YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

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AMERICAN STATESMEN
EDITED BY
JOHN T. MORSE, JR.
IN THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES
VOL. xvn.

DOMESTIC POLITICS: THE TARIFF
AND SLAVERY
ANDREW JACKSON
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ANDREW JACKSON

BY

WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER
PBOFESSOB OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
IS YALE UNIVESSITY

BOSTON AND NEW TOKK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
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COPTRIOHT, 1882 AND 1899, BY WILLIAM ORAHAM SUMNER
COPYHIGHT, 1809, BY HOUOHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
The fourth group of biographies in this series
covers the period of Domestic Politics, the Tariff
and Slavery being the matters of chief interest.
It comprises the lives of Andrew Jackson, Martin
Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C.
Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, and Lewis Cass.
With the election of Andrew Jackson the
United States turned a political corner and set out
upon a new course. It is noteworthy that, begin
ning with Washington, each successive president
is included in this series until we close the line
with Jackson's successor, Van Buren. But after
Van Buren went out of office in March, 1841, not
another president finds a place until we come to
the inauguration of Lincoln in March, 1861. Of
the propriety of all the inclusions of the first list
no question can be raised, unless possibly a mild
doubt as to Monroe ; concerning the exclusion of
all the incumbents of the second period, covering
twenty years, the editor certainly feels no doubt
that his judgment has been correct, nor has he

vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
ever known disapproval to be expressed among aU
the numerous criticisms and suggestions which he
has heard concerning the series. Now this so
strongly marked difference between the two lists
cannot be attributed to two continuous series of
accidents ; to assert this would be to tax even
blind credulity too far. There must be, and in
fact there is, an underlying reason.
At the time of Jackson's triumph over Adams,
Democracy, though not at first under that name,
had been in power ever since Jefferson won his
campaign in 1800-1801. Jackson also was a De
mocrat, but with what a change in the signification
of the word! Between Jeffersonian Democracy
and Jacksonian Democracy there was iadeed a
great gulf. Jefferson had believed in the people
upon the basis, tacitly understood, that they should
always select for the places of power men like him
self, who to natural ability should also add that
aptitude for administering the government which
might be supposed to spring from a broad educa
tion in historical and political directions, and a
career of steadily widening experience in public
affairs. If he had found them using their creative
power in order to elevate men of not more than
ordinary intellectual calibre and of little artifi
cially acquired fitness, he woidd have indignantly
rebuked them for betraying just expectations.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION vii
Upon this ground the selection of Jackson would
have offended him deeply, and not without reason ;
for certainly that selection, though natural, did
not show the element of soundness in the popular
judgment, and was unfortunate in its results.
Two or three inducements led to it. Jackson was
the " hero of New Orleans," and the mass of the
people, in whom the peace-loving Jefferson so im
plicitly believed, adored military heroes. They
made Harrison president because of Tippecanoe;
they made Taylor president because of the Mexi
can war ; and for the same reason they long dan
gled the same office before the eyes of Scott, who
never had quite the political skill to grasp it.
Yet Jackson was no very great hero, after all.
His famous victory was chiefly due to the blunders
of his opponent ; and, though an opponent's blun
ders are an entirely justifiable means for triumph
ing over him, yet a victory thus won ought not to
stand as a sole and all-sufficient reason for great
military distinction. But Jackson's violent tem
perament corroborated the general impression that
he was a great fighter. This domineering qual
ity also pleased the multitude ; for all who have
observed such phenomena will agree that the
-^ democratic crowd, while boisterously abusing a
dominant class, will always obsequiously set over
themselves a masterful individual. Furthermore,

vUi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
V it was much in Jackson's favor that he was an ig-
norant man, fully as devoid as the average citizen
could be of all the training, through books or
practice, which had theretofore been commonly
regarded as constituting the odious superior quali
fications of a detestable upper class.
Selected for such reasons, Jackson responded
X- generously to the tastes of his following. He dis
graced his office by the " Kitchen Cabinet," and
by all the mal-odorous and undignified scandal of
Peggy O'Neil. A low personal element permeated
^ the administration and banished real statesman
ship. Devotion to himself was the only quality
which he found essential for the office-seeker. He
has generally been accused of having foisted upon
the country that noxious practice expressed by
^ the aphorism : To the victors belong the spoils.
But he really did much worse than this ; for per
haps some spoils must be allowed to the victors ;
perhaps, even, they ought to be so allowed ; but
his reading was, or would have been, had the say
ing been then in vogue : To the victor belong the
spoils ; — and he himself was the victor.
Sometimes he may have deserved credit for his
actions. Thus it has been held by many excellent
authorities that, though the methods of the cam-
y,, paign against the Bank of the United States were
open to severe criticism, yet the destruction of

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION k
that institution was fortunate for the country. Not
improbably this is a correct opinion, though it is
difficult to speak with entire assurance when, of
the two alternatives, only one has been brought to
the test of experience. He won, also, great fame
by his repression of the secession movement in
South Carolina. But he did not wholly merit this
fame. The outburst of his furious temper came
at a critical moment, and brought a most happy
result. But careful study of the facts shows that
this outburst far outran what he was really ready
to do. He was giving alarming indications of
weakening when the recession instead of the seces
sion of the Palmetto State left him in possession
of another lucky victory — a victory which, as
many writers have shown, must not be too curi
ously examined.
Like Jefferson, Jackson enjoyed the privilege
of naming his successor, and he gave the honor
to Van Buren. It is my opinion that Van Buren
has never had justice done to him. He is too
commonly regarded as a man of moderate capa
city, little strength of character, and a somewhat
too suave deportment. He certainly presented a
strong contrast to his predecessor, and the nation
which had learned to worship Jacksonian outbursts
could hardly be expected to be enthusiastic over
Van Buren's urbanity. He was unfortunate, more-

X EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
over, in hairing his incumbency marked by the ter
rible financial disasters of that ever-memorable
year, 1837. He was no more responsible for them,
and no more able to cure them, than if the out
break had been of cholera or small-pox; indeed,
he was much less so. But of course the multitude
looked to him for a remedy, and, getting none,
they contemned him as incompetent. In point of
fact, while no one would think of saying that Van
Buren was very great intellectually or very strong
as a controller of men or events, yet he really had
much of the statesman in him; he had distinct
policies, and reasons for them, and he pursued
them intelligently. Later on in his career he
showed that, though of a temperament to which
quarreling was distasteful, yet he had genuine
moral and political principles to which he would
adhere in the face of opponents and against his
own selfish interests. His life in this series seems
to me a very interesting and able presentation of a
period which has not generally been well appre
ciated. If we measure him with those who had
gone before him, he seems of moderate dimensions,
but in comparison with those who came after him
he appears almost distinguished. With him, as
has been said, we bid a long farewell to presiden
tial biographies ; but his exclusion would have
been a great error ; he was really a man of mark.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xi
Between the time when John Quincy Adams
left the presidency and Abraham Lincoln came to
it, some brilliant reputations reached their zenith,
and many great changes took place. Webster,
Clay, Calhoun, will rise to the memory of every
reader ; their great battles, their superb oratory,
seem almost to call for Homeric description. But
it will not do for me to magnify my office, and to
forget that I am writing merely a brief — or what
should be a brief — prefatory introduction to a
group or period. One general remark, however,
I must find room for, in order to call attention to
¦^ the new development of political life in the coun
try. By the time that Monroe left office the
United States had escaped from European entan
glements ; the French Revolution was burned out ;
we had only to forget our brush with Great Brit
ain. Then for a while a political calm succeeded ;
w there were almost no politics at all, only personal
scrambling of politicians. But before Jackson
was comfortably established in the White House,
a new order of business was already well to the
front. For a long while thereafter the country
was to be occupied with domestic affairs. Ques
tions of internal policy absorbed the people.
There was first the tariff and then slavery ; while
in a practical direction the Southwest and the
Northwest were growing rapidly in importance,

xii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
politically as well as in every other respect. The
lives of Benton and Cass teU these especial stories
of the growth of the new regions; while all the
lives combine to teU the stories of tariff and sla
very conflicts. The tariff rose and fell, — I do not
mean financially, but as a topic of political discus
sion. But slavery kept very steadily rising, with
few and brief intervals of rest, until finally it
crowded out aU else and absorbed aU popular
interest for itself alone. To my mind, I must
say that this new condition presents itself as more
satisfactory than either the cahn, or the foreign
excitements, which had preceded it. To see Amer
ican statesmen busied with American affairs is
vastly more gratifying than to see them, with at
least one eye askance, scanning the doings of other
peoples. Nor in the histories of many nations and
eras does the reader find an episode more intensely
exciting, more fascinating in all the swayings of
the struggle, than was the anti-slavery movement.
What moral qualities, what intellectual wrestlings,
what defeats and victories, and renewals of the
unwearying contest, does not one witness ! It is
a narrative which cannot stale ; which can never,
by repetition, lose its freshness ; and the stories of
the lives of those engaged in that quarter-century
of strife will never, I hope, cease to enthrall Amer
ican readers.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xiii
Further it may be said that it is in the history
of this period that the distinctive national charac
ter is most strongly marked. As a natural conse
quence of the fact that the people were wholly
engrossed in their own affairs, they began to
develop traits sufficiently peculiar to themselves
to differentiate them from other peoples. In the
earlier years Americans had grown out of English
colonists, but now they had grown away from
them. With our own special domestic interests
and our own internal policies, we began also to
have our own characteristics infused through the
people at large, and finding expression in those
who were engaged in the conduct of our public
affairs. The reader who wants to study genuine
Americanism must seek its establishment in the
administration of the second Adams, and watch
its rapid and strong development from that time
until the death of Mr. Lincoln. It is not only
the questions of that era, but the statesmen also,
that were American. Their lives are full of in
struction and suggestion in this respect, and the
interest which this quality confers upon them is
very great. In a great measure this condition
comes to an end, perhaps only temporarily, at or
soon after the close of the civil war, collaterally
with the rapid growth of material prosperity which
then occurred, and with the accompanying inunda-

xiv EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
tion of many foreign and alien elements. For the
time being, we have ceased to be homogeneous,
and it is hard to say what is the American char
acter to-day, or indeed whether any such character
is now established. We have the power and con
sideration which come with wealth and numbers ;
perhaps we are developing a new and it may be a
grander national character ; certainly we are be
coming what is vaguely called cosmopolitan ; but
in getting much we are also parting with some
thing, — we are losing, or have actually lost, the
group of distinguishing traits which marked the
period to which this group of our series belongs.
That period had very defimite boundaries ; it was
of exceptional importance, and its great men com
mand an unusual measure of interest and atten
tion. It may be differentiated as the era of
Americanism, nationalism, nativism, by whichever
phrase one may prefer to describe the new and
original conditions, political, moral, and social, of
the country. JOHN T. MORSE, JR.
September, 1898.

PREFACE
This new edition of this book has been revised
line by line, and the corrections, amendments, and
additions, which have been collected during the
sixteen years since it was first written, are now
incorporated in it. I have had the very great
advantage of using a collection of unpublished let
ters of Jackson to William B. Lewis, 250 in num
ber, the property of the Messrs. Ford. I have
been allowed to avail myself of all the material in
these letters which was useful for my purpose ;
and I have now to make my acknowledgments to
the owners of them for their courtesy and gener
osity. In the quotations from Jackson's letters I
have reproduced the original exactly, as respects
spelling, punctuation, and capitals, not even cor
recting obvious slips of the pen, or inaccuracies
of an old man. It is left to the reader to make
such allowances where necessary. As I have been
under strict injunctions not to increase the size of
the book, I have cancelled much which was in
tended, in the first edition, to elucidate events or
proceedings of Jackson's time, but which did not

xvi PREFACE
strictly belong to it. The cancelled passages were
especially important in Chapters VIII., IX., and
X. of the first edition. The great number of
excellent works which have been added to the
literature of American history within sixteen years
make these passages less necessary. On the whole,
therefore, I have curtailed the history and extended
the biography.
W. G. SUMNER.
Yale University, October, 1898.

CONTENTS
CHAP. „.„„
PAGE
I. The FmsT Fobty-fwe Years op Jackson's Life 1
n. The Cbeek Wab aud the Wab with Engi^aud 30
III. Jackson in Flobida  60
rv. Election of 1824  92
V. Adams's Ajdministbation  129
VI. The "Relief" System op Kentucky . . 151
VII. Intebnal Histoby op Jackson's Fibst Adminis-
tbation  . 176
Vni. Public Questions op Jackson's First Adminis-
teation .  214
1. West India Trade; 2. Spoliation Claims; 3.
Federal Judiciary ; 4. Indians ; 5. Public Lands ;
6. Internal Improvements; 7. Tariff; 8. Nullifi
cation; 9. Bank.
IX. The Campaign op 1832  289
X. Tabiff, Nullification, and the Bank dubing
Jackson's Second Administbation . . 322
XI. SpecdIiAtion, Distbibution, Ccbeency Legisla
tion, and End op the Bank op the United
States  377
XII. The New Spirit in Various Points of Fobeign
and Domestic Policy . ... 402
XIII. The Election Of 1836. — End of Jackson's Ca-
beeb  439
Full Titles of Books refebbbd to Of this
Volume  461
Index  469

ILLUSTRATIONS
Andeew Jackson  Frontispiece
From a photograph in the Library of the State Depart
ment at Washington, made by Brady from a daguerreo
type. Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston
Public Library.
The vignette of "Hermitage," Gen. Jackson's home,
near Nashville, Tenn., is from a photograph. Page
Facsimile op Audbew Jackson's Handwbiting facing 84
Letter written from " Hermitage," July 15, 1820, to
William B. Lewis. From the original, owned by Messrs.
Paul Leicester Ford and W. C. Ford.
Mbs. J. H. Eaton (Peggy O'NeU)  facing 194
From a photograph by Brady in the possession of Mr.
William H. Stalee, Washington, D. C.
Autograph from the Brady Register, owned by his
nephew, Mr. Levin C. Handy, Washington, D. C.
Nicholas Biddle  facing 270
From the painting by Thomas Sully in the possession
of Biddle's son, Craig Biddle, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa.
Autograph from a reproduction, kindly furnished by
Mr. Biddle.
EOGEB B. Taney  facing 362
From a photograph, in 1860, by Daniel Bendann, Bal
timore, Md.
Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston
Public Library.

ANDREW JACKSON

CHAPTER I
THE FIRST FOETT-FIVE YEARS OF JACKSON'S LIFE
In the middle of the last century a number of
Scotchmen and Scotch-Irishmen migrated to the
uplands of North and South Carolina. Among
these was Andrew Jackson, who came over in 1765,
with his wife and two sons, being accompanied
also by several neighbors and connections from
Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland. They ap
pear to have been led to the spot at which they
settled, on the upper waters of the Catawba river,
by the fact that persons of their acquaintance in
Ireland had previously found their way thither,
under special inducements which were offered to
immigrants.^ The settlement was called the Wax-
haw Settlement, and was in Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina, but close to the South Carolina
1 2 Hewitt, 13, 268, 272. A bounty was offered equal to the
cost of passage. Ship captains became immigration agents.
For the full titles of books referred to, see the list at the end of the
volume.

2 ANDREW JACKSON
boundary. Andrew Jackson had no capital, and
never became an owner of land. In 1767 he died.
His son Andrew was born within a few days of
the father's death, March 15, 1767. Parton fixes
his birthplace in Union County, North Carolina;
Kendall in South Carolina. In Jackson's Pro
clamation of 1832, in a letter of December 24,
1830,1 aji(j ijj jjig ^j2^ j^g speaks of himself as a
native of South Carolina.
It appears that Andrew Jackson's mother aban
doned the settlement which her husband had com
menced, 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
education are vague and uncertain. Of book-learn
ing 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 opposing sympathies as to the war. The
English penetrated the district several times in the
hope of winning recruits and strengthening the
tories. On one of these raids Andrew Jackson
1 39 NUes, 385.

THE STUDY OF LAW 3
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.
Andrew Jackson accordingly came to entertain a
vigorous hatred of the English from a very early
age. In 1781 he was alone in the world. What
means of support he had we do not know, but,
after trying the saddler's trade, he became, in
1784, a student of law at Salisbury, North Caro
lina. The traditions collected by Parton of Jack
son's conduct at this time give us anything but the
picture, so familiar in political biography, of the
orphan boy hewing his way up to the presidency
by industry and self-denial. If the information is
trustworthy, Jackson 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 in
tellectual activity of the young men, which had
previously been expended in theology, began to be
directed to the law. As capital increased and pro
perty rights became more complicated there was
more need for legal training. In an agricultural
community there was a great deal of leisure at
certain seasons of the year, and the actual outlay

4 ANDREW JACKSON
required for an education was small. The standard
of attainments was low, and it was easy for a
farmer's boy of any diligence to acquire, in his
winter's leisure, as much book-learning as the best
colleges gave. In truth the range of ideas, among
the best classes, about law, history, political science,
and political economy, was narrow in the extreme.
What the aspiring class of young men who were
self-educated lacked, as compared with the techni
cally "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 insti
tution. What the same aspiring youths had in
excess of the regularly educated was self-confi
dence, bred by ignorance of their own short-com
ings. They were therefore considered pushing
and offensive by the colonial aristocracy of place
holders and established families, who considered
that " the ministry " was the proper place for
aspiring cleverness, and that it was intrusive when
it pushed into civil life. The restiveness of the
aspiring class under this repression was one of the
great causes of the Revolution. The lawyers be
came the leaders in the revolt everywhere. The
established classes were, as classes, tories. After
the war the way was clear for every one who wanted
office, or influence, or notoriety, to attain these
ends. The first step was to study law. If a young
man heard a public speaker, and was fired by the

THE STUDY OF LAW 5
love of public activity and applause, or if he be
came engaged in political controversy, and was
regarded by his fellows as a good disputant, or if
he chanced to read something which set him think
ing, the result was very sure to be that he read
some law. The men, whose biographies 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 teach
ing or by farm work. Those, however, whose bio
graphies we read are only the select few who
succeeded, out of the thousands who started on the
same road, and who were arrested by one circum
stance 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 and store-keeper. Chance plays a
great role in a new community, just as it does in a
primitive civilization. Chance had very much to
do with Jackson's career. We have no evidence
that he was dissatisfied with his circumstances, and
set himseK to work to get out of them, or that he
had any strong ambition 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
1 Jackson, 109.

6 ANDREW JACKSON
character, except that it shows him following the
set or fashion of the better class of young men of
his generation. If conjecture may be allowed, it
is most probable that he did not get on well with
his relatives, and that he disliked the drudgery 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 1789, Jackson's friend, John McNairy, was
appointed judge of the Superior Court of Law
and Equity of the District of Mero, i. e., David
son, Sumner, and Tennessee Counties, Tennessee.
McNairy and Jackson were admitted to the bar at
Greenville, in May, 1788, the Court sitting there,
under the authority of the State of North Carohna,
without interruption, for the first time after the
Franklin troubles.^ Jackson arrived in Tennes
see in the fall of 1789 or the spring of 1790. He
settled in Jonesboro. Tennessee was then a wild
frontier country, in which the whites and Indians
were engaged in constant hostilities. It was shut
off from connection with the Atlantic States by the
mountains, and its best connection with civilization
was down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Such
frontier communities have always had a peculiar
character. In them the white man has conformed,
1 Haywood, 194. Haywood writes Frankland. Allison (29) says
that Sevier's Correspondence shows that the State was named
after Franklin. Inasmuch as Allison claims to have searched
court records, etc., his dates, etc., are here followed.

FRONTIER SOCIETY 7
in no small degree, to the habits and occupations
of the Indians. Cut off from tools, furniture,
clothing, and other manufactured articles such as
civilized men use, he has been driven to such sub
stitutes as he could produce by bringing his intel
ligence to bear on the processes and materials used
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 hunt
ing stage of civilization.! The pioneers, so much
lauded in song and story, were men who first broke
the path into the wilderness, but who derogated
from the status of their race to do it. They became
incapacitated for the steady labor of civilized in
dustry, and when the country became so 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 their
habits they were idle and thriftless, and almost
always too fond of strong drink. The class of
settlers who succeeded them were but little better
in their habits, although they began to clear the
forests and till the soil. They were always very
1 See CoUins's Kentucky, Putnam's Middle Tennessee, Ford's Il
linois, and Kendall's Jackson, 74. To " indianize " was a current
term for this social phenomenon. The worst manifestation of it
was the adoption of the custom of scalping, and the acts of
legislation by which bounties were offered for scalps, even for
those of women and children. During the war of the Revolution
there were, in the mountains of East Tennessee, white people
" more savage than the Indians. They possess every one of their
vices but not one of their virtues." 2 Hanger, 404.

8 ANDREW JACKSON
litigious. Court day was an occasion which drew
the men to the county town, forming an event in
a monotonous existence, and offering society to
people oppressed by isolated life. This concourse
of people furnished occasion for gossip and news-
mongering, and the discussion of the affairs of
everybody for miles around. "Pubhc opinion"
took control of everything. Local quarrels in
volved the whole county sooner or later. Friend
ships, 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-mak
ing and argument. The institution of "stump-
speaking" was born and developed in these cir
cumstances. In the court itself the parties to the
suits and the jury enjoyed a place before the pubhc
eye. The judge and the counsel 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 infiuence which their eloquence
had won in the court room to advance the in
terests 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 political abuses
have come from transferring to our now large and
crowded cities maxims and usages which were con
venient and harmless in backwoods county towns.

FRONTIER SOCIETY 9
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 personal collisions which
arose where no one was allowed to practise any
personal reserve, where each one's business 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 civiliza
tion. He has to try to introduce law and order,
the fulfilment of contracts, and the recognition of
rights into the infant society. This was the task
which Jackson undertook in Tennessee. It re
quired nerve and vigor. The western counties of
North Carolina were in a state of anarchy, resulting
from the attempt to set up the State of Franklin,
and the population were so turbulent and lawless
that the representative of legal order was at open
war with them. There had been civil war in the
district for four years.
The proceedings by which the State of Franklin
was brought into existence were suggested and
carried out upon principles and notions which can
only be characterized as squatterism. The colo
nists at the outset, especially those of New Eng
land, took their stand on squatterism, without re
flection or question. The primary standpoint or

10 ANDREW JACKSON
view on which it rests is the notion that a group
of people who find themselves in what the New
Englanders called a " vacuum domicilium " (put
ting it in Latin to give it emphasis since it lacked
contents) may hold a mass meeting, and create a
state, without regard to the jurisdiction of some
political body already existing, which has historical
and legal authority over the territory in which they
are. Many conflicts arose in the colonial history
from the collision between squatterism and con
stituted authority, and three or four very important
cases have occurred in the federal history.^ Frank
lin was the first. The conflict is always attended
by big declarations about " liberty " on the part of
the squatters, and when they are forced to submit
to law and constitutional order, great irritation is
sure to be produced.
The Indians and whites were also engaged in
the final struggle of the former before yielding
their hunting-grounds to the cultivation of the
white man. Jackson had to travel up and down
the country 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
1 See p. 446. ^ Kendall's Jackson, 90.

JACKSON'S MARRIAGE 11
as prosecutor 1 are vouched for by the fact that
Governor Blount said of him, in reference to cer
tain 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 wiU be punished." ^ As to the
administration of justice in such a society, the colo
nial records show how slight were the guarantees
of civil liberty against popular power. Allison^
proves it again in his description of the primitive
court of Tennessee and its proceedings.
Among the earliest settlers of Middle Tennessee
(1780) was John Donelson, who had been killed
by the Indians before Jackson migrated to Tennes
see.* Jackson boarded with the widow Donelson.
In the family there were also Mrs. Donelson's
daughter, Rachel, and the latter's husband, Lewis
Robards. Robards, who seems to have been of a
violent and jealous disposition, had made injurious
charges against his wife with reference to other
persons, and he now made such charges with refer
ence to Jackson. Robards had been married in
Kentucky under Virginia law. There was no law
1 He was appointed district attorney by Washington in 1791,
after the western counties of North Carolina were ceded. The
cession was made that the State might no longer be obliged to
pay expenses incurred in Indian wars, which the western people
were charged with provoking in order to create claims which the
eastern counties must pay. Hayward, 214 ; Allison, 26,
2 Putnam, 351.
' Chap. iii.
* Putnam, 613 et seq. ; Kirke, 7.

12 ANDREW JACKSON
of divorce in Virginia. Robards, in 1790, peti
tioned the Legislature of Virginia to pass an act
of divorce in his favor, making an affidavit that
his wife had deserted him, and was living in adul
tery with Jackson. The Legislature of Virginia
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 took 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 Mrs. Robards, upon
information of the legislative act of 1790, which
they assumed, or were informed, to be an act of
divorce, were married at Natchez, in July or Au
gust, 1791. In January, 1794, upon hearing of
the action of the Mercer County Court, they were
married again.^ The circumstances of this mar
riage were such as to provoke scandal at the time,
and the scandal, which in the case of a more ob
scure 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 contracting a marriage
under ambiguous circumstances, and for not pro
tecting his own wife's honor by proper precautions,
1 13 Va. Stat, at Large, 227 ; Dec. 20, 1790.
2 The decree was for desertion and adultery. It is given in
full in Truth's Advocate, 17. (1828.)
' Telegraph Extra, p. 33. Report of a Jackson committee in
1828.

JACKSON'S MARRIAGE 13
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
devotion, although she was not at all fitted to share
the destiny which befell him. He cherished her
memory until his own death in a fashion of high
romance. An imputation upon her, or a reflection
upon the regularity of his marriage, always incensed
him more than any other personal attack. Having
put her in a false position, against which, as man
and lawyer, he should have protected 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 said certificate was irregular.
Jackson was a member of the convention which
met at Knoxville, January 11, 1796, and framed a
Constitution 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 estab
lished a freehold qualification for voting and hold
ing the chief offices, and declared that the people
of Tennessee had an inalienable 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 Ten-
1 Ramsey, 655.

14 ANDREW JACKSON
nessee, having been expelled, Jackson was ap
pointed senator in his place. He held this position
only until April, 1798, when he resigned.
In December, 1796, therefore, at the age of
thirty, Jackson first came in contact with a society
as cultivated as 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 presidential elec
tion of 1796 was being decided. Tennessee voted
for Jefferson, and we may believe that whatever
political notions Jackson had were Jeffersonian.
He identified himself with the opposition to Wash
ington's administration in the most factious and
malicious act which it perpetrated, namely, the
vote against the address to Washington at the
close of his administration. He and Edward Liv
ingston 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 Washing
ton'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 " irreconcilable " minority
which opposed these measures to the bitter end
must stand condemned.
' In 1830 Livingston attempted an elaborate defence of his
vote. He tried to distinguish between Washington and his ad
ministration. Hunt's Livingston, 340.

EARLY POLITICAL OPINIONS 15
In the Senate, Jackson voted, with only two
others, against a biU, to authorize the President to
buy or lease cannon foundries, in view of possible
war with France. He voted against a bill to au
thorize the arming of merchant ships ; in favor of
an embargo; against a proviso 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. White, and an act to reimburse Tennessee
for expenses incurred in an Indian war. Tennessee
thought that the federal government was slow and
negligent about defending her against the Indians.
The federal government thought that Tennessee
was hasty and aggressive towards the Indians. It
had inherited the burden against which North Car
olina had revolted.^ Jackson secured payment of
this claim of Tennessee while he was in the House,
to the great advantage of his popularity 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 warning. He does not appear to have
made much impression upon anybody at Philadel
phia. In the "History of the United States in
1796 " (p. 244) he is quoted for an account of
the Nickajack expedition, against the Indian strong-
1 Annals of Congress ; 5th Congress, I. 485-532.
2Seep. ll,n. 1.

16 ANDREW JACKSON
hold, in 1794. Gallatin recalled him years after
wards 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." ^ 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 feelings. I have seen him at
tempt it repeatedly, and as often choke with rage." ^
There is, however, ample testimony that Jackson,
later in life, was distinguished and elegant in his
bearing, when he did not affect roughness and in
elegance, and that he was able to command enco
miums upon his manners from the best bred ladies
in the country.
Jackson was a " Judge of the Superior Courts "
of Tennessee from 1798 to June 1804. Overton's
Reports (1 Tennessee) cover this period, but the
reports are meagre and undated (beginning in
1791), and those which appear to belong to Jack
son's time deal with only petty and unimportant
cases. It is stated here that he resigned, " having
been previously appointed a general of the militia."
While Jackson was on the bench, he and ex-Gov
ernor Sevier were in feud with each other. The
origin of the quarrel is obscure, and not worth
picking out from the contradictory backwoods gos
sip in which it probably originated. It is enough
to notice that the two men were too much alike in
1 4 Hildreth, 692. = Webster's Corr. 371.

MAJOR-GENERAL OF MILITIA 17
temper to be pleased with each other. Sevier was
fifty-seven years old in 1801, and had been a lead
ing man in the country for twenty years. Jackson
was only thirty-four in that year, and a rising man,
whose success interfered with Sevier's plans for
himself. In 1802 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-general 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. ^ Parton gives letters
of Jackson from this period which are astonishingly
illiterate for a man in his position, even when all
the circumstances are taken into consideration.
Jackson was made a trustee of the Nashville Acad
emy in 1798.3
He wanted to be made governor of the Territory
of Orleans after the purchase, and the Tennessee
"Putnam, 318. = Kendall's Jacison, 108. » pntnam, 410.

18 ANDREW JACKSON
delegation urged Jefferson to appoint him. A
letter from William Henderson of Sumner County,
Tennessee, has been published, which was written
to dissuade the President from thi-s appointment.
I " view him as a man of violent passions, arbitrary
in his disposition, and frequently engaged in broils
and disputes. . . . He is a man of talents, and,
were it not for those despotic principles, he might
be a useful man." ^
In 1804 Jackson was once more a private citizen,
a planter, and a store-keeper. Neither politics 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 there
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 gen
eral abuse of credit in the frontier communities.
Money is scarce because capital is scarce, and is so
much needed that the commimity is unwilling to
employ any of it in securing 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 abundant, but
everything else is scarce and hard to get. Hopes
1 N. Y. Times, Dec. 26, 1897.

FRONTIER CODE 19
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
as 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 is often delayed. Continued renewals be
come necessary, and liquidation is put off until no
man knows where he stands. A general liquida
tion, with a period of reaction and stagnation,
therefore, ensues upon any shock to credit. In
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 specula
tion in new land throughout the country. Prices
of land were inflated, and extravagant notions of
the value of raw land prevailed. After the crisis
of 1798, land fell in value all over the country, to
the ruin of thousands of speculators. Values mea
sured in land all collapsed at the same time. Jack
son 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 fron
tier 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

20 ANDREW JACKSON
found constantly quarrelling, and in all their quar
rels 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 "gentle
men," 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. Andrew
Jackson was a child of this society, an adherent of
Its doctrines, and in his turn a propagandist and
expounder of them. He proved himself a quarrel
some man. Instead of making peace he exhausted
all the chances of conflict which offered themselves.
He was remarkably genial and gentle when things
went on to suit him, and when he was satisfied
with his companions. He was very chivalrous
about taking up the cause of any one who was
unjustly treated and was dependent. Yet he was
combative, and pugnacious, and over-ready to ad
just 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 between them in a court room, when they

DUEL WITH CHARLES DICKINSON 21
were opposing counsel. His quarrel with Sevier
has been mentioned. While on the bench he also
quarrelled with his old friend Judge McNairy, on
account of an appointment made by the judge
which Injured an old friend 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,
three or four others, and which was a capital speci
men 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 declared that
there was a plot to drive Jackson out of the coun
try. Each man meant to kill the other. They
met May 30, 1806. Jackson was wounded by a
bullet which grazed his breast and weakened him
for life. Dickinson was mortally wounded, and
died the same evening. Jackson told General Hard
ing that he was afraid of Dickinson, who was a
good shot. He also affirmed that he had not an
ungovernable temper, but often pretended that he
had, for effect.^ Many persons who were intimate
with him later believed that this was true.
Jackson had made the acquaintance of Burr
1 Kendall's Jackson, 105.
2 2 Southern Bivouac, 667.

22 ANDREW JACKSON
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 navlgar
tion of the Mississippi. They believed that all
Indian hostilities were Incited by the Spaniards at
New Orleans.! So long as a foreign power held
the mouth of the river, plots were formed for sep
arating the trans-Alleghany country from the At
lantic 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 which united
the two sides of the Alleghanles.^ 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 their strength. The
" Annual Register " for 1796 (anti-federalist) 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 free navigation " ^ (i. e., as it granted in
the treaty of 1795). Spain ceded Louisiana to
France by the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso, Octo
ber 1, 1800. This treaty became known in 1802
after the peace of Amiens. In the same year
" Haywood's Tennessee, passim ; Allison, 91.
" Butler's Kentucky, chap, xi ; Allison, 89, 92.
8 Ann. Beg. (1796) p. 83.

WESTERN FEELING ABOUT LOUISIANA 23
Spain, which still held possession of Louisiana,
withdrew the right of deposit, and the western
country was thrown into great excitement. In
1803 the whole matter of the navigation of the
Mississippi was settled by the purchase of Louis
iana by the United States, but then a new set
of questions was opened. In the treaty of 1795
Spain had acknowledged the parallel of 31° as the
boundary of Florida from the Mississippi to the
Chattahoochee, although she had been slow about
surrendering posts held by her north of this line
and east of the Mississippi. Hence there had been
complaints and bad feeling. Now a new question
arose as to how far Louisiana extended east of the
Mississippi river, and this question was of great
importance 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 valuable
harbor of Mobile, was available for the whole
Southwest. Spain denied that Louisiana Included
anything east of the Mississippi except the city of
New Orleans, and the bit of territory south and
west of the IberviUe 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
1 See the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States
in Foster v. Neilson, 2 Peters, 253.

24 ANDREW JACKSON
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 President ordered the Governor of
Orleans to occupy the territory as far as the Per
dido, and to hold it in peace and order, subject to
the final decision of the pending controversy with
Spain. In 1812, Congress, by two 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
Mississippi territory.
It has seemed convenient to pursue these pro
ceedings up to this point, because future reference
to them will be necessary. To return now to
Burr and his expedition : — It wiU 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 the people of
the Southwest at that time. Their collisions 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 explanation of Burr's scheme as any other that
he was reserving 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 unmistak-
1 Safford's Blennerhasset ; 2 Amer. Whig Eev. No. 2.

BURR'S SCHEMES 25
able 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 filibustering
expedition against the Spaniards in Mexico, he
would have obtained secret aid and sympathy in
Kentucky 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 pur
chase of Louisiana, and the accession to power in
the Union of the party to which the great majority
of the western people belonged, there was no feel
ing 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 gives,* Is a very crafty letter, for the pur
pose of engaging Jackson's name and influence to
raise troops for his enterprise without defining it.
In 1806 Burr was again in Nashville. His pro
ceedings then aroused suspicion. 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 seems to be
very clear, however, that he took sides against
Burr, If Burr was against the United States. Jan-
1 2 Wilkinson, 196 ; Gayarr^, Louisiana under Spanish Domin
ion ; 2 Pickett, ch. xxix.
2 2 Amer. Beg. (1807) 103, note.
8 Cf. Jefferson's Message of January 22, 1807.
4 1 Parton, 313.

26 ANDREW JACKSON
uary 15th he wrote to Campbell, member of the
House of Representatives, and gave November as
the time when he first 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 the 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 Secretary 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 public speech against Jefferson.
Jackson had previously been ill-disposed towards
Jefferson because Jefferson did not give him the
office of Governor of Orleans. Jackson's strong
personal contempt and dislike for General Wilkin
son, the commander at New Orleans, who appeared
as Burr's accuser, also influenced his judgment.^
Throughout his life he was unable to form an un
biassed opinion on a question of fact or law, if he
had any personal relations of friendship or enmity
with the parties.
From 1806 to 1811 Jackson appears to have led
1 Telegraph Extra, 481 et seq.
2 When Burr was arrested in Kentucky he gave his word of
honor to his counsel that he iatended nothing against the United
States. Kendall's Jackson, 120.
8 His hatred of Wilkinson was greatly strengthened after
wards, but he shows it, and the influence of it, in his letter to
Campbell.

SILAS DINSMORE 27
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 In
dian agent, refused to allow persons to pass through
the Indian country with negroes, unless they had
passports for the negroes. 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 dishonorable. It has
been charged that Jackson was engaged In It, and
the facts very easily bear that color. He passed
through the Indian country with some negroes
without hindrance, 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 burn him In his own agency.
There is a great deal of fire In the letter, and not
a little about liberty and free government.! Dins-
more was suspended, and things took such a turn
that he lost his position and was reduced to pov
erty. Parton gives a story of an attempt by Dins-
more, eight years later, to conciliate Jackson. This
attempt was dignified, yet courteous and becoming.
Jackson repelled It In a very brutal and low-bred
manner. DInsmore did not know until 1828, when
he was a petitioner at Washington, and the papers
were called for, that Jackson had been the cause
of his ruin.2
1 34 NUes, 110. ^ 8 Adams, 61.

28 ANDREW JACKSON
The time was now at hand, however, when An
drew Jackson would have a chance to show how he
could serve his country. At the age of forty-five
he had commenced no career. He was a promi
nent man In his State, but he had held no political
offices in It, and had not, so far as we know, been
active In any kind of public affairs, although we
infer that he had discharged all his duties as gen
eral 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 interested 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 friendship. To refute or
oppose it was to excite his animosity. 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
which 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, suppres-

STRONG PERSONAL FEELING 29
slon of undue personal feeling, self-control, and
courtesy are inculcated best, if not exclusively, by
the constant precept and example. In earliest child
hood, of high-bred parents and relatives. There is
nothing on earth which It costs more labor to pro
duce than a high-bred man. It Is also indisputable
that home discipline and training ingrain Into the
character of men the most solid and valuable ele
ments, and that, without such training, more civili
zation means better food and clothes rather than
better men. It Is characteristic of barbarians to
put their personality always at stake, and not to
distinguish the man who disputes their notions
from the man who violates their rights. It is pos
sible, however, that the military virtues may flour
ish where moral and social training are lacking.
Jackson was unfortunate in that the force of his
will and the energy of his executive powers had
never been disciplined, but the outbreak of the
second war with England afforded him an arena on
which his faults became virtues.

CHAPTER II
THE 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 popular 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 with England was
brought on by the policy, the opinions, and the
feelings of the South and West, represented by
a young and radical element in the Jeffersonian
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

JEFFERSON'S POLICY 31
years the domestic 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
commercially It would have been a great advantage
to either belligerent to have free Intercourse with
the United States, and to keep his enemy from It.
The English policy towards the United States
was arrogant and insolent. That of France was
marked by duplicity and chicanery. Party spirit
here took possession of the people to such an ex
tent that the federalists made apology for any
injury from England, no matter 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.s
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 avert
ing 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 t£e belligerents by destructive measures against
domestic commerce and Industry, chastising our
selves, as Plumer said, with scorpions, in order to
beat the enemy with whips. They tried one mea
sure after another. No measure had a rational

32 ANDREW JACKSON
origin or effect calculated and adjusted to the cir
cumstances of the case. Each was a new blunder.
The republican rulers 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, mer
chants and ship-owners went to sea at great risk
of capture and destruction; after It, they stayed
at home and were sure of ruin. Jefferson has re
mained a popular 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 en
forcing the embargo, and they did not touch one
man where the embargo laws touched hundreds.
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 be
cause It resisted the use of Its interests for national
purposes, but as soon as the secondary effects of
the embargo on agriculture 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 harm
lessly from Jefferson's armor of popular platitudes
1 See Carey's Olive Branch, page 50, for the opinion of a demo
crat on these laws after party spirit had cooled down.

CAUSE OF THE SECOND WAR 33
and democratic sentiments. He showed the traits
which we call womanish. He took counsel of his
feelings and imagination ; he planned measures like
the embargo, whose scope and effect he did not un
derstand. He was fiery when deciding Initiatory
steps, like the rejection of the English treaty ; vacil
lating 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 Irregidar and unusual, was transparent
and easily turned to ridicule. It was a diplomacy
without lines of reserve or alternatives, so 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 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 keeping 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 Madi
son Into a war with England, as the extreme fede
ralists had pushed Adams into war with France.
Madison, therefore, had to inherit the consequences
of Jefferson's policy. An adherent of Jefferson de
scribes the bequest as foUows : " 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

34 ANDREW JACKSON
war and much more odious to the people, and dan
gerous to the Union." !
The yoimg and radical democrats, amongst whom
Clay was prominent, were restive under the pre
dominance of the older generation of democrats
of revolutionary fame, and their favorites. The
young democrats wanted to come forward without
the patronage of the Virginia leaders. The presi
dential election of 1812 was the immediate occasion
of their action. The Jeffersonian policy had pro
duced irritation at home and humiliation abroad.
The natural consequence was a strong war spirit.
It was believed that the country would not really
be engaged In military operations, because England
would be fully occupied In Europe ; that Canada
could be conquered ; that we should come in on
the winning side at the catastrophe of the great
conflict in Europe ; and that all this would be very
popular In the South and West. Madison was
compelled greatly against his wIU to yield to the
war party, as a condition of his reelection.^ Eng
land pointed out that Napoleon 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 council, and there
remained only impressment as the ostensible cause
of war. September 12, 1812, Admiral Warren
offered an armistice. Madison refused It unless
the practice of impressment was suspended. War-
1 Ingersoll, 70.
2 Statesman's Manual, 348. 1 Colton's Clay, 161.

JACKSON VOLUNTEERS 36
ren 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 2500 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 threw himseK into the busi
ness 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
enthusiasm he set to work. He assured the Secre
tary 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 Wil
kinson on a question of rank. Thomas H. Benton,
who was serving under Jackson, thought Jackson
wrong on the point In question. This produced
discord between him and Jackson.
Suddenly Jackson received orders to dismiss his
troops, as it did not appear that the enemy were
intending 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
1 See 1 Gallatin's Writings, 517; 2 ditto, 196, 211, 499.

36 ANDREW JACKSON
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 hired trans
portation on his own responsibility, and marched
his men home In a body. Thomas H. Benton, in
June following, succeeded in obtaining from the
federal authorities reimbursement of the expenses
which Jackson had incurred.
This act of Benton would perhaps have extin
guished 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. His conduct in acting as second in the
duel, although chivalrous In one point of view, was
overbearing In another. He threatened to horse
whip Thomas Benton, and a rencontre between him
and the two brothers took place In a tavern at
Nashville. Blows and shots were exchanged, and
Jackson came away with a ball in his shoulder,
which he carried for twenty years. This affair
occurred September 4, 1813.!
The great Indian chief Tecumseh had been try
ing for years to unite aU the red men against the
whites.2 There would have been an Indian war If
there had been no war with England, but the latter
^ Cf. 1 Sargent, 225. " Drake's Tecumseh.

THE CREEK WAR 37
war seemed to be Tecumseh's opportunity. Among
the southwestern Indians he found acceptance only
with the Creeks, who were already on the verge of
civil war, because some wanted to adopt civilized
life, and others refused.! The latter became the
war party, under Weatherford, a very able half-
breed chief. The first outbreak in the Southwest,
although there had been some earlier hostilities,
was the massacre of the garrison and refugees at
Fort Mims, at the junction of the Alabama and
Tombigbee rivers, August 30, 1813. There were
553 persons in the fort, of whom only five or six
escaped.^ If Tecumseh had lived, and if the Eng
lish had been able to give their attention to an
alliance with him, he would have united the In
dians from the Lakes to the Gulf, and the " young
democrats " would have found out what sort 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 desire for revenge took possession of Georgia
and Tennessee. September 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. Geor-
1 Folio State Papers, 1 Indian Affairs, 845 fg.
2 2 Pickett, 266.

38 ANDREW JACKSON
gia 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 local character and was outside the fed
eral operations, although in the end It had a great
effect upon them. Up to this time little had been
known at Washington of Jackson, save that he
had been a friend of Burr, an enemy of Jefferson,
and that he had just acted in a somewhat In
subordinate manner at Natchez, reflecting on the
administration and winning popularity for himself.
The Creek war! .^^s remarkable for three things :
(1) the quarrels between the generals, and the
want of concert of action ; (2) lack of provisions ;
(3) insubordination in the ranks. Partly on ac
count 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 provisions, and con
sequent 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 home-
1 See Eaton's Jackson and Pickett's Alabama. On Tecumseh
and the Prophet see Smithsonian Bep. 1885, Pt. ii. p. 200. The
Prophet is described there as a vain sneak.
^ See descriptions of Kentucky militia in Kendall's Autobio-

ANNOYANCES IN THE FIELD 39
sick, 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 his army to
prevent another part from marching home, he and
they differing on the construction of the terms of
enlistment. He showed very strong qualities under
these trying circumstances. He endured delay with
Impatience, but with fortitude, and without a sug
gestion of abandoning the enterprise,! although he
was in wretched health all the time. He managed
his soldiers with energy and tact. He understood
their dispositions. He knew how to be severe with
them without bringing them to open revolt, and
he knew how to make the most efficacious appeals
to them.
In the conduct of the movements against the
enemy his energy was very remarkable. So long
as there was 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 absorbing determination
to reach and crush anything which was hostile was
one of the most marked traits in Jackson's charac-
graphy, 124, 131, and description of a muster and training in 2
Lambert's Travels, 192. The western soldiers of this period re
semble very closely the colonial troops of 60 or 70 years before.
1 To Governor Blount, who proposed that he should retire from
the expedition, Jackson wrote a strenuous remonstrance, even an
admonition. Eaton's Jackson, 101.

40 ANDREW JACKSON
ter. It appeared in all his military operations,
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, be
cause one who had fought a campaign with him,
and had a story to tell, became a hero in the settle
ment. Jackson's military career and his popularity
thus rapidly acquired momentum from all the cir
cumstances of the case and all the forces at work.
He, was then able to enforce discipline and obedi
ence, 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 Jackson as a commanding
officer, which were brought up against him in the
presidential campaigns when he was a candidate.
Wood was technically guilty. He acted just as
any man in the frontier army, taught to reverence
nobody and submit to no authority, would have
acted under the circumstances. If It had not been
for the great need of enforcing discipline, ex
tenuating circumstances which existed would have
demanded a mitigation of the sentence. Party
newspapers during a presidential campaign are not
a fair court of appeal to review the acts which a
military commander in the field may think neces
sary in order to maintain discipline. Jackson

THE CREEK WAR 41
showed In this case that he was not afraid to do
his duty, and that he would not sacrifice the public
service to curry popularity.
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, Alabama. 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
mUes distant. The medicine men, appealing to the
superstition of the Indians, had taught them to
believe that no white man could tread the latter
ground and live. In April the remnant of the
Creeks surrendered or fled to Florida, overcome
as much by the impetuous and relentless charac
ter of the campaign against them as by actual
blows. Fort Jackson was built on the Hickory
Groimd. The march down through Alabama was a
great achievement, considering the circumstances of
the country at the time. Major-General Thomas
Pinckney, of the regular army, came to Fort Jack
son, April 20th, and took command. He gave
to Jackson's achievements the most generous re
cognition both on the spot and in his reports.
April 21, 1814, the West Tennessee mUItla were
dismissed, and they marched home.
The Creek campaign lasted only seven months.
In itself considered. It was by no means an im
portant Indian war, but in Its connection with
other military movements It was very Important.

42 ANDREW JACKSON
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 cam
paign put an end to any danger of hostilities from
the southwestern Indians, in alliance either with
other Indians or with the English. ~ It was hence
forth possible to plan military operations and pass
through the Indian territory without regard to the
disposition 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
Jackson'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 Wilkin
son, April 13, 1813. There were fears of an attack
either on Mobile or New Orleans. English forces
appeared, and took post at Pensacola. Jackson
naturally 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 boundaries of Florida were in
dispute between Spain and the United States.
Jackson would not have been a southwestern man
If he had not felt strongly about that dispute. We
have seen ^ that one of Jackson's first thoughts,
1 See page 23. ^ See page 35.

CAPTURE OF PENSACOLA 43
when war with England broke out, was that Florida
might be conquered. Now Spain appeared to be
allowing England to use Florida as a base of opera
tions. Jackson wrote to Washington for leave to
attack Pensacola. It did not suit his temper to
sit still under a great anxiety as to which spot on
a long coast might be chosen by the enemy as the
point of attack. The Secretary of War (Arm
strong) 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. AU
Jackson's letters of this period to the State and
federal authorities have a tone of lecturing which
gives deep insight into the character of the man.
He meant no disrespect, but the case seemed so
clear to him that he set it forth with an unconscious
directness of language which violated official forms.
Jackson had but a very small force at Mobile,
very inadequately provided with any of the neces
saries of war. The government at Washington
was falling to pieces. On the 24th of August
the English captured Washington and burned the
public buildings. Jackson could not obtain 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
Pensacola without orders from Washington, and
reached that place November 6th, with 3000 men.

44 ANDREW JACKSON
He easily stormed the town. The Spaniards sur
rendered the forts near the town. The English
blew up the fort at Barrancas and departed.! Jack
son Immediately returned to Mobile, fearing a
new attack there. This energetic action 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 South. 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, but
he deserved it by his energy and enterprise. All
the accidents fell out in his favor, and aU contri
buted to his final success.
On the 2d of December, 1814, Jackson reached
New Orleans, where he expected the next blow to
fall. Nothing had been done there to prepare for
defence, and no supplies were there, — not even
arms. Edward Livingston and a Frenchman named
LoualUier were alone active even in preparing
the minds of the people for defence. Jackson
declared martial law as a means of impressing sol
diers and sailors, and began preparations for de
fending the city. In spite of discouragements and
the lack of all proper means. He seemed to be
possessed 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
1 7 NUes, 271. Latour, 44 et seq.

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 45
English after they had destroyed the flotilla on the
lakes, he set out to meet them with such forces as
he had. He arrested their advance as far from the
city as possible, pushed on his preparations with
redoubled energy and activity, and was indefati
gable In devising and combining means of defence.
"The energy manifested by General Jackson
spread, as it were, by contagion, and communicated
itself to the whole army. I shall add, that there
was nothing which those who composed it did not
feel themselves capable of performing, if he ordered
It to be done. It was enough that he expressed a
wish, or threw out the slightest intimation, and im
mediately 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. He enlisted free
colored men in spite of the great dissatisfaction
which this caused.^ 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 advance on their part,
at the first moment, would have won the city. It
was, however, Jackson who made the energetic ad
vance at the first moment, and he never let them
get any farther.
Both parties courted the alliance of the pirates
of Barataria. When the English made the first
overtures, Jackson denounced them for seeking
1 Latour, Preface, p. 17. ^ Gayarre', 359, 409, 505.

46 ANDREW JACKSON
alliance with " pirates and hellish banditti." The
pirates thought that their interest lay with the
Americans and joined them. Then Jackson called
them " privateers and gentlemen." In the Amer
ican histories they have generally been lauded as
" patriots." ! Jackson's proclamations were bom
bastic Imitations of those of Napoleon. It Is not
known who wrote the earlier ones. Some of his
later ones, at New Orleans, are attributed to Liv
ingston. The story of the battle which took place Is a
strange one. Everything fell out favorably for
Jackson as if by magic. The English lost their
way, fired into each other, adopted foolish rumors,
disobeyed orders, neglected precautions. The two
parties built redoubts out of the same mud, and
cannonaded each other all day through a dense
smoke. At night the American works were hardly
damaged, while the English works were battered
to pieces and the cannon dismounted. On the 8th
of January, 1815, the English made their grand
assault on Jackson's works. Latour says that they
were over-confident, and that they disregarded the
obstacles. They were repulsed with great slaughter.
Their loss in general and field officers was espe
cially remarkable. Only on the west bank of the
river did the English gain some advantage. Gen
eral Jackson said then — and he always afterwards
refused to withdraw the assertion, in spite of the
remonstrances of General Adair, and in spite of a
1 19 National Magazine, 358 ; Gayarre, 353.

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 47
long controversy — that the Kentucky troops on
the west side " Ingloriously 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 popularity. If the
English 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
2000 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 opera
tions In Louisiana, the news of the peace was re
ceived. They captured Fort Bowyer in a second
attack, February 12, 1815.
A brlUIant victory was the last thing any one In
the United States had expected to hear of from
New Orleans. The expectations under which the
war had been undertaken had all been disap
pointed. Canada had not been conquered. The
United States had ranged itself with the defeated,
1 7 NUes, 373. Latour, App. 52. Latour makes an apology
for the Kentuckians, p. 174.
2 Latour, App. 55, 153. See accounts of the battle in Cable's
History of New Orleans, in 10th Census, Social Statist. II, 255
fg. ; Walker's Jackson ; Gleig's Campaigns.

48 ANDREW JACKSON
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 sea
did the few frigates which the federalists had built,
while they controlled the federal government, vin
dicate the national honor by brilliant successes.
Jefferson's a priori navy of gunboats had disap
peared and been forgotten. 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 squandered, 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 to Russia as one of the peace
commissioners. There was no one competent to
succeed him, and the democrats never forgave him
for the embarrassments which they suffered in try
ing to manage the finances.! jjg ^j^ ^q^ resign
his secretaryship, but was superseded February 9,
1814. Good democrats thought that sending him
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 regu
lar head In war-time. The banks suspended, the
currency fell into confusion, heavy taxation became
necessary, and the public finances were brought to
the verge of bankruptcy. The party which had
made such an outcry about direct taxes, national
1 See IngersoU, 74.
2 Carey's Olive Branch, 63.

NEW ASPECT OF THE WAR 49
bank, and eight per cent loans. Imitated Hamil
ton'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-five
in a currency of bank rags depreciated twenty or
twenty-five per cent. A grand conscription biU
was also In preparation, and the Hartford conven
tion had just adjourned, having done much or little
according as peace or war might make it expedient
to put one sense or another on ambiguous phrases.
When 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 wrote home that a large force
was fitting out In England against America. Ad
miral Cochrane wrote 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
Ohio 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 fighting. The feeling here
in the autumn of 1814 was one of deep despond
ency and gloom.! The victory of New Orleans was
^ See Niles's Begister, vol. 7 ; Pres. Message, 1814 ; 1 Goodrich,
Letter xxx. ; Carey's Olive Branch, preface 4th and 6th ed. In
gersoll finds room for the opinion that the prospects for 1815 were
bright.

60 ANDREW JACKSON
the cause of boundless delight, especially 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
failures, 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 adminis
tration and the war party the victory was pohtical
salvation. The public plainly saw, however, that
the federal administration had done nothing for
the victory. Jackson had been the soul of the de
fence from the beginning, and to his energy and
perseverance success was due. He therefore got
all the credit of It, and the administration was only
too glad to join in the plaudits, since attention was
thereby diverted from Its blunders and failure.
These facts explain Jackson's popularity. In the
space of time between September, 1813, and Janu
ary, 1815, he had passed from the status of an ob
scure Tennessee planter to that of the most dis
tinguished and popular man in the country.
In the treaty of peace nothing was said about
impressment, 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 which were alleged for It at the outset.
What the course of things might have been, if

RESULTS OF THE WAR 51
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 with England
as their origin. The discontent of New England
faded away at once, and there was a stronger feel
ing of nationality and confidence throughout the
country than there ever had been before.! From
that time on the Union had less of the character
of a temporary experiment. The country had also
won respect abroad, and was recognized In the
family of nations as It had not been before. From
1789 to 1815 the European nations were absorbed
by European politics and war. At the end of this
period they turned to find that a new nation had
begun to grow up on the western continent. The
Americans had shown that they could build ships
of war, and sail them, and fight them on an equal
footing. To the military states of Europe this was
a fact which Inspired respect.
To return to our more Immediate subject : There
had been another dispute about terms of enlist
ment at Fort Jackson in September, 1814. About
200 men, some of whom broke open a store-house
to get supplies, and Indulged in expressions and
acts of contempt for authority, marched home with
out the consent of their commanding officer. Most
1 GaUatin expressed this opinion. 1 Gallatin's Writings, 700.

52 ANDREW JACKSON
of them came back ; some being compelled, others
thinking better of It, and others after assuaging
their homesickness. A large number were put
under arrest and tried by court-martial. Six were
condemned to death, and, by Jackson's orders,
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 military
law. The tribunal was competent, the law undis
puted, and the proceedings regular, but attempts
were made to make political capital out of the In
cident, when Jackson became a candidate. There
had never been such discipline in an American
army ,2 least of all in the West. Jackson, and Lewis
on his behalf, did not avow and defend, although
some of his adherents did do so, on the ground of
need of discipline. Lewis denied that Jackson or
dered the execution. He wrote, at different times,
versions of the story which are not strictly accord
ant. In 1827 Jackson wrote to Lewis that the
men were sentenced to be shaved and drummed out
of camp, but that even this sentence was not to
be executed. " There was no punishment on any
one of them Inflicted, or my orders were violated." ^
The formal finding of the court with his approval
^ From the documents as given in 34 NUes, 55 (1828). Report
of a Committee of the House friendly to Jackson.
2 Jackson's apologists made much of an alleged paraUel case
under Washington.
» Ford MSS.

MARTIAL LAW 53
and order for execution is In 34 NUes, 73. The
noticeable thing is that, In this case, quite excep
tionally, he tried to deny and evade responsibility
for something which he had done.
After the English departed from New Orleans
Jackson relaxed none of his vigilance, but con
tinued to strengthen his force by all the means at
his command. In this he acted like a good and
wise commander, who did not mean to be caught.
He could not assume that the enemy would not
make another attack, and he knew nothing 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 he administered it with rigor. Evidently he
thought that a proclamation of martial law set
aside the habeas corpus and aU civil law.! The
possession of absolute and arbitrary power did not
have a good effect on him. The exhilaration and
self-confidence of success and flattery affected his
acts. It appears that he did not respect aU the
inhabitants of the city ; for which he had ample
reason.^ 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
1 Gayarr^, 608 ; Martin, 402.
"^ See Cable's History of New Orleans.
' See his defence in reply to HaU's writ, 8 NUes, 246.

54 ANDREW JACKSON
make every man In it contribute to Its defence, if
the occasion should arise. Frenchmen had certain
prIvUeges for twelve years, under the treaty of
1803. They had generally cooperated in the de
fence, but, after the English departed, they sought
certificates of nationality in order to secure the
privileges and exemptions to which they were en
titled. 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
proceedings on account of this inteUigence, because
it came through the enemy, although It was trans
mitted in a formal and polite note from the Eng
lish naval commander, and the English officers
acted on it. Jackson, in an address to his army,
said that it was only a newspaper report. It was
a "bulletin" from Jamaica, dated February 13.^
February 24, Governor Claiborne wanted martial
law abolished. On February 28th, Jackson ordered
aU who had certificates of French nationality to go
to Baton Rouge before March 3d, on the ground
1 Latour says on the 10th. This date has been regarded as
important for the question whether Jackson knew, before he al
lowed the six nulitiamen to be executed, that peace had been
made. The order for execution was signed at New Orleans, Jan
uary 22, and it was to be executed four days after its promulga
tion at MobUe. In DaUas's letter to Jackson of April 12, mention
is made of a letter of Jackson of February 6, which showed that
he had received that intelligence then.
2 Gayarr^, 579, 623.

MARTCAL LAW 65
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, a man
who had lost an arm In the American revolution.
There had been almost civil war between the
French and American residents. March 3d the
same LouaUlier, who had been conspicuous as an
advocate of energetic defence, wrote an article for
a local paper, criticising the order of February
28th, and urging that martial law should be abol
ished. The English troops had all departed about
six weeks before.! The editor, when caUed to ac
count for this article, gave up his contributor.
LoualUier was arrested March 4th, under a law
against "lurking" near camps and forts. Judge
Hall, of the United States District Court, issued a
writ of habeas corpus for him. Jackson received
news of the peace from Washington on March 6th,
but by some blunder the courier did not bring the
document containing the official notification. On
that day Jackson convened a court-martial to try
LouaUlier. He sent an officer to arrest Judge
Hall, and to obtain from the clerk of the court the
original writ of habeas corpus. The writ was writ
ten on the back of the petition for it,^ on the 5th,
which was Sunday ; therefore it was dated on the
6th. Jackson seized the original writ in order to
1 Gayarr^, 616.
"^ Martin, 397. It appears that the writ was submitted to the
judge with the date, the 5th, and that he changed the date in
signing it.

66 ANDREW JACKSON
prove the " forgery " of the date. In 1842 he laid
great stress on this alteration of the date. He
seemed to think that it bore materiaUy on the
question whether HaU was guUty, by the writ, of
Inciting to mutiny In his camp,! jj^j; although he
had, what was caUed in the documents of the time,
" persuasive evidence " of peace on the 6th, he
maintained his military organization two days
longer. On the 8th he disbanded the militia. On
the same day Dick, the District Attorney of the
United States, obtained from a State judge a ha
beas corpus for Hall. Jackson arrested and im
prisoned Dick with LoualUier. He arrested the
State judge too, but soon released him and Dick.
The court-martial struck out aU the charges against
LouaiUIer except one (illegal and improper con
duct), for want of jurisdiction, and acquitted him
on that. 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. LoualUier was kept in prison untU
the official document announcing the peace was re
ceived, March 13th. On the 22d of March the
United States District Court ordered Jackson to
show cause why an attachment should not issue
against him for contempt of court. In wresting an
original document from the court, disobeying the
writ of habeas corpus, and imprisoning the judge.
Jackson refused to answer save by a general vindi
cation of his proceedings. This the judge refused
1 Several letters in the Ford MSS. and 62 NUes, 326.

JACKSON'S FINE 57
to hear, and fined him f 1000.! Jackson tried to
escape by saying that his actions were against HaU,
the man., not against HaU, the judge. In 1842
Tyler recommended Congress to refund the fine
without reflecting on the court. J. Q. Adams said
in a speech, January 6, 1843, that this was auction
eering for the presidency, aU the factions desiring
Jackson's support.^ In 1844 Congress refunded
the fine with Interest, — total $2700. In a letter
to L. F. Linn, March 14, 1842,^ Jackson refers to
the fine as having been laid because he declared
martial law. He wrote to Lewis, in 1843 : —
" It surely was one of the greatest usurpations in Hall
recorded in the history of the world — he usurped the
power of the holy inquisition to charge, try, and condemn
me, unheard in open violation of the constitution & all
law — he had no legal power for his proceedings & In-
gersol has clearly shewn it, and I trust it will be fully
investi-[gated] now whilst I am living, that the people
may see, who were the tyrants & who the usurper of
power." *
In this Incident Jackson displayed some of the
faults of which he afterwards showed many in-
1 Report of a committee of the House of Representatives ; 64
NUes, 61 (1843). Cf. the account in 8 NUes, 246, and Judge
HaU's response, Md., 272 (1815).
2 63 NUes, 312.
8 62 NUes, 212. For Jackson's own story of the fine, see 62
Niles, 326.
* Ford MSS. The best account of the trial, etc., is by Judge
Martin, who was in New Orleans at the time, and was a competent
observer and historian. His account has been followed above.

68 ANDREW JACKSON
stances. He spoiled his military success by this
unnecessary collision with the civil authority. He
proved himself wrong-headed and persistent in a
course in which every step would have warned him
of his error, if he had been wilHng to learn. Being
committed by his first passionate and hasty step,
he was determined to push through on the course
he had adopted. He knew with reasonable cer
tainty from February 18, and 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 the latter date. A very little concession
and good-wiU at any time would have avoided the
whole trouble, but Jackson acted as if he was de
termined to grind out of the opposing elements in
the situation all the friction of which they were
capable. April 12th, Dallas, acting Secretary of War,
wrote a dispatch to Jackson, asking for explanations
of the proceedings, which were rehearsed in detaU,
and very accurately, according to reports which had
reached Washington. " The President views the
subject In Its present aspect, with surprise and so-
Ucitude ; but In the absence of aU information
from yourself, relative to your conduct and the
motives for your conduct, he abstains from any de
cision, or even the expression of an opinion, upon
the case. In hopes that such explanations may be
afforded as wiU reconcile his sense of public duty
with a continuance of the confidence which he re
poses in your judgment, discretion, and patriotism."

JACKSON'S FINE 69
As the matter was aU past and dead, and no one
desired to mar the exultation of the public or the
personal satisfaction of Jackson, it was aUowed to
drop. In the autumn of 1815 Jackson was in Washing
ton, 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
miUtary department.

CHAPTER in
JACKSON IN FLORIDA
Andrew Jackson took no important part in
the election of 1816. He had favored Monroe in
1808, and he preferred him to the other candidates
in 1816. Crawford was, at this time, Jackson's
pet dislike. The reason for this was that Craw
ford, as Secretary of War, had modified Jackson's
treaty with the Creeks, about which the Cherokees,
deeming the terms unjust to them, had appealed
to the President. Jackson made a personal quar
rel with a public man for not acting as he, Jackson,
wanted him to act in the discharge of his duty.
Jackson resumed the negotiation, and bought again
the lands ceded before. As the people of Tennes
see, Georgia, and Alabama were interested in the
cession, Jackson, by re-obtaining It after It had
been surrendered, greatly increased his popularity.!
November 12, 1816, a letter, signed by Jackson,
was addressed to Monroe, immediately after 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 one of Mrs. Jack-
1 11 NUes, 143.

JACKSON'S LETTERS 61
son's nieces, wrote this letter. As Parton says,
one has no trouble In distinguishing those letters
signed Jackson, but which have been copied and
revised by Lewis, Lee, Livingston and others, from
those which have not been through that process. A
part of this letter was connected with a land specu
lation, but the political part of it seems gratuitous
and impertinent. It Is, In fact, introduced by an
apology. It is difficult to see Its significance and
that of others which Jackson wrote during this
winter (1816-17), unless he was being used to
advance an intrigue on behalf of Drayton about
which we have no other information. The ideas
and suggestions are not at aU such as would arise
in Jackson's mind. Drayton had been a federalist.
He belonged to the South CaroUna 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 ap
pointed. These well-composed letters f aUed entirely of their
Immediate object; and they reposed in obscurity
for seven years. Lewis was an astonishingly far-
sighted man. We shaU see abundant proofs, here
after, of his power to put down a stake where he
foresaw that he would need to exert a strain a little
later, but it does not seem credible that he can
have foreseen and prepared for the ultimate pur
pose which these letters served. His own account,
1 26 NUes, 162.

62 ANDREW JACKSON
endorsed on a MS. copy of this especial letter, and
dated 1835, Is : —
" Gen. Jackson furnished the rough draft, from which
the letter was prepared by the undersigned. The ori
ginal letter will be found, if examined, to be in my
hand-writing. The ideas are the General's and the
language mine. It contained sentiments so patriotic and
hberal I thought them worthy the Hero of New Orleans,
and deserved to be handed down to posterity. So
strongly was this opinion impressed upon my mind, at
the time, that I took a copy, unknown to him, to be
placed in the hands of his future biographer, should the
original faU to find its way to the public. This precau
tion, however, turned out to be unnecessary, as it was
unexpectedly brought to light, about eleven years ago,
and has been frequently published since. It was called
out by Gen. Jackson's political enemies, when he was
first a candidate for the presidency. They, understand
ing such a letter had been written to Mr. Monroe,
resolved on having it published, under the belief it would
ruin him in the estimation of the republican party in
Pennsylvania, with whom he was a great favorite, but
in this they reckoned without their host. Instead of
weakening, it evidently strengthened him, and was one
of the principal causes of his receiving the highest elec
toral vote in 1824, and was probably the means of
securing his election in 1828." ^
He engineered the " calling out " and the produc
tion of the letter, in 1824, himself.
In the course of his argument on behalf of Dray
ton, Jackson was led (In the letters) to discuss
1 Ford MSS.

INFLUENCE OF JACKSON'S LETTERS 63
the general theory of appointments, and to urge
Monroe to abandon the proscription of the federal
ists, to appoint them to office, and to promote
reconciliation and good-will. He declared that he
would have hung the leaders of the Hartford con
vention, 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 delighted with
the tone and sentiment of them,! although a few
winced at the reference to the Hartford convention.
In 1828 the other aspect of the letters rather pre
dominated. The democrats were not quite pleased
that Jackson should have urged Monroe to appoint
federalists and disregard party .^
Monroe was being acted upon, when Jackson
wrote to him, from the other side, by those who
wanted him to favor the Monroe faction in the re
publican party. He had enough to do to maintain
himself between the two demands. He answered
Jackson, admitting the high principle of the course
Jackson advocated, but setting forth a theory of
appointments more conformable to the exigencies
of party politics.
April 22, 1817, Jackson published an order to his
department forbidding his subordinates to obey any
order from the War Department not issued through
1 Binns, 249.
' The whole correspondence, 26 NUes, 163 et seq. See com
ments quoted, ibid., p. 219. For the disapproval of the demo
crats, see Binns, 246.

64 ANDREW JACKSON
him. He had been much and justly annoyed at
Incidents in the service under him, of which he had
not been informed beforehand, and also by direct
orders Issued from Washington, which interfered
with his arrangements and frustrated them without
his knowledge. On the merits of the question he
was In the right, but his public " order " produced
an unnecessary scandal and public collision in a
case where a proper private representation to the
department would have answered every purpose.
Crawford was transferred to the treasury in Octo
ber, 1816. There was difficulty in fiUing the posi
tion of Secretary of War. Calhoun was appointed
October 8, 1817. He conceded the point claimed
by Jackson, reserving only the cases of emer
gency. Some persons informed Jackson that General
Scott had animadverted upon his action In the
matter just mentioned, and had characterized it as
mutiny. September 8, 1817, Jackson wrote a fiery
letter to Scott, caUing him to account. Scott re
plied that. In private conversation, he had said that
the order of April 22d was mutinous as to the fu
ture, and a reflection on the President, the Com
mander-in-Chief, as to the past. He disclaimed
any personal feeling. Jackson replied In a very
insulting letter, in which the weU-battered question,
Who of us two is the gentleman ? did good service
again, and he wound up with a challenge to a duel.
Scott declined the challenge on the ground of re
ligious scruples and patriotic duty. The corre-

INSUBORDINATION 65
spondence was almost Immediately pubHshed. It
created another scandal, for the public was not edi
fied to see two of the first officers of the army en
gaged in such a quarrel.! NUes, who at this time
greatly admired Jackson, and who Is always a good
representative of the average citizens of his time,
refrained from publishing the correspondence untU
April, 1819.^ In this case, again, Jackson showed
evidence of an ungovernable temper and a wllUng-
ness to profit by every opportunity for a quarrel.
There was, however, more public fighting at
hand. There were in Florida many refugee Indians of
the Creek nation, who were hostile to the United
States, and many runaway negroes. During the
war the EngHsh had sought such aid as they could
get from these persons in their operations against
the United States. They had buUt a fort on the
Appalachicola River, about fifteen miles from Its
mouth, and had coUected there an immense amount
of arms and ammunition. The EngUsh officers
who were operating in Florida acted with a great
deal of arbitrary self-wUl. They were not under
strict responsibility to their own government.
They were operating on Spanish territory. They
were stirring up Indians and negroes, and were not
commanding a regular or civilized force. It is diffi
cult to understand some of their proceedings In any
point of view, and other of their doings certainly
would not have been sanctioned by the EngUsh
1 14 NUes, 295 ; 4 Adams, 323. = 16 NUes, 121.

66 ANDREW JACKSON
government, if known to it. The officers were able
to gratify their own malice without responsibility.
When the war ended, the English left the arms
and ammunition in the fort. The negroes seized
the fort, and it became known as the " Negro Fort."
The authorities of the United States sent General
Gaines to the Florida frontier with troops, to
establish peace on the border. The Negro Fort
was a source of anxiety both to the military au
thorities and to the slave-owners of Georgia, and,
according to some accounts, the first step was its
investment. It is otherwise stated that the Ameri
can authorities undertook to bring supplies up the
Appalachicola for a fort which they were buUding
in Georgia, and that the boats were fired on, after
which the troops marched down from Georgia and
invested the fort, having received permission to do
so from the Spanish authorities at Pensacola, who
also very unwillingly saw a great fortress estab
lished in their territory, and held by negroes and
Indians.! The fort was bombarded. A hot shot
penetrated one of the magazines, and the whole
fort was blown to pieces, July 27, 1816. There
were three hundred negro men, women, and chil
dren and twenty Choctaws in the fort ; two hun
dred and seventy were killed. Only three came
out unhurt, and these were killed by the aUied In
dians.^ ^ Document A, 55.
2 See Wait's State Papers, vii. 478, 482 ; viii. 126-135 ; ix. 41-
49 ; 154-198.

THE NEGRO FORT 67
Spain was engaged in hostilities with her re
volted colonies In America. FUibusters and pri
vateers took advantage of this state of things to
carry on a certain grade of piracy and the slave-
trade. AmeUa Island, on the northeast coast of
Florida, had been infested by smugglers, slavers,
and freebooters ever since the war with England.
In 1817 the Island was occupied by a filibuster
named McGregor, and later by another named
Aury. They pretended to desire to render Florida
Independent, and there was a measure of honest
intention in their plans, but the island was a nest
of outlaws and a nuisance. The troops of the
United States took possession of the island and
drove the freebooters out, because Spain was not
able to do so. Old causes of complaint against
Spain with respect to Florida have been described
above.! 'jj^g hostile Indians and the freebooters
were new causes of annoyance. The Georgians
were also annoyed that their slaves found an easy
refuge in Florida. It had been amply proved that
Spain could not fulfil the duties which devolved
upon her as owner of Florida. Yet she strenuously
Insisted that her sovereignty should be respected.^
For aU these reasons the United States was very
anxious to buy Florida.
During 1817 there were frequent collisions on
the frontiers between white men and Indians. Ex-
Governor Mitchell of Georgia, the Indian agent,
the fairest and best Informed witness who appeared
1 See page 23. ^ Document A, 55.

68 ANDREW JACKSON
before the committee of Congress In 1818-19, de
posed that the blame for these coUisions was equal,
that one party was as often the aggressor as the
other, and that the lawless persons in Florida were
especiaUy to blame for acts of injury which pro
voked retaliation.! When Gaines wrote to the chief
Kenhigee that his Indians had kUled white men,
the chief replied that four Indians had been kiUed
for every white man.^ The reports which were
sent North were, as usual In such cases, only such
as tended to show an aggressive disposition on the
part of the Indians.^
On the 20th of November, General Gaines sent
a force of two hundred and fifty men to Fowltown,
the headquarters of the chief of the " Redsticks,"
or hostile Creeks. They approached the town in
the early morning, and were fired on. An en
gagement followed. The town was taken and
burned. Gaines's dispatch to the Governor of
Georgia puts the number of Indians killed at
four.* Ex-Governor Mitchell of Georgia, quoted
above, said, " This fact was, I conceive, the cause
of the Seminole war." It Is, however, fair to say
that Mitchell was unfriendly to Gaines and to
Jackson.* The Indians of that section, after this,
began general hostilities, attacked the boats which
were ascending the Appalachicola, and massacred
the persons in them. Gaines states no reason at
1 16 NUes, 85. = Document A, 140.
' See the items of news from Florida in 13 NUes.
* 13 NUes, 296. ^ 43 jjues, 80.

ATTACK ON FOWLTOWN 69
aU for sending a force against Fowltown, except
that he had invited the chief to visit him, in or
der to find out "whether his hostile temper had
abated." The chief refused to come. The friendly
Indians said that the Fowltown Indians had been
hostile ever since the last war. Therefore Gaines
sent a force equal to the number of Indians In the
town "to bring the chief and warriors, and, in
the event of resistance, to treat them as enemies."
When the Indians saw this force approaching they
fired on It, stood fire once, and then ran away.
Their property was then all destroyed, and the
United States had an Indian war on Its hands.
In December, on receipt of intelligence of the
battle at Fowltown and the attack on the boats,
Jackson was ordered to take command in Georgia.
He wrote to President Monroe : " Let it be signi
fied to me through any channel (say Mr. J. Rhea !)
that the possession of the Floridas would be desir
able to the United States, and In sixty days it
will be accomplished." Much was afterwards
made to depend on this letter. Monroe was Ul
when It reached Washington, and he did not see
or read It until a year afterwards, when some re
ference was made to it.^ Jackson construed the
^ This name is found at the head of a movement, in 1810, to set
up a filibuster state in Florida. Rhea signed " as President " an
application, dated at Baton Rouge, for the admission of such state
to the Union. It is couched in such terms as to call for the covert
approval of the United States before becoming explicit. 7 Wait's
State Papers, 482.
2 8 Adams, 249.

70 ANDREW JACKSON
orders which he received from Calhoun from the
standpoint of this letter. He also afterwards af
firmed that Rhea wrote to him that the President
approved of his suggestions ; ! but he could not pro
duce that letter. He had burned it.^ He certainly
supposed, however, that he had the secret concur
rence of the administration in conquering Florida.
In 1811 orders were given to General Matthews to
sound the inhabitants of East Florida as to coming
into the Union ; also not to let any foreign nation
occupy Florida.^ Any one who knew this might
weU infer that the authorities at Washington would
not be scrupulous about invading Florida.
When the orders to take command reached
Jackson, the Governor of Tennessee was absent
from Nashville. Jackson proceeded to raise troops
in Tennessee on his own responsibiUty ; he being
authorized to call on the governors of the States
which were neighbors to the scene of war. He
pushed on his preparations with great energy and
1 8 Adams, 404.
" Memorandum by Jackson, 1837. He told Henry Lee, who
was astonished that he had burned the letter, that " it was at the
earnest personal request of Mr. Rhea, and Mr. Rhea stated at the
earnest request of Mr. Munroe, as my health was delicate and I
might die without destroying that confidential letter, which was
strictly confidential and I had promised him that as soon as I
reached home I would burn it — and having so promised I did
burn and made that memorandum on the margin to show I had
complied with my promise." He wanted Lee to testify that he
had seen the entry on the margin of the letter-book opposite Jack
son's letter to Monroe. Ford MSS.
8 9 Wait's State Papers, 41.

NOTIONS ABOUT SPANIARDS 71
celerity. His acts were approved both by the State
and federal authorities. He advanced through
Georgia with great haste, and was on the Florida
frontier in March, 1818. He ordered part of his
provisions sent to Fort Scott by the Appalachicola,
on which the Spaniards had no fort, and he sent
word to the Spanish commander at Pensacola that.
If the fort at Barrancas hindered his supply boats
from ascending the Escambia, he should consider
it an act of hostility to the United States. These
were, to say the least, very aggressive proceedings
against a nation with which we were at peace, for
a man who had been thrown Into paroxysms of
rage and energy at the idea of a redcoat resting on
the soil of Louisiana during a public war. Jack
son immediately advanced to St. Mark's, which
place he captured. On his way down the Appala
chicola he found the Indians and negroes at work
in the fields, and unconscious of any impending
attack. Some of them fled to St. Mark's. His
theory, in which he supposed that he was supported
by the administration, was that he was to pursue
the Indians until he caught them, wherever they
might go ; that he was to respect Spanish rights
as far as he could consistently with that purpose ;
and that the excuse for his proceedings was that
Spain could not police her own territory, or restrain
the Indians. Jackson's proceedings were based on
two positive but arbitrary assumptions : (1) That
the Indians got aid and encouragement from
St. Mark's and Pensacola. (This the Spaniards

72 ANDREW JACKSON
always denied, but perhaps another assumption of
Jackson might be mentioned : that the word of a
Spanish official was of no value.) (2) That Great
Britain kept paid emissaries employed in Florida
to stir up trouble for the United States. This
latter assumption was a matter of profound belief
generaUy in the United States. Niles's reports
and criticisms of events in Florida aU proceed
from that assumption.! ijij^g English government
disavowed every transaction of Colonel Nichols
with the Indians which took definite shape and
could be dealt with at aU. The Indians whom he
took to England were kindly treated, but were not
encouraged to look to England for any assistance
or countenance. It was not easy to break off the
connections which had been established, and destroy
the hopes which had been raised, during the war
but there is not the slightest evidence that the
English government did not act in good faith, or
that It was busy in such contemptible business as
employing emissaries to stir up some two thou
sand savages to wage a frontier war on the United
States, after peace had been concluded. Jackson's
assumption, however, had serious import for two
unfortunate individuals.
A Scotchman, Alexander Arbuthnot, was found
by Jackson In St. Mark's. When the fort was
taken, Arbuthnot mounted his horse to ride away,
but he was seized, and put in confinement. He
was an Indian trader, who had been In Florida for
^ 14 NUes ; aU the articles on Florida.

ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER 73
many years. He had established as Intimate and
friendly relations as possible with the Indians for
his own security and advantage In trade. He had
also sympathized with the Indians, and had exerted
himself in their behalf in many quarters.
Several American vessels of war lay in the bay
of St. Mark's to cooperate with the land forces.
By displaying English colors on these ships, two
Indian chiefs, HiUis Hajo (or Francis) and Himol-
lemico, were enticed on board and made prisoners.
They were hung by Jackson's order. They had
tortured and massacred prisoners after the Indian
fashion, but no one has ever explained by what law
or usage known in the service of the United States
they were put to death, when thus captured, not
even on the field of battle, but by a very question
able trick.
Jackson pushed on with the least possible delay
to the Suwanee River, where were the headquarters
of Boleck (BlUy Bowlegs), the Seminole chief.
Arbuthnot had a trading-post there. When he
had heard of Jackson's advance, he had written
to his son, who was his agent at Boleck's village,
to carry the goods across the river. Through
this letter the Indians got warning in time to cross
the river and take to the swamps. Their escape
enraged Jackson. He had already regarded Ar
buthnot as one of the British emissaries. He now
considered Arbuthnot's letter an overt act of In
terference in the war. The town was burned by
Jackson. In its neighborhood he captured an

74 ANDREW JACKSON
Englishman named Robert Ambrister, an ex-lieu
tenant in the British marines, and nephew of the
Governor of New Providence. This man was car
ried as a prisoner to St. Mark's, the troops being
on their way home, and the war being over. A
court-martial was convened at St. Mark's. Arbuth
not was tried for (1) inciting the Creek Indians
to war against the United States ; (2) being a spy
and aiding the enemy; (3) Inciting the Indians
to murder two white men named. The court found
him guilty of the first charge and of the second
except of being a spy, and condemned him to be
hung. There was no evidence at aU against him
on any charge.! His business in Florida was open
and obvious. He had always advised the Indians
to peace and submission. His letter to his son was
not open to censure. Can traders be executed if
their information, not transmitted through the lines,
frustrates military purposes ? As Arbuthnot con
strued the Treaty of Ghent the Indians were to
have their lands restored, and he told them so.
There was so much room for this construction that
diplomatic measures were necessary to set it aside.
Peace had been made with the Creeks before the
Treaty of Ghent was made.
Ambrister was tried for Inciting the Indians and
levying war. His case was different. He had no
ostensible business in Florida. He was an adven-
^ Report of the trial in fuU, 15 NUes, 270. All the documents
about the Negro Fort and the invasion of Florida are in Docu
ment A.

CAPTURE OF PENSACOLA 75
turer, and It is not clear what he hoped or Intended.
He threw himself on the mercy of the court. He
was condemned to be shot. This sentence was
reconsidered, and he was then condemned to fifty
lashes and a year of hard labor. Jackson disap
proved of the reconsideration, revived the first
sentence, and ordered both men to be executed.
AprU 29, 1818, he left St. Mark's, having detached
a force to hold that place and to execute the sen
tence. The same day both men were executed.
Arbuthnot was seventy years old ; Ambrister was
thirty-three. It was as a mere incident of his homeward march
that Jackson turned aside and captured Pensacola,
May 24, 1818, because he was told that some
Indians had taken refuge there. He deposed the
Spanish government, set up a new one, and estab
lished a garrison. He then continued his march
homewards. On his way he heard of an attack
by Georgia militia on the villages of friendly and
allied Indians, and he became engaged in a fiery
correspondence with Governor Rabun of Georgia
about that affair.! jjg ^^g j^ tj^g right, but it
was another case In which by violence he pro
voked anger and discord, when he might have
accomplished much more by a temperate remon
strance. In the whole Florida matter we see Jackson pro
ceeding to summary measures on inadequate facts
and Information. He "knew" how the matter
^ Documents in the Supplement to 15 NUes, 56.

76 ANDREW JACKSON
stood by the current prejudices and assumptions,
not by evidence and Information. This was the
tone of his mind. Notions and prepossessions
which once effected a lodgment in his mind, because
circumstances gave them a certain plausibiUty, or
because they feU In with some general prejudice or
personal bias of his. Immediately gained for him
the character of obvious facts or self-evident truths.
He then pursued such notions and prepossessions
to their last consequences, and woe to any one who
stood in the way.!
General Jackson had, in five months, broken
the Indian power, estabUshed peace on the border,
and substantlaUy conquered Florida. This five
months and the eighteen months service in 1813-15
were aU the actual service he ever saw. The Semi
nole war was, in Its relations and effects, one of the
most important events in our history, but In Itself
It was one of the most Insignificant of our Indian
campaigns. Jackson had an overwhelming force.
The report of the Senate committee of 1819 puts
his force at 1,800 whites and 1,500 friendly In
dians. The hostile Indians were never put by
anybody at a higher number than 2,000. This
committee put them at 1,000, not over half of
whom, at any one time, were In front of Jackson.
The aUIed Indians did aU the fighting. They lost
1 "It was easy to see that he was not a man to accept a
difference of opinion with equanimity, but that was clearly be
cause, he being honest and earnest. Heaven would not suffer his
opinions to be other than right." Quincy ; Figures, 355.

THE SEMINOLE CAMPAIGN 77
twenty men in the campaign. Not one white man
was killed. The number of hostile Indians killed
Is put at sixty.!
The trouble with Jackson's achievements was
that he had done too much. The statesmen and
diplomatists could not keep up with him, and the
tasks he threw on them were harder than those he
performed In the field. The administration was
not aware that it had authorized him to violate
neutral territory. Federal administrations In those
days were always timid. They did not know the
Umlts of their power, or what they dared do.
Monroe was especially timid. His administration
wanted to buy Florida, not conquer It. They did
not thank Jackson for plunging them Into such a
difficulty with Congress and with England and
Spain aU at once. The two Indian captives who
had been hung had no friends, but their execution
was an awkward thing to justify before the civilized
world. The execution of the two Englishmen was
likely to provoke a great deal of diplomatic trouble.
Jackson had been perfectly sure about the law.
He laid it down In the order for the execution.
" It is an established principle of the law of nations
that any individual of a nation making war against
the citizens of any other nation, they being at
peace, forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an out
law and a pirate." If the facts are admitted, such
a person undoubtedly forfeits his aUeglance, and
cannot demand the protection of his sovereign,
1 Perkins, 113.

78 ANDREW JACKSON
whatever may happen to him. On this ground
the English government took no steps In relation
to the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, be
yond an Inquiry Into the facts of their alleged
complicity In the war,! j^^^ ^\^^^^ inquiry was not
pushed as we may hope that the government of
the United States will push the Inquiry, if an
American citizen Is ever executed as Arbuthnot was.
The doctrine of Jackson's order, that a person who
engages In a war to which his country is not a
party becomes an outlaw and pirate, wiU not stand.
As has been well said, there were a large number
of foreigners in the American army during the
Revolution, who, on this doctrine, would. If cap
tured by the English, have forfeited their lives.
The United States would have protected any such
persons by retaliation or otherwise. The Creeks
were not a nation In International law, they were
not the possessors of the soil on which they Uved
and fought ; there had never been a declaration of
war ; yet they were not rebels against the United
States, and It could not be denied that they had
some belligerent rights. Whatever rights they
had, the Englishmen, even If they had been com
plete and unquestioned aUIes, must also have been
entitled to from the American authorities. If,
then, the Indians were not to be hunted down
Uke wild beasts, or executed by court-martial, if
captured, for levying war on the United States,
1 1 Rush, 473. "War might have been produced on this oc
casion ' it the ministry had but held up a finger.' " (488.)

JACKSON'S INTERNATIONAL LAW 79
the Englishmen were executed without right or
law. There never was any proof that anybody
incited the Indians. The attack on Fowltown pre
cipitated hostilities In a situation where lawless
men and savages, by mutual annoyance, outrage,
and retaUatlon, had prepared the warlike temper.
When the matter was Investigated this appeared,
and It was seen that Jackson had acted unjus
tifiably, because without evidence or law. The
popiUar feeling, however, would not aUow him
to be censured. Niles, who well represents the pop
ular temper, believed in the emissary theory, and
when that theory broke down he became angry.!
He also expressed the popular feeling with great
exactness in this paragraph : " The fact is that
ninety-nine in a hundred of the people believe
that General Jackson acted on every occasion for
the good of his country, and success universaUy
crowned his efforts. He has suffered more hard
ships, and encountered higher responsibilities, than
any man living in the United States to serve us,
and has his reward In the sanction of his govern
ment and the approbation of the people." With
this dictum the case was dismissed, and the matter
stood so that General Jackson, having done im
portant public miUtary service, could not be caUed
to account, although he had hung four persons
without warrant of law. His popularity had al
ready begun to exercise a dispensing power In his
favor. A committee of the House of Representa-
1 See his editorial, 16 NUes, 25.

80 ANDREW JACKSON
tives,! at the next session, reported a vote of censure
on him for the execution of the Englishmen, but
the House, after a long debate, refused to pass it.
Jackson's proceedings came up in Monroe's cab
inet on the question what to do with him and his
conquests. Calhoun was vexed at Jackson's insub
ordination to the War Department. He wanted
Jackson censured. The President and the whole
cabinet, with the exception of Adams, disapproved
of Jackson's conduct In invading Florida, and
were ready to disavow his proceedings and make
reparation.^ On Adams would faU the labor of
vindicating Jackson's proceedings diplomaticaUy,
If the administration should assume the responsi-
bUity for them. He avowed himself ready to
undertake the task, and to perform It substantlaUy
on the grounds on which Jackson justified him
self. It was agreed that Pensacola and St. Mark's
should be restored to Spain, but that Jackson's
course should be approved and defended on the
grounds that he pursued his enemy to his ref
uge, and that Spain could not do the duty which
devolved on her. The President, however, coun
termanded an order which Jackson had given to
Gaines to seize St. Augustine because some Indians
had taken refuge there. AU the members of the
cabinet agreed to the policy decided on, and aU
loyaUy adhered to it, the secret of their first opinion
being preserved for ten years. Calhoun wrote to
Jackson In accordance with the agreement, con-
1 15 NUes, 394. 2 2 GaUatin's Writings, 117.

SEMINOLE WAR IN CONGRESS 81
gratulating 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 hostile party. " There is one fact
I wish Mr. Munroe to know — that Mr. Wm. H.
Crawford, whatever his pretensions are, is not his
friend — and facts can be produced on this head —
I know he is my enemy — and I also know he
is a base man — " ! The political history of this
country was permanently affected by the personal
relations of Jackson to Calhoun and Crawford on
that matter. Monroe had a long correspondence
with Jackson to try to reconcUe him to the surren
der of the forts to Spain. In that correspondence
Jackson did not mention the Rhea letter.
At the next session of Congress (1818-19) the
proceedings in Florida were made the subject of
Inquiry, and were at once Involved in the politics
of the day. Clay was in opposition to the adminis
tration 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 assumed the responsibUity
for Jackson's doings. Clay opened the attack on
them. Here began the feud between 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
1 Ford MSS. Jackson to Lewis, Dec. 8, 1817.

82 ANDREW JACKSON
enemy ; whether any personal feeling was brought
to the discussion of a question of law and fact or
not. There are some facts which look as if Clay
and Crawford had begun to regard Jackson as a
possible competitor for the presidency. Crawford
was in communication with the committees on the
Seminole war, apparently instigating action, whUe
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 Cal
houn were enemies. Adams was writing dispatches
and preparing Instructions, by which, both with
England and Spain, he succeeded in vindicating
Jackson's proceedings. He said that he could not
regard a man of Jackson's distinguished services
like any other man.^ He therefore yielded to the
prevailing current of the time, and Incurred a large
responsibility for saving Jackson from censure,
and making possible his later career. He and
Jackson were, at this time, friends, and one scheme
was to make Jackson Vice-President on a ticket
with Adams.* Adams's defence of Jackson was
^ See Lacock's letter of June 25, 1832, in answer to Jackson's
interrogatories. 43 NUes, 79.
2 8 Adams, 240. ' 5 Adams, 473.
* Adams said (in 1824) that the vice-presidency would be a
nice place for Jackson's old age. Jackson was four months older
than Adams. This is not so ridicnions as it would be if Jackson
had not pleaded old age and iUness as a reason why he should not
go to the Senate in 1823. See 6 Adams, 633.

SEMINOLE WAR IN CONGRESS 83
very plausible, and It was fortified line by line
with references to the documentary proofs, yet if
it had been worth any one's while, either In Eng
land or this country, to examine the aUeged proofs,
as any one may do now, verifying his references,
aU 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 testi
mony at aU to the fact aUeged.! Rush cited to
the English minister another proof of this, which
is equaUy frail, and only proves that Arbuthnot
had taken trouble to try to serve the Indians out
of pity for them.^ His letter to his son, be
sides warning him to save as much as possible of
their property, contained a message to Boleck not
to resist the Americans.* The Senate committee
reported February 24, 1819 (Lacock's Report),
strongly against Jackson on aU the points from
the independent recruiting down to the taking
of Pensacola.* No action was taken. Jackson
had been in Washington during the winter watch
ing the proceedings. He attended one of the
President's drawing-rooms. "From the earnest
ness with which the company pressed round him,
the eagerness with which multitudes pushed to
obtain personal Introductions to him, and the eye
of respect and gratitude which from every quarter
1 Document A, 20, cf . 147.
2 2 Bush, 52, cf. Document A, 215.
8 Document A, 137. * 16 NUes, 33.

84 ANDREW JACKSON
beamed upon him. It had as much the appearance
of being his drawing-room as the President's."!
In February he made an excursion as far north
as New York. He was received everywhere 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,
although the treaty was not ratified untU February
22, 1821. In this treaty the western boundary of
the Louisiana purchase was for the first time de
fined. Adams, while the negotiations were pend
ing, consulted Jackson about the boundary to be
contended for. Jackson " said there were many
persons who woidd take exception to our receding
so far from the boundary of the Rio del Norte,
which we claim, as the Sabine, and the enemies of
the administration would certainly make a handle
of it to assail them; but the possession of the
Floridas was of so great importance to the south
ern frontier of the United States, and so essential
even to their safety, that the vast majority of the
nation would be satisfied with the western bound
ary as we propose. If we obtain the Floridas."^
Monroe and his cabinet seem to have cared just as
Uttle for Texas. Adams's diary shows that he was
not heartily supported In the efforts he was wiUing
to make to push the line westward. Jackson's
1 4 Adams, 243. ^ Adams, 238-9.

^' 1f^

•3
I

4

JACKSON IN FLORIDA 85
opinion about claiming Texas was of no value, but
the fact that he was consulted showed the amount
of respect and consideration which the administra
tion was wlUing to pay to him. In 1836, and again
in 1843, Adams, citing his diary, declared that
Jackson had been consulted, and had approved the
Florida treaty. Jackson contradicted and denied
It In a violent and insulting manner.
In the spring of 1821 Jackson was appointed
Governor of Florida, under the belief that the
public would be glad to see him so honored. On
July 21st of the same year he published general
orders,! taking leave of his army, a reduction hav
ing been made by which he had been thrown out.
In these orders, or In a postscript to them, he man
aged to come Into coUision with his colleague and
senior, Major-General Brown, then chief in com
mand of the army of the United States, by taking
up and criticising an order " signed Jacob Brown,"
especially in regard to the punishment for deser
tion. Brown was a New York militia general, some
eight years younger than Jackson, who had dis
tinguished himself, in the general lU-success of the
war, by some small successes on the northern fron
tier. He seemed to be the coming military hero of
the war until he was eclipsed by Jackson. He
took precedence of Jackson by seniority of appoint
ment, and so became chief in command. It had
become evident now that Jackson needed much
room In the world for aU his jealousies and anl-
1 21 NUes, 53.

86 ANDREW JACKSON
mosities, and that his f eUow-men must put up with
a great deal of arrogance and misbehavior on his
part. His popularity shielded him. He had be
come a privileged person, like a great French
nobleman of the last century. To offend him was
to incur extraordinary penalties. To get in his
way was to expose one's self to assaults which
could not be resented as they would be If they
came from another man. All this he had won by
military success. At least it seemed fair to expect
that he would observe military discipline and de
corum. But he did not do so, and no one dared to
caU him to account.
Congress did not have time to legislate for the
territory of Florida, after the treaty was ratified,
before the end of the session. An act was passed
extending to the new territory only the revenue
laws and the law against the slave-trade. Jackson
was appointed Governor In April, with aU 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
Governor under Spanish law, of an American terri
tory not yet under the Constitution and laws of the
United States. Long delays, due to dUatoriness
and inefficiency, postponed the actual cession until
July 17th. Meanwhile Jackson was chafing and
fuming, and strengthening his detestation of aU
Spaniards. ' His commission in fuU, 22 NUes, Supp. 148.

GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA 87
In September certain persons represented to
Jackson that papers which were necessary for the
protection of their Interests were being packed up,
and would be carried away by the Spanish ex-Gov
ernor, contrary to the treaty. There were five or
six sets of papers about property and land grants !
which were missing. There had been complaints
against the Spaniards for granting lands belonging
to the Crown between the making and the ratifica
tion of the treaty. Jackson no doubt beUeved the
worst against them. The persons who claimed his
aid were weak and poor. With characteristic
chivalry and impetuosity, he sent an officer to seize
the papers. The ex-Governor, Callava, refused to
give up any papers unless they were described, and
a demand for them was addressed to him as Span
ish commissioner. He and Jackson seem to have
worked at cross-purposes unnecessarily. It Is hard
to make out what the misunderstanding was (al
though the use of two languages might partly ac
count for it), unless Jackson was acting under
his anti-Spanish bias. Jackson ended by sending
Callava to the calaboose. Parton, who gives some
special and interesting details derived from Brack-
enrldge, the alcalde and Interpreter, says that Cal
lava 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 CaUava's
house to take the papers, and then ordered CaUava
to be discharged. 1 21 NUes, 150.

88 ANDREW JACKSON
Eligius Fromentin, of Louisiana, had been ap
pointed judge of the western district of Florida.
He, upon application, issued a writ of habeas corpus
for CaUava. Jackson summoned Fromentin before
him to show cause why he had Interfered with Jack
son's authority as Governor of the Floridas with
the powers of the Captain-General of Cuba, as
" Supreme Judge," and as " Chancellor." Fro
mentin sent an excuse on the ground of IUness.
The next day he went to see Jackson, and after a
fierce Interview each prepared a " statement " to
send to Washington. CaUava went to Washing
ton to seek satisfaction. Some of his friends pub-
Ushed, at Pensacola, a statement in his defence.
Thereupon Jackson ordered them out of Florida at
four days' notice, on pain of arrest for contempt
and disobedience, If they were found there later.
After aU, the heirs of Vidal, who stirred up the
whole trouble, were, according to Parton, indebted
to the Forbes firm, against which they wanted to
protect themselves.! This would not affect their
right and interest In securing papers properly
theirs. Whether the papers were being carried
away, and did properly belong to the claimants, is
not known.2
" I have no time," wrote Jackson to Lewis, Sept.
21, 1821, " to write to a friend, my civil, military,
1 2 Parton, 638. See Vidal's Heirs vs. J. Innerarity, 22 NUes,
Supp. 147.
^ All the documents are in Folio State Papers, 2 Miscdlan.,
199. The important papers are in 21 NUes.

AFFAIR OF CALLAVA 89
and Judicial Functions keep me constantly en
gaged as you wIU see from the news papers, that I
am on some occasions for Justice sake, to use en
ergetic measures, but one thing you and my friends
may rely on, that I have acted with great caution
and prudence, and that my conduct when Investi
gated wIU be as much approved as any act of my
life." About the time of the trouble with Callava,
Worthington, the Secretary and acting Governor
of East Florida, was having a contest with Coppln-
ger, 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 Octo
ber. It Is plain that he had acted from a good
motive against CaUava, and, being sure of his mo
tive, he had disregarded diplomatic 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 jus
tice, 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 Fromentin, It was a farce. If Jackson had
been a man of any introspection, he must have
had, ever after, more charity for the whole class of
Spanish governors, when he saw what an arrogant

90 ANDREW JACKSON
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 revenue laws and those against the slave-
trade, Fromentin's jurisdiction was limited to those
laws,^ and he could not issue a writ of habeas cor
pus. The President, Calhoun, and Wirt thought
that he was not amenable for his error to Jackson.
Adams took Jackson's part m this matter also.
He said that Fromentin had violated Jackson's
authority.* The cabinet discussed the subject for
three days without reaching a decision. They
were greatly perplexed as to the law and justice of
the matter, and also as to Its political effect. Con
gress took it up, and the newspapers were filled
with it. At first the tide of opinion was against
Jackson, but his 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 stat
ing his reasons for declining. These reasons were
a reflection on the administration, because they
showed cause why no mission ought to be sent.
The letter was calculated to win capital out of the
* " Although inebriety may be necessary to awaken the brute
in man, absolute power suffices to bring out the fool." Taine,
3 Bevolution, 267.
2 For Fromentin's own theory of his action, which was plainly
erroneous, see 21 NUes, 252.
» 5 Adams, 359, 368 to 380.

MISSION TO MEXICO 91
appointment at the expense of the administration
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 ! " ^
1 24 NUes, 280. ' 4 Adams, 76.

CHAPTER IV
ELECTION OP 1824
The Congressional caucus met April 8, 1820.
The question was whether to nominate any candi
dates for President and Vice-President. Adams
says that the caucus was caUed 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 resolution was adopted,
and the caucus adjourned.! Monroe received, at
the election, every electoral vote save one, which
was cast by Plumer, In New Hampshire, for Adams.
Tomkins was reelected Vice-President, but he re
ceived fourteen less votes than Monroe. His repu
tation was declining. In raising money for the
public service during the war he had engaged his
own credit. His book-keeping was bad, and his
accounts and the public accounts became so entan
gled that he could not separate them.^ The trou
ble was that. In order to show himself a creditor,
he had to include in his accounts Interest, commis
sions, damages, allowances, etc., with interest on
them aU ; that Is, all the ordinary and extraordi-
1 5 Adams, 58, 60. " 1 Hammond, 508 et seq.

TARIFF OF 1820 93
nary charges which a broker would make for find
ing funds for an embarrassed cHent. If these
charges were aU aUowed, 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 popular and had high hopes of
the presidency. In 1824 he retired neglected and
forgotten. He died In June, 1825.
During Monroe's second term each of the per
sonal factions was Intriguing on behalf of its chief,
and striving to kiU off aU the others. There were
no real issues. On the return of peace In 1815, the
Industries which had 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
1816, although its rates were of course far below
the " double duties " which had been levied during
the war, was supposed at the time to be amply pro
tective. It had been planned to that end. The
embargo, non-Intercourse, and war had created en
tirely artificial circumstances, which were a heavy
burden on the nation 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 prostrated all the Industry of the country

94 ANDREW JACKSON
for four or five years. So long as vicious and de
preciated currencies existed in Europe, there was
less penalty for a vicious currency here ; but as
fast as European currencies Improved after the
return of peace, gold and silver began to go to the
countries of improving currency, and away from
the countries where the currency still remained
bad. The " hard times " were made an argument
to show that more protection was needed ; that is,
that the country had been prosperous during war,
and that the return of peace had ruined it, unless
taxes could be devised 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 antici
pate aU the wisdom of later days. They proved
that the people of the United States, with a great
continent at their disposal, could not get out of
the continent an abundance of food, clothing,
shelter and fuel because they had not enough bits
of paper stamped " one dollar " at their disposal.
The currency whims, however, hardly got into
politics at that period.
In 1820 a strong attempt was made to increase
the tariff, to do away with credit for duties, and to
put a check on sales at auction. As the presi
dential election was uncontested, power to carry
these bills coiUd not be concentrated. In 1824 the
case was different. No faction dared vote against
the higher tariff for fear of losing support.! The
I 24 NUes, 324

WIRE-PULLING 96
tariff was not, therefore, a party question. The
act was passed May 22, 1824, by a combination of
Middle and Western States against New England,
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 WlUiam B. Lewis as to the reason
why and the way In which Jackson was elected.!
John WiUIams had been senator. His term ex
pired. He was an opponent of Jackson. He was
a candidate for reelection, and was so strong that
no Jackson man but Jackson himself could defeat
him. Hence the men who were planning 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 per
son — Dr. Coleman, of Warrenton, Va. — was
found to Interrogate Jackson about it. His letter
In reply was the first of the adroit letters or mani
festoes by means of which the Jackson managers
carried on the campaign In Jackson's favor. They
developed this art of electioneering in a way then
not conceived of by other factions. The letter to
Coleman 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,
1 3 Parton, 21.

96 ANDREW JACKSON
bearing upon It from a greater or less distance,
and from aU points of view, and it failed not to
Introduce enough glittering platitudes to make the
whole pass current. Jackson voted for the tariff.
He wrote to Lewis, May 7, 1824: —
" The articles of National Defence & National Inde
pendence, I win with my vote, foster & protect, without
counting on cents & dollars; so that our own manu
facturers shall stand on a footing of fair competition with
the labourers of Europe. In doing this, the articles all
being of the product of our own country, tends to pro
mote the agriculturists, whilst it gives security to our
nation & promotes Domestic Labour. The balance of
the bill I look to with an eye to Revenue alone, to meet
the national debt. These articles of National defence,
are Hemp, iron, lead, & coarse woollen, and from the
experience of last war every patriot will justify me in
this course — & if they do not, my own conscience ap
proves, & I will follow it regardless of any conse
quences." ^
He also voted for a number of internal improve
ment schemes. These votes were afterwards quoted
against him.^
Jackson was therefore fairly started as a candi
date for the presidency. Among aU the remarka
ble accidents which opened his way to the first
position in the country. It was not the least that he
had WlUiam B. Lewis for a neighbor and friend.
Lewis was the great father of the wire-puUers.
He first practised In a masterly and scientific way
' Ford MSS. 2 38 Niles, 285.

WIRE-PULLING 97
the art of starting movements, apparently spon
taneous, at a distance, and in a quarter from which
they win prestige or popularity. 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
movement In the direction in which, from the be
ginning, he desired to go. On this system poUtlcal
activity is rendered theatrical. The personal in
itiative Is concealed. There is an adjustment of
roles, a mise en scene, and a constant consideration
of effect. Each person acts on the other In pre
arranged ways. Cues are given and taken, and the
effect depends on the fidelity of each to his part.
The perfection of the representation is reached
when the audience or spectators are disregarded
until the finale, when the chief actor, having reached
the denoument towards which he and his comrades
have so long been laboring, comes to the footlights
and bows to the "wiU of the people." Lewis
showed great astuteness in his mancEuvres. There
was nothing vulgar about him. There was a cer
tain breadth of generalship about his proceedings.
He was very far sighted and prudent. He had the
great knowledge required by the wire-puller, —
knowledge of men, good judgment of the influ
ences which would be potent. If brought to bear on
each man or group. 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

98 ANDREW JACKSON
very well. When he wanted to go straight to a
point he could do so. When he wanted to pro
duce effects or suggest adroitly, without coming to
the point, he could do that too. He also knew
Jackson weU. He no doubt sincerely loved and
admired Jackson. He threw his whole soul into
the undertaking to elect Jackson, but he never
showed very markedly selfish or interested pur
poses in that connection. So long as Jackson was
uninformed or unprejudiced on any matter, he was
at the disposition of any one who had won his con
fidence, and who desired to influence him on that
matter. He could then be led to accept any view
of It which was put before him In a way to strike
his mind. Lewis knew how to put a thing be
fore Jackson's mind. However, when Jackson had
adopted any view or notion, his mind became set
or biassed, and it was not easy, even for those who
first Influenced him, to deflect his mind from rigid
ity of inference, or his conduct from direct de
duction. He often outstripped the wishes and
intentions of those who had moved him first. To
contradict him, at that stage, 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. No doubt many people saw, as early as 1815,
Jackson's availability as a presidential candidate.

PROJECT TO NOMINATE JACKSON 99
Aaron Burr wrote to his son-in-law, Alston, Nov.
20, 1815,! urging that Jackson should be brought
forward as a candidate by whose might the caucus
could be overthrown. Jackson wrote to Lewis, in
1844, about " the book lately publeshed " " caUed
the history of the last congress," "which under
takes to state the manner of my being brought out
for the Presedency, and which says it originated
with " " Col Burr & the militant FederaUsts." "
I have to state that it is a base falsehood, that I
ever received a letter from Col Burr on that sub
ject, — or that I ever received a request from any
Federalist to become a candidate for the Presi
dency — That I received many from such repub-
Ucans as Edward Livingston, as early as 1816 &
17 — to permit my name to be brought out for the
Presedency is certainly true, but which I answered
promptly I could not yield to their solicitation — " ^
Adams recognized Jackson's strength, as a candi
date, in 1818 : " There Is a considerable party dis
posed to bring forward Jackson as a candidate, and
the services of his late campaign would have given
him great strength, if he had not counteracted his
own interest by several of his actions in It," *
having alienated Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia, aU
State rights men and Governors of States.
Parton obtained from Lewis a description of the
first steps towards Jackson's nomination. Lewis
tells how he used Jackson's letters to Monroe to
win Influential federalists to Jackson's support. It
1 Mayo, 171. ^ Ford MSS. " 4 Adams, 198.

100 ANDREW JACKSON
was after Jackson's return from Florida, In 1821,
that the project was definitely decided upon. At
first Jackson rejected, with some temper, the sug
gestion that he could or would run for President.
He did not consider himself the right sort of man,
and he felt old and iU. In the spring 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 nomination. During the next two years
Jackson's supporters were gaining connections and
undermining the caucus, for he was an independent
candidate and a " disorganizer," because he was
raised up outside of the machine, and without any
consultation with the established party authorities.
Certain features of Jackson's character have
appeared already. We have seen some of his ele
ments of strength and some of his faults. The
nation wanted to reward him for military achieve
ments and for a display of military 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 Jack
son had not made public display of any quaUtles
but those of a mUitary man, and violence, indis
cretion, obstinacy, and quarrelsomeness. In the
campaign, those who opposed him caUed him a
" murderer." The only incidents of his life which
the biographer can note, aside from his military
service, are successive acts of impropriety and bad
judgment. Senator Mills wrote of him that " he

PROJECT TO NOMINATE JACKSON 101
was considered extremely rash and inconsiderate ;
tyrannical and despotic in his principles. A per
sonal acquaintance with him has convinced many
who had these opinions that they were unfounded.
He Is very mild and amiable In his disposition,
of great benevolence, and his manners, although
formed in the wilds of the West, exceedingly pol
ished and polite. Everybody that knows him,
loves him, and he is exactly the man with whom
you [his wife] would be delighted. . . . He has
all the ardor and enthusiasm of youth and is as
free from guile as an Infant. ... A personal ac
quaintance with him has dissipated all my preju
dices. . . . But with all Gen. Jackson's good and
great qualities, I should be sorry to see him Presi
dent of the United States. His early education
was very deficient, and his modes of thinking and
habits of life partake too much of war and military
glory." ! Negatively, however, there was more to
be said for Jackson. He was above every species
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. Judge McNairy
" speaks of Gen. Jackson as being less addicted to
the vices and Immoralities of youth, than any
young man with whom he was acquainted ; that he
1 MUls's Letters, 31.
^ The only contrary suggestion known is in Binns, 245. " This
rough soldier, exposed aU his life to those temptations which
have conquered public men whom we stiU caU good, could kiss
little chUdren with lips as pure as their own." Quincy ; Figures,
367.

102 ANDREW JACKSON
never knew of his fighting cocks, or gambling,
and, as for his being a libertine, as has been
charged, the Judge says he was distinctly the re
verse of It. The truth Is, as everybody here weU
knows. Gen. Jackson never was fond of any kind
of sport, nor did he Indulge in any except occar
sionally for amusement, but Horse-racing. This
his friends are wiUing to admit, but even this he
has quit for many years. I believe ever since the
year 1810 or 1811." !
There were already four other candidates In the
field, who aU 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 supporter
among them, and no candidate had over two.^ De
Witt Clinton was not altogether out of considera
tion. A caucus of the South Carolina Legislature
nominated Lowndes.^
John Quincy Adams stood first among the can
didates by his public services and experience. He
was fifty-seven years old. He went to Europe with
his father when he was eleven years old, and stud-
led there for several years. He was, through his
father, intimate from his earliest youth with public
and diplomatic affairs. As far as education and
early training could go, he had the best outfit for
1 Lewis to Haywood (1827) ; copy in Ford MSS.
2 24 Niles, 369.
2 5 Adams, 468.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 103
a statesman and diplomat. He enjoyed great re
spect. Those who thought that a man ought to
advance to the presidency through lower grades of
pubUc employment looked upon him as the most
suitable candidate. He was not a man of genius,
but one of wide interests, methodical 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 re
pelled those who would have been his friends. So
far as we can learn, he engaged in no Intrigues
for the presidency. He certainly had the smaUest
and least zealous corps 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 possessed 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 soundness in "democratic princi
ples " was doubted. He was earnestly disliked by
aU the active politicians. In the campaign he was
called a "tory." He 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 ex
pose the untruth of this charge and the character

104 ANDREW JACKSON
of the evidence by which it was supported.! In
his own opinion, this attack helped him.^ He was
In favor of the tariff as It stood in 1824. He
thought that It gave enough protection. He was
also in favor of internal Improvements, but thought
that they might be abused.^ He was accused of
undemocratic care for etiquette, and also of sloven
liness in dress. Mrs. Adams gave a baU In honor
of Jackson, January 8, 1824. " It is the universal
opinion that nothing has ever equalled this party
here, either in briUiancy of preparation or elegance
of the company." *
Calhoun enjoyed great popularity in New Eng
land, in New York city, and In Pennsylvania, as
weU as at home. 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 Improvements. In
October, 1822, Adams wrote : " Calhoun has no
petty scruples about constructive powers and State
rights." ® " He is ardent, persevering, industrious,
and temperate, of great activity and quickness of
perception and rapidity of utterance ; as a poU-
tician, too theorizing, speculative and metaphysical,
— magnificent In his views of the powers and
capacities of the government and of the virtue,
InteUigence, and wisdom of the people. He is
in favor of elevating, cherishing, and increasing
1 The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries and the Mississippi.
1" 6 Adams, 263. s 6 Adams, 353, 451.
* MUls's Letters, 30. ^ 6 Adams, 75.

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 106
aU the Institutions of the government, and of a
vigorous and energetic administration of It. From
his rapidity of thought, he is often wrong In
his conclusions, and his theories are sometimes
wild, extravagant, and impractical. He has always
claimed to be, and Is, of the democratic party, but
of a very different class from that of Crawford ;
more like Adams, and his schemes are sometimes
denounced by his party as ultra-fanatical. His
private character is estimable and exemplary, and
his devotion to his official duties is regular and
severe, but he is formidably opposed on the ground
of his youth, his Inexperience, his heterodoxy in
politics, and his ambition." ! Calhoun and Adams
had been strong friends, and there was some Idea
of putting Calhoun on the ticket with Adams until
1822, when some members of Congress nominated
Calhoun for President.^ Webster preferred Cal
houn to aU the other candidates.^ His brother
wrote that Calhoun was the second choice of New
Hampshire.* 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 espe
cial rivals, because Crawford was the "regular"
1 MUls's Letters, 28.
2 6 Adams, 42.
8 1 Curtis's Webster, 218, 236.
* 1 Webster's Correspondence, 323.
5 26 NUes, 50. Adams thought this praise undeserved. 7
Adams, 446.

106 ANDREW JACKSON
Virginia and Southern candidate. In 1822 at
tempts were made to injure Calhoun by an Investi
gation of a contract for building the Rip Raps at
Old Point Comfort. The contract was private,
not competitive. He was exonerated by a com
mittee of the House.! As we shall see, Calhoun
withdrew his name before the election.
Crawford was the regular candidate. He was
fifty-two years old. In 1798 he had been an "Ad
dresser," that is, an orthodox federalist.^ He had
also been a supporter of the old Bank, and had
been the leader in the Senate for the renewal of
its charter. He had also opposed the embargo.^
He had been very eagerly working for eight years
to reach the presidency. In the campaign he was
caUed an " intriguer." As Secretary of the Trea
sury, during the crisis of 1819, he had a very diffi
cult task to perform. He had undertaken even
more than his duty required, for he had aimed
to " do justice " between the banks, and to keep
them from encroaching 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 Ed
wards 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.
Crawford was exonerated by a committee of the
1 22 NUes, 251. = 24 NUes, 132.
8 Cobb, 143.

WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 107
House, but he barely escaped ruin.! «jjg ig a
hardy, bold, resolute man, with the appearance of
great frankness and openness of character, unpol
ished and somewhat rude In his manners, and very
far inferior to Mr. Adams in learning and attain
ments. He has, however, a strong, vigorous mind,
and has made himself what he is by his own active
efforts. . . . He is now at the head of those who
are here termed radicals" [extreme State rights
men] .2 He introduced the limited period of ser
vice, by the Act of May 15, 1820, into the Treasury
Department. This act limits the period of office
of all persons engaged in coUecting the revenue 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 cIvU service. Crawford was be
lieved by his colleagues to have sacrificed the ad
ministration to make capital for himself. Adams
says that Crawford and Monroe quarreUed to the
verge of violence during the last months of the
administration.* In order to win strength for
Crawford, Van Buren was nominated for Vice-
President by the Legislature of Georgia. This
proposition was overwhelmed by ridicule.^ Craw-
1 Folio State Papers ; 5 Finance. Edwards said that he made
the charge under promises of support from Monroe, Jackson, Cal
houn, and Adams. Ford's Illinois, 63.
2 MiUs's Letters, 28.
8 7 Adams, 424.
1 7 Adams, 81.
6 Cobb, 209.

108 ANDREW JACKSON
ford was physically disabled from September, 1823,
to September, 1824. He could not sign his name,
and was apparently a wreck. He used a fac-simlle
stamp on public papers, or It was used by a mem
ber of his family under his direction.
" Adams, Jackson, and Calhoun, all think well of
each other, and are united at least In one thing, to
wit, a most thorough dread and abhorrence of Craw
ford. Mr. Clay stands by himself, and, with many
excellent qualities, would be more dangerous at the
head of the government than either of the others.
Ardent, bold, and adventurous in aU his theories, he
would be, as is feared, rash in enterprise, and in
considerate and regardless of consequences. His
early education was exceedingly defective, and his
morals have been not the most pure and correct." !
Clay had already assumed the championship of
the protective system. He had been one of the
strongest opponents of the re-charter of the first
Bank. He had also made " sympathy with nations
struggling for liberty " one of his points, and had
been zealous for the recognition of the South Amer
ican republics. He was a great party leader. He
had just the power to win men to him and to In
spire personal loyalty, which Adams had not. On
the other hand, he lacked industry. He was elo
quent, but he never mastered any subject which
required study. His strength lay in facility and
practical tact. He was forty-seven years old. He
was stigmatized as a " gambler " by his opponents
1 MUls's Letters, 32.

CAUCUS OF 1824 109
in the campaign. From 1820 to 1823 he was not
In public life, but was retrieving his private for
tunes. 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 the treaty
of Ghent.
The Crawford men wanted a congressional caucus
in 1824, because they had control of the machine.
The supporters of the other candidates opposed any
caucus, but secretly, because the caucus was now
an established institution. The opponents of the
caucus found a strong aUy in Niles, who opened
fire on the caucus in his " Register " without any
reserve. His sincerity and singleness of purpose
are beyond question. He did not use his paper to
support any candidate. He was an old Jeffersonian
republican of 1798, and he believed sincerely In
aU the "principles." He assailed the caucus, be
cause In his view it usurped the right of the people
to govern themselves. He denounced It steadUy
for more than a year, and he succeeded in casting
odium upon it. The Legislatures of New York and
Virginia passed resolutions in favor of a caucus,
because these two States, while united, could con
trol the presidency through the caucus. New York
being rent by democratic faction fights, and Vir
ginia being led by a close oligarchy, New York
became an appendage to Virginia In their coalition.
Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama and Mary
land adopted resolutions against the caucus. The

110 ANDREW JACKSON
legislature of Pennsylvania declared against a
"partial caucus."!
The caucus met In the chamber of the House
of Representatives February 14, 1824.2 Qf 216
democrats in Congress, 66 were present. Two,
who were IU at home, sent proxies. If proxies
were allowable, the members of Congress, when
assembled in presidential caucus, must have been
regarded as Independent powers, possessed of a
prerogative, like peers or sovereigns. The vote
was : Crawford, 64 ; Adams, 2 ; Jackson, 1 ; Macon,
1 : i. e., aU but the Crawford men stayed away.
GaUatin was nominated for Vice-President by 57
votes. An address was published, defending the
caucus, and arguing its IndispensabiUty to the
party .^ Some question was raised about GaUatin's
eligibility on account of his foreign birth, but he
possessed the alternative quaUficatlon aUowed by
the Constitution. He had been a commissioner at
Ghent and a friend of Crawford. His nomination
did not strengthen the ticket. There was stiU a
great deal of rancor against him for forsaking the
Treasury Department when the war of 1812 broke
out.* He soon withdrew his name because the
caucus was so unpopular.
Martin Van Buren was chief engineer of the last
congressional caucus. He was senator from New
1 6 Adams, 232.
2 25 NUes, 388.
8 25 NUes, 391.
* See a strong expression of it as late as 1832 in 42 NUes, 435.

INTRIGUES IN NEW YORK 111
York. He and his friends, under the new Consti
tution 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 aUIance with Virginia to control the
machine and elect Crawford. A project which
threatened to mar their scheme was the proposi
tion, 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
opposed this, as It would render useless aU their
machinery. The advocates of the change, who were
the opponents of Crawford, Tammany, and the
Regency, formed the "people's party." Clinton
was for Jackson, so he was aUied with the people's
party against Crawford. Although Clinton was
the soul of the canal enterprise, he was removed
from his office of canal commissioner to try to
break up this combination. It would never do for
the Regency to oppose directly and openly a pro
position 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 blU passed the House, but was defeated In the
Senate.! The popular Indignation was so great
that the next Legislature was carried by the peo
ple's party, and a joint ticket of electors was
1 2 Hammond, 132.

112 ANDREW JACKSON
elected, on which were 25 Adams men, 7 Clay men,
and 4 Crawford men.! Some of them must have
changed their votes before the election.
A federalist convention at Harrisburg, Pennsyl
vania, February 22, 1824, nominated Jackson.^
At a primary meeting at Philadelphia, Dallas
withdrew Calhoun's name from the first place
and nominated him for the second. Calhoun was
strong In Pennsylvania, but Jackson had super
seded him. This move was a coalition of Jack
son and Calhoun. Jackson wrote to Lewis, from
Washington, March 31, 1824 : —
"On the subject of M'' Calhoune, I have no doubt
myself, but his friends acted agreeable to his under
standing & instructions ; & that he is sincere in his
wishes — some have doubted this, but I have not — and
I can give you when we meet reasons that will convince
you I cannot be mistaken — as far as his friends to the
south have acted, it is conformable to this ; & I have no
doubt but both the Carolinas will unite in my support —
You have seen the result of Pennsylvania — New York
is coming out — and it is said some of the Newengland
States ; a few weeks wiU give us the result of the move
ment of New York — if Crawford is not supported in
that State I have but little doubt but he wiU be droped,
and from what you will see in the National intelligences
of this morning M^ Clay taken up. I have no doubt if
I was to travel to Boston where I have been invited that
it would ensure my election — But this I cannot do —
1 27 Niles, 186. Hammond's statement is obscure. See 1
Hammond, 177.
2 1 Sargent, 41.

PARTY READJUSTMENTS 113
I would feel degraded the ballance of my life — If I
ever fiU that office it must be the free choice of the
people — I can then say I am the President of the
nation — and my acts shall comport with that char
acter." !
The understanding was that Jackson would take
only one term, and that his friends would then
secure the succession to Calhoun.
The democratic convention at Harrisburg, March
4th, was stampeded for Jackson. Only one vote was
given against him.^ Another democratic conven
tion, called " regular," was convened August 9th.
It repudiated Jackson and adhered to Crawford.^
Jackson and his followers were denounced as " dis-
organizers." The Albany " Argus " said of Jack
son, "It is Idle in this State, however It may be in
others, to strive even for a moderate support of
Mr. Jackson. He is whoUy out of the question as
far as the votes of New York are in It. Independ
ently of the disclosures of his political opinions, he
could not be the republican candidate. He is re
spected as a gallant soldier, but he stands, in the
minds of the people of this State, at an immeasur
able distance from the executive chair." * The
" Argus " swallowed its words a little later, without
a sign of indigestion. It knew that, when the dem
ocratic Leviathan takes a self-willed freak, he is
the wisest leader who follows most humbly. After
It had reversed Itself, any one who held the very
1 Ford MSS. 2 26 NUes, 20.
8 1 Sargent, 42. * Quoted 49 NUes, 188.

114 ANDREW JACKSON
judicious opinion embodied in this paragraph was
denounced by it as a "federalist," which was as
much as to say, an enemy of the American people.
NUes says that Calhoun opposed Jackson in a pub
lic 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." ! Jeffer
son said : " I feel very much alarmed at the pro
spect of seeing General Jackson President. He Is
one of the most unfit men I know of for the place.
He has had very Uttle respect for laws or constitu
tions, and is, in fact, an able mUitary chief. His
passions are terrible. . . . He has been much tried
since I knew him, but he Is a dangerous man." ^
On the contrary, Jackson's courtly bearing won
for him aU the ladles. Webster wrote : " 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." ^ Jack
son's friends induced him to have a kind of recon
ciliation with Scott, Clay, and Benton. The last
was a supporter 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 nomination as minister to
Mexico. When Adams came In he would not
1 22 NUes, 73.
2 1 Webster's Correspondence, 371.
8 1 Webster's Correspondence, 346. See, also, Quincy, Figures,
363. * He went first to Crawford, then to Jackson. Cobb, 215.

VOTE OF 1824 115
ratify the appointment.! During the winter some
sort of a peace was made between Jackson and
Crawford .2
The result of the electoral vote was: Jackson,
99; Adams, 84; Crawford, 41; Clay, 37. For
Vice-President the vote was : Calhoun, 182 ; San-
ford, 30 ; Macon, 24 ; Jackson, 13 ; Van Buren,
9 ; Clay, 2 ; blank, 1. New York voted : Jackson,
1 ; Adams, 26 ; Crawford, 5 ; Clay, 4. The elect
ors were chosen by the Legislature la Delaware,
Georgia, Louisiana, New York, South Carolina,
and Vermont. 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, Ken
tucky, and Missouri) was Jackson. In Pennsyl
vania, 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 poUed, because
It was known that Jackson would carry it over
whelmingly.^ Ten years later Adams wrote about
the people of Pennsylvania, " whose fanatical pas
sion for Andrew Jackson can be compared to
nothing but that of TItanIa, Queen of the Fairies,
for Bottom after his assification." *
The Intriguing 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 asserted that the House would have
1 6 Adams, 522. •¦¦ 6 Adams, 478, 485.
8 27 NUes, 186. « 9 Adams, 160.

116 ANDREW JACKSON
elected him if his name had come before it as one
of the three highest. He was courted by all parties.
It would be tedious to collect the traces of various
efforts to form combinations. The truth seems to
be this : Washington was fiUed during the winter
with persons, members of Congress and others, who
were under great excitement about the election.
All sorts of busybodles were running about, talk
ing and planning, and proposing what seemed to
each to be good. Persons who were in Washing
ton, and were cognizant of some one line of intrigue,
or of the activity of some one person, have left
records of what they saw or heard, and have ve
hemently maintained each that his evidence gives
the only correct clew to the result. Each candi
date's name Is connected with some intrigue, or
some proposition for a coalition. In no case is the
proposition or intrigue brought home to the prin
cipal party as a conscious or responsible partici
pator, 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 thirteen States, Jackson of seven, and
Crawford of four. For the first few days Jack
son seemed to bear his defeat good - naturedly,
although he had written to Lewis, as early as
January 29 : —

VOTE OF 1824 117
" Tou will see from the public Journals the stand M'
Clay has taken for M' Adams — This was such an un
expected course, that self-agrandizement, and corruption,
by many are attached to his motives — ...
" Intrigue, corruption, and sale of public office is the
rumor of the day — How humiliating to the american
character that its high functionaries should so conduct
themselves, as to become liable to the imputation of
bargain & sale of the constitutional rights of the
people." !
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 Sec
retary of State. After a few days he accepted
that post. The charge of a corrupt bargain be
tween him and Adams was then started. It was
an Inference from Clay's appointment, and nothing
more. Any man can judge to-day, as weU as any
one could in 1824, whether that fact leads straight
and necessarily to that inference. Not a particle
of other evidence ever was aUeged. We have
never had any definition of the proper limits of
combinations, bargains, and pledges in politics, but
an agreement to make Clay Secretary of State, If
made, could not be called a corrupt bargain. He
was such a man that he was a fit and proper
person for the place. No one would deny that.
Therefore no public interest would be sacrificed or
abused by his appointment. A corrupt bargain
1 Ford MSS. ^ Cobb, 226; 1 Curtis's Buchanan, 43.

118 ANDREW JACKSON
must be one In which there is collusion for private
gain at the expense of the public welfare. Bar
gains which avoid this definition must yet be toler
ated in aU political systems, although they Impair
the purity of any system.
The men around Jackson — Eaton, Lewis, Liv
ingston, Lee, Swartwout — knew the value of the
charge of corrupt bargain for electioneering pur
poses, and the political value of the appeal to Jack
son's supporters on the ground that he had 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 ex
planation of his change of tone from the lofty
urbanity of the President's assembly to the rancor
ous animosity of a few days afterwards ? Such a
conjecture fits all the circumstances and aU the
characters. The men around Jackson might see
the value of the charge, and use it, without ever
troubling themselves to define just how far they be
lieved 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. Feb
ruary 20th, he wrote to Lewis : —
" But when we see the predictions verified on the re
sult of the Presidential election — when we behold two
men — political enemies, and as different in political sen
timents as any men can be, so suddenly unite ; there must
be some unseen cause to produce this political phenomena
— This cause is developed by applying the rumors be-

CHARGE OF CORRUPT BARGAIN 119
fore the election, to the result of that election, and to
the tendering of and the acceptance of the office of Sec.
of State by M' Clay. These are facts that will confirm
every unbiasased mind, that there must have been & were
a secret understanding between M' Adams & M'' Clay
of and concerning these seems of corruptoon, that has
occasioned M' Clay to abandon the will, and wishes of
the people of the west, and to form the coalition so ex
traordinary as the one he has done.
From M' Clays late conduct, my opinion of
him, long ago expressed, is best realized — from his con
duct on the Seminole question, I then pronounced him a
political Gambler — ... I have, now, no doubt,
but I have had opposed to me aU the influence of the
Cabinet, except Calhoune — would it not be well that
the papers of Nashville & the whole State should speak
out, with moderate but firm disapprobation of this cor
ruption — to give a proper tone to the people & to draw
their attention to the subject — When I see you I have
much to say — There is more corruption than I antici
pated ; and as you knovr I thought there was enough
of it." 1
Benton always scouted the notion of the bar-
galn.2 He says that he knew before Adams did,
that Clay intended to vote for Adams.^ Benton
would not foUow Clay. Clay and Jackson had
had no Intercourse since the Seminole war affair.
The Tennessee delegation patched up a reconcilia-
1 Ford MSS.
2 Ibid.
8 1 Benton, 48 ; see his letter of Dec. 27, 1827, in Truth's Ad
vocate, 63.

120 ANDREW JACKSON
tion In 1824.! Clay's reason for voting for Adams
was that Crawford was Incapacitated by broken
health,^ and that a military hero was not a fit person
to be President. January 8th Clay wrote to F. P.
Blair ^ that the friends of aU the candidates were
courting him, but that he shoiUd vote for Adams.
January 24th Clay and the majority of the Ohio
and Kentucky delegations declared that they would
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 generaUy
argued that If Jackson was elected he would keep
Adams in the State Department. 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 Adams would give him the Secretary
ship.^ On the 25th of January, the day after the
western delegations came out for Adams, an an
onymous letter appeared in the " Columbian Obser
ver," of PhUadelphia, predicting a bargain between
Adams and Clay. Kremer, member of the House
1 Clay's Speech, 1838 ; 54 NUes, 68.
2 Crawford was taken to the Capitol for a few hours, a day or
two before the election, but he was apparentiy a wreck. Cobb,
218. 8 Blair and Kendall, in 1824, were Clay men. They were both
active, in 1825, in urging Clay men to vote for Adams. 40 NUes,
73 ; Telegraph Extra, 300 et seq.
* 27 Niles, 386.
6 Telegraph Extra, 321.

CHARGE OP CORRUPT BARGAIN 121
from Pennsylvania, avowed his responsibility for
the letter, although it has generaUy been believed
that he could not have written it. Clay demanded
an investigation in the House, and a committee was
raised, but Kremer declined to answer Its interro
gatories. The letter was another case of the gene
ral device of laying down anchors for strains which
would probably need to be exerted later. It would
not do for Kremer to admit that the assertion In
the letter was only a surmise of his. It certainly
was a clever trick. The charge would either pre
vent 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. Imme
diately after the inauguration, Kremer made this
latter use of It in an address to his constitutents.!
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 which he spoke very bitterly of Clay, and re
sented Clay's criticism of him as a " military
chieftain." He sneered at Clay as not a miUtary
chieftain. But he did not allege any bargain.
Swartwout published this letter In New York.^
Both letters were plainly prepared by Jackson's
followers for publication. Clay replied at the end
of March In a long statement.^
Jackson remained In Washington until the mid-
1 28 NUes, 21. ^ 28 NUes, 20. 8 28 NUes, 71.

122 ANDREW JACKSON
die of March. He was present at the inauguration,
and preserved all the forms in his pubUc demeanor
towards Adams.! His rage was aU directed against
Clay. In the Senate there were fifteen votes
against Clay's confirmation, but no charges were
made there.^ On his way home Jackson scattered
the charge 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 questionable
whether Jackson was more annoyed or pleased at
being run for President. Now that the element of
personal contest was Imported into the enterprise,
his whole being became absorbed In the determi
nation to achieve 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 amplitude and definiteness as he
repeated It. In March, 1827, Carter Beverly, of
North Carolina, wrote to a friend an account of a
visit to Jackson, and a report of Jackson's circum
stantial assertion, at his own table, that Clay's
friends offered to support Jackson, if Jackson
would promise not to continue Adams as Secretary
of State. Beverly's letter was published at Fay-
ettevUle, North Carolina.^ In June, Jackson
wrote to Beverly an explicit repetition over his
own signature.* The charge had now a name and
a responsible person behind It, — Jackson himself.
1 28 Niles, 19.
'' Branch made some allusions and vague comments. 33 NUes,
22. 8 32 NUeg, 162. * 32 NUes, 315.

ADAMS AND CLAY 123
Clay at once called on him for his authorities and
proofs. Jackson named Buchanan as his au
thority.! Buchanan had been one of the active
ones ^ that winter, but he had blundered. He now
made a statement which was not straightforward
either way, but It did not support Jackson's state
ment. He distinctly said that he had never been
commissioned by the Clay men for anything he
had said to Jackson about appointing Adams.^
Clay then caUed on Jackson to retract, since his
only authority had failed. Jackson made no an
swer. He never forgave Buchanan. In 1842,
Carter Beverly wrote to Clay that the charge had
never been substantiated, and that he regretted
having helped to spread it.* At Maysville, in 1843,
Adams made a solemn denial of the 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 large
did, from facts and circumstances which were in
disputable 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
appointment, never had any other ground for it,
and therefore had as much ground in 1844 as In
1825. Clay never escaped the odium of this charge
while he lived. At Lexington, Ky., In 1842, he
1 32 NUes, 415. ' Markley's Letter, 33 NUes, 167.
» 32 NUes, 416 ; 1 Curtis's Buchanan, 42, 511.
* 61 NUes, 403. ^ n Adams, 431. « 66 NUes, 247.

124 ANDREW JACKSON
said that he thought he should have been wiser if
he had not taken office under Adams.!
On the publication of Adams's " Diary," proba
bly 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 between them, because Clay
had given vague support to the charge against
Adams about the fisheries and the Mississippi, and
Adams had challenged him to produce the proof,
which would impeach Adams's own story of the
negotiations at Ghent. Clay had never answered.
December 17, 1824, Letcher, as one of Clay's near
est friends, called on Adams. " The drift of all
Letcher's discourse was . . . that Clay would wiU-
Ingly support me, if he could thereby serve him
self, and the substance of his meaning was, that if
Clay's friends could Icnow that he would have a
prominent share in the administration, that might
induce them to vote for me, even in the face of In
structions. But Letcher did not profess to have
any authority from Clay for what he said, and he
made no definite propositions." "^ January 1, 1825,
Clay and Adams met by Letcher's Intervention.^
Adams recorded in 1828 * that Letcher told him,
January 2, 1825, that Kentucky would vote for
him. January 9th Clay told Adams that he should
1 62 NUes, 291. 2 6 Adams, 447.
8 Cf 8 Adams, 337 (1831). * 7 Adams, 462.

ADAMS AND CLAY 125
vote for him, and said that Crawford'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 Adams
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 overlook 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 Webster called on Adams
about the proscription of the federaUsts.! 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
election 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 wiU of the people," as Indicated by the
plurality vote. Benton is the chief advocate of
this doctrine.^ He faces aU the consequences of It
without flinching. He says plainly that there was
a struggle " between the theory of the Constitution
and the democratic principle." The Constitution
' The federalists all hated Adams for "ratting." In 1828,
Timothy Pickering was a Jackson man ; not that he loved demo
cracy more, but that he hated Jackson less. 34 NUes, 246.
2 1 Curtis's Webster, 237.
8 31 NUes, 98, gives a homely but very pungent criticism of
Benton's doctrine. It consists in showing what the " vriU of the
people" is, when the State divisions, Senate equality, and negro
representation are taken into accoimt.

126 ANDREW JACKSON
gives to the House of Representatives the right
and power to elect the President In a certain con
tingency. There is no provision at aU in the Con
stitution for the election of President by a great
national democratic majority. The elected Presi
dent is the person 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 Constitution provides for, is
just as complete as that of the electoral college in
all other cases. But the electoral coUege by no
means necessarily produces the selection which ac
cords 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 majority, for the obvious reason that It
would be simpler to let a plurality elect. The Con
stitution provides only specified ways for ascertain
ing " the will of the people," and that will does
not rule unless It Is constitutionaUy expressed.
That is why we are, fortunately, under a consti
tutional system, and not under an unlimited and
ever-changing democracy. Benton and those who
agreed with him were, as he avows, making an
assault on the Constitution, when they put forward
their doctrine of the function of the House. On
that doctrine the Constitution is every one's tool
while it answers his purposes, and the sport of
every faction which finds it an obstacle, if they can

DEMOCRACY VERSUS THE CONSTITUTION 127
only manage to carry an election. Their might
and their right become one and the same thing, —
guarantees of each other. Such a doctrine is one
of the most pernicious political heresies. A con
stitution is to a nation what self-control under
established rules of conduct 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 wiU of the people," to which he referred
as paramount, was an inference only. The mo
ment we depart from constitutional methods of
ascertaining the wiU of the people, we shall always
be driven to inferences which wUl, in the last anar
lysis, be found to rest upon nothing but party pre
judices and party hopes. In the vote of 1824 the
facts were as foUows : Clay's States Indicated, as
their second choice, Jackson. Jackson's friends
inferred that, if Clay had not been running, Jack
son would have carried those States and would have
been elected. Going farther, however, we find that
in New Jersey and Maryland the Crawford men
supported Jackson to weaken Adams. In North
Carolina, Adams men supported Jackson to weaken
Crawford. 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
1 1 Annual Begister, 40.

128 ANDREW JACKSON
States by bargain and combination. How many
more undercurrents of combination and secondary
Intention there may have been is left to conjecture.
What then becomes of the notion of " the wUl of
the people," as some pure and sacred emanation
only to be heard and obeyed? No election pro
duces any such pure and sacred product, but only a
practical, very limited, Imperfect, and approximate
expression of public opinion, by which we manage
to carry on public affairs. The " demos hrateo
principle," to use Benton's jargon, belongs in the
same category with Louis Fourteenth's saying :
Uetat, c^est moi. One Is as far removed from con
stitutional liberty as the other.
Let It be noted, however, that this suggestion of
Benton was far more than a preposterous notion
which we can set aside by a little serious discus
sion. He touched the portentous antagonism which
Is latent in the American system of the State, —
the antagonism between the democratic principle
and the constitutional institutions. The grandest
Issue that can ever arise in American political life
is whether, when that antagonism is developed into
active conflict, the democratic principle or the con
stitutional Institution wiU prevail.
Crawford went home to Georgia, disappointed,
broken In health, his political career entirely
ended. He recovered his health to some extent.
He became a circuit judge, and gave to Calhoun,
five years later, very positive evidence that he was
stIU alive. He died in 1834.

CHAPTER V
ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION
The presidential office underwent a great change
at the election of 1824. The congressional 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 dethroned and dead.
What kiUed the congressional caucus was the fact
that, with four men running, the adherents of three
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 fuUy 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 controUing it for his purposes. Van
Buren proved himself to be the man for this func-

130 ANDREW JACKSON
tion. He usurped the position of Jackson leader
In New York, which seemed by priority to belong
to Clinton. He and the other Crawford leaders
had had a hard task to run a man who seemed to
be physicaUy incapacitated for the duties of the
presidency, but when Crawford's health broke
down it was too late for them to change the whole
plan of their campaign. After the election they
joined the Jackson party. The " era of good feel
ing " had brought into politics a large number of
men,! products of the contlnuaUy advancing politi
cal activity amongst the less educated classes, who
were eager for notoriety and spoils, for genteel Uv-
Ing without work, and for public position. These
men were ready to be the janizaries of any party
which would pay well. They all joined the oppo
sition, because they had nothing to expect from the
administration. All the factions except the Adams
faction, that Is to say, aU the federalists and aU the
non- Adams personal factions of the old republican
party, went Into opposition. These elements were
very incoherent in their poUtlcal 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 politi
cal questions arose, they developed a determination
to oppose to the last whatever the administration
should favor. They fought for four years to make
1 3 Ann. Beg. 10.
2 The new groupings caused intense astonishment to simple-
minded observers. See 32 NUes, 339.

ORGANIZATION OF FACTIONS 131
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
denunciations, chiefly against Clay. The style
of smartness which he was practising reached its
climax when he caUed the administration an aUI
ance of BUfil and Black George, the Puritan and
the Black-leg. He and Clay fought a duel, on
which occasion, however, Randolph fired in the air.
After Jackson's election, Randolph was given the
mission to Russia, and was guilty of a number of
the abuses which he had scourged most freely In
others. 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 thin-
skinned as most men of his stamp are when their
turn comes.!
Van Buren Initiated the opposition into the
methods and doctrines of New York politics. Ever
since the republicans wrested that State from the
federalists, in 1800, they had been working out the
methods of organization by which an oligarchy of
a haK dozen leaders could, under the forms of de
mocratic-republican self-government, control the
State. As soon as the federalists were defeated,
the republicans broke up into factions. Each fac
tion, when it gained power, proscribed the others.
Until 1821 the patronage, which was the cohesive
1 2 (Sarland's Bandolph, 339.

132 ANDREW JACKSON
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 con
verted Into elective offices. It then became neces
sary to devise a new system adapted to this new
arrangement, and aU the arts by which the results
of primaries, conventions, committees, and cau
cuses, while foUowing all the forms of spontaneous
action, can be made to conform to the programme
of the oligarchy or the Boss, were speedily devel
oped. If now the presidency was no longer to be
the crown of public service, and the prize of a very
limited number of statesmen of national reputa^
tion, — if it was conceivable that an Indian fighter
like Jackson could come within the range of choice,
— then the presidency must be ever after the posi
tion reserved for popular heroes, or, in the absence
of such, for " available " men, as the figure-heads
with and around whom a faction of party leaders
could 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 organization of which the public service
should constitute the network. There would be
agents everywhere to receive 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 "
would recruit his forces from those who hoped for
places when the opposition should come in. As
there were two or three " outs " who wanted each

THE SPOILS SYSTEM 133
place held by those who were " in," recruits were
not lacking. It was during Adams's administra
tion that the opposition introduced on the federal
arena the method of organizing federal parties by
the use of the spoils, which method had been previ
ously perfected in the State politics of New York.
The opposition invented and set in action two
or three new institutions. They organized local
Jackson committees up and down the country,
somewhat on the plan of the old revolutionary
committees of correspondence and safety. It was
the duty of these committees to carry on a propa^
ganda for Jackson, to contradict and refute charges
against him, to make known his services, to assail
the administration, and to communicate facts, ar
guments, reports, etc., to each other. Jackson
had had a " literary bureau " at work in Washing
ton in 1824. He wrote to tell Lewis who the
writers were, viz. Eaton, Houston, and Isaacs. He
mentioned a case In which Eaton was conducting
both sides of a discussion, on the approved plan,
under two pseudonyms.! Partisan newspaper
writing was also employed to an imprecedented
extent. The partisan editor, who uses his paper
to reiterate and inculcate statements of fact and
doctrine designed to affect the mind of the voter,
was not a new figure In poUtlcs, but now there
appeared aU over the country smaU local news
papers, edited by men who assumed the attitude
of party advocates, and pursued one side only of
1 Ford MSS.

134 ANDREW JACKSON
aU public questions, disregarding truth, right,
and justice, determined only to win. In 1826, at
Calhoun's suggestion, an " organ " was started at
Washington, the "Telegraph," edited by Duff
Green, of Missouri. The organ gave the key to
aU 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 confi
dence 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 indul
gence." In October, the Legislature of Tennessee
nominated Jackson for 1828, and he appeared be
fore the Legislature to receive an address and to
make a reply. He resigned the senatorship in a
very careful and weU-written letter,! in which he
urged (referring, as everybody understood, to
Clay's appointment) that an amendment to the
Constitution should be adopted forbidding the ap
pointment 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 letter he said that the senatorship had been
1 29 NUes, 156.
^ 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
NUes, 282. He referred to the appointment by Jefferson to
lucrative offices of Linn, of New Jersey, and Claiborne, of Ten
nessee (each of whom controUed the vote of a State), and also

METHODS OF THE OPPOSITION 135
given to him In 1823 without effort or solicitation ;
also that he made It a rule neither to seek nor de
cline office. In his speech before the Legislature
he spoke more freely of the corruption at Wash
ington, from which he sought to escape by resign
ing.! jjg Qo^ jja^ Livingston, Eaton, Lee, Van
Buren, Benton, Swartwout, Duff Green, and Lewis
managing his canvas, some of them at Washington
and some in Tennessee. They kept close watch
over him, and maintained constant communication
with each other. '^
The first overt acts of the opposition were the '
objection to Clay's confirmation, 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 March,
1825. The " Annual Register," commenting, over
a year later, on these votes, said : " The divisions
which 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 opposition were set forth at public
of Livingston, who could have divided the vote of New York. 36
NUes, 197. According to a return made to a caU by Congress
in 1826, the number of members of Congress appointed to office
by the Presidents down to that time was : by Washington, 10 ; by
Adams, 13 ; by Jefferson, 25 ; by Madison, 29 ; by Monroe, 35 j
by J. Q. Adams, in his first year, 5. 36 NUes, 267.
1 1 Ann. Beg. 21.

136 ANDREW JACKSON
dinners and meetings, so as to prepare the com
munity for a warm political contest untU the next
election." ! The public was greatly astonished at
the uproar among the politicians. The nation ac
quiesced in the result of the election as perfectly
constitutional and regular, and It cost great effort
to stir up an artificial heat and indignation about
It. The " bargain " formed the first stock or capi
tal of the opposition. The claim that Jackson had
been cheated out of his election was the second.
This became an article of the political creed, and
it was the most efficacious means of stirring up
party rage, although no one coidd tell how he was
cheated. It was a splendid example of the power
of persistent clamor without facts or reason. Some
attempt was made to get up a cry about " family
Influence," but this did not take. The charge of
bargain and fraud was so assiduously reiterated
that, in 1827, there were six senators and forty
representatives who would not caU on the Presl-
dent.2 It was during the session of 1825-26 that
the discordant elements of the opposition coalesced
into a party ,^ the democratic party of the next
twenty years. Near the end of the session a pro
minent Virginia poUtlcIan declared that the com
binations for electing Jackson in 1828 were already
formed.* 1 1 Ann. Beg. 38.
^ 7 Adams, 374. The federal members of Congress would not
visit Madison in 1815. 1 Curtis's Webster, 135.
8 1 Ann. Beg. 22. « Ibid.

METHODS OF THE OPPOSITION 137
It was proposed to adopt a constitutional amend
ment 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 provide electioneering ma
terial. This committee reported six biUs, the most
Important of which provided that the President
might not appoint to office any person who had
been a member of Congress during his own term
in the presidential office, and that the President, If
he should remove any officer, should state his
reasons to the Senate on the appointment of a suc
cessor. No action was taken.
The topic, however, on which the opposition
most distinctly sEoweHThelr spirit jvas the Panama
mission! Bent^inisrepresents that affair more
grossly than any other on which he touches. The
fact is that the opposition were forced by their
political programme to oppose a measure which It
was very awkward for them to oppose, and they
were compelled to rldiciUe and misrepresent the
matter In order to cover their position. Sargent !
teUs a story of an opposition senator, who, when
rallied on the defeat of the opposition, in the vote
on confirming 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 ! " The opposition vehemently denounced
the Monroe doctrine. They would not print the
1 1 Sargent, 117.

138 ANDREW JACKSON
instructions to the commissioners because these
would have refuted the exaggerated denunciations.
It was not untU 1829 that pubUc opinion forced
the printing.!
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 pubUc
interest, and then to leave to Congress the respon
sibility If nothing was done. He therefore set out
In his messages series of acts and measures which
he thought should be adopted. He thereby played
directly into the hands of the opposition, for they
then had a complete programme before them of
what they had to attack. Adams held the active
theory of 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 aU the Interests
which were confided to It. He regarded the new
land as a joint possession of aU 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 he thought, would open up the con
tinent to civilization.^ He cared more for internal
1 They are to be found, 4 Ann. Beg. 29. " 9 Adams, 162.

PARTY ISSUES 139
improvements than for a protective tariff.! jjg
wanted a national university and a naval school.
He favored expenditures on fortifications and a
navy and an adequate army. 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 aU
the points in this programme. In 1824 Crawford
had been the only stickler for State rights and
strict construction. Calhoun and his friends had
been on the other side. The old-fashioned pet
tifogging of the strict constructionists, and the
cast-iron dogmatism of the State rights men, were
developed in the heat of the factious opposition of
1825-29. AU that, however, before that time had
been considered extreme or " radical." Van Buren,
on his reelection to the Senate In 1827, wrote a
letter in which he promised to recover for the
States the " rights of which they had been de
prived by construction," and to save what rights
remained.^ Hammond expresses the quiet astonish
ment which this created In the minds of the people,
even democrats like himself, who were not aware
that the States had suffered any wrong, especIaUy
at the hands of the existing administration. The
country was in profound peace and stupid pro
sperity, and the rancor of the politicians seemed
Inexplicable. The public debt was being refunded
advantageously. Immigration was large and grow
ing. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825
1 8 Adams, 444. ^ 2 Hammond, 246.

140 ANDREW JACKSON
opened up the great lakes to navigation, and the
adjacent country to settlement. PubUc affairs were
in fact dull. The following passage from the
" Annual Register " shows the impression made by
the agitation at Washington : ! —
"Nearly aU 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 un
popular. The community was generally disappointed
as to the results of the session. . . . Many of the
members were new to political life. . . . Others were
predetermined to opposition, and from the first as
sembling of Congress devoted themselves to thwarting
the measures which its [the administration's] friends
urged upon the consideration of Congress. The Vice-
President and his friends were most prominent in this
class of politicians. . . . The manner, too, in which the
opposition attacked the administration displayed an ex
asperated feeling, in which the community did not
sympathize, and a general suspicion was felt that its
leaders were actuated by private griefs, and that the
public interests were neglected in their earnest struggle
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 hostUe to the
administration, which could not bring their own
party to the support of their reports. He also
ruled that it was not the duty of the Vlce-Presi-
1 1 Ann. Beg. 149.

ADAMS'S POLICY 141
dent to preserve order, save upon the Initiative of
some senator on the fioor. Great disorder oc
curred, and John Randolph especIaUy took advan
tage 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 commit
tees of the Senate. Letters which appeared in
one of the Washington newspapers, signed " Pat
rick Henry," criticising Calhoun's course, were
ascribed to the President. Ajiswering letters,
signed " Onslow," were ascribed to the Vice-Pre
sident.! Adams took no steps to create an administration
party. He offered the Treasury to Crawford, who
refused It. He then gave it to Rush, who had
voted against him. The Secretaries of War and
of the Navy had likewise supported other candi
dates.^ Adams refused to try to secure the elec
tion of Jeremiah Mason, an administration man, to
the Senate.^ He had declared, before the election,
that he should reward no one, and proscribe no
one. He adhered to this faithfuUy. Clay urged
him to avoid pusiUanimity on the one hand, and
persecution on the other.* The election being
over. Clay said that no officer ought to be aUowed
" to hold a conduct in open and continual dispar
agement of the administration and Its head."
Adams replied that, in the particular case under
discussion (coUector at New Orleans), there had
1 Harper's Calhoun, 31. ^ Perkins, 289.
8 7 Adams, 14. * 6 Adams, 546.

142 ANDREW JACKSON
been no overt act ; that four fifths of all the cus
tom-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 opening
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
PhUadelphia. 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 candidates. This
did not conciliate the federalists, and it aroused
all " the wormwood and the gaU " of the old party
hatred.^ In 1827 Clay and others urged him to
confine appointments to friends. He refused to
adopt that rule.^ He expressed the belief that the
opposition were spending money to poison pubUc
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 farmers, at the
opening of the canal, because he objected to that
style of electioneering.^ In October, 1827, Clay
made a warm protest against Adams's action in re
taining McLean, the Postmaster-General. Clay
alleged that McLean was using the post-office
patronage actively against the administration.
1 7 Adams, 163. ^ 7 Adams, 207. 8 7 Adams, 257.
4 7 Adams, 262. ' 7 Adams, 297.

ADAMS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE 143
McLean hated Clay and loved Calhoun,! ^j^^ }jg
claimed to be a loyal friend of the administration.
Adams would not believe him a traitor.^ A cam
paign story was started that Adams's accounts
with the Treasury were not In order. Clay de
sired that Adams would correspond with an elec
tion committee in Kentucky, and refute the
charge. Adams refused, because he disapproved
of the western style of electioneering and stump-
speaking.^ Binns, an Irish refugee, editor of the
" Democratic Press " of Philadelphia, ought by all
affinities to have been a supporter of Jackson, but
he took the wrong turning after Crawford's disap
pearance, 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 any removals. I bowed respectfuUy, assur
ing the President that I had no doubt the conse
quence would be that he would himself be removed
so soon as the 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 that this was the first time in the history of
1 7 Adams, 364. » 7 Adams, 343.
8 7 Adams, 347. * Binns, 250.

144 ANDREW JACKSON
the country that such had been the case.! The
session of 1827-28 was almost entirely occupied in
manufacturing political capital. A committee on
retrenchment and reform presented a majority and
a minority report. The majority expressed alarm
at the Increasing expenditures of the federal gov
ernment, and the extravagance of the administra
tion. The minority said that no expenditures had
been made which Congress had not ordered, and
that the expenditures had not Increased unduly,
when the size and population of the country were
considered. It was charged that large sums had
been spent in decorating the President's house,
especially the "East Room." Congress had ap
propriated $25,000 for the White House, of which
$6,000 had been spent. The rest was returned to
the Treasury. As soon as Jackson 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 administra
tion had been extravagant.
The campaign of 1828 was conducted, on both
sides, on very ruthless methods. Niles said that
It was worse than the campaign of 1798.* Cam
paign extras of the " Telegraph " were issued
weekly, containing partisan material, refutations
of charges against Jackson, and slanders on Ad-
1 7 Adams, 367. » Quoted 37 NUes, 229. 8 35 jsfUes, 33.

TONE OF THE CAMPAIGN 145
ams and Clay. The Adams party also pubUshed
a monthly of a similar character : " Truth's Advo
cate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor." The
country was deluged with pamphlets on both sides.
These pamphlets were very poor stuff, and contain
nothing important on any of the issues, and no
contribution to history. They all appeal to low
tastes and motives, prejudices and jealousies.
Binns Issued a number of hand-biUs, each with a
coffin at the head, known as "coffin hand-biUs,"
setting forth Jackson's bloody and lawless deeds.!
One Jackson hand-bill had a broad-axe cut of
John Quincy Adams driving off with a horsewhip
a crippled old soldier who dared to speak to him
and ask an alms. In short, campaign literature
took on a new and special development In this
campaign, and one Is driven to wonder whether
the American people of that day were such that
aU this drivel and vulgarity could affect their
votes. Against Jackson was brought up his marriage,
and aU the facts of his career which could be made
the subject of unfavorable comment. Against
Adams were brought charges that he gave to Web
ster and the federalists, in 1824, a corrupt pro
mise; that he was a monarchist and aristocrat;
that he refused to pay a subscription to turnpike
stock on a legal quibble ; that his wife was an
Englishwoman; that he wrote a scurrilous poem
1 Binns says that he issued these hand-biUs and was mobbed
in 1824. It seems that his memory faUed him.

146 ANDREW JACKSON
against Jefferson in 1802 ; that he surrendered a
young American servant-woman to the Emperor of
Russia; that he was rich; that he was in debt;
that he had long enjoyed public office; that he
had received Immense amounts of pubUc money,
namely, the aggregate of aU the salaries, outfits,
and aUowances which he had ever received; that
his accounts with the Treasury were not in order ;
that he had charged for constructive journeys ; that
he had put a biUiard-table in the White House at
the public expense;! that he patronized duellists
(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 civU service ;
that he had used the federal patronage to influence
elections. The federaUsts, 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 him dismissed lest the Metho
dists should be offended.^ Bache, the postmaster
at Philadelphia, was a defaulter. McLean had
known it for eighteen months. Finally he removed
Bache, and appointed Thomas Sergeant, who had
been allied with Ingham, Dallas, and other Jackson
men. Adams would not remove McLean.*
1 Levi Woodbury was especiaUy shocked at this. Plumer's
Plumer, 513.
2 7 Adams, 540. 8 g Adams, 8, 25, 51.

THE VOTE m 1828 147
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 ad
ministration in 1807. On account of revelations
which were made in this controversy, Adams was
involved in another with the descendants of the
old high federalists, who called him to account for
aUegatlons 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 f uU statement of the facts on which he
based his opinions and statements, but It was not
pubUshed until 1877.!
Lewis wrote to Hayward of Cincinnati, March
28, 1827, urging that the Clinton men should take
sides, as the Calhoun men had done, which " wIU
give them equally as strong claims on the friends
of Gen. Jackson, but unless they do this they have
no right to expect the support of his friends, unless
it be from motives of Patriotism alone." " Their
sUence heretofore has subjected them to the im
putation of a want of candor. They ought to know
that If the schemes of Adams, Clay and Webster
are carried Into effect; that he [Clinton] never
can be President. If Old Hickory shaU be elected
he wiU set a better example — it is not my opinion
1 New England Federalism, by Henry Adams. See also Plu
mer's Plumer, and Lodge's Cabot.

148 ANDREW JACKSON
he could be induced to serve more than one term." !
In September, the Tammany General Committee
and the Albany " Argus " came out for Jackson,^
as it had been determined. In the programme, that
they should do. A law was passed for casting
the vote of New York in 1828 by districts. The
days of voting throughout the country ranged
from October 31st to November 19th.3 The votes
were cast by the Legislature in Delaware 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, Jackson, 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 AUe-
ghanies. In Georgia no Adams ticket was nomi
nated.^ Tennessee gave Jackson 44,293 votes, and
Adams 2,240. Parton has a story of an attempt.
In a Tennessee viUage, to tar and feather two men
who dared to vote for Adams.'' Pennsylvania gave
Jackson 101,652 votes ; Adams, 50,848. For Vice-
1 Copy in Ford MSS. ^ 2 Hammond, 258.
8 Telegraph Extra, 565.
* 3 Ann. Beg. 31. The figures for the popular vote vary in
different authorities.
« 35 NUes, 177. 8 See page 228. ' 3 Parton, 151.

THE VOTE IN 1828 149
President, Richard Rush got aU the Adams votes ;
Calhoun got aU the Jackson votes except 7 of
Georgia, which were given to WlUiam Smith, of
South Carolina.
General Jackson was therefore triumphantly
elected President of the United States, In the name
of reform, and as the standard-bearer of the people,
rising in their might to overthrow an extrava
gant, corrupt, aristocratic, federaUst administration,
which had encroached on the liberties of the people,
and had aimed to corrupt elections by an abuse
of federal patronage. Many people believed this
picture of Adams's administration to be true. An
drew Jackson no doubt believed It. Many people
believe It yet. Perhaps no administration, except
that of the elder Adams, Is under such odium.
There Is not, however, in our history any adminis
tration 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 quoted, 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
1 See Morse's J. Q. Adams. ^ 50 NUes, 194.
0 3 Ann. Beg. 34.

150 ANDREW JACKSON
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 accompUshed
his scheme of administration, he was no longer a
minister."

CHAPTER VI
THE " RELIEF " SYSTEM OF KENTUCKY
Before entering upon the history of Jackson's
administration It Is necessary to notice a piece of
local history, to which frequent subsequent refer
ence must be made, on account of influences ex
erted on national politics. A great abuse of paper
money and banking took place in the Mississippi
Valley between 1818 and 1828. It was an out
come of the application of political forces to the
relations of debtor and creditor. It necessarily fol
lowed that political measures were brought Into
coUision with constitutional provisions, and with
judicial institutions as the Interpreters and admin
istrators of the same, in such points as the public
credit, the security of contracts, the sanctity of
vested rights, the Independence of the judiciary,
and Its power to pass on the constitutionality of
laws. A struggle also arose between squatterism
and law in respect to land titles, which involved
the same fundamental interests and issues of civil
liberty and civilization. Currency, banks, land
titles, stay laws, judge-breaking, disunion, and the
authority of the federal judiciary, were the matters
at stake, and aU were combined and reacting on

152 ANDREW JACKSON
each other. Kentucky was the scene of the strong
est and longest conflict between the constitutional
guarantees of vested rights and the legislative mea^
sures for relieving persons from contract obliga
tions, when the hopes under which those obligations
were undertaken had been disappointed by actual
experience. It was from Kentucky, also, that the
influences arose which were brought to bear on
national politics.
It is worth while to see what historical antece
dents had educated the people of Kentucky up to
the extravagant opinions and conduct of 1820-30.
The sources of the trouble lie far back in the
colonial history of Virginia and North Carolina,
where false and evil traditions were started which,
when carried to Kentucky and Tennessee, produced
more gross and extravagant consequences. There
had been excessive speculation in aU the colonies,
and aU had Imitated more or less the action of
Massachusetts, in 1640, when a crisis produced ruin
to Indebted speculators, and when it was ordered
that goods taken on execution shovdd be transferred
to the creditor at a valuation put on them by three
neighbors as appraisers.! There was some justifi
cation for such a law when there was no market, so
that goods offered at auction were harshly sacri
ficed. Appraisement laws, however. In a commu
nity where all were Indebted, and where each In
turn became appraiser for his neighbors, were a
gross abuse of the forms of law.
1 Felt, 23.

THE "RELIEF" SYSTEM OF KENTUCKY 153
A case of judge-breaking, in connection with a
disputed land-title (due to the slovenly land system
of Virginia), occurred, in Kentucky, in 1795.* An
attempt had been made, by the State, to quiet
titles, and to give security to landholders, by ap
pointing commissioners, who gave certificates to
possessors. Very many of the latter were squat
ters, and paper titles were extant which underlay
their claims. The Court of Appeals of the State
would not allow the certificates to preclude an exam
ination of a claim and an award of justice, as the
law and the facts might require. In this it aroused
the rage of the squatter element. Two judges.
Muter and Sebastian, made the decision ; Wallace
dissenting. At the next session of the Legislature
an attempt was made to remove the two judges
by an address to the Governor, but there were
only three majority for it in the House, while two
thirds were required. The House then summoned
the two judges before It, but they refused to
appear on grounds of the independence of the judi
ciary. The House passed resolutions denouncing
the judgment and Impugning the Integrity or men
tal capacity of the judges. The Senate, by a ma
jority of one, passed similar resolutions. At the
next term. Muter joined Wallace in reversing the
decision and ordering a new trial. There was a
new appeal and affirmation of the second decision.^
A system of seUing State lands on credit began
I McConneU vs. Kenton, Hughes's Ky. Rep. 257.
2 Butler, 252.

154 ANDREW JACKSON
in 1797, which had a very unfortunate effect in cre
ating a body of debtors to the State. For fifteen
years law upon law was passed, fluctuating between
the motive of collecting what was due to the State,
and that of showing leniency to the debtor. Innu
merable acts of grace to individuals were passed.
It was another peculiarity of Kentucky legisla
tion that the judiciary system of the State was
changed again and again, and also that numerous
acts were passed in relief of negligent and delin
quent officers.
Judge Muter experienced In his own person the
hardship of life In a community which does not
respect vested rights. He was retired. In 1806, on
an old age pension of $300, but pensions were un
popular, and his was repealed In 1809, In spite of
the Governor's veto.
Another Incident which contributes to the same
manifestation of the popular temper was a law of
1808, that " all reports " of decisions in England
since July 4, 1776, "shaU not be read nor con
sidered as authority in any of the courts of this
commonwealth." The lawyers held that no one
could violate this except by reading all the re
ports, etc. ; but the decisions, although cited, were
not read In court.! This State also tried the pop
ular whim of lay judges.
During the period of Inflation east of the
AUeghanles (1812-15),^ the States west of the
AUeghanies had plenty of silver, and were free from
1 LitteU's Rep. Pref. ^ See page 268.

BANK MANIA 155
financial disturbance. At the session of 1817-18,
the Legislature of Kentucky plunged that State
Into the Inflation system by chartering forty banks,
which were to Issue notes redeemable in Bank of
Kentucky notes.! The popular party was now un
der the dominion of a mania for banks, as the
Institutions for making the poor rich. Clamorous
demands were, at the same time, made for a share
in the blessings which the Bank of the United
States was to shower over the country, and two
branches were estabUshed, one at Lexington and
one at Louisville. Prices Immediately began to
rise ; specie was exported ; contracts were entered
into. In the expectation of a constant advance of
the " wave of prosperity." AU hastened 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 miUIons
of doUars. . . . 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 teU the people of
Kentucky when they littered their banks ? " ^
In 1819 the banks of Tennessee and Kentucky
1 The Bank of Kentucky was founded in 1806, with capital
$1,000,000, half contiibuted by the State ; to begin business
when $20,000 were subscribed. Sumner ; Hist, of Banking in the
V. S., 59.
2 16 NUes, 261.

156 ANDREW JACKSON
and nearly aU in Ohio suspended specie payments.!
The bubble had now exploded. Liquidation was
IncTritable, and the indebted speculators were
ruined. Then came the outcry for relief, that Is,
for some legislative measures which would, as they
thought, make the bubble mount again long enough
for them to escape, or suspend the remedies of
creditors so that liquidation might be avoided.
The local banks generally ascribed their ruin to
the Bank of the United States. They over-issued
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 aU responsibility from themselves by
representing themselves as the victims of an alien
monster, which crushed them whUe they were try
ing to confer blessings on the people about them.
The big Bank was bad enough, but the plea of the
local banks was Ingeniously false. It availed, how
ever, to turn the popular Indignation altogether
against the Bank of the United States.
July 26, 1820, the Bank of Tennessee was estab
lished, to last until 1843, with a branch at Knox-
viUe. Itsamount of Issue was $1,000,000. Its notes
were to be loaned on mortgage security under an
apportionment between the counties, according to
the taxable property In 1819.^ There was already
1 On the history of the banks of the whole Mississippi Valley
at this time see Sumner ; Hist. Banking in U. S.
2 18 NUes, 452; Gouge, 39.

BANK MANIA 157
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 pur
chaser ten per cent advance. Jackson was a pro
minent and energetic opponent of the relief system.!
While the biU for the above bank was pending he
wrote to Lewis as foUows : —
" Have you seen the Bill now before the Legislature
of our state to establish a loan office — If you have,
permit me to ask, have you ever seen as wicked &
pernicious a thing attempted by a set of honest Legisla
tures acting under the santity of an oath — and such a
palbable infringement of both the federal & state con
stitutions — If you have I would thank you to tell me
when and where. I did not believe that corruption &
wickedness had obtained such an ascendancy in the mind
of any man, to originate such a bill and stUl much less,
that a majority of the Legislature would be imposed
upon by false colouring & false reasoning to pass such a
BUI — but I have been mistaken, it has passed to a third
reading & will pass into a law unless stopped in its
Carreer by the voice of the people — I learn to day
that a meeting will be in the lower end of Sumner &
one in the lower end of Wilson & one at M"^ Sanders
store in Davidson this day to remonstrate against it
the people are unanimous I am told on this subject —
They find it a desperate & wicked project in its details
& one which strikes at the vital principles of the charter
of their liberties, and their dearest rights & are all aUve
1 Sumner; Hist. Banking, 148.

168 ANDREW JACKSON
upon the subject, and I expect will be unanimous in
their remonstrance against it, as no good can grow out
of it & much evil — I do hope that the good people of
Nashvill wUl unite in their hearty remonstrance against
it, & that they wUl be aided by the grand Jury early
next week : if early in the week ; it will stop the evil of
the passage of the law, or be a sure pledge that it will
be repealed next session.
" I hope you and M"^ Derby will not sit silent & let
such a wicked — profligate & unconstitutional law pass
without your exertions to prevent it — a law that will
disgrace the state, destroy aU credit abroad, and aU
confidence at home — I will endeavour to send you on
Sunday a copy of the resolutions [iUegible] tomorrow —
I trust they wUl be such that you & all honest men will
approve — answer this by the bearer." *
This letter was indorsed on the back by Lewis :
"Mr. Grundy was the originator of the wicked
and corrupt measure referred to by the General in
this letter." This accounts to some extent for Jack
son's active opposition to the measure.
Lewis reminded Jackson, in 1839, that they had
always differed on "financial matters," and re
ferred to the foUowing letter, written In answer to
the one just quoted. In proof : —
" I have both seen, and read with attention, the law,
or Bill, now before the Legislature, authorising the
establishment of a Loan Office ; and altho I think it a
dangerous experiment, and that by passing it we wUl be
hazarding much, yet I hope and am inclined to think, it
will not be fraught with such consequences as your Uvely
I Ford MSS.

BANK MANIA 169
interest for the prosperity of the State, have induced
you to believe. . . . The members of the Legislature, I
am told, and particularly some of your warmest friends,
think your remarks about them, when in Murf resborough,
were very harsh. Members of Assembly, acting under
the sanctity of an oath do not like to be told that by
voting for certain measures they have been guilty of
perjury. Such harshness, my dear General, is calculated
to do yourself an injury without producing the desired
good. MUdness universally has a much more salutary
effect ; it often convinces the understanding without
wounding the feelings. Your enemies will, and are al
ready giving a high colouring to the observations you
made in Murfresboro'. the other day."
Fifteen months later Jackson wrote from Florida:
" I regret the scenes that you relate, you may rest
assured it has greatly injured the reputation of the
State, and I have no doubt wiU have a tendency to open
the eyes of the sober virtuous part of the community, to
the proflegate conduct of a party in Tennessee whose
conduct has destroyed its character and its best interests,
your paper here is not worth -j^ to the dollar and this
depreciation falls upon the labourers — There is no
county that can stand this long — and I expect if the
assembly can be swayed by M' Grandy the governor, &
party, that we will have a few more million of raggs —
as I do not mean to have much to do with this ragg
business, I console myself with the prayer "May the
lords will be done." "
In June, 1821, the Court of Appeals of Ten
nessee pronounced the relief system of that State
unconstitutional, and It came to an end.

160 ANDREW JACKSON
The forty banks and the two branches of the
Bank of the United States, in Kentucky, went
into operation in 1817. The Bank of Kentucky
could not therefore sustain its former circulation.
It Imported $240,000 in silver, and reduced its
circulation, November, 1818, to $195,000. Never
theless, It feU heavily In debt during 1818 and
1819 to the branches of the Bank of the United
States.! Jq November, 1819, the latter bank or
dered the debt to be coUected. The Bank of
Kentucky suspended and compromised. Its notes
were at fifteen per cent discount. A great reduc
tion of the paper was forced, because the Bank of
the United States came In to demand payment.
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.
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 Supreme Court of
the United States declared the Bank constitu
tional.^ In December the Kentucky Court of Ap
peals unanimously sustained the State tax, on the
ground that the Bank was unconstitutional. Two
judges thought that they must yield to the Su
preme Court of the United States. The third.
Rowan, thought that they ought to stand out and
force further trial In the interest of State rights.*
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 203. ^ ggg page 166.
8 KendaU's Autobiography, 206.

FORCED LIQUIDATION 161
December 15, 1819, the Legislature of Kentucky
passed, over a veto, a law! ^q suspend for sixty
days sales under executions. If the defendant gave
bonds that the goods levied on should be forth
coming 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
banks of 1817. As a further measure of relief a
replevin law was passed, December 25, 1820, ac
cording 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, December 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 neigh
bors. The Bank of the Commonwealth was au
thorized to Issue notes for three miUions of doUars.
It had no stockholders. The president and direc
tors were elected annuaUy 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 between
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 pur
chase the products of the country for exportation.
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 227.

162 ANDREW JACKSON
The bank had twelve branches. Its funds were to
be : (1) aU money thereafter paid In for land war
rants, or for land west of the Tennessee river ; (2)
the produce of the stock owned by the State in
the Bank of Kentucky, after that bank should be
wound up; (3) the unexpended balances in the
treasury at the end of the year. The profits of
the bank were to go to the State. Stripped of all
pretence, therefore, the bank was the State trear
sury, 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, which never was done.
The notes of the bank were legal tender to and
from the State. The Legislature appropriated
$7,000 to buy books, paper, and plates for printing
the notes. This is aU the real capital the bank
ever had. It was, therefore, just one of the grand
swindling concerns common at that period, so many
of which are described In the pages of Niles and
Gouge.! In 1822 Judge Clark, of the Circuit Court of
Kentucky, declared the replevin law of that State
unconstitutional.^ He was cited before the House
of Representatives of the State, and an effort was
1 46 NUes, 211.
2 23 NUes, Supp. 153 (supplement to the 22d vol.). The judge's
decision, the legislative proceedings, and the judge's defence are
there given.

JUDGE-BREAKING 163
made to have him removed by the Governor on
the resolution of the Legislature. The vote was
59 to 35 ; not two thirds, as required by the Con
stitution for this method of removal. In this year
the Legislature used Its power in the election of
directors of the old Bank of Kentucky to put In
" relief " men who would make that bank accept
Commonwealth notes. The effect was that the
stock of the old bank at once fell to fifty, and it
suspended.! Jq October, 1822, a specie doUar was
worth $2.05 In Commonwealth notes.^ A Ken
tucky correspondent writes, February, 1823 : The
Bank of the Commonwealth " has nearly destroyed
aU commerce or trade, extinguished personal credit,
and broken down confidence between man and man,
as weU as damped and depressed the industry
of the State; but the people are beginning to
get tired of Its blessings, and Its paper-miU wiU
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 miUions of dol
lars." *
In 1823 the notes of the Bank of the Common
wealth began to be withdrawn and burned. Gov
ernor Adair, in his message of that year, approved
of the reUef system, and denounced the courts for
deciding the replevin laws unconstitutional. This
proceeding of the courts seems to have been then
I CoUins, 89. ^ 23 NUes, 96.
8 23 NUes, 337. KendaU justly described the relief system in
1821. Autobiography, 246.

164 ANDREW JACKSON
regarded very generaUy by the people of Kentucky
as a usurpation by the judges, and an assault 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 de
clared the relief laws unconstitutional. The Leg
islature, In January, 1824, affirmed the constitu
tionality 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 sys
tem of constitutional guarantees, administered by an
Independent judiciary, to protect rights against an
Interested and corrupt majority of debtors, which
was using Its power, under democratic-republican
self-government, to rob the minority of creditors.
The State election of 1824 was fought on the effort
to elect a Legislature, two thirds of which would
memorialize the Governor for the removal of the
judges who had decided the relief laws unconstitu
tional. A majority was obtained, but not two
thirds. Another course was then taken. The
legislative act by which the State judiciary was
organized and the Court of Appeals created was
repealed. Reference was made. In defence of this
action, to the repeal of the federal judiciary act, at
the beginning of Jefferson's administration.! A
new Court of Appeals was constituted by a new
1 CoUins, 90.

OLD COURT AND NEW COURT 165
act. WlUiam T. Barry was appointed chief jus
tice. The old court denied the constitutionality of
the repeal and of the new court, and 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,
sometimes with vehemence, sometimes with so
lemnity, 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 address to the passions and distress
of the embarrassed debtors. In November, 1825,
Niles quotes a Kentucky paper that more persons
had left that State than had come to it for many
years. It is plain that two classes of persons were
driven away by the relief system : (1) those who
wanted, by steady industry and accumulation with
out borrowing, to acquire capital and to be secure
In the possession of it ; and (2) those who could
hot, under the prevailing depression, work off the
mortgages which they had eagerly given to the
Bank of the Commonwealth for Its notes. In the
hope of thus escaping from old embarrassments.
After five years their condition was hopeless, and
1 28 NUes, 277.

166 ANDREW JACKSON
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 Irritated the people of Kentucky, and
enhanced their alarm about the assaults of the
judiciary on liberty. We have seen how the local
banks used the Bank of the United States as a
scapegoat for aU their sins, and for aU the bad
legislation of the States. The next swing 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 existence. In McCuUoch vs.
Maryland (1819),! ^nd In Osborn vs. Bank of the
United States (1824),^ the Supreme Court of the
United States declared that the States could not
tax the Bank. In Sturges vs. Crowninshield
(1819),* the same court set limits to the State in
solvent laws, and thereby prevented the favor to
debtors, which the embarrassed States desired to
provide. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, proposed
an amendment to the Constitution, January 14,
1822, giving appellate jurisdiction to the Senate in
any case to which a State was a party, arising
under the laws, treaties, etc., of the United States.*
In Bank of the United States vs. Halstead (1825),^
the Supreme Court decided that It had jurisdiction
1 4 Wheaton, 316. " 9 Wheaton, 739.
8 4 Wheaton, 122. * 7 Benton's Abridgment, 145.
6 10 Wheaton, 51.

ALLEGED FEDERAL ENCROACHMENTS 167
In suits to which the Bank of the United States
was a party, and that a law which forbade sales of
land under execution for less than three fourths of
the appraised value did not apply to writs of exe
cution issued by federal courts. The question of
the constitutionality of such a law was avoided.
In Wayman vs. Southard (1825),! ^jjg Supreme
Court of the United States decided that the re
plevin and endorsement law of Kentucky did not
apply to a writ of execution Issued from a federal
court. In Bank of the United States vs. Plant
ers' Bank of Georgia (1824),^ it decided that If
a State became a party to a banking or com
mercial enterprise the State could be sued In the
course of the business. This decision seemed to
threaten the Bank of the Commonwealth of Ken
tucky. 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 Virginia at the time of the separation,
and which in a corresponding manner increased
the claims of the occupying claimant for improve
ments, were nuU and void, being In violation of the
contract between Kentucky and Virginia at the
time of separation.* In Bodley vs. Gaither (1825),
1 10 Wheaton, 1. = 9 Wheaton, 904. 8 g -VTheaton, 1.
* Kentucky sent to Congress, May 3, 1824, a remonstrance
against this decision. Letcher, of Kentucky, introduced a reso-

168 ANDREW JACKSON
the Supreme Court of Kentucky refused to be
controlled by the decision in Greene vs. Biddle.!
Inasmuch as the Supreme Court of the United
States, in Hawkins vs. Barney's Lessee (1831),^
very materially modified the ruling in Greene vs.
Biddle, the Kentucky States rights men could
claim, as they did, that the federal court had
" backed down," and that they were right aU
the time.* In Dartmouth CoUege vs. Woodward
(1819),* the Supreme Court had decided that the
charter of a private corporation was a contract
which a State Legislature must not violate, and
had thus put certain vested rights beyond legisla
tive 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 constitutionality of the 25th
section of the judiciary act (power of the Supreme
Court to pass upon the constitutionality of State
laws) was affirmed, and the authority of the court
in a case under a federal treaty was maintained
against the Court of Appeals of Virginia. In Gib
bons vs. Ogden (1824),'^ the court overruled the
Supreme Court of New York, and declared an act
lution to amend the law, so that more than a majority of judges
should be necessary to declare a State law void. 8 Benton's
Abridgment, 51.
1 3 T. B. Monroe, 58. ^ 6 Peters, 457.
" Butler, 279. * 4 Wheaton, 518.
6 1 Webster's Correspondence, 283. ° 1 Wheaton, 304.
' 9 Wheaton, 1.

GROWTH OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 169
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 fed
eral Supreme Court jurisdiction to test whether
that defence be good. In the case of the " Mar-
mlon " (1823), the Attorney-General of the United
States (Wirt) had rendered an opinion ^ (1824)
that a law of South Carolina (1822), according to
which any free negro sailors who should come into
that State on board a ship should be imprisoned
until the ship sailed again, was Incompatible with
the Constitution and with the International obliga
tions of the United States. The District Court of
the United States had decided (1823) to the same
effect.* From our present standpoint of established doc
trine on the points of constitutional law above
enumerated, it Is difficult to understand the shocks
which many or all of these decisions gave to the
Jeffersonian school of politicians. The assertion
that the reserved rights of the States had been in
vaded * Is to be referred to these judicial decisions,
not to executive acts. The strict construction. State
rights school felt every one of these decisions as a
blow from an adversary against whom there was no
1 6 Wheaton, 264.
* 1 Opinions of the Attorneys-General, 659.
8 25 NUes, 12. i See page 139.

170 ANDREW JACKSON
striking back, and the fact undoubtedly is that the
Supreme Court, under the lead of MarshaU and
Story, was consolidating the federal system, and
securing it against fanciful dogmas and exagger
ated theories which 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 mUd 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 remem
bered that the system of the Constitution, even
after the second war, was yet, to a great degree, un-
established and unformed. Actual experience of
any legislative act or constitutional provision is
needed to find out how it will work, and what Inter
pretation Its terms wIU take on from the growth of
institutions and from their Inter-action. It is im
possible, upon reading a constitutional provision,
to figure to one's self, save In the vaguest way,
what wIU be the character and working of the In
stitution which it creates. It was one of the most
fortunate circumstances in the history of the United
States that the judicial Interpretation and admin
istration of the Constitution was, during Its for
mative period, for a long time in the hands of
men who shaped the Constitution in fidelity to its
^ See Garland's Bandolph, especiaUy II. 211, on Gibbons vs.
Ogden,

DESHA'S MESSAGE OF 1825 171
original meaning and spirit, to secure at once
dignity and strength to the federal system, and
constitutional liberty to the nation. It is fortu
nate that they were men of profound legal attain
ments and historic sense, and neither abstractionists
of the French school, nor dialecticians under the
State rights and strict-construction dogmas. The
history of the country has proved the soundness
and wisdom of the constitutional principles 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
system and contested land titles) had been decided
adversely to the Interests of the classes which had
least education and property, and most votes.
The message of Governor Desha of Kentucky,
November 7, 1825,! deserves attentive reading from
any one who seeks to trace the movement of de
cisive forces In American political history. The
Governor denounces aU banks, and especiaUy 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, so allied,
have overthrown the sovereignty of Kentucky. He
complains of the State Court of Appeals, which had
declared the law taxing the Bank of the United
States to be constitutional, for not maintaining its
1 29 NUes, 219.

172 ANDREW JACKSON
ground, but receding, and deferring to the con
trary decision of the Supreme 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 de
clares that the emigration from the State is due to
the decision 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 with them an Independent code of
procedure. He defends the relief system, and
although 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 creditors have to submit to under
the laws of their country. This was the invasion
of the "sovereignty" of Kentucky which was re
sented most.
In the same message, Desha suggested that the
Legislature should abolish both the Courts of Ap
peals, and he promised that, if this should be done,
and a new court should be established, he would
select the judges for It equaUy from the two ex
isting ones. In 1826 the State election was again
a contest between old court and new court. The
old court carried both Houses.! The replevin laws
1 Collins, 93.

DESHA'S MESSAGE OF 1825 173
were repealed. The acts of the new court were
treated as nuU. The new court seized the records,
and held them by mUitary force. Civil war was
avoided only by the moderation of the old court
party. The Legislature repealed the law consti
tuting the new court, 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 1828-29.
In 1827 the currency of the States in the Mis
sissippi VaUey was fairly good. There remained
only $800,000 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 swindle which the relief system per
petrated 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 capital
even spent upon it. Its total issue of bits of paper
was printed with the denomination dollars up to
three mUlions. By this Issue it had won $600,000
worth of real property, or twenty per cent in five
years. Who got this gain ? It seems that there
1 31 NUes, 310. » 32 NUes, 37.

174 ANDREW JACKSON
must have been private and personal Interests at
stake to account for the rage which was excited by
the decisions which touched this bank, and by the
intensity of friendship for It which was manifested
by a leading political clique. Undoubtedly the
interest was that of the clique of politicians who
got lucrative offices, power, and Influence through
the bank. Wherever a Bank of the State was set
up, the development of such a clique, with aU the
attendant corruptions and abuses, took place.
In 1828 the parties were stiU relief and anti-
reUef, the former for Jackson, the latter for Ad
ams. The ideas, however, had changed somewhat.
A " relief " man, in 1828, meant a State rights
man and strict constructionist, who wanted to put
bounds to the supposed encroachments of the fede
ral power, especiaUy 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 can
didate, 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 Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
vs. Wister et al. (1829),^ It was held that the
1 CoUins, 93. ^ 2 Peters, 318.

OTHER DECISIONS 175
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 establishing 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 sovereign, then it was suable under
the decision in the case of the Planter's Bank of
Georgia. In Craig vs. Missouri (1830),! g^ i^lw of
Missouri (1821) establishing loan offices to loan
State currency issues on mortgages was declared
unconstitutional as to the notes issued, which were
blUs of credit. In this decision bUls of credit
were defined. 1 4 Peters, 410.

CHAPTER VII
ENTEBNAL HISTOEY OF JACKSON'S FIEST ADMIN-
ISTEATION
Jackson came to power as the standard-bearer
of a new upheaval of democracy, and under a pro
fession of new and fuUer reaUzation of the Jef-
ffersonian democratic-republican principles. The
causes of the new strength of democracy were
economic. It gained strength every year. Every-
' thing In the situation of the country favored It.
The cotton culture advanced with great rapidity,
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.
Railroads began to be buUt just after Jackson's
( election. The accumulation of capital in the coun-
i try was not yet great. It was inadequate 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.
Individuals, however, found the chances of very
free and independent activity, which easUy pro-

SOCIAL NOTIONS AND CHANGES 177
duced a simple abundance. The conditions were
such as to give to each a sense of room and power.
Individual energy and enterprise were greatly fa
vored. Of course, the effect on the character of
the people was certain. They became bold. Inde
pendent, energetic, and enterprising. They were
versatile, and adapted themselves easUy to circum
stances. They were not disturbed In an emer
gency; and they were shrewd in dealing with
difficulties of every kind. The State constitutions
became more and more purely democratic, under
the influence of this character of the people. So
cial usages threw off aU the forms which had been
inherited from colonial days. The tone of mind
was developed which now marks the true, unspoiled
American, as distinguished 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 no
tion 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 caUed "honorable."! He criticised diplo
matic usages. He devoted a paragraph to denun
ciation 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
1 37 NUes, 378.

178 ANDREW JACKSON
term " cabinet," ! and said, very truly, that there is
no cabinet In our system. He was displeased by
public honors to the President (Monroe). As to
republic, democracy, aristocracy, the " people," and
other political "symbols," as we caU them nowa
days, he held all the vague, half-educated notions
which were then in fashion, compounded of igno
rance, tradition, and prejudice, and held in place
by stereotyped phrases and dogmas with a cement
of social envy and poUtlcal suspicion.
The people of the period found themselves happy
and prosperous. Their lives were easy, and free
from gross cares and from great political anxieties.
They knew little and cared less about other coun
tries. They were generally satisfied with some
crude notions and easy prejudices about institutions
and social states of which they reaUy had no know
ledge. Niles knew no more of the English Consti
tution and English poUtics than a Cherokee Indian
knew of the politics of the United States. The
American people did not think of their economic
and social condition as peculiar or exceptional.
They supposed that any other nation could be just
like the United States If It chose. They thought
the political Institutions, or, more strictly, the po
litical " principles," of this country made all the
difference. They gave their confidence to the
great principles, accordingly, all the more because
those principles flatter human nature. One can
easUy discern In Jackson's popularity an element
1 40 NUes, 145.

JACKSON'S INAUGURATION 179
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 him which had
the greatest currency were those which showed him
trampling on some conventionality of polite society,
or shocking 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, but his adherents had a most enjoyable
sense of their own power in supporting him In defi
ance of sober, cultivated people, who disliked him
for his violence, ignorance, and lack of cultivation.
The Jackson party flocked to Washington to
attend the inauguration. " They really seem,"
said Webster,! a ^g think that the country has
been rescued from some great danger." There
was evidently a personal and class feeling Involved
In their triumph. At the inauguration baU a great
crowd of people assembled who had not been ac
customed to such festivities. Jackson refused to
caU on Adams, partly because, as he said, Adams
got his office by a bargain, and partly because he
thought that Adams could have stopped the cam
paign 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
1 1 Curtis's Webster, 340. On the crowd, see 1 Webster's Cor
respondence, 470, 473.

180 ANDREW JACKSON
memory.! Adams was hurt at the slight put upon
him, and thought that he had deserved other treat
ment from Jackson.2 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
Importance. There was a disposition to give Jack
son 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 federal
ists. They claimed to belong to the true republi
can party, but to hold national theories instead
of State rights theories. The Jackson party was
heterogeneous. In opposition it had been held
together 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 Improve
ments. His Coleman letter, it is true, left him
safely vague on tariff, but he coidd only lose, he
could not possibly gain, by making a record on
anything. His advantage over the " statesmen "
was that every one of them was on record a dozen
times on every public question.
^ The New York American f oUowed her even beyond the grave
with a scurrilous epitaph.
2 8 Adams, 128. 8 g Adams, 484. ¦> 5 Ann. Beg. 1.

JACKSON'S CABINET 181
Calhoun had been reelected Vice-President. He
now understood that Jackson would take only one
term, and that he (Calhoun) would have aU Jack
son's support in 1832. Van Buren, however, who
had come into Jackson's political 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 Secre
taries 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 caUmg 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 reUed. They did not hold important
public positions. They came to be caUed the
" kitchen cabinet." The men were William B.
Lewis, Amos KendaU, Duff Green, and Isaac HiU.
If the Secretaries had been the " constitutional
advisers" of the President, their first right and
duty would have been to break off his intimacy
with these irresponsible persons, and to prevent
their influence. Jackson's second Innovation was
that he did not hold cabinet councils. Hence his

182 ANDREW JACKSON
administration lacked unity and discipline. It did
not have the strength of hearty and conscious
cooperation. Each Secretary went his way, and
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. Ingham 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 an In
timate friend of Jackson. He was brother-in-law
of Lewis. He finished, in 1817, a life of Jackson,
which had been begun by Major John Reid. He
had been in the Senate since 1818. John Branch,
of North Carolina, 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. WiUiam
T. Barry, of Kentucky, who had been chief jus
tice of the new Supreme Court of that State, was
Postmaster-General, with a seat in the cabinet, a
prIvUege to which that officer 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.^ Ing-
1 See page 122 and note 2. " g Adams, 112.

JACKSON'S CABINET 183
ham, Branch, and Berrien were understood to be
the Calhoun men In the cabinet.
The men who controUed the administration were
the members of the kitchen cabinet. Lewis does
not appear to have had any personal ambition.
He wanted to return to Tennessee, but Jackson
remonstrated that Lewis must not abandon him In
the position to which he had been elevated.! Lewis
was made Second Auditor of the Treasury. He
only asked for an office with little work to be
done.^ His character and antecedents have already
been noticed. It wiU appear below that he was
far more unwiUing to relinquish office than he had
been to take it.
Amos KendaU was born in Massachusetts in
1789. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College.
In 1814 he went to Washington. In 1815 he
was a tutor in Henry Clay's family. He edited
a newspaper, the Frankfort "Argus of Western
America," and practised law, and was postmaster
at Georgetown, Kentucky. He became a leading
" relief " man, director In the Bank of the Common
wealth, and as such an enemy of the Bank of the
United States. Many of Clay's old supporters,
who became relief men, were carried over to Jack
son between 1824 and 1828. KendaU 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
1 3 Parton, 180. ^ KendaU's Autobiography, 308.
8 Telegraph Extra, 305.

184 ANDREW JACKSON
creditors. His war with Clay won him Jackson's
favor. KendaU was an enigmatical combination
of good and bad, great and smaU traits. His abil
ity to handle important State questions, and his
skill as a politician, are both beyond question. He
prostituted his talents to partisan purposes, and
was responsible as much as any other one man
for the bad measures adopted by Jackson. 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 poli
ticians. 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 administration.
Harriet Martineau wrote of him. In 1836, as fol
lows : " I was fortunate enough once to catch a
glimpse of the invisible Amos KendaU, one of the
most remarkable men in Ajnerica. He is supposed
to be the moving spring of the whole administra
tion, the thinker, planner, and doer; but It is aU
in the dark. Documents are issued of an exceUence
which prevents their being attributed to persons
who take the responsibility of them ; a correspond
ence Is kept up aU over the country for which no
one seems to be answerable ; work Is done, of gobUn
extent and with goblin speed, which makes men
look about them with a superstitious wonder ; and
the invisible Amos KendaU has the credit of it
aU. . . . He is undoubtedly a great genius. He
unites with his ' great talent for sUence ' a splendid

THE KITCHEN CABINET 185
audacity." ! She goes on to say that he rarely
appeared In public, and seemed to keep up the
mystery. She attributes some of Lewis's work to
KendaU, but the passage Is a very fair representa
tion of the opinions of Washington society about
Kendall. He had very great executive and Uterary
ability. Claiborne said of him. In 1856 : " When I
first saw him, he had a whooping voice, an asth
matic cough, with a stooping frame and a phthisicky
physiognomy. . . . Yet this Uttle whiffet of a man,
whom the hooslers woiUd not call even an individ
ual, . . . was the Atlas that bore on his shoulders
the weight of Jackson's administration. He ori
ginated, or was consulted In advance, upon every
great measure, and what the prompt decision and
indomitable wiU of the Illustrious chief resolved
upon, the subtle and discriminating inteUect of
KendaU elaborated and upheld." ^
Duff Green was a fighting partisan editor. He
had the virtue of his trade. He was loyal to the
standard to which 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 ad
vance the cause of the administration.
^ 1 Martineau's Western Travel, 155. Cf. also 1 Society in
America, 45.
* Quoted in Hudson's Journalism, 243. Cf. also p. 248, where
Rives's assertion is quoted, in contradiction, that Jackson was
the Atlas of his own administration.

186 ANDREW JACKSON
Isaac HiU was born In Massachusetts in 1788.
His education was picked up in a printing-office.
In 1810 he bought and began to edit the " Pa
triot,"! published at Concord, New Hampshire.
He edited his paper with skiU and ability, propar
gating " true republicanism " in partibus infide-
lium, for the people about him were almost aU
federalists. His main " principle " was that things
were In the hands of an " aristocracy," and that he
ought to organize the " honest yeomanry " in order
to oust that aristocracy from power.^ He gained
adherents. His paper became Influential, and he
built up a democratic party in New Hampshire.*
He had long favored strict party proscription. In
1818 he remonstrated with Governor Plumer for
appointing a federalist sheriff.* He had the ran
corous maUgnlty 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. HUl
1 Hudson's Journalism, 272, on the Patriot.
2 Bradley's Hill.
8 He had kept a boarding-house, at which members of the
Legislature, etc., boarded. In 1823 he is referred to as a power.
1 Webster's Correspondence, 324. During the New Hampshire
election of 1830, forged documents were sent on from Washington
to prove Upham, the anti-Jackson candidate for Governor, guUty
of smuggling under the embargo. 39 NUes, 156. Mason charged
HiU with having sent the papers. 1 Webster's Correspondence,
495. * Plumer's Plumer, 471.

THE VICTORS AND THE SPOILS 187
was Immediately taken into the Innermost circle at
Washington. The election of Jackson meant that an unedu
cated Indian fighter had been charged with the
power of the presidency, and that these four men
wielded it through and for him. Van Buren fol
lowed. 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 cab
inet. No other member of the cabinet had any
influence. Barry, another relief man, but person-
aUy quite insignificant, was at the disposal of the
kitchen cabinet. Henry Lee had made himself
" Impossible " by an infamous domestic crime. He
was offended at the poor share in 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 administra
tion, during the first two years, is discernible. The
same may be said of Benton.
Some vague expressions in the Inaugural about
" reform " and the civil service frightened the
office-holders, who had already been alarmed by ru
mors of coming proscription. There was an army
of office-seekers and editors in Washington, who
had a very clear and positive theory that the vic
tory which they had won, under Jackson's name,
meant the acquisition and distribution amongst
them of all the honors and emoluments of the fed
eral government. They descended on the federal
administration as If upon a conquered domain.

188 ANDREW JACKSON
The office-holders of that day had generaUy staked
their existence on the mode of getting a living
which the civil service offered. It did not pay
well, but it was supposed to be easy, tranquU, and
secure. AU these persons who were over forty
years of age saw ruin staring them In the face.
It was too late for them to change their habits or
acquire new trades.! ^^1 the stories by eye-wit
nesses testify to the distress and terror of the "ins,"
and the rapacity of the " outs," at that time. It
Is certain that the public service lost greatly by the
changes. Sometimes they were made on account
of trivial disrespect to Jackson.^ It is not clear
who was the author or instigator of the policy.
Lewis Is said to have opposed it. KendaU does
not appear to have started with the Intention of
proscription. March 24, 1829, he wrote to the
editor of the Baltimore " Patriot : " * " The Inter
ests of the country demand that the [Fourth Au
ditor's] office shall be filled with men of business,
and not with babbling politicians. Partisan feel
ings shall not enter here. If I can keep them out.
To others belongs the whole business of electioneer
ing." Probably Jackson believed that the depart
ments were full of corrupt persons, and that Adams
and Clay had demoralized the whole civil service,
I Washington removed nine persons, one a defaulter ; Adams,
ten, one a defaulter ; Jefferson, thirty-nine ; Madison, five, three
defaulters ; Monroe, nine ; Adams, two, both for cause. 5 Ann.
Beg. 19.
s 1 Curtis's Webster, 348.
8 49 NUes, 43. Cf. KendaU's Autobiography, 292.

ORIGIN OF THE SPOILS SYSTEM 189
so that a complete change was necessary. It would
be quite In character for Jackson to take aU the
campaign declamation llteraUy. 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 reaUy
enforced by the logic of the methods and teachings
of the party while in opposition. The leaders had
been taken literaUy by the party behind them, and
by the workers, writers, and speakers who had en
listed 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 have
thrown their party into confusion, and would have
destroyed their power. It has been shown above
how the spoils system had been developed, since
the beginning 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 cor
rupt use of the spoUs of the public service, as a
^ Adams caUs this " the bitterest drop in the cup of my afflic
tions." 8 Adams, 144. Again he says, " The wrong done to me
and my administration by the misconduct of Watkins deserves a
severer animadversion from me than from Jackson." 8 Adams,
290. He there depicts Jackson's rancor against Watkins. Cf.
p. 453. NUes describes the virulent political animus of the prose
cution. 36 NUes, 421. After Watkins's term of imprisonment
was over, he was detained on account of an unpaid fine. By
Jackson's personal order a label, " Criminal's Apaiiment," was
put over the door of the room in which he was kept.
2 Page 131.

190 ANDREW JACKSON
cement for party organization, under democratic-
republican self-government, having been perfected
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 civU service must
go back to study the play of human nature under
the political dogmas and Institutions of the States
named. He cannot rest satisfied with the explan
ation that " Andrew Jackson did It." In a con
versation between two senators, about the reasons
for Jackson's popularity, which Is reported by a
German visitor. It is said that he acted on two
maxims : " Give up no friend to win an enemy,"
and " Be strong with your friends and then you
can defy your enemies." ! These are grand max
ims of wise warfare, but they sound like KendaU,
not like Jackson. The latter certainly never for
mulated any philosophical maxims, but he acted
on these two.
Thirty-eight of Adams's nominations had been
postponed by the Senate, so as to give that patron
age to Jackson. Between March 4, 1829, and
March 22, 1830, 491 postmasters and 239 other
officers were removed, and as the new appointees
changed aU their clerks, deputies, etc., it was esti
mated that 2,000 changes In the civil service took
place.^ Jackson, as we have seen, had made a
strong point against the appointment of members
^ 2 Aristokratie in America, 177.
2 Holmes's speech in the Senate, AprU 28, 1830.

ORIGIN OF THE SPOILS SYSTEM 191
of Congress to offices in the gift of the President.
In one year he appointed more members of Con
gress to office than any one of his predecessors in
his whole term.! iji^g Senate, although democratic,
refused to confirm many of the nominations made.
Henry Lee, appointed consul to Algiers, and James
B. Gardner, register of the land office, were unani
mously rejected. Others were rejected by large
votes.^ Isaac HUl was one of* these. Adams was
told that HiU's rejection was caused. In part, by
the publication by him of a pamphlet, containing
" a false and infamous Imputation " on Mrs. Ad
ams ; so that Adams also had a grievance Uke
Jackson's.* Webster said that, but for the fear of
Jackson's popularity out-of-doors, the Senate would
have rejected haK his appointments.* The Senate
objected to the obvious 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 proposition to reward him with pubUc
printing,* if he would turn to Jackson. The re
jection of the editors was construed by the Jackson
men as a proscription of " printers " by the " aris
tocratic " Senate.'^ KendaU was confirmed by the
casting vote of Calhoun, for fear that he would, if
not confirmed, set up a newspaper in competition
1 5 Ann. Beg., 20. ^ 5 ^„„. jj^^.^ 2I.
8 8 Adams, 217. * 1 Webster's Correspondence, 501.
8 1 Webster's Correspondence, 488. ° Binns, 253.
' KendaU's Autobiography, 370. New York Courier and En
quirer, in Bradley's Hill, 105.

192 ANDREW JACKSON
with Green's " Telegraph " for the position of ad
ministration organ.! ipjig yig^ of the matter which
was promulgated, and which met with general ac
ceptance, was : " The printer and editor HiU, and
the schoolmaster and editor KendaU, both enter
prising sons of dear Yankee-land, were especiaUy
eyesores In the sight of this exclusive aristocracy." ^
On subsequent votes some of the appointments
were confirmed, for it was found that Jackson was
thrown Into a great rage against the Senate which
dared reject his appointments. He was deUghted
when HiU, in 1831, was elected by the Legislature
of New Hampshire a member of the Senate, which
had refused to confirm him as Second Comptroller
of the Treasury. Jackson threw all the adminis
tration Infiuence in favor of HiU's election. Here
we have an Illustration of a method of his of which
we shaU have many illustrations hereafter. When
he was crossed by any one in a course In which he
was engaged, he drew back to gather force with
which to carry his point In some mode so much
more distasteful to his opponents than his first
enterprise that it would be a kind of punishment
to them and a redress to himself. HiU was elected
senator from a motive of this kind. The " Courier
and Enquirer " drew a picture of him entering the
Senate and saying to the men who violated their
oaths by attempting to disfranchise citizens : " Give
me room — stand back — do you know me ? I am
' KendaU's Autobiography, 371.
2 Bradley's HUl, 83.

THE EATON AFFAIR 193
that Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, who, in this
very spot you slandered, vilified, and stript of his
rights — the people, your masters, have sent me
here to take my seat in this very chamber as your
equal and your peer." ! HiU resigned in 1836.
Van Buren and Calhoun at once began to
struggle for the control of the patronage which
was made disposable by the system of proscrip
tion. Their contest for the succession rent the
administration ; and this ending came about in a
very odd way. It was a very noteworthy fact that
this administration, which represented a certain
contempt for social forms and etiquette, should Im
mediately 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. The strange story
is as foUows : In January, 1829, John H. Eaton
married Mrs. Timberlake, widow of a purser in
the navy, who had, a short time before, committed
suicide, while on service in the Mediterranean,
because he could not conquer habits of excessive
drinking. Mrs. Timberlake was the daughter of a
Washington tavern keeper. As Peggy O'Neil she
had been weU known about Washington. Eaton
had paid her such attention, before her husband's
death, as to provoke gossip. He consulted Jackson
before the marriage. Jackson, having in mind the
case of his own wife, was chivalrously ready to
take sides with any woman whose reputation was
assailed. He made no objection to the marriage.
1 Bradley's Hill, 105, 107.

194 ANDREW JACKSON
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 repUed with spirit 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 ap
pointment his wife was Introduced to the first circle
In Washington. The wives of the other Secretaries
and the wife of the Vice-President did not recog
nize her. She tried to force her way, and General
Jackson tried to help her. He made a political
question of it. R. M. Johnson was the agent for
conferring with the Secretaries to prevaU on them
to persuade their wives to recognize Mrs. Eaton.
The gentlemen were approached indlvIduaUy.
Each said that he left such matters to his wife,
and could not undertake to overrule her judgment.
This answer had no effect on Jackson. Mrs. Donel
son, wife of Jackson's nephew and private secre
tary, and presiding lady at the White 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 baU. Jackson threatened to send her
husband home. September 8, Lewis, pursuing his
favorite method, wrote to inquire of Jackson in re
gard to a story which he remembered to have heard
from Jackson, but which he now wanted to get into
writing. Jackson replied on the 10th, giving de-
taUs of an incident, in 1824, when Mrs. Timber-

d

^7'?01-iiJyl^,

•/^/ ///J^

THE EATON AFFAIR 195
lake asked his protection against General Call ;
she, CaU, Jackson, and Eaton being at the time aU
Inmates of her father's house. CaU's plea in justi
fication may be omitted. " I," writes Jackson,
"gave him a severe lecture for taking up such
Ideas of female virtue, unless on some positive evi
dence of his own, of which he acknowledged he had
none, only Information — and I enforced my ad
monition by refering him to the rebuff he had met
with, which I trusted for the future would guard
him from the like Improper conduct. ... I then
told you & have ever since repeated, that I had
never seen or heard aught against the chastity of
M"- Timberlake that was calculated to raise even
suspicion of her virtue in the mind of any one
who was not under the influence of deep preju
dices, or prone to jealousy — that I believed her a
virtuous & much Injured female." !
The purpose of this letter seems to have been to
get Jackson's personal testimony In favor of Mrs.
Eaton. It certainly revealed the ground of his
own conviction. On the same day on which it was
written Jackson held a meeting of his cabinet,
before which Ely and Campbell, two clergymen
who were held by Jackson partly responsible for
the stories about Mrs. Eaton, were caUed to appear.
Jackson 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
1 Ford MSS.

196 ANDREW JACKSON
taken. Of course this foolish and unbecoming
proceeding had no result.
Van Buren, being a widower, was In a certain
position of advantage, which he used by showing
Mrs. Eaton public and private courtesies. In this
way he won Jackson'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 disapproval of Mrs. Eaton.
Jackson had been growing cold towards Calhoun
for some time. He doubted if Calhoun was thor
oughly loyal to him In 1825,^ or in 1828. He
thought that Calhoun, In 1825, would have 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 feel
ing. Jackson was led to believe, and he often
affirmed, that the attack on Mrs. Eaton was a plot
to drive Eaton out of the cabinet. When forced
to justify his own interference, he put It on this
ground. He said that Clay was at the bottom of
the attack on Mrs. Eaton. All this trouble In
^ Wise (p. 82) says that Jackson was very angry with Calhoun
after the election in 1825.
2 Cobb, 219.

THE EATON AFFAIR 197
the cabinet remained for the time unknown to the
public. Lewis's statement, given by Parton,! covers the
history of aU 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.
Lewis wrote to the "Aurora," suggesting that
opinion, but Jackson wrote to him from Wash
ington to dismiss any suspicion as to Calhoun's
unfriendliness 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 Calhoun ? Was he not on
the watch for any evidence to confirm it? He
speaks as if he had rested content with Jackson's
assurance, and had been corrected later by accident
or entirely on the initiative of others. He does
not mention the first attempt made by the old
Crawford men to get over into the Jackson camp.
It was not an easy march, for in 1824 the Craw
ford men, as the "regulars," hated intensely the
Jackson men, as upstarts and disorganizers. Craw
ford had carried into his retirement a venomous
and rancorous spirit, the chief object of which was
Calhoun. He could join any one to hurt Calhoun.
Lewis wrote to Hayward, March 28, 1827 : " In
justice to Mr. Calhoun, however, I must say that I
am inclined to think more favorably of him now
than formerly. This is a delicate subject and
1 3 Parton, 310.

198 ANDREW JACKSON
ought to be touched with great caution. It Is a
rock upon which we may spUt." ! In April, 1827,
Van Buren and Cambreleng visited Crawford, 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 "military chieftain;" also that Cal
houn favored Adams untU Clay came out for
Adams ; ^ and adding that it would do Jackson a
service to obtain assurances for Crawford that Jack
son's advancement would not benefit Calhoun.*
This letter was meant to separate Jackson and
Calhoim, and it may have had a general effect.
Specific consequences cannot be traced to it. In
1828 there was a project to run Crawford for Vice-
President with Adams.* Adams refused.^ Craw
ford 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.
According to Lewis's story, James A. Hamilton,
on a Jackson electioneering tour, went to see Craw
ford, In January, 1828, In order to reconcile him
with Jackson. Lewis instructed Hamilton what to
say to Crawford on Jackson's part. HamUton did
1 Ford MSS.
2 Cf. Lewis, in 3 Parton, 315, on the aUusion to Banquo's ghost
in Webster's reply to Hayne.
8 40 NUes, 12. * 33 NUes, 315.
6 7 Adams, Diary, 390. « Cobb, 240.

JACKSON'S RELATIONS WITH CALHOUN 199
not see Crawford. He left the business in the
hands of Forsyth. Forsyth soon wrote to Hamil
ton that Crawford affirmed that Jackson's enmity
against him was groundless, since It was not he,
but Calhoun, In Monroe's cabinet, who had tried
to have Jackson censured for his proceedings in
Florida In 1818. In April or May Lewis was in
New York. Hamilton showed him Forsyth's let
ter. For the time Lewis kept this information
quite to himself. He was too clever to spoil the
force of it by using it too soon, and he weU under
stood how, in the changes and chances of politics, a
conjuncture might arise In which such a fact would
gain tenfold force.
In April, 1828, Henry Lee tried to draw Cal
houn 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'NeU 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 aston
ishingly to Lewis's plans. After dinner Lewis and
Eaton kept up a conversation, within ear-shot of
Jackson, about what Ringold had said. Of course
Jackson's attention was soon arrested, and he be
gan to ask questions. Lewis then told him that he
had seen, eighteen months before, the above men-
1 40 NUes, 14.

200 ANDREW JACKSON
tioned letter of Forsyth to Hamilton. Jackson dis
patched Lewis to New York the next morning to
get that letter. In aU this story. It is plain how
adroitly these men managed the General, and how
skilful they were in producing "accidents." It is
evident that they did not think It was time yet to
bring about the explosion. Lewis came back from
New York without Forsyth's letter, and said that
It was thought best to get a letter directly from
Crawford, containing an expUcIt statement. In
this position the matter rested aU winter. It Is
perfectly clear that the Jackson managers lost faith
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 with him. Jack
son clung to his friendships and aUiances with a
certain tenacity. As Calhoun was drawn more and
more Into nuUIfication, the Jackson clique took a
more positive attitude In opposition to it.
In the autumn of 1829 the cUque around Jack
son 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 Lew
is's invaluable testimony as to this arrangement.^
Here, for once, a wire-puUer put on paper a clear
1 Parton says that Benton was booked for the period 1844-52.
3 Parton, 297.
2 3 Parton, 293, 297.

CRAWFORD'S REVELATION 201
description of his proceedings in a typical case.
There was fear in the Jackson camp. In 1829, on
account 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 Jackson, and they believed that, if
Jackson should die, a poUtical 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 was not 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 thing was to provide
for his reelection, in case he should live.
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
" Telegraph " was annoyed at this, caUed It " prema
ture," and likely to produce division.! These two
papers, representing the Van Buren and Calhoun
factions in the administration party, were engaged,
during the winter, in acrimonious strife.^ Niles no
doubt expressed the sentiment 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 un-
1 37 NUes, 300. « 3g j^jies, 169.

202 ANDREW JACKSON
derstood the processes by which the people mani
fest their power of self-government.
March 11, 1830, Lewis wrote to Colonel Stan-
baugh, of Pennsylvania, suggesting that the Penn
sylvania Legislature should address to Jackson an
appeal to stand for reelection. To the end that
they might send just the proper appeal, Lewis In
closed It to them, already prepared for their signa
tures. 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 move
ment for his reelection, and Pennsylvania, the
stronghold of his popularity, seemed to be the
most advantageous place from which the move
ment might [appear to] start. The address came
back duly signed with sixty-eight names. It was
published in the " Pennsylvania Reporter," and
copied all over the country as a spontaneous and
Irrepressible caU of the people to the " old hero "
not to desert his country. The enterprise did not
run off quite so smoothly as Lewis's narrative
would Imply. There was strong opposition by the
Calhoun faction in the Pennsylvania Legislature
to Jackson's renomlnatlon, and a distinct renoml-
nation could not be carried.! jn AprU a caucus
of the New York Legislature declared that it re
sponded " to the sentiment of the Legislature of
Pennsylvania." This caucus was prompted from
Washington, and was managed by the editor of
the " Courier." ^ So soon as the example was set,
1 38 NUes, 170. " Ibid.

CRAWFORD'S REVELATION 203
other Legislatures followed It. In January, 1831,
the " Globe " said that General Jackson might be
regarded as before the country for reelection.!
April 13, 1830 (Jefferson's birthday), while
stiU the letter from Crawford was not received,
but while Jackson's mind was fuU of suspicion
against Calhoun, a banquet was prepared at Wash
ington, which was intended to be a nuUIfication
demonstration.^ Jackson gave as a toast, "Our
federal Union : It must be preserved." This was
a bomb-shell to the nullifiers, and a declaration of
war against Calhoim, 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 sus
picion and Ul-wiU towards Calhoun had to do with
the attitude which Jackson took up towards nuUI
fication is a matter of conjecture and inference.
His opinions, however, deduced from hatred of the
Hartford convention, had always been strongly
favorable to the Union, and the men In the kitchen
cabinet, except Green, were strong unionists, al
though Jackson and they aU were likewise strong
State rights men. Ten years earlier Kendall had
maintained the major premise of nullification with
great zeal.*
At the same banquet Isaac HiU offered the
foUowing toast and " sentiment : " * " Democracy :
' Wherefore do I take my flesh In my teeth, and
1 39 NUes, 385. 2 1 Benton, 148.
8 Autobiography, 222. * 38 NUes, 153.

204 ANDREW JACKSON
put my life In mine hand ? Though he slay me,
yet wIU 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
expression, but It is best worth remembering as an
Ulustration of the slave-like spirit which Is bred by
adherence to absolutist doctrines, whether the abso
lute sovereign be an autocrat or a popular majority.
Altogether, the Jefferson's birthday banquet was
a memorable occasion.
A letter from Crawford's own hand, disclosing
the attitude of Calhoun in Monroe's cabinet to
wards Jackson 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 cabinet, and that it
brought him over to Jackson's side, but that Cal
houn persisted in hostility. Monroe and every
member of his cabinet, when appealed to, denied
that the Rhea letter was produced, or brought Into
consideration in 1818 at aU. Jackson Immediately,
May 13th, Inclosed a copy of Crawford's letter to
Calhoun, and demanded an explanation of Cal
houn's apparent perfidy, as he construed It. Jack
son's main point in this letter, which was evidently
" copied " for him, is that Calhoun weU knew, by
virtue of his position in the cabinet, and as he had

THE RHEA LETTER 205
shown by his orders,! that Jackson, in all that he
did, had the approval and connivance of the ad
ministration. This brought out aU the tangled
misunderstandings about Jackson's letter to Mon
roe and John Rhea's supposed reply. Calhoun
at once recognized his position. He could not
understand the aUusions to previous understandings
which had never existed, but it was plain that
Crawford had opened an Irreparable breach be
tween Jackson and him, and that aU the hopes
which 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
nothing wrong, and was guiltless of any injustice
or perfidy towards Jackson. The whole matter
was a cabinet secret. Crawford had violated con
fidence in making known the nature of the pre-
Uminary 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 pre
vious authorization which Jackson thought that he
had received. It seems that Calhoun 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 complete breach
between them on the ground of Calhoun's duplicity.
This letter was plainly prepared by the persons
1 See ante, page 70.

206 ANDREW JACKSON
who were working on Jackson's strong personal
feeling about his Florida campaign to bring him
to a breach with Calhoun, and to throw him Into a
close aUIance 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 about It, but that
Van Buren would not read it because he did not
want to be involved In the affair at aU. Lewis
further says that Van Buren had nothing to do
with getting up the quarrel. We may weU believe
aU this. Lewis was not such a bungUng 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." Jackson
wrote to Lewis from Wheeling : " Board Steam
Boat, June 26, 1830, The truth is, he [Duff Green]
has professed to me to be heart & soul, against
the Bank, but his idol controls him as much as
the showman does his pupplts, and we must get
another organ to announce the policy, & defend
the administration, — In his hands. It Is more in
jured than by all the opposition."! Amos Ken
daU sent for Francis P. Blair, an old Kentucky
friend and co-worker of his, and his successor as
editor of the " Argus." Blair was then thirty-nine
years old. He was another old Clay man, con-
^ Ford MSS. The mention of the " Bank " here is very note
worthy.

THE "GLOBE" FOUNDED 207
verted by Kentucky relief politics Into a Jackson
man. He was a fanatical opponent of the Bank
of the United States, and strongly opposed to nuUI
fication. Parton says that he was forty thousand
doUars 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 was Independent and able to go alone, but had
infinite tact, discretion, and shrewdness, so that he
was an easy man to work with. The organ, there
fore, worked perfectly. Every expression in it
came directly from the White House. If Blair
spoke without consulting Jackson, the harmony
and sympathy of their Ideas was such that Jack
son's mind was correctly interpreted. If Jackson
wanted anything to be said, Blair was in such ac
cord that it cost him nothing In the way of conces
sion to say it. He and KendaU went with Jackson
when 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
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 372.

208 ANDREW JACKSON
their subscriptions from the " Telegraph " to the
" Globe." ! Parton says that Jackson compeUed
the departments to give Blair their printing.
Mrs. Eaton accompanied the Jackson party to
Tennessee in the summer of 1830. Jackson wrote
to Lewis, July 28: "The ladies of the place
[Franklin] had received M". Eaton in the most
friendly manner, and has extended to her that
poUte attention due to her. This Is as it should
be, and is a severe comment on the combination at
NashviUe, & will lead to Its prostration — UntU
I got to Tyre Springs I had no conception of the
combination & conspiracy to injure & prostrate
Major Eaton — and injure me — I see the great
Magicians hand in all this — and what mortifies
me more is to find that this combination is holding
up & making my family the tools to injure me,
disturb my administration, & if possible to betray
my friend Major Eaton. This wiU recoU upon
their own heads — but such a combination I am
sure never was formed before, and that my Nephew
& Nec*should permit themselves to be held up as
the instruments, & tools, of such wickedness, is
truly mortifying to me — I was pleadsecTto see
the marked attention bestowed upon the Major &
his family on their journey hither and the secrete
plans engendered at the city & concluded here, &
practised upon by some of my connections have
been prostrated by the Independant, & virtuous
portion of this community — "^ Such was the
1 40 NUes, 318. ^ Ford MSS.

CUvi^t * wKat:. Sf«U<.AO V

DISRUPTION OF THE CABINET 209
persistence with which he pursued this matter, and
such the way in which he Intertwined It with the
interests and prerogatives of his high office. His
sycophants and flatterers practiced on his passion
ate zeal in It.
The quarrel between the President and the Vice-
President did not become known until the end of
the year 1830. Adams first refers to It in his
diary under date of December 22, 1830. Niles
mentions It as a rumor, January 29, 1831. In
February, 1831, Calhoun published a large pam
phlet about the whole matter.! ^he next thing
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 resigned first, April 7, 1831.
Van Buren resigned AprU 11, 1831, In a letter
which was so oracular that no one could understand
it.2 The main Ideas In his letter of resignation
and In Jackson's reply were : — (1) That Jackson
did not Intend to have any one In his cabinet who
was a candidate for the succession. This indicated
Van Buren as such a candidate. (2) That the
cabinet was orlglnaUy a " unit," and that Jackson
wanted to keep his cabinet a unit. This hint had
no effect on the other secretaries. "I found In
my first cabinet," wrote Jackson, In 1841, "des-
semblers, & hypocrites." He suggests that Ber-
1 40 NUes, 11. 2 40 NUes, 145.

210 ANDREW JACKSON
rlen was the worst.! The ministers wanted to be
dismissed, and a separate quarrel was necessary In
the case of each. It was in this connection that
;the Peggy O'Neil affair ^ and aU the old misunder-
¦ standing about the Seminole war came to a public
discussion. Van Buren was appointed minister to
England, and he went out. At the next session
of Congress a great poUtlcal conflict arose over his
confirmation. When McLane was sent out to
England, 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 position
in which it then stood had been condemned by the
people at the election. This introduced the inter
nal party contests of the country into diplomacy,
and instead of representing this nation to foreign
nations as a unit, having, for aU 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 aUeged as a reason for not confirming his ap
pointment, 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
'• Ford MSS.
^ Webster knew of that affair and its poUtical bearings in
January, 1830. 1 Correspondence, 483.

DISRUPTION OF THE CABINET 211
the requisite spur of personal pique to his desire
to make Van Buren President, and he pursued
that purpose from this time on with aU his powers.
He was enraged at the Senate. The "Globe"
proposed to reduce the term of senators to two
years, and to take from the Senate the power to
confirm appointments.! It was in the debate on
Van Buren's confirmation that WiUiam L. Marcy
cynicaUy avowed the doctrine: "To the victors
belong the spoUs."
Jackson found that women are the arbiters In
certain social matters, . and that men, no matter
how great or domineering they may be, have no
resources by which to overrule their prerogative.
He was defeated. His Interference had done only
far greater harm to the person he had tried to be
friend. He gave her an unenviable, unavoidable,
yet probably undeserved place In history. Eaton
was in a state of ungovernable rage at the discussion
of his wife's reputation by the newspapers from one
end of the country to the other. He challenged
CampbeU, one of the clergymen mentioned above
as prominent In connection with the scandal. June
18, 1831, he chaUenged 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, Randolph, and others. They denied that
they had molested him, or had intended to do
1 41 NUes, 444 ; an editorial erposing the f oUy of the complaints
and anger.

212 ANDREW JACKSON
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
that he quarrelled with Jackson, and was a whig
in 1840.3 He died In 1856. Mrs. Eaton died
about 1878.
The new cabinet was : Edward Livingston, of
Louisiana, 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 HiU his
place in the Senate), Secretary of the Navy ; Roger
B. Taney, of Maryland, Attorney-General. Adams
mentions a story that the War Department was
offered to William Drayton, 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 per
sonal history of Jackson's first administration
down to the time when the campaign for his re
election opened. We have seen how Jackson con-
1 40 NUes, 302. ^ Hunt's Livingston, 358.
8 3 Parton, 368, 639. See also below, page 273.
* 9 Adams, 132.

THE NEW CABINET 213
strued the presidential office in its immediate bear
ings, and how he addressed himself to its Imme
diate and personal duties. We turn now to the
public questions and measures of his first admin
istration.

CHAPTER VIII
PUBLIC QUESTIONS OF JACKSON'S FIEST ADMINIS-
TEATION
' I. The trade between the United States and the
British West Indies had been a source of irri
tation and dissatisfaction ever since the United
States had been independent. After independence
the United States desired to obtain a commercial
treaty which would enable them to trade with the
British West Indies as they always had done.
This the English resented as an effort to retain
the benefits of being in the empire after leaving it.
The Americans therefore employed in that trade
the iUicit methods which they had developed Into a
high art in trade with the non-British West Indies
before the Revolution. After the second war the
question was reopened. The English had hardly
yet lost faith In the Navigation System, and the
Americans had adopted It as far as it would apply
to a State with no colonies beyond the sea. As the
diplomatic efforts for a treaty failed, resort was
had by the United States to retaliatory measures.
These had their Inevitable effect. The two coun
tries, respectively, advanced step by step into a
dead-lock, from which the only Issue was that

MoLANE'S MISSION 215
one side or the other must recede. This point was
reached in 1827. The opposition In the United
States made capital out of the entanglement. In
the mean time the IUicit trade went merrily on,
and the smuggler rectified. In his way, the foUy of
statesmen. Thus the matter stood when Jackson
was elected. Gallatin said that " if he had hinted
to the Canning ministry that their course concern
ing the colonial trade would promote the election
of Jackson, they would have given up the point." !
One of his first acts was to send McLane to
England to reopen negotiations. This he was to do
by pointing to the result of the election as a rebuke
to the former administration, which had brought
about the dead-lock. Pending the negotiations an
act of Congress was passed. May 29, 1830, autho
rizing the President to declare the retaliatory acts
of 1818, 1820, and 1823 repealed, whenever Ameri
can ships should be aUowed in the West Indies on
the same terms as British ships arriving there from
the United States, and when they should be aUowed
to carry goods from the colonies to any non-British
ports to which British ships might go. This act was
sent to England. Lord Aberdeen said that It was
all that England had ever demanded.^ The colonial
duties were increased, a differential duty in favor
of the North American colonies was laid, and the
trade was opened. The President issued his pro
clamation October 5, 1830. The administration
boasted of this diplomatic achievement. The truth
1 8 Adams, 326. 2 39'NUes, 390 et seq.

216 ANDREW JACKSON
was that the United States set out to force Eng
land to let American goods come Into the West
Indies on the same footing as British North Ameri
can goods. England was coerced by the acts of
1818 and 1820. Canning said. In 1826, that Eng
land had yielded to coercion, but that she escaped
from it as soon as she could. By way of escape she
opened her trade to aU the world. The counter-
vaiUng system of the United States, then, no longer
exercised any coercion, and the United States, to
get the trade reopened, abandoned the demands
with which it had started on the experiment of
countervailing. This last step was what the Jack
son administration had accomplished. Niles and
the other protectionists scoffed at the new arrange
ment. They said that the IUicit trade was better
than the new arrangement.! A proof that this
was true is found In the fact that the iUicit trade
went on. The laws forced products of the United
States to reach the Islands through Canada and
Nova Scotia, and this offered just so much pre
mium to IUicit trade.
II. The claims of the United States for spolia
tions against France and against aU those states
of Europe which had been drawn by Napoleon
into his continental system, had been a subjeot of
fruitless negotiation ever since 1815.^ Jackson
1 39 NUes, 298 ; 42 NUes, 148. N. Y. Advertiser in 2 Pol. Beg.
444. 2 For succinct statements of the origin and history of thes^
claims, see the report of a minority of the committee of the
House, 48 NUes, 6, and the article 47 NUes, 455.

TREATY OF PARIS 217
took up these claims with new energy and spirit.
He sent W. C. Rives to France In 1829, under
Instructions which covered the whole history of
the claims, to try to get a settlement. In his mes
sage of 1829, while these negotiations were pend
ing, Jackson referred to the claims as likely to
" furnish a subject of unpleasant discussion and
possible collision." This reference was not of a
kind to help the negotiations. In 1830 a revolu
tion put Louis Philippe on the throne under a
Constitution. New hopes of a settlement of the
claims were raised by this turn In affairs. A
treaty was finally signed at Paris, July 4, 1831,
by which France agreed to pay twenty-five miUIon
francs, and the United States agreed to pay one
and a haK miUion francs, in final settlement of aU
outstanding claims of citizens of one country against
the government of the other country. The treaty
was ratified February 2, 1832. The first instal
ment became due February 2, 1833. Claims
against the other states of the old continental
league of Napoleon's time were likewise liquidated,
and payment was secured during Jackson's ad
ministration. The administration derived great
credit from these settlements. There was a great
deal more In the matter than the money. Euro
pean nations, which had simUar claims against
France, had secured payment soon after the peace,
but the claims of the United States had been
neglected. Payment now meant a concession of
consideration and respect to the United States, and

218 ANDREW JACKSON
the people felt that Jackson had won this for the
nation. III. The Authority and Organization of the
Federal Judiciary. During Adams's adminis
tration the Kentucky men made several attempts
to lead the opposition party to measures favorable
to them in their conflicts with the federal judiciary,
arising from the " relief " acts. In the session of
1827-28 a biU was introduced to regulate the pro
cedure of the federal courts in the new States,
which had been admitted since the passage of
the laws of September 29, 1789, and May 8,
1792, which regulated the procedure of the federal
courts. To this bUl Rowan of Kentucky proposed
an amendment which would take away from the
federal courts the power to modify or change any
of the rules of procedure, or any of the forms of
writs of execution, which were to be those of the
State in which the court was sitting.! jf this
amendment had been passed, the federal courts
would not have been aUowed to change rules and
forms, but the State Legislatures would have had
power to do so, and the federal judiciary would
have been handed over to State control. This
amendment was adopted by the Senate. Webster,
who had been away, returned to find that the
whole federal judiciary system had been thrown
Into confusion 2 by this hasty proposition, which
had been made only with reference to some of the
whims of Kentucky reUef poUtics. He exposed
1 Cf. page 167. 2 7 Adams, 455.

THE JUDICIARY 219
the effects of the bill. It was recommitted and
recast, establishing for the new States the proce
dure then existing, with power in the courts to
modify, under the supervision of the Supreme
Court, and In this shape was passed.
In 1830 an attempt was made to repeal the
twenty-fifth section of the judiciary act, by which
the Supreme Court is empowered to pass upon the
constitutionality of State laws. The bUl was lost
in the House by the vote of 137 to 51, but the
minority consisted of some of the leading adminis
tration men. In 1831 the House refused, 115 to
61, to consider a resolution instructing the judiciary
committee to report a biU setting terms of years
for federal judges.! In 1830 Berrien, the Attorney-
General, gave an opinion on the South Carolina
Police Act,^ In which he overturned Wirt's opinion.
He held that that act was valid because it was an act
of internal police. In this opinion he laid down the
doctrine of the extreme Southern State rights men
about the limits of federal power. He held that
the federal authorities ought not, in exercising their
powers, to make laws or treaties to come Into col-
Uslon with anything which the States had done
under their reserved powers, unless it was neces
sary to do so. The admission of black men Into
the State was only convenient, not necessary ;
hence coUision on that point would be improper.*
The Jackson party and the Executive Depart-
1 39 NUes, 405. 2 gee page 169.
8 2 Opinions of the Attorneys-General, 433.

220 ANDREW JACKSON
ment were on terms of jealousy and distrust to
wards the judiciary for several years. Another
expression of these feelings was the impeachment
of Judge Peck, of Missouri. The democrats were
especially jealous of the prerogative powers of the
courts ; among the rest, of the power to imprison
for contempt. Peck wrote out and published in a
newspaper. In 1826, a decision which he had ren
dered. Lawless, counsel for the defeated party,
published a review of the opinion. Peck impris
oned him for twenty-four hours, and suspended
him from practice in the court for eighteen months,
for contempt. Lawless petitioned the federal House
of Representatives during three sessions for redress,
in vain. In 1829 the democratic House impeached
Peck. Buchanan was the leader.! "phe Impeach
ment was In the current of popular feeUng, and
there was capital to be made out of It. January
31, 1831, the vote was, 21 to convict, 22 to acquit.
Adams says that Jackson favored acquittal, lest
Buchanan should gain by a conviction, just as Jef
ferson, in Chase's case, favored acquittal, lest John
Randolph should gain power by a conviction.^ By
an act of March 2, 1831, the power of the courts
to punish at discretion for contempt was limited
to cases of misbehavior In court, or so near to the
court as to obstruct the administration of justice.
IV. The Indians. — Georgia continually pressed
the federal government to buy off the Indian title
1 Charges and specifications, 38 NUes, 245. Cf., also, 2 Ken
nedy's Wirt, 308. 2 8 Adams, 306.

TREATY OF INDIAN SPRING 221
to lands in that State, and it was done from time
to time for certain portions. The treaty of 1802
was supposed to cover Georgia's claims for the ex
penses of the Indian wars of 1793-94, but those
claims were urged untU 1827, when Congress voted
$129,375 to discharge them. At the urgent solici
tation of Georgia, Monroe appointed two commis
sioners to treat with the Creeks, of whose lands
nine and a half mUUon acres were stiU under the
Indian title. The lower Creeks were then on the
land west of the FUnt River, and north of 31° 30',
and the upper Creeks were almost entirely in Ala
bama, between the Coosa river and the Georgia
boundary, and north of an east and west line
through the Hickory Ground (Wetumpka). These
boundaries were set by Jackson's treaty with the
Creeks of 1814, and he guaranteed to them the
lands which were then left to them.! The Chero
kees were In the northwestern corner of Georgia,
the northeastern corner of Alabama, and the south
eastern corner of Tennessee, between the Chatta
hoochee, the Etowah, and the Hlwasee rivers.^ The
Creeks voted to put to death any one who should
vote to seU any more land, and refused to treat
with Monroe's commissioners. After the council
broke up, a few chiefs, headed by Mcintosh, made
the treaty of Indian Spring, February 12, 1825,
ceding aU their lands in Georgia and Alabama
1 FoUo State Papers, 1 Indian Affairs, 827.
2 An exceUent map of the Cherokee territory in 5 Bur. Ethno
logy.

222 ANDREW JACKSON
for $400,000. The Senate confirmed this treaty,
March 3, 1825. AprU 30th the Creeks set Mcin
tosh's house on fire, and shot him as he came out.
Governor Troup of Georgia claimed the lands
for Georgia at once, and began to survey them.
He also set up a lottery to dispose of them. Presi
dent Adams appointed an agent to investigate the
negotiation of the treaty. The agent reported that
forty-nine fiftieths of the Creeks repudiated the
treaty as a fraud on them. The President ordered
General Gaines to prevent any trespass on the lands
of the Indians, and pointed out to Governor Troup
the objections to his proceedings. Troup blustered,
and asked if the President would hold himself re
sponsible to the State of Georgia. The Georgia
Legislature did not sustain the Governor. The
treaty of Indian Spring was annuUed, and a new
one was made In January, 1826, by which a part of
the lands In Georgia were ceded. This treaty was
not confirmed, and another, ceding aU* the lands
in Georgia, was finaUy made, as Benton says, by
appealing to the cupidity of the chiefs. The Mcin
tosh party got an Indemnity, and a large sum was
given to the chiefs. Land was to be provided west
of the Mississippi for aU who would go there.
This treaty did not satisfy the Georgians. Never
theless, Inasmuch as by the last treaty aU the lands
in Georgia were ceded, and by the second treaty
only part of those lands were ceded, the Georgians
claimed a substantial victory,^ although not aU the
1 1 Benton, 59. 2 Hodgson, 141.

TREATY OF INDIAN SPRING 223
lands in Georgia and Alabama were ceded, as by
the treaty of Indian Spring. The Cherokees still
remained undisturbed. In January, 1828, the
Georgia Legislature passed a set of resolutions,
the truculency of which Is unparaUeled, demanding
that the United States should extinguish the title
of the Cherokees.!
The Cherokees were the most civilized of the
Gulf Indians, and perhaps they had reached a
higher pitch of civUization than any other Indians
have ever yet reached.^ They had horses and cat
tle, goats, sheep, and swine. They raised maize,
cotton, tobacco, wheat, oats, and potatoes, and
traded with their products to New Orleans. They
had gardens, and apple and peach orchards. They
had built roads, and they kept inns for traveUers.
They manufactured cotton and wool ; though prob
ably these were very poor In their way. Their num
bers were Increasing. In 1825 there were 13,563,
besides 220 resident whites and 1,277 slaves, in the
Cherokee country. One of their number had In
vented an alphabet for their language. They had
a civil government, imitated from that of the
United States. The Chlckasaws had ten mills and
fifty workshops. They lived In the northeast cor
ner of Mississippi. They numbered 4,000, and
were increasing. The Choctaws, In Central Mis
sissippi, numbered 21,000, and ranked next to the
Cherokees in civilization. The Creeks numbered
40,000, and were the lowest in civilization. The
1 3 Ann. Beg., Local History, 143. 2 3 ^„„_ jjg^. 77.

224 ANDREW JACKSON
money paid them for their lands had debauched
them. The facts were that the Indians had reached
a certain grade of civilization, that they were in
creasing in numbers, and that they were forming
civilized and Christian bodies; and It was these
very facts which made all the trouble, for they aU
led to the probability that the Indians would re
main a permanent part of the society, and would
occupy definite areas of land in the midst of the
States. It certainly was a home question, when, in
1829, Jackson asked whether Maine or New York
would tolerate an Indian state within her own civU
limits. Peter B. Porter, Secretary of War under
Adams, prepared a plan for an Indian territory
west of the Mississippi, and for colonizing the
Gulf Indians in it. The plan was referred to the
next administration. Adams made himself very
unpopvJar In the Southwest by his action to pro
tect the Indians. He did not get a vote in Georgia
In 1828. Jackson had abundantly shown ! that he
held the Southwestern white man's views of In
dians and Indian rights.
As soon as Jackson was elected, December 20,
1828, Georgia passed a law extending her jurisdic
tion over the Cherokee lands and dividing them
into counties, and enacted that no Indian should
testify against a white man. In 1829 she modified
this so that an Indian might testify against a white
man who lived in the Indian territory. In 1829
Alabama, and in 1830 Mississippi, passed similar
1 See page 29.

CIVILIZATION OF THE INDIANS 225
laws, but somewhat milder. The new administra
tion admitted the soundness of the theory of these
laws, which were plainly in contravention of the
treaties made with the Indians by the federal gov
ernment. In his message of 1829 Jackson said
that he had told the Indians that their pretensions
would not be supported. In the spring of 1830
Congress passed an act for encouraging and facili
tating the removal of the Gulf Indians to a terri
tory set apart for them west of the Mississippi.
The quarrel between Georgia and the Indians
had now narrowed down to a struggle with the
Cherokees, who were the most cIvUIzed, and who
had the strongest treaty guarantees from the fed
eral authority for their territory and their self-gov
ernment. It was proposed to test the proceedings of
Georgia before the Supreme Court of the United
States. In the summer of 1830, Judge Clayton,
a Georgia State judge, charged the grand jury
that he intended to allow no case to be withdrawn
from his jurisdiction by any foreign authority, but
that he should enforce the State laws about the
Indians, and he wanted to know whether he was to
be supported by the people.! The first test arose
on a murder case against George Tassel, a Chero
kee, for klUing another Cherokee. The Superior
Court of HaU County tried, convicted, and sen
tenced him. The Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States issued a citation to the
State of Georgia, December 12, 1830, to appear
1 39 NUes, 99.

226 ANDREW JACKSON
and show cause, in answer to a writ of error, why
the sentence against Tassel should not be corrected.!
Governor Gilmer laid this document before the
Legislature, which ordered him to disregard it, and
to resist by force any attempt to Interfere with the
criminal law of the State. On the 28th of Decem
ber Tassel was himg.
The Governor of Georgia caUed on the Presi
dent to withdraw the federal troops, and to leave
Georgia to deal with the Indians and gold-diggers.
The President complied. The Georgia militia
marched in, and complaints from the Indians at
once began to be heard. The President refused
to enforce the treaty rights of the Indians. The
Cherokees applied to the Supreme Court for an
injunction to prevent Georgia from interfering with
their treaty rights. In January, 1831, the court,
while in effect sustaining the claims and rights of
the Cherokees, declared that the remedy prayed
for could not be employed. What was needed
was not a judicial but a political remedy.^ The
political remedy belonged to the Executive and
the President had refused to use It.
Georgia ordered aU white residents of the Cher
okee country to obtain State Ucenses, and to take
an oath of aUeglance to the State. Two mission
aries, sent out by a Boston society, Worcester and
Butler, amongst others, did not comply with this
law. They were arrested, but were at first re
leased, under the belief that they were disbursing
1 39 NUes, 338. 2 5 peters, 1.

GEORGIA AND THE FEDERAL AUTHORITY 227
agents of the federal government. The author
ities at Washington denied that they were such.
Thereupon they were rearrested, tried, convicted,
and condemned to four years' hard labor in the
penitentiary. In sentencing them Judge Clay
ton made another stump speech.! On a writ of
error In 1832, the Supreme Court held that the
law under which these men were convicted was
unconstitutional, that the laws of Georgia about
the Cherokees contravened federal treaties and
were void, and ordered that the men be released.^
Georgia refused to obey. The Georgia doctrine
seemed to be that all three departments of the
federal government must concur in holding a
State law to be unconstitutional in order to set
It aside.* Jackson refused to take any executive
action to give force to the decision of the court.
The presidential election was at hand, and he said
that he would submit his conduct to the people,
who could at the election show whether they ap
proved or disapproved of his refusal to sustain the
decision.* No case could more distinctly show the
vice of the political philosophy which Jackson pro
fessed. Twelve persons In all were convicted. In
Georgia, of Ulegal residence in the Indian country.

1 41 NUes, 174. 2 g Peters, 515. 8 9 Adams, 548.
^ Greeley has a story that Jackson said, " John MarshaU has
made his decision. Now let him enforce it." 1 Greeley, 106.
Jackson disliked MarshaU, although he had no active enmity
against him. Scarcely two men could be found less likely to ap
preciate each other peraonaUy or politically.

228 ANDREW JACKSON
AU were pardoned.! The missionaries refused at
first to accept a pardon. In January, 1833, they
withdrew their suit in the Supreme Court, and
were released.^
In 1833 Alabama came into coUision with the
federal government on account of Indians. Fed
eral troops were employed to expel intruders from
the Indian territory. In executing this duty they
klUed one Owens. The State authorities attempted
to try for murder the soldiers through whose action
the^nan met his death. The military authorities
w/Juld not consent. The federal government, taught
by nuUificatlon, took a firmer position than In the
case of Georgia. By a compromise, the reservation
was made smaller, and the white intruders were
aUowed to buy titles from the Indians.*
In September, 1830, a treaty was negotiated at
Dancing Rabbit Creek with the Choctaws, over
whom Mississippi had extended her laws, by which
they ceded their lands and went west of the Mis
sissippi. 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 during twenty years for each one of
four chiefs, and $500 for another, as president,
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 Presi
dent of the United States has said that he cannot
I 7 Ann. Beg. 265. 2 43 ^aes, 419.
8 45 Niles, 155; Hodgson, 179.

REMOVAL OF THE GULF INDIANS 229
protect the Choctaw people from the operation of
these laws " of Mississippi.! During the next
eight years the tribes were aU half persuaded, half
forced, to go. The Indian Territory was roughly
defined by an act of June 30, 1834. Part of the
Cherokees had gone in 1818, because they wanted
to foUow their old mode of life. In 1836 all the
rights of the Cherokees east of the Mississippi were
bought for five mlUion doUars and the expenses of
removal.^ In the same year the Creeks broke into
hostilities, and were forced to migrate. The civil
ized Cherokees migrated in 1838.
V. Public Lands. Various plans for dealing
with the lands had been proposed previous to Jack
son's accession. One was that the States should
seize the lands by virtue of their "sovereignty."
This short and easy method recommended itself to
the politicians of the emphatic and metaphysical
school. It meant simply that the first settlers
should buy some land, organize a State, and get
" sovereignty," and then take possession of the rest
of the land within the civil jurisdiction. Another
plan was to seU to the States at a nominal price.
Another : to sell aU the land at graduated prices,
for what it would bring. Another : to give the land
to actual settlers (since realized In the homestead
1 40 NUes, 106.
2 50 NUes, 265. In 1886 there were 3,000 Indians (of whom
2,000 were f uU-blood Cherokees) on a reservation of 100,000 acres,
in their old home. (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians vs. U. S.
and Cherokee Nation in Sup. Ct. U. S. Ind. Comm. Rep. 1886,
208, 404.)

230 ANDREW JACKSON
law). Another: to use the lands as a fund for
internal Improvements and education (since re
alized in the railroad subsidies and agricultural
college land grants). It is plain that if the fed
eral government buys territory by treaties like those
of Louisiana and Florida, and surveys the lands,
and maintains civil Institutions over aU the terri
tory, and then gives the lands away, what it gives
Is the outlay necessary to bring the land to the
point where a cIvUIzed man can begin to use It.
Of course the new States wanted population, and
were eager that the federal government should en
courage immigration by making this outlay and
giving away the product of it. To September 30,
1832, the lands had cost $49,700,000,! and the
total revenue received from them had amounted to
$38,300,000. The notion that the Union possessed,
in its unoccupied lands, a great estate, or an asset
of great value, was a delusion. It was only a
form of the stUl wider social delusion that raw land
is a " boon of nature," with which the human race,
through its individual members. Is endowed.
The old States, especiaUy the tariff States, then
saw distinctly the relation of the lands to the tariff.
Everything which enhanced the attractiveness of
the land, and made It easier to get at it, was just
so much force drawing the man who had no land
and no capital away from the old States and out
of the wages class. Every improvement In trans
portation ; every abolition of taxes and restrictions
1 Round numbers ; the five right hand figures disregarded.

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LAND 231
like the corn laws, which kept American agricul
tural 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 capi
talist employer in the old States was forced to
offset this attractiveness of the land by raising
wages. This of course Is the reason why wages In
the United States are high, and why no wages class
has ever yet been distinctly differentiated here. It
might justly be argued that It was improper for the
federal government to raise funds by taxation on
the old States, and to expend them in buying, sur
veying, and policing wild land, and then to give
the land away to either " the poor " or the rich ;
but the protectionists distinctly faced the issue
which was raised for their pet dogma, and de
manded that the lands should not be surveyed 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 aU 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 legislation would there
fore be consistent and support each other; but they

232 ANDREW JACKSON
were sorely unjust to the man who had nothing
with which to fight the battle of life save his stout
hands and his good-will to work.
The free-trade States of the South and the
free-land States of the West, therefore, feU most
naturaUy Into the " coalition " which the tariff men
and national republicans denounced. The latter
said that the Southerners 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.! "pjjg sudden and unaccountable popularity
of Jackson in rural Pennsylvania threw that State,
in spite of the tariff interests of her capitalists,
into the combination to which Jackson belonged
sectlonaUy, and the ambitious politicians of New
York, seeing the need of joining Jackson, brought
as much as they could of that State to his support.
These combinations constituted the Jackson party.
In regard to the incoherency of whose elements
something has been said and more wiU appear.
Clay was operating his political career through
tariff and internal improvements, with the lands
as a fund for colonization, canals, roads, and educa
tion. This gave him no strength in the West, and
he could not break Jackson's phalanx in Penn
sylvania, where his own policy should have made
him strong. Hence he never could consolidate a
party. Benton antagonized Clay in the West by
taking up the policy of free lands.
In January and February, 1829, Illinois and
» 9 Adams, 235.

FOOT'S RESOLUTIONS 233
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 govern
ment. 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 the Senate a resolution that the Committee on
Public Lands should inquire Into the expediency
of restricting sales of land to what stUl remained
unsold at the minimum price, i. e., the areas which
up to that time had been put upon the market.
It was in the debate on this resolution that Webster
and Hayne became Involved In their famous argu
ment on the theory of the confederation. Benton
Introduced a biU for selUng 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 this 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,! ^^^
produced a long debate, in which aU the views of
the question were represented. In his annual re
port for 1831, McLane, Secretary of the Treasury,
1 6 Ann. Beg. 81.

234 ANDREW JACKSON
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 what
they were already entitled to, and dividing the
residue among all the States. Clay's report was
referred to the Committee on Public Lands, which
reported. May 18th, adversely to his propositions,
and recommended a minimum price of $1.00 ; lands
remaining 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 taken 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 presidential election of
1832. VI. Internal Improvements. Jackson, In his first
message, indicated hostiUty to the general poUcy
of internal Improvements, and favored distribu
tion. May 27, 1830, he vetoed a biU for sub
scription, by the United States, to the stock of the
1 7 Ann. Beg. 57.

VETO OF THE MAYSVILLE ROAD 235
Maysville and Lexington road.! In his veto mes
sage he placed himself on the constitutional doc
trine of Madison and Monroe. The local and po
litical interests which had become involved in the
system at this time were very numerous and very
strong. The evil of special legislation was grow
ing. Politicians and interested speculators com
bined to further each other's Interests at the
pubUc expense. Jackson affronted the whole in
terest ; one would say that he affronted it boldly.
If It were not that he acted with such spontaneous
wiU and disregard of consequences that there was
no conscious exercise of courage. He was not able
to put an end to the abuse, but he curtailed it.
He used the exceptional strength of his political
position to do what no one else would have dared to
do, in meeting a strong and growing cause of cor
ruption. He held a biU for the LouIsvIUe canal,
and another for light-houses, over the session, and
then returned them unsigned. At the session of
1830-31 a biU for improvements was passed by
such majorities that a veto was useless. In 1831-
32 Jackson signed one such biU and " pocketed "
another. In the session of 1832-33 an Internal
improvement biU was defeated by parliamentary
tactics. In the message of 1832 Jackson recom
mended the sale of all the stocks held by the
United States in canals, turnpikes, etc. He edu-
1 This road was to run through the strongest Jackson district
in Kentucky. (Clay to Webster. 1 Webster's Correspondence,
501.)

236 ANDREW JACKSON
cated his party, for that generation at least, up to
a position of party hostiUty to special legislation
of every kind.^E:^
VIL Tanff. In 1825 Husklsson brought for
ward the first reforms In the system of taxation in
England. His propositions, viewed from to-day's
stand-point, seem beggarly enough, but at that
time they seemed revolutionary. He reduced taxes
on raw materials, chemicals, dye-stuffs, and mate
rials of industry. Raw wool was reduced from
sixpence to a penny and a half penny per pound,
according to quality. After the tariff of 1824 was
passed by Congress, the English wooUen producers
exported some of their cloths to this country in
an unfinished state. In order to get them in below
the minimum (33|^ cents), and then had them fin
ished here. They also sent agents to this country,
to whom they invoiced their cloths below the open
market price.
Every one of the above statements, as wUl be
seen, introduces a fact which affected the relations
of the American wooUen industry. In Its competi
tion with the English wooUen Industry, in a way
to counteract any protection by the tariff. A
number of persons had begun the manufacture of
wooUens because the federal legislation encouraged
them so to do, not because they understood that
business, or had examined the industrial condi
tions of success in It. They were pleased to con
sider Huskisson's legislation as hostUe to the
United States, and they caUed for measures to

" COUNTERVAILING " 237
countervaU it. They also construed as fraud the
Importation of unfinished cloths, and the practice
of invoicing to agents at manufacturer's cost.
The "American system," therefore, which had
already changed Its meaning two or three times,
underwent another transformation. It now meant
to countervail and offset any foreign legislation,
even in the direction of freedom and reform, or
advance in civilization, if that legislation favored
the American consumer.
The first complaint came from the old free-trade
section. After 1824 the New England States,
which up to that time had been commercial States,
turned to manufactures. They had resisted aU
the earlier tariffs. They would have been obliged
to begin manufacturing, tariff or no tariff, on ac
count of the growing density of the population ;
but there was force In Webster's assertion, in re
ply to Hayne, that New England, after protesting
against the tariff as long as she could, had con
formed to a policy forced upon the country by
others, and had embarked her capital in manufac
turing.! October 23, 1826, the Boston wooUen
manufacturers petitioned Congress for more pro
tection.^ They said that they had been led, by the
profits of the English wooUen industry In 1824
and the tariff of 1824, to begin manufacturing
wooUens, confident that they should not yield to
fair competition, and that such competition would
be secured to them by law. They went on to
1 3 Webster's Works, 305. 2 31 ^aes, 145.

238 ANDREW JACKSON
say that the English wooUen manufacturers had
glutted the market In England, and produced dis
tress there, which had reacted on this country.
They said that they could not be reUeved " with
out the aid of their national government."
This appeal of the woollen manufacturers
brought out new demands from other quarters.
Especially the wool-growers came forward. They
had not gained anything by the tariff. A few
shrewd men, who took to breeding sheep and who
sold out their flocks to the farmers (who were
eager buyers, because they were sure, since they
had a protective tax in their favor, that they were
to make fortunes out of wool), won by the tariff.
No one else did. It Is stated that the wooUen
manufacturers did not dare to ask for higher duties
In 1824, because they feared that the wool-growers
would only demand so much more.! They thought
that their want of success was due to want of
experience and skill, and they looked to make im
provements. In fact, the tax on wool was raised,
in 1824, more than that on wooUens.
January 10, 1827, MaUary, of Vermont, intro
duced the "wooUens biU," for "adjusting" the
tariff on wool and wooUens.^ NUes had taken
up the high tariff doctrine ten years before, and
had preached It in his " Register " assiduously.
His economic notions were meagre and erroneous
throughout, and he had absolutely no training.
He had no doubt, however, that he was inculcating
1 2 Ann. Beg. 102. 2 31 j^jies, 319.

TARIFF ON COTTONS AND WOOLLENS 239
the rules of prosperity and wise government. He
unquestionably exerted a great influence; for he
never tired of his labored prescriptions for " giving
a circulation to money," and " encouraging indus
try." He took up the cause of the woollen men
with his whole heart. Of his sincerity and dis
interestedness there can be no question. To him
and the economists and statesmen of his school the
minimum seemed to be a marveUous Invention.
MaUary proposed to use It to the utmost. He
proposed to leave the rates of tax unchanged, but
to apply them on and between minima of 40 cents,
$2.50, and $4.00. Cloth, therefore, which cost 41
cents was to be held to have cost $2.50, and the
tax on it was to be 62J cents. Wool which cost
over 10 cents was to be held to have cost 40 cents.
The duty on it was to be 35 per cent for a year ;
then 40 per cent. The principle now proposed
was, therefore, that the duties should advance with
time. In the tariff of 1816, they had been made
to decline year by year. The wooUens bill passed
the House, 106 to 95. It was tabled in the Senate
by the casting vote of Calhoun. Calhoun was
forced into this vote by a manoeuvre of Van Buren,
who " dodged." Calhoun suffered, in consequence,
in Pennsylvania and New York. Politics ran very
high on this bill. In fact, they quite superseded
aU the economic interests.! The opposition were
afraid of offending either the Pennsylvania sup
porters of Jackson, or the southern supporters of
1 31 NUes, 321 ; 33 NUes, 385.

240 Al^DREW JACKSON
Jackson. Passion began now to enter Into tariff
discussion, not only on the part of the Southerners,
but also between the wool men and the wooUen
men, each of whom thought the other grasping,
and that each was to be defeated in their purpose
by the other. Niles said that it was more a wool
bill than a wooUens bill, and the woollen men were
much dissatisfied with it.
May 14, 1827, the Pennsylvania Society for the
Promotion of Manufactures and the Mechanic Arts
called a convention of wool growers and manu
facturers. The convention met at Harrisburg,
July 30, 1827. It was found necessary to enlarge
the scope of the convention. In order to make aUIes
of interests which would otherwise become hostile.
\ The convention adopted the plan of favoring pro
tection on everything which asked for it. The
result was that Iron, steel, glass, wool, wooUens,
hemp, and flax were recommended for protection.
Louisiana was not represented, and so sugar was
left out. It was voted to discourage the importa
tion of foreign spirits and the distillation of spirits
from foreign products, by way of protection to
western whiskey. The convention proposed, as its
Idea of a reasonable and proper tax on wool and
woollens, the foUowing;! On wool which cost 8
cents or less per pound, 20 cents per pound and an
advance of 2J cents per pound per annum until it
should be 50 cents ; on wooUens, four minima were
proposed, 50 cents, $2.50, $4.00, and $6.00, on
1 32 NUes, 388.

TARIFF CONVENTION 241
which the tax was to be 40 per cent for a year, 45
per cent the next year, and 50 per cent thereafter.
The minimum on cottons was to be raised to 40
cents. When the 20th Congress met, the tariff was the
absorbing question. Popular interest had become
engaged in It, and parties were to form on it, but
it perplexed the politicians greatly. Stevenson, of
Virginia, an anti-tariff man, was chosen Speaker.
Adams says that Stevenson won votes by promising
to make a committee favorable to the tariff.! gte.
venson put MaUary at the head of the committee,
but he put an anti-tariff majority behind him. The
"Annual Register "^ stated the foreign trade of
the country then as foUows : Twenty-four miUion
dollars' worth of cotton, rice, and tobacco were
exported to England annually. Four million dol
lars' worth more were exported to other countries.
The Imports from England were seven or eight
miUions' worth of wooUens, about the same value
of cottons, three or four miUions' worth of iron,
steel, and hardware, and mIsceUaneous articles,
bringing the total up to twenty-eight miUions.
From this it was plain that the producers of bread-
stuffs in the United States, who were kept out of
England by the corn laws, were forced to take
their products to the West Indies and South
America, and exchange them there for four mil
lions' worth of colonial produce, which England
would receive. In order to balance the account.
1 7 Adams, Diary, 369. 2 3 ^„„_ ^gg_ 37,

242 ANDREW JACKSON
The editor of the " Annual Register " built upon
this fact his argument for protection as a retalia
tion to break down the English corn laws. He
saw that the southern staple products must be the
fulcrum for the lever by which the EngUsh restric
tions were to be broken. He offered the South
erners a certain consolation in the hope that there
would be a larger consumption of their staples at
home, but really concluded that, as between In
terests, the grain Interest of the North and West
was worth more than the Interests of the South.
It is not strange if this mode of reasoning was not
relished in the South.!
MaUary stated in debate that the consumption
of wooUens in the United States was then seventy-
two miUion doUars per annum, of which ten mil
lions' worth were Imported, twenty-two miUions'
worth were manufactured In the United States, and
forty miUions' worth were produced by household
spinning and weaving (" domestic industry," as the
term was then used). If these statistics are worth
anything, the twelve miUions of population con
sumed, on an average, six dollars' worth of wooUens
per head per annum. What MaUary proposed to
do was to prevent the ten miUions' worth from
being Imported. To do this he would Increase the
cost of the part Imported and the part manufac
tured at home, the result of which would be that
stiU a larger part of the population would have to
be clothed in homespun. Thus his project might
1 See page 248.

FOREIGN TRADE BALANCE, 1828 243
easily defeat itself, so far as It aimed to benefit the
American manufacturer, and It woidd deprive the
American people of the rest, leisure, and greater
satisfaction, as weU as abundance, which new ma
chinery and the factory system were winning out
of the textile industries, as compared with the old
household spinning and weaving.
The Committee on Manufactures of the House
had been taking testimony on the tariff during the
recess. The southern free-traders had brought
this about against the opposition of the northern
protectionists. There were only twenty-eight wit
nesses examined, of whom nine were voluntary
and seven were members of Congress. The evi
dence amounted to nothing but complaints of hard
times and losses.^ The deduction that these facts
were due to a lack of sufficient tariff was taken
for granted.^
Silas Wright and other anti-tariff men on the
Committee on Manufactures would not let MaUary
report the propositions of the Harrisburg conven
tion on wool and wooUens.* MaUary tried to intro
duce those propositions as amendments on the floor
of the House. AU the Interests, Industrial and
1 34 NUes, 1.
2 As a specimen of the value of such complaints: In April,
1828, NUes said that there was duUness in trade and great distress
at Baltimore. 34 NUes, 139. In October he said that he had
not been through parts of the city for a long time, and that on a
recent walk he had been astonished at the signs of prosperity.
35 Niles, 81.
8 Hammond's Wright, 104.

244 ANDREW JACKSON
political, pounced upon the bill to try to amend it
to their notions. New England and the Adams
men wanted high duties on wooUens and cottons,-
and low duties on wool, iron, hemp, salt, and mo
lasses (the raw material of rum). Pennsylvania,
Ohio, and Kentucky wanted high taxes on iron,
wool, hemp, molasses (protection to whiskey), and
low taxes on woollens and cottons. The South
erners wanted low taxes on everything, but espe
cially on finished goods, and if there were to be
heavy taxes on these latter they did not care how
heavy the taxes on the raw materials were made.
This last point, and the unswerving loyalty of
rural Pennsylvania to Jackson, enabled the Jack
son party to hold together its discordant elements.
The political and economic aUiances of the South
were plainly inconsistent.*
The act, which resulted from the scramble of sel
fish special Interests, was an economic monstrosity.
The Industrial Interests of twelve miUions of people
had been thrown into an arena where there was
little knowledge of economic principles, and no
information about the industrial state of the coun
try, or about the special Industries. It being as
sumed that the Legislature could, would, and was
about to, confer favors and advantages, there was
a scramble to see who should get the most. At the
same time party ambitions and strifes seized upon
the Industrial Interests as capital for President-
making. May 19, 1828, the biU became a law.
1 See page 250.

TARIFF OF 1828 245
The duty on wool costing less than 10 cents per
pound was 15 per cent, on other wool 20 per cent
and 30 per cent. That on woollens was 40 per
cent for a year, then 45 per cent, there being four
minima, 50 cents, $1.00, $2.50, $4.00. AU which
cost over $4.00 were to be taxed 45 per cent for a
year, then 50 per cent. NUes and aU the wooUen
men were enraged at this arrangement. No South
Carolinian was more discontented than they. The
" dollar minimum " was the especial cause of their
rage. Cloth which cost 51 cents they wanted to
regard as costing $2.50, and to tax it 40 per cent
on that, i. e., $1.00. The dollar minimum let in
a large class of cloths which cost from $1.00 to
$1.25, and which could be run down to cost from
90 to 99 cents.
The process of roUing Iron had not yet been Intro
duced Into this country. It was argued that rolled
Iron was not as good as forged, and this was made
the ground for raising the tax on roUed iron from
$30.00 to $37.00 per ton, while the tax on forged
iron was raised from $18.00 to $22.40. RoUed
Iron was cheaper, and was available for a great
number of uses. The tax, in this case, " counter
vailed " an improvement In the arts, and robbed
the American people of their share in the advan
tage of a new industrial achievement. The tax on
steel was raised from $20.00 to $30.00 per ton ; that
on hemp from $35.00 to $45.00 per ton ; that on
molasses from 5 cents to 10 cents per gallon ; that
on flax from nothing to $35.00 per ton. The taxes

246 ANDREW JACKSON
on sugar, salt, and glass remained unchanged, as
did that on tea also, save by a differential tonnage
duty. Coffee was classified and the tax reduced.
The tax on wine, by a separate act, was reduced
one half or more.!
This was the " tariff of abominations," so caUed
on account of the number of especially monstrous
provisions which it contained. In the course of
the debate on It, the dogma was freely used that
protective taxes lower prices, and the exclusion of
American grain by the English corn laws was a
constantly effective argument. Credit varying
from nine to eighteen months was aUowed under
this as under the previous tariffs.
I VIII. Nullification. The Southerners bitterly
denounced the tariff of 1828. They had already
begun to complain of the operation of the system
four or five years before. To understand their
complaint. It is enough to notice with what reckless
extravagance the tariff theory, even If its truth
were admitted, was being handled in 1828. Of
course the public argument in favor of the tariff
necessarily took the form of assertions that, by
some occult process or other, the taxation proposed
would be beneficent to aU, and that the protective
theory was a theory of national wealth. The
Southerners were sure that they paid the expenses
of the experiment, and they ventured the inference
that those who were so eager for the tariff saw
their profit in It ; but when the attempt was made
1 See page 402.

SOUTHERN RESISTANCE 247
to find any compensation to the nation or to the
South, no such thing could be found. Up to that
point there was the plain fact of capital expended
and capital gained ; at that point aU turned into
dogma and declamation.
March 12, 1828, McDuffie, of South CaroUna,
presented a report from the Committee on Ways
and Means! against the tariff. He enumerated
the varieties of wooUens used by the people, and
showed the operation of the minima upon each.
He then went on to discuss the economic doctrines
and the theory of protection as a mode of increas
ing the wealth of the country, and more especiaUy
the effect of the proposed taxes on the agricultural
and exporting sections. The facts and doctrines
stated by him were unanswerable, but they did not
touch either the political motives or the Interested
pecuniary motives which were really pushing the
tariff. He had aU the right and all the reason,
but not the power. The agricultural States were
forced, under the tariff, either to export their pro
ducts, exchange them for foreign products, and pay
taxes on these latter to the federal treasury before
they could bring them home, or else to exchange
their products with the northern manufacturers
for manufactured products, and to pay taxes to the
latter in the price of the goods. AU the mysteries
of exchange, banking, and brokerage might ob
scure, they never could alter, these actual economic
relations of fact. 1 34 NUes, 8L

248 ANDREW JACKSON
The protectionists always affected to deride the
southern declaration that the tax feU on the South.
The popular 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 im
portations of foreign goods, it would, if it suc
ceeded, make the foreigner stay at home, and keep
his goods there. This of course deprived him of
a certain demand for his goods, and prevented him
from reaching a gain which, under other condi
tions, he might have won, but it could not possibly
render him or his capital in any way available
for " encouraging American manufactures." The
American consumer of American 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 American
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 Industries, which
were simply parasites upon them. The protective
theory, as a theory of wealth, therefore proposed
to organize national industry as an independent
body with a parasite upon it, while the free-trade
theory proposed to let Industry organize Itself as
so many Independent and vigorous bodies as the

THE SOUTHERN GRIEVANCE 249
labor, capital, and land of the country could sup
port. The grievance of the South in 1828 is undenia
ble. So long as the exports of the country were
almost exclusively southern products — cotton and
tobacco — and so long as the federal revenue was
almost entirely derived from duties on imports, it
is certain that the southern industries either sup
ported the federal government 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 in
terests were being sacrificed to pretended national
interests, just as, under the embargo, the interests
of New England were sacrificed to national inter
ests. 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
stronger combination might plunder the weaker.
In each case the party which was In power, and
was having its way, refused to heed any remon
strance ; In fact regarded remonstrance as rebellion.
The more thoroughly the economist and the
political philosopher recognizes the grievance of the
Southerners in 1828, the more he must regret the
unwisdom of the southern proceedings. The oppo
nents of the tariff of 1828 adopted the policy of
voting in favor of aU the " abominations " on points
of detail, in the hope that they could so weight
down the bUl that It would at last fail as a whole.!
1 35 NUes, 52.

250 ANDREW JACKSON
Hence those Southerners who supported Jackson
voted with the Pennsylvania and New York high-
tariff men for all the worst features of the biU,
whUe 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
sufficiently on the tariff to secure one or two
doubtful States. For Instance, they were wUling
to protect whiskey and hemp to win Kentucky
from Clay to Jackson. They were. In fact, play
ing 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 biU before them a great deal more be
fore 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 the Potomac.
The policy of the southern free-traders, like most
attempts at legislative fimesse, proved an entire
failure. The high-tariff men, although every man
had Intense objection to something in the biU,
voted for It rather than defeat the bill entirely.

THE RESOLUTIONS OF 1798 251
The New England men did not know how to vote.
In the end 23 of them voted against the biU and
16 for It.! The bUl 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 aU, 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 doue 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 de
clared, in a speech In the Senate, February 23,
1837, that Van Buren was to blame for the tariff
of 1828.5
The South had already begun to discuss reme
dies before the tariff of 1828 was passed. Colonel
Hamilton, of South CaroUna, at a public dinner In
the autumn of 1827, proposed " nuUIfication " as a
remedy, the term being borrowed from the Vir
ginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798. Those
I 35 NUes, 52. 2 7 Adams, 534. » 1 Webster's Works, 165.
* Mackeinzie, 103 ; Hammond's Wright, 105.
" Green's Telegraph Extra, 271, says that Adams wanted to
veto the tariff of 1828, and throw himself on the South, uniting
with Calhoun, but that Clay would not let him do so, because that
would ruin him and the American system. This is a very doubt
ful story.

252 ANDREW JACKSON
resolutions now came to have, for a certain party
in the South, the character and authority of an ad
dendum to the Constitution. They were, in truth,
only the manifesto of a rancorous opposition, like
the resolutions of the Hartford convention. Yet,
at that time, to caU a man a " federalist " would
have been a graver Insult throughout the South
than It would be now. In the North, to caU a man
a secessionist. An examination of the resolutions of 1798, as
they were adopted, wiU fail to find nuUification in
them. The resolutions, with a number of other
most interesting documents connected therewith,
are given by NUes in a supplement to his 43d vol
ume. By examination of these It appears that
Jefferson's original draft of the Kentucky resolu
tions contained. In the eighth resolution, these
words : " Where powers are assumed which have
not been delegated, a nuUification of the act is
the right remedy." The Legislature of Ken
tucky 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 which by adopting these
resolutions agree to cooperate] . . . wIU concur in
declaring these acts [the alien and sedition laws]
void and of no force, and wIU each take measures
of its own for providing that neither of these acts
. . . shaU be exercised within their respective ter
ritories." Here, Instead of an undefined term, we
have a specific programme, which shows, without

THE RESOLUTIONS OF 1798 253
ambiguity, what the term meant. Different States,
whUe remaining In the Union, were to prohibit
vaUdlty within their territories, each to such fed
eral acts as It disapproved, speaking through Its
constituted authorities. The Legislature struck
this out, and adopted, as the executory resolution :
" The co-States . . . wUl concur in declaring these
[acts] void and of no force, and will each unite
with this commonwealth 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 In which oc
curs this statement : " A nuUification by those sov
ereignties of aU unauthorized acts done under color
of that instrument [the Constitution] Is the rightful
remedy." Madison's Virginia resolutions do not
contain nuUification either in form or substance,
least of aU as a practical remedy. They declared
the aUen and sedition acts unconstitutional, and
that " the necessary and proper measures will be
taken by each [of the concurring States] for co
operating with this State " to preserve the reserved
rights of the States and people. In 1799 Madison
made a long report to the Virginia House of Del
egates, in which he analyzed and defended the
resolutions of 1798, and especially defended the
remedy proposed, namely, a solemn resolution and
protest, communicated to the other States. He
construed this remedy strictly. In May, 1830,
Madison wrote to Livingston, approving of an
anti-nuUification speech made by him on March

254 ANDREW JACKSON
15th of that year. He thus states the error of the
nuUIfiers : " The error In the late comments 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 Consti
tution and the ultima ratio which appeals from
a Constitution, canceUed by its abuses, to original
rights, paramount to aU Constitutions." In 1830
Madison also wrote two long letters, one to Edward
Everett, the other to Andrew Stevenson, in which he
interpreted the Virginia resolutions. 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 Umited and harmless
nature of the proposed action of Virginia. His
two letters are the best statement of " Madisonian
federalism." It Is certain that the nuUification 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 sup
plementary resolution of Kentucky, when the heat
of the controversy favored an extreme position.
It was a notion of Jefferson, In which Madison did
not join, and which neither Legislature adopted,
except as stated. Never untU 1827 was any body
of men found to take up the notion, and try
to handle it as reasonable and practical. NuUi
fication is jacobinism. It is revolution made a

JEFFERSON AND NULLIFICATION 255
constant political means, and brought Into the
every-day business of civU life. Nothing is more
astonishing In American political history than
the immunity enjoyed by some men, and the un
fair responsibUity enforced against others. Every
school-boy Is taught to execrate the alien and sedi
tion laws, and John Adams bears the odium of
them, but no responsibUity worth speaking of for
nuUification attaches to Jefferson. He was the
father of it, and the sponsor of It, and the authority
of his name was what recommended It in 1827.
In December, 1827, the South Carolina Legisla
ture raised a committee on the powers of the federal
government 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 in
the matter of her " police bill." Georgia had been
the turbulent State, — the one which had had the
most frequent coUisions with the federal govern
ment, and had behaved on those occasions with
violence and foUy. South Carolina in Monroe's
time was latitudinarian and anti-radical, and as
such was opposed to Georgia. South CaroUna
now declared the tariff. Internal Improvements,
and appropriations for the colonization society un
constitutional.! Georgia declared the tariff and
internal improvements unconstitutional; declared
1 38 NUes, 154.

256 ANDREW JACKSON
that Georgia would not submit to the action of
Congress, and affirmed the right of secession.!
The old Crawford party, however, took sides
against nuUification, and prevented Georgia from
ranging herself with South Carolina. At a meet
ing at Athens, August 6, 1828, presided over by
Crawford, a committee, consisting of Wayne, Ber
rien, Cobb, Gilmer, Clayton, Troup, and others,
reported an address and resolutions denouncing
the tariff, but disclaiming aU 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
Constitution had been tried and proved a faUure.*
North CaroUna 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 constitutionality of
the tariff, and denounced It as piUage of that
State. The proceedings of South Carolina did not
remedy the matter at all ; but they altered the
issue very much to the satisfaction of the protec
tionists. The Union and the supremacy of the law
were something on which a much better fight could
be made than on the tariff, and the protectionists,
having secured the law, wanted nothing better
than to draw away attention from the criticism of
It by making the fight on nullification. Calhoun
and the South Carolinians had changed the fighting
1 3 Ann. Beg. 64 2 35 ^iles, 14. 8 42 NUes, 389.

REASONS FOR EXASPERATION 257
from free-trade to nuUification, and on that they
stood alone. They threw away a splendid chance
to secure a sound poUcy 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 almost entirely.
He had no standing ground on tariff and land.
He was on record In his earUest speeches as an
inteUigent free-trader, and his biographer! has
infinite 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. In the winter of 1828-29
the South Carolina Legislature sent to the Senate
an " Exposition and Protest " against the new law.
Georgia wanted to nuUify both Indian legislation
and tariff. Virginia adopted the principle of nuUI
fication. North Carolina denounced the tariff, but
nullification also. Alabama denounced the tariff,
but recognized the right of Congress to levy re
venue duties, with incidental protective effect. In
1829 Alabama went nearer to nuUIfication. This
was the high water mark of nullification outside of
South Carolina. AU these States were taunted,
in answer to their remonstrances, with the votes of
1 1 Curtis's Webster, 207 et seq.

258 ANDREW JACKSON
the Southern members on the detaUs 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 fuU and accurate know
ledge of all the circumstances and relations of
trade in their own country, and In all countries
with which it trades ; If they had sufficient wit to
establish an artificial tax system which should just
fit the complicated facts, and produce the results
they want without doing any harm to anybody's
interests; and If, furthermore, the circumstances
and relations of trade would remain unchanged. It
would be possible to make a permanent and stable
tariff. Each of these conditions is as monstrously
impossible as anything In economics can be. Hence
constant new efforts are necessary, as well to suit
those to whom the tariff does not yet bring what
they expected from It, as to silence those who are
oppressed by It. The persons whose Interests
were violated by the tariff of 1828 tried every
means in their power to evade It. January 27,
1830, MaUary brought in a biU to render the cus
tom house appraisal more stringent and effective.
McDuffie responded with a proposition to reduce
all taxes on wooUens, 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 biU was defeated, and Mal-
lary's was passed. By separate bUls the taxes on
salt, molasses, coffee, cocoa, and tea were reduced.

EFFECT OF JACKSON'S TOAST 259
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 personal element,
which always had such strong influence with Jack
son, had become more or less Involved In the nuUI
fication struggle with which Calhoun was Identi
fied. " I was aware of the hostility of the influential charac
ter aluded to [Calhoun] — I sincerely regret the course
taken by Hamilton & Hayne — The people of South
Carolina will not, nay cannot sustain such nulifying Doc
trines. They CaroUnians are a patriotic & highminded
people, and they prize their liberty too high to jeopard
ize it, at the shrine of an ambitious Demagogue, whether
a native of Carolina or of any other country — This
influential character in this heat, has led Hamilton &
Hayne astray, and it will, I fear, lead to the injury of
Hamilton & loose him his election — But the ambitious
Demagogue aluded to, would sacrifice friends & country,
& move heaven & earth, if he had the power, to gratify
his unholy ambition — His course will prostrate him
here as well as every where else — Our friend M'
Grundy says he will abandon him unless he can satisfy
him that he has used his influence to put down this
nulifying doctrine, which threatens to desolve our happy

1 See page 203. 2 Hodgson, 166-7.
8 Jackson to Lewis, Ang. 25, 1830, from Franklin, Tenn. Ford
MSS.

260 ANDREW JACKSON
The Georgia case involved only indirectly the
authority and prestige of the federal government.
The Immediate parties in interest were the In
dians. NuUification involved directly the power
and prestige of the federal government, and he
would certainly be a most exceptional person who,
being President of the United States, would aUow
the government of which he was the head to be
defied and Insulted.
On the 22d of November, 1830, a blU for a
State convention failed to get a two thirds vote
In the South CaroUna Legislature. An attempt
was then made to test the constitutionaUty of the
tariff in the courts by refusing to pay duty bonds,
and pleading " no consideration " for the taxes
levied ; but the United States District Court, In
1831, refused to hear evidence of " no considera
tion," drawn from the character of the tariff of
1828.! June 14, 1831, Jackson wrote a letter to a com
mittee 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 nullification. The Governor of the State
brought this letter to the notice of the Legislature,
which adopted resolutions denouncing the act of
the President in writing such a letter, and denying
the lawfulness of the steps which he described.
There were some in South Carolina who, at this
1 7 Ann. Beg. 260.

EFFECT OF JACKSON'S TOAST 261
time, favored secession, so soon as South Carolina
could organize a sufficient combination to go out
with her. Cheves was a leader of such.!
North Carolina now denounced nullification, but
the other States as yet held back.
On the 5th of October, 1831, a free-trade con
vention met at Philadelphia. On the 26th of
October a protectionist convention met at New
York. GaUatin wrote the address published by
the former. Of course it was aU free trade, — no
nuUification. A. H. Everett wrote the address
issued by the New York convention. The public
debt was being paid off with great rapidity, and
the need for revenue was aU 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 wUl be an additional advantage that we
can do away, without any complicated devices,
with all the protective taxes which one citizen pays
to another, and which take shelter under the reve
nue taxes. Let the people keep and use their own
earnings. The protectionists wanted to remove
the taxes from aU commodities the like of which
were not produced here. They argued that, if the
country was out of debt, it could afford to enter on
great schemes of national development by govern
ment expenditure. They therefore proposed to
keep up the taxes for protective purposes, and to
spend the surplus revenue (in which they regarded
the revenue from land as a thing by itself) on in-
1 8 Adams, Diary, 410.

262 ANDREW JACKSON
ternal improvements, pensions, French spoliation
claims, etc. These were not yet strictly party posi
tions, but in general the former was the adminis
tration policy and the latter the opposition policy.
The session of 1831-32 was fuU of tariff. A
presidential election was again at hand. J. Q.
Adams was put at the head of the Committee on
Manufactures with an anti-tariff majority. Mc
Duffie was chairman of the Committee on Ways
and Means. January 19, 1832, the House In
structed the Secretary of the Treasury to coUect
Information about manufactures. A report was
rendered in two large volumes, in 1833, after the
whole subject had been disposed of. Clay was
nominated for President In December, 1831, and
was preparing his poUcy and programme. A con
ference was held at Washington by his supporters,
at which he presented his views, as it appears, in a
somewhat dictatorial manner.! jjg wanted all the
revenue taxes (on tea, coffee, wine, etc.) abolished.
The protective taxes he wanted to make prohibi
tory, so as to stop revenue. He said that the du
ties on hemp were useless, as our dew-rotted hemp
never could compete with the water-rotted hemp
which was Imported. This was rather hard, con
sidering that the tax on hemp had been laid for
the sake of Kentucky, and now the member from
Kentucky and father of the "American system"
said that protection to hemp was useless. Clay
was wiUing to aUow a drawback on rigging ex-
1 8 Adams, Diary, 445.

TARIFF OF 1832 263
ported. Dearborn said that the tax on hemp had
closed every rope-walk In Boston. Adams said
that the House Committee on Manufactures would
reduce the duties prospectively ; that is, to take
effect when the debt should be paid. Clay wanted
to stop paying the debt in order to take away the
administration " cry." Adams took sides with
Jackson on the point of paying the debt. He
thought public opinion favored that policy. He
also thought Clay's programme would appear like
defying the South. Clay said that he did not care
whom he defied. " To preserve, maintain, and
strengthen the American system he would defy
the South, the President, and the DevU." We
may say what we like of the nullifiers, but, so far
as they met with and knew of this disposition on
the part of Clay and his supporters, they would
not have been free men if they had not resisted It ;
for it must not be forgotten that the real question
at Issue was whether their property should be
taken away from them or not.
In the annual message for 1831 Jackson recom
mended that the tariff be amended so as to reduce '
revenue. February 8, 1832, McDuffie reported
a biU making the taxes on iron, steel, sugar, salt,
hemp, fiour, wooUens, cottons, and manufactures
of Iron twenty-five per cent for a year after June
30, 1832, then eighteen and three fourths per cent
for a year, and then twelve and one half per cent
for an Indefinite period. All other goods which
were taxed over twelve and one half per cent at

264 ANDREW JACKSON
the time of passing the biU were to be taxed
twelve and one half per cent after June 30, 1832.
April 27, 1832, the Secretary of the Treasury
(McLane) presented a tariff biU in answer to a call
by the House. It was planned to raise twelve mil
lions of revenue. It was proposed to collect fifteen
per cent on imports in general, with especial and
higher rates on the great protected commodities.
This was the administration plan. The House
Committee on Manufactures reported a bill May
23, which was taken up Instead of the others.
The battle reopened, and ranged over the whole
field of politics and political economy. The act, as
finally passed (July 14, 1832), reduced or abolished
many of the revenue taxes. It did not materiaUy
alter the protective taxes. The tax on iron was
reduced, that on cottons was unchanged, that on
wooUens was raised to fifty per cent ; wool costing
less than eight cents per pound was made free,
other wool was taxed as before. WooUen yam
was now first taxed. This was the position of
tariff and nuUification when the presidential elec
tion was held.
IX. National Bank. — In the United States the
democratic element in public opinion has always
been jealous of and hostile to the money power.
The hostiUty has broken out at different times In
different ways, as an assault on banks, corpora
tions, vested rights, and public credit. Sometimes
It seems as If the " money power " were regarded
superstitiously, as If it were a superhuman entity.

BANK OF NORTH AMERICA 265
with wUl and power. The assaults on It are min
gled with dread, as of an enemy with whom one
is not yet ready to cope, but whose power is in
creasing rapidly, so that the chance of ultimate
victory over him is smaU. This antagonism Is but
a premonition of the conflict between democr^xjy
and plutocracy, which is the next great crisis which
the human race has to meet. We are now to study
one of the greatest struggles between democracy
and the money power.
After a renewal of the charter of the first Bank
of the United States had been refused, in 1812,
a great number of local banks were organized,
especiaUy in the Middle States. This movement
unfortunately coincided with the second war with
England. The combination of bank mania and war
financiering produced a very extravagant bank
note inflation. The party in power was forced
to Imitate measure after measure of Hamilton's
financial system, which they had so vigorously de
nounced twenty years before. At last they came
to a national bank also. The Senate wanted to
make a Bank to suit the administration, that Is,
one which could make loans to the Treasury ; one,
therefore, which was not bound to pay specie. The
House strenuously resisted the creation of such a
mere paper-money machine. Madison vetoed, in
January, 1815, a bill which had been passed in
conformity with the ideas of the House. Another
biU was introduced at once, which provided for a
bank to conform to the wishes of the admlnistra-

266 ANDREW JACKSON
tion. This biU was before the House on the day
on which news of the treaty of Ghent was received
at Washington (February 13). Pitkin says that
the news was received at the moment of voting.!
The bill was laid aside and was never revived.
At the next session (1815-16) the proposition
came up for a national bank, not as a financial
resource for the Treasury, but to check the local
banks and force a return to specie payments. The
charter became a law AprU 10, 1816. It was a
close imitation of Hamilton's Bank. In this Bank
also the government had a big stock note for seven
millions of doUars of stock, which It had sub
scribed for as a resource to pay its debts, not as
investment for free capital. The Bank was char
tered for twenty years. Its capital was thirty-five
milUons, seven subscribed by the United States in
a five per cent stock note, seven by the public in
specie, and twenty-one by the public in United
States stocks. It was to pay a bonus of one and
one half millions in two, three, and four years. It
was not to issue notes under $5.00, and not to sus
pend specie payments under a penalty of twelve
per cent on all notes not redeemed on presenta
tion. Twenty directors were to be elected annuaUy
by the stockholders, and five, being stockholders,
were to be appointed by the President of the
United States and confirmed by the Senate. The
federal government was to charter no other bank
during the period of the charter of this. The
1 Pitkin, 427.

CHARTER OF THE SECOND BANK 267
Secretary of the Treasury might at any time re
deem the stocks in the capital of the Bank, in
cluding the five per cent subscription stock. He
might remove the public deposits If he should see
fit, but must state his reasons for so doing to Con
gress at its next meeting. The Bank engaged to
transfer public funds without charge. At first it
undertook to equalize the currency by receiving
any notes of any branch at any branch, but it
was soon forced to abandon the attempt. The old
Bank had never done this.! Two things were
mixed up in this attempt : (1) The equalization of
the different degrees of depreciation existing in the
bank-notes of different districts. This the Bank
could not have corrected save by relentlessly pre
senting aU local notes for redemption, until they
were made equal to specie or were withdrawn. So
far as the Bank did this, it won the reputation of
a " monster " which was crushing out the local
banks.! (2) The equalization of the domestic ex
changes. This was impossible and undesirable,
since capital never could be distributed In exact
proportion to local needs for it. The failure of
the Bank to " equaUze the exchanges," and its re
fusal to take any notes at any branch, earned it
more popular condemnation than anything else.
The Bank charter contained a great many faults.
To mention only those which affected its career:
The capital was too large. There was no reason
for lending Its capital to the government, i. e.,
1 Carey's Letters, 55. i See page 156.

268 ANDREW JACKSON
putting it into public stocks, or making the Bank
a syndicate of bond-holders. There was every rea
son why the United States should not hold stock
In it, especiaUy when it could not pay for the same.
The dividends of the bank from 1816 to 1831,
when the government paid its stock note, averaged
five per cent per annum, paid semi-annuaUy. The
United States paid five per cent on its stock note
quarterly. This gave room for another complaint
by the enemies of the Bank.
The Bank was established at Philadelphia. It
began with nineteen branches, and grew to twenty-
five. Specie payments were resumed nominaUy
February 20, 1817, after which date, according to
a joint resolution of Congress of April 16, 1816,
the Treasury ought to receive only specie, or notes
of the Bank of the United States, or of specie-
paying banks, or Treasury notes. In the first two
years of Its existence the great Bank was carried
to the verge of bankruptcy by as bad banking as
ever was heard of. Instead of checking the other
banks in their improper proceedings, it led and
surpassed them aU. A clique inside the Bank was
jobbing in its shares, and robbing It to provide the
margins. Instead of rectifying the currency, it
made the currency worse. Instead of helping the
country out of the distress produced by the war, it
plunged the country into the commercial crisis of
1819, which caused a general liquidation, lasting
four or five years. All the old-school republicans
denounced themselves for having abandoned their

ABUSES OF NOTE ISSUES 269
principles In voting for a national bank. AU the
iU-doing of the Bank they regarded as essential
elements in the character of any national bank.
Niles denounced the whole system of banking, and
aU the banks. He had good reason. It is almost
Incredible that the legislation of any civilized coun
try could have opened the chance for such abuses
of credit, banking, and currency as then existed.
The franchise of issuing paper notes to be used by
the people as currency, that is to say, the license
to appropriate a certain amount of the specie circu
lation of the country, and to put one's promissory
notes in the place of It, was given away, not only
without any equivalent, but without any guarantee
at aU. When Niles and Gouge denounced banking
and banks, it was because they had In mind these
swindling institutions. The great Bank justly
suffered with the rest, because it had made itself
In many respects like them. The popular anti-
bank party, opposed to the money power, was very
strong during the period of liquidation.
Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, was elected
president of the Bank March 6, 1819. He set
about restoring it. In three years he had suc
ceeded, although the losses were over three miUions.
Nicholas Biddle was elected president of the Bank
In January, 1823. He was only thirty-seven years
old, and had been more a literary man than any
thing else. He was appointed government director
In 1819. His election in Cheves's place was the
result of a conflict between a young and progressive

270 ANDREW JACKSON
policy, which he represented, and an old and con.
servative poUcy. At the nearest date to January
1, 1823, the bank had $4,600,000 notes out;
$4,400,000 specie; $2,700,000 public deposits;
$1,500,000 deposits by pubUc officers ; $3,300,000
deposits by individuals; $28,700,000 biUs dis
counted. Congress refused to aUow the officers of
the branches to sign notes issued by the branches.
It is not clear why this petition was refused, except
that Congress was In no mood to grant any request
of the Bank. The labor, for the president and
cashier of the parent bank, of signing all the notes
of the Bank and branches was very great. Ac
cordingly, in 1827, branch drafts were devised to
avoid this inconvenience. They were the counter
part of bank-notes. They were drawn for even
sums, by the cashier of any branch, on the parent
bank, to the order of some officer of the branch,
and endorsed by the latter to bearer. They then
circulated like bank-notes. They were at first
made in denominations of $5.00 and $10.00. In
1831 the denomination $20.00 was added. Binney,
Wirt, and Webster gave an opinion that these
drafts were legal. Rush, Secretary of the Trea
sury, approved of them, and aUowed public dues
to be paid in them.! These branch drafts were a
most unlucky invention, and to them is to be
traced most of the subsequent real trouble of the
Bank. The branches, especially the distant ones,
when they issued these drafts, did not lend their
1 Document B.

^/^//^^^

^

CORRESPONDENCE OF INGHAM AND BIDDLE 271
own capital, but that of the Bank at Philadelphia.
At the same time, therefore, they feU In debt to
the parent bank. This stimulated their issues.
The borrowers used these drafts to sustain what
were called " race-horse blUs." These were drafts
drawn between the different places where there
were branches, so that a biU faUing due at one
place was met by the discount of a bill drawn on
another place. This system was equivalent to un
limited 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 it Into their
platform.! The project failed. Barbour's resolu
tion 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, Secre
tary of the Treasury, making confidential com
plaints of Jeremiah Mason, the new president of
the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, branch of the
Bank of the United States, because (1) of the
1 33 NUes, 275.

272 ANDREW JACKSON
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 general and from all political parties. Ing
ham enclosed the letter to Biddle, pointing out
that It seemed to have been called out by the polit
ical 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, which 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 which he drew out aU the
venomous rancor of Levi Woodbury and Isaac HUl
against the old federaUsts and Jeremiah Mason
and the Bank, aU 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
without 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 to a vacancy caused by
the resignation, not by the removal, of his prede
cessor ; (2) that the salary of the position had
not been Increased for Mason ; (3) that, after
Mason's appointment, Webster was asked to per-

INGHAM TO BIDDLE — 1829 273
suade him to accept. He quoted a letter from
Woodbury 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 by the
Bank, without regard to politics. He explained
that the branch had previously not been well man
aged, and that Mason was put In as a competent
banker and lawyer to put it right again.! jt is
easy to see that Mason, In order to put the bank
right, had to act severely, and that he especially
disappointed those who, on account of political
sympathy, 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 HiU, Woodbury, and Plumer on the other,
had been in strong antagonism. The relations had
been amicable between some of them, but HUl and
Mason were two men who could not meet without
striking fire. HIU was now president of a smaU
bank at Concord, and business jealousy was added
to poUtical animosity. Woodbury had been elected
1 Hill, in a speech, March 3, 1834, said : " After the tariff law
of 1828 had passed, the manufacturing stock f eU, in many cases
sinking the whole investment, so that where the bank had had
no other security, bad debts were made. . . . The bank lost, in
bad debts, some $80,000. .... [Mason] in violation of the terms
of payment on which loans had been made, called on all the cus
tomers of the bank to pay four for one of what they were required
to pay by the implied terms of their first contract. ... It was
this arbitrary breach of faith with the customers of the bank
that induced the merchants and men of business of all parties to
petition for the removal of the man who had caused the distress."

274 ANDREW JACKSON
to the Senate as an Adams man, and the personal
and political feelings were only more intense, be
cause Adams was caUed a repubUcan. The feder
alists were first invited to support him, then they
were ignored,! and Woodbury and HUl were work
ing 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 wrote again to Biddle, insist
ing that there must be grounds of complaint, and
that exemption from party preference was impossi
ble. 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 president. The parent bank for
bade the branch to comply with this order, on the
ground that it was lUegal. The order was re
voked. September 15th Biddle wrote again to Ingham.
He had visited Buffalo and Portsmouth during the
summer. His letter is sharp and Independent in
tone. He says that two memorials have been sent
to him by Isaac HiU, Second ControUer of the
Treasury, one from the business men of Ports-
1 1 Webster's Correspondence, 415, 419.

THE BANK CORRESPONDENCE 275
mouth, and the other from sixty members of the
Legislature of New Hampshire, requesting Mason's
removal, and nominating a new board of directors,
" friends of General Jackson in New Hampshire."
Those proceedings were evidently planned by the
anti-Bank clique at Washington to provoke Biddle.
He hastened to crown that purpose with complete
success. He says that public opinion in the com
munity around a bank is no test of bank manage
ment, and that the reported opinion at Portsmouth,
upon examination, " degenerated Into the personal
hostUity of a very limited, and for the most part
very prejudiced, circle." He then takes up three
points which he finds in Ingham's letters, suggested
or assumed, but not formulated. These are : (1)
That the Secretary has some supervision 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 government
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 administration on the political opinions of the
officers of the Bank. . He then says that the board
acknowledges no responsibility whatever to the
Secretary In regard to the political opinions of the
officers of the Bank ; that the Bank Is responsible
to Congress only, and is carefuUy shielded by Its
charter from executive control. He indignantly
denies that freedom from political bias is Impos-

276 ANDREW JACKSON
sible, shows the foUy 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 his points, but delivered him
self, 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 fuU 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 this
power as among the possibilities. Ingham says
there are two theories of the Bank : (1) That it is
exclusively for national purposes and for the com
mon benefit of aU, and that the " employment of
private Interests is only an incident, — perhaps
an evil, — founded in mere convenience for care
and management." (2) That It Is intended " to
strengthen the arm of wealth, and counterpoise the
influence of extended suffrage in the disposition of
public affairs," and that the public deposits are
one of Its means for performing this function. He
says that there are two means of resisting the latter
theory : the power to remove the deposits, and the

THE BANK CORRESPONDENCE 277
power to appoint five of the directors. He adds
that, if the Bank should exercise political Influence,
that would afford him the strongest motive for re
moving the deposits. Biddle's reply of October
9th shows that he recognizes at last what temper he
has to deal with. He Is stiU gay and good-natured,
and he recedes gracefuUy, only maintaining that it
is the policy of the Bank to keep out of politics.
In Ingham's letters of July 23d and October
5th is to be found the key to the " Bank War."
Ingham argues that the Bank cannot keep out of
politics, that Its officers 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 escape 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
politics. The administration men are distinctly
seen in this correspondence, trying to drive It to
use political influence 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 aUeged theories in the letter of October 5th,
however, which demands particular attention.
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

278 ANDREW JACKSON
the Bank. It Is a construction of the political
philosophy of a national bank. It is not paraUel
with the first statement. It was ridiculous to al
lege that the stockholders of the Bank had sub
scribed twenty-eight miUion doUars, not even for
party purposes, but to go crusading against demo
cracy and universal suffrage. However, the justice
or Injustice of the allegations in these letters, which
could be submitted to no tribunal, and which touched
motives, not acts, was immaterial. The adminis
tration had 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 jeal
ousy and party rancor. Ingham published, in
1832,! after the above correspondence had been
published, an " Address " in his own defence.
He says that he found, to his 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 influenced 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
1 42 NUes, 315.

HINTS OF THE COMING BANK WAR 279
election of 1825, when the old and new court ques
tion was at Issue.! The man whom KendaU gave
as his authority faUed, when caUed upon, to sub
stantiate the assertion. In KendaU's Autobiogra
phy 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 Washing
ton. He is not known to have had any coUision
with the Bank, except that, when he was on his
way to Florida, as Governor, the branch at New
Orleans refused his request that it would advance
money to him on his draft on the Secretary of
State at its face value.^ HIU and KendaU, either
by telling Jackson that the Bank had worked
against him In the election, or by other means, in
fused Into his mind the hostility to It which had
long rankled in theirs. They were soon reen-
f orced 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 against 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 unknovra.
It was received with a great deal of scepticism.
1 See page 164. 2 2 Parton, 596.
* Memoirs of Bennett, 111.

280 ANDREW JACKSON
In Its form It consisted of a series of queries,! of
which the following may be quoted as the most
significant, and as best iUustrating 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 WUliam B. Lewis's meth
ods. " WiU sundry banks throughout the Union
take measures to satisfy the general government
of their safety in receiving deposits of the reve
nue, and transacting the banking concerns of the
United States ? WIU the Legislatures of the
several States adopt resolutions on the subject,
and instruct their senators how to vote ? WUl a
proposition be made to authorize the government
to Issue exchequer biUs, to the amount of the an
nual revenue, redeemable at pleasure, to constitute
a circulating medium equivalent to the notes issued
by the United States Bank ? " So far as appears,
no one saw In these queries the oracle which was
foretelling the history of the United States for the
next ten or fifteen years.
Jackson's first annual message contained a para
graph on the Bank which struck the whole country
with astonishment. " We had seen," says Niles,
" one or two dark paragraphs in certain of the
newspapers, which led to a belief that the adminis
tration was not friendly to this great moneyed
1 It is quoted 37 NUes, 378. (January 30, 1830.)

CRITICISM OF THE MESSAGE 281
institution, but few had any suspicion that it
would form one of the topics of the first mes
sage." ! After mentioning the fact that the char
ter 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 Congress. " 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 aU 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 aU 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 tranquillity, both in its
domestic and foreign relations, and In a condition
of more humdrum prosperity in its Industry, than
1829. 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 to a great
extent overcome.^ The currency has never, since
1829, been better and more uniform, if we take the
whole country over, than it was then. The pro
ceedings, of which the paragraph In the message
<¦ 37 NUes, 257.
2 See the tables in 2 Macgregor, 1140; also GaUatin on the
Currency and Banking System of the United States.

282 ANDREW JACKSON
of 1829 was the first warning, threw the currency
and banking of the country into confusion and un
certainty, one thing following upon another, and
they have never yet recovered the character of es
tablished 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
question of Its renewal. It certainly was a prema
ture step, and can be explained only by the degree
of feeling which the active agents had mingled
with their opinions about the Bank. It was,
moreover, a new mode of statement for the Presi
dent to address Congress, not on his own motion,
and In order to set forth his own opinions and re
commendations, but as the mouth-piece of " a large
portion of our f eUow 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
feUow citizens"? Then again the question must
arise : Does the President correctly quote anybody ?
No proofs can be found that any hundred persons

CRITICISM OF THE MESSAGE 283
in the United States had active doubts of the con
stitutionality and expediency of the Bank, or were
looking forward to Its recharter as a political crisis
to be prepared for. If the theoretical 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 pro
pose to give up Louisiana and Florida. Just so in
regard to a national bank. The Supreme Court
had decided in McCuUoch vs. Maryland that the
Bank charter was constitutional, and that was the
end of controversy. The question of the constitu
tionaUty of the Bank had no actuality, and occupied
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 oc
cupied the minds of the people. Jackson's state
ment was only a figure of speech. The observation
which is most important for a fair judgment of his
policy of active hostility to the Bank Is, that any
great financial institution or system which is in
operation, and is performing its functions endura-
bly, has a great presumption In its favor. The
only reasonable question for statesman or financier
is that of slow and careful correction and improve
ment. The man who sets out to overturn and de
stroy, in obedience to " a principle," especiaUy If
he shows that he does not know the possible scope
of his own action, or what he Intends to construct

284 ANDREW JACKSON
afterwards, assumes a responsibility which no pub
lic man has any right to take.
The vague and confused proposition of the Pres
ident for some new kind of bank added alarm to
astonishment. What did he mean by his bank
based on the credit and revenues of the govern
ment? It sounded Uke a big paper-money machine.
If there was any inteUigible Idea in it, it referred
to something like the Bank of the Commonwealth
of Kentucky on a stiU larger scale. It will be no
ticed that this notion of a national bank coincided
with the suggestion, in KendaU's queries,! of a cur
rency of exchequer blUs. The stock of the Bank
declined from 125 to 116 on account of the mes
sage.^ It was supposed that the President must
have knowledge of some facts about the Bank.
The part of the message about the Bank was re
ferred In both Houses. AprU 13, 1830,* McDuffie
made a long report from the Committee on Ways
and Means. He argued that the constitutionaUty
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 finan-
claUy and politically, — the latter because it would
increase the power of the Executive. In the Sen
ate, Smith, of Maryland, reported from the Com
mittee on Finance In favor of the Bank.* The
1 See page 280. 2 3g jsTiles, 177.
8 38 NUes, 183. * 88 NUes, 126.

ACTION OF CONGRESS ON THE BANK 285
House, May 10, 1830, tabled, by 89 to 66, resolu
tions 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 aUegations against
the management of the Bank. The stock rose to
130 on the reports of the committees of Congress.
A great many politicians had to " turn a sharp
corner," as Niles expressed it, when Jackson came
out against the Bank. His supporters In Pennsyl
vania cities were nearly aU Bank men. Van Buren,
Marcy, and Butler had signed a petition. In 1826,
for a branch of the bank at Albany.! fhe petition
was refused. In January, 1829, Van Buren, as
Governor of New York, referred to banks under
federal control as objectionable. The administra
tion party was not yet consolidated. It was stiU
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 wiU drilled them Into a solid
party phalanx. AU had to conform to the lines
which he drew for the party, under the influence of
KendaU, Lewis, and HiU. 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-
1 Mackeinzie, 98.

286 ANDREW JACKSON
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 mes
sage relating to the Bank to the Committee on
Ways and Means or to a select committee, the
Bank triumphed, 108 to 67.
At the time of Tyler's struggle with Congress,
about his "Exchequer" plan, 1841, he tried to
win strength for it by connecting it with the re
commendation of Jackson. This led Jackson to
write to Lewis, January 1, 1842, as foUows : —
" I informed you in my last, that I regretted that part
of the Presidents message, that recommended a paper
currency of treasury notes, and as the President has
observed that it was shadowed forth by my message of
1830, I sincerely regret that he did not fully embrace
the propositions therein set forth — • Turn to it, and you
will find that there is no expression there that will
justify the idea of Congress making a paper currency of
any kind, much less by issue of Treasury notes — and it
is impossible to make out of any paper system, a sound
circulating and uniform currency. You are certainly
right that the mode presented is much better than a
national Bank, such as Biddies, because it admits ex
pressly that congress has the right to alter or repeal it."
A fortnight later, he added : —
" I discover that M"" Rives has adverted to my mes
sage of 1830 in support of the measures recommended.
I regretted to see this — it shows him uncandid, because
there is no likeness between them. In my message there
is no recommendation to issue treasury notes, or to dis-

ACTION OF CONGRESS ON THE BANK 287
count bills of exchange or to purchase property, with
power only to remit the funds of the government. My
explanatory remarks shews this — I remark, " This not
being a corporate body, having no stockholders, debtors,
or property, could not become dangerous to our country
&c &c, as incorporated Banks with all their mamoth
powers &c &c — In mine there were to be no paper, no
debtors, a cash business, where there could be no loss to
the government — The word Bank was used by me in
its proper sense to distinguish it from an incorporated
Bank — a place where the Tnoney of the government was
to be kept, to clearly show that it was to have no stock
holders, no power to issue paper, discount or exchange
and if M"' Rives will read all my messages and my fare
well address which was intended to give my full views
on Banking he will find he has done me great injustice
in referring to my messages, as authority for the fiscal
plan proposed by President Tyler. Every one who
knows me, must be aware of my universal hostility
against all government paper currency — The old con
tinental currency, was sufficient to convince me that a
greater curse could not visit a nation than a paper cur
rency — " ^
There Is a bank-plan in print which Is attributed
to Jackson.^
Benton offered a joint resolution. In the Senate,
February 2, 1831, " That the charter of the Bank
of the United States 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
1 Ford MSS. 2 ingersoU, 283.

288 ANDREW JACKSON
removed from the New York branch. Biddle re
monstrated, 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.
Secretary Cass revoked the order, March 1, 1832.
In the message of 1831 Jackson referred to the
Bank question as one on which he had discharged
his duty and freed his responsibility. The Secre
tary of the Treasury, McLane, 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, Jackson was wUling
to aUow the Bank question to drop, at least untU
the presidential election should be over. There is
even room for a suspicion that McLane's argument
In favor of the Bank was a sort of "hedging;"
for although the Secretary's report was not neces
sarily submitted to the President,! Jackson was
hardly the man to aUow a report to be sent in of
which he disapproved. 1 See page 353.

CHAPTER IX
THE CAMPAIGN OP 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 poUticIans 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 WiUiam Morgan,
who lived at Batavia, N. Y., and was very poor,
thought that he could earn something by writing
an exposure of the secrets 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 manu
script 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 satis
fied. Morgan was released, passed at the prison
door Into the hands of masked men, was placed In
1 Report of the Special Agent of the State of New York. 5
Ann. Beg. 537.

290 ANDREW JACKSON
a carriage, taken to Fort Niagara, and detained
there. A few days later a body was found floating
in the river, which was identified as Morgan's
body. The masons always denied that this identi
fication was correct. Morgan has never 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 declared that Morgan was not dead.
The opinion that Morgan had been murdered, and
that the body found was his, took possession 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 ori
ginal mystery that the truth cannot now be known.
The outrage on Morgan aroused great indigna
tion in western New York, then stiU a simple
frontier country. Public opinion acted on aU sub
jects. A committee appointed at a mass-meeting
undertook an extra-legal investigation, and soon
brought the matter Into such shape that no legal
tribunal ever after had much chance of unravelling
it. After the fashion of the time, and of the place
also, a poUtlcal color was immediately given to the
affair. As Spencer, the special agent appointed
by the State to investigate the matter, declared in
his report, the fact of this political coloring was
disastrous to the cause of justice. The politicians
^ 2 Hammond, 376. See, however, the trial reported 4 Ann.
Beg. 68.

OUTRAGE ON MORGAN 291
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
feeUng, however, was very strong, and it was fed
by public meetings, committee reports, etc. The
monstrous outrage deserved that a strong pubUc
opinion should sustain the institutions of justice In
finding out and punishing the perpetrators. Some
of the officers were too lax and indifferent In the
discharge of their duties to suit the public temper.
They were masons. Hence 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 rendered logical and at least
plausible. Many persons resolved not to vote for
any one who was a mason for any public office.
Moreover, the excitement offered an unexampled
opportunity to the ambitious young orators and
poUtlcIans 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 could the popular excitement against
masonry, which furnished them their opportunity
and their capital. Many masons withdrew from
the order. Others fooUshly made light of the
outrage Itself. For the most part, however, the
masons argued that masonry was no more respon-

292 ANDREW JACKSON
sible, as an institution, for the outrage on Morgan
than the Christian church Is responsible for the
wrongs 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 in
the State of New York. In 1828 the anti-masons
were the old Clintonians,! the rump of the federal
ists, and many buck-taUs, with whom horror at the
Morgan outrage was a controUing motive. Jack
son, Clinton, and Van Buren were then aUied.
Jackson and Clinton were masons. The Clinton
ians who would not foUow Clinton to the support
of Jackson, either because they dIsUked the man,
or because he was a mason, and the buck-taUs who
would not vote for a mason, were Adams men.
The great body of the buck-taUs (amongst whom
party discipline was stronger than In any other
faction), the Clintonians who foUowed Clinton
into the Jackson camp, and the masons who let
defence of the order control 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 put down the
excitement by indirect means, because of its dis
organizing effects. This made them appear to
suppress Inquiry, and to be indifferent to the out
rage. It only fanned the flame of popular in
dignation, and strengthened anti-masonry. The
1 Clinton died February 11, 1828.

POLITICAL EFFECTS OF ANTI-MASONRY 293
anti-masons came out as an anti-administration
party in 1830. They held a convention at Utica
in August, and framed a platform of national
principles. This is the first "platform," as dis
tinguished 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 permanent party, and a national party, they
needed to find or make some political 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 else
where, and in very thin soU too, for a great political
organization. Since the masons were not con
stantly and by the life principle of their order per
petrators of outrages and murders, they could not
furnish regular fuel to keep up the Indignation of
the anti-masons. The anti-masons, then, adopted
their principles as an after-thought ; and for this
reason they needed an explicit statement of them
in a categorical form, i. e., a platform, far more
than this would be needed by a party which had
an historical origin, and traditions derived from
old . political controversies. Anti-masonry spread
rapidly through New York and large parts of Penn
sylvania and Massachusetts. Vermont became a
stronghold of It. It is by no means extinct there
now. It had considerable strength in Connect
icut and Ohio. It widened into hostUity to aU
secret societies and extra-judicial oaths. Perhaps
it reached Its acme when It could lead men Uke

294 ANDREW JACKSON
J. Q. Adams and Joseph Story to spend days
In discussing plans for abolishing the secrecy of
the Phi Beta Kappa society of Harvard College.!
That action of theirs 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 polit
ical convention.^ They held one at Philadelphia,
September 11, 1830,* which called another, to
meet September 26, 1831, at Baltimore, to nomi
nate candidates for President and Vice-President.
At the latter date 112 delegates met.* WUUam
Wirt, of Maryland, was nominated for President,
and Amos EUmaker, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-
President, almost unanimously. Wirt had been a
mason, and had neglected, not abandoned, the
order. In his 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 down the whole anti-
masonic movement, and put himself on no platform
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 repubUcan party special dele
gates from the non-republican States, so as to make that body
represent the whole party.
8 39 NUes, 58.
* 41 NUes, 83, 107. Twelve States were represented. W. H.
Seward and Thaddeus Stevens were in the convention.
8 2 Kennedy's Wirt, 350.

ANTI-MASONIC NOMINATIONS 295
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 declined.^ The anti-masonic convention pub
Ushed 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 hope 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 pro
vision in the Constitution of the United States
which conveys the sUghtest authority to the general
government to Interfere, one way or the other,
with either masonry or anti-masonry." He said
that if the President should meddle with that mat
ter he would be a usurper and a tyrant.^
1 8 Adams, 412, 416. 2 41 ^Ues, 259. 8 n jfUes, 166.
* Judge Spencer thought that Wirt could unite the opposition,
if Clay would stand back, and that Wirt could be elected over
Jackson. 1 Curtis's Webster, 402.
8 2 Kennedy's Wirt, 356, 362, 366.
» 41 NUes, 260; 8 Adams, 430.

296 ANDREW JACKSON
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 conduct showed that the opposition
was not united on any political poUcy whatever.
Jackson, on the contrary, had been consolidating
a party, which had a strong consciousness of its
power and its purpose, and a vigorous party wiU.
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 adminis
tration of the government back to the Jeffersonian
Ideas. In general this meant that he held to the
non-interference theory of government, and to the
policy of leaving people to be happy in their own
way. He had not yet been forced to commit him
self on land and tariff, although he had favored a
liberal policy about land ; but on internal improve
ments 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 aU heavy expenditures
on so-called national 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 three good party
cries. Further, the general non-interference policy

JACKSON'S PARTY 297
strengthens any government which recurs to It;
though aU governments in time depart from it, be
cause they always credit themselves with power to
do better for the people than the people can do
for themselves. In 1831-32 Jackson had not yet
reached this stage In his career. The deUcate
points in his record were tariff and Bank. If he
assailed the tariff, would 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, if 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
required that the opposition should force the fight
ing on tariff and Bank, especially on the latter.
We have seen ! what his 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 at
tacked Jackson is a ridiculous misrepresentation.
Clay did, however, seize upon the question which
Jackson had raised about the Bank, and he risked
that Important financial Institution on the fortunes
of a political campaign. The Bank was very un
wiUing to be so used. Its disinterested friends In
both parties strongly dissuaded Biddle from aUow-
1 Page 262. 2 i Benton, 227.

298 ANDREW JACKSON
ing the question of recharter to be brought Into the
campaign.! Clay's advisers also tried to dissuade
him. The Bank, however, could not oppose the
public man on whom it depended most, and the
party leaders deferred at last to their chief. Jack
son never was more dictatorial and obstinate than
Clay was at this juncture. Clay was the champion
of the system of state-craft which makes pubUc
men undertake a tutelage of the nation, and teaches
them not to be content to let the nation grow by
its own forces, and according to the shaping of the
forces and the conditions. His system of states
manship is one which always offers shelter to num
bers of Interested schemes and corrupt enterprises.
The public regarded the Bank, under his poUtical
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 La-
cock, of Pennsylvania, who as senator had made
a very strong report against Jackson on the Semi
nole war, was president of the convention. 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 fuUy and three
times over pledged to the people to negative any
biU that may be passed for rechartering the Bank,
and there is little doubt that the additional influ
ence which he would acquire by a reelection would
1 IngersoU, 268. 2 41 NUes, 301.

PETITION FOR RECHARTER 299
be employed to carry through Congress the ex
traordinary substitute which he has repeatedly
proposed." The appeal, therefore, was to defeat
Jackson in order to save the Bank and to prevent
the device proposed by .Jackson from being tried.
Such a chaUenge as that could have but one
effect on Jackson. It caUed every faculty he pos
sessed 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 had done at New Orleans.
He moved his lines up to the last point he could
command on the side towards the enemy. The
anti-Bank men, KendaU, Blair, and Hill, must have
been delighted to see the adversary put 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 popu
larity of Jackson. His popularity in rural Penn
sylvania had never had any rational basis, and
hence could not be overthrown by rational deduc
tions. His spirit and boldness in meeting the issue
offered by Clay won him support. His party was
not broken ; It was consolidated. The opposition
to him was divided, discordant, imcertain of itself,
vague in its principle, and hesitating as to its pro
gramme. The Bank could never be a strong pop
ular Interest, nor the maintenance of it a positive

300 ANDREW JACKSON
purpose which could avail to consolidate a party.
Opposition to secret societies was a whim which
never could inspire a party ; It could only avail to
put the kind of people who take up whims in the
attitude of stubborn opposition, which makes it im
practicable to cooperate with them In organization.
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 DaUas, and in the House by McDuffie. These
men were both " Bank democrats." This name is
ambiguous, unless we distinguish between Bank
democrats and bank democrats, for the latter name
began to be given to those who were interested in
local banks and who went over to Jackson when
he attacked their great rival. Sargent ! says Bid
dle told him that the Bank wanted Webster, or
some such unequivocal friend of the Bank, to pre
sent the memorial, but that DaUas claimed the duty
as belonging to a Pennsylvanian. There was great
and just dissatisfaction with DaUas 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 con
flict with some higher, some more favorite, some
more immediate wish or purpose of the American
people." In the Senate the petition was referred
to a select committee, and In the House to the
Committee on Ways and Means. The Senate
I 1 Sargent, 215.

PETITION FOR RECHARTER 301
committee reported favorably, March 13th, and
recommended only a few changes in the old char
ter. They proposed to demand a bonus of one and
a half miUions in three annual instalments. In
the House, McDuffie reported February 9th.! jje
said that the proposition to recharter had called out
a number of wUd propositions. The old Bank was
too large, yet now one was proposed with a capital
of fifty millions. He criticised the notion that aU
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 subscribe to bank stock is a strange thing to
discuss. Benton ^ says that the opponents of the Bank in
Congress 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 investi
gation, February 23d. He presented Benton's
charges, seven important and fifteen minor ones.
McDuffie answered the charges at once, but the
Investigation was ordered to be made by a special
committee. They reported, April 30th. The ma
jority reported that the Bank ought not to be
rechartered until the debt was aU paid and the
1 Document C. ^ 1 Benton, 236.

302 ANDREW JACKSON
revenue readjusted. R. M. Johnson signed this
report, so as to make a majority, out of good
nature. He rose in his place in Congress and said
that he had not looked at a document at PhUa^
delphia. The minority reported that the Bank
ought to be rechartered; that it was sound and
useful. John Quincy Adams made a third report,
in which he brought his characteristic Industry to
bear on the question, and discussed aU the points
raised in the attack on the Bank. It is to his
report that we are indebted for a knowledge of
the correspondence of 1829 between Biddle and
Ingham, 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 aUowance for
depreciation, it was granted. A case which came to
trial went off on technicalities, which were claimed
to amount to a confession by the Bank that it had
made an unlawful contract.^ The Bank had also
charged discount and exchange for domestic bills,
on such a basis that the two amounted to more than
six per cent, the rate to which it was restrained by
1 Document B.
2 Cf. Bank of the United States vs. WiUiam Owens O. al. 2
Peters, 527.

CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK 303
Its charter. This charge was no doubt true. The
device was used by aU banks to evade the usury
law. (2.) Branch drafts Issued as currency. The
amount of these outstanding was $7,400,000. The
majority of the committee doubted the lawfulness
of the branch drafts, but said nothing about
the danger from them as Instruments of cre^llt.
Adams said that they were useful, but Ukely to
do mischief. These drafts were In form redeem
able where issued, but in intention and practice
they were redeemed hundreds of miles away, and
they had no true convertibility. There was no
check whatever on the Inflation of the currency
by them so long as credit was active. Cambre
leng very pointedly asked Biddle how the branch
draft arrangement differed from an 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 aU the
branches which Issued branch drafts on it. That
was, to be sure, the assumption, but he had had
hard experience aU winter that it was not true In
fact.! (3.) Sales of coin, especiaUy American coin.
The Bank had bought and sold foreign coin by
weight, and had sold $84,734.44 of American gold
coin. The majority held that such coins were not
buUIon, because Congress had fixed their value by
law. Adams easily showed the fallacy of this. AU
1 See below, pages 311-12.

304 ANDREW JACKSON
gold coins, then, American included, were a com
modity, not money.!
(4.) Sales of public stocks. The Bank was for
bidden by the charter to sell pubUc 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 special permission by act
of Congress to seU them. Nevertheless, the ma
jority disapproved of the sale.
(5.) Gifts to roads, canals, etc. The Bank had
made two subscriptions of $1,500 each to the stock
of turnpike companies. The other cases were all
petty gifts to fire companies, etc. The majority
argued that, since the administration had pro
nounced against internal improvements, the Bank
ought not to have assisted any such works. Adams
said that the administration had opposed internal
improvements, on the ground that they were uncon
stitutional when undertaken by the federal govern
ment ; but he asked what argument that furnished
against such works when undertaken by anybody
else. (6.) Building houses to let or sell. The Bank
had been obliged. In some cases, to take real estate
for debts. When It could not seU, it had. In a
few cases, improved.
These points were the aUeged violations of the
charter. Biddle denied the seventh charge, of non-
user. In falling to Issue notes In the South and
' See page 390.

CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK 305
West for seven years. Adams pointed out that
these charges would only afford ground for a scire
facias to go before a jury on the 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 Intel
ligencer" (independent opposition). Duff Green,
of the "Telegraph" (administration 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 phrase meant nothing. He protested against
the examination of the editors. The case stood so
that, if the Bank discounted a note for an admin
istration editor, it was said to bribe him ; If for an
opposition editor, it was said to subsidize him.
(2.) Favoritism to Thomas Biddle, second cou
sin of the president of the Bank. T. Biddle was
the broker of the Bank. N. Biddle admitted
that the Bank had followed a usage, adopted by
other banks, of aUowing cash in the drawer to be
loaned out to particular persons, and replaced by
securities, which were passed as cash, for a few
days. He said the practice had been discontinued.

306 ANDREW JACKSON
Reuben M. Whitney made a very circumstantial
charge that T. Biddle had been aUowed to do this,
and that he had paid no Interest for the funds of
the bank of which he thus got the use. The loans
to him were very large. October 15, 1830, he had
$1,131,672 at five per cent. N. Biddle proved that
he was In Washington when Whitney's statement
Implied his presence In Philadelphia. Adams said
that Whitney lied. It was certainly true, and was
admitted, that T. Biddle had had enormous confi
dential transactions with the Bank, but Whitney
was placed, in respect to all the important part of
his evidence. In the position of a convicted calum
niator. 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 reiterated the charges against Biddle.!
(3.) Exporting specie, and drawing specie from
the South and West. The minority state that the
usual current was, that sUver was imported from
Mexico to New Orleans, and passed up the Missis
sippi and Ohio, and was exported to China from
the East. From 1820 to 1832, $22,500,000 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 of 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
1 52 Niles, 106.

CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK 307
have flowed through and past, leaving always
enough. The paper issues in the vaUey drove out
the specie, and little stayed. The branch drafts,
after 1827, helped to produce this result, and the
charge was, in so far, just.! fj^he Bank was also
charged with exporting specie as a result of its
exchange operations. It sold drafts on London
for use In China, payable six months after sight.
They were sold for the note of the 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 finan
cial science : " The legitimate object of banks the
committee believe to be granting facilities, not
loaning capital." On that theory there would
have been no fault to be found with the China
drafts, which must have been a great " facUIty "
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 estabUsh
them, and there was complaint If a branch was
lacking where the government or Influential indi-
1 Gouge says that, in 1828, there was no local bank in operation
in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, or Missouri, and only one each in
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Gouge, 39.

308 ANDREW JACKSON
viduals wanted one. To abolish one was not to
be thought of at aU. The whole history of the
Bank proves the evil of branches, unless the canons
of banking which are recognized are the soundest,
and the discipline the most stringent.
(5.) Expansion of the circulation by $1,300,000
between 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 aUeged were
produced by its efforts 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 always at a premium. Hence they
argued that the Bank gained more the further It
transferred funds for the government. The minor
ity ridiculed this as an annihilation 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 payable near the time when they would be
required by the government for the debt payments.
If the Bank had done this it would have carried to
a maximum the disturbances In the money market
which were actually produced by the semi-annual

CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK 309
payments on the debt. It would have Inflated and
contracted its discounts by an enormous sum 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 par. The Secretary In
formed the Bank, March 24th, just before the
Bank committee was raised, that he should pay
half the three per cents ($6,000,000) 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
$9,000,000 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 to be feared, which would derange
industry ; and the payment of the debt, with the
recaU 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
cient. Its enemies said that they were specious,
but were only pretexts. The Secretary agreed to
defer the payment of $5,000,000 of the three per
cents until October 1st, the Bank agreeing to pay
the interest for three months.! This matter will
be discussed below.
(9.) Incomplete number of directors. Biddle
was both government director and elected director,
so that there were only twenty-four In aU. The
' Document D.

310 ANDREW JACKSON
government directors might be reappointed indefi
nitely. The elected ones rotated. Biddle was
both, so that he might always be eligible to the
Presidency. (10.) Large expenditures for printing: $6,700
In 1830 : $9,100 in 1831. From 1829, the date
of Jackson's first attack, the Bank spent money on
pamphlets and newspapers to influence public
opinion in its favor.
(11.) Large contingent expenditures. There
was a contingent fund account, the footings of
which, in 1832, were $6,000,000, to sink the losses
of the first few years, the bonus, premiums on
public stocks bought, banking house, etc., etc.
The suggestion was that this was a convenient
place in which to hide corrupt expenditures, and
that the sum was so large as to raise a suspicion
that such were included in it.
(12.) Loans to members of Congress in ad
vance of appropriations. Adams objected to this
as an evil practice. He said afterwards that the
investigation into this point was dropped, because
it was found that a large number of congressmen
of both parties had had loans.
(13.) Refusal to give a list of stockholders resi
dent in Connecticut, so that that State might col
lect 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 denied.

CHARGES AGAINST THE BANK 311
In aU 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 aU their points are taken together,
thought that the Bank ought to lend the pubUc
deposits liberally, and draw them in promptly
when wanted to pay the debt, yet ought to refuse
no accommodation (especiaUy to any one who was
embarrassed), ought not to seU its pubUc stocks,
nor increase its circulation, nor draw in its loans,
nor part with its specie, nor draw on the debtor
branches In the West, nor press the debtor State
banks, nor contract any temporary loans. The
student of the evidence and reports of 1832, if he
believes the Bank's statements in the evidence, will
say that the Bank was triumphantly vindicated.
Two facts, however, are very striking : (1) The
most important of the charges against which the
Bank successfuUy 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
which an unpleasant doubt Is thrown by the cer
tainty that it was not thoroughly honest in some
other matters. In regard to the three per cents
(under 8), it is certain that Biddle wanted to
defer the payment for the sake of the Bank. He

312 ANDREW JACKSON
was embarrassed already by the debt of the western
branches, which had been produced by the opera
tion of the branch drafts. Their effect was just
beginning to teU 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. In 1830 and 1831 the United States
paid its stock note in the capital of the Bank.
Capital was easy to borrow. In October, 1831, a
certain stringency set in. The branch drafts were
transferring the capital of the Bank to the western
branches, and locking it up there in accommoda
tion paper, indefinitely extended by drawing and
redrawing. Biddle could not make the western
branches pay. He was forced to curtail the east
ern branches. At such a juncture It was impossi
ble for him to see with equanimity the pubUc bonds
which bore only three per cent interest paid off at
par, when the market rate for money was seven or
eight per cent. He wanted to get possession of that
capital. Even before he received notice that the
three per cents were to be paid, he tried to nego
tiate with Ludlow, the representative of a large
number of holders of the three 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
upon this measure of relief to which Biddle had re
course. Biddle was too plausible. In any emergency
he was ready to write a letter or report, to smooth
1 Polk's Minority Report, 1833, Document E.

BIDDLE'S PLAUSIBILITY 313
things over, and present a good face in spite of
facts. Any one who has carefully studied the
history of the Bank, and Biddle's "statements,"
wUl come to every statement of his with a disa
greeable sense of suspicion. It is by no means
certain, whatever the true explanation of the con
tradiction may be, that Whitney told a lie In
the matter in which his word and Biddle's were
opposed. 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 com-i
merce. He thought that this medium served as a
token and record of transactions, so that the trans
actions to be accomplished called out the paper,
and when accompUshed brought the paper back.
The art of the banker consisted in a kind of leger
demain, by which he kept bolstering up one trans
action by another, and sweUing the total amount
of them on which he won profits. There could
then be no inflation of the paper, if it was only
put out as demanded for real transactions. There
fore he never distinguished between blUs of ex
change and money, or the true paper substitute for
money, which is constantly and directly interchange
able with money, so that It cannot degenerate Into
a negotiable 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 spe
cial test of It. It was proved that they had none
of the character of convertible bank-notes or money,

314 ANDREW JACKSON
but were Instruments of credit, and, like aU instru
ments of credit which have cut loose from actual
redemption In capital, there was no more Umit to
their possible Inflation than to the infinity of hu
man hopes and human desires. Only a few months
after the congressional investigation, November,
1832, the president of the NashviUe branch wrote
to Biddle : " Be assured, sir, that we are as well
convinced as you are that too many blUs are offered
and purchased, — amounting to more than the
present crop of cotton and tobacco wiU pay; I
mean, before aU 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 could 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 dazzUng, 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 exclusively
protective and conservative, calculated to mitigate
suffering and yet avert danger." He sketches out
In broad and bold outlines the national and inter
national relations of American industry and com
merce and the financial relations of the Treasury,
with the Bank enthroned 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 aU the pub
lic and private finance of the whole country as a

BIDDLE'S INSINCERITY 315
school-master would teU boys how to do a sum in
long division ? However, It was aU humbug, and
especiaUy that part which represented the Bank
as watching over and caring for the public. As
Gouge most justly remarked, after quoting some
of Biddle's rhetoric : " The true basis of the in
terior 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 fuUy occupied In 1831-32 in taking care of
itself, mitigating Its own sufferings and averting
its own dangers.
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 pubUc deposits.
They were loaned again to merchants to pay new
duties, so that one credit was piled upon another
already in this part of the arrangement. Then
the deposits were caUed 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 Investors, and the capital
passed into new employments. Therefore Ben
ton's argument, which all the anti-Bank men caught
* Gouge, 56.

316 ANDREW JACKSON
up, that the financial heats and chiUs of this period
were certainly due to the malice of the Bank, is of
no force at aU. The disturbances were such, they
necessarily lasted so long, and they finally settled
down to such uncalculable final effects that aU such
deductions ka 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 shaU, on two
or three further occasions in this history, find the
" public deposits " banging about the money market
like a cannon baU 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 with the
question of recharter had passed away. In Janu
ary, Van Buren's nomination as minister to Eng
land was rejected by the Senate.! 'yi^q 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 Jack
son could demolish the Bank without shaking his
hold on Pennsylvania, but Van Buren was never
forgiven for the action of his State against the
Bank. It lUustrated again the observation made
above, that the popular Idol enjoys an unreason
able Immunity, while others may be held to an un
reasonable responsibility. All Jackson's intensest
1 See page 210. 2 2 Hammond, 351.

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION — 1832 317
personal feeUngs, as weU as the choice of the
kitchen cabinet, now converged on Van Buren's
nomination. The Seminole war grudge, hatred of
Calhoun, the Eaton scandal, and animosity to the
Senate contributed towards this end.
Parton gives us one of Lewis's letters, which
shows the wire-pulling which preceded the first
democratic convention. KendaU was In New
Hampshire in the spring of 1831. Lewis wrote
to him to propose that a convention 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.
KendaU 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 Balti
more, May 21, 1832. John H. Eaton was a dele
gate to the convention. He intended to vote against
Van Buren, for, although Van Buren had taken
Mrs. Eaton's part, he had not won Eaton's affec
tion. Lewis wrote to Eaton that he must not vote
against Van Buren " unless he was prepared to
quarrel with the general." Van Buren was nomi
nated by 260 votes out of 326. The " spontaneous
unanimity " of this convention was produced by the
wIU of Andrew Jackson and the energetic discipline
of the kitchen cabinet. It may weU be doubted
whether, without Jackson's support. Van Buren
could have got 260 votes for President or Vice-

318 ANDREW JACKSON
President In the whole United States, in 1882.
The " Globe " dragooned the whole Jackson party
into the support of Van Buren, not without con
siderable trouble. The convention adopted an ad
dress prepared by KendaU, containing a review of
Jackson's first administration.!
May 7, 1832, a national republican convention
of young men met in Washington. William Cost
Johnson was president. The convention ratified
the nominations of Clay and Sergeant, and passed
a series of resolutions In favor of tariff and internal
improvements, and approving the rejection of Van
Buren's nomination as minister to England.^
During the spring and summer Biddle took
quarters in Washington, from which he directed
the congressional campaign on behalf of the re
charter. He was then at the zenith of his power
and fame, and enjoyed real renown 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 con
sent.* 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
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 296. 2 42 NUes, 206, 236.
8 Livingston was on the side of the Bank. Hunt's Livingston,
253. * IngersoU, 268. On the same page it is said that Biddle was
talked of for President of the United States.

VETO OF THE BANK 319
drawer.! The anti-Bank men affirmed that Biddle
was corrupting Congress.
The charter passed the Senate June 11th, 28 to
20, and the House, July 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 probable that there was
room for his wiU to be any further 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 chaUenge
offered. Niles says ^ that, a week before the biU
passed, the best informed were " as six to half a
dozen," whether the biU, 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 10th.* 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 Individuals
could not do. (4) The States were aUowed to tax
the stock of the Bank owned by their citizens, which
would cause the stock to go out of the country.
1 IngersoU, 283. 2 42 Njies, 337.
8 Congress has chartered national banks as foUows : 1791, 1815
(vetoed), 1816, 1832 (vetoed), 1841, two biUs, both vetoed, 1863.

320 ANDREW JACKSON
/ (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
I could have given a better plan. (10) The Bank
would increase the distinction between rich and
poor. The biU was voted upon again In the Senate July
13th, yeas 22, nays 19. The veto therefore re
mained in force ; and if the Bank was to continue to
exist Jackson must be defeated. The local 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
safety-fund banks of New York were bound into a
solid phalanx by their system, and they constituted
a great political power. The chief crime aUeged
against the Bank of the United States was med
dling with politics. The safety-fund banks of New
York were an active poUtlcal power organized
under Van Buren's control, and they went into this
election animated by the hope of a share In the
deposits. The great Bank also distributed pam
phlets 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, from South Carolina, the nuUification

VOTE IN 1832 321
ticket ; Wirt, 7, from Vermont. There were two
vacancies — In Maryland. Clay carried Massa
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware,
and Kentucky, and five votes in Maryland. For
Vice-President Van Buren got 189. Pennsylvania
would not vote for him. She gave her 30 votes to
WiUiam Wilkins. Sergeant got 49 votes ; Henry
Lee, of Massachusetts, 11, from South Carolina ;
EUmaker, 7. At this election South Carolina alone
threw her vote by her Legislature. The popular
vote was 707,217 for Jackson ; 328,661 for Clay ;
254,720 for Wirt. Jackson's majority. In a total
vote (excluding South Carolina) of 1,290,498, was
123,936. In Alabama there was no anti-Jackson
ticket.

CHAPTER X
tariff, nullification, and the bank dueing
Jackson's second administbation
Geneeal Jackson now advanced to another
development of his political philosophy and his
political art. No government which has felt Itself
strong has ever had the seU-control to practise
faithfuUy 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 beUeve, 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
circumstances, has no chance whatever to play the
role of Caesar or Napoleon, but he may practise
the methods of personal government within the
Umits of the situation. Jackson held that his
reelection was a triumphant vindication 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

PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 323
people, to go on and govern on his own judgment
over and against everybody. Including Congress.
His action about the Cherokee Indians, his attitude
towards the Supreme Court, his construction of his
duties under the Constitution, his vetoes of inter
nal Improvements and the Bank, his defence of
Mrs. Eaton, his relations with Calhoun and Clay,
his discontent with the Senate, aU things, great
and smaU, in which he had been active and Inter
ested, were held to be covered and passed upon by
the voice of the people In his reelection.! Adula^
tion and success had already done much to make
Jackson a dangerous man. After his reelection,
his self-confidence and self-wiU became tenfold
greater.^ Moreover, his Intimates and confiden
tial advisers, KendaU, Lewis, Blair, and Hill, won
more confidence In themselves, and handled their
' 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 unanimous 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 vrith
power and flattery." " All the circumstances around him [when
he came to office] were calculated to make him entertain an
exalted opinion of himself, and a contemptuous one of others.
His own natural passions contributed to this result." Duane,
133, under date October, 1833. " There is a tone of insolence
and insult in his intercourse vrith both Houses of Congress, espe
ciaUy since his reelection, which never was witnessed between the
Executive and the Legislature before." 9 Adams, Diary, 51 ; De
cember 12, 3833.

324 ANDREW JACKSON
power with greater freedom and certainty. " I
do not believe that the world ever saw a more
perfectly unprincipled set of men than that which
surrounded Jackson at Washington."! It has
already been shown In this history that they were
perfect masters of the art of party organization,
and that they had a strong hatred of the Bank ;
but they had no statesmanlike Ideas In finance or
public policy, and they governed by playing on
the prejudices and vanity of Jackson.
Jackson's modes of action In his second term
were those of personal government. He proceeded
avowedly, on his own initiative and responsibility,
to experiment, as Napoleon did, with great pubUc
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 analyze these acts, and to bring
them, for purposes of generalization, into relations
with the stand-point or doctrine by which Jackson
acted, that moment he perceives 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, although we
believe In personal liberty with responsibUity, 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 Improvements and tariffs ; although we
1 John Tyler, in 1856. 2 Tyler's Tylers, 414.

PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 325
recognize the dreadful evils of bad banking and
fluctuating currency ; and although we believe that
the Union Is absolutely the first political Interest
of the American people, yet, if we think that In
telligent 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 reaUy appreciating it, and leav
ing behind him distorted and discordant elements
of good and iU, just fit to produce turmoil and dis
aster in the future. We have already seen, in
some cases, what was the tyranny of his popularity.
It crushed out reason and common sense. To the
gravest arguments and remonstrances, the answer
was, literally, " Hurrah for Jackson ! " Is, then,
that a sound state of things for any civilized state ?
Is that the sense of democracy ? Is a democratic
republic working fairly and truly by its theory in
such a case? Representative institutions are de
graded on the Jacksonian theory, just as they are
on the divine-right theory, or on the theory of the
democratic empire.
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

326 ANDREW JACKSON
every topic of political interest. The suggestions,
innuendoes, queries, quips, and sarcasms of the
" Globe " were scanned by the men who desired to
recommend themselves by the zeal which antici
pates a command, and the subserviency which
can even dispense with it. The editorials scarcely
veiled their inspiration and authorization. The
President issued a message to his party every day.
He told the political news confidentially, and in
advance of the mere newspapers, while deriding
and denouncing his enemies, praising the adherents
who pleased him, and checking, warning, or stimu
lating aU, as he thought best to promote discipline
and efficiency. When we say " he " did It, we
speak, of course, figuratively. If It was Blair's
voice, Jackson ratified It. If it was Jackson's
wUl, Blair promulgated It. We have an instance,
in a letter of Jackson to Lewis, August 9, 1832,
from Tennessee: —
" With my sincere respects to Kendall & Blair, tell
them the veto works well, & that the Globe revolves with
all its usual splendor — That instead, as was predicted
& expected by my enemies, & some of my friends, that
the veto would destroy me, it has destroyed the Bank.
" I have just read the address of the nulifying mem
bers of S°. Carolina to their constituents — I hope
Kendall, or Blair will criticize it well ; it is one of the
most jesuistical and uncandid productions I ever read,
and is easily exposed." ^
The South Carolinians thought that the Umit
1 Ford MSS.

NULLIFICATION CONVENTION 327
of proper delay and constitutional agitation had
been reached when the tariff of July, 1832, was
passed. In the year 1832 the nuUifiers, for the
first time, got control 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
November. The convention met as ordered ; Gov
ernor Hamilton was president of it. It adopted
an ordinance that the acts of Congress of May 19,
1828, and July 14, 1832, were nuU and void in
South CaroUna. These proceedings conformed to
a theory of the practice of nullification which
the South Carolina doctrinaires had wrought out ;
namely, that the Legislature could not nuUify, 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 nuUIfication was a triumph of
metaphysical politics. The South Carolinians went
through the evolutions, by which, as they had
persuaded themselves, nuUification could be made
a constitutional remedy, with a solemnity which
was either edifying or ridiculous, according as one
forgot or remembered that the adverse party at
tached no significance to the evolutions.
The ordinance provided that no appeal from a
South CaroUna court to a federal court shoiUd be

328 ANDREW JACKSON
aUowed in any case arising under any of the laws
passed in pursuance of the ordinance ; such an
appeal to be a contempt of court. AU 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 Legislature
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 volunteers might be caUed out. A thousand
stand of arms were to be purchased.
A Union convention met at Columbia early in
December. It declared itself ready to support the
federal government. It appeared, therefore, that
there would be civil war in South CaroUna. The
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 govern
ment. He ordered General Scott to Charleston,
and caused troops to coUect within convenient
distance, although not so as to provoke a coUi
sion. He ordered two war vessels to Charleston.
He Issued, December 10th, a proclamation to the
people of South Carolina. It was written by
Livingston, who, as we have seen,! jj^^ 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
1 See page 253.

ANTI-NULLIFICATION PROCLAMATION 329
Jackson did not like the constitutional doctrines
of the proclamation, which are Madisonian federal
ist, and not such as he had held, but that he let
the paper pass on account of the lack of time to
modify it.! There is nothing of the Jacksonian
temper in the document. It Is strong, moderate,
eloquent, and, at last, even pathetic.^ It Is very
long. The foUowing passage is perhaps the most
important In it : "I consider the power to annul a
law of the United States, assumed by one State,
incompatible with the existence of the Union,
contradicted expressly by the letter of the Con
stitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent
with every principle on which It was founded, and
destructive of the great object for which it was
formed." This proclamation voiced the opinion
and feeling of the whole country, except the nuUi
fiers in South Carolina and a few of their comrades
in other Southern States. The dignified tone of
the paper was especiaUy satisfactory. It was the
right tone to take to men who had aUowed 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 himself
a national civil hero for once, and he enjoyed the
^ Lewis in 3 Parton, 466 ; Tyler's Taney, 188. Taney recorded,
in 1861, that he should have objected to some of the doctrines of
the proclamation, if he had been in Washington at the time.
Ibid. 2 Jackson contributed a suggestion of the pathos. Hunt's
Livingston, 373.

330 ANDREW JACKSON
plaudits of those persons 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, nuUification would never
have attained any strength. The Southerners were
astonished at the proclamation. It seemed to them
inconsistent, even treacherous.! The constitutional
theories were not at aU such as Jackson had been
understood to hold. They ascribed Jackson's atti-
^ tude on this question to hatred of Calhoun. Old
John 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 dangerous doc
trines of the proclamation,^ and yet to uphold
the Union. This southern dissatisfaction alarmed
Jackson's managers. Lewis wrote to Ritchie of
Richmond, Sept. 17, 1833 : —
"I am very much in hopes he [Blair] will be able to
convince you [Ritchie], and other southern friends, that
the character of the proclamation has been greatly mis
understood, as well as the views of the President with
regard to it." 8
' Hodgson, 173. Cf Resolution of the South Carolina Legis
lature, 43 NUes, 300. Duff Green's Pol. Beg. vol. 2, passim.
2 2 Garland's Bandolph, 360.
8 Copy in Ford MSS.

CALHOUN'S COURSE 331
December 20th, Governor Hayne of South Car
olina issued a proclamation In answer to Jackson's.
Calhoun resigned 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 aUiances 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. Cal
houn seemed to have lost the talent for practical
statesmanship which he had shown In his earlier
years. He involved himself tighter and tighter in
spinnings of political mysticism and fantastic spec
ulation. Harriet Martineau caUs him a cast-iron
man, and describes his eager, absorbed, over-specu
lative type of conversation and bearing, even In
society.! " I know of no man who lives in such
utter intellectual solitude. He meets men and ha
rangues them by the fireside as In the Senate. He
is wrought like a piece of machinery, set going ve
hemently by a weight, and stops while you answer.
He either passes by what you say, or twists it into
suitability with what is in his head, and begins to
lecture again." He " Is as fuU as ever of his nul
lification doctrines [1836], and those who know
the force that is in him, and his utter incapacity of
modification by other minds, . . . wiU no more
expect repose and self-retention from him than
1 1 Martineau, Western Travel, 148.

332 ANDREW JACKSON
from a volcano in fuU force. Relaxation Is no
longer in the power of his wiU. I never saw any
one who so completely gave me the idea of posses-
sion. In his message of 1832, Jackson said that the
protective system must ultimately be limited to
the commodities needed in war. Beyond this 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 caUed on the Secretary of the Treasury
to propose a tariff biU. December 27th, in the
House, the Committee on Ways and Means re
ported a bUl based on the Secretary's views. It
proposed an immediate and sweeping reduction,
with a further reduction, after 1834, to a "hori
zontal " 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 mil
itary force ; also for provisions that federal courts
should have exclusive jurisdiction 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 not hostile to the Union, and
he made one unanswerable point against Jackson's
position. Jackson had referred to the Supreme
Court as the proper authority to decide the consti
tutionality of the tariff. The nuUifiers had always

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF PROTECTION 333
wished to get the tariff before the Supreme Court,
but there was no way to do so. The first tariff of
1789 was preceded by a preamble. In which the
protection of domestic manufactures was specified
as one of the purposes of the act ; but this form
had not been continued. The anti-tariff men tried
to have such a preamble prefixed to the tariff act
of 1828, but the tariff majority voted it down.
Congress had unquestioned power to lay taxes.
How could it be ascertained what the purpose of
the majority in Congress was, when they voted for
a certain tax law? How could the constitution
ality of a law be tried, when it turned on the ques
tion of this purpose, which. In the nature of the
case, was mixed and unavowed?! It was not,
therefore, fair to represent the nuUifiers as neglect
ing an obvious and adequate legal remedy. A
grand debate on constitutional theories arose out of
Calhoun's criticism of Jackson's message and pro
clamation. Calhoun, Grundy, and Clayton each
offered a set of resolutions,^ and a flood of meta
physical dogmatizing about constitutional law was
let loose. As it began nowhere, it ended nowhere.
In these disputes, the disputants always carefuUy
lay down. In their resolutions about "the great
underlying principles of the Constitution," those
premises which wiU sustain the deductions which
1 The principle is covered fuUy by the decision in Loan Associ
ation vs. Topeka, 20 WaUace, 655 ; but the practical difficulty
probably remains.
2 43 Niles, Supp. 222. The debate is there g^ven.

334 ANDREW JACKSON
they want to arrive at for the support of their in
terests. In the mean time the merits of the par
ticular question are untouched. To Inform one's
self on the merits of the question would require
patient labor. To dogmatize on "great prin
ciples " and settle the question by an Inference is
easy. Consequently, the latter method wiU not
soon be abandoned.
On the 21st of January, 1833, a biU for enfor
cing the collection of the revenue was reported to
the Senate. It gave the powers and made the pro
visions which Jackson had asked for. On the next
day Calhoun introduced his resolutions : that the
States are united "as parties to a constitutional
compact ; " that the acts of the general govern
ment, outside of the defined powers given to it,
are void ; that each State may judge when the
compact is broken ; that the theory that the people
of the United States " are now or ever have been
united on the principle of the social compact, and
as such are now formed Into one nation or people,"
Is erroneous, false in history and reason. It would
only be tedious to cite the other resolutions offered.
Webster was good enough lawyer to get tired of
the metaphysics very soon. Hodgson says that he
withdrew, defeated by Calhoim.! The appearance
of the " social compact " as an understood and
accepted element of political philosophy is worth
noting. The State Legislatures also passed resolutions.
1 Hodgson, 174.

COMPROMISE TARIFF 335
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New York,
Missouri, Tennessee, and Indiana pronounced
against nuUification ; North Carolina and Alabama
against nullification and tariff ; Georgia against
the tariff, also that nuUification is unconstitutional,
and that a convention of the Gulf States should
be held ; New Hampshire, that the tariff should
be reduced; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ver
mont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, that the
tariff ought not to be reduced. Virginia offered
to mediate between the United States and South
Carolina.! The House was at work on the tariff during
January. February 12th, Clay Introduced the
compromise tariff In the Senate, to supersede aU
other propositions and be a final solution of all
pending troubles. Of aU the duties which were
over twenty per cent, by the act of July 14, 1832,
one tenth of the excess over twenty per cent was
to be struck off after September 30, 1835, and one
tenth each alternate year thereafter until 1841.
Then one half the remaining excess was to be
taken off, and In 1842 the tax would be reduced
to twenty per cent as a horizontal rate, with a
large free list, home valuation, and no credit.
Credit for duties worked very mischievously. An
importer sold his goods before he paid his duties.
The price he obtained contained the duties which
he had not yet paid. Hence he was able to get
capital from the public with which to carry on his
1 8 Ann. Beg. 48.

336 ANDREW JACKSON
business. In the end perhaps he became bankrupt,
and did not pay the duties at aU. In 1831 a re
port from the Treasury stated the duty bonds in
suit at $6,800,000, of which only $1,000,000 was
estimated to be collectible. Clay's compromise,
as first drawn, had a preamble, in which it was
stated that, after March 3, 1840, all duties should
be equal, " and solely for the purpose and with
the Intent of providing such revenue as may be
necessary to an economical expenditure by the
government, without regard to the protection or
encouragement of any branch of domestic industry
whatever." !
Webster objected to the horizontal rate, and to
an attempt to pledge future Congresses. He was
now reduced, after having previously made some
of the most masterly arguments ever made for free
trade, to defend protection by such devices as he
could. Now he derided Adam Smith and the other
economists.'^ He first paltered with his convictions
on the tariff, and broke his moral stamina by so
doing. Many of the people who have been so much
astonished at his "sudden" apostasy on slavery
would understand it more easily, if their own judg
ment was more open to appreciate his earUer apos
tasy 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
1 1 Curtis's Webster, 434, 455.
2 1 Webster's Correspondence, 501. 8 43 jfUes, 406.

ENFORCEMENT AND COMPROMISE 337
tariff was taken up in the Senate. On the 25th
the House recommitted the tariff biU which was
there pending, with instructions to the committee
to report the compromise biU. 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 biU in the copy sent up from the House,
and passed it, 29 to 16. On the 27th the House
passed the enforcing bUl, 111 to 40. Thus the
oUve 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 Hayne seemed ready
to support him ; ! but the leading nuUifiers deter
mined to wait until Congress adjourned. February
1st was the day appointed for nullification to go
into effect, but all action was postponed. The
Legislature replied to Jackson's proclamation by
a series of resolutions which charged him with
usurpation and tyranny.^ Jackson was annoyed
by these resolutions, and made threats against the
leading nullifiers in January. The Governor had
summoned the convention to meet again on March
11th. The compromise tariff was regarded as a
substantial victory for the South. It became a law
on March 3d, the day on which the tariff of July
14, 1832, went into effect. The re-assembled con
vention repealed the ordinance of nullification,
passed another ordinance nuUifying the enforce
ment act, and adjourned. It is not quite clear
1 8 Ann. Beg. 290. 2 43 ^Ues, 300.

338 ANDREW JACKSON
whether the last act was a bit of fireworks to cele
brate the conclusion of the trouble, or was seriously
meant. If It was serious, it strongly iUustrated
the defective sense of humor which characterized
aU the proceedings of the nullifiers. The gentle
men who had nuUified a tax, and then nuUified a
contingent declaration of war, would probably, in
the next stage, have tried, by ordinance, to nuUify
a battle and a defeat. Adams quoted a remark of
Mangum, In 1833, that " the course of the southern
politicians for the last six or eight years had been
one of very great and mischievous errors. This is
now admitted by almost aU of them." ! They
threw away the grandest chance any men have ever
had to serve their country.
The compromise tariff settled nothing. The fact
was that Clay had been driven, by the rapacity of
the protected interests, to a point from which he
could neither advance nor recede, and Calhoun had
been driven by the nuUification enterprise Into a
similar untenable position. Benton says that Cal
houn was afraid of Jackson, who had threatened to
hang the nullifiers. Curtis, on the authority of
Crittenden, says that Calhoun, in alarm, sought an
interview with Clay, and that Clay Intervened.^
It is claimed that John Tyler brought them to
gether.* They met and patched up the compro
mise, by which they opened an escape for each
other. For ten years afterwards they wrangled,
1 9 Adams, 58. 2 i Curtis's Webster, 444.
8 1 Tyler's Tylers, 458.

THE BANK AND THE THREE PER CENTS 339
In the Senate, over the question who had been In
the worse predicament, and who won most. In 1833.
Clay claimed that he rescued protection from the
slaughter which awaited It in Verplanck's biU.
Calhoun claimed that the compromise tariff was
a free-trade victory, won by nulUficatlon. Clay
said that he made the compromise out of pity for
Calhoun and South CaroUna, who were in peril.
Calhoun said that nuUification kiUed the tariff, and
that Clay was flat on his back until Calhoun helped
him to rise and escape by the compromise. The
protected Interests were as angry with Clay as if
he had never served them. They accused him of
treachery. He never gained anything by his devo
tion to protection. He was right at least in say
ing that protection 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
buU-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 CadwaUader 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
1 See a speech by Clayton on Hugh L. White's action, October
5, 1842 ; 63 NUes, 106. Parton, IIL 478, has the same story.

340 ANDREW JACKSON
paying the debt for the government, desired to
Intrude itself Into the position of the Treasury, and
extend a loan which the Treasury wanted to pay.
Its object of course was to get a loan at three (or
four) per cent. This proceeding was obviously
open to grave censure. The obligation of the
Treasury would not cease, although the Bank
would have taken the public money appropriated
to the payment of the debt. Five miUIon dollars
were in fact transferred, in October, on the books
of the Bank, 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. Au
gust 22d General CadwaUader made an arrange
ment with the Barings, by which they were to pay
off aU the holders of the stocks who were not wiU
ing to extend them 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 pubUshed In a New
York paper, October 11th. October 15th, Biddle
repudiated the contract, because under it the Bank
would become a purchaser of public stocks, con
trary 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 in
terpreted the eagerness of the Bank to get pos
session of the three per cents as a sign of weak
ness, and he urged Congress to make a " serious

REPORTS OF 1833 ON THE BANK 341
investigation " to see whether the public depo
sits were safe. An agent, Henry Toland, was ap
pointed to Investigate on behalf of the Treasury.
He reported favorably to the Bank. The Com
mittee on Ways and Means also investigated the
Bank. The President's message created considera
ble alarm for a time, and, at some places, there
were signs of a run on the branches.! February 13,
1833, Polk reported a biU to sell the stock owned
by the nation in the Bank. It was rejected, 102
to 91. The majority of the Committee on Ways
and Means reported (Verplanck's report) that the
Bank was sound and that the deposits were safe.
On January 1, 1833, the assets were $80,800,000,
the Uabilities $37,800,000 ; leaving $43,000,000 to
pay $35,000,000 of capital. The circulation was
$17,500,000 ; specie $9,000,000. The local banks
were estimated to have $68,000,000 circulation and
$10,000,000 or $11,000,000 specie. The minority
report (Polk's) doubted if the assets were aU good,
and hence doubted the solvency of the Bank. It
referred to the western debts, and gave, in a supple
mental report, evidence of the character of these
debts. The committee Investigated the proceed
ings of the Bank in relation 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
1 43 NUes, 315.

342 ANDREW JACKSON
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
that the Bank was strong enough to relax the
orders, which had been given to the western
branches in the previous winter, to contract their
loans and remit eastward. He then supposed that
the arrangement with the Barings about the three
per cents had been concluded. The western affairs,
however, were at this time approaching a crisis.
The supplementary report (Polk's) by the minority
of the Committee on Ways and Means, March 2,
1833,^ contains conclusive evidence that the west
ern branches were in a very critical condition ; that
there had been drawing and redrawing between
the branches, and that Biddle knew it. The direc
tors had testified to the committee that they knew
nothing of any such proceedings. Some of the
most Important points In evidence are as foUows :
September 11, 1832, the cashier of the branch at
Lexington, Kentucky, wrote that he was enduring
a run. Two hundred and seventy-five thousand
doUars were sent to him from PhUadelphia, LouIs
vIUe, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Natchez. A
letter from Biddle to the president of the Nash
viUe branch, dated November 20, 1832, shows
plainly that he knew that redrawing was going
on. In a letter from the president of the Nash-
vUle branch, November 22d, the foUowing passage
1 Document E. 2 ^j-^;.

THE DRAFT ON FRANCE 343
occurs : " We wUl 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, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond,
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, LouisvUle, and Lexington
branches, and that he could not prevent a protest
save by redrawing on New Orleans. Again, No
vember 26th, he states that he had, within a year,
coUected drafts for a million doUars for the bank
and branches, " which, with smaU exceptions, have
been paid through our bill operations." The ma
jority of the committee of 1832-33 had interpreted
the fluctuations in the amount of bills at NashviUe
as proof that, when the crops came In, the debts
were canceUed. The minority show that these fluc
tuations 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
biUs were chasing each other from branch to branch
in the years 1832-33, and that they formed a mass
of debt, which the Bank could not, for the time,
control. March 2, 1833, the House adopted, 109 to 46, a
resolution that the deposits might safely be con
tinued in the Bank. The reports of the committee
had not been carefuUy considered by anybody.
The Bank question was now a party question, and
men voted on It according to party, not according

344 ANDREW JACKSON
to evidence. Whatever force might be attributed
to any of the facts brought out by Polk in the
minority report. It does not appear that anybody in
Congress reaUy thought that the Bank was insolvent
and the deposits in danger. His supplemental re
port bears date March 2d, that is to say, the day
on which the House acted. Polk did not propose
to withdraw the deposits. He wanted to avoid any
positive action. McDuffie objected to this policy
that, if Congress 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
Treasury did not draw untU February 7th. Then
he drew a sight draft, which he sold to the Bank for
$961,240.30. Congress, 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 provided
for In it. The draft was therefore protested, and
was taken up by Hottinguer 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 amoimt of
the blU. It demanded fifteen per cent damages
under an old law of Maryland, which was the law
1 44 NUes, 108. 2 gee p. 217.

PROJECT OF REMOVING THE DEPOSITS 345
of the District of Columbia. The Treasury paid
the amount of the biU, and offered to pay the
actual loss Incurred. July 8, 1834, Biddle in
formed the Secretary of the Treasury that the sum
of $170,041 would be 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 amount so withheld. It got judgment for
$251,243.54. The Bank appealed to the Supreme
Court, which, in 1844, reversed the judgment, find
ing that the Bank was the true holder of the bill
and entitled to damages.! On a new trial the
Circuit Court gave judgment for the Bank. The
United States then appealed on the ground that a
bill drawn by a government on a government was
not subject to the law merchant.^ The Supreme
Court sustained this view. In 1847, and again re
versed the decision of the Circuit Court.* No fur
ther action was taken.
In the spring of 1833, McLane was transferred
from the Treasury to the State Department. He
was opposed to the removal of the deposits by
executive act, which was now beginning to be urged
in the inmost administration circles. WiUiam J.
Duane, of Pennsylvania, was appointed Secretary
of the Treasury. This appointment was Jackson's
1 2 Howard, 711.
2 Suppose that France had drawn on the United States for the
sum due in 1787. 8 5 Howard, 382.

346 ANDREW JACKSON
own personal act. He had admired Duane's father,
the editor of the " Aurora," and he declared 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
standing. 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 re
moval of the deposits, but that it began to be talked
of in the inner administration circles soon after
Jackson's second election. In the cabinet McLane
and Cass were so earnestly opposed to the project
that It was feared they would resign. McLane
sent for KendaU to know why it was desired to
execute such a project. This was before McLane
left the Treasury. KendaU endeavored to per
suade him. Cass finally said that he did not
understand the question. Woodbury was neutral.
Barry assented to the act, but brought no force to
support It. Taney strongly supported the project.
He was an old federalist, who had come into Jack
son's party in 1824, on account of Jackson's letters
to Monroe about non-partisan appointments.^ He
was Jackson's most trusted adviser In 1833 : so his
biographer says, and it seems to be true. Van
Buren warmly opposed the removal at first. Ken
daU persuaded him. He seems to have faltered
1 Parton obtained from WUliam B. Lewis an inside account of
the removal of the deposits. Duane wrote a fuU account of it,
and there is another account in Kendall's Autobiography, but it is
by the editor, and only at second hand from KendaU.
2 Tyler's Taney, 158.

PROJECT OF REMOVING THE DEPOSITS 347
afterwards, but KendaU held him up to the point.!
Benton warmly approved of the removal, but
was not active In bringing it about. Lewis op
posed it.
The proceeding Is traced, by aU the evidence, to
KendaU and Blair as the moving spirits,'^ with
Reuben M. Whitney as a coadjutor. These men
had no public official responsibility. They cer
tainly were not recognized by the nation as the
men who ought to have a controUing influence on
public affairs. They were animated by prejudice
and rancor sixteen years old. Andrew Jackson's
power and popularity, moving now under the Im
pulse of the passions which animate an Indian on
the war-path, were the engine with which 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 doc
trine was that the Bank would use the public
deposits as a means of corrupting the political in
stitutions 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
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 383.
2 KendaU's Autobiography, 375. 8 Lewis in 3 Parton, 503.

348 ANDREW JACKSON
people are aware of." " What I object to Is that
there Is an under-current, a sly, whispering, slan
dering system pursued." ! 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 Constitution and to
the country ; and the conviction that they were
weU founded now became irresistible. I knew
that four of the six members of the last cabinet,
and that four of the six members of the present
cabinet, opposed a removal of the deposits, and
yet their exertions were nullified by individuals,
whose intercourse with the President was clandes
tine. During his absence [in New England]
several of those individuals caUed on me, and
made many of the identical observations, in the
identical language used by himself. They re
presented Congress as corruptible, and the new
members as in need of special guidance. ... In
short, I felt satisfied from aU that I saw and
heard, that factious and selfish views alone guided
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 confidence in Congress." " If the Bank is per
mitted to have the public money, there is no power
that can prevent it from obtaining a charter; it
1 Duane, 130. 2 Duane, 9.

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS 349
wIU have It, If it has to buy up all Congress, and
the pubUc funds would enable it to do so ! " "If
we leave the means of corruption In Its hands,
the presidential veto wiU avaU nothing." ! The
statements in KendaU's " Autobiography " are In
perfect accord with these. It Is perfectly plain
who was at the bottom of this project, what their
motives were, how they set to work, how they gave
a bias to Jackson's mind, and furnished him with
arguments and phrases. It Is also worthy of the
most careful attention that they and Jackson were
now busy " saving the country," holding in check
the constitutional organs of the country, above all
Congress ; and that they were proceeding upon as
sumptions 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 insulting to the
nation. The Jeffersonian non-interference theories
were now all left far behind. Jacksonian demo
cracy was approaching already the Napoleonic type
of the democratic empire, in which " the elect of
the nation " is charged to protect the state against
everybody, chiefly, however, against any constitu
tional organs.
On the first day of Duane's official Ufe, June 1,
1833, Whitney called on him, obviously In a cer
tain ambassadorial capacity, and made known to
him the project to remove the deposits from the
Bank, and to use local banks as depositories and
^ Lewis in 3 Parton, 505 et seq.

350 ANDREW JACKSON
fiscal agents. A few days later Jackson started
on a progress through New England. The recent
overthrow of nullification had rendered him very
popular.! ^Q one knew of any new trouble brew
ing, and there was a general outburst of enthusi
asm and satisfaction that a great cause of political
discord had been removed, and that peace and
quiet might be enjoyed. Jackson was feted en-
thusIasticaUy and generaUy. Harvard CoUege
made him a Doctor of Laws. Adams said that It
was " a sycophantic compliment." "As myself
an affectionate child of our Alma Mater, I would
not be present to witness her disgrace In conferring
her highest literary honors upon a barbarian, who
could not write a sentence of grammar and hardly
could speU his own name." ^ Jackson was very 111
at this time.* Adams wrote a spiteful page in the
" Diary," aUeging that " four fifths of his sickness
Is trickery, and the other fifth mere fatigue." " He
Is so ravenous of notoriety that he craves the sym
pathy for sickness as a portion of his glory."*
The low personal injustice which Is born of party
hatred is here strikingly iUustrated.
Duane did not accept the role for which he had
been selected. He objected to the removal of the
deposits. Jackson sent to him from Boston a long
argument, written by KendaU, to try to persuade
him. Jackson returned early In July. The ques
tion of the removal was then debated between him
1 Quincy's Figures, 354. 2 g Adams, 546.
8 Quincy's Figures, 368 et seq. * 4 Adams, 5.

KENDALL'S NEGOTIATIONS 351
and Duane very seriously, Duane standing his
ground. It Is evident that Taney was then asked
to take the Treasury In case Duane should continue
recalcitrant. Jackson left Washington on an ex
cursion to the Rip Raps without having come to an
arrangement with Duane.!
In July rumors became current that the Presi
dent intended to remove the deposits.^ August 6,
1833, while Jackson was absent, Taney wrote to
him, encouraging him to prosecute the project of
removal, and thoroughly 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 local banks, so as to find out
whether they 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 wiUingness to enter Into some arrangement
he got a number of favorable replies.^ Comment
ing on these replies, Duane says : " It was Into this
chaos that I was asked to plunge the fiscal con
cerns of the country at a moment when they were
^ In May, 1833, Jackson laid the comer-stone of a monument to
Washington's mother. On his way to the site of the monument,
while the steamboat was at Alexandria, Lieutenant Randolph, who
had been dismissed from the navy because he could not make his
accounts good, committed an assault on the President, and at
tempted to puU his nose. Considerable poUtical heat was excited
by the extra legal measures taken to punish Randolph for his
outrage. 44 NUes, 170.
2 44 NUea, 353. 8 Tyler's Taney, 195.
* Document F, page 10. ^ Document F.

352 ANDREW JACKSON
conducted by the legitimate agent with the utmost
simplicity, safety, and despatch." !
Rives published a story, in 1856, in the " Globe,"
to the effect that, whUe Jackson was at the Rip
Raps, where Blair was with him, a letter was re
ceived from KendaU saying that he had had such
ill success that the project of removing the deposits
must be given up. Jackson declared that the
Bank was broken. Blair tried to soothe him, say
ing that It was politicaUy dangerous, but not
broken. Jackson insisted. He now had formed
an opinion of his own. Better than anybody else
he had seen through Biddle's plausible and sophis
tical reasons for desiring to postpone the pay
ment of the three per cents, and he had adopted a
conviction that the Bank was financiaUy weak.
He reasoned that Biddle was proud and brave, and
that he never would have come to Washington to
beg Jackson to defer the payment, if the Bank had
not been so weak that he was forced to it. Rives
added that KendaU, when asked, denied that he
ever wrote any letter despairing of the removal.^
On Jackson's return he took up the business at
once. Of course Kendall's negotiations could not
be kept secret. Niles's " Register " for September
7, 1833, contains a long list of extracts from differ
ent newspapers presenting different speculations as
to the probability of the removal of the deposits.
The money market was, of course, immediately
affected. The Bank had ordered its branches to
^ Duane, 96. 2 Hudson's Journalism, 250.

PAPER READ IN THE CABINET 353
buy no drafts having over ninety days to run.
This was too short a time for " racers," considering
the difficulty of communication. The western
debts had now been considerably curtailed by the
strenuous efforts which had been made during the
year. In the cabinet, Duane was stiU resisting.
The sixteenth section of the Bank charter gave to
the Secretary of the Treasury, by specific desig
nation, 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 Representatives. John Adams objected to the
position thus created for the Secretary of the Trea
sury.! ^t other times also it has caused com
plaint.^ His position certainly was anomalous.
His powers and responsibiUties were in no consist
ent 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 the responsibUity ; and he extended
his responsibility over Duane on the theory that
the Secretary was a subordinate, bound only to
obey orders. What then was the sense of provid
ing in the charter that the Secretary might use
^ 1 Gibbs, 569. 8 J. Adams's Life and Works, 555.
2 4 Adams, 501. See a history of the Treasury Department in
a report of the Committee on Ways and Means, March 4, 1834.
46 NUes, 39.

364 ANDREW JACKSON
a certain discretion, and that he should state to
Congress his reasons for any use he made of it ?
Jackson's responsibility was only a figure of speech ;
he was elected for a set term, and could not and
would not stand again. As Congress stood there
was no danger of 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,! Jq ^tich he argued that the deposits ought
to be removed. The grounds were, the three per
cents, the French biU, the political activity of the
Bank, and its unconstitutionality. He said that
he would not dictate to the Secretary, but he took
all the responsibiUty of deciding that, after Octo
ber 1st, no more public money should be deposited
In the Bank, and that the current drafts should be
aUowed to withdraw aU money then In it. Duane
refused to give the order and refused to resign.
He was dismissed, September 23d. Taney was
transferred to the Treasury. He gave the order.
Taney told Kendall that he was not a poUtlcIan,
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 correspond
ence between the President and himself, In which
he gave fifteen reasons why the deposits ought not
1 Tyler's Taney, 204. 2 KendaU's Autobiography, 186.

KENDALL'S NEGOTIATIONS 355
to be removed.! One of them was, "I believe
that the efforts made In various quarters to hasten
the removal of the deposits did not originate with
patriots or statesmen, but in schemes to promote
factious and selfish purposes." The administra
tion press immediately turned upon Duane with
fierce abuse.^
The removal of the deposits was a violent and
unnecessary step, even from Jackson's stand-point,
as Lewis tried to persuade him.* The Bank had
no chance of a recharter, unless one is prepared to
believe that it could and would buy enough con
gressmen to get a two-thirds majority. If It had
been wiUing to do that. It had enough money of Its
own for the purpose, even after the deposits were
withdrawn. The removal caused a great commo
tion, — even a panic* Bank stock feU one and
one half per cent at New York, but It recovered
when the paper read In the cabinet was received,
because the grounds were only the old charges.
The pubUc confidence 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 pursued him point by
point.^ No doubt Biddle wrote this paper. In
1 45 NUes, 236.
2 In a letter dated June 7, 1837, Duane complained that he
found himself completely " ostracized, disowned, outlawed on aU
sides.'' " My position is a warning to aU persons to adhere to
party, right or wrong.'' New York Times, May 13, 1894.
8 Lewis in 3 Parton, 506. « 45 NUes, 65.
8 45 NUes, 248.

356 ANDREW JACKSON
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
Europe in 1832, on account of the Importations
of 1831. He wanted to prevent an exportation of
specie and give the country leisure to pay that
debt. He said that the Bank was at ease, and
would have kept quiet If it had considered only Its
own interests. Nothing less than the movements
which involve continents and cover years would do
for him to explain his policy. No motive less than
universal benevolence would 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 $6,700,000. In 1832 it was $11,300,000. In
1833 it was $8,500,000. In September, 1833, it
was $9,100,000.! KendaU reported to a cabinet
meeting the results of his negotiations with the
banks. One bank was objected to "on poUtical
grounds." ^ Twenty-three were selected before the
end of the year. The chance for favoritism was
speedily perceived. The first Intention was to use
the Bank of the MetropoUs, Washington, 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
1 Document H. 2 KendaU's Autobiography, 387.

DISORDER IN THE FISCAL SYSTEM 357
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 busi
ness. The Treasury was now forced to oversee, if
it did not originate, the system of relations be
tween 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 upon the control of the public
money which belonged 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 proceed with the experi
ment of using local banks. Webster expressed
strong disappointment and disapproval, claiming
that there should be a law.! March 18, 1834,
Webster proposed a bill to extend the charter of
the Bank of the United States for six years, with
out monopoly, 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
$20.00. The Bank men would not agree to sup
port it. It was tabled and never called up.^ April
15, 1834, six months after the deposits were re
moved, Taney sent to the Committee on Ways and
Means a plan for the organization of the deposit
bank system, but It was a mere vague outline.*
1 45 NUes, 400.
2 46 NUes, 52 ; 1 Curtis's Webster, 485 ; 4 Webster's Works,
82. 8 46 NUes, 157.

358 ANDREW JACKSON
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 regulated by measures aiming at
efficiency and responsibUity.
Taney desired that KendaU should be president
of the Bank of the Metropolis and organize the
system, but KendaU's readiness, which had not be
fore failed, had now reached Its limit. The Bank
of the Metropolis was then asked to admit Whit
ney as agent and correspondent 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 Whitney as
agent and correspondent at Washington 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 Investigation, In 1837, produced evidence very
adverse to his good character. Part of the cor
respondence between him and the banks was then
published. From that correspondence It is plain
that the chief argument brought to support an ap-
pUcation 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 proved that the
deposits were ever used by the Bank of the United
States for any political purpose whatever. It Is
conclusively proved that the deposits were used
by Jackson's administration, through Whitney's
1 KendaU's Autobiography, 388. 2 52 NUes, 91.

THE TRANSFER DRAFTS 359
agency, to reward adherents and to win supporters.
The first banks which took up the system also, in
some cases, used the deposits which were given to
them to put themselves In the position which they
were required, 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 caUing on them to pay
balances. It was then considered wrong and cruel
for one bank to caU 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 deposit banks at New
York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, so that they
might offset any such malicious demand. Other
wise, 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 specidatlons.! For fear of scandal
this act was passed over by the Executive, but It
led to an investigation by Congress. Taney was a
stockholder in the Union Bank.^ The Manhattan
Company used one of these drafts for $500,000.*
^ Kendall's Autobiography, 389. Cf. Document H, page 339.
It is weU worth whUe to read these two passages together in
order to see how much deceit there was in the proceedings about
the removal of the deposits.
2 Quincy's Adams, 227. He sold his stock February 18, 1834.
Document M.
8 Document H.

360 ANDREW JACKSON
Taney claimed the power to make these transfers.
He referred It back to a precedent set by Craw
ford,! yfjio, in his turn, when he had been called to
account for It, had referred it back to GaUatin.
The source of the stream, however, was not Gal
latin, but WUliam Jones, Acting Secretary.^ The
baneful effects of the large surplus of public
money are plain enough.
At the session of 1833-34 the message aUeged,
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 other
wise than in distributing GaUatin'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 itself,
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 his own ap
pointees, and a penalty which could not be consid
ered appropriate or duly measured to the offence.
He also charged the Bank with manufacturing
a panic. Taney reported " his " reasons for the
I Document F.
2 American State Papers, 4 Finance, 266, 279. Cf. 1 GaUatin's
Writings, 80. It has been asserted that Hamilton used the same
power. IngersoU, 279 ; cf. 6 HamUton's Works, 175.

REASONS FOR REMOVAL 361
removal. He argued that the Secretary must dis
charge his duties under the supervision of the
President ; that the Secretary alone had power to
remove 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 put
the removal which had been executed on the
ground of public Interest. The people had shown.
In the election, that they did not want the Bank
rechartered. It was not best to remove the de
posits suddenly when the charter should expire.
He blamed the Bank for increasing Its loans
from December 1, 1832, to August 2, 1833, from
$61,500,000 to $64,100,000, and then reducing
them, from that date until October 2, 1833, to
$60,000,000. He said that the Bank had forfeited
public confidence, had excluded the government
directors from knowledge to which they were en
titled, 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 documents to control elections. He
favored the use of the local 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 gov
ernment directors, who were said to have acted as

362 ANDREW JACKSON
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 Secretary of
the Treasury was rejected, to Jackson's great in
dignation. Taney was then nominated for judge
of the Supreme Court, and again rejected. Mar
shaU died in July, 1835. Taney was appointed
Chief Justice, December 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 Na
poleonic procedure. The Emperor made known
his wiU by a letter of instructions to his minister,
and this, when published. Informed the public.
Jackson used his " paper read in the 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 caUed for he
feU back on cabinet privilege.^ If Jackson's doc
trine was sound, there would be modes of governmg
this country without any responsibility to Congress,
and the " cabinet," as such, would come to have
recognized functions as a body for registering and
publishing the rescripts of the President. It was
a thoroughly consistent extension of the same doc
trine that Jackson, in his reply. In which he refused
1 46 NUes, 180. 2 45 xUes, 247.

az.

CENSURE OF JACKSON 363
to comply with the caU of the Senate, professed
his responsibility to the American people, and his
wiUingness to explain to them the grounds of
his conduct. Such a profession was an insult to
the constitutional organ of the mind and wiU of the
American people worthy of a military autocrat,
and although it might have a jingle which would
tickle the ears of men miseducated by the catch
words of democracy, nevertheless a people which
would accept It as a proper and lawful expres
sion from their executive chief would not yet
have learned the alphabet of constitutional govern
ment. In January, 1834, Jackson sent in a message
complaining that the Bank stUl 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 Secre
tary of War had no authority to remove the
pension funds from the Bank.
Clay introduced resolutions which finaUy took
this shape : " Resolved, (1) That the President, in
the late executive proceedings in relation to the
public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority
and power not conferred by the Constitution and
the laws, but in derogation of both. (2) That
the reasons assigned by the Secretary for the re
moval are unsatisfactory and insufficient." 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

364 ANDREW JACKSON
for the use of its funds for electioneering.! Feb
ruary 5, 1834, Webster reported from the Com
mittee 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 impeach
ment, but for that reason ought not to express an
opinion until the House saw fit to impeach. The
Bank charter provided that the Secretary should
report his reasons to Congress. On the doctrine of
the protest, however, one House of Congress could
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 aU winter. The " Pennsylvanian "
said : " The democrats never heartily sanctioned It,
and now, having the power, should amend or get
rid of It once and forever." ^ The New York
" Standard " called the senators " usurpers." *
The debates of the winter were acrimonious in
the extreme. Probably no session of Congress be
fore 1860-61 was marked by such fierce contention
in Congress and such excitement out-of-doors.
Chevalier, who was an acute and unprejudiced
1 45 Niles, 332. 2 46 jj^ii^s, 131. 8 jj,-rf. 147.

EXCITEMENT AND DECLAMATION 365
observer, said that the speeches of the administra
tion men resembled the French republican tirades
of 1791-92. They had the same distinguishing
trait, — emphasis. " Most generaUy the pictures
presented in these declamations are fantastical de
lineations of the moneyed aristocracy overrunning
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 hero " to sup
port and the " money power " to assail, the politi
cians 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 effect, that. If a man is only suffi
ciently ignorant, his whims and notions constitute
"plain common sense." There are no questions
on which this dogma acts more perniciously than on
questions of banking and currency. Wild and
whimsical notions about these topics, propounded
with vehemence and obstinacy in Congress, helped
to increase the alarm out-of-doors.
Senators Bibb, of Kentucky, and White, of Ten
nessee, went into opposition. Calhoun, also, for
the time, aUied himself heartily with the opposi
tion. The Virginia Legislature passed resolutions con
demning the dismissal of Duane and the removal
of the deposits. In pursuance of the dogmas of
Virginia democracy. Rives, senator from that
1 Chevalier, 61.

366 ANDREW JACKSON
State, and supporter of the administration mea
sures, resigned. B. W. Leigh was elected in his
place. As soon as the resolution of censure was passed,
Benton gave notice of a motion to expunge the
same from the records. He introduced such a re
solution at the next session, and the Jackson party
was more firmly consolidated than ever before in
the determination to carry It. The personal ele
ment was present in that enterprise, with the desire
for revenge, and the wish to demonstrate loyalty.
March 3, 1835, the words " ordered to be expunged "
were stricken from Benton's resolution, 39 to 7,
and the resolution was tabled, 27 to 20. The
agitation was then carried back Into the State elec
tions, and " expunging " came to be a test of party
fealty. Benton renewed the motion December 26,
1836. The Legislature of Virginia adopted In
structions in favor of it. John Tyler would not
vote for it, and resigned. Leigh would not do so,
and would not resign. He never recovered 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
iUustrated in these proceedings. If the Virginia
doctrine were admitted, senators would be elected,
not for six years, but untU the politics of the State
represented might change. The senator would
not be a true representative, under the theory of
1 See his letter of reply : 50 Niles, 28. 2 ^;ge, 158.

EXPUNGING AND INSTRUCTIONS 367
representative institutions, but a delegate, or am
bassador. It would be another victory of pure
democracy over constitutional institutions.
The administration had a majority in the Senate
In 1836, but Benton says that a caucus was held
on expunging. The resolution was passed, 24 to
19, that black lines should be drawn around the
record on the journal of the Senate, and that the
words " expunged, by order of the Senate, this
16th day of January, 1837," should be written
across It. It was a great personal victory for
Jackson. The Senate had risen up to condemn
him for something which he had seen fit to do, and
he had successfvdly resented and sUenced its re
proof. It gratified him more than any other inci
dent of the latter part of his life. It was still
another step forward in the development of his
political methods, according to which his person
ality came mOre and more into play as a political
force, and the constitutional institutions of the
country were set aside. The day after the reso
lution was expunged, leave was refused, in the
House, to bring in a resolution that it is unconsti
tutional to expunge any part of any record of
either House.!
1 There was a case of expunging in Jefferson's time. A reso
lution which had been passed contained a statement that certain
fiUbusters thought that they had executive sanction. This was
expunged. 1 Adams, 439. A ease is mentioned in Massachu
setts. Quincy's resolution against rejoicing in naval victories was
expunged. IngersoU, 2.". For a discussion of other precedents
see the speeches of Rives and Leigh. 50 NUes, 168, 173.

368 ANDREW JACKSON
March 4, 1834, Polk reported from the Commit
tee on Ways and Means on the removal of the
deposits, supporting Jackson and Taney in all
their positions. He offered four resolutions, which
were passed, AprU 4th, as follows: (1) that the
Bank ought not to be rechartered, 132 to 82 ; (2)
that the deposits ought not to be restored, 118 to
103 ; (3) that the local banks ought to be deposi
tories of the public funds, 117 to 105 ; (4) that a
select committee should be raised on the Bank and
the commercial crisis, 171 to 42. The committee
last mentioned reported May 22d.! The majority
said that the Bank had resisted all their attempts
to Investigate. They proposed that the directors
should be arrested and brought to the bar of the
House. The position of the Bank seemed to be,
at this time, that since the Bank charter was to
expire, and the deposits had been withdrawn, any
further investigations were only vexatious. The
minority of the committee (Edward Everett and
W. W. Ellsworth) reported that the committee
had made improper demands, and that the instruc
tion given to the committee to examine the Bank
in regard to the commercial crisis was based on
improper assumptions. The Senate, June 30th,
Instructed the Committee on Finance to make
another Investigation of aU the aUegations against
the Bank made by Jackson and Taney in justifi
cation of the removal. That committee reported
December 18, 1834, by John Tyler.^ The report
1 46 NUes, 221, 225. 2 Document 1.

REPORTS OF 1834 369
goes over aU 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 depo
sits 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 of 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 loans always fluctuate,
the argument never slackened. The figures ap
pended to Tyler's report cover the whole history of
the Bank. There are no fluctuations there which
can be attributed to maUcious action by the Bank.
The root of aU the wrong-doing of the Bank, out
of which sprang nearly aU 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 $70,400,000.
The increase, so far as it was remarkable, was in the
western branches. The operation of the " racers "
Is also distinctly traceable 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 from the perUous position

370 ANDREW JACKSON
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 aU the grounds there
were for the charge of panic-making.
The Bank was very strong when the deposits
were removed. The loans were $42,200,000;
domestic exchange, $17,800,000 ; foreign ex
change, 2,300,000 ; specie, $10,600,000 ; due from
local banks, $2,200,000; notes of local banks,
$62,400,000 ; pubUc deposits, $9,000,000 ; private
deposits, $8,000,000 ; circulation, $19,100,000. It
also held real estate worth $3,000,000. During
the winter of 1833-34 there was a stringent money
market and commercial distress. The local 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
requirements in the hope of getting a share of the
deposits. It was they who operated a bank con
traction during that winter. It was six months,
and then only by the favor and concession of the
Treasury, before the local banks, " pet banks " as
they soon came to be caUed, 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
refused to plunge the fiscal interests of the country.
The administration, however, charged everything
to Biddle and the Bank. Petitions were sent to
Congress. Benton and the others said that there

COMMERCIAL CRISIS 371
was no crisis, and that the petitions were gotten
up for effect, to frighten Jackson into restoring
the deposits. The proofs of the genuineness and
severity of the crisis, in the forty-fifth volume of
Niles's " Register," are ample. 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 and 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 became violent ; told the dele
gations to go to Biddle ; that he had all the money ;
that the Bank was a " monster," to which aU the
trouble was due. In answer to a delegation from
Philadelphia, February 11, 1834, Jackson sketched
out the buUionist program, which the administra
tion pursued from this time forth as an offset 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
proposed, as an " experiment " (so he called it), to
induce 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 $20.00 and up
wards, so as to bring about a circulation of which
1 46 NUes, 133.
2 Taney made the first official statement of the plan of the
administration in a letter to the Committee on Ways and Means,
AprU 15, 1834.

372 ANDREW JACKSON
a reasonable part should be specie. Jackson's
personal Interest had been enlisted in this scheme.
He wrote to Lewis, while on a journey to Tennes
see, July 15, 1834: "supper is announced and I
am hungry — but I cannot forego saying to you
that all things appear weU in Virginia — the Gold
blU & a Specie currency are doing wonders — " !
The notion was good as far as it went, but had
precisely the fault of a good financial notion in the
hands of Incompetent men ; the scheme did not
take into account all the consequences of distribut
ing the deposits as proposed. It persuaded the
banks to conform to external rules about circula
tion, 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
inflation, which threw the whole business of the
country Into a fever, and then produced a great
commercial crisis. For a short period, in the sum
mer 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 pre
cautions. The local banks, by their efforts to
meet the Treasury requirements, were stronger
than ever before. The popular sentiment, however,
had now swung over again 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. If a deposit could not be obtained,
then the bank was formed in order to participate
1 Ford MSS.

MANIA FOR BANKS 373
in the carnival of credit and specidation, for a
non-deposit bank could manage its affairs as reck
lessly as It chose. The deposit banks speedily
drew together to try to prevent any more from
being admitted to share In the pubUc deposits.
The mania for banking was such that formal riots
occurred at the subscription to the stock of new
banks.! The favored few, who could subscribe
the whole, sold to the rest at an advance. To be
a commissioner was worth from $500 to $1,000.^
There was a notion, borrowed perhaps 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 them
selves from their embarrassments. The Tammany
society being in debt, a plan was formed for paying
the debt by making a bank.* When the great fire
occurred in New York, December, 1835, a proposi
tion 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 111 that can
befall the people of the United States, and yet It ,
adds not one cent to the capital of the commu
nity." * The effect of this multiplication of banks,
and of the scramble between them for the public
deposits, was that an enormous amount of capi
tal was arbitrarily distributed over the country,
1 42 NUes, 257 ; 44 NUes, 371. See some of these facts and
the use made of them in Brothers's United States, p. 51.
2 46 NUes, 188. 8 Mackeinzie, 70. * 49 Niles, 298.

374 ANDREW JACKSON
according to poUtical favoritism and local influ
ence, and in entire disregard of the Industrial
and commercial conditions. The public debt was
all paid January 1, 1835. After that date the
public deposits increased with great rapidity, and
there was no occasion to spend them. The state of
things was therefore this : an immense amount
of capital was being coUected by taxes, and then
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 finan
cial, as this system produced while it lasted.
November 5, 1834, Secretary Woodbury in
formed the Bank of the United States that the
Treasury would not receive branch drafts after
January 1, 1835. This led to a spirited corre
spondence 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 " high-handed proceedings,"
its notes should no longer be received by the Trea
sury, 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,
^ Document J.

REVIEW OF THE BANK WAR 375
because It reflected on the report which he had
just made. In view of subsequent history, it is
worth whUe to notice the profession of faith which
was drawn from Tyler at this time. He said that
he was opposed to any national bank on constitu
tional grounds, but that he was free from Jack-
sonlsm, and that he wanted to be just to the exist
ing Bank. January 10th Polk introduced a biU
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. BiUs 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 government for four years, as a proof of the
evil effects of such an institution. He declared
that the Bank belonged to a system of distrust of
the popular will as a regulator of political power,
and to a policy which would supplant our system by
a consolidated government. Here, then, at the end
of the Bank war, we meet again with the second
of the theories of the Bank which Ingham formu
lated in his letter to Biddle of October 5, 1829,! at
the beginning of the Bank war. Ingham said that
some people held that theory. The assumption
that the Bank held that theory concerning Itself
had been made the rule of action of the govern
ment, and the laws and administration of the coun-
1 See page 276.

376 ANDREW JACKSON
try had been made to conform to that assumption
as an established fact. At the session of 1835-36
an attempt was made to investigate the transac
tions of members of Congress with the Bank. It
was abandoned when Adams declared that a simi
lar attempt in 1832 had been abandoned, because
it cut both ways.

CHAPTER XI
SPECULATION, DISTBIBUTION, CUEEENCY LEGISLA
TION, AND END OP THE BANK OF THE UNITED
STATES
Speculation and Inflation. — In the spring of
1835 the phenomena of a period of speculation
began to be distinctly marked. There was great
monetary ease and prosperity in England and
France, as weU as here. Some Important im
provements in machinery, the first railroads,
greater political satisfaction and security, and
joint stock banks were especially favorable ele
ments which were then affecting France and
England. The price of cotton advanced sharply
during 1834-35. Speculation seized upon cotton
lands In Mississippi and Louisiana, and on negroes.
Next it affected real estate in the cities at which
cotton was handled commerciaUy. The success of
the Erie Canal led to numerous enterprises of a
like nature in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, In
diana, and IlUnois. Capital for these enterprises
was not at hand. The States endeavored to draw
the capital from Europe by the use of their credit.
The natural consequence was great recklessness in
contracting debt, and much " financiering " by

378 ANDREW JACKSON
agents and middle-men. The abundant and cheap
capital, here and abroad, of 1835-36 favored aU
the improvement enterprises. These enterprises
were, however, in their nature, investments, returns
from which could not be expected for a long
period. In the mean time, they locked up capital.
It appears that labor and capital were withdrawn
for a time from agriculture, and devoted to means
of transportation. Wheat and flour were im
ported in 1836.! The land of the Western States
had greatly risen in value since the Erie Canal
had been open. Speculation in this land became
very active. Timber lands in Maine were another
mania.^ The loans of capital from Europe in
creased month by month. The entire payment of
the public debt of the United States had a great
effect upon the imagination of people in Europe.
It raised the credit of the United States. It was
thought that a country which could pay off Its
debt with such rapidity must be a good country
in which to invest capital. The credit extended
to the United States depressed the exchanges, and
gave an unusual protection to the excessive bank
note issues in the United States. Those issues
sustained and stimulated the excessive credit which
the public deposits were bringing into existence.
The banks had an arbitrary rule that a reserve of
specie to the amount of one third of the circulation
would secure them beyond any danger. So long
as the exchanges were depressed by the exportation
1 50 Niles, 50, 74 ; 51 NUes, 17. 2 43 Niles, 167.

SPECULATION, 1835-36 379
of capital from Europe to America, no shipment of
specie occurred, and the system was not tested.
AU prices were rising ; aU was active and hopeful ;
debt was the road to wealth. If one could ob
tain capital for margins, and speculate on differ
ences In stocks, commodities, and real estate, he
had a chance to win enormous profits while the
credit system went on. Large classes of persons
were drawn to city occupations, exchange, banking,
and brokerage, because these industries were most
profitable. Cities grew, rents advanced, real estate
rose in value. Down to October 1, 1836, the fol
lowing States had forbidden notes under $5.00 :
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Lou
isiana, Indiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Maryland,
North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maine.
It appears, however, that smaU notes of earlier
issue were still in circulation, and the state of
things which the legislation meant to bring about
never was reached, so far as one can now learn.
In the autumn of 1835, the money market be- 1
came more stringent. This fact was charged to
the pet banks and to fears of trouble with France.!
The pet banks had every interest to arrest inflation.
If they were held to conservative rules, while the
non-deposit banks about them were not so held,
the former only left free room for the latter, and
then the former had to receive the notes of the
latter. In January, 1836, the rate of discount at
Philadelphia was two per cent per month.^ Banks
1 49 NUes, 225, 281. 2 49 ^Qg^, 313.

380 ANDREW JACKSON
were still being multiplied.! During 1836 prices
continued to rise, speculation was active, rates for
capital increased; there was complaint of a scar
city of money, and a demand for more banks.
Governor Marcy, of New York, in his message
for 1836, pointed out the "unregulated spirit of
speculation " which prevailed, and he warned the
Legislature against the faUacIes Involved in the
demand for more banks .^ In AprU the best com
mercial paper was quoted, at New York, at thirty
per cent to forty per cent per annum ; second rate,
at one half of one per cent per day.* At Boston
the rate was one per cent per month. Exchange
on England, at New York, was one hundred and
five (par one hundred and nine and three fifths),
showing the current of capital In spite of the in
flation. In May NUes said, " There is an awful
pressure for money In most of the cities," * yet he
also describes the unprecedented activity of busi
ness In Baltimore.
Land and Distribution. — In the first message
after his reelection. In 1832, Jackson proposed, in
regard to the public lands, that they should be
sold to the new States and to actual settlers at a
very low price. December 12th of that year Clay
reintroduced his land blU.^ He succeeded in get
ting it passed, but it was sent to the President
within ten days of the end of the session. Jackson
1 49 NUes, 435. 2 2 Hammond, 449.
8 Evening Post, in 50 NUes, 134. * 50 NUes, 185.
'' See page 2.34.

LAND DISTRIBUTION 381
did not sign it. In December, 1833, he sent in a
message stating his reasons for not doing so. He
objected especiaUy to the policy of giving away
the proceeds of the lands while levying heavy
duties on imports. The session of 1833-34 was
fuUy occupied with the Bank question and the
removal of the deposits. At the session of 1834-35
Clay again brought in a land bill, but no action
was taken. Relations with France occupied the
attention of Congress during that session, which
was a short one. At the session of 1835-36 Clay
Introduced a bill to distribute the net proceeds of
the lands, after taking out ten per cent for the ten
new States. Calhoun Introduced a joint resolution
to amend the Constitution so that the surplus
revenue could be distributed among the States.
He also introduced a bill to regulate the public
deposits. A bUl to distribute the surplus revenue
was also introduced. The land bill passed the
Senate May 4, 1836, by 25 to 20. It was tabled
in the House, 104 to 85, June 22d. The distribu
tion biU and the deposit biU were consolidated
into one, and passed by the Senate June 17th, 38
to 6. On the 20th of June, in the House, an effort
was made to divide the biU, so as to separate the
regulation of the deposits from the distribution,
but the effort failed. The House then changed
the plan of distributing the surplus to the States
as a gift, Into a plan for "depositing" it with
them subject to recall. In this shape the biU
passed, 155 to 38, and became a law by the concur- :
rence of the Senate and the President.

382 ANDREW JACKSON
The " Globe " ! said that Jackson would have
vetoed the biU as it came from the Senate. He
thought that the plan of " depositing " the surplus
was free from constitutional objections, but the
" Globe " gave notice to all whom it might concern
that the President would not sign any bUl the effect
of which would be to raise revenue by federal taxa
tion, and distribute the proceeds among the States.
The distribution measure was one of those errors
which are apt to be committed on the eve of a
presidential election, when politicians do not dare
to oppose measures which gratify class or local
feelings or interests. Webster opposed distribu
tion, unless the land income could be separated.
He said that taxes must be reduced even at the
risk of Injuring some industries.^ It was provided
in the biU that there should be in each State a
deposit bank, if a bank could be found which would
fulfil the prescribed conditions. Each of these
banks was to redeem all Its notes in specie, and to
issue no notes for less than $5.00 after July 4,
1836. The Treasury was not to receive, after that
date, the notes of any bank which did issue notes
under $5.00. It was to pay out no note under
$10.00 after the passage of the act, and no note
under $20.00 after March 3, 1837. If the public
deposits in any bank should exceed one fourth of
the capital of the bank. It was to pay two per cent
Interest on the excess. No transfer of deposits
from bank to bank was to be made by the Secre-
1 50 Niles, 281. 2 i Curtis's Webster, 537.

THE DEPOSIT AND DISTRIBUTION ACT 383
tary, 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 ; *. e., not
from one end of the country to the other. As to
distribution, the blU provided that aU the money
In the Treasury, January 1, 1837, in excess of
$5,000,000, was to be deposited with the States in
the proportion of their membership In the electoral
coUege, and in four Instalments, January, April,
July, and October, 1837. The States were to give
negotiable certificates of deposit, payable to the
Secretary or his assigns on demand. If the Secre
tary should negotiate any certificate, it should bear
five per cent Interest from the date of assign
ment. 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 pending election. A number of doubtful
States were " improvement 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 which to go on with the works.
Jackson argued In favor of the reduction and
1 50 NUes, 290.

384 ANDREW JACKSON
abolition of aU the taxes with which the compro
mise tariff allowed Congress to deal, and he exposed
completely the silly device by which the whigs
tried to justify distribution, separating the revenue
in imagination, and pretending to distribute the
part which came from land. Jackson made a lame
attempt to explain the recommendations which he
had made in his early messages in favor of distri
bution. He gave a table showing the effect of
distribution according to the ratio of membership
in the electoral coUege as compared with that on
the ratio of federal population. The smaU and
new States gained enormously by the plan adopted.
The best that can be said in excuse for distribu
tion is that the surplus was doing so much mischief
that the best thing to do with it was to throw
It away. Unfortunately, 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 operation.! The removal of the
deposits took place before that was completed, and
produced a new complication. The credit relations
formerly existing towards and around the great
Bank were rudely cut off, and left to reconstruct
themselves as best they could. As soon as the
new state of things had become a little established,
there was an accumulation of a great surplus, nom
inally In the deposit banks, reaUy loaned out to
individuals, and fuUy engaged In speculative im
portations with credit for duties, or in speculative
^ See page 315.

THE DEPOSIT AND DISTRIBUTION ACT 385
contracts, payment on which was to be received in
State bonds and scrip, or in stiU other indescriba
ble repetitions of debt and contract. The capital,
when thus fully absorbed, was next aU caUed in
again, in order to be transferred to the States. The
States did not intend to loan the capital ; they in
tended to spend It in public works ; that is, for the
most part, considering the actual facts as they ex
isted, to sink it entirely. In one way or another
these funds were squandered by aU the States, or
worse than squandered, since they served corrup
tion and abuse. In 1877 it was declared that the
Comptroller of New York did not know what had
become of the deposit fund of the State. For
many years the commissioners of only nine coun
ties had made any report. The ComptroUer asked
for $15,000 with which to find out what had
become of the $4,000,000 which was the share
of New York. The fact that the funds were
squandered was the least of the purely financial
evils attendant on distribution. The effect on
all the relations of capital, credit, and currency,
that is, the effect on every man's rights and inter
ests, was the most far-reaching and serious conse
quence.! On the 1st of June, 1836,^ the deposit banks
stood thus : capital, $46,400,000 ; due - to the
Treasurer of the United States, $37,200,000;
due to pubUc officers, $3,700,000 ; circulation,
$27,900,000; other deposits, $16,000,000; due
1 Bourne, Surplus Bevenue of 1837. 2 50 i^jieg^ 313,

386 ANDREW JACKSON
to other banks, $17,100,000. Contra: loans,
$71,200,000 ; domestic exchange, $37,100,000 ; due
from banks, $17,800,000 ; notes of other banks,
$10,900,000; specie, $10,400,000. It appears
then that these banks owed the United States
1,000,000, while their whole capital was only
3,000,000 ; that is to say, the public deposits
furnished them with a capital nearly equal to their
own. If their " other deposits " had been aU cash
capital deposited, four elevenths of aU their loan
able funds would have been public deposits, which
would have been " called " by the act of June 23,
1836. It is also noticeable what a large sum Is
due to and from other banks. The feeling that
banks ought to forbear demands on each other
seems to have been an outgrowth of the war
against the Bank of the United States. The con
sequence was that the banks were aU locked to
gether, and when the trouble came they aU went
down together.
In December, 1836, Calhoun introduced another
distribution 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 House
passed the bill and rider, but the Senate rejected
the whole. Clay also Introduced another land dis
tribution biU. Schemes of distribution were great
whig measures down to Tyler's time.
The first and second Instalments of the distri
bution of 1837 were paid in specie. In January

STATE DEPOSIT FUNDS 387
and April. The commercial crisis began in March.
The banks suspended In May. The third instal
ment was paid In notes in July. Before August
the Treasury, which was giving away $35,000,000,
was in the greatest straits. Van Buren was forced
to call an extra session of Congress. That body
had no more urgent business than to forbid the
Secretary to negotiate any of his "deposit" cer
tificates, or to caU on any of the States for the
money deposited with them. The payment of the
fourth instalment was postponed untU January 1,
1839. At that date there was debt, not surplus,
and the fourth instalment never was paid. Con
gress has never recaUed any part of the other three
instalments. Even when the civil war broke out,
it did not venture to do this. The amount of the
three instalments, $28,000,000, stands on the books
as unavailable funds. The Secretary of the Trear
sury was obliged to draw his first three instalments
where he could get them, so he drew them from the
North and East, the banks of the Southwest being
reaUy ruined. The fourth instalment remained
due from the banks of the Southwestern States.
It was years before any part of It could be re
covered. The Southwestern States participated in
the distribution of the three instalments.!
Specie Currency. — 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
1 See table, 53 NUes, 35. 2 ggg ^^^ 37^^

388 ANDREW JACKSON
Bank.! Benton, who was the strongest buUionist
In the administration circle, was under an exag
gerated opinion of the efficacy of a metallic cur
rency to prevent abuses of credit. A metaUic
currency is not liable to certain abuses, and it re
quires no skiU for Its management. In contrast
with 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 metaUic currency high 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 cir
culation the value currency, for which the pubUc
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 clus
ter about It and Impose upon uneducated people,
are a f uU justification for men of democratic con
victions, if they say : We do not understand it weU
enough to control it. We cannot spend time and
attention to watch it. We wiU not aUow it at aU.
Such confession of ignorance and abnegation of
power, however, is hardly in the spirit of demo
cracy. As a matter of history, the buUionist ten
dencies of a section of the Jacksonian party were
at war with other parts of the policy of the same
1 The Globe in 46 NUes, 331.

BULLION MARKET 389
party, notably the distribution of the public de
posits in eighty banks, with encouragement to loan
freely. The opposition party, on the other hand, took up
cudgels in behalf of 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 ba\iks of issue. In their arguments
against the buUionist party, they talked as If they
believed that, if the public Treasury did its own
business, and did it in gold, it would get possession
of aU the gold in the country, and that this would
give It control of aU the credit in the country,
because the paper 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 rating remained as It
was fixed by the laws of 1792 and 1793. The coin
age law had often been discussed before. Lowndes
studied it and reported on it in 1819 ; J. Q. Adams
In 1820. In 1830 Sanford, of New York, proposed
a gold currency with subsidiary sUver. 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 Verplanck, of
New York, wanted silver made sole money. On
account of the difficulty and delicacy of the sub
ject no action had been reached. In 1834 a new
1 46 NUes, 159.

390 ANDREW JACKSON
interest came In. The gold product of the South
ern AUeghanies 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 protec
tionist movement in behalf 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 doUar weighed 416
grains and was ^f f | fine, giving a ratio of 1 : 15.
The market ratio was, from 1792 to 1830, about
1 : 15.6. Therefore gold was not money, but mer
chandise. 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 between 1 : 15.6 and 1 : 15.8. The
mint put 1 : 15.8 as the highest ratio admissible.
Duncan, of lUinoIs, In a speech, showed that the
ratio since 1821 had been, on an average, 1 : 15.625.*
These authorities were all disregarded.
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
sUver, by this 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 penny
weight in the new. Taking gold to silver at
1 Raguet, 236. 2 Eaguet, 250. 8 47 Njies, 29.

SPECIE CURRENCY 391
1 : 15.625, an old sUver dollar was worth $1,024 in
the new gold one, and as the sUver doUar had
been the standard of prices and contracts, and the
new gold one now was such, the money of account
had been depreciated 2J per cent. In the new
standard, a pound sterling was worth, metal for
metal, $4.87073 ; and If the old arbitrary par, £1 —
$4.44^, were 100, the true par of exchange would
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 incre
ment to the previous demand in the whole world
for gold. The buUion brokers won by exchan
ging gold coins for sUver coins and exporting the
latter. In December, 1834, Woodbury, who had become
Secretary of the Treasury, gave the foUowing sta
tistics of the circulation on December 1st: local
bank paper, from $57,000,000 to $68,000,000;
Bank of the United States paper, $16,000,000;
gold, $4,000,000; sUver, $16,000,000; total ac
tive circulation per head, $7.00. In bank : specie,
$18,250,000 ; paper, $35,000,000 ; grand total per
head, $10.00.! fijg 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,
1 Document K, p. 64. 2 gge page 372.

392 ANDREW JACKSON
and was melted or exported.! The new mint law
therefore produced the inconvenience of driving
out sUver just when the administration was trying
to abolish smaU notes. A gold dollar had been
proposed in the new law, but the provision for it
was stricken out. The silver doUars then on hand
appear to have been aU cUpped or worn.^ The
first which had been coined since 1805 were coined
in 1836.* They could not, however, be kept in cir
culation. 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 assumed 100, par of
exchange was 109|. As soon as the crisis broke
out, in 1837, aU specie disappeared, and notes and
tickets for the smaUest denominations came into
use. At the session of 1835-36 Benton tried to get a
resolution passed that nothing but gold or sUver
should be taken for public lands. He did not suc
ceed. After Congress adjourned, July 11, 1836,
the Secretary of the Treasury issued, by the Presi
dent'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
1 47 NUes, 147. 2 37 ^Ues, 393. " 51 NUes, 241.

THE SPECIE CIRCULAR 393
for public lands. The occasion for this order was
serious. The sales of pubUc lands were increasing
at an extraordinary rate. Lands were sold for
$4,800,000 in 1834; for $14,700,000 in 1835;
for $24,800,000 in 1836. The receipts for the
lands consisted largely of notes of irresponsible
banks. Land speculators organized a " bank," got j
it appointed a deposit bank if they could, issued
notes, borrowed them and bought land ; the notes
were deposited ; they borrowed them again, and so
on indefinitely. The guarantees required of the
deposit banks were Idle against such a scheme.
There was, of course, little specie in the West on
account of the flood of paper there. The circular
caused inconvenience, and bad temper on the part
of those who were checked in their transactions.
It also caused trouble and expense in transporting
specie from the East, and it no doubt made a de
mand 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 which
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 in
flated currency must coUapse, and the crisis was at
hand. Moreover, the banks were under 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 en-

394 ANDREW JACKSON
gaged In enterprises, to finish which they depended
on bank loans, found themselves arrested by the
exorbitant rate for loans. The speculative period
in England had also run its course, and the infla
tion here could no longer be sustained by borrow
ing there. From aU these facts, it is plain that
the specie circular may have played the role of
the spark which produces an explosion, when all
the conditions and materials have been prepared ;
but those who caUed the circular the cause of the
crisis made a mistake which is only too common In
the criticism of economic events. A similar cir
cular was Issued In Adams's administration, which
had hardly been noticed.! There was a great deal
of outcry against the President for high-handed
proceedings In this matter, but without reason.
There were only two forms of currency which were
at this time by law receivable for lands, — specie
and notes of specie value.^ The notes which were
being 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 biU was that it was obscure.
1 7 Adams, 427.
2 Report by SUas Wright, May 16, 1838, with history of the
laws about currency receivable at the Treasury, 55 NUes, 106.

WINDING UP UNITED STATES BANK 395
The End of the Bank of the United States. —
The charter of the Bank of the United States was
to expire March 3, 1836. The history of the In
ternal affairs of the Bank, after Tyler's report in
1834, was not known to the public until 1841,
when committees of the stockholders published re
ports, from which we are able to state the internal
history of the Bank in Its true historical 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 released,
on call, on stock collateral. The exchange com
mittee, 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.! j^ November, 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 Philadelphia.
There was a proposition for a great fifty-miUion-
doUar bank at New York, and it seemed that If
Philadelphia lost her bank, and New York got
one, the financial hegemony would be permanently
transferred. In December, 1835, after the great
fire in New York, the Bank of the United States
was asked to give aid. It did so by opening credits
for $2,000,000 in favor of the insurance companies.*
The act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, by
which the United States Bank of Pennsylvania
1 49 NUes, 182. ¦' 49 NUes, 162. 8 49 j^Ues, 307.

396 ANDREW JACKSON
was chartered, is, on Its face, a piece of corrupt
legislation. Its corruption was addressed to the
people of the State, not to private Individuals. It
comprised three projects in an obvious log-roUing
combination, — remission of taxes, public improve
ments, and bank charter. The Bank was char
tered for thirty years.! It was to pay a bonus of
$2,500,000, pay $100,000 per year for twenty
years for schools, loan the State not over a mil
lion a year in temporary loans at four per cent,
and subscribe $640,000 to railroads and turnpikes.
Personal taxes were repealed by other sections of
the biU, 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 personal 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 State Senate,
19 to 12, and the House, 57 to 30.^ Inasmuch as
the democrats had a majority in the Senate, it was
charged that private corruption had passed the
biU. An investigation resulted in nothing. There
was found, in 1841, an entry, of about the date of
the charter, of $400,000 expenditure, vouchers for
which could not be produced.* Biddle represented
the case as If the proposition that the State should
charter the Bank had originated with leading mem
bers of the Legislature, who asked the Bank if it
1 49 NUes, 377, 396. = 49 xUes, 434.
8 Second report, 1841, 60 Niles, 202.

RETROSPECT OF THE BANK WAR 397
would accept a State charter.! The act was dated
February 18, 1836. The Bank accepted the char
ter, and presented a service of plate to Biddle.^
In the story of the Bank war, which has been
given in the preceding pages, the reader has per
ceived that the writer does not believe that Jack
son's administration had a case against the Bank,
or that the charges it made were proved. To say
this is to say that Jackson's administration un
justly, passionately, ignorantly, and without regard
to truth, assailed a great and valuable financial
Institution, and calumniated its management. Such
was the opinion of people of that generation, at
least until March 3, 1836. Jackson's charges
against the Bank were held to be not proved. The
effect of them naturally was to make confidence in
the Bank blind and deaf. In January, 1836, when
it was expected that the Bank would wind up in
two months, its stock stood at 116. For four years
afterwards, nothing seemed able to destroy public
confidence in the Bank. One thing alone suggests
a doubt, and makes one hold back from the adop
tion of a positive judgment in favor of the Bank,
even down to the end of its national charter :
that is, a doubt of Biddle's sincerity. If he was
not sincere, we have no measure for the degree of
misrepresentation there may have been In his plau
sible statements and explanations, or for how much
may have been hidden under the financial exposi
tions he was so fond of making, and which were,
1 Biddle to Adams, 51 NUes, 230. 2 49 j^jieg^ 441.

398 ANDREW JACKSON
like the expositions of a juggler, meant to mystify
the audience still more.
The final catastrophe of the Bank has always
affected the judgment which aU students of its
history have formed of the merits of Its struggle
with Jackson. The Jackson men always claimed
that the end proved that Jackson and his coterie
were right all the time. This has probably been
the general verdict. The whigs felt the weight of
the Inference, and they tried to distinguish between
the Bank of the United States and the United
States Bank of Pennsylvania. A little reflection
wIU show that both these views are erroneous. A
bank may go on weU and be sound for twenty
years, and then go wrong. It may make mistakes
and recover, 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 a continuous, an integral
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 historicaUy
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 State Bank started on its career under very
bad auspices. It never threw off the suspicion
which attached to its legislative birth. It was too
large for its new sphere, yet pride prevented its
reduction. It had other aims than to win profits
by sound banking. It wanted to prove itself

UNITED STATES BANK. OF PENNSYLVANIA 399
necessary, or to show Itself a public benefactor, or
to sustain the rivalry of Philadelphia with New
York. Biddle, freed from the restraints of the
old organization, launched out into sensational
banking, and tested his theories of banking to the
utmost. There is scarcely anything vicious and
unsound in banking which the great Bank did not
Ulustrate during the next five years. Its officers
plundered it. Its end was so ignominious that no
one wanted to remember that he had ever beUeved
in it.
On the 1st of February, 1836, the account of
the Bank ! showed a surplus of $7,800,000, which
was expected to pay off the bonus, notes, etc.
There were $20,000,000 loaned on stocks, and
there was the State bonus, the government stock,
and the circulation of the old bank to be paid.
New stock was sold to pay off the government
stock. £100,000,000 were borrowed in London,
and 12,500,000 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
1 60 NUes, 106. 2 piigt report, 1841, 60 NUes, 105.
8 50 NUes, 267.

400 ANDREW JACKSON
get back its bonus.! Jq that same month, how
ever, Biddle wrote another letter to Adams to
show the wrong of trying to repeal the State char
ter. June 23d, Congress authorized the Secretary
of the Treasury to treat with the Bank for the
payment of the government stock. No agreement
was reached, but, February 25, 1837, the Bank
sent a memorial to the Speaker, in which 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, and
the Instalments were all paid.
In his message, 1836, Jackson discharged a last
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 that the Bank had not paid
off the public stock, and was reissuing its old notes.
This latter proceeding was stopped by an act of
July 6, 1838. The Bank failed three times during
the years of commercial distress which foUowed,
namely. May 10, 1837, with all the other banks ;
October 9, 1839, when it carried down with It aU
which had resumed, except those In New York
and a few In New England; February 4, 1841,
when it was entirely ruined. Its stockholders lost
aU their capital.
Biddle had resigned March 29, 1839, but he
had been so Identified with the Bank that its ruin
was attributed to him. He fell Into disgrace. He
1 51 NUes, 113.

UNITED STATES BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA 401
was arraigned for conspiracy to plunder the stock
holders, but escaped on a technlcaUty. 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 " obsolete idea ; " ^ but perhaps the unkind-
est cut of all was that the Whig Almanac for 1843
could refer to " Nick Biddle " as a rascal, and to
" his Bank " as one which was " corruptly man
aged." ^ IngersoU, 285 ; a very touching description of Biddle's last
years. 2 2 Webster's Works, 135.

CHAPTER XII
THE NEW SPIEIT IN VAEIOUS POINTS OF FOEEIGN
AND DOMESTIC POLICY
Quarrel with France. — 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 en
gaged. In his message of 1834, he gave a fuU
account 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 constitu
tional authorities of France. The King had shown
strong personal interest in the matter,! ^nd had
exerted himself to secure a satisfactory settlement
and to prevent any bad feeling from arising be
tween the two nations. In the mean 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 caUed for spirited action. Moreover,
^ Livingston's dispatch, 47 NUes, 417. Rives came home in
1831. Livingston went out in 1833.

RELATIONS WITH FRANCE 403
Livingston wrote a very important dispatch from
Paris, November 22, 1834,! i^ ^iiich he said that
there was a disposition in France to wait and see
what the message would be ; also that the moderate
tone of the United States up to this time had had
a bad effect. " From aU this you may imagine the
anxiety I shaU feel for the arrival of the Presi
dent's message. On its tone wiU depend, very
much, not only the payment of our claims, but our
national reputation for energy." The message of
1834, which must have been prepared before this
dispatch was received, did not sin by moderation
and lack of energy.^ The Due de Broglie, the
French minister, afterwards declared that the ap
propriation would have been passed in December,
1834, if copies of this message had not just then
been received. Jackson was under erroneous In
formation as to the time of meeting of the French
Chambers. The Due de Broglie had also. In the
March previous, when the blU drawn by the Amer
ican Treasury went to protest, found fault with
the American government for seUing the bill to
a bank. Instead of receiving the money through
a diplomatic agent.* He argued that the United
1 47 NUes, 417.
2 Curtis (Buchanan, i. 235) gives, without mentioning authority,
a story that Judge Catron was sent to Jackson, by friends, at this
time, to ask him to make his message, so far as it referred to
the difficulty with France, mUd, and that Jackson took from his
drawer a letter from Louis PhUippe, urging that the message
should coutaia a threat of war, lest the payment be defeated in
France. 8 47 jjUes, 327.

404 ANDREW JACKSON
States ought not to have regarded the treaty as
definitive until aU the organs of the French govern
ment 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 proceed to
measures of coercion, amongst which he mentioned
reprisals, as suitable and " peaceable." He pro
posed that a law should be passed authorizing re
prisals, if France should neglect the fulfilment of
the treaty beyond a certain time. He added that
this suggestion ought not to be regarded by France
as a " menace." Chevalier thought that Jackson,
having had his bout with the nuUifiers, found his
blood heated and his appetite for war reawakened;
that he satisfied this appetite first in the Bank war,
and then in the difficulty with France.!
The message caused great excitement In France.
The French journals aU regarded It as a menace.
The feeling was aroused that France could not
then pay without dishonor.^ Additional embar
rassment arose from the fact that the King's active
interest was revealed by the documents published
in America. The bad temper of the French was
stiU further increased when they read Rives's let
ters. In which he seemed to boast of having out
witted the French minister, and Livingston's letter.
In which he suggested that France never would pay
unless the message brought her behavior before
• ChevaUer, 177. See his estimate of Jackson's character.
2 French newspapers quoted, 47 NUes, 327.

RELATIONS WITH FRANCE 405
Congress in a spirited way. The Committee on
Foreign delations of the Senate made a report,!
In which they expressed full agreement with the
President on aU the essential points ; but they re
garded the proposition to employ reprisals as pre
mature, and likely to embarrass the negotiations.
In the House, two reports were made,^ but they
were not important. The Senate voted unani
mously, January 14, 1835, that It was not expe
dient to adopt any legislative measures In regard
to the relations with France. In the House, J. Q.
Adams took the lead in sustaining Jackson's po
sition, and was largely influential in securing the
adoption by the House, unanimously, March 2,
1835, of a resolution that the execution of the
treaty should be insisted on. The French min
ister to the United States was recaUed. His final
note of January 14, 1835, was not received by
Jackson, but was referred back to the French gov
ernment ; they approved of it.
In December, 1834, the French Chambers re
jected a biU appropriating money to pay the indem
nities. 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, how
ever, returned to office with the understanding that
provision was to be made for fulfilling the treaty.
AprU 25, 1835, the French Chambers passed the
appropriation, but with a condition that no money
should be paid until "satisfactory explanations"
1 47 NUes, 344. 2 43 jfUes, 5 and 6.

406 ANDREW JACKSON
of the President's message of 1834 should be re
ceived. The original condition in the law was,
" until it shaU have been ascertained that the gov
ernment of the United States has adopted no mea
sures injurious to French Interests ; " ! but it was
afterwards changed to the other form ^ by amend
ment. Livingston wrote a note, April 25, 1835,
declaring that the message was a domestic docu
ment, for which no responsibility to any foreign
power would be admitted; that the message of
1834 itself contained a sufficient disclaimer; and
that the condition which had been incorporated in
the act of the French Chambers would prevent It
from being a satisfactory settlement.* He then
came home. In Congress, whose session ended
March 4th, an amendment to the usual appropria
tion bill for fortifications was proposed, by which
$3,000,000 were appropriated for extraordinary ex
penditures for defence, in case such should become
necessary before the next session. The whole
biU was lost, borne down, as it appears, by this
amendment. As the relations with France were
still more critical when Congress next met, and
nothing had been done for defence, on account
of the failure of that bill, a great deal of crimina
tion and recrimination took place In an effort to
fix the blame and responsibility. No result was
reached.* In the message of 1835, Jackson reviewed the
1 47 Niles, 436. 2 43 NUes, 220.
8 48 NUes, 318. * 49 Niles, 446.

RUPTURE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS 407
whole affair. Insisted that he had never used men
ace, 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 dis
patch of the Due de Broglie to the French charge
here, in June, 1835, set forth the French case. It
was read to Forsyth, but he declined 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 Broglie replied 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 ques
tion and answer were exchanged in October, 1835.^
Barton came home in January, 1836, and Pageot,
the French charge, was recaUed 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 Barton's correspondence. Livingston
toned down * this message somewhat from the first
Intention ; nevertheless Jackson In it again recom
mended coercive measures. He proposed to ex
clude French ships and products from the ports of
the United States ; that is to say, his reserve of
force by which to sustain his spirited diplomacy
1 49 NUes, 353. 2 49 Njieg, 347.
8 49 NUes, 345. * Hunt's Livingston, 428.

408 ANDREW JACKSON
was the old, imbecile, and worn-out device of a com
mercial war. He said that France was strengthen
ing her navy ; If against us, an apology from us
was out of the question.
Thus this question had been pushed into the
worst kind of a diplomatic dead-lock, out of which
neither party could advance without fighting, and
neither could recede without (supposed) dishonor.
That Is the evil of spirited diplomacy, for good
diplomacy would avoid such a dead-lock as one of
the worst blunders possible in the profession. The
English government now intervened, and offered
its good offices as mediator. The French govern
ment declared to the English that the President's
message of 1835 had removed the bad impressions
of that of 1834. This declaration was made known
to Forsyth by the English minister at Washington,
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 as 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 diplo
matic 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. » 49 Niles, 442.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT 409
The Post- Office. — Barry, the Postmaster-Gen
eral, was the only member of the cabinet retained
in 1831. In his hands the administration of the
Post-Office Department, both in its business and
its finances, steadily declined. The complaints In
1834-35 of the irregularity and delay of the mails
were very numerous and bitter. The department
was also running Into arrears financially. 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,! \yQ_
came for the time a very distinguished man, on
account of relations with mail contractors, 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
department, by which chicanery shrewd men take
advantage of inefficient public officers.^ Barry re
fused to answer some of the questions put to him,
and in place thereof, after the fashion of the time,
published an " Appeal to the American People." *
Brown resigned In an official document, Imitated
apparently from Van Buren's resignation of 1831.*
He too published an "Appeal," etc. Jackson
selected Kendall for Barry's successor. May 1,
1835. KendaU's administrative ability was great,
and he speedUy reorganized the department, and
1 See page 443. 2 47 N-Qes, 381, 393.
8 46 NUes, 338. * 47 NUes, 395.

410 ANDREW JACKSON
restored its efficiency. There was great doubt,
however, when he was appointed, whether he would
be confirmed. Barry was sent as minister to Spain,
but died on his way thither.
Slavery. — The emancipation of slaves in the
British West Indies in 1833 gave a great impulse in
the United States to abolition sentiment and effort,
which had not been active since the compromise of
1820 was adopted. The new spirit was manifested
in the organization of societies, distribution of
pamphlets and newspapers, petitions to Congress
to abolish 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 sentiments
of democracy and of religion were both against
slavery, and every step which was taken to arrest
the agitation — the gag law in Congress, by which
petitions about slavery were practicaUy shut out,
and the mob violence which was employed against
the agitators — only strengthened 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 chiefly with regard to the slavery question.
Jackson's administration was not caUed upon to
act on the slavery issue save in one or two points.
The abolition societies adopted the policy of

KENDALL'S ORDER ABOUT THE MAILS 411
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 faUen
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
white man, was poor indeed. These publications,
however, caused a panic and a wild indignation in
the South. The postmaster at Charleston, being
lectured by the people there on his duty, turned to
the Postmaster-General for orders. August 4,
1835, KendaU gave an ambiguous reply, so far as
orders were concerned. He, however, threw the
postmaster on his own discretion, and then said
for himself : " By no act or direction of mine, official
or private, could I be induced to aid, knowingly,
in giving circulation to papers of this description,
directly or indirectly " (t. e., papers alleged by the
postmaster to be " the most inflammatory and in
cendiary, and insurrectionary to the last degree " ).
" We owe an obligation to the laws, but a higher
one to the communities in which we live, and. If
the former be perverted to destroy the latter, it Is
patriotism to disregard them. Entertaining these
views, I cannot sanction, and wiU not condemn,
the step you have taken " in refusing to deliver
certain mail-matter. August 22d KendaU wrote
a long letter to Gouverneur, postmaster at New
York, elaborating and defending his position.!
1 49 NUes, 8.

412 ANDREW JACKSON
Politics were already combined with the slavery
question in this Incident. Kendall's confirmation
by the Senate was very doubtful, and Van Buren's
southern support was ready to abandon him at
a moment's notice, if slavery came into account.
Kendall won enough southern votes to carry his
confirmation. Texas and Mexico. — Monroe, as Secretary of
State, in 1816, instructed the Minister to Spain
that President Madison would consent to the Sa
bine from its mouth to its source as the boundary
between the United States and the Spanish pro
vinces.! When J. Q. Adams, in 1819, was nego
tiating 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 to try to push the
boundary westward.*^ Monroe appeared to think
that the United States would be weakened by
Including territory west of the Sabine.* It was
not long, however, before the southern slave-hold
ing interest began to see the error of this view of
the matter. After the Missouri Compromise was
adopted. It appeared that wild land for the forma
tion 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. The Richmond " Enquirer,"
March 7, 1820, said: The southern and western
I 12 Adams, 64. 2 gee page 84. » 11 Adams, 348. ,

SLAVERY IN TEXAS 413
representatives " owe It to themselves to keep their
eyes firmly fixed on Texas. If we are cooped
up on the north, we must have elbow room to
the west." ! Only a few persons, however, as
yet perceived this view of the matter. On June
23, 1819, one James Long proclaimed the Inde
pendence of Texas.^ In 1821 Austin colonized
three hundred families In Texas, by permission
of Mexico. In 1826 some American Immigrants
at Nacogdoches declared Texas Independent. In
1824 the Emperor of Russia tried to establish ex
clusive 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
Northwest and on the Pacific. It seems necessary
to bear in mind, aU through the history of the
annexation of Texas, the connection of that ques
tion with the acquisition of California, Including
the port of San Francisco, which was then the
chief reason for wanting California. Adams, when
President, In 1827, sent to Poinsett, minister of
the United States in Mexico, orders to try to buy
Texas for a mlUIon 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
abolition of slavery. By a decree of September
1 Quoted 1 Tyler's Tylers, 325. 2 17 j^jjes, 31 ; Jay.
8 The attempt to buy Texas seems to have been Clay's act.
Cf. 7 Adams, 239, 240 ; 9 Adams, 379 ; especially 11 Adams, 348.

414 ANDREW JACKSON
15, 1829, slavery was definitively aboUshed. In
the mean time, Americans had emigrated to Texas,
chiefly from the southern States, and had taken
slaves thither. They resisted the abolition decree,
and the Mexican government saw Itself forced to
except the State of Texas from the decree. It,
however, united Texas with Coahuila, as a means
of holding the foreign and insubordinate settlers
in check. The abolition of slavery by Mexico
affected the southern States doubly : first. It les
sened the area open to slavery; second, it put a
free State on the flank and rear of the slave terri
tory. 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 statesmen, 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 EE-annex what had
once been maliciously given away by a northern
statesman. The gravity and care with which
re-annexation was talked about had its paraUel
only In the theatrical legislation of nuUification.
In 1780 Spain claimed that the eastern boundary
of Louisiana was such as to include nearly aU the
present State of Alabama, and the Hiawasee, Ten
nessee, 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
I Ramsey, 623.

SLAVERY IN TEXAS 415
vague. Therefore, any one who chose to dabble
In the authorities could prove anything he Uked,
and think himself no contemptible scholar into the
bargain. " Texas," as a State of the Mexican
confederation, embraced only the southeastern cor
ner of the territory now included in the State of
that name.!
The anxiety about Texas was Increasing just
when Jackson came into power. The South ex
pected him to secure It. " If the discussion of the
acquisition of Texas brings on the agitation of the
slave question, as we are sure that it wiU, a rupture
with the northern States wUl become almost in
evitable."^ Erving, who had been minister to
Spain In 1819, claimed to show to Jackson that he
had, at that time, laid the basis for a negotiation
at Madrid, which would have set the boundary at
the Colorado, or even at the Rio Grande, but that
the negotiation was transferred to Washington,
where American rights were surrendered.* In the
summer of 1829 Van Buren sent instructions to
Poinsett to try to buy Texas, and five miUion
doUars were offered for it. In 1830 Mexico,
which had at first welcomed the Immigrants, for
bade Americans to settle in Texas. Of course this
law had no effect.
' 1 Carey & Lea's Atlas, 1822. Cf. Carey's map of 1814, on
which Texas seems to be deUneated as extending from the Nueces
to the Sabine.
2 Columbia, S. C, Telescope, Nov. 6, 1829, in 37 NUes, 213.
8 Letters in the Ford MSS. See p. 459.

416 ANDREW JACKSON
We are indebted to a Dr. Mayo, who was a
hanger-on at Washington during Jackson's time,
for a little 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
him by accident. He gives also many documents.
He was intimate with ex-Governor Samuel Hous
ton, of Tennessee, an old companion in arms of
Jackson, who came to Washington in 1829 to
get Jackson'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 pro
ceedings in Florida, cannot be estabUshed by proof,
but it is sustained by very strong inference.!
April 5, 1832, two treaties with Mexico were
published, — one of commerce and one of bound
aries, — confirming the boundary of the Florida
treaty. In 1833 a revolution broke out in Mexico, which
threw the whole country into anarchy, Texas with
the rest. Santa Anna gradually established his
authority. In the autumn of 1835 he tried to
extend It over Texas, but he met with armed resist
ance, and was defeated. In July, 1835, Jackson
authorized an offer of an additional half million
doUars If Mexico would aUow the boundary, after
1 See 11 Adams, 41, 347, 357, 363 ; and his Fifteen Day Speech,
of June, 1838. Wise {Decades, 148), affirms it very positively.
He is better authority on this point than on some others about
which he is very positive, e. g., the Adams-Clay bargain.

INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS 417
the cession of Texas, to foUow the Rio Grande up
to the thirty-seventh degree, and then run on that
paraUel to the Pacific.! All propositions to pur
chase failed. After the Texans proved able to
beat the Mexicans in battle, no further propositions
of that kind were made.
March 2, 1836, a Declaration of Independence,
on behalf of Texas, was adopted. March 6th the
fort of the Alamo was taken by the Mexicans, and
its defenders massacred. On the 27th Colonels
Fannin and Ward, with other Texan (or Ameri
can) prisoners, were massacred. On the 17th of
March the Constitution of Texas was adopted.
It contained the strongest provisions in favor of
slavery. The massacres aroused great indignation
In the Southwest, and hundreds of adventurers
hastened to Texas, where Houston was now chief
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 promised everything in captivity, but canceUed
his promises after he was released.*
1 11 Adams, 362. 2 jay, 28.
8 There is in the Ford MSS. a copy of a letter from Lewis to
Houston, in which the former proposes the plan which was fol
lowed : " To turn Santa Anna loose upon those gentry who have
possessed themselves of his place. ... If he were to return to
Mexico, I have no doubt he would g^ve them enough to do at
home, instead of coUecting and miarching their forces against
you." He added that, if Santa Anna did not keep faith, foreign
nations would acknowledge Texas. He states that the letter was
written at the suggestion of the President, that it had been read
to him, and that he desired that it should be sent.

418 ANDREW JACKSON
" The mission of Col. Butler having faUed, I then
determined to use my influence, after the battle of San
Jacinto, to have the independence of Texas acknow
ledged, and to receive her into the Union. But that
arch enemy, J. Q. Adams, rallied all his forces to pre
vent its annexation to the U. States — We must regain
Texas ; peacebly if we can ; forcibly if we must ! . . .
I repeat that the safety, as weU as the perpetuation of
our glorious Union depends upon the retrocession of the
whole of that country, as far as the aTwient limits of
Louisiana, to the U. States." ^
In June, 1836, Judge Catron wrote to Webster,
from Tennessee, that the spirit was abroad through
the whole Mississippi VaUey to march to Texas.^
Perhaps the disposition to march was not so strong
elsewhere, but Immense speculations in land had
already been organized, and great speculations in
Texan * securities soon after began, which enlisted
the pecuniary Interests of great numbers of people
in the Independence of Texas.
A correspondence now began between the repre
sentatives of the governments of the United States
and Mexico, which no American ought to read with
out shame. It would be hard to find an equally
gross Instance of bullying on the part of a large
State towards a small one. Jackson had ordered
1 Ford MSS. ; Jackson to Lewis, September 18, 1843.
2 1 Webster's Correspondence, 523.
8 The first issue of Texan bonds was authorized in November,
18.36. The first Treasury notes were issued November 1, 1837.
Gouge's Texas, 57, 71.

DEFINITION OF "TEXAS" 419
that General Gaines should enter the territory of
Texas, and march to Nacogdoches, if he thought
that there was any danger of hostiUties on the part
of the 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 re
miniscence of Florida revived. Gaines understood
his orders, and entered the Mexican territory.
Understanding also, no doubt, that the Jacksonian
proceedings of 1818 had now been legitimized as
the correct American Une of procedure for a mili
tary officer, he called on the governors of the
neighboring States for militia. Although com
panies were forming and marching to Texas under
fuU organization, this " call " was overruled by the
War Department. The energetic remonstrances
of the Mexican minister finally led to an order to
Gaines to retire from Texan territory, not, however,
untU after the Mexican minister had broken off
diplomatic relations.
In July, 1836, both Houses voted, the Senate
unanimously, that the independence of Texas ought
to be acknowledged as soon as Texas had proved
that she could maintain It. Texas was already
represented by agents applying for annexation.
Jackson recommended longer delay in a message
of December 21, 1836. The fact was that the
geographical definition of " Texas " was not yet
satisfactorily established, and it was not desirable
to have annexation settled too soon. An act was
passed by the Legislature of Texas, December 19,

420 ANDREW JACKSON
1836, by which the Rio Grande was declared to be
the western boundary of Texas. In his message
of December 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 southward the existing
boundary of the United States.! That Is as If
Maine should secede and claim that her boundaries
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 England
should set up a claim to the New England and
Middle States based on the " declaration " of Maine
above supposed. The policy was to keep the Texas
question open until California could be obtained.
The Mexican war ultimately became necessary for
that purpose, and for no other ; for Texas, even to
the Rio Grande, could have been obtained without
it.^ Another reason for delay was that opposition
to the annexation of Texas had been aroused in
the North, and there was not yet strength enough
to carry it. May 25, 1836, Adams * made a speech
against a war with Mexico to conquer Texas, which
had great influence in the North.
^ Document L.
2 3 Von Hoist, 67, 81, 103, 108, 112; Jay, 130.
" 50 NUes, 276.

DEFINITION OF "TEXAS" 421
March 1, 1837, the Senate recognized the inde
pendence of Texas, 23 to 19. The House did not
concur In fiUl form, but did in effect.
In 1836 the government ' of the United States
opened a new battery against that of Mexico In the
shape of a series of claims and charges. The
diplomatic agent of the former power, Powhatan
Ellis, performed his duties in such a rude and per
emptory 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
frivolous and forced, and bear the character of
attempts to make a quarrel.! EUis abruptly came
home. In August, 1837, the agent of Texas,
Memucan Hunt, made a formal proposal for an
nexation. 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 annexa
tion in the North had grown so strong that delay
was necessary, and negotiations were opened which
resulted in the convention of August 17, 1840.
Mexico could not fulfil the engagements she en
tered into in that treaty, or in a subsequent one of
1843, and so the question was reopened, and finally
was manoeuvred into a war. It appears that Van
Buren had the feeling which any President wiU
be sure to have, adverse to any war during his
administration. The Mexican war was forced on
1 Jay, 36 et seq.

422 ANDREW JACKSON
by a cabinet intrigue, and Tyler forced it on
Polk. The Texas intrigue and the Mexican war were
full of Jacksonian acts and principles. There are
constant outcroppings of the old Seminole war pro
ceedings and doctrines. The army and navy were
corrupted by swagger and insubordination, and by
the anxiety of the officers to win popularity by the
methods of which Jackson 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 public questions with
diplomatic agents, who were not always accredited.^
Briscoe vs. The Bank of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky. — In 1834 the case of Briscoe vs. The
Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky was ar
gued before the Supreme Court.* Briscoe and
others gave a note. In 1830, which they did not
pay at maturity. In the State Circuit 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 " biUs of
credit " within the prohibition of the Constitution,
and therefore of no value. The State court found
1 In 1824 Commodore Porter was guUty of an outrage at Fo-
xardo, Porto Rico. When conrt-martiaUed, he made an elaborate
comparison of his proceedings with those of Jackson in Florida,
by way of defence. 28 Niles, 370. He was cashiered.
2 11 Adams, 357. 8 g Peters, 118.

BRISCOE VS. BANK 423
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, in 1834, of Chief Justice Marshall,
of Virginia, appointed by Adams in 1801 ; and
Associate Justices Johnson, of South Carolina, ap
pointed by Jefferson in 1804; DuvaU, of Maryland,
appointed by Madison In 1811 ; Story, of Massa
chusetts, appointed in the same year by the same ;
Thompson, of New York, appointed by Monroe in
1823 ; McLean, of Ohio, appointed by Jackson
In 1829 ; and Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, appointed
by Jackson in 1830. Johnson was absent all the
term. DuvaU 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 biUs of credit under the
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,
decided in 1834, under the decision In Craig vs.
Missouri, that the notes of the Bank of the Com
monwealth were bills of credit.^
Judge Johnson died In 1834. DuvaU resigned
In January, 1835. Wayne took his seat January
14, 1835. Hence there was one vacancy in 1835,
1 See page 175. 2 45 NUes, 210.

424 ANDREW JACKSON
and Briscoe's case went over. MarshaU 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 bill of credit " is a paper issued by the sov
ereign power, containing a pledge of its faith and
designed to circulate as money." Notes, to be biUs
of credit, must be Issued by the State and bind
the faith of the State. Commissioners 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 bUls of
credit. Story rendered a very strong and unusu-
aUy eager dissenting opinion. In It he gave a
summary history and analysis of " biUs of credit "
as they existed before the Revolution, and as they
were understood by the Constitution-makers. He
explicitly referred to the former hearing of the
case, and said that Marshall had been in the ma
jority against the constitutionality of the issues.
The decision in Briscoe's case marks the begin
ning of a new era in the history of the constitu
tional law of the United States. Up to that time
the court had not failed to pursue the organic de
velopment of the Constitution, and It had, on every

DEFINITION OF BILLS OF CREDIT 425
occasion on which it was put to the test, proved
the bulwark of constitutional liberty, by the steadi
ness and solidity of judgment with which it had
established the interpretation of the Constitution,
and checked every partial and interested effort to
wrest the instrument from its true character. 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 wIU dispute the asser
tion, that no man can be named to whom the nation
is more indebted for solid and far-reaching services
than It is to John MarshaU. The proceedings of
the Supreme Court are almost always overlooked
in ordinary narrations of history, but he who looks
for real construction or growth in the institutions
of the country should look to those proceedings
first of all. EspeciaUy in the midst of a surging
democracy, exposed to the chicane of political
mountebanks and the devices of interested cliques,
the firmness and correctness with which the court
had held its course on behalf of constitutional lib
erty and order has been of inestimable value to
the nation. The series of great constitutional de
cisions, to which reference has been made in the
preceding pages, have now entered Into the com
monplaces of our law. They have been tested
through three quarters of a century. To see in
the retrospect that they were wise, and that the

426 ANDREW JACKSON
contrary decisions would have produced mischief,
Is one thing ; to see at the time. In the heat of con
troversy and under the clamor of Interests, what
was the sound and correct interpretation, and to
pronounce it In spite of abuse, was another thing.
In Briscoe's case the court broke the line of its
decisions, and made the prohibition of biUs of
credit nugatory.! If the degree of responsibUity
and independent authority which the directors of
the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky pos
sessed, and the amount of credit they gave to the
notes, aside from the credit of the State, was suf
ficient to put those notes outside the prohibition of
the Constitution, then no State coiUd find any
difficulty In making a device for escaping the
constitutional prohibition. Wild-cat banking was
granted standing ground under the Constitution,
and the boast that the Constitutional Convention
had closed and barred the door against the paper
money with which the colonies had been cursed
was without foundation. The great "banks" set
up by the southwestern States between 1835 and
1837 were protected by this decision. They went
on their course, and carried those States down to
bankruptcy and repudiation. The wUd-cat bank
ing which devastated the Ohio States between 1837
and 1860, and miseducated the people of those
1 " A virtual and incidental enforcement of the depreciated
notes of the State banks, by their crowding out a sound medium,
though a great evU, was not foreseen." Madison to C. J. Inger
soU, February 22, 1831 ; 4 ElUott, 641.

EFFECT ON THE COURT 427
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 Su
preme Court on the constitutionality of the legal-
tender act, must have borne an entirely different
color, if Marshall's opinion had prevailed in Bris
coe's case.
Jackson's appointments introduced the mode of
action by the Executive, through the selection of
the judges, on the Interpretation of the Constitu
tion by the Supreme Court. Briscoe's case marked
the victory of Kentucky relief finance and State
rights politics over the judiciary. The effect of
poUtical appointments to the bench is easily trace
able, 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 Inau
gurated 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 which should be legally sound. A later and
simUar instance is furnished by the legal-tender
cases. As for the immediate effect of Jackson's
appointments, it may be most decorously stated
by quoting from Story's reasons, in 1845, for pro
posing to resign : " I have been long convinced
that the doctrines and opinions of the old court
were daily losing gTound, and especiaUy those on
great constitutional questions. New men and new
opinions have succeeded. The doctrines of the

428 ANDREW JACKSON
Constitution, so vital to the country, which. In for
mer times, received the support of the whole court,
no longer maintain 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 recognized and en
forced." !
Civil and Social Phenomena. — During Jack
son'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, that, in
spite of all the pettiness and provincialism which
marked political controversies, 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 circumstances, and in
the energy of the people, that the political foUies
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
government, was in fact the highest poUtical wis
dom. On reflection it wiU 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 growing nation should
spread over new territory, and feel the thrUl of
its own young energies contending successfuUy
with nature In aU her rude force, without social
I 2 Story's Story, 527.

VIOLENCE 429
commotions and a certain recklessness and uproar.
The contagion of these forms of disorder produces
other and less excusable forms. On account of
the allowance to be made for violence and lawless
ness under the circumstances, and also on account
of the disagreeableness of recaUIng, If it can be
avoided, old follies, no recapitulation of the out
rages, mobs, riots, etc., of the period wiU here be
attempted. Suffice it to say that they were worse
and more numerous than either before or since.
Brawls and duels between congressmen, and as
saults on congressmen by persons who considered
themselves aggrieved by words spoken in debate,
were very frequent at Washington. The cities
possessed, as yet, no poUce. The proposition to
Introduce police was resented as an assault on
liberty. Rowdies, native Americans, protestants,
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 abolitionists, and less heinous violence
against the maUs. From Charlestown, Massachu
setts, 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
1 48 NUes, 439. 2 49 j^Ues, 49.

430 ANDREW JACKSON
the act. That Jackson's character and example
had done something 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 coun
try. Independent of all agency of the government,
is so great that the people have nothing to disturb
them but their own waywardness and corruption.
They quarrel upon dissensions of a doit, and split
up in gangs of partisans of A, B, and C, without
knowing why they prefer one to another. Cau
cuses, county. State, and national conventions,
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 aU,
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 im
migration 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
I 9 Adams, 187.

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF JACKSON 431
Uttle 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 philanthropic
work outside of politics ? Why not go about your
proposed Improvement soberly and in due measure ?
The truth was that nearly aU 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 capi
tal out of their " causes." There was something
provincial about the gossip and news-mongering
over smaU things, and about the dinners and ova
tions to fourth-rate men. One wonders If the
people had not enough interesting things to occupy
them. They could not have been very busy or
hard-worked, if they had time to spend on aU
these things. There was something bombastic, 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 up to
the dimensions of the occasion the trifle with which
he was forced to deal. At the same time serious
things, like nuUification, were treated by the same
inflated method, which made them ridiculous. On
every occasion of general Interest the people 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

432 ANDREW JACKSON
one reason why there was so much heat mixed up
with aU opinons. The prevailing disposition to
boast, and the over-sensitiveness to foreign criti
cism which was manifested, were additional symp
toms of immaturity.
January 30, 1835,! Jackson attended the fune
ral, at the Capitol, of Warren R. Davis, of South
Carolina. As he came out through the rotunda,
a man named Richard Lawrence snapped twp pis
tols in succession at him. Neither was discharged.
Lawrence gave half a dozen inconsistent reasons
for the act. He was plainly Insane. Jackson im
mediately gave the attack a political significance.
Some days after it occurred, Harriet Martineau
caUed upon him, and referred to the " insane at
tempt." " He protested. In the presence of many
strangers, that there was no insanity in the case.
I was silent, of course. He protested that there
was a plot, and that the man was a tool." ^ He
went so far as to name senator Poindexter, of
Mississippi, as the instigator. He was at feud
with Poindexter, although the latter had been with
him at New Orleans, and had defended him In
Congress In the Seminole war affair. Harriet
Martineau says that it was expected at Washing
ton that they would have a duel as soon as Jack
son's term was out. This was probably based on
a reputed speech of Poindexter, to which the
1 47 NUes, 340 ; 1 Tyler's Tylers, 508.
2 1 Martineau, Western Travel, 162. She was in the Capitol
when the attack occurred.

THE EQUAL RIGHTS PARTY 433
" Globe " gave currency.! That paper, nearly a
month after the attempted assassination, treated
the charge against Poindexter as not at all incredi
ble. Poindexter obtained an investigation by the
Senate, when the charge was, of course, easily
proved to rest upon the most frivolous and un
trustworthy assertions, no one of which would bear
the slightest examination, and some of which were
distinctly false. The incident, however, lUustrated
one trait of Jackson's character, which has been
noted several times before. The most extravagant
and baseless suspicion of a personal enemy. In con
nection with an injury to himself, struck his mind
with such a degree of self-evident truth that exter
nal 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 com
mitted perjury, and had suborned ^ others to do so.
Lawrence, on his trial, contlnuaUy Interrupted the
proceedings. He was acquitted, and remanded to
custody as an Insane person.
The Equal Rights Party or Loco-focos. — A
faction arose In New York city in 1834-35, which
caUed Itself the " equal rights party," or the
"Jeffersonian anti-monopolists." The organiza
tion of the Tammany HaU democrats, under Van
Buren and the regency, had become rig;id and
tyrannical. The equal rights faction revolted, and
declared that Tammany was aristocratic. They
represented a new upheaval of democracy. They
1 48 NUes, 33. 2 9 Adams, 229.

434 ANDREW JACKSON
took literaUy 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 Jeffersonian fountain" again, and
make some new deductions. They revived and
extended the old doctrines which Duane, of the
" Aurora," taught at the beginning of the century
in his " Politics for Farmers," and similar pam
phlets. In general the doctrines and propositions
might be described as an attempt to apply the pro
cedure of a township democracy to a great state.
The equal rights men held meetings at first se
cretly, at four different 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 they were plotting
the highest crime known to the political code In
which they had been educated, and which they
accepted. Their platform was : No distinction be
tween men save merit ; gold and sUver the only
legitimate and proper circulating medium ; no
perpetuities or monopolies ; strict construction of
the Constitution ; no bank charters by States (be
cause banks of issue favor gambUng, and are " cal
culated to build up and strengthen In our coimtry
the odious distribution of wealth and power against
1 ByrdsaU, 16.

THE "LOCO-FOCOS" 435
merits and equal rights ") ; approval of Jackson's
administration ; election of President by direct
popular vote. They favored the doctrine of in
structions. 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 stiU larger number of
demagogues, who were seeking to organize the fac
tion as a means of making themselves so valuable
that the regular managers would buy them. The
equal rights men gained strength so rapidly that,
on the 29th of October, 1835, they were able to
offer battle to the old faction at a primary meeting
in Tammany HaU, 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, nomi
nated a chairman and elected him, Ignoring the
previous organization. The question of " equal
rights" between the two chairmen was then set
tled in the old original method which has prevailed
ever since there has been Ufe on earth. The equal
rights men dispossessed the other faction by force,
and so proved the justice of their principles. The
non-equal rights party then left the haU, but they
" caused " the equal rights men " to be subjected
to a deprivation of the right " to Ught by turning
out the gas. The equal rights men were thus
forced to test that theory of natural rights which
1 Byrdsall, 103.

436 ANDREW JACKSON
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 aU men, which would
make a prudent man no better than a careless one,
and a man with capital no better than one with
out capital, the equal rights men had foreseen
the emergency, and had provided themselves with
capital in the shape of candles and loco-f oco matches.
They thus established their right to light, against
nature and against their enemies. They duly
adopted their platform, nominated a ticket, and
adjourned. The regular leaders met elsewhere,
nominated the ticket which they had previously
prepared, and dispensed, for that occasion, with
the ornamental and ceremonious formaUty 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 quarreUed
with the administration on KendaU's order about
the mails, and was thereupon formaUy read out of
1 49 NUes, 162. 2 2 Hammond, 503.

INFLUENCE OF THE LOCO-FOCOS 437
the party by the " Globe." ! The loco-focos ceased
to be a revolting faction. They acquired beUiger-
ent 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 Jan
uary, 1836, it declared its independence of the
democratic-republican party. This aUenated all
who hated the party tyranny, but who wanted re
form in the party. The faction declared Itself
opposed to aU acts of incorporation, and held that
aU such acts were repealable. It declared that
representative institutions were only a practical
convenience, and that Legislatures could not cre
ate vested rights.^ Then it went on to adopt a
platform of " equality of position, as weU 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 " rumps ; " the latter
called the former " buffaloes." * Only one stage
now remained to complete 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 con
tempt and breach of privilege, and who had pro
fited to the utmost by this incident to make a long
" argument " against the " privUege " of an Ameri-
1 49 NUes, 78. 2 ByrdsaU, 41. 8 ByrdsaU, 178.

438 ANDREW JACKSON
can Legislature, and to pose as a martyr to equal
rights, secured his own election to the position of
secretary of the equal rights party. He then se
cured a vote that no constitutional election could
be held unless caUed by the secretary. He never
would call one. There were those who thought
that he sold out the party.
Thus the faction perished ignominlously, but it
was not without reason that its name passed, a
little later, to the whole Jackson -Van Buren
party ; i. e., to the radical anti-paper currency, not
simply anti-United States Bank, wing of the na
tional democratic party. The equal rights men
maintained impracticable doctrines of civil au
thority, 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 plat
form it was most true to itself, and it contributed
most to the welfare of the country. The demo
cratic party was for a generation, by tradition, a
party of hard money, free trade, the non-inter
ference theory of government, and no special
legislation. If that tradition be traced up to its
source, it wUl lead back, not to the Jackson party
of 1829, but to the loco-focos of 1835.

CHAPTER XIII
THE ELECTION OP 1836. — END OF JACKSON'S
CAEEEE
The attempt was made in 1834 to unite and
organize the whole opposition to Jackson. Niles
first mentions the party name "whig" In AprU,
1834.! jjg gays that it had come into use in Con
necticut and New York. It was adopted with an
tagonistic 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 Impos
sible. The anti-masons Insisted on acting Inde
pendently. 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 drUled by the "Globe"
into thorough dIscIpUne and perfect accord of
energy and wiU. Each officer was held to " revere
1 46 NUes, 101. 2 59 NUes, 234. 8 9 Adams, 170.

440 ANDREW JACKSON
the chief," and to act in obedience to the indica
tions of his wUl which came through the " Globe."
They did so. There was no faltering. There was
only zealous obedience. It caused some bewUder-
ment to remember that this was the party which
had denounced Adams for using the federal officers
to electioneer. Lewis had been known to interfere
directly 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, in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
and Delaware. In the six years from 1830 to
1835, both Inclusive, twenty-seven States held 162
sessions of their Legislatures. Of these, 118 had
Jackson majorities, 40 anti-Jackson, and 4 Cal
houn.^ There was some talk of a third term for
Jackson, but it never grew strong. The precedents
were cited against It. Jackson's bad health and
Van Buren's aspirations were perhaps stronger ob
jections. Adams says that Jackson had " wearied
out the sordid subserviency of his supporters." *
That is not at all improbable.
The democratic convention was held at Balti
more, May 20, 1835. Jackson had written to Ten
nessee, recommending that a convention should be
held of " candidates fresh from the people." There
were not wanting those who caUed this convention
a caucus, and said that it was the old congressional
monster In a new mask. Tennessee did not send
1 40 NUes, 299. 2 53 j^Qes, 308. 8 9 Adams, 312.

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION — 1835 441
any delegates. Even Jackson could not bring that
State to support Van Buren. Tennessee was a whig
State until 1856. Her hostility to Van Buren was
adroitly combined with that of Pennsylvania, in
1844, by the selection of Polk as a candidate, to
defeat Van Buren ; otherwise stated, it was the
desire to combine these two States, in order to de
feat Van Buren, which led to the nomination of
Polk. In 1835 a caucus of the New Hampshire
Legislature, which nominated HiU for Governor,
passed a resolution begging Tennessee not to divide
the party.! Tennessee, however, had another very
popular candidate, Hugh L. White, a former friend
of Jackson, whom Jackson now hated as a traitor
and renegade.^ John BeU, the Speaker, was a
supporter of White, and he and his friends claimed
that they were not in opposition ; that they and
White were good republicans, and that they pre
ferred White to the man whom Jackson had se
lected.* The " Globe " attacked Bell with bitter
ness. Jackson was greatly enraged, and exerted
himself personally and directly against White.*
One Tennessee man, being in Baltimore when the
convention was held, took upon himself to repre
sent that State. His name was Rucker, and to
" ruckerize " passed into the political slang of the
day, meaning to assume functions without creden
tials. The Baltimore convention was largely composed
1 48 NUes, 322. 2 gee page 212.
8 BeU's speech in 48 NUes, 334. < 49 NUes, 35.

442 ANDREW JACKSON
of office-holders. Twenty-one States were repre
sented.! Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, was chair
man. The two-thirds rule was adopted, because
Van Buren was sure of two thirds. He actuaUy
got a unanimous vote, 265. For Vice-President,
R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, got 178 votes ; W. C.
Rives, of Virginia, 87. The Virginia delegation
declared, on the floor of the convention, that Vir
ginia would never vote for Johnson, because he
favored tariff, bank, and internal improvements,
and because they had no confidence in his prin
ciples or character.^ Van Buren, in his letter of
acceptance,* said that he had been mentioned as
Jackson's successor "more through the iU-wUl of
opponents than the partiality of friends." That
statement was so adroit that It would take a page
to teU whether It was true or not. He made a f uU
and eager declaration that he had asked for no
man's support. He said that he would " endeavor
to tread generally in the footsteps of President
Jackson, — happy If I shaU be able to perfect 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
1 48 NUes, 207, 227, 244. 2 jjjy. 248.
8 md. 257. * Ibid. 329.

CANDIDATES AND PLATFORMS — 1836 443
been In Congress ever since 1807, except during
the second war with England, when he took the
field. He served with some distinction, but a
ridiculous attempt to credit him with the kiUing
of Tecumseh has caused his real merits to be for
gotten. As a public man he managed to be as
near as possible to the head of every popular move
ment, and to get his name connected with It, but
he never contributed assistance to any public busi
ness. 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, which was one of his claims to
fame. It was written for him by the Rev. O. B.
Brown.! A chance was found In this report to
utter some noble sentiments on religious Uberty,
and to lay down some specifications of American
principles in that regard which were not likely to
provoke contradiction. This valuable production
was printed on cloth, and hung up In stage offices
and bar-rooms aU over the country. Johnson had
nourished presidential aspirations for some years.
He did not abandon them tlU 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 Harris
burg, December 16, 1835.^ It was decided not to
^ See page 409. KendaU's Autobiography, 107.
2 49 Niles, 265, 287.

444 ANDREW JACKSON
caU a national convention. They thought the free
action of the people would be best brought out by
State conventions. They nominated WiUiam H.
Harrison by 89 votes to 29 for Webster and 3 for
Granger. For Vice-President, Granger got 102
votes ; Hugh L. White, 5 ; WlUiam Slade, of Ver
mont, 5 ; and WiUiam A. Palmer, of Vermont, 7.
The whigs of Pennsylvania adopted the nomina
tions 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 people to think that Webster ought not to
have had this ambition. He was a strange com
pound of the greatest powers and some mean traits.
To such a man the presidential ambition is very
sure to mean moral shipwreck. Still it was not
wrong for Webster to want the proofs of success
in his career. His dissatisfaction was weU founded
when, after his splendid services, he saw WilUam
Henry Harrison preferred before him ; and It is a
point which deserves careful attention, that. If
Webster's just ambition had been fairly gratified,
he would have been a better man. He was nomi
nated by the Legislature of Massachusetts.
Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, was nominated
by the Legislatures of AJabama, Tennessee, and
lUinois. Judge McLean was nominated in Ohio.
He had had presidential aspirations ever since
1828.! The Northern whigs supported Harrison,
and the Southern whigs supported White. Thus
' KendaU's Autobiography, 304.

ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN 445
the opposition went into the campaign disorganized
and devoted to defeat. When we consider the
earnestness with which they aU opposed Jackson
and Jacksonism, and also the demonstration they
had suffered, in 1832, of the consequences of divi
sion and tactical imbecility, it is amazing that
they should have entered upon another campaign
so divided and discordant as to be defeated before
they began.
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-Jackson men, who had derided Jackson's
candidature because he was not a statesman, se
lected, 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 popu
larity.! Harrison answered the anti-masons that
he was not a mason, and did not like masonry, but
that the federal government had nothing to do
with that subject. This did not satisfy Thaddeus
Stevens, who wanted Webster.^ White has been
mentioned several times. He had a fair education
and a good character, and he was very much re
spected, but he was a person of only ordinary
ability. During the winter of 1835-36 there was a great
struggle in the House over a contested election In
' For an estimate of Harrison, written in 1828, which is perhaps
too highly colored to quote, see 7 Adams, 530.
2 9 Adams, 273.

446 ANDREW JACKSON
North Carolina. It was thought very probable
that the presidential 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 Michigan. In 1835 Michigan became involved
In a boundary dispute with Ohio. The act which
organized the territory of Michigan, January 11,
1805, described, as Its southern boundary, a due
east and west line running through the southern
most point of Lake Michigan. 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 de
scribed as a due east and west line ten miles north
of the southernmost point of Lake Michigan. The
northern boundary of Illinois had been placed on
the parallel of 42° 30'. Michigan, therefore, found
her territory reduced. Jackson, at first, on the
advice of Butler, the Attorney-General, took the
side of Michigan. The people of Michigan held a
convention in September, 1835, and framed a Con
stitution, which was to go into effect In November.
In October, the Assistant Secretary of State, As-
bury Dickens, wrote, at the President's orders,
that no such reorganization of the government
could take place without the consent of Congress.

THE VOTE OF 1836 447
It was a case of squatterism.! In 1835-36 there
was some danger of an armed colUsion between
Ohio and Michigan ; but it is not easy, on account
of the rhetoric which was then in fashion, to
judge how great this danger was. June 16, 1836,
Arkansas and Michigan were admitted together;
but Michigan was put under the condition that she
must accept the southern boundary which would
result 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 rejected the condition. On
the 5th and 6th of December, by the spontaneous
action of the people, delegates were elected to a
convention, which met December 14, 1836, and
assented to the condition. Jackson, in a message,
December 26th, informed Congress of the action
of Michigan.* Michigan was admitted January
26, 1837. She offered a vote in the presidential
election. In announcing the vote, the vote of
Michigan was included In the alternative form.
In the spring of 1836, Sherrod WiUiams Inter
rogated the candidates for President. Harrison *
favored distribution of the surplus revenue and of
the revenue from lands ; opposed Internal Improve
ments, except for works of national scope and im
portance; would charter a bank, but with great
' See page 9.
2 J. Q. Adams was greatly incensed at the wrong to Michi
gan. 9 Adams, 342. 8 gi ]Sfiies, 278. * 51 NUes, 23.

448 ANDREW JACKSON
reservations ; thought that neither House of Con
gress had a right to expunge anything from its
records. Van Buren opposed national bank, inter
nal Improvements, and all distribution. The equal
rights men interrogated the candidates. The com
mittee reported that they were greatly pleased with
Johnson's replies, but that Van Buren's were un
satisfactory. Many " Irreconcilable " equal rights
men refused to vote for Van Buren. He had not
yet become fuUy identified with that wing of the
national democratic party which took up the essen
tial features of the loco-foco doctrine.
In the election ! Van Buren received 170 votes,
counting 3 of Michigan ; Harrison, 73 ; White,
26 (Georgia and Tennessee) ; Webster, 14 (Mas
sachusetts) ; W. P. Mangum, of North CaroUna,
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 Island,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia,
North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan. Harrison
carried Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Mary
land, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The popular
vote was : for Van Buren, 761,549 ; for aU others,
736,656; Van Buren's majority, 24,893.^ For
Vice-President, R. M. Johnson got 147 votes ;
1 58 NUes, 392.
2 American Almanac for 1880. The figures in NUes are f uU of
obvious errors.

THE BREAD RIOTS 449
Francis Granger, 77; John Tyler, 47; WUUam
Smith, of Alabama, 23 (Virginia). As no one
had a majority, the Senate elected Johnson. In
January, 1837, Webster wrote to Massachusetts!
that he should resign his seat. He Intended to
retire from public life, at least temporarily.
Van Buren was now at the height of his am
bition; but the financial and commercial storm
which had been gathering for two or three years,
the accumulated result of rash Ignorance and vio
lent seU-wiU 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 unprece
dented 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 socialists amongst them. The meeting
held in the City HaU Park, at New York, February
13, 1837, out of which the " bread riots " sprang,
was said to have been caUed by them. They cer
tainly had habituated the city populace to public
^ 2 Webster's Correspondence, 25 et seq.
2 48 NUes, 171 ; 50 NUes, 130. 8 52 Niles, 147.

460 ANDREW JACKSON
meetings, at which the chance crowd of Idlers was
addressed as " the people," with aU the current
catch-words and phrases, and at which blatant ora
tors, eager for popiUarity and power, harangued
the crowd about banks, currency, and vested rights.
Of course In these harangues violence of manner
and language made up for poverty of ideas, and
the minds of the hearers were inflamed aU the
more because they could understand nothing of
what the orators said, except that those addressed
were being 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 pro
vision merchant], and offer him eight dollars a
barrel for his flour. If he wiU not take it — ! 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 aU
the consequences of Jackson's acts which Van
Buren had aUowed to be committed, because he
would not hazard his standing in Jackson's favor
by resisting them. Van Buren disliked the reputa
tion of a wire-puUer and intriguer, but he had well
1 ByrdsaU (103) says that the riot was not the fault of the loco-
focos. 2 51 Niles, 403.

VAN BUREN 451
earned his title, the "little magician," by the
dexterity with which he had manoeuvred himself
across the slippery arena of Washington politics
and up to the first place. He had just the temper
for a poUtician. 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 average ability, and he appears
to have been conscious of lowering himself by the
political manoeuvring which he had practised. As
President he showed the honorable desire to have a
statesman-like and high-toned administration, 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 distrust
which he had taken over from Jackson were too
heavy a weight. He lost his grip on the machine
without 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 circum
stances, finds himself In one of the greater cur
rents of the stream, he may be carried far and
high, and may go on long ; but if another chance
throws him out, his career Is, almost always, ended
forever. The course of our political history is
strewn with men who were for a moment carried
high enough to have great ambitions and hopes

452 ANDREW JACKSON
excited, but who, by some turn In the tide, were
stranded, and left to a forgotten and disappointed
old age. Van Buren lUustrated these cases.
Parton quotes a letter of Jackson to Trist,! writ
ten March 2, 1837, in which he says : " On the 4th
I hope to be able to go to the Capitol to witness
the glorious scene of Mr. Van Buren, once rejected
by the Senate, sworn into office by Chief Justice
Taney, also being rejected by the factious Senate."
The election of Van Buren Is thus presented as
another personal triumph of Jackson, and another
iUustration of his remorseless pursuit of success
and vengeance in a line in which any one had dared
to cross him. This exultation was the temper in
which he left office. He was satisfied and trium
phant. 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 Ten
nessee. He was surrounded to the last with affec
tion and respect. On his way home he met more
than the old marks of attention and popularity.
He was welcomed back to NashviUe 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 stiU a
1 3 Parton, 624.
2 When Jackson went out of office many satirical copper coins,
Uke cents, in derision of his sayings and doings, were issued.
Amer. Journ. Numism. Oct. 1869, 42.

SWARTWOUT'S CASE 453
power. It was still worth while to court him and
to get his name in favor of a man or a measure.
Nevertheless, it does not appear that he actually
exerted any great influence at Washington. He
could not get an appointment for his nephew as a
naval cadet, although he applied for it frequently,
— at least. If he did succeed, the evidence of it is
not in the letters before us. In 1842, he, like
nearly aU his neighbors, was In pecuniary distress.
Two or three persons came forward to offer loans
to him, out of respect and affection, but the ne
gotiations feU through for reasons which are not
explained. At last Lewis obtained a loan for him
from Blair.
Financial revulsions always bring to light many
defalcations and embezzlements. The number of
these revealed, 1837-42, was very great, including
a number by public officers. That of Swartwout
furnished a striking paraUel to the case of Wat
kins, under Adams, which Jackson had so ruth
lessly exploited against his predecessor.! The
Swartwout case is several times referred to in the
Ford MSS. in letters to Lewis.
" I shall enquire of MT Love Executioner of his fa
thers estate, to be informed whether any of Major Lees
manuscript is left there. I hope for the cause you have
named, Major Lee has not destroyed the manuscript —
you know, I readily would have renewed his nomination
to the Senate, had I at any time been informed that the
Senate would have confirmed the nomination — but it
1 See page 189.

454 ANDREW JACKSON
appears to me that those I have had the greatest confi
dence in, and served most, have acted with bad faith, —
and violated that confidence reposed ! Is it true that
MT Samuel Swartwant is really a defaulter — and if a
defaulter, to what amount, please to give me the time,
& the amount. ... Is it known when he commenced
the use of the Public funds — where he is, & if expected
back to america —
" I had great confidence in his honesty, honor & in
tegrity, and appointed him to the office on the sheer
grounds of his integrity & against a powerful influence
— and I still hope he wUl relieve me from the slanders
the Whigg papers are heaping upon me that ' I knew
of his using the public money in speculation, & in aid
of the Texians ' — a greater & more foul slander never
was uttered." (Dec. 10, 1838.) " The defalcation of
Swartwant & Price has given great pain — how he could
so far depart from his sacred pledges often made to me
that he would touch not, handle not of the pubHc money
for any thing but as prescribed by law. As an honora
ble man he ought to come out & do justice to the ad
ministration & unfold to the public how the money has
been applyed & in whose hands it is — the greatest part
must be in the hands of the merchants — give me your
views on this subject." (March 4, 1839.) " I rejoice
to learn that M5 Swartwant is likely to wipe away part
of the indebtedness & to close his indebtedness with the
Government. I had great confidence in him, and that
business gave me more pain than any, & all others dur
ing my administration — I stiU wish him well." (May
23, 1842.)
Jackson and Lewis nearly came to a quarrel In
1839. Jackson wanted Lewis to resign his office,

LEWIS A CIVIL SERVICE REFORMER 455
but Lewis clung to It, and argued like a good civU
service reformer against his own removal. He was
a "conservative," and differed from Van Buren
on financial measures.
" I have not heard," wrote Jackson, " one of your
true friends, but regretted your remaining at Washing
ton, and you must well conceive that your remaining
until removed would be truly mortifying to me, aU
things considered — ... You must well recollect how
much complaint there were and murmuring by your
acquaintances in Nashvill for my placing you in office
and keeping you there — I ballanced not, but kept you
there regardless of their growls to the end of my term at
which you had always said you would retire."
One cannot avoid a recognition of retributive
justice to find Lewis writing : —
" I have been here too long and am too well acquainted
with the manner in which public sentiment, so called,
is manifactured in this city, to place the least confidence
in news paper articles upon such subjects. The most
of them I know are, and have been heretofore, written
in the Departments here, (the Treasury and Post Office
Depts are fiUed with newspaper editors) and sent to
Penn* Ohio, and other states for pubUcation, which are
then carefuUy coUected and republished in a little dirty
paper in this city (which is no doubt sent to you) as
evidence of public sentiment ! These things may im
pose upon the ignorant, or unsuspecting, but they can
not decieve me — nor do they decieve any other person
here who is acquainted with the unprincipled and reck
less course of those whose business it is to blacken the

456 ANDREW JACKSON
character of every body whose office they desire for
themselves, or their particular friends."
Lewis was removed by Polk, in 1845. He did
not like It, and he took to writing complaints and
protests in the newspapers, just like an ordinary
mortal. A large part of the letters in the Ford coUection
belong to the period after Jackson's retirement.
They do not show Jackson beset by visitors anxious
to get the benefit of his influence, although he Is
shown as greatly Interested in public affairs. He
rejoiced greatly when Tyler quarrelled with the
whigs. "The Presidents message, [of 1841], for the most
part is good & well said. That part of it which relates
to a fiscal agent, the moment I read it, I regretted to
see it introduced, — the paper money system — treasury
notes to be issued as a circulating paper currency. . . .
When the system was adopted by congress, to substitute
treasury notes, instead of borrowing, I was opposed to
the plan upon constitutional grounds and so wrote my
friends in congress, both as to its unconstitutionality
and to its expediency. Congress has the express power
to borrow, but not to issue bills of credit, or make a
paper currency — The government cannot pay a debt
legally, but in gold & silver coin, how absurd then to
coUect the revenue in paper in which it cannot comply
with the powers with which it is invested. . . . Ours
was intended to be a hard money government. . . .
The duty of the government is to leave commerce to its
own capital & credit as weU as all other branches of
business — protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting

JACKSON AND TEXAS 457
exclusive privileges to none — Foster the labour of
our country by an undeviating metalic currency for its
surplus, aUway recollecting that if labour is depressed
neither commerce, or manufactories, can flourish, as
they are both based upon the production of labour, pro
duced from the earth, or the mineral world. It is
unjust to them by legislation to depress labour by a
depreciated currency with the idea of prospering com
merce &c which is in reaUity injured by it — "
The subject which interested him most of aU,
however, was the annexation of Texas. He was
very ill and infirm, and every letter contains its
paragraph of description of his ailments and dis
tress, yet he writes letter after letter to Lewis, re-
Iterating the same Ideas In almost the same words.
This interest was so obvious, and so consistent
with his favorite life-long ideas, that we wonder
why, when he was President, the acquisition of
Texas was not the chief object of his policy.
"How degrading," he writes, in 1842, "the scenes
in the House of Representatives — it is painful that
old man [J. Q. Adams] who must be deranged or
superlatively wicked, should be permitted to disgrace our
country by such behaviour — his constituents ought to
caU him home — and the House at once should censure
him and proceed with business ; and if he again mis
behaves expell him."
"I would regret much that President Tyler should
go against the annexation of Texas, and leave it under
the influence of great Britain, which may be converted

458 ANDREW JACKSON
to our great injury & jeopardize the safety of Neworleans^
& our slaves — should he do this act of foUy, his pohtical
star sets forever." (Oct., 1843.)
These are the ideas of constant repetition, the
slave consideration being foremost in importance.!
" If possible this treaty [of March, 1844] ought not
be known of until it is sent to the senate — If it is,
that wicked & reckless old man John Q. Adams, will
write hundreds of memorials & send them over the
whole country to get signers — and all the abolitionists
& many more will sign them — I hope the senate wiU
act so promptly, that before he can get his memorials &
petitions distributed & signed & returned to congress
the treaty wiU be ratified."
In 1843 a public letter was obtained from him
favoring the annexation of Texas. This letter was
evidently prepared for him 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
from Van Buren and under the control of the
slavery wing of it. The last-mentioned letter of
Jackson brought him again into coUision with
Adams, for in it Jackson repeated his former as
sertions 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
^ See a letter from Jackson, reiterating the same ideas, pub
lished in the N. Y. Times, June 16, 1897.

ELECTION OP 1844 459
proof to the contrary. The passage from the
Diary ! shows that Jackson thought that the bound
ary ought to be the Rio Grande, but that he con
sented to the Sabine as the best which could be
got. He remembered the former position ; Adams
Insisted on the second. Jackson also made use of
Erving's statements to him, in 1829,^ as foundation
for a charge which his agents pushed with great
energy, in 1844, that Adams had given away his
country's interests in 1819.* Adams was able to
show that Erving's statements had been misunder
stood or were incorrect.
As the election of 1844 approached, Jackson
became more and more Interested In It. He wrote
to Lewis, September 12, 1843 : —
" If the Madisonian had left M'. Tyler to be judged
of by his acts, he would have met with a much better sup
port from the Democracy — but the people believe, that
these papers are trying to raise a third party under the
name of Tyler, not for his benefit, but for M"' Calhouns,
and you now see the meetings begin to shew their choice
to be Van Buren, and this wUl increase until the Balti
more convention settle the question, and that will be on
Van Buren — marh this prophesy — This diffidence
of our friend Cass, was ill timed, & very injudicious, and
for the present, has done him, in Ohio, a great political
injury — and the attack of the Calhoun papers on V. B.
has done Calhoun a greater injury and united the De
mocracy upon V. B. — "
1 Cited above, page 84. 2 gee page 415.
8 12 Adams, 93, 101, 123.

460 ANDREW JACKSON
When, however. Van Buren flinched on annex
ation, Jackson abandoned him. Letters signed by
him, favoring Polk, were constantly circulated
through the newspapers. Probably he was mor
tified that Clay carried Tennessee, although by
only 113 majority in a vote of 120,000. His
share in this campaign was his last public activity.
He died June 8, 1845. He had had honors be
yond anything which his own heart had ever cov
eted. His successes had outrun his ambition.
He had held more power than any other Amer
ican had ever possessed. He had named his succes
sor. He had been idolized by the great majority
of his countrymen, and had been surfeited with
adulation. He had been thwarted in hardly any
thing on which he had set his heart. He had
had his desire upon all his enemies. He lived to
see Clay defeated again, and to help to bring It
about. He saw Calhoun retire In despair and dis
gust. 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 aU his
enemies in a body, although it is otherwise asserted
that he excepted those who had slandered his wife.
It does not appear that he ever repented of any
thing, ever thought that he had been in the wrong
in anything, or ever forgave an enemy as a specific
individual.

FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THIS
VOLUME, IN THE ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF
THE SHORTER DESIGNATIONS BY WHICH THEY
HAVE BEEN CITED.
Adams: Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Comprising Portions
of his Diary from 1795 to 1848 ; edited by Charles Francis
Adams. 12 vols. Lippincott : PhUadelphia, 1876.
Adams's Lite and Works : Works of John Adams, with a Life
and Notes by Charles Francis Adams. Boston, 1856.
Alison : Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History. (
American Annual Register for 1796. PhUadelphia.
American Register. 7 vols. 1806-1810. Conrad : PhUadelphia.
American Whig Review.
Annual Register: The American Annual Register. 8 vols.
[numbered for the purposes of the present work as foUows] :
L 1825-6; U. 1826-7; HI. 1827-8-9, Parti.; IV. 1827-8-9,
Part IL; V. 1829-30 ; VI. 1830-1; VIL 1831-2; VIH.
1832-3.
Aristokratie in America, aus dem Tagebuoh eines deutschen
Edelmanns, herausgegeben von F. T. Gnmd. 2 vols. Stutt
gart, 1839.
Benton : Thirty Years' View ; or, A History of the Working of
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 : BecoUections of the Life of John Binns ; written by him
self. Philadelphia, 1854.
Bourne : The History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837 ; by E. G.
Bourne. New York, 1885.
Bradley: Biography of Isaac HUl [C. P. Bradley]. Concord,
1835.
Butler : A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky ; by Mann
Butler. LouisvUle, 1834.

462 FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
Brothers : The United States of North America as They Are,
Not as they are GeneraUy Described : Being a Cure for Radi
calism ; by Thomas Brothers. Longman & Co. : London,
1840.
ByrdsaU : The History of the Loco-Fooo or Equal Rights Party ;
by F. ByrdsaU. Clement & Packard : New York, 1842.
Cable : A History of New Orleans in 10th Census, Social Statis
tics II.
Carey's Letters : Nine Letters to Dr. Adam Seybert ; by Mat
thew Carey. Author : PhUadelphia, 1810.
Carey's OUve Branch : The OUve Branch ; or. Faults on Both
Sides, Federal and Democratic ; by Matthew Carey. Author :
PhUadelphia, 1818. (10th Edition.)
ChevaUer : Society, Maimers, and PoUtics in the United States :
Being a Series of Letters on North America ; by Michael Cheva
lier (translated). Weeks, Jordan & Co : Boston, 1839.
Cobb : Leisure Labors ; or, MisceUanies, Historical, Literary, and
PoUtical ; by Joseph B. Cobb. Appleton : New York, 1858.
Cobbett's Jackson : Life of Andrew Jackson ; by WiUiam Cob-
bett. Harpers : New York, 1834.
CoUins : Historical Sketches of Kentucky ; by Lewis CoUins.
Cincinnati, 1847.
Colton's Clay : The Lite and Times of Henry Clay ; by C. Col-
ton. 2 vols. Barnes : New York, 1846.
Curtis's Webster : Lite of Daniel Webster ; by George Ticknor
Curtis. 2 vols. Appleton : New York, 1870.
Curtis's Buchanan : Life of James Buchanan ; by 6. T. Curtis.
2 vols. New York, 1883.
Documents Relating 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, Ist 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, Ist 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.

FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 463
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 : Lite of Tecumseh, 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 Mississippi ; Docu
ments Relating to Transactions at the Negotiation of Ghent ;
Collected and Published by John Quincy Adams. Davis &
Force : Washington, 1822.
Duane : Narrative and Correspondence Concerning the Removal
of the Deposits and Occurrences Connected Therewith. [W. J.
Duane.] PhUadelphia, 1838.
Duane's Pamphlets : Duane's CoUection of Select Pamphlets.
[W. Duane.] PhUadelphia, 1814.
Eaton's Jackson : The Life of Andrew Jackson ; Commenced by
John Reid, Completed by John H. Eaton. Carey: PhUadel
phia, 1817.
Edwards : History of Illinois, from 1778 to 1833 ; and Life and
Times of Ninian Edwards ; by his Son, Ninian W. Edwards.
Illinois State Journal Co. : Springfield, Illinois, 1870.
EUiott : The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the
Adoption of the Federal Constitution. 4 vols. Edited by
Jonathan ElUott : Washington, 1836.
Felt : An Historical Account of Massachusetts Currency ; by J. B.
Felt, Boston, 1839.
FoUo State Papers : American State Papers ; Documents Legisla
tive and Executive of the Congress of the United States from
the 1st Session of the 18th Congress to the 1st Session of the
20th Congress. Gales & Seaton: Washington, 1859. Subdi
visions : Finance, Indian Affairs, etc., ete.
Ford : A History of lUinois ; by T. Ford, Chicago, 1854.
Gallatin : Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of
the United States ; by Albert Gallatin. Carey & Lea : PhUa
delphia, 1831. Reprinted from the American Quarterly Re
view for December, 1830.
GaUatin's Writings : The Writings of Albert GaUatin ; edited by
Henry Adams. Lippincott : PhUadelphia, 1879.
Garland's Randolph : The Life of John Randolph of Roanoke ;
by Hugh A. Garland. 2 vols. Appleton : New York, 1851.

464 FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
Gayarr^ : Louisiana under American Domination ; by C. Gayarr^.
New York, 1866.
Gibbs : Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John
Adams ; edited from the Papers of OUver Wolcott, Secretary
of the Treasury ; by George Gibbs. 2 vols. New York, 1846.
Gilmore : The Advance Guard of Western CiviUzation. New
York, 1888.
Gleig : The Campaign of the British Army at Washington and
New Orieans [G. R. Gleig]. London, 1836.
Goodrich : Recollections of a Life-Time ; by S. G. Goodrich.
2 vols. MUler : New York, 1851.
Goodwin's Jackson : Biography of Andrew Jackson ; by PhUo A.
Goodwin. Clapp & Benton : Hartford, 1832.
Gouge : A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the
United States ; by WiUiam M. Gouge. CoUins : New York,
1835.
Gouge's Texas : The Fiscal History of Texas ; by WUliam Gouge.
Lippincott : PhUadelphia, 1852.
Greeley : The American Conflict ; by Horace Greeley. Case :
Hartford, 1873.
HamUton's Works : The Works of Alexander HamUton. Fran
cis : New York, 1851.
Hammond : The History of PoUtical Parties in the State of New
York, from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to De
cember, 1840. 2 vols. By Jabez D. Hammond ; fourth Edi
tion, with notes by General Root. Phinney : Buffalo, 1850.
Hammond's Wright : Life and Times of SUas Wright ; by Jabez
D. Hammond. Barnes : New York, 1848.
Hauger : Life, Adventures, and Opinions ; by George Hanger
[officer with CornwaUis]. London, 1801.
Harper's Calhoun : Life of John C. Calhoun. (Anonymous
Pamphlet.) Harpers : New York, 1843.
Haywood : The CivU and PoUtical History of Tennessee to 1796
[written 1823]. NashvUle, 1891.
Hewitt : An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the
Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia. 2 vols. Anonymous
[Alexander Hewitt]. Donaldson : London, 1779.
Hodgson : The Cradle of the Confederacy, or the Times of Troup,
Quitman, and Yancey ; by Joseph Hodgson, of MobUe. Register
Office : MobUe, 1876.

FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 465
Howard : Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Hudson : Journalism in the United States : New York, 1873.
Hunt's Livingston : Life of Edward Livingston ; by Charles
Havens Hunt. Appleton : New York, 1864.
IngersoU : Historical Sketch of the Second War between the
United States of America and Great Britain ; by Charles J.
IngersoU. Events of 1814. Lea & Blanchard : PhUadelphia,
1849.
Jay : A Review of the Causes and Consequences of the Mexican
War ; by WUUam Jay. Mussey : Boston, 1849.
KendaU's Autobiography : Autobiography of Amos KendaU ;
edited by his Son-in-law, WiUiam Stickney. Lee & Shepard :
Boston, 1872.
Kendall's Jackson : Lite of Andrew Jackson, Private, MUitary,
and CivU ; by Amos KendaU. Harpers : New York, 1843.
(Unfinished.)
Kennedy's Wirt : Memoirs of the Life of WUliam Wirt ; by John
P. Kennedy. 2 vols. Lea & Blanchard : PhUadelphia, 1849.
Kirke : The Rear Guard of the Revolution ; by Edmund Kirke.
[J. R. GUmore] : New York, 1886.
Lambert's Travels : [1806-8]. 2 vols. London, 1816.
Latour: Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and
Louisiana in 1814^15 ; by Major A. L. Latour. Conrad : PhU
adelphia, 1816.
Lodge's Cabot : Life and Letters of George Cabot ; by Henry
Cabot Lodge. Little, Brown & Co. : Boston, 1877.
Macgregor : The Progress of America, from the Discovery by
Columbus to the Year 1846 ; by John Macgregor. 2 vols.
Whittaker : London, 1847.
Mackeinzie : The Lives and Opinions of Benjamin F. Butler and
Jesse Hoyt ; by WiUiam L. Mackeinzie. Cook & Co. : Boston,
1845.
Martin : History of Louisiana ; by F. X. Martin : New Orleans,
1882.
Martineau's Society, ete. . Society in America ; by Harriet Mar
tineau. 2 vols. Saunders & Otley : New York and London,
1837.
Martineau's Western Travel : Retrospect of Western Travel ; by
Harriet Martineau. 2 vols. Harpers : New York, 1838.

466 FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
Mayo: PoUtical Sketches of Eight Years in Washington; by
Robert Mayo : Baltimore, 1839.
Memoirs of Bennett : Memoirs of James Gordon Bennett and
his Times ; by a Journalist. Stringer & Townsend : New York,
1855.
MiUs's Letters; Selections from the Letters of the Hon. E. H.
Mills, reprinted from the Transactions of the Mass. Hist. Soa
Cambridge, 1881.
Monette : History of the Mississippi VaUey. New York, 1846.
Morse's Adams : John Quincy Adams ; by John T. Morse, Jt
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. : Boston, 1882.
Niles : NUes's Weekly Register, 1811 to 1848.
Opinions of the Attorneys-General : Official Opinions of the At
torneys-General of the United States. Washington, 1852.
Overton's Reports : 1 Tennessee Reports. [NashviUe ?], 1813.
"barton : Life of Andrew Jackson ; by James Parton. 3 vols.
Mason Brothers ; New York, 1861.
Perkins : Historical Sketches of the United States from the
Peace of 1815 to 1830 ; by Samuel Perkins. Converse : New
York, 1830.
Peters : See Howard.
Pickett : History of Alabama and IncidentaUy of Georgia and
Mississippi, from the EarUest Period ; by A. J. Pickett. 2
vols. Walker & James : Charleston, 1851.
Pitkin ; A Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States
of America ; by Timothy Pitkin. Durrie & Peck : New Haven,
1835.
Plumer's Plumer : Life of WiUiam Plumer ; by his son, WiUiam
Plumer, Jr. PhUUps, Sampson & Co. : Boston, 1856.
PoUtical Register : Edited by Duff Green. 2 vols. Washington,
1832-33.
Putnam : History of Middle Tennessee, or Life and Times of
General James Robertson ; by A. W. Putnam. NashviUe,
1859.
Quincy : Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals ;
by Josiah Quincy. Boston, 1883.
Quincy's Adams : Memoirs of the Life of John Quincy Adams ;
by Josiah Quincy. PhUUps, Sampson & Co. : Boston, 1858.
Raguet : A Treatise on Currency and Banking ; by Cojidy
Raguet. Grigg & EUiott : PhUadelphia, 1839.

FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO 467
Ramsey : The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth
Century ; by J. G. M. Ramsey. RusseU : Charleston, 1853.
RandaU's Jefferson : Life of Thomas Jefferson ; by H. S. RandaU.
New York, 1858.
Robertson : Reports of the Trial of Aaron Burr for Treason. 2
vols. ; by D. Robertson. Philadelphia, 1808.
Rush : Memoranda of a Residence at the Court of London ; by
Richard Rush. I. Key and Biddle : PhUadelphia, 1833. II.
Lea & Blanchard : PhUadelphia, 1845.
Safford: Life of H. Blennerhasset; by W. H. Safford. Cincin
nati, 1859.
Sargent: PubUc Men and Events from the Commencement of
Mr. Monroe's Administration in 1817 to the Close of Mr. FiU-
more's Administration in 1853 ; by Nathan Sargent. 2 vols.
Lippincott : PhUadelphia, 1875.
Seybert : Statistical Annals of the United States from 1789 to
1818 ; by Adam Seybert. Dobsou : Philadelphia, 1818.
Southern Bivouac.
Sparks's Morris : Life of Gouverneur Morris, with Selections from
his Correspondence and MisceUaneous Papers ; by Jared Sparks.
3 vols. Gray & Bowen : Boston, 1832.
[The] Statesman's Manual. 3 vols. WUliams : New York, 1854.
Stevens : A History of Georgia from its First Discovery by Euro
peans to 1798; by WiUiam Bacon Stevens. 2 vols. Butler:
PhUadelphia, 1859.
Story's Story : Life and Letters of Joseph Story ; by his Son,
W. W. Story. Little, Brown & Co. : Boston, 1851.
Sumner : A History of Banking in the United States ; by W. 6.
Sumner. New York, 1896.
Telegraph, Extra: United States Telegraph, Extra; March to
November, 1828. Weekly. Green & Jarvis : Washington.
Truth's Advocate and Monthly Anti-Jackson Expositor. Cincinnati,
1828.
Tyler's Taney : Memoirs of Roger Brook Taney ; by Samuel
Tyler. Murphy : Baltimore, 1872.
Tyler's Tylers : The Letters and Times of the Tylers ; by L. 6.
Tyler. 2 vols. Richmond, 1884.
Von Hoist ; The Constitutional and PoUtical History of the
United States ; by Dr. H. von Hoist, (translated). 3 vols.
CaUaghan : Chicago, 1878-81.

468 FULL TITLES OF BOOKS REFERRED TO
¦^'^alker : Lite of Andrew Jackson ; by A. Walker. Philadelphia,
¦- ' 1860.
Webster's Correspondence : The Private Correspondence of Daniel
Webster ; edited by Fleteher Webster. 2 vols. Little, Brown
& Co. : Boston, 1857.
Webster's Works : The Works of Daniel Webster. 6 vols. Lit
tle, Brown & Co. : Boston, 1851.
Wheaton : See Howard.
Whig Almanac : The Whig Almanac (from 1838). Horace
Greeley : New York.
WUkinson : Memoirs of my Own Times ; by James WUkinson.
PhUadelphia, 1816.
Wilson's Works : The Works of James WUson, LL. D. 3 vols.
PhUadelphia, 1804.
Wise : Seven Decades of the Union ; by Henry A. Wise. Lip
pincott : PhUadelphia, 1872.

INDEX

INDEX

Aberdeen, Lobd, satisfied with Jack
son's offer regarding West India
trade, 215.
Abolitionists, their origin and growth,
410 ; send documents to the South,
411.
Adair, General John, remonstrates
with Jackson for accusing Kentucky
troops of cowardice, 46 ; as gover
nor of Kentucky, supports " relief '*
acts, 163 ; petitions for redress, 164.
Adams, John, prevents war with
France, 31 ; unfairly blamed for
alien and sedition acts, 255 ; ou re
sponsibility of Treasury Department
to House, 353.
Adams, John Quincy, on motives of
Congress in refunding Jackson's
fine, 57 ; defends Jackson's course
in Florida, 80; vindicates it to
Spain and England, 82 ; friendly re
lations with Jackson, 82 ; says vice-
presidency would be a good retreat
for Jackson's old age, 82 ; his de
fence of Jackson plausible but un
sound, 83 ; his case against Arbuth
not, 83 ; consults Jackson on Texau
boundary, 84 ; reports Jackson as
wiUing to abandon Texan claim,
84, 85 ; on plan to nominate Clay
for Vice-President in 1820, 92 ; re
ceives one electoral vote, 92 ; recog
nizes strength of Jackson as candi
date, 99 ; his public services, party
connections, and character as candi
date, 102-104 ; his estimate of Cal
houn, 104, 105 ; friendly with Cal
houn, 105; on Crawford's quarrels
with Monroe, 107 ; on Benton's
motives for supporting Jackson,
114 ; refuses to appoint Benton to
office, 114; electoral and popular
vote for, 115 ; on the infatuation

of Pennsylvania for Jackson, 115 ;
elected President by House, 116;
his encounter with Jackson after
election, 117 ; gives Clay State De
partment, 118 ; accused by Jackson
of a corrupt bargain, 119 ; Clay's
reasons for supporting, 120 ; thought
a less dangerous rival for Clay than
Jackson, 120 ; not at first the object
of Jackson's resentment, 122 ; de
nies the bargain story, 123 ; his re
lations with Clay unfriendly before
1824, 124 ; approached by Letcher
with suggestion to appoint Clay,
124 ; told by Clay of purpose to
vote for him, 124 ; asked by Scott
to appoint Clay, refuses to promise,
125 ; urged by Webster not to pro
scribe federalists, 125; hated by
federalists, 125 ; conscious of his
lack of support, 134 ; rendered un
popular by bargain cry, 136; hia
theory of presidency, 138 ; 'wishes
to guide and suggest national im
provements, 138, 139 ; makes no at
tempt to create an administration
party, 141 ; offers Treasury to Craw
ford, 141 ; appoints Rush, a politi
cal opponent, 141 ; refuses to aid
election of Mason, 141 ; refuses to
punish officials for opposition, 142 ;
refuses to appoint friends to office,
142 ; refuses to bid for popularity
with Germans, 142 ; refuses to dis
miss McLean, 142, 143 ; refuses to
correct a slander, 143 ; his inter
view with Binns, 143 ; his adminis
tration in a minority, 143, 144 ;
slanders against, in campaign of
1828, 145, 146 ; still refuses to dis
miss McLean, 146 ; controversy with
Giles and with New England feder
alists about changing party in 1807,

472

INDEX

147 ; electoral and popular vote for,
148, 149 ; his administration too un
worldly, 149 ; compared with that
of his father, 149 ; refusal of Jack
son to call upon, 179 ; hurt at the
slight, 180 ; failure of attempt to
reconcile with Jackson, 180 ; his
mortification at discovery of Wat
kins's defalcation, 189 n.; on reasons
for rejection of Hill's nomination by
Senate, 191 ; refuses to run on ticket
with Crawford, 198 ; refers to quar
rel between Calhoim and Jackson,
209 ; says Jackson offered War De
partment to Drayton, 212 ; on Jack
son's attitude in Peck impeachment
case, 220; as President, appoints
agent to investigate Creek treaty,
222 ; orders Gaines to prevent tres
pass on Creek lands, 222 ; defied by
Troup, 222 ; unpopular in South
west for protecting Indians, 224 ;
on Stevenson's election as Speaker,
241 ; bis attitude toward tariff of
1828, 251 n. ; chairman of Commit
tee on Manufactures, 262 ; wishes
to pay debt and then lower duties,
263 ; proposes abohtion of Phi Beta
Kappa, 294 ; an anti-mason, 295 ;
his report on the Bank, 302 ; on
branch drafts, 303 ; on Bank's sales
of coin, 303 ; on Bank's share in
jntemaf improvements, 304 ; on
charge of non-user against Bank,
305 ; on charge of Bank's subsidiz
ing press, 305 ; objects to loans by
Bank to members of Congress, 310 ;
disgusted at Harvard's compliment
to Jackson, 350 ; accuses Jackson of
posing, 350 ; his report on currency,
389 ; sustains Jackson's attitude
toward France, 405 ; negotiates in
1819 concerning western boundary
of Louisiana, 412 ; as President,
orders Poinsett to buy Texas, 413 ;
said by Jackson to have prevented
annexation of Texas in 1836, 418 ;
his speech against war for Texas,
420 ; on factiousness of politics,
430 ; denounced by Jackson for his
opposition to Texas, 457, 458 ; con
troversy with Jackson as to latter's
position on Texas in 1819, 458, 459.

Adams, Mrs. J. Q., gives a ball in
honor of Jackson, 104.
Alabama, opposes a congressional
caucus, 109 ; resents expulsion of
intruders from Cherokee territory,
228 ; denounces tariff, 256, 257, 335 ;
opposes nullification, 335 ; nomi
nates White in 1836, 444.
Albany Regency, controlled by Van
Buren, 111 ; tries to prevent choice
of electors in New York by people,
111 ; loses control of Legislature to
" people's party,'* 111.
Alien and sedition laws, less tyran
nical than embargo, 32.
Ambrister, Robert, captured by Jack
son in Florida, 74 ; his questions^
ble status, 74, 75 ; condemned to be
shot, hia sentence commuted, 75 ;
ordered by Jackson to be hanged,
75.
Anti-masons, origin of, 289-293 ; dis
rupt old political parties, 292 ; hold
convention at Utica, their prin*
ciples, 293 ; spread into Pennsylva
nia and New England, 293 ; hold
national conventions and nominate
Wirt for President, 294, 295 ; their
relations with Clay, 295 ; decline
to call a convention in 1836, 443;
nominate Harrison for presidency,
444.
Arbuthnot, Alexander, seized by Jack
son in Florida, 72 ; his relations
with Indians, 73 ; tells his son to
remove goods from Jackson's ad
vance, 73 ; considered by Jackson
to have warned Indians, 73 ; tried
and condemned on charge of incit
ing Creeks to war, 74 ; his con
demnation unwarranted, 74, 78 ;
hanged by Jackson's order, 76 ;
Adams's case against, plausible,
but unsound, S3.
Arkansas, admitted as a State, 446,
447.
Armstrong, John, his advice to Jack
son about invading Florida in 1814,
43.
Aury, Louis de, a pirate in Florida,
67.
Avery, Colonel WaightstiU, hia duel
with Jackson, 20.

INDEX

473

Bache,  , defaulting postmaster,
reluctantly removed by McLean,
146.
Balch, Alfred, letter of Crawford to,
on Calhoun, 198.
Baldwin, Judge Henry, in case of
Briscoe vs. Bank of Kentucky, 423.
Bank of Commonwealth of Kentucky
vs. Wister, 174.
Bank of the United States, estab
lishes branches in Kentucky, 155 ;
accused by Kentucky banks of
causing panic, 156, 160 ; declared
constitutional by Supreme Court,
160, 166 ; opposition to, in Ken
tucky, and attempt to tax, 160, 166 ;
denounced by Desha, 169, 170 ; pop
ular fear of , as "money power,"
264, 265 ; events leading to rechar
ter in 1816, 265, 266 ; its charter,
267, 268 ; its bad management prior
to 1819, 268, 269 ; reorganized by
Cheves, 269 ; its status under Bid
dle, 270 ; invents and misuses branch
drafts, 270, 271 ; attacked by Bar
bour, 271 ; hated by Woodbury and
Hill because of Portsmouth branch
affair, 271-278 ; accused by Ingham
of using infiuence in politics, 272,
274 ; defended by Biddle, 273-276 ;
threatened by Ingham, 276, 277 ;
attempt of Jackson's followers to
use, in behalf of administration,
277 ; origin of anti-Bank clique,
277-279 ; attack upon, predicted by
Kendall, 280 ; attacked by Jackson
in message, 280, 281 ; its constitu
tionality unquestioned in 1829, 283 ;
defended by McDuffie and Smith,
284 ; again attacked by Jackson,
285 ; connection of Tyler's views
on, with Jackson's, 286, 287 ; sus
tained in Congress, 286, 287 ; sup
ported by McLane, 288 ; diminu
tion of Jackson's hostility to, in
1831, 288; dragged by Clay into
campaign of 1832, 297, 298 ; peti
tions for renewal of charter, 300 ;
its case mismanaged by Dallas, 300 ;
report of McDuffie upon, 301 ; in
vestigation of, by committee, 301,
302 ; reports for and against, 302 ;
charges against, 302 - 310 ; really

questionable only in matter of
branch drafts, 311 ; doubtfulness of
Biddle's veracity, 311 ; really dam
aged by Bank drafts, 312 ; false
theory of, held by Biddle, 313-315 ;
suffers from heavy payments on
pubUc debt, 315 ; refusal of Jack
son to compromise with, 318 ; re
charter passed, 319 ; vetoed by
Jackson, 319, 320 ; its share in elec
tion of 1832, 320 ; opposed by local
banks, 320 ; attempts to extend
loans, 339, 340,; called unsafe by
Jackson, 340 ; reported safe by
Verplanck, 341 ; ceases to contract
loans, 342 ; critical condition of its
western branches, 342, 343 ; declared
safe by House, 343 ; loses through
failure of France to meet draft of
United States, 344, 345; attempts
to retain part of a dividend, 345 ;
lawsuits against, on this point, 345 ;
proposal to remove deposits from,
345-347 ; animus of attack upon,
346, 349 ; Jackson's opinion of,
352 ; curtails debts, 353 ; depos
its removed from, 354, 356-359 ;
replies to paper read to cabinet,
355 ; insincere defence of, 356 ; fail
ure of bill to recharter, 357 ; at
tempt of Taney to protect pet
banks from, 359 ; accused by Jack
son of political action, and of man
ufacturing a panic, 360, 370, 371;
Taney's reasons for removal of
deposits from, 361 ; petitions Con
gress against removal of deposits,
361 ; further complaints of Jack
son agamst, 363, 374, 375, 400 ; in
vestigated by Senate and House,
368, 369; disputes with Treasury
over branch drafts, 374 ; further
dealings with Treasury, 375 ; final
words of Jackson against, 375,
376 ; failure to investigate transac
tions of members of Congress with,
376; loans capital and sells branches,
395 ; aids, after New York fire, 395 ;
gets a charter from Pennsylvania,
its corrupt character, 395, 396 ; dis
cussion of its financial honesty, 397 ;
its career, after 1836, destroys con
fidence, 397, 398; career contiau-

474

INDEX

ous, 398 ; unsound from the out
set, 399 ; its final dealings with Uni
ted States, 399, 400 ; its failures in
1838-1841, 400 ; called an obsolete
idea, even by whigs, 401.
Bank of United States vs. Halsted,
166.
Bank of United States vs. Planters'
Bank, 167.
Barbour, Philip P., proposes to sell
stock held by United States in Bank,
271 ; appointed to Supreme Court,
424.
Barry, William T., chief justice of
Kentucky new Court of Appeals,
165 ; defeated for Governor of Ken
tucky, 174 ; Postmaster - General,
182 ; the tool of the kitchen cabi
net, 187 ; asked to retain office in
1831, 209; favors removal of de
posits, 346; his inefficient manage
ment of post-office, 409 ; refuses to
answer questions of investigating
committee, 409 ; succeeded by Ken
dall, 409 ; appointed minister to
Spain, 410.
Barton, T. P., cTiargS d^affaires^ di
rected by Jackson to inquire pur
pose of France in 1835, 407 ; re
caUed, 407.
BeU, John, supports White against
Van Buren, 441 ; denounced by
democrats, 441.
Benton, Jesse, his feud with Jackson,
36.
Benton, Thomas H., upholds Wilkin
son against Jackson, 35 ; secures
reimbursement of Jackson's ex
penses in 1813, 36; his feud and
brawl with Jackson, 36 ; reconcUed
with Jackson, 114; supports first
Clay, then Jackson, 114 ; said by
Adams to have been bought by
offer of a foreign mission, 114 ; dis
credits bargain story against Clay,
119 ; calls Adams's election a viola
tion of the "will of the people,"
125 ; upholds democracy against the
Constitution, 125, 126 ; falsity of
his position, 127 ; violates constitu
tional liberty, 128 ; becomes one of
Jackson's managers, 135 ; misrepre
sents Panama congress struggle.

137 ; fixed upon by kitchen cabinet
as successor to Van Buren, 200 n. ;
on method of securing Creek land
treaty, 222; opposes Clay's land
poUcy, 232 ; introduces bill to sell
public lands cheaply, 233; offers
resolution against recharter of
Bank, 287 ; says Bank attacked
Jackson, 297 ; describes programme
of opponents of Bank, 301; furnishes
Clayton with charges against Bank,
301 ; in error in charging Bank with
causing financial disturbances, 315,
316 ; says Calhoun was afraid of
Jackson in 1833, 338 ; approves of
removal of deposits, 347 ; intro
duces resolutions to summon Biddle
to bar of Senate, 363 ; gives notice
of expunging resolution, 366 ; holds
caucus to enforce expunging, 367;
caUs distress fictitious, 370; moves
to investigate specie transactions of
Bank, 374; his devotion to metallic
currency, 388 ; wishes to receive
only specie for pubhc lands, 392.
Berrien, John M., Attomey-Gener^,
182; represents Calhoun's foUowers,
183; denounced by Jackson, 209;
reverses Wirt's opinion against
South Carolina seaman acts, 219;
protests against tariff, deprecates
disunion, 256.
Beverly, Carter, spreads report of
Jackson's accusation of a corrupt
offer on Clay's part, 122; writes
apologetic letter to Clay, 123.
Bibb, George M., proposes reduction
of price of public lands, 234 ; op
poses Jackson on Bank question,
365.
Biddle, Nicholas, elected president of
Bank, 269 ; represents young ele
ment, 269 ; receives complaint of
Woodbury against Mason, 272 ;
writes confident letter explaining
causes of Mason's appointment,
272, 273; stirs animosity of HiU
and Woodbury, 272 ; denies that
poUtics influence Bank, 274; forces
Eaton to revoke order removing
pension agency from Bank, 274 ;
calls assailants of Mason a limited
cUque, 275 ; denies responsibility to

INDEX

475

Secretary of Treasury, 275; reaf
firms non-partisanship, 276, 277 ; re
monstrates against removal of pen
sion funds from New York branch
bank, 288; reluctant to aUow re
charter question to enter into cam
paign of 1832, 298 ; wishes Webster
to introduce memorial for recharter,
300 ; defends branch drafts against
Cambreleng, 303 ; on charge of now-
twer, 304; admits favors of Bank to
T. Biddle, 306; secures postpone
ment of payment of three per cent.
stock, 309 ; combines two offices,
310 ; his poUcy to escape difficulties
caused by branch drafts, 312, 313 ;
his arguments too plausible, 312,
313 ; his theory of bank notes
vicious, 313, 314; asserts too much,
314 ; poses as protector of public,
314, 315 ; at Washington directs
congressional campaign, 318 ; offers
to compromise with Jackson, 318 ;
accused of corrupting Congress,
319 ; repudiates CadwaUader's con
tract with Barings, 340 ; thinks
Bank strong enough not to contract
loans, 342 ; knows of re-drawing be
tween branches, 342 ; his attempts
to retain a sum as compensation for
losses incurred by refueal of France
to pay indemnity, 345 ; his conduct
held by Jackson to prove unsound
ness of Bank, 352 ; writes answer to
Jackson's paper read to cabinet,
355; his defence, 356; motion of
Benton to summon before Senate,
363; charged with creating distress,
370, 371 ; defends branch drafts,
374 ; on method of securing Penn
sylvania charter, 396 ; doubts as to
his sincerity, 397 ; his foolish course
after 1836, 399 ; arraigned for con
spiracy but escapes, 400; resigns
presidency of Bank, 400 ; his last
days and death, 400, 401.
Biddle, Thomas, favors shown him by
Bank, 305, 306.
Binney, Horace, holds branch drafts
legal, 270.
Binns, John, refusal of Adams to
help, 142, 143; describes interview
with Adams, 143 ; effort of Eaton

to bribe, 191; claims to have in
vented poUtical conventions, 294 n.
Blair, F. P., supports Clay, then
Adams, in 1824, 120 n. ; brought by
Kendall to edit a Jackson organ at
Washington, 206; his political views,
207; his abiUty as a partisan editor,
207; his sympathy with Jackson,
207; supported by official patron
age, 207, 208 ; his unprincipled
guidance of Jackson, 323; makes
the " Globe " the controUing power
of the party, 325, 326; acts as Jack
son's mouthpiece, 326; urges re
moval of deposits, his motives, 347 ;
tries to moderate Jackson's anger
at Biddle, 352 ; tries to control elec
tions, 440 ; loans Jackson money,
453.
Blount, Governor WilUam, on Jack
son's efficiency as District Attorney,
11 ; as senator, expeUed, 13, 14 ;
letter of Jackson to, 39 n.
Bonaparte, Napoleon, hia career af
fects imagination of Burr, 24 ; ad
mired in the West, 3D; distorted
view current as to his policy, 30,
31 ; his dupUcity condoned by demo
crats, 31 ; dupes United States into
war with England, 35 ; his pro
clamations imitated by Jackson, 46 ;
compared with Jackson, 323, 324,
349, 362.
Brackenridge, Henry M., on Jackson's
imprisonment of CaUava, 87.
Branch, John, Secretary of Navy, 182 ;
one of Calhoun's followers, 183.
Briscoe vs. Bank of Kentucky, 422-424.
British West Indies, negotiations as
to trade with, 214-216 ; aboUtion of
slavery in, 410.
Broglie, Due de, on evil effect of Jack
son's message on French compensa
tion, 403 ; prepares to fulfil spoUa-
tion claims, 405 ; offers to pay if
United States wiU apologize, 407.
Brooke, F., letter of Clay to, 120.
Brown, Major-General Jacob, contro
versy of Jackson with, 85 ; his ca
reer in war of 1812, 85.
Brown, Rev. Obadiah B., his corrupt
maU contracts, 409; resigns, with
an " Appeal to the American Peo-

476

INDEX

pie," 409 ; writes for Johnson a re
port on running mails on Sunday,
443.
Buchanan, James, named by Jackson
as authority for bargain story, 123 ;
exonerates Clay, 123 ; conducts Peck
impeachment case, 220; his faUure
in impeachment desired by Jackson,
220.
Bucktails, in New York, disorganized
by anti-masonic movement, 292.
Burke, Edmund, his remark on Chat
ham appUcable to Adams, 149.
Burr, Aaron, acquainted with Jack
son, 21 ; contracts with Jackson for
boats on Mississippi, 22 ; his project
iU-defined, 24, 25 ; probably intends
merely fiUbustering, not secession,
25 ; tries to use Jackson, 25 ; his
conduct arouses Jackson's suspi
cion, 25 ; overcomes Jackson's scru
ples, 26 ; later upheld by Jackson,
26 ; suggests Jackson as presiden
tial candidate, 99 ; his influence
denied by Jackson, 99 ; defeated in
1801 by Jefferson through corrupt
appointments, 134.
Butler, Benjamin F., signs petition
for a branch bank, 285 ; advises
Jackson to side with Michigan in
boundary controversy, 446.
Butler,  , missionary, condemned
for violating Georgia laws concern
ing Cherokees, 226, 227.
Cabinet, its members not " Constitu
tional advisers" of President, 181 ;
Jackson's theory of, 353, 354, 362,
363.
CadwaUader, General T., sent by
Bank to Europe to negotiate for ex
tension of a loan, 339 ; makes an
arrangement with the Barings, 340.
Calhoun, John C, appointed Secre
tary of War, 64 ; yields to Jackson
in controversy as to authority, 64 ;
sends orders to Jackson in Seminole
affair, 70 ; annoyed at his insubor
dination, wishes him censured, 80 ;
writes to Jackson an approving let
ter, 80 ; tries to prevent House
from attacking him, 82 ; popular in
South, the " young men's candi

date" in 1824, 104; Adams's esti
mate of, 104, 105 ; friendly with
Adams, 105; his semces in War
Department, 105 ; rival of Crawford,
105 ; accused in Rip Rap contract
case, 106 ; his popularity in Penn
sylvania yields to Jackson's, 112;
his foUowers expected by Jackson
to join in a coalition, 112 ; said by
NUes to have opposed Jackson as a
"Bank candidate," 114; suggests
a newspaper organ, 134 ; favors
broad construction of federal pow
ers, 139 ; appoints committees hos
tUe to Adams and Clay, 140 ; refuses
to interfere to preserve order, 141 ;
takes part in newspaper controversy,
141 ; reelected Vice-President, hopes
to succeed Jackson after one term,
181 ; confirms nomination of Ken
daU by casting vote, 191 ; struggles
with Van Buren for patronage, 193 ;
damaged in Jackson's estimation by
his wife's refusal to recognize Mrs.
Eaton, 196 ; his loyalty doubted by
Jackson, 196 ; his enemies poison
Jackson's mind against him, 196 ;
suspected by Lewis of having op
posed Jackson in Seminole affair,
197 ; efforts of Crawford to turn
Jackson's mind against, 198 ; said
to have favored Adams at first,
198 ; efforts of Crawford to prevent
Georgia election from supporting,
198 ; his proposal to censure Jack
son reported by Crawford to For
syth, 199 ; refuses to be drawn out
on the subject by Henry Lee, 199 ;
his loyalty thoroughly doubted by
kitchen cabinet, 200 ; doubted by
Jackson in letter to Overton, 201 ;
his toast at nuUification banquet,
203; his advocacy of nullification
drives Jackson to other side, 203 ;
directly betrayed by Crawford, 204;
asked by Jackson for explanation
of perfidy, 204, 205 ; sees himself
ruined, 205 ; his reply condemning
Crawford, 205 ; letter of Jackson to,
declaring breach, , 205 ; publishes a
pamphlet on the Seminole affair,
209 ; his friends turned out of cabi
net, 209 ; rejects Van Buren's nomi-

INDEX

477

nation by casting vote, 210 ; defeats
wooUen tariff by casting vote, 239 ;
loses support in Pennsylvania and
New York, 239 ; holds Van Buren
responsible for tariff of 1828, 251 ;
his poUtical error in opposing tariff
on nullification ground, 256, 257 ;
Jackson's opinion of his course, 259 ;
considered as possible candidate for
President by anti-masons, 295 ; re
signs vice-presidency and enters
Senate, 331 ; becomes absorbed in
political mysticism, 331 ; his intense
earnestness, 331, 332 ; denies that
South Carolina is hostUe to Union,
332 ; offers resolutions on nature of
Constitution, 333, 334 ; said to have
been driven by fear of Jackson into
an agreement with Clay, 338 ; later
claims to have won victory by com
promise tariff, 339 ; joins whigs in
Bank struggle, 365 ; proposes to
amend Constitution so as to allow
distribution of surplus, 381, 386 ;
suspected by Jackson of plan to
defeat Van Buren's nomination in
1844, 459.
California, the real object of Mexican
war, 413, 420.
CaU, General Richard K., censured by
Jackson for insulting Mrs. Eaton,
195.
Callava, Spanish ex-governor of Flo
rida, refuses to deliver papers to
Jackson, sent to calaboose, 87 ; goes
to Washington to protest, 88.
Cambreleng, C, visits Crawford, 198 ;
criticises branch bank drafts, Bid-
die's ineffective reply, 303.
CampbeU, George W., letters of Jack
son to, 26, 27.
CampbeU, Rev. J. N., caUed before
cabinet by Jackson for defaming
Mrs. Eaton, 195; chaUenged by
Eaton, 211.
Canning, George, admits that Eng
land was coerced into opening West
India trade, 216.
Cass, Lewis, Secretary of War, 212 ;
revokes order transferring pension
funds from New York branch bank,
288; opposes removal of deposits,
346.

Catron, John, tells Webster of desire
in West to free Texas, 418.
Cherokees, land bought from, by Jack
son, 60; their land claimed by
Georgia, 223 ; their number, charac
ter, and civilization, 223 ; laws of
Georgia claiming jurisdiction over,
224-226 ; their removal provided for
by Congress, 225 ; appeal to Su
preme Court, 225, 226 ; abandoned
by Jackson, 226, 227 ; finaUy seU
their lands and remove to Indian
Territory, 229.
ChevaUer, Michael, compares debates
of 1834 to those of French Revolu
tion, 364 ; on Jackson's reasons for
defying France, 404.
Cheves, Langdon, favors secession in
1831, 261 ; his successful presi
dency of Bank, 269 ; thinks many
branches disadvantageous, 307.
Chickasaws, their situation in Missis
sippi, 223.
Choctaws, their lands in Mississippi,
223 ; cede their lands in 1830, 228 ;
terms of their removal to Indian
Territory, 229.
CivU service, appointments to, Jack
son's early ideas upon, 62, 63 ; four-
years' term introduced by Craw
ford, 107 ; Adams's administration
of, 141-143, 146 ; its degradation
under Jackson, 187-192, 409, 453,
454.
Claiborne, General W. C. C, serves
in Creek war, 38 ; wishes martial
law aboUshed, 54 ; describes Amos
Kendall, 185.
Clark, Judge, declares Kentucky re
plevin law unconstitutional, 162 ;
attempt made to remove him, 163.
Clay, Henry, leads new generation of
republicans, 34 ; opposes Monroe's
administration out of pique at fail
ure to receive State Department, 81 ;
attacks Jackson's Florida career,
81 ; possibly regards Jackson as a
presidential rival, 82 ; aUeged plan
to nominate for Vice-President in
1820, 92 ; his reputation and posi
tion as presidential candidate in
1824, 108; his poUtical principles,
108 ; his gambUng habits, 108, 109 ;

478

INDEX

reconciled with Jackson, 114 ; elec
toral and popular vote for, 115 ;
his influence in the House of Repre
sentatives, 115; suspected of cor
rupt motives for supporting Adams,
117 ; accepts State Department in
spite of charges, 117 ; question of
propriety of his conduct, 117, 118 ;
Jackson's rage against, 119 ; charge
of corruption invalid, 119 : Clay's
reasons for not favoring Jackson,
120 ; demands an investigation of
Kremer's charges, 121 ; bitterly de
nounced by Jackson, 121 ; repUes,
121 ; his nomination meets oppo
sition in Senate, 122; calls upon
Jackson for proof of Carter Bev
erly's story, 123 ; exonerated by
Buchanan, 123 ; calls upon Jackson
to retract, 123 ; continues to be ac
cused by Jackson, 123; later re
grets having accepted office, 123;
not on friendly terms with Adams
before 1824, 124 ; his friends urge
Adams to appoint him to office, 124,
125 ; tells Adams of intention to
support him, 124 ; abused by Ran
dolph, 131 ; his duel with Randolph,
131 ; his championship of South
American repubUcs, 135 ; urges
Adams not to aUow officials openly
to oppose him, 141, 142 ; wishes
McLean removed, 142 ; wishes Ad
ams to refute charges of defalca
tion, 143 ; Kendall's quarrel with,
183, 184 ; suspected by Jackson of
instigating attack on Mrs. Eaton,
196 ; reconciled with Crawford, 198 ;
rendered unpopular in West by pub
lic land policy, 232 ; his scheme re
jected in 1832 by Congress, 234 ;
announces views on tariff in 1831,
262; wishes to stop paying debt,
263 ; defies the South, 263 ; expected
by anti-masons to withdraw in favor
of Wirt, 295 ; his position on ma
sonry, 295 ; uses Bank recharter as
issue in campaign of 1832, 297 ; his
dictatorial behavior, 298 ; vote for,
in 1832, 320, 321 ; introduces com
promise tariff, 335 ; forced into
untenable position by protected
manufacturers, 338; agrees with

Calhoun on compromise, 338 ; his
later controversy with Calhoun as
to which won, 339 ; denounced by
protectionists for treachery, 339 ;
moves a caU for paper read to cabi
net, 362 ; introduces resolutions of
censure on Taney and Jackson, 363 ;
his land biU vetoed by Jackson,
380 ; again fails to pass it, 381, 386 ;
refuses to run against Van Buren,
439 ; carries Tennessee, to Jack
son's disgust, 460.
Clajrton, John M., offers resolutions
on Constitution, 333.
Clayton, Judge, announces intention
to enforce State laws against Chero
kees, 225 ; bis speech in sentencing
two missionaries, 227 ; denounces
tariff but opposes disunion, 256;
moves for an investigation of Bank,
301.
Clinton, De Witt, a presidential can
didate, 102 ; supports Jackson
against Crawford, 111 ; removed
from office by Albany Regency,
111 ; his place as Jackson leader in
New York taken by Van Buren,
130 ; his foUowers urged by Lewis
to support Jackson, 147 ; nominated
for presidency in 1812 by a conven
tion, 294.
Cobb, Thomas W., denounces tariff,
but disclaims disunion sentiment,
256.
Cobden, Richard, shocked at social
condition of United States, 430.
Cochrane, Admiral, ordered to ravage
United States coasts, 49.
Cohens vs. Virginia, 169.
Coinage, regulation of, 389-392.
Coleman, Dr. L. H., letter of Jack
son to, on tariff, 95.
Connecticut, anti-masonry in, 293 ;
opposes nullification, 335.
Constitution, its confiict with Ben
ton's demos krcUeo theory, 126-
128 ; amendments to, proposed by
democrats, 137 ; development of, by
Supreme Court, under Marshall, 166-
171, 174, 175 ; its relation to inter
nal improvements, 235 ; as affected
by Jackson's theory of presidency,
324, 325 ; its relation to nullifica*

INDEX

479

tion, 333, 334; in relation to Jack
son's theory of presidency, 349, 353,
354, 363; interpretation of, by Su
preme Court after MarshaU, 422-
428.
Cooke, John, major-general of Ten
nessee militia, 37 ; quarrels with
Jackson, 38.
Coppinger,  , papers seized from,
by Jackson's oniers, 89.
Craig vs. Missouri, 176.
Crawford, W. H., revises Jackson's
treaty with Creeks, 60 ; disliked by
Jackson, 60; transferred to Treasury
Department, 614 ; thought by Jack
son to have been his enemy in cabi
net, 81 ; instigates House commit
tee to act against Jackson, 82 ; his
friends lead in attacking Jackson,
82 ; his enmity to Calhoun, 105 ;
the " regular " candidate, 106 ; his
career and character, 106, 107 ; his
controversy with Edwards, 106; in
troduces four-years' term act, 107 ;
said to have quarreUed with Mon
roe, 107 ; his friends nominate Van
Buren for vice-presidency, 107 ; phy
sically disabled in 1824, 108 ; dis
liked by aU other candidates, 108 ;
nominated by a caucus of his
friends, 110 ; his candidacy man
aged by Van Buren, 110, 111; up
held by " regular " democratic
convention in Pennsylvania, 113 ;
electoral and popular vote for, 115 ;
vote of House for, 116 ; Clay's
reasons for not supporting, 120 ;
visits Capitol before the election,
120 n. ; his political career ended,
128 ; recovers health and becomes
circuit judge, 128 ; his candidacy
ruined by ill-health, 130 ; the only
States'-rights candidate, 139 ; re
fuses Adams's offer of Treasury
Department, 141 ; his hatred of
Calhoun, 197 ; visited by Van
Buren, 198 ; writes letter accusing
Calhoun of enmity to Jackson, 198 ;
plan to nominate for vice-presi
dency, 198 ; tries to persuade Geor
gia electors not to vote for Cal
houn, 198 ; reconciled with Clay,
198; tells Forsyth that Calhoun

proposed to censure Jackson in
1818, 199; teUs Jackson of Cal
houn's attitude, 204 ; says Jack-
sou's Rhea letter converted him,
204 ; complained of, by Calhoim,
205; opposes nullification and se
cession, 256 ; refers to GaUatin as
authority for power to transfer
drafts to banks, 359.
Creeks, instigated to war by Tecum
seh, 37 ; massacre garrison of Fort
Mims, 37 ; character of war with,
38 ; defeated by Jackson, 41 ; sig
nificance of war with, 41, 42 ; Jack
son's treaty with, modified by Craw
ford, 60 ; refugees from, in Flor
ida, 65; attacked at Fowltown by
Gaines, 68, 69 ; their lands in Geor
gia, 221 ; refuse to sell land, 221 ;
their chiefs sell land by treaty
of Indian Spring, 221 ; repudiate
treaty, 222 ; protected by Adams,
222 ; make a new treaty ceding
land, 222 ; their numbers and char
acter, 223, 224 ; forced to move west
of Mississippi, 229.
Crittenden, J. J., on Calhoun's fears
in 1833, 338.
Curtis, George Ticknor, on Calhoun's
fears in 1833, 338.
Daxlas, a. j., asks Jackson to ex
plain his difficulties with civil au
thorities at New Orleans, 58.
Dallas, George M., withdraws Cal
houn's name from presidential can
didacy in Pennsylvania, 112 ; pre
sents memorial of Bank for re
charter, 300.
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward,
168.
Davis, Warren R., his funeral, 432.
Dearborn, H. A. S., on effect of hemp
duties in Boston, 263.
Delaware, votes for Adams in 1828,
148 ; opposes nullification, 335.
Democratic party, begins as opposi
tion to Adams, its elements, 130 ;
its leaders, 131 ; organized by Van
Buren, 131-133 ; its managers, 135 ;
begins opposition in 1825, 136 ; its
factious opposition to Panama mis-
sion, 137 ; denounces Monroe doc-

480

INDEX

trine, 137 ; asserts regard for
States' rights, 139 ; aided by Cal
houn, 140, 141 ; members of, not
turned out of office by Adams, 142,
143, 146 ; attacks administration for
extravagance, 144 ; causes for its
success under Jackson, 176-179 ;
celebrates his inauguration, 179 ;
spUt in, between Calhoun and Jack
son, 201-206, 209 ; incongruous ele
ments of, 232 ; torn by tariff ques
tion, 250, 251 ; obliged by Jackson
to oppose Bank, 285 ; its organiza^
tion and principles in 1832, 296, 299 ;
its national convention of 1832, 317 ;
forced by Jackson into support of
Van Buren, 318 ; denounces Senate,
364 ; infiuenced by loco-foco;3, 438 ;
its full organization in 1836, 439,
440 ; its control over country, 440 ;
holds convention in 1835, 440, 442 ;
division in, between followers of
White and Jackson, 441 ; nominates
Van Buren, 442; elects its candi
dates, 448, 449 ; Van Buren loses
control of, 451, 458 ; controUed by
South, 458.
Deposits, removal of, see Bank ;
plan debated in cabinet, 345-347 ;
authors of, 347, 349 ; refusal of
Duane to carry out, 350, 351, 353 ;
preparation for, by KendaU, 351,
352 ; carried out by Taney, 354 ;
discussion of, 355 ; Taney's reasons,
361.
Desha, Governor Joseph, denounces
aU banks, 171 ; defends reUef sys
tem and State sovereignty, 172 ;
vetoes repeal of law establishing
the new Court of Appeals, 173.
Dick, John, District Attorney, secures
habeas corpus for Hall against Jack
son, 56 ; arrested and released, 56.
Dickens, Asbury, on Michigan consti
tutional convention, 446.
Dickinson, Charles, liis quarrel and
duel with Jackson, 21 ; wounds
Jackson somewhat seriously and is
himself killed, 21.
Dinsmore, SUas, refuses to allow pas
sage of negroes through Indian
country, 27 ; his removal and ruin
caused by Jackson, 27 ; attempts in

vain a reconciUation with Jackson,
27.
Diplomatic history, treaty of 1795
with Spain, 22 ; purchase of Louisi
ana, 23 ; settlement with Spain and
England after Jackson's invasion of
Florida, 78, 80; Van Buren's in
structions to McLane in 1829, 210 ;
question of trade with British West
Indies, 214-216 ; mission of McLane
to England, 215 ; mission of Rives
to France, 217, 404 ; question of
French spoUation claims, 217, 218,
402-408 ; Jackson's belligerent mes
sage, 403, 404 ; refusal of France
to pay, 405 ; Livingston's return,
406 ; controversy between Jackson
and BrogUe, 407 ; diplomatic rela
tions broken off, 407 ; deadlock
broken by England's mediation,
408 ; final explanations, 408 ; nego
tiations with Mexico concerning
Texas, 415 ; treaties with Mexico,
416 ; dispute with Mexico over
Gaines's invasion, 419 ; claims made
against Mexico, 421 ; settlement by
negotiation, 421.
Donelson, John, early settler of Ten
nessee, 11.
Donelson, Mrs. John, Jackson boards
with, 11.
.Donelson, Rachel, marries Robards,
11 ; accused by him of adultery
with Jackson, 11, 12 ; marries Jack
son under scandalous circumstances,
12 ; Jackson's subsequent devotion
to, 13 ; slandered by Dickinson, 21;
slandered during campaign of 1828,
179 ; her death, 179.
Donelson, Mrs., wife of Jackson's
nephew, banished from White House
for not recognizing Mrs. Eaton, 194,
Drayton, WUUam, his appointment
urged by Jackson upon Monroe, in
letters written by Ijewis, 60, 61 ;
not acquainted with Jackson, 61 ; a
South Carolina federalist, 61 ; leads
Union party, 212 ; offered War De
partment by Jackson, 212.
Duane, WilUam J., appointed Secre
tary of Treasury by Jackson, 345 ;
his character, 346 ; objects to secret
influence of kitchen cabinet, 347,

INDEX

481

348 ; describes itscontrol over Jack
son, 348; urged by Whitney to re
move deposits, 349 ; refuses, 350 ;
unmoved by Jackson's arguments,
350, 351 ; refuses to yield responsi
bUity to Jackson, 354 ; refuses to
resign and is dismissed, 354 ; pub
lishes correspondence and attacks
removal policy, 354, 355 ; abused by
party press, 355.
Duncan, Joseph, on gold and sUver
ratio, 390.
DuvaU, Gabriel, resigns from Su
preme Court, 423.
Eaton, John H., bis share in start
ing corruption story in 1825, 118 ;
his methods as member of Jack
son's "literary bureau," 133, 135;
Secretary of War, writes life of
Jackson, 182 ; shares influence of
kitchen cabinet, 187 ; offers Binns
pubhc printing if he wiU support
Jackson, 191 ; marries Mrs. Timber-
lake under questionable circum
stances, by Jackson's advice, 193,
194 ; attack upon his wife suspected
by Jackson to be a plot to drive
him from cabinet, 196 ; talks with
Lewis about Calhoun's attitude
toward Jackson in 1818, 199 ; re
signs from cabinet, 209 ; infuriated
at scandal concerning his wife, 211 ;
chaUenges CampbeU and Ingham,
211 ; complained of by Ingham,
211 ; plan of Jackson to make him
senator, 212 ; appointed governor
of Florida and minister to Spain,
212 ; quarrels with Jackson and be
comes whig, 212 ; his death, 212 ;
removes New Hampshire pension
agency from Mason's bank to Hill's,
274 ; revokes order, 274 ; orders
pension funds removed from New
York branch bank, 287 ; at demo
cratic convention forced by Lewis
to vote for Van Buren, 317.
Edwards, Ninian, accuses Crawford of
corruption, 106 ; says he was pro
mised support from Monroe, Jack
son, Calhoun, and Adams, 107 n.
Election, of 1801, Jefferson charged
with corruption in, 134 n. ; of 1816,

92, 93; of 1824, 95-128; steps
in nomination of Jackson, 95-100 ;
the candidates, 100-108; relations
of candidates to one another, 108 ;
regular caucus desired by Crawford
men, 109, 110; congressional caucus
nominates Crawford, 110, 111 ; elec
toral struggles in various States,
111-113 ; attempts at coalitions,
112, 114, 116 ; electoral and popu
lar vote, 115 ; intrigues in House
of Representatives, 116 ; choice
of Adams, 116 ; the corrupt bar
gain story, 117-125 ; the demos
hrateo principle discussed, 125-
128 ; its result changes current idea
of presidential office, 129; of 1828,
early plans for, 136 ; campaign
slanders in, 144-146 ; electoral and
popular votes, 148 ; of 1832, prepa
ration for, 294r-299, 316-320; vote
in, 320, 321 ; of 1836, 439^t49 ; of
1844, 459, 460.
Ellis, Powhatan, his arrogant con
duct as chargi d'affaires in Mexico,
421.
EUmaker, Amos, nominated for vice-
presidency by anti-masons at Balti
more in 1831, 294, 321.
Ellsworth, W. W., on Bank investi
gating committee, 368.
Ely, Rev.  , called before cabinet
by Jackson for defaming Mrs.
Eaton, 195.
Embargo, its foUy and tyrannous
character, 32.
England, its policy toward United
States, 31 ; repeals Orders in Coun-
cU, 34 ; its successes in war of 1812,
49 ; hopes to gain territory, 49 ;
action of its officers in Florida,
65, 66 ; suspected by United States
of stirring up Indians in Florida,
72 ; excludes United States from
West India trade, 214 ; yields to
retaliatory acts, 215, 216 ; begins
tariff reform, 236 ; exports woollens
to United States, 236 ; mediates be
tween France and United States,
408 ; abolishes slavery in West In
dies, 410.
Erving, George W., claims to have
begun negotiations for annexation

482

INDEX

of Texas in 1819, 415; his claim
denied by Adams, 459.
Everett, A. H., writes address for
protectionist convention, 261.
Everett, Edward, letter of Madison
to, on nullification, 254 ; on Bank
investigating committee, 368.
Fannin,  , murdered by Mexicans,
417.
Federalists, oppose admission of Ten
nessee, 13 ; their exclusion from of
fice deprecated by Jackson, 62, 63 ;
said first to have favored Jackson
for presidency, 99; convention of,
in Pennsylvania, nominates Jackson,
112 ; their hatred of Adams, 125 n. ;
join democratic party against Ad
ams, 130.
Financial history, breakdown of finan
ces during war of 1812, 48, 49;
crisis of 1819, 93, 94 ; demand for
cheap money in 1819, 94 ; conduct of
Treasury by Crawford during panic
of 1819, 106; infiation period in
Southwest, 155-166, 171-174; "re
Uef " movement in Kentucky and
Tennessee, 157-175 ; events leading
to charter of second Bank, 265, 266 ;
history of second Bank, before 1829,
266-272 ; Jackson's attack on the
Bank, 277-281, 285-288; tranquil
lity of conditions in 1829, 281 ;
charges against the Bank, 302-310 ;
their validity, 311-316 ; dealings of
Bank with Barmgs in 1832, 339-341 ;
critical situation in West caused by
branch drafts, 342, 343 ; financial
distress caused by removal of de
posits, 352, 355, 360, 369-371 ; choice
of deposit banks, 356-359 ; scandals
in placing drafts to protect pet
banks, 359, 360 ; hard-money pro
gramme of Jackson, 371, 372; soimd-
ness of currency in 1834, 372 ; be
ginning of banking mania, 372-374 ;
beginning of speculation, 377 ; era
of canals and internal improve
ments, 378, 379 ; stringency in 1835,
379 ; increased rise of prices to end
of 1836, 380 ; deposit of surplus
revenue, 382, 383 ; its effect, 384-
387 ; status of deposit banks, 385,

386 ; advocacy of metallic currency
by Jacksonians, 388, 389 ; regula
tion of coinage, 389-392 ; over-valu
ation of gold, 390; export of sil
ver, 392 ; specie circular issued,
392 ; its effect on banks, 393, 394 ;
veto of bill to repeal specie circu
lar, 394 ; new charter of Bank,
395, 398 ; its rash career and col
lapse, 400, 401 ; effect of Briscoe
case upon country, 426, 427 ; the
panic of 1837, 450.
Florida, question of its boundaries
raised by purchase of Louisiana,
23 ; partly occupied by United States
in 1810, 24 ; possibly the object of
Burr's schemes, 24 ; used as base of
operations by English, 42, 43 ; Jack
son cautioned against invading, 43 ;
invaded by Jackson in 1814, 43, 44 ;
arbitrary action of English in, 65 ;
negro fort in, destroyed by Gaines,
66 ; pirates in, expeUed by United
States, 67 ; fugitive slaves in, 67 ;
desire of United States to buy, 67 ;
Gaines's invasion of, to attack
Creeks, 68, 69 ; offer of Jackson to
conquer, 69 ; Jackson's invasion of,
71-76; capture of St. Marks, 71;
defeat of Seminoles in, 73, 74 ;
poUtical effect of Jackson's career
in, 77, 78 ; purchased by treaty of
1819, 84 ; Jackson's career as gov
ernor of, 85-90; Jackson's powers
over, 86 ; controversies over land
grants in, 87, 88.
Floyd, General John, serves in Creek
war, 38.
Floyd, John W., electoral vote for, in
1832, 320.
Foote, Samuel A., offers resolution
on pubHc lands, 233.
Force biU, asked for by Jackson, 332 ;
debate upon, 334 ; passed, 336, 337 ;
nullified by South Carolina, 337,
338.
Forsyth, John, tells HamUton, on
Crawford's behalf, of Calhoun's pro
posal to censure Jackson in 1818,
199 ; declines to receive BrogUe's
statement of French case in 1835,
407 ; receives offer of mediation
from England, 408.

INDEX

483

France, dupUcity of its poUcy toward
United States, 31 ; war with, pre
vented by Adams, 31 ; question of
SpoUation claims upon, 216-218 ;
agrees to pay claims, 217 ; refuses
to pay claims as agreed, 344, 402 ;
complained of by Jackson, 402, 403 ;
anger of, at Jackson'smessage, 403,
404 ; recalls minister, 405 ; refuses
to pay without " satisfactory expla
nations," 405, 406 ; proposal of
Jackson to exclude its ships, 407,
408; accepts mediation of England,
408 ; pays indemnity, 408.
Franklin, State of, an outgrowth of
"squatterism," 9.
Fromentin, Eligius, issues habeas cor
pus for Callava, 88 ; summoned by
Jackson to show cause, 88 ; his
interview with Jackson, 88 ; not
upheld by cabinet, 90.
Frontiersmen, characteristics of, 7-9 ;
their litigiousness, 8 ; their quar
relsomeness, 9 ; adopt squatterism
as government, 10 ; live upon credit,
18, 19 ; dueUmg code, 19, 20 ; their
inefficiency and insubordination as
troops, 58, 39.
Gaines, General E. P., destroys "Ne
gro Fort," 66 ; complains to Indians
of white men killed, 68 ; sends force
to attack Fowltown, 68 ; accused
by Mitchell of beginning Seminole
war, 68 ; his account of the affair,
68, 69 ; ordered by Jackson to seize
St. Augustine, 80 ; ordered by Ad
ams to protect Creek lauds, 222 ;
ordered by Jackson to enter Texas,
419; calls for miUtia, 419 ; recaUed,
419.
Gallatin, Albert, describes uncouth-
ness of Jackson's appearance in
1794, 16 ; his career as financier,
48; goes to Russia as peace com
missioner, 48 ; not forgiven by de
mocrats for abandoning finances,
48 ; his action justly criticised,
48, 49 ; warns of English prepara
tions to crush United States, 49 ;
nominated for Vice-President, 110 ;
atiU unpopular for having aban
doned the Treasury in 1812, 110;

on EngUsh opinion of Jackson, 215 ;
writes address for free-trade con
vention, 261 ; wrongly referred to as
author of plan of transferring large
drafts to banks, 360.
Gardner, James B., his nomination
rejected by Senate, 191.
Georgia, nominates Van Buren for
Vice-President, 107 ; urges United
States to buy Indian lands, 220, 221 ;
begins to dispose of Creek lands,
222 ; yields to Adams's prohibition,
222 ; dissatisfied with second Creek
treaty, 222; demands that United
States extinguish Cherokee title,
223 ; Adams unpopular in, because
of his attitude toward Indians, 224;
passes law seizing Cherokee 'lands,
224 ; refuses to obey Supreme Court
in Tassel case, 225; asks Jackson
to remove troops, 226 ; arrests and
convicts Worcester, 227 ; refuses
to obey Supreme Court, 227 ; later
pardons Worcester and others, 228 ;
declares tariff and internal improve
ments unconstitutional , threatens
secession, 255, 256 ; kept from join
ing South CaroUna by Crawford,
256 ; threatens nuUification, 257 ;
opposes tariff and nullification, 335.
Gibbons vs. Ogden, 168.
Giles, WilUam B., controversy with
Adams over changing party in 1807,
147.
Gilmer, Governor George R., ordered
by Georgia Legislature to disregard
summons of Supreme Court, 226 ;
denounces tariff, without favoring
secession, 256.
"Globe," its position as mouthpiece
of Jackson, 207 ; its poUtical power,
325, 326.
Gouge, WiUiam M., denounces banks,
269 ; on fallacy of Biddle's posing as
guardian of country, 315.
Gouverneur, Samuel, letter of Ken
daU to, on exclusion of aboUtion
matter from mails, 411.
Granger, Francis, candidate of ma
sons in 1836, 439 ; nominated for
vice-presidency, 444 ; vote for, 449.
Green, Duff, edits "Telegraph" as
Jackson's organ, 134, 135; in the

484

INDEX

kitchen cabinet, 181 ; his character
and abUity, 185 ; loyal to Calhoun,
185 ; protected from competition by
appointment of KendaU through
Calhoun's casting vote, 191, 192;
sides with Calhoun against Jack
son, 206 ; abandoned by office-hold
ers for Blair's " Globe," 207.
Green vs. Biddle, 167.
Grundy, Felix, leader in Tennessee
bank measures, 158 ; offers resolu
tions on nullification, 333.
Hall, Judge Dominick A. , issues writ
of habeas corpus for LouaUlier, 55 ;
arrested by Jackson, 55 ; accused
by Jackson of inciting to mutiny^
56 ; released, 56 ; fines Jackson
$1000 for contempt of court, 56, 57 ;
called a tyrant by Jackson, 57.
HamUton, James, suggests " nullifi
cation," 251 ; held by Jackson to be
misled by Calhoun, 259 ; presides
over nullification convention, 327 ;
wilUng to bring on a conflict, 337.
Hamilton, James A., tries to reconcUe
Crawford with Jackson, 198 ; told
by Forsyth of Calhoun's proposal
to censure Jackson in 1818, 199 ;
shows letter to Lewis, 199.
Hammond, Jabez D. , surprised at
Van Buren's alarm over States'
rights, 139.
Harding, General, remark of Jackson
to, on his temper, 21 .
Harper, Robert G., in his description
of election of 1801, accuses Jeffer
son of bribery, 134.
Harrison, WiUiam H. , nominated for
presidency in 1836, 444 ; his char
acter, 445 ; his platform in 1836,
447, 448.
Harvard CoUege, makes Jackson Doc
tor of Laws, 350.
Hawkins vs. Bimey's Lessee, 168.
Hayne, Robert Y., his argument bet
ter than Webster's on all but con
stitutional grounds, 257 ; answers
nullification proclamation, 331; wiU
ing to bring on a confiict, 337.
Henderson, WiUiam, dissuades Jeffer
son from appointing Jackson to of
fice, 18.

HiU, Isaac, in the kitchen cabinet,
181 ; his career and character, 186 ;
favors party proscription, 186 ; hia
nomination rejected by Senate, 191 ;
elected to Senate with Jackson's
aid, 192 ; reasons for his election,
192, 193 ; his profane toast in honor
of democracy, 203, 204; business
and political rival of Mason, 272-
274; asks for removal of Mason,
274 ; turns Jackson against Bank,
279 ; uses influence after election
with greater freedom, 323 ; nomi
nated for governor of New Hamp
shire, 441.
Hottinguer,  , takes up draft of
Bank on France, 344.
House of Representatives, refuses to
censure Jackson for execution of
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 80 ; ex
onerates Calhoun in Rip Rap affair,
106 ; exonerates Crawford from Ed
wards's charges, 106, 107 ; in elec
tion of 1824, 115-121 ; led by Clay,
115,116; investigates " corrupt bar
gain " of Clay and Adams, 121 ; ac
cused by Benton of violating wiU of
people, 125, 128 ; impeaches Judge
Peck, 220 ; debates pubUc land pol
icy, 233 ; debates tariff in 1827, 241 ;
takes testimony on tariff, 243 ;
passes tariff of 1828, 250 ; defeats
re'vision in 1830, 258 ; debates tariff
in 1832, 262, 263 ; passes tariff of
1832, 263, 264; rejects resolutions
against Bank, 285, 286 ; passes re
charter of Bank, 319 ; debates tariff
in 1833, 335 ; adopts compromise
tariff, 337; passes force biU, 337;
resolves that Bank is safe, 343, 344 ;
supports removal of deposits, 368 ;
reports of committees to, on Bank,
368 ; passes biU to repeal specie cir
cular, 394 ; votes to sustain Jack
son in controversy with France, 405 ;
struggle in, over contested election
case, 446.
Houston,  , member of Jackson's
" literary bureau," 133.
Houston, Samuel, gets connivance of
Jackson in plot to free Texas, 416 ;
wins battle of San Jacinto, AprU 21,
1836, 417.

INDEX

485

Hunt, Memucan, proposes annexation,
421.
Huskisson, WilUam, his tariff poUcy
in England, 236.
Huyghens,.  , Dutch minister,
threatened with dismissal by Jack
son, when his wife cut Mrs. Eaton,
194.
Illinois, claims right to pubUc land
within its boundaries, 232, 233 ;
nominates White for President, 444-
Indian Territory, planned by Porter,
224; established by Congress, 225,
229.
Indiana, claims public lands within
its boundaries, 233 ; opposes nullifi
cation, 335.
Ingham, S. D., Jackson's Secretary of
Treasury, 182 ; one of Calhoun's
friends, 183 ; chaUenged by Eaton,
decUnes to fight, 211 ; complains to
Jackson, 211 ; complained to, of
Mason, by Woodbury, 271 ; turns
over complaint to Biddle, 272 ; Bid-
die's reply to, 272, 273; doubts Bid-
die's non-partisanship, 274 ; threat
ens to remove deposits if Biddle
uses Bank for poUtical purposes,
276, 277 ; evidently wishes to use
Bank as a political engine, 277 ; later
asserts he was turned against Bank
by Kendall, 278 ; report on cur
rency, 389.
Internal improvements, opposition of
Jackson to, in his first administra
tion, 234-236 ; demand for, in West,
235, 378.
International law, in Ambrister and
Arbuthnot case, 77-79, 83.
Isaacs,  , one of Jackson's " liter
ary bureau," 133.
Jackson, Andrew, father of Jackson,
emigrates to North Carolina from
Ireland, 1 ; his death, 2.
Jackson, Mrs. Andrew, mother of
Jackson, emigrates to America, 1 ;
aided by relatives after death of
husband, 2 ; her death, 3.
Jackson, Andrew, ancestry, 1 ; birth,
2; childhood and education, 2;
wounded by a British officer, 2, 3 ;

learns to hate England, 3; after try
ing saddler's trade, studies law, 3 ;
youthful fondness for sport, 3 ; rea
sons for his legal studies, 5 ; does
not succeed in law, 5 ; admitted to
bar in Tennessee, 6 ; his duties as
public prosecutor, 9, 10 ; appointed
by Washington, 11 n. ; his energy,
11 ; accused of adultery by Robards,
11, 12 ; questionable circumstances
of his marriage, 12 ; his devotion to
his wife's reputation, 13 ; member
of Tennessee constitutional conven
tion, 13.
Member of Congress. His early
services in Congress, 13, 14 ; Jeffer
sonian in hia politics, 14; votes
against address to Washington at
end of administration, 14; votes
against federalist measures, 15 ; se
cures payment of claim of Tennes
see, 15 ; seems not to have enjoyed
political life, 15 ; his appearance
and conduct described as uncouth
by GaUatin and Jefferson, 16 ; later
in Ufe, of distinguished bearing, 16.
Tennessee Poliiician. Serves as
Judge of Superior Courts, 16; quar
rels with Sevier, 16 ; elected major-
general over Sevier, 17 ; gains popu
larity by his courage, 17 ; his Ulit-
eracy, 17 ; trustee of Nashville
Academy, 17 ; candidate for gov
ernorship of Louisiana, 18 ; returns
to business and store-keeping, 18 ;
financial embarrassments, 19 ; be
comes a confirmed duellist, 20 ; his
quarrelsomeness, 20 ; duels with
Avery and others, 20, 21 ; kills Dick
inson, 21 ; contracts to furnish Burr
with boats, 22 ; mystified as to
Burr's plans, 25 ; eventuaUy turns
against him, 25, 26 ; then, won over
by Burr, speaks against Jefferson,
26 ; infiuenced by his personal dis
like of Wilkinson, 26 ; resents inter
ference of Dinsmore with his iUicit
negro trade, 27 ; secures Dinsmore'a
removal and ruin, 27 ; later refuses
to be reconciled, 27 ; his character
istics in 1812, 28, 29; his intense
personal feeMng In every matter,
28, 29.

486

INDEX

Military Career. Offers services
at outbreak of war, 35 ; organizes
forces in Louisiana, 35 ; offers to
seize Florida, 35 ; quarrels with
Wilkinson, 35 ; ordered to disband
men, 35 ; transports them on his
own responsibiUty, 36 ; his feud
and fight with the Bentona, 36 ;
appointed major-general to serve
against Creeks, 37 ; quarrels with
his colleagues, 38 ; quarrels with sol
diers over terms of enlistment, 39 ;
shows able leadership, 39 ; his tire
less energy against enemies, 39, 40 :
gains popularity, 40 ; orders Wood
shot for insubordination, 40 ; his
act justified, 40, 41 ; defeats Creeks,
41 ; appointed major - general in
federal army, 42 ; establishes head
quarters at MobUe, 42 ; asks permis
sion to attack Pensacola, 43 ; his
arrogant tone toward Secretary of
War, 43 ; repulses EngUsh, 43 ;
storms Pensacola, 44 ; prepares de
fence of New Orleans, 44, 45 ; his
energy and success, 45 ; denounces
English for seeking aUiance with
pirates, then praises latter for join
ing Americans, 45, 46 ; his bom
bastic proclamations, 46 ; his good
fortune in battle of New Orleans,
46 ; accuses Kentucky troops of
cowardice, 46, 47 ; gains all the
credit of the victory, 50 ; his enor
mous popularity, 50 ; orders more
executions for mutiny, 52 ; later
tries to evade responsibiUty, 52, 53 ;
maintains vigorous defence untU
end of war, 53 ; continues to rule
arbitrarily by martial law, 53, 54 ;
his contempt for French inhabitants,
54 ; refuses to abolish martial law,
54, 55 ; orders French out of city,
54 ; arrests LouaUUer for attacking
him in newspapers, 55 ; arrests
Hall for issuing 'habeas corpus to
LouaiUier, 55 ; accuses HaU of
"forgery," 56 ; disbands miUtia,
66 ; arrests United States District
Attorney and State judge for issu
ing habeas corpus for HaU, 56 ; dis
approves of acquittal of LouaiUier
by court-martial, 56 ; retains him in

prison, 56 ; refuses to defend him
self when charged with contempt of
court, 57 ; fined $1000, 57 ; his fine
later refunded by Congress at Ty
ler's suggestion, 57 ; accuses HaU of
tyranny and usurpation, 57 ; causes
needless trouble by his obstinate
pugnacity, 58 ; caUed upon by Dal
las to explain, 59; later dealings
with War Department, 59.
Career in Florida. Favors Mon
roe against Crawford in 1816, 60;
angry with Crawford for modifying
terms of his treaty with Creeks, 60 ;
resumes negotiations and gains pop
ularity, 60 ; urges appointment of
Drayton as Secretary of War, 60,
61 ; important letters written for
him by Lewis, 61 ; these letters
subsequently pubUshed in his in
terest, 62 ; urges Monroe not to
proscribe federalists, 63; declares
he would have hanged leaders of
Hartford convention, 63; reply of
Monroe to, 63 ; orders subordinates
to obey no order not sent through
him, 63 ; his point conceded by Cal
houn, 64 ; calls Scott to account for
criticising his action, 64 ; challenges
Scott to a duel, 64 ; ordered to com
mand in Georgia, 69 ; offers to seize
Florida, 69 ; considers himself au
thorized to do so, 70 ; aUeges a let
ter from Rhea, 70 ; raises troops in
Tennessee on his own responsibUity,
70 ; advances to Florida frontier,
71 ; threatens Spanish commander
with hostilities, 71 ; captures St.
Mark's, 71 ; purposes to pursue In
dians until he should catch them,
71 ; assumes that Spanish aid and
EngUsh instigate Indians, 71, 72;
seizes Arbuthnot, 72 ; orders Indian
chiefs hanged, 73 ; fails to capture
Seminole chief owing to Arbuthnot'a
warning, 73 ; captures Ambrister,
74 ; orders both prisoners executed,
74, 75 ; captures Pensacola, 75 ;
quarrels with Governor of Georgia,
75 ; acts throughout on prejudices
and assumptions, 75, 76 ; success of
his campaign, 76 ; embarrasses Mon
roe by his action, 77 ; interprets in-

INDEX

487

ternational law to suit himself, 77,
78 ; upheld by popular approval,
79 ; motion to censure rejected by
House of Representatives, 80 ; Cal
houn wishes him censured, 80 ; aU
of cabinet except Adams prepared
to disavow him, 80 ; defended by
Adams, 80; congratulated by Cal
houn, 81 ; suspects Crawford of be
ing his enemy in cabinet, 81 ; cor
respondence with Monroe, 81 ; at
tacked by Clay, 81 ; and by Craw
ford's friends, 82; vindicated by
Adams, 82, 83; on friendly terms
with Adams, 82 ; proposal of Adams
to make him Vice-President, 82 ;
condemned by Senate report, 83 ;
visits the East, excites popular in
terest, 83, 84 ; consulted by Adams
regarding Louisiana boundary, 84 ;
wiUing to abandon Texas claim, 84 ;
later denies this consultation, 85 ;
appointed Governor of Florida, 85 ;
takes leave of army, 85 ; criticises
Brown in general orders, 85, 86;
becomes a privileged character, 86 ;
his anomalous situation in Florida,
86 ; orders arrest of Spanish ex-
Governor on suspicion of concealing
land grants, 87 ; quarrels with judge
for issuing writ of habeas corpus
for CaUava, 88; orders friends of
Callava out of Florida, 88 ; consid
ers himself to be acting with caution
and prudence, 89 ; disgusted with
situation, resigns, 89 ; dangers of
absolute power in his hands, 89 ;
vindicated by cabinet, 90 ; retains
popularity, 90 ; decUnes mission to
Mexico, 90 ; Jefferson's opinion of
his diplomatic abiUty, 91.
United States Senator. Elected to
succeed WiUiams, 95 ; pushed for
ward by Lewis and others, 95 ; his
cautious letter on the tariff, 95 ; his
own opinion favorable to protec
tion, 96 ; votes for internal im
provements, 96 ; becomes candi
date for presidency, 96 ; his popular
strength realized by Lewis, 97 ;
methods of influencing him by Lewis,
98; his candidacy suggested by Burr,
99 ; denies that his candidacy origi

nated with federalists, 99 ; his
strength early recognized by Adams,
99; at first rejects idea of candi
dacy, 100 ; progress of campaign
for, 99, 100 ; his only successes, so
far, military, 100 ; his personal up
rightness and purity, 101, 102 ; re
ceives one vote in repubUcan cau
cus, 110 ; nominated by a federaUst
convention in Pennsylvania, 112 ;
makes an agreement with Calhoun,
112, 113 ; nominated by Pennsylva
nia repubUcans, 113 ; considered
unfit by " Albany Argus," 113 ; his
election dreaded by Jefferson, 114 ;
popular with ladies on account of
his manners, 114 ; reconciled with
Scott, Clay, and Benton, 114 ; vote
for, in election, 115 ; his popularity
in Pennsylvania, 115 ; defeated in
election by House, 116 ; at first
takes defeat calmly, 116, 117 ;
adopts, at his friends' suggestion,
the cry of a corrupt bargain against
Clay, 118, 119 ; considers Clay a
poUtical gambler, 119 ; writes let
ters against Clay, 121 ; does not
condemn Adams, 122 ; on returning
home, spreads story, 122 ; becomes
zealous to punish his enemies, 122 ;
charges Clay with having tried to
bargain with him, 122 ; called upon
by Clay for proof, names Buchanan
as authority, 123 ; refuses to re
tract, 123 ; late in Ufe reiterates
charge, 123 ; held to have been can
didate of " the people," 125-127.
Leader of a New Party. Recog
nized as coming man, 129 ; his
campaign managed by Van Bu
ren, 129, 130 ; his relations with
Randolph, 131 ; "literary bureau"
for, 133 ; nominated by Tennessee
Legislature, 134 ; resigns senator-
ship, 134 ; suggests amendment to
Constitution to prevent presiden
tial corruption, 134 ; progress of
campaign for, in Congress, 135, 136 ;
slandered in campaign of 1828, 144,
145 ; vote for, in election, 148, 149 ;
believes his election a rebuke to
a corrupt administration, 149 ; calla
" reUef " hills wicked, corrupt, uu-

488

INDEX

constitutional, 157, 158 ; other let
ters denouncing infiation, 159 ; sup
ported by " reUef " party in Ken
tucky, 174.
President of the United States.
Represents a new upheaval of de
mocracy, 176 ; his popularity due
largely to his lack of social poUsh,
178, 179 ; refuses to call on Adams,
179 ; his inaugural, 180 ; not ham
pered by a political record, 180 ; ex
pected by Calhoun to serve one
term only, 181 ; considers cabinet
officers mere clerks, 181 ; instead
of being led by them, relies on
kitchen cabinet, 181 ; does not hold
cabinet meetings, 181 ; his cabinet
not strong, 182 ; appoints Lewis
Second Auditor, 183 ; favors Ken
dall as an enemy of Clay, 184 ;
aided by Lewis, Kendall, HiU, and
Green, 187 ; considers civil service
fuU of corruption, 188 ; his bitter
ness against a defaulter, 189 n. ; not
the author of spoils system, 190 ;
his appointments in one year dis
cussed, 190, 191 ; appoints members
of Congress, 191 ; some of his
worst nominations rejected, 191 ; his
rage, 192 ; insists on election of HiU
to Senate, which had rejected his
nomination, 192 ; advises Eaton as
to his marriage, 193 ; tries to force
society to recognize Mrs. Eaton,
194-197 ; makes it a political ques
tion, 194 ; declares unqualifiedly in
favor of Mrs. Eaton, 195 ; tries to
break down evidence of two clergy
men, 195 ; his heart won by Van
Buren's courtesies, 196 ; alienated
from Calhoun, 196 ; doubtful as to
Calhoun's loyalty, 196 ; asserts at
tack on Mrs. Eaton to be an effort
to drive Eaton out of cabinet, 196 ;
ascribes it to Clay, 196 ; stiU thinks
Calhoun his friend in Florida affair,
197 ; efforts of Crawford to preju
dice against Calhoun, 198 ; attempt
to reconcUe with Crawford in 1828,
199 ; gives dinner to Monroe, 199 ;
learns of Crawford's statement as
to Calhoun's enmity in 1819, 200 ;
not aUowed to see letter by his

managers, 200; plan of managers
to reelect, and to have Van Buren
his successor, 200, 201 ; fearing his
death, his managers induce him to
write a letter favoring Van Buren
and disparaging Calhoun, 201 ; ad
dress for his renomination secured
from Pennsylvania Legislature, 202 ;
renominated by other Legislatures,
202, 203 ; his Union toast at Jeffer
son's birthday banquet, 203 ; a ques
tion how much his iU-wiU toward
Calhoun infiuenced his attitude
on nullification, 203 ; on receiving
Crawford's account of Calhoun's
action in Monroe's cabinet, demands
an explanation, 204 ; accuses Cal
houn of perfidy, 204 ; bases his at
tack on the supposed Rhea letter,
205 ; declares a breach with Cal
houn, 205 ; sends Calhoun's letter
to Van Buren, 206 ; repudiates Duff
Green, 206 ; secures Blair as mouth
piece, 207 ; compels departments
to give Blair printing, 208 ; de
scribes varying receptions of Batons
in Tennessee, 208 ; his quarrel
with Calhoun becomes known, 209 ;
resignation of his cabinet, 209 ;
dismisses Calhoun's friends, 210 ;
appoints Van Buren minister to
England, 210 ; his rage at the Sen
ate's rejection of Van Buren, 211 ;
his campaign for Mrs. Eaton fails,
211 ; wishes White to resign from
Senate in order to give Eaton his
place, 212; quarrels with White,
212 ; appoints Baton governor of
Florida and minister to Spain, 212 ;
later quarrels with Eaton, 212 ; his
new cabinet composed of firm fol
lowers, 212 ; sends McLane to urge
England to aUow West India trade,
215 ; proclaims opening of West
Indies, 215 ; question of his diplo
matic success, 216, 216 ; sends Rives
to France to push spoUation claims,
217 ; threatens war, 217 ; gains pop
ularity, 218 ; favors acquittal of
Judge Peck when impeached by
Buchanan, 220 ; his attitude toward
Creeks and Cherokees, 224 ; refuses
to protect Indians against Georgia

INDEX

489

laws, 225 ; withdraws federal troops
from Georgia, 226 ; .refuses to en
force Cherokoe treaties, 226; re
fuses to enforce Supreme Court de
cisions, 227 and n. ; declares him
self ready to submit his conduct to
people, 227 ; has no settled pol
icy in regard to pubUc lands, 233 ;
his Maysville road veto, 234, 235 ;
courage of his attitude, 235 ; vetoes
other internal improvement bills,
yet signs some, 235 ; recommends
sale of all stock held by United
States, 235 ; disappoints Southern
ers by his attitude toward nullifica
tion, 259 ; letter showing how he
was infiuenced by hatred of Cal
houn, 259 ; in 1831 intimates inten
tion of using force against nullifica
tion, 260 ; denounced by Hayne,
260 ; recommends reduction of tariff
because of surplus, 263 ; said by
Ingham to object to Bank at begin
ning of term, 278 ; doubtfulness of
this assertion, 279 ; turned against
Bank by Hill, KendaU, and Blair,
279 ; in first annual message ques
tions soundness and constitutution-
aUty of Bank, 281 ; effects of his
statement, 282 ; novelty of his as
suming to speak for feUow-citizens,
282 ; his words reaUy meaningless,
283 ; causes decline in Bank stock,
284 ; his proposed substitute con
demned by House committee, 284
his party not opposed to Bank at
this time, 285; renews suggestions
in 1830 without success, 285 ; later
denies having meant a government
paper currency, 286, 287 ; refers to
Bank question as closed in 1831,
288; opposed as a mason by anti-
masonic faction in New York, 292 ;
in 1832 stands as leader of a new
democratic party, 296 ; review of
his policy to this point, 296, 297 ;
attacked by Clay as danger to the
Bank, 297 ; aroused by this into ac
tive hostility to Bank, 299 ; gains
popularity by his boldness, 299 ; not
damaged in Pennsylvania by his
Bank action, 316 ; forces Van Bu
ren's nomination for Vice-Presi

dent, 317, 318 ; refuses to consider
an offer from Biddle to compromise,
318 ; vetoes Bank recharter, 319 ;
his reasons, 319, 320 ; gains support
of private and State banks, 320 ;
reelected in 1832, 320, 321 ; consid
ers himself as vindicated in every
respect by election, 322, 323; hia
increasing self-confidence, 323 ;
managed with greater freedom by
kitchen cabinet, 323, 324; his gov
ernment purely a personal one, 324,
325; his theory degrades repubU
can institutions, 325 ; his despotic
use of the " Globe," 325, 326 ; or
ders Scott to prepare for violence
at Charleston, 323 ; issues nuUifi
cation proclamation, 328, 329; not
responsible for either its form or its
doctrine, 329 ; becomes for once a
national hero, 329, 330 ; appears in
consistent to nuUifiers, 330; his
managers alarmed by its tone, 330 ;
justifies protection by war argu
ment, 332 ; asks for power to en
force laws, 332 ; charged by South
CaroUna with tyranny, 337 ; said to
have terrified Calhoun by threats
of hanging, 338 ; his increasing ani
mosity toward Bank, 339 ; urges
Congress to investigate, 341 ; ap
points Duane Secretary of Treasury,
his motives, 345, 346 ; advised by
Taney to remove deposits, 346 ; used
by KendaU and Blair as tool, 347 ;
inspired by them with idea of
Bank's corrupting Congress, 348,
349 ; abandons Jeffersonian ideas in
order to "save the country," 349;
his tour in New England, 350 ; hia
degree from Harvard, 350 ; bit
ter comments of Adams upon, 350 ;
tries to persuade Duane to remove
deposits, 350, 351 ; encouraged by
Taney to persevere, 351 ; assaulted
by Lieutenant Randolph, 351 n. ;
gains conviction that Bank is finan
ciaUy weak, 352 ; offers to Duane
to take the responsibility, 353, 354 ;
reads paper to cabinet, 354 ; dis
misses Duane, 354 ; transfers Taney,
354 ; attacked by Duane, 355 ; in
message of 1833 attacks Bank again

490

INDEX

as a poUtical engine, 360; charges
Bank with manufacturing a panic,
360; indignant at rejection of his
nominations by Senate, 362 ; refuses
call of Senate for paper read to
cabinet, 362 ; avows himself respon
sible to the people, 363 ; complains
that Bank stUl holds papers of pen
sion agency, 363 ; censured by Sen
ate, 364 ; protests against censure
as unconstitutional, 364; resolu
tions against, expunged, 367 ; more
gratified by this than by any other
incident of his Ufe, 367 ; receives
" distress delegations " with rage,
371 ; suggests a hard-money pro
gramme, 371, 372 ; in message of
1834 urges further measures to pun
ish Bank, 374 ; in 1835 repeats
charges that Bank is anti-demo
cratic, 375 ; proposes sale of pubUc
lands to new States and to actual
settlers, 380; vetoes Clay's land
bill, 381 ; signs biU to deposit sur
plus, 381 ; his objections to it, 382,
383 ; did not veto because of com
ing election, 383 ; argues for reduc
tion of revenue, 384 ; orders issue
of specie circular, 392 ; vetoes biU
to annul specie circular, 394 ; sends
his reasons to State Department,
394 ; his course in Bank war
summed up, 397 ; Ms charges
against Bank unproved, 397 ; ques
tion whether his course was justi
fied by later history of the Bank,
398 ; in his last message condemns
Bank, 400 ; reports to Congress neg
lect of France to pay treaty claims,
402 ; urged by Livingston to adopt
a vigorous tone, 403 ; suggests pos
sible reprisals, 404 ; sustained in
Congress by Adams, 405 ; in 1835
declares he meant no menace, 407 ;
directs Barton to ask intentions of
France, 407 ; again recommends co
ercion, 407 ; proposes commercial
non - intercourse, 407 ; transmits
France's conciliatory message to
Congress, 408 ; appoints Kendall to
succeed Barry as Postmaster-Gen
eral, 409 ; expected by the South
to secure Texas, 415 ; probably con

nives at Houston's plan to revolu
tionize Texas, 416 ; offers to buy
Texas, 416, 417 ; later says he was
prevented by Adams from annexing
Texas in 1836, 418 ; orders General
Gaines to enter Texas, 418, 419 ;
wishes Gaines to repeat his own ex
ploits of 1818, 419 ; recommends
delay in recognition of Texas, 419 ;
submits report of agent on Texan
boundary chiims, 420 ; fosters swag
gering, fiUbustering spirit in army
and navy, 422 ; appoints new jus
tices of Supreme Court, 424 ; his
appointments alter course of con
stitutional development, 427 ; his
influence upon violence and lawless
ness, 430 ; attempt of Lawrence to
assassinate, 432 ; accuses Poindex
ter of instigating the attempt, 432 ;
his charges frivolous, 433 ; accused
of toryism by whigs, 439 ; consid
ered for a third term, 440 ; recom
mends a party convention, 440 ; un
able to make Tennessee support
Van Buren, 441 ; denounces White
as a traitor, 441 ; announcement by
Van Buren of purpose to follow
Jackson's course if elected, 442 ;
attempt of whigs to rival by nomi
nation of Harrison, 445 ; favors
Michigan in boundary controversy,
446 ; consequences of his acts faU
upon Van Buren, 450, 451 ; rejoices
at inauguration of Van Buren as a
personal triumph, 452.
In Retirement. Returns to Ten
nessee, his popularity, 452 ; yet
does not exercise direct influence
at Washington, 453 ; aided in pecu
niary troubles by Lewis and Blair,
453 ; mortified at Swartwout's de
falcation, 454 ; wishes Lewis to re
sign his office in 1839, 454, 455 ;
rejoices at Tyler's financial poUcy,
456, 457 ; his keen interest in Texas
annexation, 457 ; bitter remarks on
Adams, 457, 458 ; his letter of 1843
favoring Texas annexation, used
against Van Buren, 458 ; repeats
his disapproval of treaty of 1819,
458 ; controversy with Adams on
this point, 459 ; speculates on elec-

INDEX

491

tion of 1844, still hopes Van Buren
will be nominated, 459 ; later sup
ports Polk, 460 ; mortified that
Clay carries Tennessee, 460 ; death,
summary of his career, 460 ; never
forgives an enemy to the end, 460.
Personal Qualities. General views,
100, 460 ; ambition, 5, 100, 101, 112 ;
arrogance, 53, 56, 64, 79, 85, 89, 101,
323 ; chivalrousness, 193, 195, 208 ;
courage, 10, 41 ; diplomatic abUity,
91, 215; fideUty, 13, 28, 179, 190,
192, 317 ; UUteracy, 16, 17, 101 ;
maimers, 16, 20, 101, 114 ; mUitary
abUity, 35, 39, 41, 44; morals, 101,
102 ; passionatenesa, 16, 18, 21, 58,
66, 87, 114 ; personal appearance,
16 ; pride, 3, 28, 35, 64 ; persistency,
10, 11, 39, 47, 56-58, 76, 98, 339 ;
pugnacity, 13, 17, 18, 20, 27, 35, 36,
38, 68, 64, 76, 91, 194, 299, 337 ; self-
centred habit, 26, 43, 60, 72, 76, 81,
122, 194, 322, 324, 432, 433 ; severity,
40, 52, 54, 55, 76 ; susceptibiUty to
advice, 98, 118, 201, 285, 324, 349 ;
vigor, 28, 35, 39, 44-46, 50, 53 ; vin-
dictiveuess, 179, 189 n., 318, 339,
452. Political Opinions. Ambrister and
Arbuthnot case, 77 ; Bank, 281, 285,
288, 299, 318-320, 339, 340, 350-354,
360, 363, 374, 375, 400 ; cabinet,
353, 354, 362 ; censure, resolutions
of, 364 ; democracy, Jeffersonian,
14, 176, 296 ; election of 1824, 117,
119, 121-123 ; election of 1844, 459 ;
England, 72 ; expunging resolution,
367 ; federaUsts, 14, 15 ; Florida, 42,
43, 69, 70, 204 ; French spoliation
clauns, 217, 402^08 ; Hartford con
vention, 63 ; Indians, 226 ; internal
improvements, 234-236 ; judiciary,
220, 227, 427 ; lands, public, 380 ;
Michigan boundary, 447 ; money,
286, 287, 371, 372, 392, 394, 456 ;
nuUification, 203, 259, 328, 332 ;
office, appointments to, 63, 134, 188,
191, 192; party conventions, 440;
Presidency, 282, 322-325, 353, 362,
363 ; relief system, 157-159 ; Swart
wout charges of corrupt bargaining,
453, 454 ; surplus, distribution of,
233, 381-384 ; tariff, 96, 263 ; Texas,

416, 418-420, 457, 458; West India
trade, 215.
Jaudon,  , agent of Bank in Eng
land, 399.
Jefferson, Thomas, describes Jack
son's inability to control himself
whUe in the Senate, 16 ; refuses to
appoint Jackson governor of Louisi
ana, 18 ; his conduct toward Burr
denounced by Jackson, 26 ; his in
definite foreign policy, 31 ; his com
mercial warfare criticised, 32, 33 ;
his character womanish, 33 ; aban
dons attempt to control govern
ment after breakdown of his poUcy,
33 ; on Jackson's diplomatic unfit
ness, 91 ; considers Jackson a dan
gerous man for President, 114 ; ac
cused by Harper of having bought
election of 1801 by appointments,
134 ; his use of term " nullifica
tion," 262 ; hia responsibUity for
events of 1832, 255.
Johnson, Richard M., votes not to
nominate a caucus candidate in
1820, 92 ; proposes to amend Con
stitution so as to give appellate ju
risdiction to Senate where a State
is a party, 161 ; on Jackson's behalf,
tries to persuade secretaries to
force their wives to recognize Mrs.
Eaton, 194 ; signs report of com
mittee against Bank without know
ing facts, 302 ; nominated for Vice-
President, 442 ; refusal of Virginia
to support, 442 ; his letter of ac
ceptance, 442 ; his career and char
acter, 443 ; vote for, in 1836, 448 ;
elected Vice-President, 449.
Johnson, W. C, president of young
men's convention, 318.
Johnson, WiUiam, member of Su
preme Court, his death, 423.
Jones, WUUam, originates plan of
transferring drafts to deposit banks,
360.
Kendall, Amos, supports Clay, then
Adams, in 1825, 120 ; in the kitchen
cabinet, 181 ; his career and char
acter, 183 ; quarrels with Clay, 183,
184; responsible for Jackson's worst
errors, 184; appointed Fourth Au-

492

INDEX

ditor, 184; description by Harriet
Martineau of his great and mysteri
ous influence, 184 ; his importance
described by Claiborne, 185 ; not a
spoilsman at the outset, 188 ; his
nomination confirmed by Calhoun
for personal reasons, 191, 192 ; ori
ginally a States' rights man, later
Unionist, 203 ; brings Blair to edit
an administration paper, 206 ; forces
office-holders to subscribe to it, 207 ;
gives questionable evidence as to
poUtlcal partisanship of Bank, 278,
279 ; poisons Jackson's mind against
Bank, 279 ; announces Jackson's in
tention of attacking Bank, 279, 280 ;
suggests a paper currency, 280, 284 ;
at Lewis's suggestion, arranges that
New Hampshire Legislature pro
pose a national democratic conven
tion, 317 ; writes address for con
vention, 318 ; shows increased con
fidence in managing Jackson, 323 ;
tries to persuade McLane to re
move deposits, 346 ; persuades Van
Buren, 346, 347 ; the moving spirit
in attack ou Bank, his motives, 347;
tries to persuade Duane, 350 ; asks
local banks to be ready to receive
deposits, 351 ; alleged by Rives to
have advised Jackson to abandon
project, 362 ; reports on banks to
receive deposits, 356 ; refuses to or
ganize deposit system, 358 ; suc
ceeds Barry as Postmaster-General,
409 ; reorganizes department, 409 ;
his position on abolition matter in
mails, 411, 412; his appointment
confirmed, 412.
Kendall, Amos, his ' ' Life of Jackson ' '
quoted, 2, 6, 10.
Kentucky, favors Jackson after Clay
in 1824, 115; "relief" movement
in, 152-155, 160-166, 171-174 ; strug
gle in, between judiciary and Legis
lature, over land titles, 163 ; fails to
remove judges, 153 ; seUs land on
credit, 153 ; repeals old-age pen
sions, 154 ; passes law against citing
English law reports in court, 154 ;
charters banks, 155 ; financial crlsia
in, 160 ; tries to tax United States
Bank, 160; passes "relief" mea

sures and charters new State bahk,
161, 162 ; its replevin law declared
imconstitutional, 162, 164; fails to
remove judges, 163 ; ruins Bank of
Kentucky, 163 ; struggle in, to re
move judges, 164 ; creates a new
Court of Appeals to supersede old
one, 164, 165 ; struggle between
"Old" and "New" Courts, 165,
172, 173 ; loses people, 165 ; angered
by United States Supreme Court
decisions, 167-169 ; message of Gov
ernor Desha against B&nk and Su
preme Court, 171, 172 ; damaging
effect of Bank of Commonwealth
in, 173, 174 ; continues to be di
vided into reUef and anti-relief par
ties, 174 ; its representatives in
Congress lead attack on federal ju
diciary, 218, 219.
Kentucky resolutions of 1798 and 1799,
their relation to nullification, 252,
253.
Kitchen cabinet, its composition, 181,
183-187 ; its control over Jackson,
187 ; objected to by Duane, 347, 348.
Kremer, George, takes responsibiUty
for corruption story, 120, 121 ; de
cUnes to testify, 121 ; not the real
author, 121.
Lacock, Aeneh, presides over nation^-
repubUcan convention, 298.
Lands, pubUc, plan for their seizure
by States, 229 ; other plans for sale
of, either to settlers, 229 ; or for
internal improvements, 230 ; con
sidered a national asset, 230 ; their
cheapness increases wages in East,
230, 231 ; their use for revenue
urged by protectionists, 231 ; pro
posals to hasten sale of, 233 ; their
sale to States proposed, with distri
bution of proceeds, 234, 380 ; Jack
son's veto of Clay's land biU, 381 ;
renewed attempt of Clay to distri
bute proceeds of, 381, 386.
Latour, A. L., on causes of English
defeat at New Orleans, 46.
Lawless,  , punished by Judge Peck
for contempt of court, 220; peti
tions Congress for redress, 220.
Lawrence, Richard, attempts to shoot

INDEX

493

Jackson, 432 ; thought by Jackson
to be a tool of Poindexter, 432, 433 ;
acquitted as insane, 433.
Lee, Henry, sees value for Jackson of
corrupt bargain story, 118 ; one of
Jackson's managers, 135; disap
pointed at share of spoils, with
draws, with damaged character,
from supporting admimstration, 187;
his appointment rejected by Sen
ate, 191 ; tries to draw out Calhoim
on Seminole affair of Jackson, 199 ;
electoral vote for, m 1832, 321.
Legal profession, its rise before the
Revolution, 3-5 ; character of pre
paration for, 4, 5 ; the opening for
ambitious young men, 5.
Leigh, B. W., succeeds Rives in Sen
ate, 366 ; damages party standing
by refusal to obey Virginia instruc
tions or resign, 366.
Letcher, Robert P., urges Adams, if
elected, to give Clay office, 124 ; ar
ranges meeting of Adams and Clay,
124 ; wishes more than a majority
of judges necessary to declare a
State act void, 167 n.
Lewis, WilUam B., denies responsibU
ity of Jackson for miUtary execu
tions in 1816, 52 ; writes letters
signed by Jackson urging Monroe to
appoint Drayton, 60, 61 ; his mo
tives in inducing Jackson to write,
61, 62 ; on reasons for electing
Jackson to Senate, 95 ; the origina
tor of political theatrical effects,
96, 97 ; description of his methods
of starting spontaneous movements,
97 ; his abiUty and shrewdness, 97,
98 ; his devotion to Jackson, 98 ;
how he managed Jackson, 98 ; uses
Jackson's letters t~ Monroe to win
federalists, 99 ; securt . support in
North Carolina, 100 ; realizss value
of " corrupt bargain " cry, '-118 ;
publishes Kremer's letter, 121 ; one
of Jackson's managers, 135 ; urges
Clinton men to support Jackson,
147, 148 ; says Jackson wiU serve
only one term, 147 ; in the " kitchen
cabinet," 181 ; accepts, with reluc
tance, position as Second Auditor,
;.- 183; supposed to have initiated

spoils system, 188; draws from
Jackson a letter defending Mra.
Eaton, 195 ; his accoimt of Jack
son's relations with Calhoun, 197-
200 ; suspects Calhoun of having
opposed Jackson in 1818, 197 ; sends
Hamilton to Crawford, 198 ; learns,
through Forsyth, of Calhoun's real
attitude, 197 ; tells Jackson of the
Forsyth letter, 199, 200 ;' sent to get
letter, prefers a direct statement
from Crawford, 200 ; decides that
Jackson must take a second term,
and be succeeded by Van Buren, 200 ;
wishes Jackson to name Van Buren
as successor, 201 ; induces Pennsyl
vania Legislature to issue a "spon
taneous call " for Jackson to accept
a second term, 202 ; on Van Buren's
refusal to t^e part in Calhoun
quarrel, 206; makes office-holders
subscribe to Blair's paper, 207 ;
complained of by Ingham, 211 ; pro
poses to KendaU a convention to
nominate Van Buren, 317 ; forces
Eaton to support Van Buren by
threatening him with Jackson's dis
pleasure, 317 ; shows increased coil.
fidence in managing Jackson after
election, 323 ; tries to dispel Vir
ginian alarm at nullification procla
mation, 330 ; does not know who
proposed removal of deposits, 346 ;
and opposes removal, 347 ; tries in
vain to dissuade Jackson, 348, 349 ;
although an office-holder, interferes
in elections, 440 ; aids Jackson in
pecuniary difficulties, 453 ; incurs
Jackson's displeasure by refusing to
resign office, 454, 455 ; his estimate
of public opinion, 465 ; removed by
PoUc, 456.
Linn, L. F., letter of Jackson to, 67.
Livingston, Edward, refuses to vote
for complimentary address at end
of Washington's adniinlstration, 14 ;
his justification, 14 n. ; aids Jack
son in defence of New Orleans, 44 ;
brings Jackson news of peace, 54 ;
suggests presidency fo;c,Jackson, 99 ;
sees value of "corrupt bargain"
cry, 118 ; one of Jackson's man
agers, 135 ; at flrst without iuflu-

494

INDEX

ence on Jackson's administration.
187 ; Secretary of State, 212 ; let
ter of Madison to, on nullification,
253 ; writes nuUification proclama
tion, 328 ; urges Jackson to refer
vigorously to French delay in pay
ment of claims, 403 ; his letters
anger French, 404; denies that
Jackson's message is a threat, 406 ;
moderates tone of Jackson's mes
sage, 407.
Loco-focos, their origin in New York,
433 ; revolt against Tammany, 433 ;
their Jeffersonian principles, 434,
436 ; defeat Tammany leaders, 436,
436 ; declare their independence of
party, 437 ; reunite with Tammany
democrats, 437, 438 ; influence of
their principles, 438.
Long, James, proclaims independence
of Texas, 413.
LouaiUer, Louis, aids Jackson in pre
paring defence of New Orleans, 45 ;
criticises Jackson for not abolishing
martial law and is arrested, 55 ; his
surrender on habeas corpus refused
by Jackson, 65 ; tried by courts
martial and acquitted, 66 ; kept in
prison by Jackson, 56.
Louis PhUippe, gains throne of
Frfmce, 217 ; tries to settle compen
sation question, 402 ; orders pay
ment, 408.
Louisiana, ceded to France by Spain,
22; ceded to United States, 23;
question of its boundaries, 23 ;
western boundary of, settled in
Florida treaty, 84, 85.
Lowndes, William, nominated for
President by South Carolina, 102 ;
his report on currency, 389.
MoCuLLOCH vs. Mabtland, 166.
McDuffie, George, presents report
against tariff, his argument, 247 ;
introduces biU to reduce duties,
268 ; chairman of Committee on
Ways and Means, 262 ; reports blU
reducing duties, 263 ; reports in
favor of Bank, 284 ; presents memo
rial of Bank for recharter, 300 ; crit
icises proposed new charter, 301 ;
answers Benton's charges against

Bank, 301 ; fears that Jackson wUl
remove deposits, 344.
McGregor, General Sir McGregor, his
career in Florida, 67.
Mcintosh, Creek chief, makes treaty
ceding lands, 221 ; kUled by Creeks,
222.
McLane, Louis, Van Buren's instruc
tions to, 210, 215 ; Secretary of
Treasury, 212 ; proposes to seU
pubUc lands to the States, 233 ;
reports a tariff bUl in 1832, 264;
argues in favor of Bank, 288 ; hia
report possibly meant to cover
Jackson's retreat, 288 ; transferred
to State Department, 345 ; opposes
removal of deposits, 346.
McLean, John, his removal urged by
Clay on groimd of his treachery to
Adams, 142 ; refusal of Adams to
dismiss, 143 ; continues to work for
Jackson, 146 ; refuses to remove
Bache, although a defaulter, 146;
replaces him at last by a Jackson
man, 146 ; removed from postmas
ter-generalship by Jackson for re
fusing to proscribe, 182 ; appointed
to Supreme Bench, 182 ; declines
anti-masonic nomination, 295 ; in
case of Briscoe vs. Bank of Ken
tucky, 423, 424 ; nominated for Pre
sident by Ohio, 444.
McNairy, John, appointed judge in
Tennessee, 6 ; quarrels with Jack
son, 21 ; on Jackson's freedom from
vices, 101, 102.
Macon, Nathaniel, receives one vote in
presidential caucus of 1824, 110.
Madison, James, orders occupation of
West Florida, 24 ; inherits conse
quences of Jefferson's policy, 33 ;
pushed into war by the West, 33,
34 ; refuses armistice, on impress
ment issue, 34 ; his Virginia resolu-
tiona of 1798, 253 ; opposes nuUi
fiers in 1830, 263, 254; vetoes a
bank m 1816, 265.
Mails, question of aboUtion Uterature
in, 411, 412.
MaUary, RoUlu C, introduces biU to
adjust tariff on wool and wooUens,
238, 239; hia proposal to exclude
imports, 242 ; introduces amend-

INDEX

495

ments on floor of House, 243 in
troduces bill to regulate appraisals,
258.
Mangum, W. P., on mistakes of nuUi
fiers, 338; vote for, m 1836, 448.
Marcy, WilUam L., avows famous
spoils doctrine, 211 ; signs petition
for a branch bank, 285; alarmed
at speculation in 1836, 380.
Marshall, John, attitude of Jackson
toward, 227 n. ; his death, 362 ; in
case of Briscoe vs. Bank of Ken
tucky, 423 ; his place in history,
425, 426.
Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee, 168.
Martineau, Harriet, describes myste
rious influence of KendaU, 184 ; de
scribes fanaticism of Calhoun, 331 ;
shocked at crimes of violence in
United States, 430 ; describes Jack
son's suspicions of plot to murder,
432.
Maryland, passes resolutions against
congressional caucus, 109 ; its elec
toral vote in 1828, 148.
Mason, Jeremiah, refusal of Adams to
aid in his election, 141 ; appointed
president of New Hampshire branch
of Bank, 271 ; complained of on
poUtical grounds by Woodbury, 272;
reasons for his appointment given
by Biddle, 272, 273 ; a poUtical en
emy of Woodbury and HiU, 273 ;
attacked by HiU, 273 n.
Massachusetts, early appraisal law in,
for debtors, 152 ; anti-masonry in,
293, 294 ; opposes nullification, and
favors tariff, 336 ; nominates Web
ster for presidency, 444.
Matthews, General George, ordered to
sound people of East Florida as to
annexation, 70.
Mayo, Dr. Robert, his narrative of
Texas intrigue, 416.
Maysville road veto, 234.
Metcalf, Thomas, elected governor of
Kentucky by "anti-reUef" men,
174.
Mexico, aboUshes slavery, 413, 414 ;
excepts Texas, 414 ; forbids immi
gration from United States, 416 ;
revolution in, 416; war of Texan
independence with, 417 ; entered by

Gainea, 419 ; attempts of United
States to pick a quarrel with, 421 ;
agrees regarding claims, 421 ; fails
to fulfil engagements, 421 ; cause of
later war with, 422.
Michigan, has boundary dispute with
Ohio, 446 ; frames Constitution
without consent of Congress, 446 ;
obliged to accept boundary, 447 ;
its vote in presidential election, 447.
MUls, E. H., describes Jackson's per
sonal agreeableness, 101 ; describes
Crawford, 107 ; describes Clay, 108.
Mississippi, navigation of, claimed as
a right in Tennessee Constitution,
13 ; its connection with Burr's
scheme, 22; secured by treaty of
1795,22; withdrawn by Spain, 23.
Missouri, favors Jackson after Clay
in 1824, 116 ; its vote in election of
1824 controlled by Scott, 125 ; op
poses nuUiflcation, 335.
Mitchell, Governor D. B., on cause of
Seminole war, 67, 68 ; holds Gaines
responsible, 68.
Mobile, defence of, organized by Jack
son, 42, 43 ; repulses English, 43 ;
captured later by English, 47.
Monroe, James, told by Cochrane of
intention to devastate American
coasts, 49 ; favored by Jackson for
presidency, 60 ; urged by Jackson
to appoint Drayton to War Depart
ment, 60, 62 ; urged by Jackson not
to proscribe federaUsts, 63 ; his an
swer to Jackson, 63 ; asked by Jack
son to signify through Rhea his de
sire for seizure of Florida, 69 ; does
not see Jackson's letter, 69 ; timid
ity of his diplomacy, 77 ; disap
proves of Jackson's doings in Flor
ida, 80; countermands Jackson's
order to seize St. Augustine, 80 ;
correspondence with Jackson rela
tive to Spanish forts, 81 ; willing to
abandon Texan claim, 84 ; asks Jef
ferson's advice as to giving Jack
son Russian mission, 91 ; receives
every electoral vote but one, 92 ;
given a dinner by Jackson, 199 ;
said by Ringgold to be Jackson's
only supporter in 1818, 199 ; denies
Crawford's account of cabinet pro-

496

INDEX

ceedings in 1818, 204; appoints
commissioners to buy land from
Creeks, 221 ; in 1816 names Sabine
as western boundary of Louisiana,
412; holds same position as Presi
dent, 412.
Monroe doctrine, denounced by Ad
ams's opponents, 137.
Morgan, William, writes exposure of
free-masonry, 289; persecuted by
masons, 289 ; disappears, supposed
proof of his murder, 290.
Muter, Judge  , overrides Ken
tucky law in land-title decision, 153 ;
denounced by Legislature, 153 ; re
verses decision, 153 ; retired in 1806,
loses his pension, 154,
New England, opposes Jefferson's
foreign pohcy, 32 ; dares opposition
after Peace of Ghent, 61 ; popular
ity of Calhoun in, 104 ; supports
Adams in 1828, 148 ; turns from
free trade to protection, 237, 244 ;
Jackson's tour in, 360.
New Hampshire, popularity of Cal
houn in, 105; part played in, by HiU,
in building up democratic party,
186, 187 ; bitterness of poUtics in,
273, 274 ; at Lewis's suggestion, pro
poses national convention to nomi
nate a Vice-President, 317 ; urges
reduction of tariff, 335.
New Jersey, votes for Adams in 1828,
148 ; opposes reduction of tariff,
335.
New Orleans, its importance in Mis
sissippi navigation controversy, 22,
23; danger of an attack upon, in
1812, 35 ; defences of, organized by
Jackson, 44, 45 ; battle of, 46, 47 ;
significance of victory, 47, 49, 50;
continued under martial law by
Jackson, 53-56.
New York, popularity of Calhoun in,
104 ; passes resolution in favor of
caucus, 109; follows Virginia, 109;
controlled by Albany Regency, 111;
struggle in, over manner of choosing
electors. 111 ; carried by Adams men
against Regency, 111, 112 ; faUure of
Jackson to secure support in, 113 ;
electoral vote of, 116 ; development

of spoils poUticB in, 131-133 ; casts
electoral vote in 1828 by districts,
148 ; asks Jackson to accept second
term, 202 ; instructs Van Buren to
vote for tariff of 1828, 251 ; rise of
anti-masons in, 290-293 ; disarrange
ment of parties in, 292 ; passes re
solutions against Bank, 316 ; op
poses nuUification, 335 ; development
of loco-focos in, 433-438.
Nichols, Colonel, his acts toward In
dians disavowed by England, 72.
NUes, Hezekiah, slow in publishing
Jackson's controversy with Scott,
65; assumes presence of British
emissaries in Florida, 72, 79 ; praises
Jackson as uniformly right, 79 ; on
numbers of presidential candidates
in 1824, 102 ; opposes caucus nomi
nations, 109 ; on Calhoun's opinion
of Jackson in 1822, 114 ; criticises
Benton's " demos krateo " doctrine,
125 ; on character of campaign of
1828, 144 ; objects to titles, 177 ; his
ignorance of England, 178 ; on need-
lessness of quarrels over succession
to Jackson, 201 ; hears rumor of
quarrel between Jackson and Cal
houn, 209 ; scoffs at Jackson's West
India trade arrangement, 216 ;
preaches high tariff, his infiuence,
238, 239; on MaUary's wool bUl,
240 ; on grain trade, 242 ; dissatis
fied with tariff of 1828, 245 ; sur
prised at Jackson's attack on Bank,
280 ;^on expectation of a Bank veto,
319 ; on craze for banks, 373 ; and
on speculation, 380 ; on origin of
name whig, 439.
North Carolina, its connection with
State of Franklin, 9 ; " reUef " laws
in, 152 ; denounces tariGf, 256, 257,
335 ; does not favor nullification,
257 ; denounces nuUiflcation, 261,
335.
NulUficatlon, proposed in South Caro
Una in 1827, 251 ; its relation to
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions,
252-254; real responsibiUty of Jef
ferson for, 254, 255 ; difference be
tween Georgia and Carolina cases
of, 260; carried out in 1832, 327,
328; Jackson's proclamation against,

INDEX

497

328-330; Jackson's responsibility
for, 330; debate on, in Senate, 333,
334; denounced by State Legisla
tures, 335.
Ohio, favors Jackson as second choice
in 1824, 115 ; anti-masonry in, 293 ;
nominates McLean in 1836, 444 ;
boundary controversy with Michi
gan, 446, 447.
O'NeU, Peggy, her origin and career,
193 ; marries Timberlake, 193 ; mar
ries Eaton under suspicious circum
stances, 193 ; ostracised by wives
of cabinet officers, l&l ; attempts of
Jackson to force her on society,
194 ; her character defended by
Jackson, 196 ; asks Jackson's pro
tection against General CaU, 195 ;
paid attentions by Van Buren, 196 ;
accompanies Jackson to Tennessee,
208 ; her varying receptions de
scribed by Jackson, 208 ; faUure of
Jackson to benefit by his efforts,
211 ; her death, 212.
Osborn vs. Bank of United States, 166.
Overton, Judge John, letter of Jack
son to, on Calhoun and Van Buren,
201.
Owens,  , murder case of, in Ala
bama, 228.
Pageot,  yFienchckargS d''affaires,
recaUed, 407.
Palmer, WiUiam A., defeated for vice-
presidential nomination, 444.
Panama mission, debate over, 137.
Parton, James, his biography of Jack
son quoted, 2, 3, 17, 25, 27, 61, 87,
95, 99, 197, 200, 207, 208, 212, 317,
346, 452.
Party management, its development
byLewis, 95-97 ; its theatrical char
acter, 97 ; use of catchwords, 118,
136 ; its development in New York,
132; its "Uterary" features, 133;
partisan newspapers, 133, 134 ;
linked with spoils system, 189, 190.
Feck, Judge, punishes Lawless for
aUeged contempt of court, 220 ; im
peached by House, 220 ; acquitted
by Senate, 220 ; Jackson's attitude
In his case, 220.

Pennsylvania, popularity of Calhoun
in, 104 ; opposes a congressional
caucus, 110 ; popular nomination of
Jackson in, 112, 113; turns from
Calhoun to Jackson, 112 ; its devo
tion to Jackson, 115 ; its vote in
1828, 148 ; at Lewis's suggestion.
Legislature asks Jackson to consent
to reelection, 202 ; although a high-
tariff State, supports Jackson, 232 ;
its demands in tariff, 244; anti-
masonry in, 293 ; Jackson's hold
upon, unshaken, in 1832, 299, 316 ;
opposes reduction of tariff, 335;
grants Bank a charter, 396 ; con
ventions in, nominate Harrison, 444.
Pensacola, occupied by EngUsh in
1814, 42 ; stormed by Jackson, 44 ;
again captured in 1818, 75.
Pickering, Timothy, supports Jackson
in 1828, out of dislike for Adams,
125.
Pinckney, Thomas, praises Jackson
in Creek War, 41 .
Plumer, WiUiam, casts electoral vote
for Adams in 1820, 92.
Poindexter, George, accused by Jack
son of trying to murder him, 432 ;
acquitted by Senate, 433.
Poinsett, Joel R., fails to try to buy
Texas, his reasons, 413 ; again faUs
under Van Buren, 415.
Polk, James K., reports biU to sell
Bank stock, 341 ; his report on sol
vency of Bank, 343 ; does not pro
pose action, 344 ; reports resolutions
upholding Jackson and Taney, 368 ;
introduces bill to forbid receipt of
Bank notes, 375.
Porter, Peter B., prepares plan for an
Indian territory, 224.
Presidency, Jackson's conception of,
282, 322-325, 349, 353, 354, 362.
" Prophet," in Tecumseh's war, 38 n.
Protection, demand for, after war of
1812, 93, 94 ; becomes a poUtical
question, 94 ; advocates of, oppose
settUng of new lands, 230-232 ; de
manded by wool manufacturers, 236-
238 ; its doctrine according to Nilea,
238, 239; demand for, by conven
tion of wool-growers and manufac
turers, 240 ; argument for, as re-

498

INDEX

taUatlon against EngUsh com laws,
241, 242 ; difficulty of getting it
before Supreme Court, 332, 333;
saved by compromise tariff, 339.
Rabun, Governor William, corre
spondence with Jackson on Indian
troubles, 75.
Randolph, John, leads opposition in
abusing Clay, 131; hia duel with
Clay, 131 ; his later career as minis
ter to Russia, 131 ; himself accused
of corruption, 131 ; his behavior in
Senate, 141 ; complained of by Ing
ham, 211 ; tries to rouse Virginia
against the nullification proclama
tion, 330.
Reid, Major John, begins "Life of
Jackson," 182.
RepubUcan party, pushes Madison into
war of 1812, 33 ; Its incompetent
management of war, 48, 49 ; saved
by battle of New Orleans, 50.
Rhea, J., a fiUbuster in Florida, 69;
supposed by Jackson to have con
veyed Monroe's approval of his plan
to invade Florida, 69, 70 n.
Rhode Island, opposes reduction of
tariff, 335.
Rip Rap contract, connection of Cal
houn with, 106.
Ritchie,  , letter of Lewis to, on
nullification proclamation, 330.
Rives, W. C, minister to France,
negotiates concerning spoUation
claims, 217 ; refers to Jackson as
authority for Tyler's plan of ex
chequer notes, 286, 287 ; on Ken
dall's wiUingness to abandon re
moval of deposits, 362 ; resigns
from Senate, 365 ; reelected, 366 ;
boasts of outwitting French minis
ter, 404 ; defeated for Vice-Presi
dent by Johnson, 442.
Roane, Archibald, decides election of
Jackson as major-general over Se
vier, 17.
Robards, Lewis, accuses Jackson of
adultery, 11 ; applies for and se
cures a divorce, 12.
Rowan, Judge John, sustains right of
State to tax United States Bank,
160 ; in Congress, moves to obUge

federal courts to follow procedure
of States, 218.
Rucker,  , at democratic national
convention, 441.
Rush, Richard, in Arbuthnot case,
83 ; appointed Secretary of Treasury
by Adams, 141 ; candidate for Vice-
President, 149 ; approves of branch
drafts, 270.
Sanford, Nathan, proposes a gold
currency, 389.
Santa Anna, gains control of Mexico,
416.
Sargent, Nathan, on factiousness of
Adams's enemies, 137; on memorial
of Bank for recharter, 300.
Schulze,  , repubUcan candidate
for Governor of Pennsylvania, 102.
Scotch-Irish, emigrate to Carolina, 1.
Scott, John, urges Adams to give
Clay a place in administration, 125.
Scott, Winfield, criticises Jackson's
defiance of Secretary of War, 64;
chaUenged to a duel by Jackson,
refuses, 64; reconcUed with Jack
son, 114 ; sent by Jackson to Charles
ton, 328.
Sebastian, Judge WUliam K., over
rides Kentucky law in land-title
case, 153 ; denounced by Legisla
ture, 153.
Secession, movement for, in South
west, 22 ; kiUed by annexation of
Louisiana, 25 ; not planned by
Burr, 26 ; right of, asserted by
Georgia, 256 ; planned in South
Carolina, 260, 261.
Seminole war, 68-76 ; controversy
over, between Jackson and Cal
houn, 199-206, 209.
Senate of United States, committee
of, condemns Jackson's career in
Florida, 83 ; opposition in, to con
firmation of Clay as Secretary of
State, 122 ; presided over by Cal
houn to Adams's disadvantage, 140,
141 ; postpones Adams's nomina
tions, 190 ; reluctant to confirm
many of Jackson's appointments,
191, 192; election of HiU to, as
a rebuke, 192, 193 ; rejects Van
Buren's nomination, 210; acquits

INDEX

499

Judge Ptfck on impeachment, 220 ;
debate of Webster and Hayne in,
233 ; passes biU to sell pubUc lands,
233; debates sale of lands, 234;
rejects resolution against Bank, 287;
passes Bank charter, 319 ; forces
Jackson to sign or veto, 319 ; fails
to pass bill over veto, 320; nullifi
cation debate in, 332-334 ; passes
force bUl, 336 ; passes compro
mise tariff, 337 ; refuses to reap
point government Bank directors,
361, 362 ; rejects Taney for Secre
tary of Treasury and judge of Su
preme Court, 362; demands paper
read in cabinet, 362 ; censures Jack
son, 363, 364 ; refuses to receive
Jackson's protest, 364 ; denounced
by party press, 364 ; bitterness of
debate in, 364, 365 ; rejects ex
punging resolutions, 366 ; finaUy
passes expunging resolutions, 367 ;
passes biU to repeal specie circu
lar, 394 ; on relations with France,
405 ; declines to act, 405 ; recog
nizes independence of Texas, 421.
Sergeant, John, nominated for vice-
presidency, 248, 321.
Sergeant, Thomas, a Jackson man, ap
pointed to office by McLean,
146.
Bevier, John  , quarrels with Jack
son, 16 ; defeated by Jackson In
contest for position of major-gen
eral, 17 ; elected governor, 17 ; his
feud with Ja«kson, 17.
Slade, WilUam, defeated for vice-
presidential nomination, 444.
Slamm,  , his career as "equal
rights " leader, 437, 438.
Smith, Samuel, reports in favor of
Bank, 284.
Smith, William, electoral vote of
Georgia for, as Vice-President, 149 ;
vote for, in 1836, 449.
Society in America, its democratic
character, 177, 178 ; its ignorance
of foreign countries, 178 ; its vio
lence and turbulence imder Jack
son, 428, 429 ; its factiousness, 430 ;
its zealousness and extravagance,
431 ; sociaUstic ideas in, 449, 450. 1
South, joins with West in advoca-'

ting free lands, 232 ; opposes tariff,
240, 244, 246, 255 ; effect of tariff
upon, 248-250; its error in attack
ing tariff by nullification, 256, 257 ;
defied by Clay, 263 ; considers Jack
son's nullification proclamation
treachery, 330 ; considers compro
mise tariff a victory, 337 ; enraged
at abolitionist Uterature in mails,
411 ; wishes annexation of Texas,
414, 415 ; expects Jackson to secure
it, 415 ; its zeal for Texas in 1836,
418 ; gains control of Democratic
party, 458.
South CaroUna, nominates Lowndes
for President in 1824, 102 ; opposes
a congressional caucus, 109 ; its sea
man laws held unconstitutional,
169 ; later held constitutional, 219 ;
nuUification movement In, 251-261 ;
changes from a broad to strict-con-
structionist view, 255 ; its error in
opposing tariff by nullification, 256,
257 ; ita protest of 1828, 257 ; disap
pointed by Jackson's Union toast,
259 ; fails to caU a convention, 260 ;
denounces Jackson's letter of 1831,
260 ; votes for Floyd in 1832, 320 ;
controUed by nulUfiers, 327 ; calls
convention to nullify tariff, 327 ;
attempts to prevent appeals to
federal courts, 327, 328 ; Union
convention in, 328 ; proclamation
of Jackson to, 328 ; defles Jack
son, 331, 337 ; postpones operation
of nullification, 337 ; repeals ordi
nance of nuUification, 337 ; nulllfles
force biU, 337, 338.
Southwest, its attitude on Mississippi
navigation, 22, 23; secession move
ment in, 22, 26; admires Napoleon,
30 ; paper-money craze in, 161, 155 ;
struggles in, between frontiersmen
and constitutions, 151 ; financial
crisis in, 156 ; its later economic
prosperity, 176.
Spain, grants Mississippi navigation
in 1795, 22 ; cedes Louisiana to
France, 22 ; withdraws right of de
posit, 23 ; its position as to Florida
boundary, 23 ; refuses to pay Amer
ican claims, 23 ; cedes Florida, 23 ;
neutral in war of 1812, 42 ; allows

500

INDEX

English to operate in Florida, 43,
65 ; unable to govern Florida, 67.
" Specie Circular," 392-394.
Spencer, John C, reports Morgan
case spoiled by poUtlcal coloring,
290.
Spoils system, developed in New
York, 131-133 ; introduced into
federal government by Jackson,
187-191 ; effect of, upon post-office,
409, 410 ; in customs, 453, 454.
Stanbaugh, Colonel, instructed by
Lewis to propose a second term for
Jackson, 202.
Stevens, Thaddeus, supports Webster
m 1836, 446.
Stevenson, Andrew, elected Speaker,
constitutes committees unfavorable
to tariff, 241 ; presides over demo
cratic convention, 442.
Story, Joseph, takes anti-masonic
movement too seriously, 294 ; in
case of Briscoe vs. Bank of Ken
tucky, 423 ; his dissenting opinion,
424 ; hia reasons for resigning, 427.
Sturges vs. Crowninshield, 166.
Supreme Court of the United States,
its great constitutional decisions
under MarahaU, 166-169, 174, 176 ;
their effect discussed, 169-171 ; de
nounced in Kentucky, 171, 172 ;
attacks upon in Congress during
Jackson's administration, 218, 219 ;
difficulty of getting it to pass on pro
tection, 333 ; in case between Bank
and Treasury in 1834, 346 ; com
position of, altered under Jackson,
423, 424 ; ita decision in Briscoe vs.
Bank, 423, 424 ; its development
to this point national, 424-426 ;
its decision permits State wild
cat banking, 426, 427 ; degener
ates into a poUtical machine, 427,
428.
Surplus, distribution of, favored by
Jackson, 233 ; proposed by McLane
and Clay, 234 ; bill for, passed by
Congress, 381 ; objections of Jack
son to, probably overruled for poUt
ical reasons, 382, 383 ; regulation
for, 382, 383 ; its effect on debtor
States, 383 ; benefits smaU States
and new ones, 384 ; squandered in

most States, 385 ; renewed schemes
for, 386 ; payment of, 386, 387.
Swartwout, Samuel, recognizes po
Utical value of " corrupt bargain"
story, 118 ; letter of Jackson to, on
Clay, 121 ; one of Jackson's man
agers, 135 ; his embezzlement, 453 ;
Jackson's comments on, 453, 454.
Tammany Societt, its quarrel with
loco-focos, 433-436 ; reunites with
loco-focos, 437, 438.
Taney, Roger B., Attorney-General,
212 ; favors removal of deposits,
346 ; Jackson's principal adviser,
346, 351 ; writes " Paper read to the
cabinet," 354 ; appointed to Trea
sury Department, 364 ; sends plan
for organization of deposit bank sys
tem, 367 ; wishes KendaU to organ
ize deposit system, 358 ; gives de
posit banks large drafts for protec
tion against United States Bank,
359 ; refers to Crawford for a pre
cedent, 360 ; his reasons for removal
of deposits, 360, 361 ; his appoint
ment to Treasury rejected, 362 ;
succeeds MarshaU as Chief Justice,
362, 424.
Tariff, of 1816, its causes, 93; attempt
to raise, in 1820, 94 ; increased in
1824, 94-96; its coimection with pub
lic lands, 230-232 ; reform of, in
England, 236 ; of 1828, events lead
ing up to, 236-246; political as
pects of, 239, 240 ; testimony as to
working of, 243 ; its nature, 244-
246 ; opposition of South to, 246,
247 ; its operation upon the South,
248-250 ; reasons for vote in 1828,
249-261 ; declared unconstitutional
by South, 255-257 ; imposslbiUty
of its resting stable, 258 ; attempts
to modify in 1830, 268 ; free trade
convention meets at New York, 261 ;
argument of GaUatin against, 261 ;
argument of protectionist conven
tion for, 261 ; revised in 1832, 262-
264; wish of Jackson to reduce,
263 ; modified m 1833, 332, 336-337;
resolutions of States upon, 335 ;
fails to settle anything, 338.
Tassel, George, Cherokee murderer.

INDEX

501

tried by Georgia, 225 ; fruitless at
tempt of United States Court to
protect, 226 ; executed, 226.
Tecumseh, tries to unite northern and
southern Indians, 36 ; gains over part
of Creeks, 37 ; kUled at battle of
Thames, 42,
Tennessee, frontier society in, 6-9 ;
pioneer settlers of, 7 ; Utigation in,
8 ; politics in, 8, 9 ; frames a consti
tution, 13 ; admitted by Congress,
13 ; votes for Jefferson hi 1796, 14 ;
payment of its claim by Congress
secured by Jackson, 16; abuse of
credit in, 19 ; sympathizes with
Burr's scheme, 25 ; votes money
against Creeks, 37 ; nominates
Jackson for presidency, 100 ; op
poses a congressional caucus, 109 ;
again nominates Jackson, 134 ; its
vote in 1828, 148; estabUshes a
State bank and passes reUef laws,
156-159; its Court of Appeals de
clares acts unconstitutional, 159 ;
opposes nullification, 335 ; refuses
to send delegates to democratic
convention, 441 ; prefers White
to Van Buren, 441, 444 ; carried by
Clay in 1844, 460.
Texas, claim to, abandoned in Flor
ida treaty of 1819, 84, 86, 412 ; de
mand of slaveholders for, after Mis
souri Compromise, 412 ; settlement
of, by Americana, 413 ; attempt of
Adama to buy, 413 ; resists aboli
tion of slavery by Mexico, 414 ; re-
annexation of, agitated, 414 ; its
dimensions, 415 ; claim of Erving
regarding, 415 ; attempt of Van
Buren to buy, 415 ; Mayo's account
of plot to revolutionize, 416; re
volts, its success, 416, 417 ; emigra
tion to, 418 ; action of Gaines in.
419 ; independence of, recognized,
419, 421 ; question of its boundaries,
419, 420 ; applies for annexation,
419 ; absurdity of its territorial
claim, 420 ; again proposes annex
ation, 421 ; its annexation urged
by Jackson, 457-459 ; question of,
ruins Van Buren, 458, 460.
Thompson, Smith, in case of Briscoe
vs. Bank of Kentucky, 423.

Timberlake,  , marries Peggy
O'Neil, his suicide, 193.
Toland, Henry, makes favorable re
port on Bank, 341.
Tomkins, Daniel D., reelected Vice-
President, 92; loses popularity
through financial difficulties with
government, 92, 93.
Troup, George M., Governor of Geor
gia, takes possession of Creek lands,
222 ; defies Adams, 222 ; denounces
tariff, but disclaims disunion senti
ment, 256.
Tyler, John, recommends to Con
gress to refund Jackson's fine, 67 ;
refers to Jackson as authority for
his "exchequer" plan, 286; on
character of kitchen cabinet, 324 ;
said to have mediated between
Clay and Calhoun in 1833, 338 ; re
fuses to vote for expunging resolu
tions and resigns, 366 ; reports in
favor of Bank, 368 ; states his at
titude on Bank question, 376 ; vote
for, in 1836, 449 ; his quarrel with
whigs rejoices Jackson, 456.
Van Buren, Martin, his nomination
by Georgia for vice-presidency
meets ridicule, 107; manages the
last congressional caucus, 110 ;
leader of Albany Regency, 111 ;
seizes position of manager for Jack
son, 129, 130 ; hampered previously
by Crawford's ill-health, 130 ; or
ganizes opposition by New York
methods, 131-133, 135 ; announces
devotion to States' rights, 139 ; his
ambitions cross those of Calhoun,
181 ; Secretary of State, 182 ; not
a guiding force In administration,
187 ; struggles with Calhoun for con
trol of patronage, 193 ; wins Jack
son's heart by courtesies to Mrs.
Eaton, 196 ; visits Crawford to
bring about reconciliation with Jack
son, 198 ; determined on by kitchen
cabinet as Jackson's successor, 200 ;
praised by Jackson in a letter, 201 ;
refuses to take part in Calhoun
affair, 206 ; resigns from cabinet,
209 ; his oracular letter, 209 ; ap
pointed minister to England, 210 ;

502

INDEX

his instructions to McLane, 210 ;
his nomination rejected, 210 ; de
termination of Jackson to make
him President, 211 ; dodges vote on
tariff, 239 ; obtains instructions to
vote for tariff of 1828, 251; at
tacked by Calhoun, 251 ; signs peti
tion for branch bank at Albany,
286 ; later condemns federal ban^,
285 ; loses ground in Pennsylvania
because of New York opposition to
Bank, 316 ; nominated by demo
cratic convention only through dic
tation of Jackson, 317, 318 ; electo
ral vote for, 321 ; his opposition to
removal of deposits overcome by
Kendall, 346, 347 ; as Secretary of
State, orders Poinsett to buy Texas,
415 ; rejects Texas annexation of
fer, 421 ; reluctant to have war,
421 ; revolt of " equal rights " party
against, in New York, 433 ; opposi
tion to, in Tennessee, 441 ; unani
mously nominated to succeed Jack
son, 442; his letter of acceptance,
442 ; his letter to Sherrod WiUiams
displeases " equal rights " men, 448 ;
elected President, 448 ; obUged to
suffer consequences of Jackson's
mistakes, 450 ; deserves reputation
of wire-puller, 450 ; his character,
451 ; shows abUity as President,
451 ; unfortunate in circumstances,
451, 452; his inauguration held by
Jackson to be a personal triumph,
452 ; his nomination prevented in
1844 by use of Jackson's Texas let
ter, 458.
Vermont, stronghold of anti-masonry,
293 ; opposes reduction bf tariff,
336.
Virginia, resolves in favor of caucus,
109 ; led by an oligarchy, 109 ; "re
Uef laws" in, 152; adopts princi
ple of nullification, 257 ; offers to
mediate with South Carolina, 335 ;
condemns dismissal of Duane and
removal of deposits, 366 ; favors
expunging resolutions, 366 ; causes
successive resignations of senators,
366 ; its delegates at democratic
convention refuse to vote for John
son, 442. I

Virginia Resolutions of 1798, their
nature and relation to nullification,
253 ; explained by Madison, 254.
Wallace, Judge, in Kentucky land-
title case, 153.
War of 1812, causes, 33, 34 ; brought
on by young repubUcans, 34 ; unne
cessary for redress, 34 ; services of
Jackson in, 35-47 ; Creek war dur
ing, 37-41 ; defence of MobUe, 43 ;
Jackson's capture of Pensacola,
44 ; battle of New Orleans, 46-47 ;
American defeats in, 47-49 ; finan
cial collapse during, 48, 49 ; fails
to gain avowed objects, 50 ; good
results from, 51.
Ward,  , massacred by Mexicans,
417.
Warren, Admiral, offers Madison an
armistice in 1812, 34.
Washington, George, appoints Jack
son District Attorney, 11 ; opposed
by Jackson in Congress, 14, 15 ;
maintains peace by Jay treaty, 31.
Watkins, Tobias, discovered to be a
defaulter, 189 ; Jackson's virulence
toward, 189 n.
Wayman vs. Southard, 167.
WajTie, James M., at meeting in
Athena to protest against tariff,
256 ; appointed to Supreme Court,
423.
Weatherford, chief of Creeks in war
of 1813, 37.
Webster, Daniel, favors Calhoun for
President in 1824, ^05; on Jack
son's presidential raanners, 114 ;
urges Adams not to proscribe fed
eraUsts, 125 ; on popular feeling
after election of 1828, 179 ; on oppo
sition in Senate to Jackson's nomi
nations, 191 ; defends federal judi
ciary from attack In Rowan's amend
ment, 218 ; his debate with Hayne,
233, 257 ; on reasons for New Eng
land's advocacy of tariff, 237 ; votes
for tariff of 1828, his reasons, 251 ;
holds branch drafts legal, 270 ; his
connection with appointment of
Mason, 272, 273 ; wearies of consti
tutional debate with Calhoun, 334 ;
attacks compromise tariff, 336 ;

INDEX

603

shows moral weakness by abandon
ing free trade, 336 ; condemns pet
bank policy, 367 ; his report on re
moval of deposits, 364 ; in 1842
calls a bank an obsolete idea, 401 ;
letter of Catron to, on Texas, 418 ;
defeated by Harrison for anti-ma
sonic nomination, 444 ; his presiden
tial ambitions, 444 ; vote for, 448.
Webster, Ezekiel, on Calhoun's popu
larity in New Hampshire, 105.
West, demands free land, 232 ; de
mands internal improvements, 232.
Whig party, not organized before
1830, 289 ; its national convention
of 1831, 298; makes Bank the is
sue of campaign, 298, 299 ; sup
ports banks against metaUic cur
rency, 389 ; finaUy abandons Bank,
401 ; fails to unite in 1834, 439 ;
coalescea partly with anti-masons,
444 ; divides between White and
Harrison, 444, 446.
White, Hugh L., a claim of his pushed
by Jackson in Congress, 15 ; refuses
to resign from Senate to give place
to Eaton, 212; piqued at Jackson
for faUure to receive War Depart
ment, 212 ; goes into opposition,
366 ; hated by Jackson, 441 ; leads
Tennessee against Van Buren, 441 ;
nominated for President, 444 ; vote
for, in 1836, 448.
Whitney, Reuben M., accuses Biddle
of nepotism, 306 ; proved to have
Ued, 306 ; enters kitchen cabinet,
306 ; pubUshes an " Address to the
American P^ ^le," 306; urges re
moval of deposits, 347 ; suggests it
to Duane, 349 ; becomes agent of
Treasury in dealing with deposit
banks, 358 ; gives deposits for poUt
ical reasons, 358, 359.
Wilkins, William, receives Pennsylva
nia's electoral vote in 1832, 321.

Wilkinson, General James, Jackson's
contempt for, 26; quarrels with
Jackson, 35 ; occupies MobUe, 42.
WiUiams, John, senator from Tennes
see, his popularity, 95 ; defeated
by Jackson for reelection, 95.
WiUiams, Sherrod, interrogates candi
dates in 1836, 447.
Wirt, WilUam, caUs South Carolina
seaman laws unconstitutional, 169 ;
his opinion reversed by Berrien,
219 ; holds branch drafts legal, 270 ;
nominated for President by anti-
masons, 294; his letter of accep
tance, 294, 295 ; hopes to be sup
ported by national republicans, 295 ;
later wishes to withdraw, 295 ; vote
for, in 1832, 321.
Wood, John, shot by Jackson for in
subordination, 40.
Woodbury, Levi, shocked at a bilUard
table in the White House, 146 ;
gives place in Senate to HiU, be
comes Secretary of Navy, 212 ; com
plains to Ingham of Mason, 271,
272 ; his animosity against Mason
and Webster, 273 ; elected to Sen
ate as an Adams man, 274 ; neutral
on removal of deposits, 346 ; sends
report to Congress on banking, 358 ;
refuses to receive branch drafts,
374 ; report on circulation, 391.
Worcester, a missionary, condemned
for violating Georgia laws concern
ing Cherokees, 226 ; refuses at first
to accept a pardon, 228.
Worthington,  , seizes Spanish
papers under Jackson's orders, 89.
Wright, Fanny, her career, 449.
Wright, Silas, opposes MaUary's wool
tariff, 243 ; announces pet bank
poUcy, 357.
Young Men's Convention, nominates
Clay, 318.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, u. a. a.
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