARLES DUDLEY WARNERc A series of biographies of distinguished Americar authors, having all the special interest of biography^ and the larger interest and value of illustrating the different phases of American literature, the social, political, and moral influences which have moulded these authors and the generations to which they be- longed. Washmgfo7i Irving. By Charles Dudley Warner. Noah Webster. By Horace E. Scudder. Hejiry D. Thoreau. By Frank B. Sanborn. George Ripley. By Octavius Brooks Frothingham. J. Fe7ii7nore Cooper. By Thomas R. Lounsbury. Margaret Fuller Ossoli. By T. W. Higginson. Ralph V/aldo E?nerson. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Edgar Allan Poe. By George E, Woodberry. Nathaniel Parker Willis. By Henry A. Beers. Benjajnin Franklin. By John Bach McMaster. William Cullen Bryant. By John Bigelow. Others to be announced hereafter. Each volume, with Portrait, i6mo, gilt top, $1.25 ; cloth, uncut edges, paper label, $1.50; half morocco. $2.50, •'WASHINGTON IRVING." Mr. Warner has not only written with sympathy, mi- nute knowledge of his subject, fine literary taste, and that easy, fascinating style which always puts him on such good terms with his readers, but he has shown a tact, critical sagacity, and sense of proportion full of promise for the rest of the series which is to pass under his supervision. — New York Tribune. It is a very charming piece of literary work, and pre- sents the reader with an excellent picture of Irving as a man and of his methods as an author, together with ar accurate and discriminating characterization of his works* •^ — Boston Joiirjial. It would hardly be possible to produce a fairer or more candid book of its kind. — Literary World (London). "NOAH WEBSTER." Mr. Scudder's biography of Webster is alike honorable to himself and its subject. Finely discriminating in all that relates to personal and intellectual character, schol- arly and just in its literary criticisms, analyses, anJ estimates, it is besides so kindly and manly in its tone, its narrative is so spirited and enthralling, its descriptions are so quaintly graphic, so varied and cheerful in their coloring, and its pictures so teem with the bustle, the movement, and the activities of the real life of a by-gone but most interesting age, that the attention of the "reader rs never tempted to wander, and he lays down the book with a sigh of regret for its brevity. — Ha?'Per's Monthly Magazitie. It fills completely its place in the purpose of this se- tdes of volumes. — The Critic (New York). "HENRY D. THOREAU." Mr. Sanborn's book is thoroughly American and truly fascinating. Its literary skill is exceptionally good, and there is a racy flavor in its pages and an amount of exact knowledge of interesting people that one seldom meets with in current literature. Mr. Sanborn has done Tho- reau's genius an imperishable service. — American Church Review (New York). Mr. Sanborn has written a careful book about a curious man, whom he has studied as impartially as possible ; whom he admires warmly but with discretion ; and the story of whose life he has told with commendable frank- ness and simplicity. — New York Mail a7td Express. It is undoubtedly the best life o£ Thoreau. oxtant.— » Christian Advocate (New YorkV "GEORGE RIPLEY." Mr. Frothingham's memoir is a calm and thoughtful and tender tribute. It is marked by rare discrimination, and good taste and simplicity. The biographer keeps himself in the background, and lets his subject speak. And the result is one of the best examples of personal portraiture that we have met with in a long time. — The Chiirchniati (New York). He has fultilled his responsible task with admirable fidelity, frank earnestness, justice, fine feeling, balanced moderation, delicate taste, and finished literary skill. It is a beautiful tribute to the high-bred scholar and gener- ous-hearted man, whose friend he has so worthily por^ trayed. — Rev. Williatn H. C/ianning (London). "JAMES FENIMORE COOPER." We have here a model biography. The book is charm- ingly written, with a felicity and vigor of diction that are notable, and with a humor sparkling, racy, and never obtrusive. The story of the life will have something of the fascination of one of the author's own romances. — New York Tribiine. Prof. Lcunsbury's book is an admirable specimen of literary biography. . . . We can recall no recent addition to American biography in any department which is supe- rior to it. It gives the reader not merely a full account of Cooper's literary career, but there is mingled with this a sufficient account of the man himself apart from his books, and of the period in which he lived, to keep alive the interest from the first word to the last. — A'ew York Eve7iing Post. "MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI." Here at last we have a biography of one of the noblest and the most intellectual of American women, which does full justice to its subject. The author has had ample material for his work, — all the material now available, perhaps, — and has shown the skill of a master in his use of it. . . . It is a fresh view of the subject, and adds important information to that already given to the public. '—Rev. Dr. F. H. Hedge, in Boston Advertiser. He has filled a gap in our literary history with excel Jent taste, with sound judgment, and with that literary skill which is preeminently his own. — Christian Uiiion (New York). Mr. Higginson writes with both enthusiasm and sym- pathy, and makes a volume of surpassing interest. — Commercia/ Advefti^er TNew York). "RALPH WALDO EMERSON." Dr. Holmes has written one of the most deh'ghtful biographies that has ever appeared. Every page sparkles with genius. His criticisms are trenchant, his analysis clear, his sense of proportion delicate, and his sympa- thies broad and deep. — PJiiladelpJiia Press. A biography of Emerson by Holmes is a real event in American Literature. — Standard {(Z\viQ.2igo). "EDGAR ALLAN POE." Mr. Woodberry has contrived with vast labor to con struct what must hereafter be called the authoritative biography of Poe, a biography which corrects all others, supplements all others, and supersedes all others. — The Critic (New York). The best life of Poe that has yet been written, and no better one is likely to be written hereafter. This is high praise, but it is deserved. Mr. Woodberry has spared no pains in exploring sources of information ; he has shown rare judgment and discretion in the interpretation of what he has found. — Conwiercial Advertiser (New York). "NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS.'' Prof. Beers has done his work sympathetically yet can* didly and fairly and in a philosophic manner, indicating the status occupied by Willis in the republic of letters, and sketching graphically his literary environment and the main springs of his success. It is one of the best books of an excellent series. — Buffalo Times. "BENJAMIN FRANKLIN." One of the most interesting and instructive volumes of the series, overflowing with instructive matter concerning the Bostonian whose name is so closely identified with the history of Philadelphia, and, indeed, with that of the whole country as it existed in his day. The pictures which are given of the momentous period in which he lived are full of vigor, and betray an astonishing amount cf research in many directions. The simplicity of style and the critical ability so abundantly displayed make the work very fascinating reading throughout. The estimate of Franklin's character, ability, and attainments is a very just one. — Boston Gazette. *■** For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt vf price by the Publishers, HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, BOSTON AND NKW YORK.