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RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 Sixteen Presidents 
 edition de luxe 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 

RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 SIXTEEN PRESIDENTS 
 
 WASHINGTON TO LINCOLN 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD W. THOMPSON 
 
 " Let us forget party and think of our country. That country 
 embraces both parties. We must endeavor, therefore, to serve 
 and benefit both. This can not be effected while political delusions 
 array good men against each other."— GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 
 
 " Three-score and ten I can remember well ; 
 Within the volume of which time I have seen 
 
 — . ^things strange." 
 
 —SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 VOLUME 1 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 1894 
 
Copyright, 1894 
 
 BY 
 
 THE BOWEN-MERRILL CO. 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 CARLON & HOLLENBECK 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
PREFACE 
 
 It having been understood among my friends that I 
 have seen all the Presidents of the United States, ex- 
 cept Washington and the elder Adams, their partiality 
 has prompted the request that I should communicate 
 to the public my recollections of them, and of other 
 public men whom I have known personally during a life 
 now past four-score years. To this request I have fre- 
 quently replied that when my active intercourse with the 
 world had ceased and the bustling affairs of life were 
 laid aside, I would undertake the task. That time hav- 
 ing arrived, I now begin the fulfillment of my promise. 
 
 My personal recollections do not reach back far 
 enough to embrace any portion of the period cov- 
 ered by the administrations of Washington, the elder 
 Adams, Jefferson, and Madison; and are only shadowy 
 with reference to that of Monroe. But my early asso- 
 ciations were such as to bring me from boyhood into 
 immediate intercourse and under the direct influence of 
 men of the Revolution, who stamped impressions upon 
 my mind, with regard to early events and those who 
 were the chief agents in producing them, which nothing 
 intervening, howsoever stirring, has been able to remove. 
 The scenes and incidents which attended this inter- 
 course often re-appear with the vividness of present real- 
 ity, and memory has lingered about them with so much 
 
 (v) 
 
y[ PREFACE. 
 
 profit and pleasure that these impressions of early life 
 have ripened into the opinions and convictions of my 
 old age. Their admonitions of fidelity to the institutions 
 they aided in creating are as ' ' fresh about me " as if ut- 
 tered yesterday, and are so noted in my "book of mem- 
 ory" as to have become indelible. 
 
 The complete history of a nation is not found in printed 
 books, nor can it be compressed in the mere recital of 
 events. Its spirit is embodied in the united energy of 
 a whole population. Its philosophy can be discovered 
 only in the unwritten occurrences which are preserved in 
 the memories of those contemporaneous with them. It 
 was well said by Shakespeare : 
 
 " There is a history in all men's lives, 
 
 Figuring the nature of the times deceased." 
 
 History has been called a labyrinth in which one may 
 easily be lost. Be this as it may, it is undoubtedly true 
 that some historians indulge in excessive flattery and oth- 
 ers in indiscriminate detraction. The former find merit 
 where it does not exist — the latter ignore it where it does. 
 The excesses of both are misleading. Consequently, it 
 often requires acute discrimination to ascertain what is 
 true and what is false, as regards both events and individ- 
 uals. And the patient investigator often finds his diffi- 
 culties increased by the barriers which political parties 
 have thrown up, and which confront him unexpectedly. 
 
 Nevertheless, we should not visit censure too lavishly 
 upon political parties. Under a popular form of govern- 
 ment like ours, they are beneficial when harnessed and 
 restrained by discreet and moderate counsels. They then 
 
PREFACE. yJJ 
 
 become a safeguard against undue encroachments upon 
 the just authority of the National Government, the States, 
 and the people, — holding all the sources of power in 
 proper equipoise. They become dangerous, however, 
 when brought under the dominion of ambitious rulers 
 who employ them to reward their friends and punish their 
 enemies, without any regard to what the public welfare 
 requires. When this occurs they threaten to corrupt the 
 sources of political authority and breed disorders which, 
 if allowed to remain unchecked, may become as fatal to 
 the cause of good government as the fevers produced by 
 miasmatic poison are to the human body. The wrecks 
 scattered along the pathways of destroyed nations suffi- 
 ciently attest this. When party excitement is responsive 
 to honest and intense convictions it is commendable and 
 not censurable. But when allowed to degenerate into 
 animosity and hatred, it tends to obliterate the distinc- 
 tion between right and wrong — between justice and in- 
 justice. Those who then submit to its dominion are apt 
 to delineate the characters of their associates in glowing 
 colors, whatsoever their vices; and to cast censure and 
 reproaches at their adversaries, no matter how virtuous 
 they are. This is calculated to exterminate all confi- 
 dence between individuals and is a menace to the peace- 
 ful intercourse of society. 
 
 It is not likely the time will ever come in this country, 
 so long as our popular institutions survive, when party 
 animosities will entirely cease. Such a time has not 
 hitherto existed. It was more nearly reached during the 
 peaceful administration of Monroe than ever before or 
 
viil PREFACE. 
 
 since. But that was a period when they were only- 
 smoldering, like pent-up fires, ready to break out again 
 when the inciting causes re-appeared. When Jefferson, 
 in his first inaugural, ventured to assert, — "We are all 
 Republicans — we are all Federalists," — he drew largely 
 upon his imagination ; for however much he may have 
 desired this, he must have known that former antago- 
 nisms were not entirely extinguished, but had sown seed 
 that would sprout, and grow, and bear the same fruit 
 again. The political atmosphere was poisoned by their 
 influences even during the administration of Washington, 
 when all his energies were employed in patriotic efforts 
 to fix the pillars of the government firmly in their places, 
 and when a single false step upon his part might have 
 wrecked our infant institutions. As the history of these 
 partisan conflicts was among the lessons I learned from 
 some of those who followed ' ' the flag of liberty ' ' dur- 
 ing the Revolution and who vindicated the honor of Wash- 
 ington and the policy of his administration, it ought not 
 to be wondered at that I have been thus furnished with 
 a rule for the interpretation of much of our early history 
 which might otherwise have seemed obscure. It is 
 proper, therefore, to say that in many of the opinions 
 expressed in these pages, I have been guided by this 
 rule, which has been, during a long life, satisfactory to 
 myself. 
 
 R. W. T. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 It is not easy to conceive of difficulties surpassing 
 those encountered by Washington, from the beginning 
 of his administration. No man had ever before been 
 trusted with higher duties. He had to mark out 
 paths for a new and untried government, — to reconcile 
 conflicting opinions, — to pour balm upon bleeding 
 wounds, — to quench factional and sectional fires, — and 
 to steer the Union safely by the whirlpools that had en- 
 gulfed the Confederation. Upon none of these had any 
 light been thrown by the past experience of the country. 
 Hence, it must have been manifest to him, and to all 
 others, that if these ends were to be reached, it must be 
 done by untried but affirmative measures of National 
 policy which should operate alike upon all the sections 
 of the Union, — neither permitting the large States to im- 
 pair the just rights of the small, nor both combined to 
 impair those of the Union. As the north star guides the 
 mariner through the trackless seas, so was the "general 
 welfare ' ' of the united body of the people to be recog- 
 nized by him as the chief object to be attained. 
 
 After Rhode Island had entered the Union by ratifying 
 the Constitution he expressed himself in these words: 
 "Since the bond of union is now complete, and we once 
 
 (I) 
 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 more consider ourselves one family, it is much to be 
 hoped that reproaches will cease and prejudices be done 
 away ; for we should all remember that we are members 
 of that community, upon whose general success depends 
 our particular and individual welfare; and, therefore, if 
 we mean to support the liberty and independence, which 
 it has cost us so much blood and treasure to establish, we 
 must drive far away the demon of party spirit and local 
 reproach." And in speaking of the form of government, 
 during the same year, he said: "The establishment of 
 our new government seemed to be the last great experi- 
 ment for promoting human happiness by a reasonable 
 compact in civil society. * * « » -po me there is 
 nothing in it beyond the luster, which may be reflected 
 from its connection with a power of promoting human fe- 
 licity. * » * * That the government, though not 
 actually perfect, is one of the best in the world, I have 
 little doubt." Thus he exhibited, at the beginning of 
 his administration, that lofty and patriotic spirit which 
 animated him throughout, and which should be carefully 
 held in remembrance when interpreting the measures of 
 public policy with which his name is identified. That 
 these sentiments were continually present in his mind, 
 throughout his administration, — giving direction to all 
 his official acts, — is as certain as anything in history. 
 Even now, after so many years have elapsed and the 
 borders of the nation have been stretched from the At- 
 lantic to the Pacific, and the country has passed through 
 the most serious and alarming trials, the public senti- 
 ment is fixed in the conviction that he, above all 
 other men, is entitled to be known as "the father of his 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 3 
 
 country." If a single individual could be found to an- 
 tagonize this popular belief, the very name of such a 
 man would be odious. 
 
 Washington's administration represented a "consoli- 
 dated ' ' Union, — not centralized with the purpose to 
 lessen any of the just powers of the States by creating a 
 National Government with power either to absorb or im- 
 pair them ; but to protect and advance the ' ' general wel- 
 fare" by doing whatsoever was requisite to that end. 
 The States were left with such of their original powers of 
 sovereignty over their own legitimate affairs as would en- 
 able each one to exercise absolute authority over the in- 
 terests and happiness of the community composing it. 
 But as it was essential to a National Union that the inter- 
 ests and happiness of the whole body of people who 
 compose the nation should be guarded by powers gen- 
 eral in character, the Constitution wisely conferred these 
 upon the National or General Government. The Union 
 means this — nothing more nor less — and could not have 
 been otherwise formed. Those who, by lessening its 
 powers, endeavored to limit its authority in the neces- 
 sity of dealing with foreign governments and affording 
 protection against them, unwisely overlooked the more 
 commanding necessity for holding the States in the bond 
 of unity, so that by growth and material development, 
 ' ' the last great experiment for promoting human happi- 
 ness," should be a complete success and not a failure. 
 Washington, therefore, became not only the advocate 
 but the exponent of these principles; and when he 
 realized, early in his administration, that others in con- 
 flict with them were entertained, he was grieved by the 
 
4 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 necessity which constrained him to call their advocates 
 "ill-boding politicians, who prognosticated that America 
 never would enjoy any fruits from her independence, and 
 that she would be obliged to have recourse to a foreign 
 power for protection ; ' ' — meaning France, as her revolu- 
 tion then seemed to assure the ultimate triumph of pop- 
 ular government over monarchy. The idea he then 
 entertained, and cherished until his death, was that as 
 the Union had been created by the American people 
 for themselves and their posterity, it could be pre- 
 served and perpetuated only by freeing it from all en- 
 tangling alliances with foreign powers and holding it in 
 dependence, solely and entirely, upon the popular will. 
 While he hoped, therefore, that the right of self-gov- 
 ernment would triumph throughout the world, and that 
 kings would be dispensed with for the better security of 
 human happiness, he steadily cherished the conviction 
 that as Providence had guided this country to independ- 
 ence through all the perils of the Revolution, the same 
 Providence had enjoined upon the people who composed 
 the nation the sacred obligation of preserving it alone 
 by such systems of domestic measures as were necessary 
 to its unity and their own security. No man felt a 
 deeper or keener sense of gratitude than he for the as- 
 sistance rendered by La Fayette and his gallant comrades 
 to the cause of independence. But when he said, with 
 reference to the French Revolution, " My greatest fear 
 has been that the nation would not be sufficiently cool 
 and moderate in making arrangements for the security of 
 that liberty, of which it seems to be fully possessed," he 
 not only displayed his great wisdom and thorough knowl- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 5 
 
 edge of the philosophy of history, but expressed, in ad- 
 vance, a fact now amply verified. It requires but little 
 intelligence for the present generation to understand his 
 wise and prudent statesmanship in resisting the efforts of 
 ' ' ill-boding politicians ' ' to link our national fortunes 
 with those of any European country. 
 
 Turning his attention, therefore, to the internal condi- 
 tion of the country, he was "sorry" to see that there 
 were existing jealousies between the sections, which, if 
 not allayed, might become dangerous to the Union. 
 Tracing these to " a diversity of interests in the Union," 
 he could readily see that as ' ' common danger ' ' had 
 brought the States together, they could be kept so only 
 by the same ' ' spirit of accommodation ' ' which consti- 
 tuted "the basis of the present Constitution." Conse- 
 quently he employed all the authority placed in his 
 hands by the Constitution and all the influence of his 
 administration, to remove the existing jealousies be- 
 tween the sections, and to cultivate and strengthen 
 the spirit of concession and compromise which had 
 produced the Constitution and formed the Union. To 
 his clear and comprehensive mind it was apparent that 
 by this alone would it be possible to preserve the new 
 government. And, therefore, he threw the whole weight 
 of his character on the side of the national cause, because 
 of the conviction that its defeat would imperil the Union 
 and thereby extinguish the rays of light created by a 
 constitutional government, and overshadow the future of 
 the country with clouds foreboding a storm. 
 
 There is nothing I remember better than the opinions I 
 frequently heard expressed upon these subjects, by the 
 
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Revolutionary compatriots of Washington, — men who, 
 without being politicians, had aided in gathering to- 
 gether the materials out of which the National Union was 
 formed. They seemed to me as sacred as was the utter- 
 ance of the oracle to the ancient Greeks; and as, in my 
 old age, my mind runs back involuntarily to them, I 
 think I see with perfect distinctness, that some of the 
 saddest events that have occurred in my own time 
 have been produced by the neglect of Washington's 
 counsels. I have no conviction more firmly fixed than 
 this, and sometimes, as I have deplored these events, I 
 have almost fancied that I could hear the protests of 
 these Revolutionary veterans against the causes which 
 produced them, and against the reckless partisans who 
 have spurned their admonitions as if they had been the 
 counselors of evil instead of sharers in a work which made 
 the humblest of them of more value to mankind than a 
 crowned king. 
 
 History furnishes the means to every intelligent man 
 to review the administration of Washington, and it would 
 go far towards assuring the future progress and prosper- 
 ity of the nation if this were done by all in whose hands 
 the ballot is placed. But it must be done, if done effect- 
 ually, in the quiet of home — where the peaceful sur- 
 roundings intensify the sense of responsibility; — for in 
 the periodical tumult of partisan warfare, when passion 
 dethrones reason, whatsoever does not serve the pur- 
 pose of the moment is considered idle and unprofitable. 
 There are even some who, having full consciousness of 
 this, intentionally pursue the wrong because it gives as- 
 surance of temporary triumph. No matter what claims 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 7 
 
 to Statesmanship such men may set up, or others claim 
 for them, they are simply demagogues, who should be 
 shunned as carefully as the ocean reefs are avoided by 
 the watchful navigator. Washington was not one of this 
 class. He was a statesman and not a mere politician. 
 He built up no party and obeyed the commands of none. 
 All his motives and impulses were patriotic, and he kept 
 his eye steadily upon the welfare of the body of the peo- 
 ple, as the polar-star that guided the whole policy of his 
 administration. 
 
 The first difBculty he encountered arose out of the ne- 
 cessity of adjusting the relations between the National 
 Government and the States, under the Constitution; — in 
 other words, he was required, by the proper interpreta- 
 tion of that instrument, to keep these relations in har- 
 mony, or by a wrongful interpretation to create discord 
 throughout the nation. His cabinet was composed as 
 follows : Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State ; Alexan- 
 der Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Henry Knox, 
 Secretary of War; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney- 
 General. Jefferson, some years before, had been sent by 
 the Continental Congress as Minister Plenipotentiary to 
 France, which position, at the solicitation of Washington, 
 he resigned. Two of the cabinet — Jefferson and Ran- 
 dolph — were from Virginia. The former, having been 
 in France, had not participated, as a member of the Na- 
 tional Convention, in framing the Constitution, and the 
 latter had opposed it originally but voted for and urged 
 its ratification in the Virginia State Convention. Such 
 considerations as these would embarrass an administra- 
 tion in our day. But it neither embarrassed Washington 
 
8 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 nor created any discontent in the country ; for such was 
 the public confidence in the purity of his motives and in 
 his patriotism, that no suspicion of either was entertained 
 in any section of the Union. There were no parties, and 
 any attempt at that time to form them would have been 
 unavailing, for the reason that as it was the beginning of 
 the experiment of self-government by the people, there 
 was but little, if anything, to excuse their formation. 
 The former jealousy between the large and small 
 States had not died out, but was held in a state of sus- 
 pension, as was shown by subsequent events. With 
 this jealousy Washington himself had no sympathy; 
 nevertheless, it was impossible even for him, with all his 
 unbounded influence, to extinguish it entirely. The in- 
 fluences it had created under the Confederation were of 
 such a character that the impression left by it could not 
 be eradicated. It ultimately became the basis of a sec- 
 tional animosity, of which political parties have since fre- 
 quently availed themselves to the peril of the Union. 
 For this Washington was not, in the least degree, respon- 
 sible ; although there were some so maddened by mis- 
 taken zeal as to suppose that his devotion to the interests 
 of the whole Union would ultimately tend to subordi- 
 nate the small States to the large, and in the end lead 
 to a dangerous consolidation of power in the National 
 Government. And it happened then, as it has hap- 
 pened often since and probably will again, that those who 
 supposed they could see in such agitation the source of 
 their own success, were not slow to employ this imagin- 
 ary danger as the means of producing sectional discord. 
 In his first annual message Washington recommended 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 9 
 
 the creation of a uniform currency — that is, a currency of 
 uniform value throughout the Union — as the necessary 
 means of developing the latent resources of the country. 
 Both domestic and foreign commerce, in his opinion, de- 
 manded this. In 1 78 1 the Congress of the Confedera- 
 tion had chartered the Bank of North America, but, al- 
 though organized under general protection, it had ac- 
 cepted another charter from the State of Pennsylvania, 
 and had, in this way, become a State institution. This 
 led, upon the part of some, to the conception of a policy 
 which should ultimately center exclusively in the States 
 the authority to supply domestic currency, except in so 
 far as Congress was empowered by the Constitution ' ' to 
 coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign 
 coin." Manifestly, those who incited this idea in the 
 minds of others did not contemplate the organization of 
 a party based upon it; but as the relative rights of the 
 National Union and the States had not been practically 
 defined, their object was to produce a common under- 
 standing with reference to them, at the beginning of the 
 government. Whatever their motives, however, the 
 country is not yet rid of the consequences which followed . 
 During the first Congress under the Constitution, 
 Hamilton — Secretary of the Treasury — was instructed by 
 the House of Representatives to prepare and report a 
 plan for the institution of a national bank. In response, 
 he pointed out what, in his opinion, the advantages of 
 such an institution would be to the government and to 
 the country at large, — to the former, by furnishing great- 
 er facilities in conducting its financial affairs, and to the 
 latter, by augmenting the active and productive capital. 
 
lO PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 To his discriminating mind it seemed necessary to the 
 general commercial prosperity that this augmentation 
 should be procured, inasmuch as, at that time, there were 
 but three banks in the United States, — the Bank of North 
 America in Philadelphia; that of New York, in the city 
 of New York; and that of Massachusetts, in the city of 
 Boston. In the Senate Hamilton's report was referred 
 to a committee of five Senators from the following States : 
 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina, 
 and Connecticut ; and upon a report made by this com- 
 mittee a bill was passed by that body chartering the Bank 
 of the United States. Upon being reported to the House 
 of Representatives it there led to an animated debate, 
 during which its constitutionality was denied and an ef- 
 fort made to place limitations upon the meaning of the 
 words "general welfare," as they are employed in the 
 Constitution. The chief of these was, that it would in- 
 terfere with the powers of the States to charter banks of 
 their own when they deemed them expedient, and to 
 prohibit the circulation of notes of banks thus chartered 
 beyond their borders. And thus there was inaugurated, 
 in the first Congress, a controversy relating to the powers 
 and rights of the National Government upon one side, 
 and those of the States upon the other, which will prob- 
 ably continue, in some form or other, so long as the Fed- 
 eral Union shall stand. The discussion at that time, 
 however, was conducted, upon both sides, by those who 
 desired to see the foundations of the National Govern- 
 ment well laid, and so firmly as to provide for a perpet- 
 ual Union. Nevertheless, — notwithstanding the purity 
 and patriotism of their motives — it led for the first time 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. II 
 
 to a sectional division, and ultimately, through other 
 agencies, to the formation of sectional parties. The bill 
 passed the House by a vote of yeas 39 to nays 19; but 
 by an analysis it will be seen that the affirmative consist- 
 ed entirely of those who represented constituencies north 
 of the Potomac river, except two — one from North and 
 one from South Carolina; whereas the entire negative 
 vote represented constituencies south of that river, ex- 
 cept two from Maryland. 
 
 This is not referred to censoriously, but because the 
 comments upon it by the Revolutionary associates of 
 Washington made lasting impressions upon my mind. 
 To them it seemed impolitic for the government to act 
 upon the hypothesis that the commercial interests of the 
 North and the agricultural interests of the South were 
 antagonistic to each other, whereas it seemed to them 
 indispensable to the prosperity of all that these interests 
 should be blended in harmony, in order to keep alive the 
 spirit of concord which had led to the formation of the 
 Union. Subsequent events have vindicated their wis- 
 dom, and it has always been to me the source of abiding 
 consolation that my youthful mind was impressed by 
 such advisers. 
 
 The bill having been passed by both Houses of Con- 
 gress, was submitted to Washington for approval or re- 
 jection. This was the first serious question that arose un- 
 der his administration, — for up till that time the course 
 of public affairs had run smoothly. It is not at all prob- 
 able that, if it had involved mere matters of expediency, 
 he would have hesitated about its approval, — for the 
 country was then too near the time when monarchy was 
 
12 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 discarded, for executive resort to the veto power as the 
 means of protecting the people against themselves. But 
 as the question of constitutionality had been discussed 
 by the ablest men in the House, and he did not profess 
 to be a constitutional lawyer, he decided to take the 
 opinions of his cabinet upon the subject. In pursuance 
 of this plan, three separate opinions in writing were laid 
 before him; one by Randolph, Attorney-General; one 
 by Jefferson, Secretary of State; and one by Hamilton, 
 Secretary of the Treasury. By the two first, the consti- 
 tutional power to pass the bill was denied, whereas, by 
 the latter it was affirmed. 
 
 The main ground of disagreement arose out of the dif- 
 ference between express and implied powers. Upon one 
 side, it was contended by Randolph and Jefferson that 
 such limitations had been placed upon the powers of 
 Congress that it could not act beyond the sphere of ex- 
 clusively national duties, and consequently could derive 
 no power for that purpose by employing mere implica- 
 tion or construction to enlarge its express powers, even 
 with a view to promote the "general welfare," because 
 the power to do that was limited within the same sphere ; 
 that a bank was not necessary to the execution of any 
 of the expressly defined national duties, — and that, as 
 all the powers not delegated to the government were re- 
 served to the States and the people, therefore, the char- 
 ter of one by Congress was an unconstitutional interfer- 
 ence with the rights of the States. Upon the other side, 
 it was contended by Hamilton that the express grants of 
 power to Congress carried along with them, necessarily, 
 such implied powers as were essential to the execution of 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 13 
 
 the express powers, — that these powers were conferred, 
 some expressly and others by necessary impHcation, in 
 order to promote the ' ' general welfare ' ' or prosperity of 
 the nation, — and that as a national bank would afford 
 material assistance to the government in conducting its 
 financial operations, and to the whole country by supply- 
 ing a uniform currency, the pending measure was clearly 
 constitutional. Washington accepted this latter view 
 and approved the bill. 
 
 But this transaction involves something more than this 
 simple statement. The President submitted to the Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury the opinions of the Secretary of 
 State and the Attorney-General, to be reviewed by him, — 
 obviously desiring to have all possible light thrown upon 
 the question, as he must have been aware that the effects 
 following his decision would reach far into the future. 
 Hamilton's dissent from the views of Jefferson and Ran- 
 dolph was clearly and vigorously expressed, but upon 
 carefully reading these several opinions, it is difficult for 
 one not to conclude that those of Jefferson were criticised 
 with some severity. Whether this was intended or not is 
 of no consequence now, inasmuch as, by common con- 
 sent, a rivalry ensued which was terminated only by 
 death. It gave rise, almost immediately, to the first 
 formation of political parties, which then respectively 
 took the names of Federalists and Republicans, and have 
 continued ever since to influence, in some form, the pol- 
 ity of the government. They were both men of emi- 
 nent abilities. Hamilton was distinguished both as a sol- 
 dier and a statesman, — Jefferson in the latter capacity 
 alone. Hamilton was a profound lawyer of extensive 
 
14 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 practice, — Jefferson was learned in the theory, but not 
 experienced in the practical application, of the law. 
 Hamilton had aided materially in framing and defending 
 the Constitution, — Jefferson had done neither. Howso- 
 ever they may be regarded now, it is certain that if 
 Washington had then limited the powers of Congress ac- 
 cording to the argument and theory of Jefferson, and had 
 discarded the advice of Hamilton, those measures of do- 
 mestic policy which in the greatest degree have pro- 
 moted the prosperity of the country by developing its 
 natural resources, would not have found place upon the 
 statute-book. The States would have deprived the Na- 
 tional Government of the most essential powers conferred 
 by the Constitution, and their varied and conflicting leg- 
 islation would have paralyzed our industry, hampered 
 our energies, and limited our development. Washington 
 saw all this with the eye of a wise and sagacious states- 
 man, and keenly alive to the necessity of guarding all the 
 interests involved, both of the nation at large and of the 
 States, he started the country, by this great act of his 
 administration, upon the highway of prosperity and hap- 
 piness that it is still pursuing. 
 
 These relations between Jefferson and Hamilton gave 
 to Washington great distress of mind, and he endeavored, 
 by all the means in his power, to restore their former 
 kindly relations, not only on account of his personal 
 friendship for both of them, but because, as he expressed 
 it, their continued strife would "inevitably introduce con- 
 fusions and serious mischiefs" in public affairs. Not- 
 withstanding these efforts, however, he did not escape 
 the vituperation of opposing partisans, whose malevo- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 15 
 
 lence towards him was exhibited in a great variety of 
 ways. The supporters of his administration were ac- 
 cused of endeavoring to convert the government into a 
 monarchy; and the public levees given by him, "and 
 the evening parties of Mrs. Washington, were said to be 
 imitations of regal institutions, designed to accustom the 
 American people to the pomp and manners of European 
 courts." It was charged upon his administration that it 
 wasted the public money in order to increase the national 
 debt, — that its policy was intended to take money out of 
 the pockets of the people, with which to corrupt the na- 
 tional legislation, — that the monetary system adopted by 
 it would produce poverty and distress throughout the 
 country, — that it was endeavoring to get rid of the limit- 
 ations placed by the Constitution upon the powers of 
 Congress, — and that its policy tended to the absorption 
 of all power by the National Government, to an invasion 
 of the rights of the States, and to "converting the federal 
 into a consolidated government." And "when," says 
 one of the most eminent men this country has produced, 
 " it was recollected that the division of opinion was 
 marked by a geographical line, there was reason to fear 
 that the Union would be broken into one or more con- 
 federacies." 
 
 I have a distinct remembrance of a pamphlet having 
 been put into my hands when a boy, by a Revolutionary 
 veteran, who desired me to see how Washington was de- 
 nounced and vilified by his enemies in Virginia. It was 
 entitled ' ' The Prospect Before Us, ' ' and was written by 
 an Irishman named Calender, who was hired for the pur- 
 pose, and supplied with whisky, in order to stimulate his 
 
1 6 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 faculties, from a distillery the ruins of which were pointed 
 out to me. It was the foulest and most mendacious pub- 
 lication I ever read — exceeding, by far, anything to 
 which the readers of the present day are accustomed. I 
 personally knew the survivor of a bloody duel it pro- 
 duced, and all who have studied our history closely will 
 remember the impeachment of Judge Chase of Maryland, 
 which grew out of it. 
 
 It does not seem to me, therefore, in any degree won- 
 derful that the companions of Washington, who followed 
 him through the Revolution and revered his name as they 
 did that of no other man, should exhibit their indignation 
 when recounting these assaults upon his administration. 
 To him, more than to any other man, they attributed the 
 independence of the country, and when, in my hearing, 
 they recounted his services and commended his patriotic 
 devotion to the cause of human liberty and his abhor- 
 rence of monarchism, it was impossible for me to avoid 
 the impressions then made upon my youthful mind and 
 which have never been erased. They are so indelible 
 that they seem to be actual realities, — an essential part 
 of my personal experience which I would not willingly 
 exchange for other and more modern influences. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 JOHN ADAMS 
 
 At the close of Washington's administration there 
 were two distinctly formed political parties, among the 
 politicians — the Federal and the Republican. The masses 
 of the people had not then attached themselves to either, 
 but were satisfied that the experiment of eight years un- 
 der the Constitution had demonstrated the advantages of 
 the new government over the Confederation. The ques- 
 tions of constitutional interpretation concerned them very 
 little, for the reason that they involved abstruse and tech- 
 nical rules with which they were not familiar. Convinced 
 that their condition had been improved, they were, in the 
 main, content with that of the country, and not disposed 
 to depart from the line of policy established by the first 
 administration. The beneficial effects of this they could 
 see and feel. 
 
 The meaning of the party names taken by the politi- 
 cians was, by no means, clear. The republic was the 
 natural outgrowth of the Federal Union, and as the idea 
 of popular self-government was embodied in either name, 
 the general public were disposed to consider the distinc- 
 tion made by the politicians as without a difference. 
 This quiescent state of things, however, did not long con- 
 tinue, for it required but little time after Washington had 
 retired to show that the Republican party of that day 
 2 (17) 
 
rS PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 based its claim for public favor, mainly, if not exclu- 
 sively, upon opposition to the policy he had inaugurated. 
 Nor did it take long to demonstrate that the party divis- 
 ions were traceable directly to the animosity which had 
 existed between Hamilton and Jefferson while members 
 of Washington's cabinet. Consequently the Presidential 
 election of 1796 practically involved the simple question 
 whether or no the condition of affairs produced by Wash- 
 ington should be continued or abandoned. There were 
 then 16 States, casting 139 electoral votes, and the result 
 was that Adams — who approved of what Washington 
 had done — received 71 electoral votes, and Jefferson — 
 who opposed Washington's policy — received 68 ; which 
 elected the former President and the latter Vice-Presi- 
 dent. The readers of our early history are often reminded 
 of the excitement which that party contest occasioned, 
 but the character of it can not be well understood with- 
 out keeping in mind the fact that Washington's adminis- 
 tration was upon trial. The partisan artillery was pointed 
 at Hamilton, who had incurred the enmity of Jefferson, 
 but the old Revolutionary associates of Washington 
 well understood that he, and not Hamilton, was aimed 
 at. No wonder, therefore, that there was excitement; 
 for even now, after nearly a century has elapsed, no 
 American whose heart is in the right place can read the 
 violent attacks then made upon the foremost man in that 
 or any other age, without feeling his blood course with 
 increased velocity through his veins, and without exhib- 
 iting indignation by his flushed face. As imagination 
 carries me back to the parental roof under which some 
 of the Revolutionary companions of Washington were 
 
JOHN ADAMS. IQ 
 
 accustomed to assemble, and I remember their indigna- 
 tion as they recounted these events, still fresh in their 
 own minds, nothing seems more natural to me than the 
 party excitement of 1796, when to them it seemed as if 
 their Revolutionary labors were without avail. 
 
 In the view taken of this election by the politicians 
 it was the triumph of the Federal over the Republican 
 party. While it was so in its immediate effects, this does 
 not convey a proper idea of its actual meaning; for 
 stripped of its influence upon the fortunes of individuals, 
 it is historically true that it was an expression of the 
 popular desire for the continuance of the policy of Wash- 
 ington's administration. In so far as Adams and Jeffer- 
 son were personally concerned, neither had any special 
 advantage over the other, on the score of ability or mer- 
 itorious services to the country. Both had been of the 
 congressional committee from which the Declaration 
 of Independence emanated, and the patriotism of neither 
 exceeded that of the other. And although there were 
 some evidences of rivalry between their respective States 
 — Massachusetts and Virginia — it had not yet assumed 
 a sectional aspect so far as to become actually threat- 
 ening to the national unity — the necessity for which 
 was universally recognized. My Revolutionary instruct- 
 ors did not object to being called Federalists, but pre- 
 ferred to be known as Washingtonians, for the reason that 
 they were thereby designated as the defenders of Wash- 
 ington's measures of policy. Their purpose was to pro- 
 mote, as far as they could, the "general welfare," and 
 this they believed could be assured only by affirmative 
 measures of the National Government, operating alike 
 
20 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 and equally upon all the sections. They had witnessed 
 the defects of the Confederation, as a mere league be- 
 tween independent States with separate and distinct in- 
 terests, and needed nothing but their own experience and 
 observation to teach them that if the Constitutional Gov- 
 ernment remained inactive, with merely negative and not 
 affirmative powers, the constitutional system would waste 
 away and the nation itself become too imbecile for self- 
 preservation. They did not reproach Jefferson unkindly, 
 for they were proud of him as a Virginian, but they placed 
 Washington before and above him and all other living 
 men. They admired the one — they venerated the other. 
 Adams and Jefferson both participated in framing 
 the Declaration of Independence. The committee of 
 five appointed by Congress referred the matter to them 
 as a sub-committee, with authority to prepare it. Upon 
 coming together each suggested that it should be done 
 by the other, but Adams- was so urgent that Jefferson 
 should do it, that the latter finally agreed. He assigned 
 two principal reasons for this preference: the first was 
 that the Declaration ought to be drawn up by a Vir- 
 ginian, and the second, that he had, as he expressed it, 
 "a great opinion of the elegance " of Jefferson's pen. 
 The result is known to all: — the original draft as reported 
 by the committee was amended in several important par- 
 ticulars before it was finally agreed to, and when signed 
 became, and yet remains, our National Magna Charta. 
 The relation each of them bore to this great state paper 
 entitles them, if they had done nothing more, to be 
 classed among the illustrious builders of the Nation. 
 Therefore, whatever differences may have separated them 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 21 
 
 in the great political contest of 1796, the American 
 people must have been assured that the experiment of 
 self-government upon which they had entered would not 
 be imperiled by the election of either. The pending 
 questions involved domestic policy alone, — the best 
 method of so laying the foundations of the government 
 as to secure its future greatness — and it ought not to sur- 
 prise any that at that period — so soon after the Constitu- 
 tion had been adopted — the people were content that the 
 policy of Washington's administration should be contin- 
 ued. He had given so many evidences of his wisdom, 
 both in peace and war, that the opponents of Adams 
 were not prepared to risk their reputation by assailing it. 
 Jefferson and Adams — ^whatever their respective support- 
 ers were to each other — were friends ; they had been so 
 long associated in the common cause of the country they 
 could not be otherwise. Jefferson, therefore, spoke from 
 his heart when, upon taking the chair as presiding officer 
 of the Senate after Adams's election to the Presidency, 
 he said that the chief magistracy had been "justly con- 
 fided to the eminent character who preceded him, whose 
 talents and integrity have been known and revered by me 
 through a long term of years ; have been the foundation 
 of a cordial and uninterrupted friendship between us ; and 
 I devoutly pray that he may be long preserved for the 
 government, the happiness, and prosperity of the coun- 
 try." 
 
 Adams did not propose to disturb any of the adminis- 
 trative measures put in operation by Washington. He 
 spoke of them, in his inaugural address, as having been 
 established "under the administration of a citizen, who, 
 
22 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, 
 justice, temperance, and fortitude, conducting a people 
 inspired with the same virtues and animated with the 
 same ardent patriotism and love of liberty, to independ- 
 ence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled 
 prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citi- 
 zens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, 
 and secured immortal glory with posterity. * * * * 
 His name may still be a rampart, and the knowledge that 
 he lives, a bulwark against all open or secret enemies of 
 his country's peace. His example has been recommend- 
 ed to the imitation of his successors by both houses of 
 Congress, and by the voice of the legislatures and the 
 people throughout the nation." 
 
 There were very few of the contemporaries of Adams 
 who had discharged more important public duties than 
 he, before his election to the Presidency. As early as 
 1770, while a member of the Colonial Legislature of 
 Massachusetts, he incurred the enmity of the royal gov- 
 ernor of that colony, because of his manly and patriotic 
 protests against British oppression. In 1774 he was 
 elected to the Colonial Council, but the royal authority 
 interposed and refused him permission to serve, on ac- 
 count of his devotion to liberty. He then became a 
 member of the Continental Congress, and served in that 
 capacity with great distinction until the Declaration of 
 Independence. In 1777 he was appointed by Congress 
 minister to France, where he remained until i779. when 
 he was superseded by Benjamin Franklin. In 1779, he 
 was sent to Great Britain by Congress to negotiate a 
 treaty of peace. He was sent also to Holland, where. 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 23 
 
 besides negotiating a large loan for the benefit of the Con- 
 federation, he obtained from the government of that coun- 
 try the first recognition of the United States as free and 
 independent. Along with Franklin and Jay he negotia- 
 ted the definitive treaty of peace in 1783. In 1785, he 
 was appointed by Congress minister to Great Britain. 
 While there he negotiated a favorable treaty with Prussia, 
 and in 1788 returned to the United States. The Con- 
 stitution of the United States was formed and adopted 
 and the Union created, while he was serving the country 
 abroad. But for this undoubtedly he would have been a 
 member of the National Convention, where his wisdom 
 and fervid patriotism would have been most valuable and 
 influential. As it was, he advocated and defended the 
 Constitution with such earnestness and zeal that he was 
 elected Vice-President, when Washington was elected 
 President in 1789, over ten other distinguished men, who 
 received votes for that ofhce. He served in this office 
 during the eight years of Washington's administration — 
 having been re-elected in 1792, over Jefferson, George 
 Clinton, and Aaron Burr. A public life of such varied 
 and responsible duties could not have continued so long 
 if there had been the least suspicion of his patriotism, nor 
 without the exhibition of the very highest qualities of 
 statesmanship. No people ever lived more competent to 
 take the true measure of patriotism than those who fol- 
 lowed Washington through the flames of the Revolution, 
 and rallied again under the banner he unfurled in peace, 
 when striving to build the government upon sure and 
 firm foundations. 
 
 Pursuant to the purpose of Adams not to unsettle the 
 
24 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 policy of Washington's administration, in so far as inter- 
 nal and domestic measures were concerned, he continued 
 in office the same cabinet officers — the only instance of 
 the kind in our history, and one which furnishes such 
 an example of unity between the sections as was calcu- 
 lated to rebuke the spirit of discord which some restless 
 politicians had invoked, an example which if followed 
 would have spared the nation many bleeding wounds. 
 Thus relieved from the possibility of internal disturb- 
 ance the future development and progress of the coun- 
 try was well assured, and the administration was left 
 to deal mainly with our foreign relations. No man was 
 more familiar with these than Adams, and he con- 
 ducted them with the greatest circumspection. It is but 
 simple justice to his memory to say that all he did in 
 that direction was done with the design to complete 
 the work which Washington had begun — that is, of 
 avoiding any "entangling alliances" with foreign govern- 
 ments, and making the United States not only absolutely 
 independent but one of the most influential powers in 
 the world. 
 
 Our relations with France were in a disturbed condi- 
 tion. There had grown up in the United States a senti- 
 ment of sympathy for the French people, arising out of 
 their supposed desire to convert the monarchy into a re- 
 public, and to enter, as the people of the United States 
 had done, upon the experiment of self-government. This 
 sentiment had reached the point of opposition to Wash- 
 ington's administration, and he had been constrained to 
 rebuke it by demanding the recall of Genet, the French 
 minister, because of his persistent effort to stir up disaf- 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 25 
 
 fection towards the government among the people of this 
 country. Washington's influence was sufficient to quiet, 
 in some measure, the agitation thus produced, but not 
 having been entirely suppressed it broke out again under 
 Adams, and resulted in the formation of a party in oppo- 
 sition to his administration, — that is, it was an effort to 
 rekindle the hostility to Washington's administration and 
 to produce such a party organization as would assure suc- 
 cess against that of Adams, — the ground of that assurance 
 being the difference in the popularity and influence of the 
 two men. Existing circumstances favored this move- 
 ment. 
 
 The American minister had been driven out of France 
 by the authority of the government, and, as if this were 
 not a sufficient insult to the United States, several Direc- 
 tory decrees were promulgated by which French cruisers 
 were authorized to commit depredations upon our com- 
 merce. To have submitted to all this would have placed 
 the United States in a most humiliating attitude. This 
 view was taken of it by Adams, who deemed it proper to 
 convene Congress in extra session and submit the matter 
 to the people, through their constitutional representa- 
 tives. He accordingly issued a proclamation to that ef- 
 fect, and Congress assembled May 15, 1797. In his 
 special message Adams very clearly stated the relations 
 between the United States and France, showing that dip- 
 lomatic intercourse between the two nations was entirely 
 suspended by the expulsion of our minister, and recom- 
 mending the adoption of suitable measures for the protec- 
 tion of our commerce, — the chief of which he considered 
 to be the creation of a " naval establishment, " which, 
 
26 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 "next to the militia," he considered "the natural defense 
 of the United States." He did not, in direct terms, rec- 
 ommend a declaration of war against France, but submit- 
 ted a full statement of all the facts to Congress, upon 
 whom, by the Constitution, the responsibility of such a 
 declaration rested. He made no effort, however, to con- 
 ceal his desire that Congress should adopt such measures 
 as were necessary for the defense of our commerce and 
 for protection against the aggressions of France or any 
 other foreign power. 
 
 At this extra session of Congress the sentiment in favor 
 of France was carried so far that Adams's effort to vindi- 
 cate the honor and interests of the United States was re- 
 sisted by a combination of politicians in Congress, who 
 made strenuous exertions to defeat every administration 
 measure designed for that purpose. A war with France 
 could not be tolerated, although necessary to avenge a 
 national insult! These efforts, however, were ineffectual, 
 and Congress responded to the recommendations of 
 Adams, by passing the necessary laws to enable him to 
 vindicate our national rights and maintain our national 
 honor. Nevertheless, there was such an exhibition of party 
 feeling that the supporters of the administration were des- 
 ignated the British party, while, by way of retaliation, 
 its opponents were called the French party. These 
 terms were mere party catch-words, but had this signifi- 
 cance : — that as there was still left in the country some of 
 the old resentment against Great Britain which dated 
 back to the Revolution, and a sentiment of gratitude to 
 France for her assistance in achieving our independence, 
 the administration lost ground and its opponents made a 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 27 
 
 corresponding gain. Practically it was a gain of the Re- 
 publican over the Federal party. 
 
 Apart from this, the controversy assumed a somewhat 
 sectional aspect, for the first time in congressional legis- 
 lation. This was not open and undisguised, but rather 
 by concealment of the real design. To have been the 
 former would have been such an approval of the insult- 
 ing conduct of France as would have aroused public in- 
 dignation. Therefore, the contest assumed such a shape 
 that the principal supporters of the administration were 
 from the North, under the leadership of Massachusetts 
 statesmen; while its opponents were mainly from the 
 South, under the leadership of Virginia statesmen. It 
 was not possible, however, to carry it far before the two 
 parties took distinctive forms, one being known as the 
 Adams or Federal, and the other as the Jefferson or Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 These things are plainly shown by the published pro- 
 ceedings of the first session of the Fifth Congress. But 
 the student of our political history who should undertake 
 to discover which of these parties was the most censur- 
 able, or whether either of them was censurable at all, 
 would likely find himself lost in a labyrinth of most per- 
 plexing difficulties; — for so many partial and preju- 
 diced pens have been employed in defense and censure 
 of both, that much of what he ought to find clear and 
 distinct has been made obscure. There are very few, 
 however, who do not know that the party contest thus 
 inaugurated led, at the next Presidential election, to the 
 success of Jefferson and to Adams's defeat. 
 
 The credit of having originated the measures which led 
 
28 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 to building up the United States Navy — in the face of 
 formidable opposition — can not properly be withheld from 
 Adams. In his message to the extra session in 1797, he 
 called the attention of Congress to the necessity of pro- 
 viding, not only for the defense of our coast, but for the 
 protection of our commerce upon the ocean. To provide 
 for this several bills were passed having reference to the 
 national defense, a naval armament, and a naval estab- 
 lishment — thus creating the nucleus of our present navy. 
 Among the grounds of opposition to this and other de- 
 fensive measures, it was said that they would be offen- 
 sive to France and invite war with that power, inasmuch as 
 it would be viewed as preparation for war upon our part. 
 Congress, however, preferred to follow the advice of 
 Washington, — to prepare in peace for the possible exi- 
 gency of war and avoid entangling alliances with foreign 
 nations, — and the opposition to these measures was si- 
 lenced by a decisive majority. And thus was laid, by 
 the advice, and under the administration of Adams, the 
 foundation of the system of measures which now, by 
 common consent, constitute a shield of protection to our 
 enormous commerce, and security against foreign aggres- 
 sion. No imagination is fertile enough to conceive the 
 degree of humiliation into which the nation might have 
 been precipitated, if the Republican opposition to Adams, 
 in the Fifth Congress, had triumphed. Party spirit is in- 
 separable from popular government, and when held in 
 proper restraint by prudence and moderation, serves a 
 valuable use in purifying the public service. But when 
 carried to such excess as it was during the adminis- 
 tration of Adams, it is invariably followed by conse- 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 29 
 
 quences injurious to the public. It unsettles the public 
 pohcy, disturbs the peace of society, and so arouses the 
 passions of party contestants as to incite them to cast 
 their ballots without due regard to the general welfare. 
 If he who does not already know should seek to learn 
 from history why Adams, when steadfastly following in 
 the footsteps of Washington, was warred upon with a 
 degree of malevolence until then unknown in the country, 
 he would find himself confronted by the main and cen- 
 tral fact that there were then sown the seeds of sectional 
 strife, which have since sprouted and grown, — bearing 
 noxious and poisonous fruits. 
 
 As the party conflict waxed warmer, there were more 
 palpable exhibitions of sympathy for the French people, 
 upon the part of those opposed to Adams's administra- 
 tion. The charge that he and his supporters were influ- 
 enced by attachment to Great Britain in preference to 
 France, was reiterated with violence. His professed de- 
 sire for neutrality and his repeated protestations to that 
 effect were treated with disdain. But he steadily pur- 
 sued the policy marked out by Washington, yet de- 
 ferred to the opinions designed to counteract it so far as 
 to send to France a new embassy instructed to restore, if 
 possible, friendly relations between that country and the 
 United States. France was then governed by a Direc- 
 tory of five members, appointed by the Council of Five 
 Hundred, which itself was a necessary outgrowth of the 
 Revolution. The Directory had no settled policy, but 
 acted impulsively according as the exigencies of each 
 day, and almost each hour, demanded. Dread of Great 
 Britain, upon one side, and of Napoleon, upon the other. 
 
30 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 kept this irresponsible and irresolute body in constant 
 commotion, which was imparted by them to the citizen 
 soldiery who constituted the only protectors of France. 
 Adams, at the National Capital, and Washington, at 
 Mount Vernon, both sympathized with the struggling 
 masses in France, but their anxiety for the permanent 
 happiness and welfare of the American people outweighed 
 this sentiment. The former adhered strictly to the pol- 
 icy of the latter's administration, in the determination to 
 observe strict neutrality as between Great Britain and 
 France, so that a new nation might be built up in this 
 country sufficiently powerful to protect itself, and suffi- 
 ciently promotive of the happiness and welfare of man- 
 kind as to influence other nations by its example. 
 
 The new embassy sent by Adams to France was com- 
 posed of three eminent citizens of the United States, who 
 hastened to that country to execute their peaceful and 
 friendly mission without delay. When they reached 
 Paris it took them but little time to discover that they 
 were unwelcome visitors. Instead of being received as 
 ministers from the United States should have been by a 
 friendly power, they were not officially recognized by the 
 Directory. Private citizens of France were appointed to 
 spy out their conduct and to insidiously extort from them 
 their opinions. Anonymous communications were ad- 
 dressed to them, and various other offensive methods 
 were adopted to annoy them. They made every exer- 
 tion in their power to bring themselves in direct commu- 
 nication with the Directory, and having become satisfied 
 of the impossibility of this, returned to the United States. 
 This necessarily produced an important crisis. The con- 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 3 I 
 
 duct of the Directory did not necessarily mean war with 
 the United States, but it admonished the latter of the 
 necessity of preparing for that contingency, in view of 
 the further facts that the French navy was then commit- 
 ting depredations upon our commerce, and that the Direc- 
 tory had issued decrees authorizing the seizure on the high 
 seas of American vessels sailing from British ports, or 
 having British goods on board. Congress, consequently, 
 resorted to retaliatory measures, by directing that com- 
 mercial intercourse with France should be suspended, — 
 authorizing American merchant-vessels to carry arms for 
 self-defense, — and empowering the President to raise and 
 organize an army, consisting of twelve regiments of in- 
 fantry, one regiment of cavalry, one of artillery, and one 
 of engineers. Under these circumstances all eyes were 
 turned to Mount Vernon, where the great chief of the 
 Revolutionary army was in retirement, after the eight 
 years of laborious administrative duties. Adams, how- 
 ever, needed no indications of popular attachment for 
 Washington to call his attention to him as the only suit- 
 able commander-in-chief of the American army in a war 
 with France or any other foreign power. He, accord- 
 ingly, tendered that position to Washington, who ap- 
 proved the policy of the administration towards France, 
 and would, doubtless, have acted in that capacity if war 
 had actually broken out. It did not break out, however, 
 for the active preparations in this country, by recruiting 
 and otherwise, convinced France of two things: first, 
 that the United States could not be bullied with impunity 
 by any European power; and, second, that however 
 much the French sympathizers here might embarrass the 
 
32 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 administration by placing impediments in its way, they 
 cowered before the patriotic enthusiasm of the people in 
 every section of the United States. France had no diffi- 
 culty in seeing that the United States was actively pre- 
 paring for war, and in a little while would be ready for 
 it, either upon sea or land. The old frigate Constitution 
 captured one French frigate and silenced the batteries of 
 another. The army was supplied with the necessary offi- 
 cers, and nothing contributed more to enthuse the people 
 than the fact that these, with Washington at their head, 
 were likely to be taken from among the veterans of the 
 Revolution, who had rebuked the insolence of one of the 
 great European powers and held themselves in readiness 
 to rebuke that of another. France was soon brought to 
 realize that the American blood was stirred as it had not 
 been since the Revolutionary period, and then there was 
 no difficulty in negotiating the treaty of September 30, 
 1800, whereby the two nations bound themselves to per- 
 petual peace. Napoleon had, by that time, become 
 First Consul, and the shadowy republic — ^which was at 
 best only so in name — was vanishing away so rapidly 
 that, in a short time, the "Little Corporal" assumed the 
 mastership of France. 
 
 The events at home which grew out of these relations 
 with France, taught to the people of the United States a 
 lesson which it would have been well if they had never 
 forgotten. Neither country desired war with the other. 
 The United States had entered upon a peaceful policy ; 
 and although the French people had been trained to arms 
 and were among the best soldiers of Europe, the bayo- 
 nets of neighboring peoples, equally brave, were bristling 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 33 
 
 Upon the borders of France, ready to invade her territory 
 whenever her troops were transported across the ocean. 
 But the French politicians in France and the French sym- 
 pathizers in the United States, seemed to understand each 
 other sufficiently well to incite in the minds of both the 
 common desire to overthrow the administration of Ad- 
 ams, with the view of inaugurating a new American pol- 
 icy in opposition to that of Washington, through which, in 
 the course of time, the United States should become the 
 ally of France in the prosecution of her European wars, 
 whether for defense or conquest. They failed in this, 
 however, during the lifetime of Washington, who threw 
 his powerful influence upon the side of Adams's admin- 
 istration, and even went so far as to leave his retreat at 
 Mount Vernon and make his last visit to the national 
 capital, only the year before his death, to advise with 
 Adams and aid in the organization of the army so as to 
 put the country in preparation for war with France. His 
 support of Adams's policy with reference to France 
 tended materially to unify public sentiment throughout 
 the country, and, doubtless, contributed towards break- 
 ing the alliance between the American and French politi- 
 cians and bringing about the treaty of peace between the 
 two countries. 
 
 As a consequence of these strained relations between the 
 United States and France, Congress responded prompt- 
 ly to the recommendations of Adams to put the country 
 in readiness for war, in the event of its becoming un- 
 avoidable. The organization of the army was provided 
 for, and the navy was increased by authorizing twelve 
 3 
 
34 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ships-of-war to be built, six of seventy-four, and six of 
 eighteen guns each. The President was authorized to 
 adopt measures of retaliation, and was required to sus- 
 pend commercial intercourse with France. These meas- 
 ures demonstrated how necessary it is to every nation to 
 prepare for war in time of peace, for they were followed 
 by overtures of peace from France, in the form of notice 
 to Adams that envoys from the United States would be 
 received by the authorities of that country 
 
 Besides the measures necessary for defense, Congress 
 passed two laws which were supposed to be necessary to 
 protect the United States against foreign influence. 
 These were known as the Alien and Sedition laws, and 
 were regarded by Congress as necessary to counteract 
 the active influence of the large number of French and 
 other foreigners, who were not naturalized, but availed 
 themselves of the freedom allowed by our institutions to 
 assail openly the measures of the government, attack the 
 administration, and vilify the President and his cabinet. 
 These laws did more than the policy of the administra- 
 tion towards France to shape the future politics of the 
 country. Although they were intended to be applied 
 mainly to foreigners, such appeals were made in behalf 
 of the freedom of opinion, of speech, and of the press, 
 that the whole country was thrown into commotion and 
 confusion, and the party in opposition to the administra- 
 tion was greatly strengthened. It is fair to say that, by 
 these means, the administration of Adams was brought 
 to an end March 4, 1801, twelve years after the inaugu- 
 ration of Washington. 
 
 Of Adams it may be most truthfully said that not one 
 
JOHN ADAMS. 35 
 
 among the most illustrious statesmen of this country was 
 more devoted to the cause of the American Colonies, or 
 displayed more zeal or ability in their defense. In all 
 the varied scenes through which he passed, his patriot- 
 ism never faltered and was never called in question. 
 During the four years of his administration he endeavored 
 to carry out the measures and policy of Washington, and 
 now that nearly a century has passed since his retire- 
 ment, and sixty-six years since his death on the same day 
 as Jefferson — the birthday of the nation — the student of 
 American history will find many of its pages illustrated 
 by the record of his patriotic virtues. He defended the 
 nation — its rights and its honor — with unfaltering fidel- 
 ity. He took the administration of affairs, by popular 
 approval, from the hands of him whose name we still 
 teach our children to lisp with veneration, and strove 
 hard, in imitation of his example, to hold the govern- 
 ment firmly in the paths his wisdom and patriotism had 
 marked out. And although our national centennial has 
 passed and the nation stretches from ocean to ocean, 
 with an unbroken cordon of united States between them, 
 we can not rightfully forget that Washington and Adams 
 were in harmonious accord, and that our obligation to 
 hold them in remembrance is, in no sense, lessened by 
 the lapse of time. 
 
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CHAPTER III 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 In the spring of 1825, I visited Charlottesville, Albe- 
 marle county, Virginia, — where the State University is 
 located — and then had an opportunity to observe Jeffer- 
 son somewhat closely, but for a much shorter time than 
 I desired. He had come to town from Monticello — which 
 is near by — in a light covered carriage, drawn by two 
 horses and driven by an old negro man. The object of 
 his visit seemed to be the purchase of goods, as I found 
 him in a store thus engaged. I was scarcely old enough 
 to form intelligent conclusions regarding him from obser- 
 vation so casual — especially as he was engaged in such 
 common-place business as purchasing domestic supplies, 
 — ^yet to a youth like me it appeared something more than 
 a mere privilege that I should be permitted to look upon 
 the author of the Declaration of Independence, who was 
 one of the foremost men in the country and who had re- 
 flected honor upon his and my own native State, as well as 
 upon the nation. I scrutinized him so closely that the 
 scene was photographed upon my mind, and memory, 
 every now and then, has summoned him again before me. 
 
 He was then two years younger than I am as I now 
 write, but bore the marks of decrepitude — the wearing 
 away of the vigorous energies of manhood. Notwith- 
 standing the thoughts that crowded my youthful mind, I 
 
 (37) 
 
38 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 could not avoid observing the plainness and almost sim- 
 ple rusticity of his dress. His clothing was evidently 
 home-made — probably woven upon a domestic loom — 
 and there was nothing about either its cut or make up to 
 indicate that it had passed through the hands of a fash- 
 ionable tailor. In fact he belonged to that class of men 
 who, disregarding the frivolities of society, devote their 
 best faculties to other and greater objects. His shoul- 
 ders were considerably stooped. He did not remove his 
 hat, and I could observe only the face below it. I ob- 
 tained a position, however, which enabled me to see his 
 eyes with tolerable distinctness ; and while they had un- 
 doubtedly lost somewhat of their brilliancy, they were still 
 clear, penetrating, and bright. His voice was feeble and 
 slightly tremulous, but not sufificiently so to leave the im- 
 pression that it was not susceptible of distinct and clear 
 enunciation when there was occasion for it. It appeared 
 to me that he was careful in selecting his purchases, but 
 he did not higgle about the prices. The merchant 
 with whom he dealt exhibited the most marked defer- 
 ence to him, and when his purchases closed, took him by 
 the arm and conducted him to his carriage, which he 
 slowly entered with his assistance and that of the driver. 
 The carriage then drove in the direction of Monticello, 
 and I gazed at it until out of sight, with mingled emo- 
 tions of pleasure and regret — pleasure at being permitted 
 to see a venerable statesman of such high distinction, and 
 regret at the fear that I should never see him again. 
 
 I have no difficulty in reviving the reflections which 
 then passed through my mind. There had stood before 
 me, in full view, one who had been a conspicuous defender 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 39 
 
 of human liberty, — liberty of thought, of speech, and of 
 the press, — without which popular government is impos- 
 sible. He had written with his own hand our national 
 Magna Charta, every word of which is priceless and every 
 letter golden. He had devoted his best energies to the 
 maintenance of its principles. Although not a word 
 passed between us, my youthful admiration was un- 
 bounded. He represented a period which, although 
 passed, I had been instructed to look upon as the bright- 
 est and best in the world's history. The scene, conse- 
 quently, left such indelible impressions upon me, that I 
 still remember, when he and John Adams passed away 
 from earth almost at the same hour, upon the 4th of 
 July of the next year, how my heart was sorrowed at the 
 event, but was, nevertheless, gladdened by the conviction 
 that it was providentially designed to teach the nation 
 that its freedom, which they had united in achieving, was 
 precious in the sight of Heaven. 
 
 Few things have occurred, within the course of our 
 history, which have produced such far-reaching and per- 
 manent consequences as the disagreement — more appro- 
 priately called the quarrel — between Jefferson and Ham- 
 ilton. It is superfluous to say that, upon the score of 
 ability, each was fitted to become a leader of men. 
 When they met in the cabinet of Washington, everything 
 combined to forbid animosity between them. They had 
 not gone far, however, before it became apparent that 
 there were fundamental differences between them with re- 
 gard to the powers the Constitution had conferred upon 
 the government. These seem not to have been borne 
 patiently, but, in a comparatively short time, ripened into 
 
40 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 positive antagonism, which soon became irreconcilable. 
 What followed is universally known, — each became the 
 head and leader of a party, and imparted to his followers 
 somewhat of his own feelings. These sank so deeply in 
 their minds that they have not all been plucked out yet, 
 for even now their names are bruited about by partisans 
 who round off eloquent periods by undue eulogium 
 upon the one, and undue vituperation of the other. As 
 in other matters, the truth lies between these extremes. 
 
 Besides being the author of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, Jefferson was immediately identified with the 
 cause of religious toleration in Virginia, and had faithful- 
 ly served the Confederation as minister in France, when 
 that nation was thrown into the travail of revolution occa- 
 sioned by the effort to imitate the American example by 
 breaking the fetters of monarchism. His principles, im- 
 bibed during our Revolution, were so instilled into his 
 mind as to have become part of his nature. They were 
 founded upon those he had embodied in that immortal 
 instrument which boldly announced to the world as a 
 "self-evident" truth that " all men are created equal." 
 As a logical sequence he had given his sympathies to the 
 struggling people of France, and when he returned home 
 to aid in the administration of the government, he did so 
 with the resolution to popularize our institutions, as far 
 as it could be done consistently with the checks and bal- 
 ances of the Constitution. And thus his mind was nat- 
 urally and inevitably led to the adoption of such rules 
 for the interpretation of that instrument as contributed, 
 in the largest degree, to produce that result. His natu- 
 rally vigorous intellect was enlightened by habits of phil- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 4 1 
 
 osophic thought, and having learned from the histories 
 of former repubHcs the causes of their decay, he became 
 convinced that, in all matters concerning the interest and 
 welfare of the people, they were themselves safer deposi- 
 tories of power than kings and princes. 
 
 Hamilton had served the country well and conspicu- 
 ously. He had borne an active and patriotic part in the 
 struggle for independence, — had served in the National 
 Convention which framed the Constitution, — and had 
 contributed largely to the letters of the Federalist in de- 
 fense of the Union. His mind was carefully disciplined 
 by habits of thought which developed its highest facul- 
 ties. He was thoroughly familiar with the history of na- 
 tions, and the principles of the English Constitution and 
 Common Law. His methods of reasoning were such 
 that his thoughts were expressed with vigor and clear- 
 ness. But it is undoubtedly true that, previous to the 
 formation of the Union, he had entertained some fears 
 for the stability of institutions dependent upon popular 
 opinion ; as it is equally true that Jefferson at least hesi- 
 tated about supporting the Constitution, if he did not, in 
 point of fact, oppose it. Those of us who now stand in 
 the presence of accomplished facts can not suppress sur- 
 prise at either of these opinions. But, in view of the 
 history of former republics, it is not wonderful that the 
 stability of popular governments should have been ques- 
 tioned; or that the adaptability of the Constitution to 
 the purposes designed should have been doubted, up till 
 the formation of the Union by its actual adoption. He 
 who shall study the history of the National Conven- 
 tion thoroughly, will find that, among the plans of 
 
42 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 government submitted, there was not one that did not 
 propose such restrictions upon the powers of the people 
 as were suggested by doubts of their capacity for self- 
 government ; and that the Constitution, as finally agreed 
 to, was alone the result of mutual concessions and com- 
 promises. When this result was reached matters as- 
 sumed other aspects, — the main question being whether 
 a new government should be established by the creation 
 of a National Union capable of promoting the general 
 welfare, or the country fall back upon the old Confedera- 
 tion, well known to be powerless for that purpose. After 
 the Constitution was adopted and the question of its rati- 
 fication was pending, Hamilton employed his best ener- 
 gies in its defense, while Jefferson was either opposing it 
 or taking no part in its support, — and it does not detract 
 from other eminent men who did the same to say that 
 none exhibited more earnestness or ability than he did. 
 Whatsoever Hamilton may have thought while the proposi- 
 tion to form a new government was pending, does not seem 
 to have influenced him after the National Convention 
 had completed its work. In a conversation with Jeffer- 
 son — as recorded by the latter — he said that whatever 
 may have been his former doubts, now that the experi- 
 ment was undertaken he was ' ' for giving it a fair course, ' ' 
 because, in his opinion, "that mind must be really de- 
 praved, which would not prefer the equality of political 
 rights, which is the foundation of pure republicanism, if 
 it can be obtained consistently with order." 
 
 It was a public calamity that hostility should have ex- 
 isted between these distinguished men, while they served 
 together in Washington's cabinet. At that time — more 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 43 
 
 than at any other since — there was a positive necessity 
 for unity in the administration, because it was engaged 
 in laying the foundations of a new and untried govern- 
 ment. A single mistake might have produced incalcula- 
 ble mischief. Why this hostility should have appeared 
 at such a time, suggests an inquiry to which there is no 
 satisfactory answer. Even its nature and precise object 
 are unknown, except in so far as they were occasioned 
 by mere difference of opinion in regard to the rules of 
 constitutional interpretation, and the relative rights of 
 the National Government and the governments of the 
 States. Differences upon questions of this nature ought 
 not to create ill-feeling any more than if they involved 
 merely the distance between the earth and the sun. But 
 in this instance they did, and produced consequences 
 which have extended to the present time. 
 
 Whatever may have been Hamilton's feelings toward 
 Jefferson, he does not seem to have left behind him any- 
 thing to show that they were of a malevolent nature. 
 His works, published by his son, show nothing of this 
 kind, although he was undoubtedly a man of strong re- 
 sentments. Among Jefferson's letters, one from him to 
 Washington appears, wherein the former makes a some- 
 what detailed statement of the causes of disagreement 
 between Hamilton and himself. But an examination of 
 the Anas, published with Jefferson's correspondence by 
 his grandson, will explain why he considered Hamilton a 
 monarchist. Besides his deductions from Hamilton's 
 line of argument in interpreting the Constitution, he pre- 
 serves, in the Anas, conversations had with Hamilton by 
 others and reported to him. It may gratify the curious 
 
44 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 to read all these papers, but they leave the mind still in 
 doubt with regard to the real source of the controversy, 
 otherwise than has been stated. It is sufficient for us 
 now to know that it was injurious to the country from the 
 beginning, — so much so that a revival of the discussion 
 would be likely to do more harm than good. Both 
 were eminently great men, and on account of the serv- 
 ices they rendered and their high qualities, deserve to 
 be held in perpetual veneration. 
 
 It is proper, however, to note what Jefferson has him- 
 self left concerning his charge that Hamilton desired to 
 convert the government into a monarchy. He made 
 several attempts to convince Washington of its truth, but 
 in all these signally failed. This circumstance outweighs 
 any suspicions or opinions of an adversary, for the reason 
 that Washington had every possible opportunity of testing 
 the devotion of Hamilton to the government, and was as 
 competent to do so as any man living. Besides, it was 
 his duty to learn whether or no there was a monarchist 
 in his cabinet, and there is nothing more certain than, if 
 he had found Hamilton to be one, he would have removed 
 him at once. In the Anas there is reported, by Jefferson 
 himself, a conversation between him and Washington, in 
 1792, wherein the latter said "he did not believe there 
 were designs to change the form of government into a 
 monarchy," and that he considered the accusations to 
 that effect "in Freeman's paper" were made with the 
 view of ' ' exciting opposition to the government, ' ' and ' ' as 
 attacking him directly, for he must be a fool indeed to 
 swallow the little sugar plums here and there thrown out 
 to him." 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 45 
 
 Upon another occasion at Mount Vernon, when Jeffer- 
 son made to Washington the positive and direct charge 
 that Hamilton was a monarchist, Washington replied: 
 ' ' That as to the idea of transforming this government 
 into a monarchy, he did not believe there were ten men in 
 the United States whose opinions were worth attention who 
 entertained such a thought." It is not probable that 
 Washington was very greatly misled upon a subject of so 
 much importance, and if he were not, Jefferson must have 
 suffered his dislike of Hamilton to warp his judgment re- 
 garding his sentiments. At all events, it is not difficult 
 to discover that, instead of cultivating a spirit of forbear- 
 ance and mutuality in aid of the administration, their dis- 
 agreements ripened into a positive breach which Wash- 
 ington was unable to heal. The result was that a little 
 more than a year after this conversation, Jefferson re- 
 signed the office of Secretary of State, and retired from 
 the cabinet. Washington regretted this deeply, but 
 there is no reason for believing that the estimate in which 
 he held Jefferson was in any degree lessened. There is 
 much ground for believing, however, that, from that 
 time, the feeling of Jefferson towards Washington under- 
 went a material change, — so much so as to enable others 
 to avail themselves of it in forming a party in opposition 
 to the administration. As late as 1818, Jefferson wrote 
 an ' ' explanation ' ' of many of the events alluded to in the 
 Anas, manifestly expecting it to be published, along with 
 his correspondence, after his death, and it was so pub- 
 lished. In it he said: "From the moment where they 
 end ' ' — that is the proofs he had submitted — ' ' of my re- 
 tiring from the administration, the Federalists got un- 
 
46 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 checked hold of General Washington. His memory was 
 already sensibly impaired by age, the firm tone of mind 
 for which he had been remarkable was beginning to re- 
 lax, its energy was abated, a listlessness of labor, a de- 
 sire for tranquillity had crept on him, and a willingness to 
 let others act, and even think for him." And, alluding 
 to some letters Washington had written, he closed his 
 " explanation " with these words : " Over which, in de- 
 votion to his imperishable fame, we must forever weep as 
 monuments of mental decay." 
 
 These words were written eighteen years after the 
 death of Washington, thirteen after that of Hamilton, 
 and nine after Jefferson himself had retired from the 
 Presidency. His fame was full and complete, and could 
 not be added to by lessening that of Washington. They 
 would, therefore, better never have been written. But 
 having been, all that now need be said of them is that, in 
 spite of them there is no sentiment more universal 
 among the American people than that of affection and 
 veneration for Washington. Nor is there any belief more 
 fixed in the American mind than that he was not suffer- 
 ing from "mental decay" during his administration. 
 To say of him that he allowed others both to think and 
 act for him is to present him in the character of a weak- 
 ling, whereas, if history attests anything, it makes clear 
 the fact that till the last hour of his administration, 
 all his faculties continued as clear and vigorous as they 
 had been at its beginning. I repeat, therefore, that, in 
 my opinion, these words would better never have been 
 written. For whatever purpose intended, they have 
 served only the interest of party, — having done Washing- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 47 
 
 ton no harm and Jefferson no good. When the Anas 
 first appeared there were yet remaining in the vicinity of 
 my birthplace a few of the old men who had shared with 
 Washington the perils and hardships of the Revolution 
 and who regarded him with the deepest veneration. I 
 well remember their indignation when they repeated 
 these censorious reflections upon him whom they almost 
 idolized, and with what strong and emphatic words they 
 expressed themselves. What they said impressed me 
 with the conviction that Jefferson had made a serious 
 mistake by invading the sanctuary of confidential inter- 
 course, to furnish excuses for those who had become the 
 embittered, if not the malevolent, adversaries of Wash- 
 ington. This impression remains, notwithstanding my 
 unwillingness to lessen his claims to grateful remem- 
 brance. Few men are invariably right, and even when 
 the best are subjected to the crucial test of close inspec- 
 tion, there are apt to be found some spots and blemishes 
 mingled with a cluster of virtues. 
 
 When Jefferson resigned the office of Secretary of 
 State, at the close of the year 1793, he probably ex- 
 pected to remain in retirement at his beautiful mountain 
 home, for which his thoughtful and philosophical mind 
 peculiarly fitted him. He did not then make any pub- 
 lic avowal of his want of confidence in Washington, or 
 express the belief that he was surrounded by influences 
 adverse to the public welfare which he was unable to 
 resist. It is quite certain, however, that his action was 
 mainly, if not entirely, on account of the relations be- 
 tween Hamilton and himself, which had then reached the 
 point of open enmity. Besides this it is shown by his 
 
48 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 letters that he was not satisfied with Washington's de- 
 mand for the recall of Genet, the French minister, because 
 of the persistent efforts of the latter to stir up disaffection 
 towards the government among the people. It is also 
 learned from the same source that he must have decided 
 to employ some portion of his leisure in endeavoring to 
 mold and fashion the political sentiments of the people, 
 with the ultimate view of creating a party of opposition 
 to the opinions of Hamilton, notwithstanding the organ- 
 ization of such a party would involve also opposition to 
 Washington's administration. He had been in retire- 
 ment less than two months when he wrote a letter to Ed- 
 mund Randolph, in which he said: " I indulge myself 
 on one political topic only, that is, in declaring to my 
 countrymen the shameless corruption of a portion of the 
 Representatives in the first and second Congresses, and 
 their implicit devotion to the treasury;" — which, mani- 
 festly, was an insinuation of corruption against Hamilton, 
 who was then Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. 
 This is confirmed by the fact that about four weeks after- 
 wards he wrote another letter to James Madison, in which 
 he referred to Hamilton by name and censured him for 
 having furnished the materials of a speech made in the 
 House of Representatives, — ^basing his belief upon the fact 
 that he had heard Hamilton express the same sentiments 
 in "various private, though official discussions," which 
 must have occurred while they were both members of 
 Washington's administration. And in another letter to 
 Madison, during the same year, he severely arraigned 
 ' ' the Society of the Cincinnati ' ' — of which Washington 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. ^p 
 
 was a member — charging that its members were "dazzled 
 by the glittering of crowns and coronets." 
 
 Whether or no he was then "dazzled by the glittering" 
 of Presidential honors is now of no consequence ; for if 
 he were, his ambition was both honorable and patriotic, 
 and no man in the country had a higher or better right 
 to entertain it. However this may have been, he made 
 no open opposition to the administration of Washington, 
 but did so to that of John Adams, his immediate succes- 
 sor. The general policy of these two administrations was 
 the same, but there were some measures introduced dur- 
 ing the latter to which Jefferson was intensely opposed. 
 These were the Alien and Sedition laws, which, as he 
 believed, were not only flagrant violations of the Consti- 
 tution, but a direct infraction upon some of the cardinal 
 principles of the government — such as were inseparable 
 from popular institutions. That he carried this opposi- 
 tion to a dangerous extent, nearly a hundred years of our 
 national experience have attested. He who shall now 
 investigate the history of that period with impartiality 
 should not forget that such are the frailties of our nature, 
 that the wisest and most patriotic men, when the respon- 
 sibilities of ofificial position are not resting upon them, 
 are liable, at moments of intense excitement, to be be- 
 trayed into errors the magnitude of which they do not, 
 at the time, perceive, and which they would be the first 
 to retract and repudiate when assured that they foreboded 
 peril to the country. Great and deservedly influential as 
 he was, Jefferson was human like the rest of us — subject 
 to the same feelings, emotions, desires, and passions. 
 He had contributed but little, if anything, to the creation 
 4 
 
50 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 of the Union under the Constitution, but a great deal to 
 establishing and maintaining the independence and sov- 
 ereignty of the States under the Confederation; and 
 hence looked with suspicion upon what he feared might 
 strengthen the former and weaken the latter. 
 
 The Alien and Sedition laws were practically harmless, 
 and both expired by limitation, — being designed only as 
 a temporary expedient. They were passed in 1798, and 
 immediately acted like a spark thrown into a magazine 
 of powder, producing an explosion. The former did not 
 go to the extent of prohibiting the immigration of aliens 
 — as our present law prohibits the immigration of Chinese 
 and discriminates against them after their arrival here — 
 but provided that when they became, in the opinion of 
 the President, dangerous to the peace and safety of the 
 United States, he should cause them to be removed out 
 of the country. Even in this last respect, the principles 
 of our Chinese law are borrowed from it, and stretch out 
 its provisions so far that these aliens are excluded in the 
 first place, and expelled in the next, not for any inter- 
 ference with our institutions but because of controversies 
 about the wages of labor. 
 
 The Sedition law prohibited combinations and conspira- 
 cies to oppose the government ; or to impede the opera- 
 tion of any law, — or to prevent any officer from discharg- 
 ing his duties. It went further, however, and made it 
 criminal to utter or publish any false, scandalous, and ma- 
 licious writing against the President, or other officer of 
 the government, or against Congress, with intent to de- 
 fame them, — or to stir up sedition, -^or to excite unlaw- 
 ful combinations to defeat any law, — or to aid in any 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 5 1 
 
 hostile designs against the United States upon the part 
 of other governments. Some of these provisions were 
 wholesome then and are still found in our American stat- 
 utes. But it is undoubtedly true that it transcended the 
 limits of congressional power, when it placed restrictions 
 upon the liberty of speech and the press, by which the 
 citizen was deprived of his right to criticise the adminis- 
 tration of the government and the conduct of public offi- 
 cers. It was this that excited the ire and aroused the 
 indignation of Jefferson, who had no sentiment, or feel- 
 ing, or impulse, prejudicial to the fullest liberty of the 
 people. His object was to get rid of these odious pro- 
 visions with as little delay as possible, and not believing 
 that those who had enacted them would be likely to 
 change their course, he persuaded himself that the only 
 remedy against them was by an appeal to the States. 
 The Union had not then been in existence long enough 
 to demonstrate by its practical workings what were the 
 precise relations between it and the States, and he natu- 
 rally clung to the rules of constitutional interpretation he 
 had insisted upon while in Washington's cabinet, when 
 the charter of the United States Bank was under consid- 
 eration. As his object was, at that time, to limit the 
 growth of the national power, so that the sovereignty of 
 the States, to which he had been accustomed under the 
 Confederation — in so far as each State was obliged to pro- 
 tect the rights of its citizens — should not be encroached 
 upon by the government of the Union, he entertained 
 the idea that this right, as well as the obligation, of pro- 
 tection had not been surrendered by the States to the 
 National Government, and consequently that the latter 
 
52 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 had, by passing these laws — the Sedition law especially 
 — usurped powers not confided to it. And he was, 
 doubtless, strengthened in these views when he came to 
 reflect that the opposing ideas had their source in the 
 theory of government he attributed to Hamilton, and to 
 which he was strongly opposed, notwithstanding it had 
 the approbation of Washington. Obviously he was mis- 
 taken if he supposed — which seems probable — that the 
 States had retained the right to impose limitations upon 
 the powers confided to the government of the Union for 
 its own protection and that of citizens of the United States. 
 And he was equally mistaken in supposing, if he did, 
 that the National Government would be unduly strength- 
 ened and the governments of the States unduly weak- 
 ened, when the former exercised only such powers as 
 were necessary to defend itself against either foreign or 
 domestic conspiracies, in order to preserve the rights of 
 citizenship in the United States ; between which and those 
 of citizenship in the States, there could, in the nature of 
 things, be no necessary conflict. But whatsoever view 
 he may have taken of these general questions he deemed 
 it expedient to appeal directly to the States to interpose 
 their authority in direct resistance to that of the National 
 Government. If he had succeeded — whatsoever his im- 
 mediate design may have been — the Union would have 
 been at an end within less than the period of a single gen- 
 eration after its creation. 
 
 He wrote out and sent to friends in Kentucky two sets 
 of resolutions — elaborately worded — which he desired 
 passed by the Legislature of that State. They were ac- 
 cordingly passed — one in 1798 and the other in 1799, 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 53 
 
 during the Presidential term of John Adams. The first 
 asserted the doctrine that the compact of union was as- 
 sented to by the several States in the capacity of organ- 
 ized and sovereign governments, and, consequently, each 
 State, as a contracting party, retained the "right to 
 judge for itself, as well of infractions ' ' of the Constitu- 
 tion, " as of the mode and measure of redress." The 
 second was equally emphatic in declaring ' ' that a nulli- 
 fication by those sovereignties," — the States — "of all 
 unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument' ' — 
 the Constitution — "is the rightful remedy." 
 
 A careful study of these resolutions and the interpreta- 
 tion of them within the light of the events then occur- 
 ring, and a comparison of them with the opinions he ex- 
 pressed in conflict with those of Washington, while in the 
 latter's cabinet, and which he attributed to the influence 
 of Hamilton over Washington, will show, or at least 
 tend to show, that his purpose was to announce by them 
 rules for interpreting the Constitution which would have 
 confined the National Government within the limitations 
 of expressly delegated powers, and have denied to it the 
 exercise of such implied powers as were necessary to the 
 execution of those expressly granted, as Washington had 
 decided when he approved the charter of the Bank of the 
 United States. But since the government has escaped 
 the disasters which would have befallen it if the public 
 sentiment of the country had been molded and formed 
 by these resolutions, their chief importance, at this time, 
 lies in the light they throw upon the events attend- 
 ant upon the Presidential election of 1800, when Jeffer- 
 son was elected. 
 
54 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 That election has been — and was by many at the time 
 • — interpreted to mean a reversal of the policy inaugurat- 
 ed by Washington. Howsoever Jefferson himself may 
 have regarded it, there is nothing clearer than that he 
 desired and intended to fix the popular rebuke upon the 
 doctrines and principles of Hamilton, not merely because 
 he considered him a most formidable rival, but because 
 he believed — as justice to his memory requires to be con- 
 ceded — that the prosperity and development of the coun- 
 try would not be arrested by the measures of policy he 
 desired to see introduced. Whatsoever may have been 
 his opinions, however, it is certain that the election, fair- 
 ly considered in its political aspects and result, settled 
 nothing in conflict with the policy of Washington's ad- 
 ministration. Nor could it have been properly construed 
 as condemning Hamilton's theory of constitutional inter- 
 pretation as Washington had approved and sanctioned it, 
 except in so far as it gave increased strength to those 
 who had set up the rights and powers of the State Gov- 
 ernments against those of the National Union. 
 
 At this election there were cast 276 electoral votes. 
 Of these Jefferson received only 73, while 203 — a major- 
 ity of the whole — were cast against him. These 203 
 electoral votes were thus cast: Aaron Burr received 73, 
 — the precise number given to Jefferson, — John Adams 
 65 — but 8 less than Jefferson, — Charles C. Pinckney 64, 
 and John Jay i. The Constitution then provided that 
 each elector should cast two votes, and that, upon count- 
 ing the whole, whosoever received a majority should be 
 President, and he who received the next highest number 
 should be Vice-President. As Jefferson and Burr each 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 55 
 
 received 73 votes — precisely the same number — the elec- 
 tion devolved upon the House of Representatives, where 
 the votes are counted by States and not by the individual 
 members. In the House there were 36 ballots cast be- 
 fore an election was had. Upon the last ballot 10 States 
 voted for Jefferson, 4 for Burr, and 2 States — Delaware 
 and South Carolina — did not vote for either. In this 
 way Jefferson became President, and, as such an election 
 would be now interpreted, a minority President at that; 
 inasmuch as he received only 73 out of 276 electoral 
 votes, and was only elected by the politicians of the 
 House of Representatives, without the assent of the peo- 
 ple. This view of the result, however, would be unjust 
 to Jefferson. He had won all the distinction the Presi- 
 dency could confer, and was entitled to such a national 
 testimonial. But it was in no sense a party triumph, 
 howsoever tireless the efforts to make it so may have 
 been. And this view is supported by the further fact 
 that Jefferson received the votes of only eight States on 
 the first ballot in the House, while Burr received six, and 
 two States were divided, and he was not elected until the 
 thirty-sixth ballot, and then only by the votes of ten 
 States. All the facts, therefore, — the failure of election 
 by a majority of the electoral votes, and the equal divis- 
 ion of the States — combine to show that there could not 
 then have been a very material difference in the strength 
 of the respective parties, and that a result thus obtained 
 can not fairly be considered a repudiation by the people 
 of the measures and pohcy of Washington's administra- 
 tion. 
 
 May we not well attribute to this cause the effort of 
 
56 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Jefferson, in his inaugural address, to make it appear that 
 all were Republicans and all Federalists — in other words, 
 that these party distinctions should be entirely eradi- 
 cated? In our time an effort of this kind would be char- 
 acterized as a party trick, or at all events, the President 
 who should make it immediately following one of our 
 fierce and exciting party conflicts would be pronounced a 
 visionary — the mere "dreamer of unprofitable dreams." 
 But Jefferson was not a visionary. His mind was emi- 
 nently practical, and he doubtless desired that party 
 spirit should be extinguished during his administration, 
 in order that he might be thereby better enabled to move 
 the country forward upon the lines of policy he had him- 
 self pointed out. He had, in retirement, supplied a con- 
 siderable share of the fuel needed for kindling the party 
 fires, and none more threatening to the harmony of the na- 
 tional system of government than when he gave his high 
 sanction to the doctrine of State nullification as a remedy 
 against the laws of the Union. If he meant by this, — as 
 possibly he did, — that this destructive power should be 
 held in reserve as the means of preserving the national 
 concord by the fear of its disturbance, even in that view, 
 it can not now be defended, since the practical application 
 of the theory under Jackson's administration so danger- 
 ously threatened the existence of the Union as to render 
 it necessary for him to repudiate and condemn it. It is 
 scarcely probable, however, that he could have been elect- 
 ed to the Presidency at the time he was, if it had then been 
 known that he was the author of this nullification doctrine, 
 as set forth in the Kentucky resolutions of 1799 — a fact 
 which did not become public until long after. Even in 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 57 
 
 the absence of that information, he obtained the Presi- 
 dency only after a protracted struggle against Aaron 
 Burr, and the result did not prove that his political opin- 
 ions in conflict with those of Washington met with the 
 public approval, but rather that his success was attribu- 
 table to the position he occupied with regard to national 
 independence and the acknowledged greatness of his in- 
 tellectual powers. Howsoever that result may be now 
 viewed, after so many years have elapsed, it is certain 
 that he afterwards somewhat modified his ideas of duty 
 by an effort to allay the party excitement he had done so 
 much to encourage, and endeavored to throw the weight 
 of his character in the scale in favor of the cessation of 
 party strife. That he was patriotic in his purposes was 
 admitted on all sides, notwithstanding the fierceness of the 
 controversy which resulted in his election. He had oc- 
 cupied a position far forward among those who achieved 
 our independence, and undoubtedly felt an earnest long- 
 ing to see the country foremost among the nations. 
 Hence, when, after reaching the Presidency, he endeav- 
 ored to pour "oil upon the troubled waters" and to 
 quiet the turbulence of political parties, he commended 
 to the country that which is now as necessary to its pros- 
 perity and happiness as it then was. From how many 
 painful wounds the nation would have been saved if his 
 counsel had been followed ! 
 
 It would not be proper for me to discuss the general 
 policy of his administration ; nor, if it were, have I any 
 disposition to engage in it, for the reason that all its in- 
 fluences have not yet died away. That it had its origin 
 in patriotic motives there can be no doubt among those 
 
58 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 who do not measure others by the standard they selfishly 
 set up for themselves. That he erred in the manner of 
 purchasing Louisiana is too palpable to admit of denial ; 
 but the error was committed upon the side of the coun- 
 try. The act itself was not wrong, but the method was, — 
 as I believe he would himself be willing to affirm if he 
 were now alive. If there is such a thing as doing right 
 in the wrong way, this was one. 
 
 The territory acquired by the purchase of Louisiana is 
 more than sufficient for an empire. It surpasses in value 
 the same extent of country anywhere else in the world. 
 The people inhabiting it are among the best and most in- 
 telligent of our population, and from every patriotic heart 
 in the land there goes out towards them a feeling of fra- 
 ternal regard. They are united to the Union by ties 
 which no patriot ever desires to see broken. Neverthe- 
 less, if the purchase of this territory in the method pur- 
 sued did not sow dragons' teeth, it set an example, by 
 the direct and admitted violation of the Constitution, con- 
 spicuously calculated to weaken the popular affection for 
 that instrument and for the fundamental laws established 
 by it. Such an example necessarily breeds evils, as the 
 Pontine marshes do fevers; — with this difference, how- 
 ever, that diseases of the body may be removed by prop- 
 er remedies; whereas, when a blow is struck at our 
 national fabric by open violation of the Constitution, it 
 threatens to end in incurable paralysis. 
 
 Jefferson, in a letter dated August 12, 1803 — while the 
 treaty was pending — said : ' ' The Constitution has made 
 no provision for our holding foreign territory, still less for 
 incorporating foreign nations into our Union. The ex- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 59 
 
 ecutive in seizing the fugitive occurrence which so much 
 advances the good of their country, have done an act be- 
 yond the Constitution." What was this "fugitive occur- 
 rence ' ' which excused — it was impossible to justify — an 
 act without a single word in the Constitution to warrant 
 it? The American ministers who negotiated the treaty in 
 France were instructed only to acquire New Orleans and 
 the right to navigate the Mississippi river. Beyond this 
 they had no authority. But the emperor, Napoleon, was 
 upon the eve of a war with Great Britain, and needed 
 money. Having no other means of procuring it, he in- 
 structed his own negotiator that when the American min- 
 isters made their proposition, he should vary it by offer- 
 ing to cede to the United States the whole of Louisiana, 
 notwithstanding France had pledged herself to Spain by 
 treaty she would not do so. The suggestion of the pur- 
 chase, therefore, came first from Napoleon, and out of 
 his straitened circumstances this "fugitive occasion" 
 arose. Consequently, the exigency was great and ur- 
 gent, such as might not have existed again. But how- 
 ever great the necessity, it could not have exceeded that 
 which demanded that the Constitution should be held in- 
 violate. Jefferson felt this, doubtless, very keenly, when 
 he remembered that he had charged Hamilton with being 
 a monarchist because he had enlarged the powers of the 
 government by implying whatever was necessary to ex- 
 ecute the express grants under the Constitution. But, 
 although the case was one where there was no grant of 
 power whatever, he allowed the importance of the 
 acquisition and the "fugitive occasion," to quiet his 
 scruples to such an extent that when the treaty was 
 
6o PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 made he assented to it and advised that as little as pos- 
 sible should be said about the constitutional difficulty. 
 In a letter written October 30, 1803, he said: "The 
 less said about any constitutional difficulty, the better; 
 and that it will be advisable for Congress to do what is nec- 
 essary, in silence ' ' — these last words having been itali- 
 cized by himself. This. advice was probably prudent, for 
 it was not a case where an express grant of power had 
 to be enlarged by construction and implication, but one 
 which involved an act wholly outside the Constitution; — 
 that is, not to interpret an acknowledged grant, but to 
 engraft upon the Constitution a provision entirely un- 
 known to either its letter or spirit. 
 
 He excused himself upon the ground of imminent ne- 
 cessity. But it is due to his memory to say that he ex- 
 pected some steps to be thereafter taken, after the ratifi- 
 cation of the treaty, to heal what he considered a danger- 
 ous breach in the Constitution. In one of the letters just 
 referred to, he expressed his anticipation that the treaty 
 would be ratified, and added: "I suppose they must 
 then appeal to the nation for an additional article to the 
 Constitution, approving and confirming an act which the 
 nation had not previously authorized." This is like 
 locking the door after the horse has been stolen. Min- 
 imize it as much as possible, such a step can not be taken 
 at any time, without foreboding danger to our institu- 
 tions. To enlarge a granted power beyond its due 
 bounds by unwarranted construction is bad enough, but it 
 it is far worse to create a new power without a single 
 word in the Constitution to warrant it and trust to the 
 uncertainty of subsequent ratification. In this case there 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 6l 
 
 has been no such ratification, — nor even an attempt to 
 that effect. National necessity excused the act, and 
 party necessity excused this omission ! And the country 
 has gone on step by step, under the auspices of the dif- 
 ferent parties, until we have acquired Florida, Texas, 
 New Mexico, California, and Alaska — stretching out our 
 borders from the Mississippi river to the Pacific — ^by fla- 
 grant and repeated violations of the Constitution ! More 
 than that, we talked a few years ago, with perfect com- 
 posure and quietude, about purchasing Cuba and Hayti, 
 as we do now about annexing Hawaii. What next? Let 
 any reflecting man sit down in quiet by his own fireside — 
 from which the excitements of party are, or ought to be, 
 excluded — and search out an answer to this question, and 
 he will find it echoed back to him — ^What next? 
 
 Can the acquisition of territory from a foreign power, 
 at the expense of violating the Constitution, be either 
 justified or excused by necessity? The doctrine that it 
 may be is dangerous for many reasons which will suggest 
 themselves to intelligent minds ; but chiefly for the reason 
 that, by party manipulations, the evidences of necessity 
 may be easily distorted ; or may be created for a special 
 purpose when none in fact exist. That there have been 
 instances of this kind is well understood, but, neverthe- 
 less, one after the other has occurred, until one violation 
 of the Constitution has furnished a precedent for others, 
 and it has become common to hear it said — in imitation 
 of the Common Law courts — that these repeated prece- 
 dents justify and excuse the violation of the Constitution ! 
 We have all heard a great deal about the ' ' general wel- 
 fare" clause in the Constitution; and Jefferson, in his 
 
62 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 opinion upon the bank charter, while a member of Wash- 
 ington's cabinet, said that this clause did not confer "a 
 distinct and independent power;" because, if it did it 
 would reduce the Constitution "to a single phrase," and 
 empower Congress "to do whatever would be for the 
 good of the United States," so that as the United States 
 "would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would 
 be also a power to do whatever evil they pleased." It 
 has always been a bugbear to those who are in perpetual 
 alarm at the specter of consolidation; and yet some of 
 the most vociferous of them contemplate these precedents 
 with quiet nerves, seemingly unconscious that every act 
 of annexation inflicts a fresh wound upon the Constitu- 
 tion. Jefferson, notwithstanding the limitations he put 
 upon this "general welfare" clause, did not urge upon 
 Congress, in any of his messages, such an amendment of 
 the Constitution as would have ratified the purchase of 
 Louisiana, or authorized the subsequent annexation of 
 foreign territory. He seemed content to occupy the 
 ceded territory as a part of the Union and to leave his 
 example for future imitation. And the consequence has 
 been that while the ' ' general welfare ' ' can not be pro- 
 moted by acts of domestic legislation, it is sufficiently 
 broad and comprehensive to warrant the annexation of 
 foreign territory ! Laws can not be enacted by the as- 
 sembled representatives of the people for the ' ' general 
 welfare," but treaties can be made for that purpose alone ! 
 The President and Senate — less than a hundred men — 
 may do in secret what the assembled wisdom of the na- 
 tion can not do ! If a treaty could not be executed until 
 approved by the House of Representatives, this anoma- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON. 63 
 
 lous condition of things could not exist. And a careful 
 study of the life and character of Jefferson has brought 
 my mind to the conclusion that if he were now alive he 
 would recommend this remedy to be applied, so as to 
 atone, in some sense, for his assent to the violation of the 
 Constitution by the acquisition of Louisiana. 
 
 My reason for this belief is founded upon the convic- 
 tion that, among all our public men, not one has enter- 
 tained and cherished a higher regard than Jefferson did 
 for the rights of the people. He believed them to be 
 competent for self-government, and labored to terminate 
 their allegiance to royal authority that they might enter 
 upon that experiment. He looked with jealousy upon 
 all accumulations of power in other hands than theirs, 
 and this jealousy was increased in proportion to its re- 
 moval from them. I have stated frankly that, in my 
 opinion, he committed errors, but it is worthy of repeti- 
 tion, that he believed them to be upon the side of the 
 country. But when it is remembered that he was the 
 author of the Declaration of Independence, without which 
 we should have had neither the Constitution nor the 
 Union, it ought to be the pleasure of us all to cover 
 these errors with the mantle of charity, and keep alive in 
 our minds the sentiment of gratitude for the services he 
 rendered in the cause of human liberty and the inaliena- 
 ble rights of mankind. 
 
JAMES MADISON 
 
Pa^*'^-^ -^^i^^^Wx^ 
 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JAMES MADISON 
 
 The sentiment of veneration for iVIadison, entertained 
 by ail in the vicinity of my birthplace, was deeply im- 
 bedded in their minds. His praises were so frequently 
 sounded in my hearing that among my earliest recollec- 
 tions of public men and events are those with which his 
 name is associated. The purity of his life was such and 
 the prominence of his virtues so conspicuous, that this 
 sentiment was imparted to my own mind, and became so 
 indelibly fixed that, in my early estimate of the founders 
 of the republic, I was accustomed to place him next to 
 Washington, — esteeming him as the Father of the Con- 
 stitution and Washington as the Father of the Nation. 
 
 His country residence was known as IMontpelier. It 
 was situated in Orange county, Virginia, within less than 
 thirty miles from the place of my nativity. As all travel 
 at that time was upon horseback, and I was too young 
 to visit him alone, my opportunities for seeing him were 
 "like angels' visits, few and far between." There hav- 
 ing been, however, several occasions when I could do so, 
 I was enabled, much to my gratification, to realize for 
 myself that his personal appearance indicated the posses- 
 sion of the high qualities universally assigned to him. 
 After I had seen Jefferson, I could not avoid observing the 
 
 (65) 
 
66 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 contrast between them, — Madison being below the aver- 
 age height while Jefferson was tall. I was more at- 
 tracted by the expression of his countenance than by that 
 of Jefferson. It seemed to me, each time I observed 
 him, that I had rarely seen a face in which more benig- 
 nity and quiet composure was expressed. It was a 
 complete personification of gentleness and benevolence. 
 This, however, was altogether consistent with the prom- 
 inent characteristics assigned to him by the whole com- 
 munity — characteristics which made him as influential in 
 the limited circle around his home as he had been in the 
 broader field of national affairs. 
 
 A gentleman whom I knew intimately until his death 
 — not very many years ago — and the son of a Revolu- 
 tionary officer, married a niece of Madison. Other mar- 
 riages brought me in close relations to this family and to 
 others who had followed the counsels of Madison and 
 learned to appreciate his virtues. I can not forget these 
 early associations and the grand old mansion — nestled 
 away among the spurs of a beautiful mountain range — 
 where they occurred; or the lessons of wisdom which 
 were taught by the Revolutionary patriot who presided 
 over them. When he spoke of Madison — as he often 
 did — it was in terms of affectionate regard ; and it should 
 excite no surprise that my youthful enthusiasm was en- 
 kindled by his words ; nor that it partially comes back 
 in my old age. That little circle has been, for many 
 years, broken up, and not a single member of it, besides 
 myself, survives. But memory brings them all back 
 again — reminding me afresh of the joys we once shared 
 
JAMES MADISON. 67 
 
 and of the instruction imparted by the venerable father 
 and sage. 
 
 Madison was peculiarly well qualified for such positions 
 as required industry, learning, and accuracy of judgment. 
 When he retired from the Presidency in 1817, he had 
 been continuously in the public service for more than for- 
 ty years. His severe labors as a student at Princeton 
 College, New Jersey, somewhat impaired his health, and 
 when he graduated, in his twenty-first year, it was feared 
 that his decline would be rapid. But his prudent and 
 temperate habits brought back his natural vigor, so that 
 he lived until his eighty-sixth year, and when he died, in 
 1837, was the only survivor of the National Convention 
 which framed the Constitution of the United States. The 
 year of the Declaration of Independence he was elected 
 to the General Assembly of Virginia, from his native 
 county of Orange, — a distinction which at that critical 
 period was not often conferred upon one so young. His 
 ability was at once recognized and he was made a mem- 
 ber of the Executive Council of the State in 1778, which 
 alone prevented him from taking part in the Congression- 
 al proceedings which resulted in the Articles of Confed- 
 eration. The next year he was elected to Congress, 
 where he served until 1787, when he was elected a dele- 
 gate to the Constitutional Convention. In that illustrious 
 body his services were of inestimable value. No mem- 
 ber of it did more than he towards framing and maturing 
 the Constitution, and his carefully prepared report of the 
 proceedings constitutes an indispensable guide to all who 
 desire to become familiar with that important epoch in 
 our history. His discussions in that body displayed the 
 
68 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 highest wisdom, and the twenty-seven letters contributed 
 by him to the Federalist, in support of the Constitution, 
 are among the most valuable contributions to our politi- 
 cal literature. While it can not be justly claimed that 
 they surpass the fifty-one written by Hamilton, and the 
 five by Jay, it may well be said that these letters, taken 
 as a whole, contributed, in an eminent degree, to the rat- 
 ification of the Constitution. He was elected to the first 
 Congress after the new government was formed, and 
 served in that capacity during the entire period of Wash- 
 ington's administration. His influence was felt in all the 
 departments of the government, and Washington had en- 
 tire confidence in his integrity and fidelity. 
 
 When the bill for the charter of the Bank of the United 
 States was pending in Congress he opposed it upon the 
 ground that it was unconstitutional. In this he agreed 
 with Jefferson, maintaining, as the latter did, the doc- 
 trine that if the powers expressly granted to Congress by 
 the Constitution were enlarged by construction and im- 
 plication, they might easily be carried to the extent of 
 interfering with and impairing the reserved rights of the 
 States. He voted against the bill, but there is nothing 
 to show that, after it was approved by Washington, he 
 lost confidence in the administration or participated in 
 Jefferson's hostility to Hamilton. He was incapable, 
 from mental organization as well as inclination, of enter- 
 taining violent feelings towards an adversary, and as the 
 questions then pending were all new, he refrained from 
 participating in any movements calculated to embarrass 
 the government. And this was the position he occupied 
 during the whole eight years of Washington's adminis- 
 
JAMES MADISON. 69 
 
 tration. He had contributed as much as any man in the 
 nation towards the formation of the new government, and 
 was so devoted to the Union that the conservative tend- 
 ency of his mind forbade his doing anything to embarrass 
 the one or create disaffection towards the other. 
 
 His warm friendship for Jefferson caused him to take 
 the side of the latter in the controversies which grew out 
 of the administration of John Adams. While the severe 
 conflict with reference to the Alien and Sedition laws was 
 in progress, he drew up a set of resolutions in opposition 
 to them, which were passed by the Legislature of Vir- 
 ginia in 1798. Believing these laws — especially the Se- 
 dition law — to be unconstitutional, these resolutions so 
 declared in emphatic terms, basing this declaration upon 
 the doctrine that the rights of the States would be endan- 
 gered if Congress were allowed "to enlarge its powers by 
 forced constructions of the constitutional charter which 
 defines them." To this extent they agreed with the res- 
 olutions Jefferson drew and had passed by the Legisla- 
 ture of Kentucky. With reference to the remedy, how- 
 ever, they differed from the latter in this : that instead of 
 asserting the right of the States to nullify the laws of the 
 United States — as the Kentucky resolutions did — they 
 declared that it was their duty "to interpose, for arresting 
 the progress of the evil ' ' and for ' ' maintaining ' ' their 
 own rights. The manner of interposing was not ex- 
 plained. Nor was it in the report, explanatory of the 
 resolutions, which Madison made to the Legislature, he 
 then being a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. 
 In this report he was emphatic in the declaration that the 
 States could interpose only where there was a "deliberate, 
 
yo PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 palpable, and dangerous'' violation of the Constitution, 
 such as amounted to usurpation, — in other words, threat- 
 ened the Union itself. The distinction is plain. The 
 Kentucky resolutions of Jefferson declared in favor of 
 pronouncing an unconstitutional law null and void, so 
 that the citizens of the State, making this declaration, 
 should be released from the obligation of obedience to the 
 obnoxious laws. Whereas, the Virginia resolutions of 
 Madison went only to the extent of declaring that, in 
 such cases, the States should interpose, in some expedi- 
 ent but undefined way, to get rid of such laws. There 
 was also this further difference ; the Kentucky resolutions 
 provided nullification as the remedy against all such laws 
 as the nullifying State should declare unconstitutional. 
 But the Virginia resolutions applied only to such laws as 
 deliberately and palpably violated the Constitution and, 
 for that reason, were dangerous to the Union. And this 
 was the real ground of difference between Jefferson and 
 Madison, as came to be known only when Jackson boldly 
 and courageously planted his feet upon the nullifying 
 laws of South Carolina. Before that time it was not 
 known that Jefferson was the author of the Kentucky res- 
 olutions, but investigation led to the exposure and ac- 
 knowledgment of the fact, and Madison, being then 
 alive, availed himself of the occasion to point out the 
 true meaning of those of Virginia. 
 
 Madison became Secretary of State under Jefferson, 
 and served in that capacity during the whole period of 
 the latter' s administration. The questions with which he 
 had to deal from the beginning were most difficult, — in- 
 volving the relations of the United States with the pow- 
 
JAMES MADISON. 7 1 
 
 ers of Europe. Up to that time these powers had been, 
 for many years, engaged in strife and wars which grew 
 out of their protracted contests for superiority. These 
 had produced comphcations embarrassing to the admin- 
 istrations of both Washington and Adams ; but the treaty 
 of Amiens in France — the preHminaries of which had 
 been agreed upon during the first year of Jefferson's ad- 
 ministration — had restored Europe to comparative quiet, 
 inasmuch as France had regained her colonies and Great 
 Britain had acquired almost exclusive dominion over the 
 seas. The troubles which had kept France in continual 
 turmoil for several years so far disappeared that, while 
 there were indications that the people would be held in 
 subjection by monarchical and military power, the ques- 
 tions still agitating them were mainly domestic, and such as 
 did not involve the interests of the United States. Mad- 
 ison, therefore, as Secretary of State, was relieved from 
 much of the responsibility which had weighed heavily 
 upon Timothy Pickering, who had served in that capac- 
 ity under Adams. It is true, however, that the royal 
 decrees of the European continental powers, paper block- 
 ades and the impressment of our seamen by Great Brit- 
 ain, presented questions of the greatest magnitude and 
 difficulty, — such as enabled Madison to display the great 
 breadth of his intellectual powers, as well as his intense 
 devotion to the honor and international rights of the 
 United States. The history of that period can not be 
 thoroughly understood without a careful study of his 
 state papers, every one of which bears the stamp of his 
 superior and commanding intellect. 
 
 When Great Britain declared war against France in 
 
73 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 1803, — to check the ambitious schemes of Napoleon — 
 new international problems had to be solved. These de- 
 manded, upon the part of Madison, not only great pru- 
 dence and discretion, but a display of the highest intel- 
 lectual capacity and wisdom. All the nations of Europe 
 were engaged in war, and each asserted the rights and 
 powers of a belligerent. Among them there was not a 
 single neutral power. The navies of France and Spain 
 united against that of Great Britain, and when, after Tra- 
 falgar, the supremacy of the latter was established, the 
 impressment of our seamen became more frequent and 
 flagrant. This outrage was such that it could not be sub- 
 mitted to, and when to it were added questions about the 
 rights of neutrals (paper blockades), and other kindred 
 matters, the responsibility resting upon Madison became 
 so increased as to push his ability to a severe and crucial 
 test. But he was equal to it, and succeeded so well that 
 the principles he asserted and maintained by clear and 
 cogent reasoning have become an essential part of inter- 
 national law. 
 
 The policy of Jefferson was essentially peaceful ; and 
 during his first administration no preparations were made 
 for war. The commercial interests of the seaboard States 
 were supposed to be seriously imperiled, and, conse- 
 quently, the excitement became very great, — so much so 
 that the war spirit was aroused, and the demand for retali- 
 atory measures became urgent. Jefferson regarded gun- 
 boats as furnishing protection to the seaport cities and 
 towns, and a large number were accordingly constructed. 
 Great Britain, with her immense naval equipment, treated 
 this with somewhat of levity, and steadily pursued her 
 
JAMES MADISON. 73 
 
 antagonistic policy. Tlie United States found it neces- 
 sary to counteract this by the passage of an embargo law, 
 whereby the exportation of our commerce was entirely 
 prohibited. This law was passed in 1807, and instead of 
 diminishing tended materially to intensify the excitement 
 among the commercial classes, who, finding their trade 
 with foreign countries entirely destroyed, became clam- 
 orous for some more effective retaliatory measures, or for 
 war with Great Britain or France, — especially with the 
 former, on account of her continued impressment of our 
 seamen. Among English statesmen it seemed to be un- 
 derstood that the United States could not be kicked into 
 a war, and therefore the practice of impressment contin- 
 ued, and was in progress at the close of Jefferson's ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 Madison was chosen President at the election in 1808. 
 There were then 17 States with 175 electoral votes. He 
 received the votes of 12 States, casting 122 electoral 
 votes, against Pinckney, who received the votes of S 
 States casting 47 electoral votes, and 6 electoral votes 
 thrown away upon Clinton. From what has been said 
 it will be apparent that the condition of public affairs 
 was, at that time, exceedingly embarrassing. Madison 
 was, of course, perfectly familiar with it, but having been 
 transferred from the state department under Jefferson, 
 to the Presidency in his own right, he realized both the 
 necessity and obligation of adopting such a line of policy 
 for his administration as would put the country in a con- 
 dition to protect its own interests, and, if it should be- 
 come necessary, to avenge any insult to its flag. The 
 embargo law had been repealed and a non-intercourse 
 
hA PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 law substituted for it, which had just taken effect at the 
 beginning of his administration. The object of this lat- 
 ter law was to abate the interdiction of commerce in so 
 far as neutral and friendly powers were concerned ; but to 
 leave the law so effective that both Great Britain and 
 France should feel the loss of the commerce of the United 
 States. This discrimination against these two powers 
 was especially offensive to Great Britain and but little less 
 so to France. The minister of the former power then in 
 the United States became so offensive in his interviews 
 with the Secretary of State that Madison became incensed 
 and demanded his recall — which occurred, and another 
 was sent in his place. France issued a royal decree to 
 the effect that vessels of the United States entering her 
 ports should be seized and confiscated ; and Great Britain 
 left her obnoxious orders in council still in force and 
 refused to relinquish her practice of impressment. Mad- 
 ison was unwilling that the United States should recede. 
 Although by nature and habit the tendencies of his mind 
 were all towards peace, and he had an intense desire to 
 see such a system of domestic measures established as 
 should develop the material resources of the country, yet 
 he was resolved from the beginning of his administration 
 that the honor of the nation and its flag should be pre- 
 served at every hazard. Accordingly another non-inter- 
 course law was passed in 1810; which provided that com- 
 mercial intercourse should be renewed only with such 
 nations as should repeal their obnoxious decrees, but that 
 those which declined to do so should still be treated by 
 the United States as belligerents and enemies. France, 
 realizing the importance of our commerce, then revoked 
 
JAMES MADISON. iJC 
 
 the Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon; but Great 
 Britain, fearing the rivalry of the United States, contin- 
 ued her orders in council in force. It became, therefore, 
 perfectly apparent that this latter power intended to defy 
 our system of non-intercourse, and drive the United 
 States either to submission or to the adoption of some 
 more effectual method of retaliation. 
 
 Nothing occurred for several years to change these 
 relations between the United States and Great Britain, 
 otherwise than as they became more and more strained. 
 Madison was cautious to pursue no course not warranted 
 by the law of national self-defense, but was alike cautious 
 to protect the rights of the United States. He did not 
 desire war — not merely because of the consequences 
 which inevitably follow all wars, but because he desired 
 the people of the United States to cultivate the arts of 
 peace, so that, by developing their material resources, 
 they should reach, among the nations, the distinguished 
 position to which he considered them entitled. He did 
 not consider the government constructed, as the govern- 
 ments of Europe were, for warlike purposes or acts of ag- 
 gression, but as designed to advance the domestic wel- 
 fare. To that purpose he was anxious to devote all the 
 energies of his administration. Yet he was not so tena- 
 cious for peace as to submit uncomplainingly to the 
 repeated indignities of the British government. When, 
 therefore, he realized that British aggressions upon our 
 commerce were continued, he commenced preparations 
 for war. One important step in that direction was the 
 appointment of James Monroe Secretary of State in 
 the place of Robert Smith resigned. This appointment 
 
76 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 was deemed necessary on account of Monroe's distin- 
 guished military services under Washington during the 
 Revolutionary war, and was hailed by all who advocated 
 war as a favorable omen. It did not take long to dem- 
 onstrate the wisdom of these preparations, for, instead of 
 relenting, the British government became bolder and 
 more offensive towards the United States. Accordingly, 
 after recommending the enactment of an embargo law, he 
 sent to Congress a confidential message, June i, 1812, in 
 which he explained why, in his opinion, the United 
 States and Great Britain were already at actual war with 
 each other, and recommended that the ' ' just cause ' ' of 
 the country should be committed ' ' into the hands of the 
 Almighty Disposer of events." In response to this mes- 
 sage war was declared against Great Britain June 18, 
 1 8 12, and the two countries entered upon a conflict upon 
 both land and water, the result of which is taught in all 
 our common schools. It is sufficient to say of it now 
 that it demonstrated to Great Britain and the world that 
 the government of the United States was abundantly able 
 to protect all the interests confided to its care, and that 
 the people of the United States would not submit to the 
 dishonor of their national flag. It vindicated our nation- 
 al rights against the strongest and most warlike power in 
 Europe, and terminated, after this was accomplished, 
 when the treaty of Ghent was executed, December 24, 
 1 8 14, upon the part of the United States, by John Quin- 
 cy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan 
 Russell, and Albert Gallatin — a splendid galaxy of talent 
 and ability. 
 
 It is proper to state here, parenthetically, that this 
 
JAMES MADISON. 77 
 
 treaty of Ghent did not settle definitively the questions in 
 dispute between the two countries, but left them to be 
 disposed of as future exigencies should demand. Madi- 
 son had the satisfaction of knowing, even before the close 
 of his administration, that the rights of the United States 
 were recognized by the leading nations of the world. 
 And he lived long enough to realize, as the legitimate 
 fruits of the war, that the commerce of this country was 
 no longer shackled by oppressive royal orders and de- 
 crees, and that our seamen were no longer impressed into 
 the service of foreign and rival powers. The successful 
 development of our commerce from that time up till the 
 present has vindicated, not alone the necessity of the war, 
 but the wisdom of his administrative policy. 
 
 Madison's first term in the Presidential office termi- 
 nated during the war. It became necessary, therefore, 
 that he should be renominated preparatory to the politi- 
 cal contest of 1812, which directly involved the approval 
 or disapproval of the war. This was done by a Repub- 
 lican Congressional Caucus, as that was then the custom- 
 ary method. There were 18 States — Louisiana having 
 been admitted into the Union — and 218 electoral votes. 
 He was supported by 1 1 States, casting 128 electoral 
 votes; and 7 States, casting 89 electoral votes, support- 
 ed George Clinton. Madison, consequently, was the war 
 candidate, and his election was a complete vindication of 
 his war policy. 
 
 The war was not universally popular, and the opposi- 
 tion to it became intensely violent in the Northern sec- 
 tion of the Union. It did not take the form of friendli- 
 ness for the British cause, although it was interpreted by 
 
^8 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the war party as meaning that. It led, however, to a 
 sectional conflict which, for a time, seriously threatened 
 the Union with disruption. It assumed the most danger- 
 ous form in the threatened resistance to the national au- 
 thority. In some portions of the Northern States this 
 authority was repudiated upon the ground that the States 
 had the right to release themselves from the obligation 
 of obedience to it; — in other words, while it did not go 
 so far as the Kentucky resolutions of 1799 and assert the 
 right of the States to nullify a national law, it derived 
 support from those of Virginia in 1798 — which Madison 
 had drawn — by insisting upon the right of the States to 
 interpose and protect themselves against what they con^ 
 sidered oppressive national legislation. The anti-war 
 party regarded the war measures as of this character, and 
 while they professed a desire to see the United States 
 triumph over Great Britain, were unwilling that troops 
 furnished as their quota by the States should be com- 
 manded by national officers. They insisted that the call 
 for troops was upon the States as distinct sovereignties, 
 and that each State should be permitted to raise its quota 
 in its own way, place its own officers in command, and 
 defend its own territory at its own expense. This was 
 an insidious plan of resistance to the war, and if it had 
 been successful would, undoubtedly, have reduced the 
 United States into a colonial dependency of Great Brit- 
 ain. It, however, was not responded to by a large or 
 influential number of people in the section where it was 
 most vociferously advocated. The Legislatures of the 
 New England States convoked a convention to consider 
 it, and this body met in December, 1814, in Hartford, 
 
JAMES MADISON. ^O 
 
 Connecticut, for that purpose. It passed a series of res- 
 olutions which, although they did not go quite so far as 
 to assert the right of nullification, did not stop far short 
 of it. Practically it did no mischief in so far as the na- 
 tional cause was concerned, for the treaty of Ghent, made 
 the same month of its session, put an end to the war, as 
 it also did to the political life of nearly every man who 
 participated in the Hartford Convention. Even at a very 
 early period after its adjournment the verdict of condem- 
 nation was pronounced against it in New England, as 
 well as elsewhere. 
 
 Madison was compelled to pass through a severe trial 
 — one which he could not have endured but for his pa- 
 tience, equanimity and patriotism. He dealt kindly with 
 friends and adversaries alike. His appeals to the senti- 
 ment of nationality were so eloquently made as to touch 
 the hearts of all, except the few who had given them- 
 selves over to the madness of desperation. But even 
 with these he did not deal harshly, for the tenderness of 
 his sympathetic nature forbade every form of severity. 
 He had an abiding confidence in the virtue, intelligence 
 and patriotism of the great body of the people, in every 
 section of the country, and upon this he relied with un- 
 shaken faith. And he who shall carefully study the his- 
 tory of that period can not escape the conclusion that it 
 was most fortunate that he then occupied the Presidential 
 chair. His defeat in 1812 might have imperiled the 
 Union, but his success enabled him to set an example of 
 fidelity to it, which teaches that it is too precious to be 
 destroyed by either foreign or domestic foes. 
 
 The war paralyzed the business of the whole country. 
 
8o PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 There was comparatively little foreign commerce, and 
 that at home consisted, in a large measure, of the ex- 
 change of commodities. The financial condition was de- 
 plorable, the banks having been forced to suspend specie 
 payments. There was not money enough in the country 
 to answer the demand, and the government itself was in 
 a straitened financial condition. To counteract these 
 evils Congress passed an act creating a bank of the Unit- 
 ed States with a capital of $35,000,000, composed of 
 $5,000,000 in specie, $10,000,000 six-per-cent. stock 
 funded after the war broke out, $15,000,000 treasury 
 notes, and $5,000,000 to be held by the United States, 
 and paid for in four-per-cent. stock, to be created for that 
 purpose. This bill was vetoed by Madison solely for the 
 reason that its provisions were insufificient for the purposes 
 designed. He thought the amount of the government 
 stock insufificient to raise and sustain the public credit; — 
 that no adequate public advantage would arise from the 
 subscription of treasury notes; — that the government was 
 not secured, during the war, in either permanent or tem- 
 porary loans; — and that the bank could not be relied 
 upon to provide a circulating medium during the war. 
 
 We have seen that when the bill to charter a United 
 States bank was pending in Congress in 1791 — when 
 Washington was President and Hamilton Secretary of the 
 Treasury — Madison opposed it upon the ground that it 
 would violate the Constitution. This renders it necessary 
 that we should know exactly what he said upon this oc- 
 casion, so as to understand the precise views he then took 
 of the constitutional question. This is the language he 
 employed in his veto message, January 30, 1815 : 
 
JAMES MADISON. Si 
 
 ' ' Waiving the question of the constitutional authority 
 of the Legislature to establish an incorporated bank, as 
 being precluded in my judgment by repeated recognitions, 
 under varied circumstances, of the validity of such an in- 
 stitution in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial 
 branches of the government, accompanied by indications, 
 in different modes, of a cojtcurretice of the general will of 
 the nation, the proposed bank does not appear to be cal- 
 culated to answer the purposes of reviving the public 
 credit, of providing a national medium of circulation, and 
 of aiding the treasury by facilitating the indispensable an- 
 ticipations of the revenue, and by affording to the public 
 more durable loans." 
 
 Does this import that he had changed his opinion 
 upon the constitutional question? If he had, there is 
 nothing in such a fact to lessen his claim, in the least 
 degree, upon the public confidence at that time, or in 
 the public respect for his memory now. He who is en- 
 trusted with the management of public affairs and persists 
 in such a course as his own conscience condemns as er- 
 roneous, ought not to be trusted. When Jefferson, in 
 advocacy of religious liberty in Virginia, said: "Error 
 ceases to be dangerous when reason is left free to combat 
 it," he conveyed, not only the idea that public enlight- 
 enment would successfully resist it, but that he who 
 would not retract it when made conscious of its mislead- 
 ing influence, was an unsafe counselor. Whatever mere 
 politicians may do upon this subject, statesmen do not 
 hesitate, for the reason that, while the former are apt 
 to confine their sphere of action within the narrow circle 
 
 of self-interest, the latter extend theirs far enough to em- 
 6 
 
82 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 brace the welfare of the pubHc and provide for a pro- 
 gressive increase in the sum of human happiness. Poli- 
 ticians are devoted to party, because it furnishes them 
 the machinery whereby they may accomplish their own 
 success. Statesmen repudiate parties when they find 
 them tending to inflict injury upon the interests con- 
 fided to their care, and unflinchingly pursue the course of 
 duty, accordingly as their consciences dictate. Madison 
 was a statesman and not a politician in the common 
 sense. His training in the school of the Revolution had 
 enlarged his views of the rights of mankind. His early 
 political impressions were such as were of natural growth 
 under the Confederation. The articles which associated 
 the thirteen original States were intended to form a 
 ' ' perpetual union ' ' for the ' ' common defense ' ' and the 
 "general welfare" of all. But as each State retained its 
 absolute "sovereignty, freedom, and independence," the 
 guarantees were considered as extending no further than 
 protection against foreign aggression. As to all else, 
 each State was the exclusive guardian of its own local in- 
 terests, which left no sentiment of nationality existing 
 other than that thus created. When these same terms 
 were inserted in the Constitution it was understood that 
 they should have a broader and more comprehensive 
 meaning than under the Confederation, but how far they 
 should be extended was left to be decided by the future 
 exigencies of the new Union. On all hands it was ad- 
 mitted, however, that the sentiment of nationality would 
 necessarily grow out of this new Union, and that its ex- 
 tent and development would be increased in proportion 
 to the success of the experiment. Therefore, it was en- 
 
JAMES MADISON. 83 
 
 tirely natural that these limited views of the ' ' general 
 welfare ' ' should be carried over by our early statesmen 
 from the Confederation to the Constitutional Govern- 
 ment, and that, for a time, they should be hampered and 
 restrained by them. This was undoubtedly the case with 
 Madison, as is sufficiently shown by his argument, in 
 1 79 1, against the constitutionality of the bank charter. 
 Adhering to his early impressions regarding the sover- 
 eignty of the States, he endeavored to demonstrate that 
 the ' ' general welfare ' ' did not embrace anything that in- 
 terfered with the reserved powers of the States, and, con- 
 sequently, that the bank would be unconstitutional because 
 it did so interfere in the manner indicated by him, that 
 is, it would defeat the State banks, and put it out of the 
 power of the States to prohibit as well as to establish 
 them. He did not suppose that the power to impair and. 
 lessen these and other sovereign rights which the States 
 had reserved could exist unless expressly granted by the 
 Constitution, and as he did not think the express powers 
 could be enlarged by construction and implication, he 
 held the bank to be unconstitutional. Virginia had been 
 so long accustomed to the exercise of sovereign powers, 
 and to view her own interests as distinct from those 
 of other States, that her statesmen were slow to realize 
 the existence of that admirable cycle of powers, wherein 
 both the National Union and the States could move for- 
 ward in mutual harmony, to the development of national 
 greatness. And hence, as this greatness was only in the 
 perspective in 1791, Madison was disinclined to see the 
 powers of the National Government so enlarged by im- 
 
84 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 plication as to interfere with the rights the States had 
 been long accustomed to exercise. 
 
 Washington was the first among the Virginia statesmen 
 to realize that the States had surrendered some portion 
 of their original sovereignty under the Confederation, in 
 order thereby to form a union for the protection and ad- 
 vancement of such interests as were national in their 
 character. He realized also that the States had no juster 
 right to place limitations upon the powers of the Union 
 under the Constitution, than the Union had to restrict 
 the powers of the States over their domestic affairs. He 
 could easily foresee that the Union would fail to accom- 
 plish the objects of its creation, unless its powers became 
 comprehensive enough to embrace jurisdiction over the 
 "general welfare," as distinct from the special welfare 
 of the separate States. It is probable, but not certain, 
 that Jefferson was led into antagonism to these views 
 mainly by his hostility to Hamilton, to whose influence 
 over Washington he attributed them. And the mind of 
 Madison, made impressible by his friendship for Jeffer- 
 son, was easily brought to the belief that the Union 
 could not endure beyond the time when the States 
 should submit to the impairment of the sovereignty they 
 had so long enjoyed under the Confederation. In fact, 
 the new government under the Constitution was an un- 
 tried experiment, and it should not be regarded as an 
 impeachment of the patriotism of any of these illustrious 
 framers of the government that they differed in opinion. 
 
 When Madison, however, became President of the 
 Union, he saw that the sphere of his duties was exclu- 
 sively national, limited only by the Constitution so inter- 
 
JAMES MADISON. 85 
 
 preted as to promote the ' ' general welfare ; ' ' — not the 
 particular and special interests of individual States, but 
 the general interests of the people of the United States. 
 And when he looked to the Constitution as his guide, he 
 could not fail to see that if the ' ' general welfare ' ' had 
 been such as to excuse Jefferson for the purchase and ac- 
 quisition of Louisiana, without a word in the Constitution 
 to sanction it, he could not avoid the conclusion that if 
 the express grants of power to Congress were so limited 
 as not to include whatsoever was necessary to their exe- 
 cution, the Union would fall short of accomplishing what 
 he and other framers of the Constitution had designed it 
 should accomplish. This did not require any actual 
 change of opinion upon his part, but the simple applica- 
 tion of such rules of interpretation as experience had 
 proved to be necessary for preserving the Union. Judges 
 take the law from the superior courts and announce it 
 accordingly from the bench, whatsoever their individual 
 opinions may be. When, therefore, Madison was re- 
 quired as President to review the past history of the gov- 
 ernment, and to observe the rules established by experience 
 for interpreting the Constitution, his line of duty appeared 
 plain, and he patriotically announced to Congress and the 
 country, that as all the departments of the government 
 and the people had sanctioned the rules of interpretation 
 which Washington had approved, it was his duty, as one 
 of the successors of Washington, charged with the pro- 
 motion of the "general welfare," to interpose no further 
 objection to a bank of the United States on the score of 
 its unconstitutionality. The consequence was that as the 
 necessities of the country increased, and the government 
 
86 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 as well as the increasing commercial interests demanded 
 an improved system of finance, Congress, in 1816, passed 
 another act granting a charter to a bank of the United 
 States, and Madison, without the least hesitation, ap- 
 proved it, and it became a law. And thus, looking out 
 upon the "general welfare" of the whole Union, he indi- 
 cated the desire so to administer the government as to 
 make the national compact indissoluble, by filling other 
 minds with as fervid patriotism as occupied his own. 
 
 Madison's administration ended March 3, 1817. One 
 of our greatest statesmen, referring to that event, says: 
 ' ' It was his fortune to conduct the affairs of state in a 
 most trying period of our country's history; but she 
 passed in safety through the perils that beset her; and 
 when he retired to the peaceful shades of Montpelier, he 
 left his countrymen in the enjoyment of an unusual degree 
 of tranquillity, prosperity and happiness." If it were 
 proper to add another word by way of eulogy, it might 
 well be said that, as he was guided through all his pub- 
 lic life by intense and ardent patriotism, he left such an 
 example of devotion to the Union he aided in creating, 
 that the wisest statesmen of the nation may now and 
 hereafter profit by its imitation. 
 
JAMES MONROE 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 JAMES MONROE 
 
 There was nothing peculiarly striking or impressive 
 in the personal appearance of Monroe. He was not so 
 tall as Jefferson, but taller than Madison. His face was 
 not so shrunken as the former's, nor so full as that of the 
 latter. His countenance indicated the possession of the 
 highest reflective faculties and perfect candor and sincer- 
 ity — wholly without dissimulation. For these qualities 
 he was universally esteemed, and it was impossible to ob- 
 serve him closely and hear him converse, without con- 
 cluding that, in this respect, his reputation was well de- 
 served. I had been always taught thus to regard him, 
 and this estimate of him became fixed in my mind by 
 personal observation. He was a fine specimen of what, 
 in my boyhood, was called an "old Virginia gentleman," 
 — sincere in manner, simple in tastes, courteous in de- 
 portment, and manly in intercourse with all. 
 
 I saw him frequently. He resided near the village of 
 Aldie, in Loudoun county, Virginia, and it was his cus- 
 tom to make frequent visits to Jefferson and Madison, in 
 Albemarle and Orange counties, which required that he 
 should pass through the town of my nativity, both going 
 and returning. He traveled in a two-horse carriage, 
 driven by a negro servant, and always stopped at the 
 same hotel and remained all night, in order to hold social 
 
 (87) 
 
88 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 intercourse with friends residing there, who had been his 
 companions in the war of the Revolution. Whenever he 
 arrived it was soon known to all, and there were very few 
 among the small population who did not pay their re- 
 spects to him. These crowds were not sufficient to con- 
 stitute a modern levee, but they were composed of sin- 
 cere admirers who were never slow in discharging all the 
 courtesies and amenities of social intercourse. Upon sev- 
 eral of these occasions, boy as I was, I succeeded in 
 crowding so near to him as to obtain distinct views of his 
 person and hear him converse. Several of the Revolu- 
 tionary officers who visited him served with him under 
 Washington, and while, upon these occasions, they had 
 no opportunity to recount the scenes through which they 
 had passed together, I have not forgotten with what ad- 
 miration I looked upon him and them, as the represent- 
 atives of the most glorious period in our history. More 
 than six decades of time have passed since then, but 
 these veterans are not infrequently brought back before 
 me among the visions of the night-time, as well as amid 
 the scenes of active life. 
 
 Besides the questions which had previously divided the 
 country into the Republican and the Federal parties, others 
 which grew out of the war with Great Britain, under 
 Madison's administration, were of such exciting char- 
 acter as not only to influence, but to control the Presi- 
 dential election of 1816. Monroe was nominated by a 
 Republican Congressional Caucus as the war candidate, 
 and the Federalists made no nomination, but were con- 
 tent to unite upon Rufus King, who had opposed the 
 war at the beginning, but afterwards favored its vigorous 
 
JAMES MONROE. 89 
 
 prosecution. The popular vote was largely in favor of 
 Monroe, and he accordingly received the support of i6 
 States, casting 221 electoral votes, and King received 
 those of 3 States, casting 34 electoral votes — 19 being then 
 the whole number of States. This tended somewhat to 
 fan the flames of sectional strife, inasmuch as four of the 
 five Presidents up to that time elected had been from the 
 same State in the South, while the North had elected 
 only one, — in other words, it was argued that, at the 
 close of Madison's administration, the South had con- 
 trolled the government for twenty-four years, and the 
 North only four years, and that if Monroe should serve 
 eight years, these twenty-four would be increased to 
 thirty-two. Still, however, the questions growing out of 
 the war were so national in character that the spirit of 
 sectionalism was almost entirely subdued, and Monroe's 
 election introduced an era of peace between the sec- 
 tions as well as, in a large measure, between the for- 
 mer parties. And this result was entirely consistent 
 with his pacific temper and the whole course of his 
 public life, — for among our public men not one had been 
 more zealous in the national cause, or had contributed in 
 a more important degree to the change of the Confedera- 
 tion into a Constitutional Government. Nor had any 
 served with greater gallantry during the Revolution. In 
 that perilous period he was distinguished for his bravery. 
 After having been wounded in the battle of Trenton, he 
 was compelled to quit active service for a time, but upon 
 his recovery returned immediately to the army, under 
 Washington, and became aid-de-camp to Lord Sterling, 
 and distinguished himself in the battles of Brandywine, 
 
pO PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Germantown, and Monmouth. He was greatly esteemed 
 for his military talents, and it is worthy of remembrance 
 as a historic fact that he and Washington were the only 
 Revolutionary officers ever elevated to the Presidency, 
 and, moreover, have been the only Presidents ever unani- 
 mously elected, as was the case twice with Washington 
 and once with him. 
 
 When the question of abandoning the Confederation 
 was agitating the country the services of Monroe were es- 
 sentially important. It is hard to imagine a more deli- 
 cate and important crisis in the affairs of any people than 
 that which then engaged public attention. It required 
 great discretion and the utmost wisdom to avoid the pit- 
 falls in the pathway of the country. There was noth- 
 ing in the past history and experience of the world which 
 could be taken as a guide, — no landmarks to steer by 
 could be discovered. By the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence it had been resolved to create a nation, but the ex- 
 periment up to that point had proved to absolute dem- 
 onstration a failure, inasmuch as there was entirely lack- 
 ing the spirit of unity in which alone the sentiment of 
 nationality could exist. The thirteen States which had 
 entered into the League of Confederation occupied terri- 
 torial possessions upon the Atlantic, stretched out upon 
 a coast line greater in length than fifteen degrees of lati- 
 tude. Each desired a commerce of its own upon the 
 ocean, and such methods of developing its internal re- 
 sources as were dictated by the varieties of soil and cli- 
 mate, and by the habits and customs of the inhabitants. 
 There were also differences of sentiment which tended to 
 prevent the populations from becoming sufficiently homo- 
 
JAMES MONROE. 9 1 
 
 geneous to form a nation. In fact, there was very little 
 that did not contribute to produce divergence rather than 
 union ; and one can scarcely conceive of a task more dif- 
 ficult than to bring so many antagonizing elements into 
 harmony. 
 
 The part performed by Monroe at this important period 
 was so marked by disinterested patriotism, and his con- 
 spicuous services in the Revolution were so well under- 
 stood by the whole country, that when he became Presi- 
 dent the conviction was universal that the affairs of the 
 government would be well and faithfully administered. 
 He had not favored the acceptance of the Constitution, 
 because of the absence of what he considered necessary 
 guarantees ; but the general conviction was that in this 
 his chief desire had been to preserve, against the possi- 
 bility of infraction, the main fundamental principles upon 
 which alone popular government can be made secure. 
 The Constitution having been adopted, however, and the 
 Union formed, his fidelity to both was unquestioned ; and 
 he therefore came to the Presidency, after the close of the 
 war with Great Britain, under circumstances favorable to 
 the peaceful development of the country. He had a 
 broad field for the cultivation of amicable relations be- 
 tween the sections, for the rebuke of party excesses, and 
 for making more secure than ever the foundations of the 
 Union. And for all this he was materially aided by his 
 equanimity of temper and conceded honesty of purpose. 
 
 Before Monroe came to the Presidency many things 
 had combined to anger the political parties towards each 
 other. The violent abuse of Washington had incensed 
 his Revolutionary compatriots in the highest degree, and 
 
92 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 they were not accustomed to suppress or conceal their 
 indignation or to employ dubious terms when expressing 
 it. The Alien and Sedition laws of Adams's administra- 
 tion had been the cause of an angry conflict between 
 the States and the National Government, which had 
 engendered the most intense passion. The war with 
 Great Britain had produced sectional animosities calcu- 
 lated to excite alarm for the safety of the Union. The 
 approval of the Bank of the United States by Madison, 
 in i8i6, was considered by the followers of Jefferson as 
 in opposition to his method of interpreting the Constitu- 
 tion, and as favorable to that of Hamilton, which Wash- 
 ington had approved. And there were innumerable other 
 incidental matters which inflamed the parties and con- 
 vulsed the country from one end to the other. Having 
 been confronted by this condition of affairs Monroe com- 
 menced his administration under most trying circumstan- 
 ces, both to the country and himself. 
 
 General Jackson was then preparing for the prosecu- 
 tion of the war against the Seminole Indians, to avenge 
 the depredations upon the property of our citizens, to 
 which they had been incited by the Spanish authorities 
 of Florida. He had never been a politician in the com- 
 monly accepted sense, but the brilliant generalship he 
 displayed at New Orleans in 1815 placed him in such a 
 position as to give him commanding influence throughout 
 the country, and especially among the communities where 
 he had been long and favorably known. His patriotism 
 was broad enough to embrace the whole country, and as 
 he could not fail to realize the dangers threatened by the 
 excesses of party spirit, he resolved to throw his influence 
 
JAMES MONROE. qt 
 
 upon the side of the country, by urging upon Monroe the 
 necessity of placing some wholesome restraint upon these 
 excesses. Accordingly, as soon as it was understood 
 that Monroe was elected, Jackson wrote him a letter, 
 dated November 12, i8i6, which deserves to be printed 
 upon some imperishable material and hung up in every 
 dwelling-house and public edifice in the country. In it 
 he said : 
 
 "Your happiness and the nation's welfare materially 
 depend upon the selections which are to be made to fill 
 the heads of departments. Everything depends on the 
 selection of your ministry. In every selection, party and 
 party feelings should be avoided. Now is the time to 
 exterminate that monster called party spirit. By select- 
 ing characters most conspicuous for their probity, virtue, 
 capacity and firmness, without any regard to party, you 
 will go far to, if not entirely, eradicate those feelings 
 which, on former occasions, threw so many obstacles in 
 the way of government ; and perhaps have the pleasure 
 and honor of uniting a people heretofore politically divid- 
 ed. The chief magistrate of a great and powerful nation 
 should never indulge in party feelings. His conduct 
 should be liberal and disinterested, always bearing in 
 mind that he acts for the whole and not a part of the 
 community." 
 
 Monroe did not accept this advice. His reasoning to 
 the contrary of it has been preserved, but it fails entirely 
 to weaken Jackson's main position — that the President is, 
 from necessity, the representative of the whole nation and 
 not a part of it. He attempted to evade the force of this 
 by assuming the false hypothesis that the Federalists 
 
94 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 were the enemies of the country, and their appointment 
 to office, if they remained faithful to their professed con- 
 victions, would, in some sense, imperil the public wel- 
 fare. This assumption doubtless arose out of the fact 
 that during the recent war with Great Britain that party 
 had pursued such a course as to excite the suspicion of 
 disloyalty to the Union. To that extent, if his assump- 
 tion had been true, he would have been sustained by the 
 country, and by Jackson as well. But it was not true; — 
 for he expressed the opinion, in his assignment of rea- 
 sons, that there were large numbers of Federalists who 
 were dissatisfied with the attitude in which their party 
 had placed them, and were desirous of the success of the 
 Republican policy. It is fair to presume that Jackson 
 knew this, also, and that his own patriotism prompted 
 him to suggest the course he did, with the belief that it 
 would contribute essentially to the restoration of internal 
 harmony, and, by strengthening the bonds of union, 
 promote the "general welfare." When he spoke of the 
 community as a whole, he undoubtedly meant the nation, 
 and intended to convey the idea that, as each citizen 
 was interested in its preservation, he should not be for- 
 bidden to participate in the management of public affairs 
 merely because of his party alliance. With him, fidelity 
 to the nation, as such, was one thing; but mere differ- 
 ence of opinion with regard to measures of domestic pol- 
 icy was another. The first was of such a character as to 
 exclude all the adversaries of the nation from participa- 
 ting in the management of public affairs, but the latter 
 was not. In this Jackson was right and Monroe wrong ; 
 and if the advice of the former had been followed by the 
 
JAMES MONROE. nt 
 
 latter, it is not probable that there would ever have ex- 
 isted such a condition of things as to give rise to the de- 
 moralizing doctrine of the "spoils of office" as the reward 
 of the "victors" in the contests of party. 
 
 Monroe formed his first cabinet entirely of anti-Feder- 
 alists — that is, of Republicans. It consisted of John 
 Quincy Adams, Secretary of State; William H. Craw- 
 ford, Secretary of the Treasury; Isaac Shelby, Secretary 
 of War; B. W. Crowningshield, Secretary of the Navy; 
 and Richard Rush, Attorney-General. These men were 
 all distinguished for ability and commanded the general 
 respect and confidence, not merely because of their own 
 fitness, but because of the estimation in which the Presi- 
 dent was universally held. The administration com- 
 menced, therefore, under favorable conditions, — especially 
 in so far as it had the opportunity of allaying the party 
 excitement which had previously kept the country in a 
 state of ferment. That it employed the opportunity 
 wisely is sufficiently indicated by the fact that party feel- 
 ing soon became moderated. While the advice of Jack- 
 son was not followed with regard to the members of the 
 cabinet there was no wholesale proscription of Federalists 
 in the selection of those charged only with administrative 
 duties. These were chosen mainly because of their 
 qualifications, and the result gave general satisfaction. It 
 may be assumed with entire confidence, that it was owing 
 to this that, when Monroe's first term was about to ex- 
 pire, he was unanimously re-elected to the second — a 
 popular compliment paid only to Washington and him. 
 
 While the internal condition of the country was satis- 
 factory, much difficulty arose ^out of our relations with 
 
96 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 one of the formidable European powers. Spain owned 
 Florida and was not a little incensed at the United States 
 because we had obtained Louisiana from France, in the 
 face of a treaty stipulation upon the part of the latter 
 power that this should not be done. As a consequence 
 of this ill-feeling the Spanish authorities in Florida en- 
 couraged the Seminole Indians to make forays across our 
 southern border and commit every form of devastation, 
 including the murder of the inhabitants. Jackson was 
 sent to punish these savages, and there are very few 
 readers of our history who are not familiar with the man- 
 ner in which he did it — reflecting honor upon the country 
 and credit upon himself and the gallant army which fol- 
 lowed him. His invasion of Florida was a bold and 
 daring act, for which there was an attempt made in Con- 
 gress to censure him, but which signally failed. He was 
 thoroughly vindicated and justified by Monroe, and 
 measures were soon begun by the administration, 
 looking to the ultimate acquisition of Florida by the 
 United States, as absolutely necessary to the peace and 
 quiet of our southern border. This was consummated by 
 a treaty made February 22, 1819, at Washington City, 
 and signed by John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, 
 and the Spanish minister. 
 
 In making this treaty the error of Jefferson was re- 
 peated, — that is, an act was perpetrated wholly without 
 any warrant in the Constitution. Jefferson had failed to 
 accomplish what he desired — an amendment of the Con- 
 stitution authorizing the acquisition of foreign territory — 
 and Monroe considered the single precedent in the case of 
 Louisiana as full justification for him. In so far as the ne- 
 
JAMES MONROE. 97 
 
 cessity for the acquisition of Florida is concerned, it stands 
 precisely upon the same grounds as that of Louisiana — 
 both having been not only necessary but advantageous, 
 in the highest sense — but it left the people of the United 
 States still confronted by the question whether or no any 
 necessity whatsoever can justify or even excuse a deliber- 
 ate violation of the Constitution. We needed Florida — 
 that is undoubted — and it has become a part of the Union, 
 entitled to as much protection as any of the thirteen origi- 
 nal States. But the obligation to administer the govern- 
 ment within the limitations of the Constitution has been 
 increased rather than weakened by the extraordinary 
 growth of our population and the infusion into it of heter- 
 ogeneous and warring elements. Its violation — no mat- 
 ter with what intent — is threatening to the life of the na- 
 tion; — for if we allow the necessity of to-day to become 
 that of to-morrow, or a new exigency to be created when- 
 ever the projects of ambition may suggest it, then some 
 bold usurper may trample the whole instrument under his 
 feet and find examples enough in history to plead in pal- 
 liation of his treason. 
 
 It does not become us, at this day, to speak censori- , 
 ously of Jefferson and Monroe, on account of their acqui- 
 sition of Louisiana and Florida. Their offenses against 
 the Constitution have been long since condoned by the 
 whole country and by all parties. Nevertheless, it would 
 be unwise to conceal them entirely from the present gen- 
 eration, in whose hands the interests and future destiny 
 of the country will soon be placed. Scarcely a day 
 passes without the occurrence of something to remind us 
 of our rapidly increasing population, the wonderful devel- 
 7 
 
gS PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 opment of our material resources, the increasing diversity 
 of our occupations, the multiplying tendencies to the in- 
 crease of corporate wealth and power, and, more than all 
 these combined, the vast increase of immigrants from al- 
 most every nation in the world, who import with them 
 principles and sentiments unlike our own, and often in 
 conflict with them. From some of these sources there 
 may possibly, — perhaps probably — arise influences prej- 
 udicial to the general welfare and threatening to some of 
 the fundamental principles of the government. If there 
 should, it will undoubtedly be more easy to counteract 
 these influences by guarding and preserving the Consti- 
 tution in its integrity, than by permitting its continued 
 violation upon the plea of necessity, — a plea which may 
 be made available by them to create new necessities for 
 themselves. If, therefore, the borders of the nation are 
 to be still further extended, under any of the possible 
 contingencies of the future, the Constitution should be so 
 amended, as Jefferson desired, that it may be done, if at 
 all, in consistence with its provisions. Who is wise 
 enough to foresee the effect likely to be produced upon a 
 heterogeneous population, by the continued and persist- 
 ent violation of our fundamental law? 
 
 The most disturbing question which arose during 
 Monroe's administration grew out of the proposition to 
 admit the Territory of Missouri into the Union as a State. 
 The section of country included within the proposed 
 boundaries was a part of the Louisiana purchase, and as 
 the treaty with France obliged the United States to pro- 
 tect all the inhabitants of the ceded territory in their 
 rights of person and property, the question whether slav- 
 
JAMES MONROE. 99 
 
 ery should or should not exist there was directly involved. 
 Upon the part of the South it was contended that as the 
 right to hold slaves existed at the time of the purchase, 
 it was among the rights guaranteed by the treaty, and 
 could not be constitutionally violated. Upon the part of 
 the North it was insisted that as slavery was in violation 
 of the moral law, the United States could not give either 
 direct or implied sanction to it without being guilty of an 
 immoral act. Stripped, however, of all generalities, it 
 was neither more nor less than a struggle for sectional as- 
 cendency — a controversy between the free States of the 
 North and the slave States of the South for political power. 
 Everybody now is familiar with the consequences which 
 have since followed this controversy, but even then, when 
 it was comparatively new, it so aroused sectional passions 
 as to place the Union in fearful peril. Monroe was a 
 slaveholder and all his property interests were in a slave 
 State, but he bore himself with conspicuous propriety, 
 if not impartiality, during this exciting sectional contest, 
 and when it was at last settled by excluding slavery north 
 of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes of latitude, there were 
 few men in the country more rejoiced than he. His 
 moderation, upon this as well as other subjects, was well 
 understood by all, and hence, when the controversy was 
 at its height, he escaped censure even from the most ex- 
 cited opponents of slavery. He was not disposed to em- 
 ploy executive power to defeat the will of the nation, 
 where no constitutional difficulties were involved. 
 
 With regard to the rules for interpreting the Constitu- 
 tion he had agreed with Jefferson, between whom and 
 
lOO PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 himself the most intimate relations existed. Being una- 
 ble, therefore, to find, consistently with these rules, any 
 grant of power to Congress to appropriate the public 
 money for carrying on a general system of internal im- 
 provements, he vetoed a bill for continuing the Cumber- 
 land road. Upon this question his argument was elab- 
 orate and able, — manifestly the result of much thought 
 and unquestionable honesty of purpose. But it subjected 
 him to severe criticism, especially in the West, where the 
 sentiment in favor of the Cumberland road was almost 
 universal, because, as was alleged, he had stretched the 
 powers of the government entirely beyond the Constitution 
 in order to acquire Florida, as Jefferson had also done in 
 the case of Louisiana — both thereby far exceeding the 
 most latitudinarian construction of Hamilton, — and yet 
 insisted upon so limiting and restricting those powers, 
 with regard to the internal improvement of the country, 
 that its future development should be left dependent upon 
 the States alone, without any aid whatsoever from the 
 National Government. The new States interested in the 
 Cumberland road were occupied by an industrious popu- 
 lation, engaged in clearing away the timber from their 
 lands in order to make them productive and profitable, 
 and were consequently not in a condition to be taxed by 
 the States, even for improvements absolutely necessary 
 for local purposes. To them the rules of constitutional 
 interpretation laid down by Monroe — although supported 
 by the authority of Jefferson — seemed incomprehensible, 
 in view of the purchase of Louisiana and Florida. They 
 considered both these acquisitions of inestimable value, 
 especially that which secured the navigation of the Mis- 
 
JAMES MONROE. lOr 
 
 sissippi river ; but were unable to understand why, after 
 they were made, the National Government should retain 
 the ownership of the public domain within the new States 
 and throw the burden of taxation necessary to the gen- 
 eral development and welfare, as well as to increase the 
 value of that domain, entirely upon these struggling pop- 
 ulations. They reasoned thus : that if the National Gov- 
 ernment possessed the power to acquire foreign territory, 
 or to exercise ownership over the public domain within 
 the States, — it must necessarily and logically possess also 
 the incidental power to make interstate improvements, 
 in order thereby to induce emigration from the old to the 
 new States, to increase the value and sales of the public 
 lands, and to add to the general prosperity. 
 
 Opinions of this character became so general through- 
 out the West and Northwest that Monroe lost popularity 
 in these sections, and the votes of the new States would 
 undoubtedly have been cast against him at another elec- 
 tion. But as his veto of the Cumberland Road bill was 
 during his second term. May 4, 1822, the opposition to 
 him did not become violent, because the general estima- 
 tion in which he was held protected him against any 
 suspicion of the integrity and sincerity of his motives. 
 The consequence was, however, that the question of the 
 constitutional power of Congress to make appropriations 
 for interstate improvements became a more direct issue 
 than it had been previously, and the Presidential election 
 of 1824 was, in a very large measure, influenced by it. 
 
 It is well understood that Monroe approved the method 
 of interpreting the Constitution insisted upon by Jeffer- 
 son, when in Washington's cabinet — which limited Con- 
 
t02 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 gress to the exercise of such powers only as were expressly 
 granted — denying to it any incidental or constructive pow- 
 ers. It is equally well understood that Washington declined 
 to govern his administration by the advice of Jefferson, but 
 did govern it by that of Hamilton, whereby the rule he 
 established was this : That congressional power was not 
 limited by the express grants of the Constitution, but that 
 it included such implied powers as were necessary to 
 execute the express powers, — as, for example. Congress 
 is expressly granted the power to establish post-offices 
 and post-roads, but unless it had the implied power to 
 appoint postmasters and pay them salaries, and make ap- 
 propriations for the transportation of the mail, this ex- 
 pressly enumerated power would become inoperative and 
 valueless. During Jefferson's administration there had 
 prevailed what was known as his "strict construction" 
 theory, in opposition to this, and the consequence was 
 that our commerce upon the ocean was left without naval 
 protection, and so at the mercy of foreign powers that 
 war with great Britain, under Madison's administration, 
 was unavoidable, as the only means of vindicating the 
 nation's honor. So that by the time of Monroe's ad- 
 ministration it had been well demonstrated that while this 
 doctrine of strict construction and the denial of implied 
 powers to Congress might serve the ends of local politi- 
 cians, it would, if persistently practiced, prevent the 
 United States from becoming one of the leading nations 
 in the world — the end which the founders of the govern- 
 ment hoped for at the beginning. Therefore, we find 
 Monroe in his labored veto message — the longest and most 
 labored ever communicated to Congress — compelled to ad- 
 
JAMES MONROE. IO3 
 
 mit that his mind had undergone some change upon this 
 very question of implied powers. His message contains 
 this paragraph : 
 
 " It is contended, on the one side, that, as the National 
 Government is a government of limited powers, it has no 
 right to expend money, except in the performance of acts 
 authorized by the other specific grants, according to a 
 strict construction of their powers; that this grant, in 
 neither of its branches, gives to Congress discretionary 
 power of any kind, but is a mere instrument in its hands 
 to carry into effect the powers contained in the other 
 grants . To this construction I was inclined in the more 
 early stage of our government; but, on further reflection 
 and observation, my mind has undergone a change, for 
 reasons which I will frankly unfold." 
 
 He meant by this, simply and clearly, that as the strict 
 construction theory of Jefferson would cramp and confine 
 the powers of Congress so as to impede the growth and 
 progress of the nation, he had, upon becoming sensible 
 of that fact, so far changed his mind as to recognize its 
 constitutional power to appropriate money for national 
 improvements ; leaving, as he proceeded to show, all that 
 were merely local to the States. And this he so dis- 
 tinctly stated to be the conclusion he had reached, that 
 even the friends of the Cumberland road were somewhat 
 sparing in their censures of him, — even those who were 
 the most latitudinarian interpreters of the Constitution. 
 The result was that the rule of interpretation generally 
 accepted since then has been — in the words of one of the 
 foremost men of his cabinet — that "whatever is abso- 
 lutely necessary to the accomplishment of the object of 
 
I04 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 the grant, though not specified, may fairly be considered 
 as included in it. Beyond this, the doctrine of incidental 
 power can not be carried." And such has been the rul- 
 ing of the Supreme Court of the United States, which has 
 been followed by all the leading judicial tribunals of the 
 country. 
 
 It was fortunate for Monroe that he lived at a time 
 when a change of opinion upon a great public question 
 could be avowed without detraction. It is not probable, 
 however, that he hesitated from any fear of consequences 
 to himself, for he belonged to that class of men who 
 courageously discharge their duty to the country regard- 
 less of consequences to themselves. Such men are en- 
 titled to honorable remembrance and to conspicuous 
 places in history — far more than those more pretentious 
 to merit, who, in order to preserve a reputation for con- 
 sistency, persist in error when made conscious of it. 
 
 Monroe had to decide a delicate international question 
 which arose during his administration, out of the relations 
 between the government of Spain and the Spanish- 
 American States. These latter, imitating the example of 
 the United States, rebelled against European tyranny and 
 oppression and resolved to enter upon the experiment of 
 self-government. When they had sufficiently demon- 
 strated their ability to maintain their independence, he 
 recognized them as independent nations, capable of enter- 
 ing into relations, by treaty or otherwise, with other na- 
 tions. At this the monarchical powers of Europe became 
 incensed and entered into an alliance, not only to prevent 
 future revolts, but to put a stop entirely to all revolution- 
 ary attempts to establish governments of the people. 
 
JAMES MONROE. 
 
 105 
 
 Monroe's equanimity was not disturbed by this, but he 
 met the question in a manner eminently becoming a 
 President of the United States, by announcing to the 
 world that this country would not submit to any effort on 
 the part of the allied monarchical powers of Europe to over- 
 throw and plant monarchy in the place of independent 
 popular governments, where they existed upon this con- 
 tinent. This is what is known as the "Monroe Doc- 
 trine," but which it would be more proper to call the 
 American doctrine announced by Monroe ; fqr it but ex- 
 presses the sentiment of the entire nation. 
 
 There was an entire absence of anything like vanity in 
 the life of Monroe. This was indicated by his manner 
 and whole appearance ; and conspicuously by the fact 
 that, after he retired from the Presidency, he served in 
 the capacity of justice of the peace in the county of his 
 residence. He did this from a sense of duty to the pub- 
 lic — from the desire to employ his learning and experi- 
 ence for the benefit of his neighbors, in the humble ca- 
 pacity of justice of the peace, as he had employed them 
 for the nation at large as President. In this inconspicu- 
 ous position he served with his accustomed fidelity, as he 
 also did for the people of Virginia in the State Convention 
 of 1829, assembled to amend the Constitution, — in which 
 body he and Madison, and Chief Justice Marshall, 
 were able, by their combined conciliatory spirit, to sub- 
 due the intemperate zeal of those who threatened a divis- 
 ion of the State. When his health began to fail his de- 
 cline was rapid, and he died in the city of New York, 
 July 4, 183 1, aged seventy-two years — having outlived 
 Adams and Jefferson exactly five years, and being prov- 
 
I06 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 identially permitted, like them, to lie down to his last 
 rest upon the birthday of the nation to whose honor and 
 glory the three had devoted the best years of their 
 lives. 
 
ytmN .^ U/7VC r.,A daws' 
 
J, 2 , c/Licuiy^ 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 As Monroe's administration drew to its close, political 
 parties were re-formed. This did not follow immedi- 
 ately, but rather as consequent upon the condition of the 
 country, which, after the strain occasioned by the Mis- 
 souri contest, had settled down into comparative quiet. 
 There was no immediate cause of popular agitation, and 
 the lines which had separated the old parties were gradu- 
 ally becoming less distinct. Monroe having modified 
 his original views with reference to the Jeffersonian theory 
 of strict construction and the denial of any implied pow- 
 ers to Congress, there was but little left for party con- 
 flict, apart from our relations to foreign powers and the 
 mere management of domestic affairs. And as the Pres- 
 idency was a position of the highest honor, which many 
 desired to attain, the politicians began to cast about for 
 the control of the election of 1824. The Republican 
 party was greatly in the ascendant, both in Congress and 
 in the departments of government, and the Federal 
 party was nearly extinct, — not existing, in fact, as an or- 
 ganization in any part of the country. The re-formation 
 of parties, therefore, was considered a necessity. 
 
 It had been the custom of the Republican party since 
 1800 — when Jefferson was nominated — to entrust the se- 
 
 (107) 
 
lo8 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 lection of a candidate for the Presidency to a Congres- 
 sional caucus. In 1824 there was violent opposition to 
 this method ; but it is not certain whether this grew out 
 of dislike of the system or the rivalry between candidates. 
 Whatever the cause, it was well understood that the party 
 throughout the country would not abide by a caucus 
 nomination. Notwithstanding this, however, a caucus 
 was held by a minority of the Republican members of 
 Congress, which nominated William H. Crawford, who was 
 Monroe's Secretary of the Treasury. This had the effect 
 of disorganizing the party, and three other Republican 
 candidates were, during the canvass, brought into the 
 contest, namely, John Quincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary 
 of State ; Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay, Speaker of 
 the Congressional House of Representatives. This is the 
 first Presidential contest of which I have any remem- 
 brance, and although it was not attended with any special 
 excitement, the fact that all the candidates were of the 
 same party, — there having been no Federal candidate — 
 created jealousies between them which afterwards ripened 
 into positive rivalry. The result was disappointing to all 
 the candidates and their friends. The total popular vote 
 was only 352,062, but six States — Delaware, Georgia, 
 Louisiana, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont — 
 then chose electors by their Legislatures. Of the vote 
 cast Jackson received 155,872; Adams 105,321 ; Clay 
 46,587; and Crawford 44,282. The aggregate vote 
 against Jackson was 196,190, so that he had only a plu- 
 rality of 50,551 over Adams, but fell 40,318 short of a 
 majority of the popular vote cast. There were then 24 
 States with 261 electoral votes. When these were can- 
 
JOHN QUINCy ADAMS. IO9 
 
 vassed they were found to be divided as follows : Jack- 
 son, 10 States and 99 electoral votes; Adams, 8 States 
 and 84 electoral votes; Crawford, 3 States and 41 elec- 
 toral votes, and Clay, 3 States and 37 electoral votes. 
 The effect of this vote by States produced the same com- 
 parative result as the popular vote — that is, neither had 
 a majority. Jackson had the greatest number of States 
 and electoral votes, but there were 14 States and 162 
 electoral votes against him — a majority of each — leaving 
 him only a plurality of 15 electoral votes over Adams. 
 No candidate having received a majority of the electoral 
 votes, there was consequently no election, and the duty 
 of choosing the President, under the Constitution, de- 
 volved upon the House of Representatives, — each State 
 casting one vote. The final result was that, on February 
 9, 1825, Adams received 13 votes, Jackson 7, and Craw- 
 ford 4; and the former, having received a majority, was 
 declared elected. 
 
 Adams was somewhat embarrassed by this result. 
 When it was announced to him by a committee of the 
 House he informed them of his inclination to decline, for 
 the reason that one of his competitors had received a 
 larger popular vote than himself, but felt constrained by 
 a sense of duty to accept, because no provision had been 
 made for such a vacancy in the Presidential office as 
 would exist if he did not, and for the further reason that 
 he had been elected in pursuance to the provisions of the 
 Constitution. He is entitled to credit for this frank 
 avowal, as he is also for the commendation he bestowed 
 upon his predecessors, and especially Monroe, under 
 
no PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 whom he had so conspicuously filled the office of Secre- 
 tary of State. 
 
 Having been elected as a Republican — although he 
 was called the ' ' coalition ' ' candidate because the Fed- 
 eralists supported him — he followed the example of Mon- 
 roe in selecting only Republicans for cabinet officers. 
 They were as follows : Henry Clay, Secretary of State ; 
 Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury; James Bar- 
 bour, Secretary of War; Samuel L. Southard, Secretary 
 of the Navy; and William Wirt, Attorney-General. 
 When the nomination of Clay came before the Senate it 
 was opposed by fourteen Senators who voted against his 
 confirmation, while twenty-seven voted for it. These 
 negative votes were cast by Republican Senators who 
 adopted that mode of expressing their opposition to both 
 Adams and Clay because of the accusation of ' ' bargain 
 and sale ' ' between them — as it was alleged — ^whereby 
 Adams had agreed to appoint Clay Secretary of State if 
 the latter, as a member of the House of Representatives, 
 would vote for him. There had been, before the election, 
 a rumor to that effect, and Clay's acceptance of the office 
 was subsequently regarded by them as confirmation of 
 the suspicions excited by it. It was intended at the time 
 to be — and, in fact, afterwards became — an important 
 factor in favor of Jackson, because of the pretext that 
 this corrupt combination alone had cheated him out of 
 the Presidency. So skillfully was the foundation for this 
 suspicion laid, that it became, in the end, most influen- 
 tial in securing the subsequent election of Jackson and the 
 defeat of Adams. It had much also to do with the de- 
 feat of Clay when he afterwards ran for the Presidency. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. HI 
 
 It is quite certain that there has never been any matter, 
 not involving political principles and policy, which has 
 more materially influenced the fortunes of political parties 
 than this, — a fact which demonstrates, more than any 
 other in American politics, how easy it is for malignant 
 partisans to play upon the prejudices of credulous voters 
 and thereby change the whole course of the nation's do- 
 mestic policy. A brief review of the precise facts is due 
 to the memory of both Adams and Clay, and will enable 
 the present generation to see how easily mere groundless 
 suspicion may be converted into reality, in the imagina- 
 tion of those who do not hesitate to obliterate the dis- 
 tinction between right and wrong — to obscure the truth 
 and give prominence to falsehood — when the ends of 
 partisan ambition are thereby accomplished. 
 
 After it had become known that no candidate had re- 
 ceived a majority of the electoral votes, and when the 
 anxiety with reference to the final result was universal, 
 there appeared in the National Intelligencer, published 
 in Washington City, of February 3, 1825, an article 
 wherein it was stated, upon the authority of George 
 Kremer — a member of the House of Representatives from 
 Pennsylvania — that ' ' one of the most disgraceful trans- 
 actions that ever covered with infamy the Republican 
 ranks," had been discovered and "ascertained to a cer- 
 tainty;" which was, that the friends of Adams had made 
 overtures to Clay that for his aid to elect Adams he 
 should be made Secretary of State; — that, before this 
 proposition was accepted. Clay had proposed to the 
 friends of Jackson that he would support the latter if that 
 position were assured to him, but this was indignantly re- 
 
112 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 jected; and that thereupon the "bargain" was actually 
 made between Adams and Clay, which required the lat- 
 ter to transfer his influence to the former and secure his 
 election, for which he was to be rewarded by being made 
 Secretary of State. The direct manner in which these 
 charges were made, and the express declaration by a 
 member of the House that the truth of them had been 
 "ascertained to a certainty," caused intense excitement 
 in the political circles of Washington City, as they did 
 elsewhere throughout the country. Clay was a man of 
 strong impulses, and being keenly sensitive with reference 
 to what concerned his own personal honor, must have 
 felt intensely indignant at this accusation. Notwithstand- 
 ing this, however, he would have treated it with silent 
 contempt — as prompted only by partisan motives — but 
 for the fact that the charge was directly indorsed by a 
 member of the House of Representatives. Accordingly, 
 on the same day the charge appeared in the National In- 
 telligencer — six days before the House voted for Presi- 
 dent — he addressed the House from the Speaker's chair, 
 and asked that a committee should be selected by ballot, 
 who should be charged with the duty of investigating into 
 its truth. He insisted that this was due not only to him- 
 self, but to the House also, inasmuch as the author, a 
 member of the House, "avowed his readiness to substan- 
 tiate by proof" the charge he had made. To this Kre- 
 mer, who was present, responded that "he was willing to 
 meet the inquiry, and abide the result;" and thereupon 
 the House, after a very able discussion, appointed by bal- 
 lot a committee of seven to make the investigation. 
 Manifestly, this committee was chosen with impartiality, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 "3 
 
 and without any effort upon Clay's part to have any spe- 
 cial friend of his placed upon it — for there was none such 
 among its members. Nor was there one from among the 
 eleven colleagues of Clay to vindicate his honor, their 
 own, or that of the State of Kentucky, all of which were 
 involved. The chairman was P.P. Barbour, of Virginia, 
 who was afterwards made one of the Justices of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States by Jackson, and the 
 other members were : Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts ; 
 Louis McLane, of Delaware; John W. Taylor, of New 
 York; John Forsyth, of Georgia; Romulus M. Saunders, 
 of North Carolina; and Christopher Rankin, of Missis- 
 sippi. It requires but a single glance to see that this 
 committee contained some of the foremost men in Con- 
 gress and in the country 
 
 The committee, through the chairman, made its re- 
 port to the House February 9, 1825, wherein it was said: 
 ' ' That, upon their first meeting, with a view to execute 
 the duty imposed upon them by the House, they di- 
 rected their chairman to address a letter to the Hon. 
 George Kremer, informing him that they would be ready 
 at a particular time, therein stated, to receive any evi- 
 dence or explanation he might have to offer touching the 
 charges referred to in the communication of the Speaker, 
 of the 3d inst. ; their chairman, in conformity with this 
 instruction, did address such a letter to Mr. Kremer, who 
 replied that he would make a communication to the com- 
 mittee; accordingly he did send to them, through their 
 chairman, a communication which accompanies this re- 
 port, marked A, in which he declines to appear before 
 them for either of the purposes mentioned in their letter, 
 8 
 
114 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 alleging that he could not do so, without appearing either as 
 an accuser or a witness, both of which he protests against.'' 
 Therefore, as the committee said, they could take no 
 further steps, and the attempt at investigation having 
 thus failed, the House, after counting the electoral votes 
 and finding that no candidate had received a majority, 
 proceeded the same day to vote for President, when 
 Adams was elected. 
 
 The House must have felt indignant. The author of 
 the charge against Adams and Clay, when the latter 
 asked the appointment of the committee, had declared 
 that " he was willing to meet the inquiry, and abide the 
 result." He then voluntarily put himself in the attitude 
 of "an accuser." But when asked for the evidence 
 upon which he based his accusation, he refused to open 
 his mouth, or to furnish a single scintilla of proof ! In- 
 stead, he wrote a long communication to the committee, 
 insisting that it had no constitutional power to compel 
 him to testify, and avowing the purpose to submit to his 
 constituents what he had to say upon the subject, as they 
 constituted the only tribunal to which he acknowledged 
 responsibility ! 
 
 It has not often happened that party managers have 
 had so favorable an opportunity to play the game of po- 
 litical tricksters. Knowing the falsity of the charge of 
 "bargain and sale," and how utterly abortive would be 
 the attempt to prove it, notwithstanding the avowed 
 readiness of the author to do it, they concerted the plan 
 of providing for him an argument to prove that the 
 House had no authority to require him to testify, so that 
 thereafter the partisan press could be employed to give 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. II5 
 
 circulation to the calumny for partisan purposes. The 
 ingenuity of this scheme was attested by the ultimate re- 
 sult, for it constituted the principal charge of party ar- 
 tillery for many years and influenced many thousands of 
 voters, who had not the means, or did not take the 
 trouble, to ascertain the precise truth. It is easy to see 
 now, when all the parties are in their graves, that this 
 story was willfully false and that all the probabilities of 
 the time refuted it. Adams, Clay and Jackson were all 
 men of mark and distinction, each, in his sphere, having 
 served the country with unquestionable fidelity. But 
 Jackson's reputation was that of a great military com- 
 mander and not that of a statesman. As a member of 
 the United States Senate, he had not exhibited ability 
 beyond the average. But Adams and Clay were both 
 statesmen in the best sense of that term, and had been 
 long associated together in the public service. Why, 
 then, should not Clay vote for Adams for President, and 
 Adams make Clay Secretary of State, without the suspi- 
 cion of "bargain and sale?" Now, after the story has 
 answered the ends designed by its contrivers, there can 
 be but one answer to this question in all intelligent minds 
 — that is, that each was the proper thing to do. 
 
 During Monroe's administration Adams, as Secretary 
 of State, had not only become familiar with the relations 
 between the United States and the European powers, but 
 had adjusted them upon a satisfactory basis, — so thor- 
 oughly that his bitterest enemies could not assail him 
 upon that score. His own administration, therefore, was 
 mainly devoted to measures of domestic policy, with a 
 
I 16 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS.' 
 
 view to promote the internal prosperity of the country. 
 In his messages to Congress this object was distinctly and 
 expressly avowed. He was successful in this in some 
 important respects, such as the continuance of the Cum- 
 berland road, and the undertaking of several other works 
 of internal improvement of a national character. But he 
 had to contend, from the beginning, with the most dead- 
 ly party enmity. Whether this enmity was directed 
 mostly at him or at Clay has always been a question ; 
 but it is fair to say that it was suiBciently so at both of 
 them to have intimidated less courageous and patriotic 
 men. Neither of them, however, was intimidated — there 
 was not a drop of cowardly blood in the veins of either — 
 and any searcher after the truth of our national history will 
 find, upon thorough examination, that Monroe's adminis- 
 tration, from beginning to ending, was characterized by 
 the strictest fidelity to the honor and integrity of the na- 
 tion and the prosperity of the whole country. No sec- 
 tional sentiment was harbored for an instant, but every- 
 thing was done, in the power of the administration, to 
 hold the States in perpetual union and advance the "gen- 
 eral welfare" of all the people. 
 
 This was all accomplished in the face of violent and 
 formidable opposition, — such as would have disheartened 
 a weak and feeble administration. For about the first 
 half of Adams's term he was supported by majorities in 
 both Houses of Congress. But at this time his oppo- 
 nents were actively at work forming combinations against 
 him and preparing to defeat him in 1828. The first thing 
 considered necessary was to form an alliance between the 
 friends of Jackson and those of Crawford, in order to turn 
 
JOHN QUINCV ADAMS. ii>J 
 
 the majority in Congress against the administration, and 
 so to embarrass the government as to render Adams's re- 
 election impossible. There were some difficulties in the 
 way of an immediate consummation of this plan, but 
 when it was discovered that Crawford's health was so 
 broken down that he could not be a candidate again, 
 these were so far removed that an alliance was formed be- 
 tween his friends and Jackson's, with the distinct under- 
 standing that they should occupy common ground of op- 
 position to Adams. It was what, in military phrase, is 
 called an offensive and defensive alliance, formed by these 
 two fractions of the Republican party to overthrow a Re- 
 publican administration. For a time the character of its 
 opposition was not sufficiently determined on to be an- 
 nounced to the public, and consisted mainly of captious 
 objections to every administrative measure. While mat- 
 ters were in this condition the Legislature of Tennessee — 
 in October, 1825 — nominated Jackson for the Presidency, 
 and as this was the first step taken in the contest of 1828, 
 it became necessary for the congressional opponents of 
 the administration either to support Jackson or unite 
 upon some other Republican. Then, for the first time, 
 the friends of Crawford, who had entered into the alliance 
 against Adams, began to realize the danger of their be- 
 ing required to play a part they had not anticipated — for 
 they had been opposed to Jackson always, — but when 
 they found Jackson actually a candidate, they decided to 
 support him rather than Adams. Their hostility to Clay 
 had a good deal to do with this decision. He had voted 
 for Adams in preference to Crawford, in the House of 
 
nS PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Representatives, and this furnished them with what they 
 considered a proper occasion for punishing him. 
 
 A party alliance formed in this way could not, at that 
 time, have any other central point of unity than opposi- 
 tion to Adams and Clay, both of whom belonged to the 
 same party as these allied factions. This was proved by 
 the result, for both before and after the alliance was 
 formed the business of the country was delayed by long 
 and vituperative debates concerning the "bargain" be- 
 tween Adams and Clay, and in opposition to the meas- 
 ures recommended, from time to time, by the adminis- 
 tration. The principal charge against it was extravagance 
 — ^when, in point of fact, we never had a more economical 
 administration, as is now well known — and this resulted 
 in raising, for the first time, the party banner of reform. 
 It soon came to be understood, however, that the reform 
 sought after was the congressional control of official pa- 
 tronage, which it was found impossible to obtain under 
 Adams. He had peremptorily refused to remove officers 
 who faithfully performed their duties, merely on account 
 of their political opinions ; or to appoint officers who 
 were unqualified upon party grounds alone. And, hence, 
 the conflict waxed warmer and warmer, until it became 
 more animating and exciting than the country had ever 
 before witnessed. 
 
 Adams did not permit the course of his administration 
 to be disturbed by this clamorous opposition, although it 
 constantly increased in violence. He understood per- 
 fectly his own responsibility and that of Congress, and 
 when the measures he recommended were rejected, he 
 was quite content to let the country decide between him 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. I IQ 
 
 and his opponents. Of course, he desired re-election, 
 but it has never been charged against him — and if it had 
 it would not have been believed by those who knew him 
 well — that he endeavored to contribute to that result by 
 the improper exercise of his executive functions. In this 
 respect he set an example which, if all his successors had 
 imitated, would greatly have advanced the^ public wel- 
 fare. 
 
 In adjusting the relations between the United States 
 and the Spanish American States, after the latter had es- 
 tablished their independence of Spain, his administration 
 had a delicate duty to discharge. Inasmuch, however, 
 as he, while Secretary of State under Monroe, had con- 
 ducted the diplomatic correspondence which contains the 
 first recorded mention of the "Monroe Doctrine," and 
 which led to its announcement in the message of the 
 President, he must have felt that it was his plain duty to 
 follow in Monroe's footsteps. This he undoubtedly en- 
 deavored to do, because he had every reason to believe 
 that the people of the United States would be unwilling 
 to remain passive and see the monarchical powers of Eu- 
 rope subvert existing republics upon the American con- 
 tinent, under circumstances likely to imperil their own. 
 Therefore, when the Republics of Colombia, of Mexico, 
 and of Central America appointed a Congress to be held 
 at Panama, in 1826, and invited the United States to 
 participate, " for consultation upon American interests," 
 he did not hesitate to accept the invitation in so far as 
 his official authority enabled him — that is, he appointed 
 two ministers to attend this Congress on behalf of the 
 United States. This fact he communicated to Congress 
 
I20 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 in his first annual message, December 6, 1825. This 
 gave rise to lengthy debates in both Houses, which may- 
 still be read with profit, if for no other reason than because 
 they show what instrumentalities were employed to form 
 a party alliance against Adams's administration, by de- 
 feating its favorite measures — of which the mission to 
 Panama was supposed to be one, if not the chief. Cal- 
 houn, as Vice-President, so constructed the committees 
 of the Senate as to make them adverse to the administra- 
 tion, and the Committee on Foreign Relations reported 
 and recommended the adoption of a resolution declaring 
 the Panama mission inexpedient. The opposition were 
 unable to pass this resolution, but it was made their ral- 
 lying point, because it was supposed to furnish the most 
 formidable weapons of attack upon Adams and Clay, 
 against both of whom they made common cause. The 
 fact that the administration occupied precisely the same 
 ground as that of Monroe seems to have made no differ- 
 ence, because — as a study of the events will show, — the 
 purpose to defeat Adams in 1828 was stronger and more 
 controlling than the desire to teach the monarchists of 
 Europe that the United States would not permit them 
 to destroy any of the American republics. How strange 
 it must now seem to intelligent minds that this consti- 
 tuted the first rallying-point of opposition to Adams's 
 administration, — the common muster-ground upon which 
 the friends of Jackson and Crawford were to be drilled 
 and disciplined for the contest of 1828! The character 
 of the alliance may be easily seen by any who will critic- 
 ally examine the debates, — more particularly what was 
 said in the Senate, because in that body the discussion 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 12 1 
 
 was in secret, and only became public afterwards by the 
 removal of secrecy. 
 
 The attack upon the Panama mission was led by R. Y. 
 Hayne of South Carolina, who, among other reasons, 
 saw in it an assault upon slavery in the Southern States, 
 because the South American States had specified the ab- 
 olition of the slave-trade as one of the subjects of delib- 
 eration at the Panama Congress. He took occasion to 
 admonish the opponents of slavery that the South not 
 only did not intend to do anything that would con- 
 tribute to the abolition of slavery in Cuba and Hayti, but 
 that ' ' the very day on which the unhallowed attempt 
 shall be made by the authorities of the Federal Govern- 
 ment " to " interfere ' ' with the ' ' domestic concerns ' ' of 
 the Southern States, they will consider themselves "as 
 driven from the Union." He charged that the "Monroe 
 Doctrine ' ' was in violation of the teachings of Washing- 
 ton, who advised us not to engage in " entangling alli- 
 ances" with foreign powers. He was sustained by Levi 
 Woodbury of New Hampshire, who opposed the "Mon- 
 roe Doctrine ' ' because it was a repetition of the ' ' Holy 
 Alliance" of the European powers; — by Martin Van Bu- 
 ren of New York, who aimed his shaft at Clay by insist- 
 ing that if his advice were followed, "the fair fame of our 
 republic would be tarnished — shame would precede our 
 approach — and disgrace follow in our path ; ' ' — by John 
 Randolph of Virginia, whose speech is not reported, but 
 was understood to have been violently denunciatory of 
 both Adams and Clay; — by John M. Berrien of Georgia, 
 who considered that if the principle of universal emanci- 
 pation announced by the South American States were en- 
 
122 PERSONAL KECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 couraged by sending ministers to Panama, it would soon 
 be imparted to Cuba and other islands of the Antilles, 
 and would incite rebellion among the slaves there, and 
 endanger slavery in the Southern States; — by Mahlon 
 Dickerson of New Jersey; and by Thomas H. Benton of 
 Missouri. 
 
 It is most significant — full of suggestive thought — that 
 of these Senators, two — ^Van Buren and Berrien — became 
 members of Jackson's first cabinet; that two others of 
 them — ^Woodbury and Dickerson — afterwards served in 
 the same capacity, the former in two departments; and 
 that one of them — Van Buren — became Jackson's succes- 
 sor! The combination was well and dexterously formed. 
 It was the work of skillful hands. But it took three dec- 
 ades and a half for its fruit to become thoroughly ripened, 
 — it having been just that length of time between these 
 speeches — made in secret session of the Senate — and the 
 affair at Fort Sumter! During all the intervening years, 
 the conflict between nationalism and sectionalism raged 
 with continually increasing virulence, and the popular 
 passions boiled and bubbled like a heated cauldron. 
 
 The country was scarcely informed of this conspiracy — 
 for such it was — before it was startled by the triumphant 
 victory of sectionalism over nationalism, achieved by 
 means of it. Then, for the first time in our history, a 
 Presidential contest was prosecuted in the slave States 
 upon sectional grounds, and resulted in a sectional vic- 
 tory. Of the electoral vote of the twelve slave States 
 Jackson received 105, while Adams received only 6, cast 
 for him in Maryland — north of the Potomac river. The 
 South, therefore, became solid — as the phrase is — before 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 23 
 
 the country was aware of it ; while the North was so di- 
 vided that five Northern States gave Jaclcson 72 electoral 
 votes, which secured his election by 125 electoral votes 
 over Adams. And as an essential condition of this for- 
 midable conspiracy — without which it would have resulted 
 in failure — John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was 
 elected Vice-President on the ticket with Jackson. 
 
 There is nothing to show that Jackson was himself a 
 party to this conspiracy, or to justify such an inference. 
 When nominated for the Presidency by the Legislature of 
 Tennessee, he had resigned his seat in the Senate and re- 
 tired to private life at the Hermitage. Therefore, al- 
 though it produced a result beneficial to him in the con- 
 test of 1828, he is no further chargeable with it than may 
 be implied from his acceptance of the Presidency under 
 the existing circumstances — with full knowledge of the 
 fact that every electoral vote south of the Potomac river 
 had been cast for him, upon the false pretense that 
 Adams's administration, by adhering to the policy of 
 Monroe with regard to the South American States, was 
 preparing the North for an attack upon slavery in the 
 South. Notwithstanding this, however, it may be im- 
 plied from what afterwards occurred under his own ad- 
 ministration, that he had no sympathy with the purposes 
 and designs of these conspirators; — for when they sup- 
 posed that their power had become strong enough to defy 
 the nation and nullify its laws, he struck them such a 
 blow with his executive saber, as shivered their alliance 
 into atoms and made its northern auxiliaries reel and tot- 
 ter like drunken men. 
 
 Upon the close of Adams's administration, March 4, 
 
124 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 1829, he retired to his home in Massachusetts, where he 
 was not permitted to remain long. In 183 1 he was 
 elected to the House of Representatives in Congress, in 
 which capacity he served until his death. In this respect 
 he imitated Monroe, being ready to serve the public in 
 whatsoever capacity it was supposed his experience and 
 ability could be beneficially employed. It was there that 
 I knew him — having served with him during the whole of 
 the Twenty-seventh Congress, and again in the Thirtieth, 
 until he died. I was looking at him when he fell at his 
 desk — the post of duty — February 23, 1848. He died 
 like a true knight, with his armor on, and ready, up to 
 the last moment, to measure lances with any adversary. 
 I had many opportunities of observing him closely, and 
 while I may not have judged him as accurately as others 
 who held more intimate intercourse with him, the impres- 
 sions I had previously entertaine;d of his character and in- 
 tellectual power were entirely confirmed. Especially was 
 this the case when he was arraigned before the House for 
 treasonable intent, because he presented a petition from a 
 few citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying that the 
 Union be dissolved ! All that happened during that ex- 
 traordinary proceeding came under my personal observa- 
 tion, and very few incidents have so impressed my mind 
 as this attempt to fasten the stigma of disgrace upon him, 
 for what he considered a simple and harmless performance 
 of official duty. It was characterized by unusual eloquence 
 and great vehemence upon the part of his assailants, and 
 by wonderful intellectual power and astonishing physical 
 endurance upon his part. Although more than half a 
 century has passed, the whole scene is so well remem- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 25 
 
 bered that the principal actors seem now to re-appear in 
 my presence, although not one of them survives. 
 
 The petition was presented January 24, 1842, and was 
 accompanied by a motion that it should be referred to a 
 committee instructed to report against the prayer of the 
 petitioners. This, under ordinary circumstances, would 
 have excited neither observation nor comment; for his 
 express disavowal of sympathy with the object sought af- 
 ter — to say nothing of his personal history — ought to 
 have been held as convincing proof that he could have 
 no other purpose than to maintain inviolate the con- 
 stitutional right of petition. He had, but a few days be- 
 fore, exhibited his sincerity upon this subject by present- 
 ing a petition from citizens of Georgia, asking his own 
 removal from the Chairmanship of the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations upon the grounds that he was a mono- 
 maniac upon the subject of slavery. And after having 
 been told that this was a hoax, he still insisted that the 
 petitioners had the right to be heard, and that he also 
 had the right to defend himself if he deemed it expedient 
 against the charge of insanity. 
 
 Yet for doing only this, and in the face of his motion 
 condemning the object of the petitioners, the attempt was 
 made to induce the House to fix its censure upon him, 
 and the prosecution with that view was conducted by 
 three gentlemen admirably qualified and equipped for the 
 purpose — Gilmer and Wise of Virginia, and Marshall of 
 Kentucky. They were all men of acknowledged ability 
 — each in the prime of life — and had in the background 
 a reserve force ready to participate actively if required, 
 or to aid in torturing the victim when his limbs were 
 
126 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 bound. It does not often occur that one man is set upon 
 by such a combination — so thoroughly organized and ad- 
 mirably equipped. And when it is considered that he 
 was then past three-score and ten years, with tremulous 
 and palsied limbs, and that each of his assailants was in 
 full possession of his intellectual and physical vigor, it is 
 easy to understand that the spectacle was such as not to 
 be easily forgotten. Of "all those who witnessed it I know 
 of but two beside myself still surviving, and not one be- 
 tween the Alleghanies and the Pacific. The rest are 
 sleeping — I trust sweetly — while we three are spared for 
 a few more flickering pulse-beats. 
 
 Before the vote was taken upon the motion with which 
 Adams accompanied the introduction of the petition, a 
 resolution was introduced by Gilmer to censure him, so 
 worded as to include the imputation of a treasonable in- 
 tent. This, being privileged under the rules, took pre- 
 cedence of all other questions, and had, consequently, to 
 be considered immediately. The reading was listened to 
 in perfect silence, and as the clear voice of the Clerk 
 rang through the corridors of the old hall, the members 
 gazed in the faces of each other in almost breathless 
 amazement. Adams seemed to be the most indifferent 
 spectator, — the occasion producing no other agitation of 
 the nerves than that which physical infirmity had occa- 
 sioned. It seemed to me at the time — for being near, I 
 observed him closely — that his face would furnish an in- 
 structive study for a skillful delineator. It was as imper- 
 turbable as polished marble. In so far as he exhibited 
 the least emotion it seemed to indicate satisfaction, be- 
 cause he could see at a glance that he would be afforded 
 
JOHN qUINCY ADAMS. 127 
 
 a fit opportunity — sheltered, as he was, behind the right 
 of petition — to leave such a history of his life as would 
 thoroughly vindicate his loyalty to the Union. Besides 
 this, he must have felt rejoiced that an opportunity would 
 be afforded him to strike back such blows as would make 
 his assailants regret their indiscretion — for he, manifestly, 
 did not belong to the class of men who fulfill literally the 
 Scripture injunction which admonishes that when we are 
 stricken upon one cheek we shall quietly and unresist- 
 ingly turn the other to our adversary. Accordingly, at 
 his request, the resolution was recognized as privileged 
 — taking precedence over all other business. 
 
 Marshall had all that night for deliberation, but I do 
 not think he gave much serious thought to the matter, — = 
 for that was not his habit. Whether he did or did not, how- 
 ever, he moved the next day to amend Gilmer's resolu- 
 tion so as to make it declare that Adams deserved expul- 
 sion, but the House would be content with passing censure 
 upon him. The difference was not material to Adams, 
 but Marshall considered it so to himself. He was not 
 jealous of Gilmer, but was of Wise, whom he knew to be 
 behind Gilmer, ready to draw his "Damascus blade" 
 when the fight grew hot, as his knowledge of Adams en- 
 abled him to know it soon would. Thus prompted, he 
 supported his motion in a speech of very great ability — 
 exhibiting occasional touches of magnificent eloquence. 
 I do not think I ever heard him surpass, or even equal, 
 it upon any other occasion. Yet it was not difficult to 
 see, before he closed, that he exhibited some signs of ap- 
 prehension that the work he had undertaken would be 
 likely to increase in magnitude at every step in its prog- 
 
128 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ress, — some fear that the ground might slip away from 
 under his feet. This often happens with those who yield 
 to impulse rather than use deliberate reflection, especially 
 when they encounter adversaries whose strength they 
 have not tested: — such men are sometimes awakened to 
 the reality of their position by harder blows than they ex- 
 pected, and at other times, by the recoil of their own 
 upon themselves. Adams replied immediately, in a style 
 that would have been considered severe had he not been 
 the object of a studied personal attack ; but he was fully 
 justified by the circumstances. He declared his un- 
 wavering devotion to the Constitution and the Union, — 
 appealed to his whole life spent in their service, — and 
 disavowed without equivocation or mental reservation, 
 any sympathy whatsoever with the object of the petition- 
 ers. But he demanded for them the right to be heard 
 by petition, upon any cause of grievance of which they, 
 as citizens, chose to complain. This right, he insisted, 
 was derived from the Declaration of Independence and 
 guaranteed by the Constitution, and could neither be de- 
 nied nor impaired without a flagrant violation of both. 
 These were favorite topics of his, and he dwelt upon them 
 eloquently and with great effect, — every word touching a 
 chord of sympathy in the minds of a vast majority of his 
 hearers. He demanded that if he was to be tried for the 
 treasonable utterances of others, or for any criminal intent 
 against the Constitution, he should have a constitutional 
 trial by a jury of his peers ; which was secured no less to 
 him than to an accused felon arraigned at the bar of just- 
 ice. He asserted, with great vehemence, that the House 
 had no authority to try him, and boldly defied its powers. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 29 
 
 This defiance was expressed in words of burning elo- 
 quence. His eyes, his face, his manner, emphasized by 
 the vigorous striking of his hands together — his custom- 
 ary manner of gesticulation — all indicated that intense 
 fires of indignation were burning within. His voice was 
 tremulous with emotion, yet sharp, fierce and piercing; 
 — and if it was not strong enough to fill the entire hall, 
 it was clear enough to make his opponents feel that they 
 had aroused "the lion in his lair," and that they must 
 put forth all their combined powers of intellect and elo- 
 quence to maintain themselves in the encounter they had 
 unwisely invited. 
 
 In this first speech Adams, evidently, did not consider 
 that he was entering fully upon his defense. He under- 
 stood well the combination formed against him; and it 
 was apparent that he intended to deal so skillfully with it 
 that its defeat should become crushing and overwhelming. 
 He intended to draw his enemies, each at his pleasure, 
 into the net he was weaving for them, so that he could 
 deal with them all together or in detail, as the exigency 
 should require, — displaying in this the skill of an adroit 
 military commander. He knew the points at which each 
 was most vulnerable — all the openings in their armor 
 where the point of his spear could enter — and the most 
 certain methods of subjecting their judgments to the do- 
 minion of their passions. Therefore when, in measured 
 words, he declared that if the resolution were pressed, he 
 would expose a coalition to re-open the slave trade, he 
 seemed to know beforehand that it would fall among 
 them like a bombshell. And he did not miscalculate. 
 Wise took fire at this defiant threat, and sprang to his 
 9 
 
130 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 feet in an instant, as if impelled by the force of a galvanic 
 battery. His eyes were like balls of flame. His thin 
 nostrils were distended to the utmost, resembling those 
 of a blooded courser when pressed by whip and spur, and 
 his whole frame was tremulous with intense emotion. 
 His words were impassioned, eloquent, and intensely se- 
 vere. Although seemingly spoken from momentary im- 
 pulse, they bore the marks of preparation, and were far 
 more effective than the speech of Marshall. Their force, 
 however, was somewhat impaired by the exceeding vio- 
 lence of his denunciation of Adams, — which proved that 
 the arrows of the latter had not missed the mark they 
 were aimed at. He was not entirely clear in his reference 
 to what he called the French and British parties of 1800, 
 — to the former of which he charged that Adams had 
 united himself by desertion from the party which sup- 
 ported his father. Adams smiled significantly at this, 
 and appeared to exhibit signs of satisfaction that the door 
 was opening wide enough to enable him to make his de- 
 fense as full and complete as he desired. Intense excite- 
 ment pervaded the entire hall. The members gathered 
 in little groups, here and there, all conversing with un- 
 usual earnestness and interest. When Wise, alluding to 
 the anti-slavery sentiment of which he considered Adams 
 the embodiment, said, in his emphatic tones — "the mag- 
 azine is under the walls, and the torch of the incendiary 
 may level the beautiful edifice with the dust, ' ' the scene 
 became such as no language at my command can de- 
 scribe — so thrilling was the effect produced by the con- 
 vulsed orator. Even the coolest men in the House be- 
 came aroused; and Wise, from physical exhaustion, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 13I 
 
 being unable to close his speech that day, the House ad- 
 journed under the influence of his inflammatory denunci- 
 ations. 
 
 The next day he spoke two hours, with unabated vio- 
 lence and severity, and at the expiration of that time was 
 entirely prostrated, no less by the severity of his labor 
 than by the intensity of his passions. He changed the 
 issue to a personal one between Adams and himself, and 
 thus, unwittingly, threw himself into the lion's mouth. 
 Adams saw this in a moment and pressed the advantage 
 it gave him with extraordinary skill and power. In re- 
 plying immediately to a portion of Wise's remarks that 
 were severely personal and offensive, he said: "There 
 was, some four or five years ago, a man put upon his 
 trial before this House for murder, who came into it with 
 his hands and face stained with the blood of a fellow 
 member, the blotches of which are yet upon his counte- 
 nance;" — alluding to the connection of Wise with the 
 Graves and Cilley duel, in which the latter was killed. 
 The deliberate manner in which this was spoken, and the 
 scorn and contempt he exhibited, produced the most in- 
 tense feeling, which swept over the House with the veloc- 
 ity of an electric current. The retort was tremendously 
 severe, but there was method in the madness which dic- 
 tated it. His object was not only to return harder blows 
 than he had received, but to contrast his own conduct 
 upon that occasion with the course of Wise towards him, 
 as he had then insisted that the House had no constitu- 
 tional power to expel and ought not to censure, even for 
 the murder of a member, in the absence of a trial in a 
 court of justice. Wise felt the wound keenly and winced 
 
132 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 under it, — for he did not possess the faculty of conceal- 
 ing his emotions. An attempt at explanation made his 
 discomfiture more apparent. A stroke by Adams at 
 Marshall drove him also to an explanation, and he too 
 gave signs that he was hurt — that the shaft of Adams had 
 almost reached a vital point. Both of them were wrought 
 up almost to a state of frenzy, — while Adams, resum- 
 ing his seat under an apparent consciousness of his power, 
 appeared perfectly composed and unconcerned ; — for more 
 than any man I ever saw he had the faculty of seeming 
 so, when, but a few moments before, he had been lashed 
 into a terrible rage. His coolness on this occasion was 
 attributable to the fact that he had measured his antag- 
 onists and manifestly had no fears of the result. 
 
 There were many in the House who, by this time, be- 
 came anxious to allay the rising storm, so that public 
 business should proceed, inasmuch as the pendency of 
 the resolution as a privileged question suspended all leg- 
 islation until it was disposed of. But all efforts with that 
 view were ineffectual, inasmuch as Rhett of South Caro- 
 lina and Botts of Virginia had succeeded in injecting into 
 the main controversy one of their own, of which Botts 
 availed himself to attack Upshur of his own State, who 
 was then a member of Tyler's cabinet. This devolved a 
 double duty on Wise — both to defend himself against 
 Adams and Upshur against the charge of Botts that he 
 was a disunionist. Wise and Botts were rivals and not 
 upon friendly terms, and therefore the former took occa- 
 sion to flatly and indignantly deny this serious accusation 
 of the latter. The fires of excitement were freshly kin- 
 dled by this new and unexpected controversy, and "con- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. I33 
 
 fusion worse confounded ' ' so reigned that another day 
 was consumed without any result. 
 
 The next day Marshall spoke again with great power 
 and captivating eloquence — satisfying himself, as I per- 
 sonally know, for we occupied adjoining seats and he 
 made no effort to conceal his satisfaction from me. But 
 with his usual want of discretion he said some things that 
 stung Adams to the quick and brought from him an im- 
 mediate reply, which proved that every arrow that struck 
 him gave fresh impulse to his energies. So thoroughly 
 did he become aroused that he did not close that day. 
 In the midst, however, of the general tumult, and with 
 the most intensified passions, his discretion did not desert 
 him, which gave him great advantage over both Wise 
 and Marshall, The more their passions were inflamed 
 the greater seemed to be his delight, and more than once 
 I thought I saw a smile of gratification upon his face 
 when their terrible denunciations of him had carried the 
 excitement to its highest, because he saw in them justifi- 
 cation for whatever severity his own passions might 
 suggest. But, notwithstanding the depth of his feelings, 
 he moved forward with admirable caution, — seemingly as 
 if he were advancing upon his enemies with a stealthy 
 and steady tread. In order to prepare the way, he in- 
 troduced several resolutions calling for information upon 
 matters he considered essential to his defense; — for it was 
 not the least remarkable of the facts that occurred that 
 he appeared as if just preparing for battle after he had 
 drawn the loads from the guns of his assailants, and ex- 
 hausted their strength, — especially that of Wise, physic- 
 ally the feeblest but intellectually the most formidable 
 
134 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 of them all. He accompanied these calls with a brief 
 explanation, not, however, abating his energy and fervor 
 in the least ; and it was not difficult to see that he was 
 just getting ready to bring his heavy artillery into action. 
 Gilmer now felt himself constrained, as the mover of 
 the original resolution, to come to the assistance of Wise 
 and Marshall, — which he did in a speech of two days. 
 He displayed more ability than I had ever known him to 
 do before. But he fell short of accomplishing what he 
 designed — for not being a man of strong and violent pas- 
 sions like his coadjutors, he was ill fitted for such a con- 
 test. The fires were hotter than he was accustomed to, 
 and consequently he fell below the demands of the occa- 
 sion. This, however, was what Adams desired and 
 probably expected, — having forced the controversy to a 
 point he had all along intended it should reach. He 
 then knew his opponents thoroughly, — had discovered 
 what kind of weapons to hurl at each, and where to strike 
 at their weakest points — the spots where their armor 
 could be most easily pierced. The time was nearing 
 when he could allow his passions to break forth more 
 fiercely than ever, and could enjoy the delight of empty- 
 ing the well charged vials of his wrath upon their heads. 
 And they did soon break forth with terrible vengeance — 
 as charred embers are set ablaze by stirring — and pro- 
 duced an effect surpassing the anticipations even of those 
 who had known him best and longest. He followed 
 Gilmer in what seemed an impromptu speech of two 
 hours — surpassing all he had previously said, in logic, 
 eloquence, and satire. It soon became apparent that he 
 then intended to bring the conflict to an end — that he 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 55 
 
 had reached a point where he could not only fling his 
 thunderbolts with deadly effect, but thoroughly and tri- 
 umphantly vindicate his whole life. And he did this so 
 effectively, and with such a surprising exhibition of 
 power, that his prosecutors with all their acknowledged 
 ability and eloquence, were dwarfed into pigmies before 
 him. They appeared like children in the iron grasp of 
 a strong man. 
 
 Adams's review of his life was both interesting and in- 
 structive. He spoke of his appointment by Washington 
 as envoy to European courts, — his connection with the 
 administration of Jefferson and the reason why he sup- 
 ported it, — his appointment as embassador to England 
 and to Russia by Madison, — and the devotion he had 
 exhibited to the Constitution and the Union — in such an 
 earnest and impressive manner as to rivet the attention 
 of the entire House and galleries. So anxious were all 
 to hear every word that the stillness was broken only by 
 his peculiar and somewhat shrieking voice. Every eye 
 was fixed upon the extraordinary old man as trem- 
 blingly he uttered his words of fiery eloquence and scath- 
 ing sarcasm. The members gathered around him so 
 closely that they could observe every expression of his 
 face. Lord Morpath, of the British Parliament, had a 
 seat upon the floor near by, and gave marked exhibition 
 of both wonder and admiration. Even Marshall — ^whose 
 generous impulses could not be entirely extinguished by 
 the fierceness and anger of the combat, expressed admi- 
 ration of his intellectual power. When he referred to his 
 services at the Russian court, it was impossible to re- 
 strain the outburst of applause which followed. He 
 
136 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 showed that while at St. Petersburg a number of Amer- 
 ican merchant vessels were seized for confiscation under 
 royal decrees, and that the confiscation was nearly com- 
 pleted through French influence, under the dictation of 
 the great Napoleon. All Europe was then trembling 
 before this wonderful man, and neither kings nor minis- 
 ters dared to challenge his imperial will. Adams was 
 the only minister at St. Petersburg who had the courage 
 to remonstrate against the outrage, although merchant 
 vessels of European nations had been seized. To his 
 own mind his line of official duty was plain and clear, 
 and he made no inquiry beyond that. Accordingly he 
 protested, singly and alone, in the name of the United 
 States, and did it with such promptitude and boldness, as 
 greatly to surprise the European diplomats, who had 
 been accustomed to quail before emperors and kings. 
 The consequence was that the sequestration was raised 
 and the confiscation arrested, notwithstanding the threat 
 of war by Napoleon. And there was also this additional 
 consequence, that the action of Russia, occasioned by 
 the policy which followed the American protest, led to 
 the invasion of that country by the French army, the un- 
 paralleled calamities that followed its retreat from Mos- 
 cow, and, at last, to the downfall of Napoleon. Adams's 
 relation of these events was wonderfully interesting and 
 instructive, as they had been hitherto unknown to the 
 members of the House, or, if known at all, had not been 
 given the attention they deserved. He did not close that 
 day. 
 
 On the next he continued in the same strain, appar- 
 ently as fresh, vigorous and intrepid as ever.' Neither 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 37 
 
 the labor he had performed, nor the convulsing excite- 
 ment through which he had passed, were sufficient to 
 wear him down. The agitated frame, it is true, gave 
 some evidence of weakness and fatigue, but his uncon- 
 querable spirit braced him up. There could not have 
 been a grander or more admirable exhibition of courage. 
 Passing from his historic review, he came more directly 
 to the object designed by the resolution of censure, and 
 declared that he considered the liberty of the people and 
 the perpetuity of the Union, as dependent, in a large de- 
 gree, upon the action of the House ; — inasmuch as the 
 denial of the right of petition would imperil both. He 
 spoke all that day, — and again the next, — each blow 
 falling with overpowering effect upon those he denounced 
 as his persecutors. On the succeeding day — the eleventh 
 of the great trial — he realized that his work was over and 
 his triumph accomplished. When the proper hour had 
 arrived he rose from his seat with the composure of a 
 conscious victor, and calmly surveyed the scene for a few 
 moments, without uttering a word. What a picture that 
 would have made if the photographer's art had then been 
 sufficiently advanced to catch the scene ! He was not ex- 
 actly like the conqueror who sees all his enemies lying 
 dead at his feet, — but his were completely paralyzed, and 
 exhibited in every gesture and expression a conscious- 
 ness of his triumph and their defeat. Seeing and realiz- 
 ing this, — with a piercing glance, first at Marshall, then 
 at Gilmer, and last at Wise, — he calmly and slowly said : 
 ' ' I am ready to go on if necessary, but for myself I am 
 satisfied!" The effect was electric. Not a word was 
 spoken in response. A few moments of unbroken silence 
 
138 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 suggested to those present that the time had then arrived 
 for the cessation of the strife. Whereupon a motion to 
 lay the resolution of censure upon the table was immedi- 
 ately carried, and the great trial was ended. 
 
 Marshall left the hall openly expressing his disgust, 
 but plainly exhibiting his mortification. His pride was 
 deeply wounded. Gilmer looked the personification of 
 melancholy, — though his face was not of the kind to ex- 
 hibit fully the working of his mind. Wise, stung deeper 
 than either — because more sensitive — made a hard strug- 
 gle to assume an indifference he could not feel. And 
 Adams, among them all, was the only one apparently un- 
 moved, although he undoubtedly felt, with the keenest 
 satisfaction, the grandeur and completeness of his victory. 
 He sat for a little while like a statue ; and then rising and 
 again glancing over the House with marvelous composure, 
 said : "I have two other petitions like that I introduced 
 the other day — one from New York and the other from 
 Pennsylvania — but owing to the condition in which things 
 now stand I prefer to reserve them for a future occa- 
 sion !" Not a word was spoken except by himself; and 
 there he stood, — that wonderful man, weak from age and 
 physical infirmity, but strong as a giant in the invincibil- 
 ity of his courage — as completely master of the battle- 
 field as the iron-duke of England was at Waterloo. 
 
 The whole bearing of Adams, from the beginning to 
 ending of this extraordinary proceeding, was admirable, 
 and could not have been surpassed. Never did any man 
 appear more like a chafed lion, keeping inferior ani- 
 mals at bay. All the combined energies of his eloquent, 
 talented and adroit adversaries were too feeble for sue- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 1 39 
 
 cessful encounter with such a man. He repelled their as- 
 saults as easily as if they had been children, and rose 
 grandly above them. Conscious, all the time, of having 
 no purpose to assail the Constitution or to endanger the 
 stability of the Union, he planted himself, with legitimate 
 pride, upon the record of his long and eventful life, and 
 this enabled him to defy every shaft aimed at him. If 
 any of them reached him they were thrown back with in- 
 creased force against his enemies — wounding them, not 
 him. His conduct throughout was an admirable exhibi- 
 tion of moral courage — a higher degree of heroism than 
 takes the soldier up to the cannon's mouth. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 
 
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CHAPTER VII 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 The alliance formed by the friends of Jackson, Cal- 
 houn, and Crawford, to defeat Adams in the Presidential 
 contest of 1828, especially desired to procure a new 
 name — believing that much depended upon it — but had 
 much difficulty in doing so. Hitherto there were 
 only Republicans and Federalists, but Adams had 
 given better proof than any of those combined against 
 him that he belonged to the former. He had supported 
 the administrations of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, — 
 embracing a period of twenty-four years — and his own 
 administration was made conspicuous by the fact that he 
 was endeavoring to follow in Monroe's footsteps — which 
 the parties to the alliance were endeavoring to prevent, 
 because of the persistent efforts of Monroe and Adams to 
 send diplomatic representatives to the Congress at Pan- 
 ama. His was, therefore, a Republican administration, 
 as Monroe's had been, and for that reason they desired 
 to overthrow it. Consequently, as they could not fight 
 under the banner of Federalism — ^which they supposed 
 would assure their defeat — they were compelled to chris- 
 ten their organization by some other name than Repub- 
 lican. When it was first proposed to adopt the name 
 Democratic, those from the extreme South — the followers 
 
 (HO 
 
142 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 of Calhoun and Crawford — objected, for the reason that 
 it embodied the ideas of equality of citizenship and uni- 
 versal suffrage, which they considered threatening to slav- 
 ery; because if the non-slaveholders in the South were 
 all permitted to vote, they would dictate the policy of the 
 slave States and ultimately emancipate the negroes, as 
 the most effective method of solving the labor problem. 
 
 Calhoun was at the head of this alliance. He had a 
 strong and influential following, although not sufficiently 
 so to prevent the adoption of the proposed name. In 
 consequence of his opposition, it required a good deal of 
 cozening in the South to make it acceptable ; and it only 
 became so because it had a broad and general and not, 
 in any accepted sense, a specific significance. In order 
 to give it weight and influence, it was found necessary to 
 add prefixes to it by way of explanation; as, for exam- 
 ple, it was called "Jefferson Democracy" in the South — 
 notwithstanding Jefferson was always a Republican — and 
 " Jackson Democracy " in the North. The leaders of 
 the alliance considered these qualifications sufficient to 
 answer their ends, inasmuch as, on account of their in- 
 definite meaning, each section could employ its own in- 
 terpretation. Consequently, among the followers of Cal- 
 houn and Crawford in the South, "Jefferson Democracy" 
 was held to mean ultimate nullification, as Jefferson was 
 the author of the Kentucky resolutions of 1799, which 
 asserted the right of a State to nullify an unconstitutional 
 act of Congress. Whereas, in the North, "Jackson De- 
 mocracy" was understood to mean whatever was expe- 
 dient in each locality, but, everywhere and under all cir- 
 cumstances, uncompromising hostility to Adams and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. I43 
 
 Clay. And this method of conducting the canvass was 
 made easy by the fact that there had never been, up till 
 that time, a Presidential National Convention and no 
 "platform" of principles announced. It was the first in- 
 troduction of the confidence-game into our party politics. 
 
 There is nothing to show — or to found a fair suspicion 
 upon — that Jackson was a party to this combination, al- 
 though it resulted in his election to the Presidency. 
 After he resigned his seat in the Senate he retired to the 
 Hermitage, where he remained in comparative quiet, and 
 left the politicians to form their plot under the guidance 
 of those who expected to benefit themselves more than 
 him. In fact, his election was, with them, a secondary 
 consideration, — a mere incident to that of Calhoun as 
 Vice-President, upon the same ticket with him. If that 
 had not been reasonably assured beforehand, the contriv- 
 ers would have left Jackson in his retirement and varied 
 the plan of their alliance accordingly. 
 
 Nor is it probable that Jackson had been informed of 
 this conspiracy when he constructed his first cabinet, — 
 for it did not take long to demonstrate that the materials 
 composing it were so incongruous that even his strong will 
 could not bring them into harmony. The schemers were 
 too shrewd to expose their plans thus early. That cab- 
 inet was composed of Martin Van Buren, Secretary of 
 State; Samuel D. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury; 
 John Branch, Secretary of the Navy; John H. Eaton, 
 Secretary of War; John M. Berrien, Attorney-General; 
 and William T. Barry, Postmaster-General; — the last 
 having been made a member of the cabinet for the first 
 time. Of these, it has always been well understood that 
 
144 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 only Eaton and Barry could be relied on as distinctively the 
 friends of Jackson. Van Buren, Branch and Berrien had 
 been supporters of Crawford in 1824, and Ingham was 
 the selection of Calhoun. Such a cabinet could not have 
 been formed in any other way than as the result of the 
 combination to defeat Adams, for with regard to afifirm- 
 ative measures of government policy it was absolutely 
 discordant, — so thoroughly so that Jackson, with all his 
 indomitable will and courage, soon found it impossible to 
 hold it in unity. If he had known the plot which ante- 
 dated his election in all probability he would not have 
 made this attempt, for when he did discover it, he 
 promptly displayed the heroic spirit of one who feels 
 himself "born to command," as he was in fact. 
 
 I first saw Jackson at Nashville, Tennessee, January 8, 
 1827, — over sixty-six years ago. As he was then a can- 
 didate for President, the occasion was the celebration of 
 his memorable victory at New Orleans, by which he had 
 fairly won the distinction of a great general. His ap- 
 pearance on horseback, as he rode through the streets of 
 the city, gave rise to immense applause. I had never 
 before seen so excited a multitude, except upon a single 
 occasion, about three years before, when General La 
 Fayette reviewed a line of Revolutionary officers and sol- 
 diers at the place of my nativity, and when every voice, 
 old and young, was made hoarse by shouts of welcome. 
 New, however, as the scene was to me, I saw and heard 
 enough to assure me of the firm grasp he had upon the 
 confidence and affections of his friends, and was impressed 
 at once with the idea that he belonged to the class of 
 men upon whom nature impresses the stamp of greatness. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. I45 
 
 He was an admirable and graceful rider, seeming to take 
 pride — as all good riders do — in the noble animal that 
 bore him. His natural gracefulness of manner was pecu- 
 liarly striking. 
 
 I saw him again at his inauguration in Washington 
 City, March 4, 1829. The assemblage upon that occa- 
 sion would not have compared in number with similar 
 gatherings of the present day, yet it was considered large. 
 The population of the capital was then so small as to jus- 
 tify the remark of John Randolph that it was a ' ' city of 
 magnificent distances." There was then no railroad, and 
 but a single line of stage-coaches between it and Balti- 
 more. I went there, consequently, — as hundreds of 
 others did — upon horseback, prompted not alone by cu- 
 riosity, but by the desire to witness an important and in- 
 teresting ceremony. I had seen Jefferson, Madison, and 
 Monroe, after their retirement and in their quiet ways of 
 life, without the insignia of office about them, and had 
 learned to look upon them with feelings somewhat akin 
 to reverence, and this excited in my mind the desire to 
 see an actual President and to witness his induction into 
 the elevated office which Washington was the first to 
 fill. 
 
 The oath of office was administered by the venerable 
 Chief Justice Marshall, whose general appearance was 
 not calculated to impress one with a just idea of his great- 
 ness, but who was, however, by general consent, recog- 
 nized as the first of American jurists. He repeated the 
 constitutional oath in a low and feeble voice, so that it 
 could not be heard many feet beyond the steps of the east- 
 ern portico of the capitol. His words were spoken slowly, 
 10 
 
146 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 and with such deliberation as to give to the occasion a 
 suitable degree of solemnity. Jackson's manner of 
 touching the sacred volume with his lips sufficiently in- 
 dicated that he considered the ceremony something more 
 than mere form. Having taken the oath, he delivered 
 his brief inaugural address in an impressive manner — 
 both graceful and dignified. His voice was not loud 
 enough to be heard by all present, but as I was fortunate 
 enough to obtain a favorable position, I was within its 
 reach. It was clear and distinct, every word having 
 been expressed with proper emphasis. His manner was 
 faultless — not strained, but natural. There was no exhi- 
 bition of pride or ostentation — no straining after effect 
 or false show. In his whole bearing there was an ex- 
 hibition of that self-reliance which the possessor derives 
 from the inward consciousness of strength, but which, at 
 the same time, is neither presumptuous nor distasteful. 
 
 It has been often charged that Jackson's inaugural ad- 
 dress was not his own, but was prepared for him by oth- 
 ers. That there were others who desired this privilege is 
 sufficiently shown by the character of the combination 
 they had made before the election, but that they were not 
 indulged I am well assured, satisfactorily to my own 
 mind. There came into my hands, some years ago, in 
 consequence of the death of the gentleman to whom they 
 were addressed, a number of private letters, some of 
 which were written by Jackson himself, and others 
 by those especially prominent among his friends. The 
 full contents of these can never be known to the public, 
 because they were written in the unreserve of confidential 
 correspondence, but I feel justified in asserting that they 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. I47 
 
 entirely refute this insinuation. He prepared the address 
 before leaving the Hermitage for Washington City . When 
 he reached there he submitted it to several of his friends, 
 which it was entirely proper to do. Among these there 
 was one for whom he entertained the highest respect, and 
 who expressed himself as not altogether satisfied with it — 
 at the same time suggesting that it might be improved. 
 It was accordingly placed in his hands for that purpose, 
 and he, after due consideration, proposed the alteration 
 of some of its important parts and returned it. Jackson 
 gave to these suggestions the consideration they deserved — 
 for the gentleman who made them was, besides being a 
 man of eminent ability, a disinterested friend — but, after 
 full deliberation, gave the preference to the address as he 
 had originally written it. It was, consequently, deliv- 
 ered in that form, with the exception of a few lines he 
 deemed it expedient to add after he reached the capitol. 
 The Virginia supporters of Jackson were dissatisfied 
 with his first cabinet — as I well remember — and made 
 loud complaints, but, probably, not to him. The habit 
 of looking to Virginia for Presidents and cabinet officers 
 had prevailed so long that they were troubled to discover 
 some cause for the slight, for such they regarded it, es- 
 pecially in view of the fact that Adams had at one time 
 two Virginians in his cabinet, and one during his whole 
 administration. When, however, they came to consider 
 that, at the election of 1824, Jackson had received in that 
 State less than 3 ,000 out of nearly 1 2 ,000 votes — that Craw- 
 ford carried it by more than 5 , ooo over him , and that he even 
 ran behind Adams, they were inclined to suspect that, 
 notwithstanding the large majority he obtained the pre- 
 
148 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 vious year, he intended to exact from them some addi- 
 tional evidence of their fidelity to his administration. 
 But there were other reasons for this apparent neglect of 
 the Virginians which they did not, at that time, suspect, 
 and which, if they had known all the facts, they could 
 have traced to the combination for the defeat of Adams. 
 They were recognized as parties to that combination only 
 in so far as they were expected to contribute to that de- 
 feat ; but the real motives and purposes which dictated it 
 were unknown to them . These are now easy of explana- 
 tion, and being explained will show very clearly two im- 
 portant facts, first, that the object designed was unknown 
 to Jackson himself, and, second, that when he discovered 
 it he turned upon the plotters with terrible vengeance. 
 
 Monroe, with Adams as his Secretary of State, had 
 endeavored to signalize his administration by teaching 
 the European powers that the United States would not 
 submit passively to any interference by them with re- 
 publican institutions upon the American continent, and 
 in order to accomplish this had insisted upon sending 
 ministers to the Congress of Panama. For attempting 
 this his administration was violently assailed, for the reason, 
 among others, that an alliance with the South Amer- 
 ican republics would tend to the suppression of the slave 
 trade, the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, and 
 ultimately in the United States. The pretended belief 
 that these results were contemplated by Monroe and Ad- 
 ams, during the former's administration, and by the lat- 
 ter alone after Monroe's retirement, constituted the most 
 controlling reason for the combination to unite the South, 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 149 
 
 first under the leadership of Hayne, in the secret discus- 
 sion in the Senate, and afterwards under that of Calhoun. 
 And having been so far successful as to elect Calhoun — 
 the head and front of the conspirators — ^Vice-President ; 
 and so to mislead Jackson as to get two others of the 
 original conspirators — ^Van Buren and Berrien — in his 
 cabinet, along with another — Ingham — as a special friend 
 of Calhoun, it is not to be wondered at that they felt 
 strong enough to get along without the Virginians, who 
 they feared would, if they fully exposed their hands, go 
 to the support of Monroe, if not of Adams, inasmuch as 
 they had never been friendly to Jackson but had support- 
 ed Crawford in preference to him. Besides, Virginia had 
 always opposed the slave trade. Washington and Mad- 
 ison had voted for suppressing it in the Constitutional 
 Convention, and both of them had continued their oppo- 
 sition to it during their respective administrations. Jef- 
 ferson had done the same thing. So that the combina- 
 tion which had produced Jackson's election was not sim- 
 ply opposition to Monroe and his policy, but also to the 
 doctrines taught by the leading Virginia statesmen from 
 the foundation of the government. Still more, — there 
 was a controversy then in progress in Virginia which, 
 that same year, resulted in extending the right of suf- 
 frage to tax-payers instead of confining it to the owners 
 of real estate, as had been done before that time ; and as it 
 was supposed by the conspirators that this would be 
 threatening to the institution of slavery, they did not con- 
 sider a close alliance with the Virginians as necessary to 
 their ends — which they considered themselves fully able 
 to accomplish without their assistance. Having ground- 
 
150 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ed this belief upon their success in getting so many of 
 their allies into Jackson's cabinet, and upon the supposition 
 that they would continue to control the policy of his ad- 
 ministration, they were cheered and enlivened by confi- 
 dence of complete future success. And under these cir- 
 cumstances Jackson's administration began. 
 
 In addition, however, to the dissatisfaction among the 
 Virginia politicians, there were also real or imaginary 
 grievances elsewhere, especially in the North; — for they 
 were unpracticed politicians who did not see that the rich- 
 est fruits of the Presidential victory were gathered by 
 the friends of Crawford, while only a small portion was 
 left, here and there, for the original friends of Jackson. 
 These disaffections, slight at first, grew in magnitude, 
 until the administration was driven to the necessity of 
 appeasing the several factions of the party by so employ- 
 ing the patronage of the government as to give to each 
 faction what it considered its due reward. This must 
 have embarrassed Jackson, inasmuch as he could not 
 have forgotten his letter to Monroe, wherein he advised 
 him "to extinguish that monster called party spirit." 
 Nevertheless, his surroundings were peculiar — arising 
 mainly out of the fact that the politicians had so in- 
 creased the greediness for office that greater multitudes 
 flocked to Washington than had ever been known before. 
 These friends of Jackson — real or professed — insisted 
 upon an equal distribution of the government patronage, 
 as necessary to maintain the administration, and he finally 
 yielded to the pressure, — which few men similarly situ- 
 ated, could have resisted, — although, in doing so, he 
 had to depart from the example of all his predecessors 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. I5l 
 
 and disregard his own advice to Monroe. It is hardly to 
 be supposed that he anticipated the consequences which 
 have followed. On the contrary, it is simple justice to 
 him to concede that he felt himself constrained to yield to 
 the importunities of his friends, because there were many 
 reasons why he should regard those who urged him to 
 this course as not only faithful to him and his adminis- 
 tration, but to the government as well. Whatever the 
 motives which influenced him, however, it can not be 
 denied that his example led almost immediately to evil 
 and injurious consequences. Washington made nine re- 
 movals from ofifice; John Adams two; Jefferson thirty- 
 nine; Madison five; Monroe nine, and John Quincy 
 Adams two; making a total of sixty-six in the whole 
 forty years of the government. Whereas, the desire of 
 the politicians for the use and control of ofiScial patronage 
 under Jackson incited so strongly a corresponding desire 
 for office among their followers, that between the inaugu- 
 ration and the next meeting of Congress — about nine 
 months — the number of removals and appointments, in- 
 cluding postmasters, more than quintupled the whole 
 number between the beginning of the government and 
 that time. 
 
 While it is true that the responsibility for this condition 
 of things rested, in a large degree, upon Jackson, — as it 
 has, under like circumstances, upon other Presidents 
 since — yet it is equally true also that the larger share of 
 the blame, in all such cases, should fall upon the politi- 
 cians and those who, with their eyes open, confer power 
 upon them. They desire the government to reward their 
 friends, and measure fidelity to it by the extent of serv- 
 
152 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ices rendered to themselves. The advancement of their 
 own political fortunes is the inciting and primary cause of 
 their appeals to a President, and when he declines to act 
 so as to accomplish this, his administration is left to be 
 buffeted by the storms its adversaries create, without their 
 assistance. Jackson did not suspect, when he constructed 
 his first cabinet, that his administration could be induced 
 to discriminate against his original friends and in favor of 
 those of Crawford, or, in all probability, he would have 
 pursued a different course. Therefore, when he was 
 brought to realize that a state of things existed entirely 
 unlike what he desired, he must have felt constrained so 
 to employ his ofiScial patronage as to bring these two 
 conflicting party elements into harmony. If it had mere- 
 ly required courage to do this, he had a sufficiency of 
 that for the purpose ; but besides any considerations per- 
 sonal to himself, he was manifestly controlled by the de- 
 sire to unite his friends in a compact organization, not 
 only to maintain his own administration but to promote 
 what he believed to be the welfare of the country. If he 
 had refused this many of his original friends would have 
 withheld their support from his administration, not be- 
 cause they desired office for themselves, but because they 
 would have suspected his fidelity. So that, viewing the 
 matter as it must have then appeared to him — and not 
 merely as it now appears to us — the grounds of objection 
 to his course are considerably narrowed. It only becomes 
 otherwise when we judge of the effect which has reached 
 our own time, when we see steadily increasing in number 
 those who ungraciously receive a letter from a post-office 
 carrier who does not vote their party ticket ! To say of 
 
AXDREW JACKSON. I53 
 
 Jackson that he began this, does not remove censure from 
 those of all parties who have accepted his example as the 
 law of their own action, any more than one man can just- 
 ify himself for his own errors by pleading in self-defense 
 the errors of others. The politicians were to blame 
 under Jackson, and will be in the future under other 
 Presidents, unless the great body of the people shall ap- 
 ply the corrective. They alone can do this. Whether 
 they will or not — 7ious verrons. 
 
 A discussion of the measures of Jackson's administra- 
 tion, and the principles involved in them, would afford but 
 little profit now, except to those who wish to ascer- 
 tain the true rules of constitutional interpretation. In 
 so far as I was myself concerned they were disapproved 
 by me — almost toto calo, — yet, at the same time, I did 
 not allow myself to question the integrity of his motives 
 or his purpose to do what he believed to be best for the 
 public welfare. I was encouraged in this by himself 
 under circumstances never forgotten by me. My father 
 was the friend of Jackson — though not a politician. 
 Upon one occasion I accompanied him to the White 
 House when he called to pay his respects to the Presi- 
 dent, feeling some little trepidation at the idea of ap- 
 pearing before one whose sobriquet of "Old Hickory" 
 was suggestive of something I was too young to explain. 
 I was a mere ' ' looker on " at the interview, which could 
 scarcely be called political in any proper sense, and soon 
 congratulated myself that what I had previously dreaded 
 was in fact pleasant and profitable to me, because it ena- 
 bled me to form an estimate of Jackson which ever since 
 
154 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 has been retained. Just as I felt that I had become 
 sufficiently composed to store away for future use some of 
 the thoughts expressed by the "old hero," my equanim- 
 ity was almost entirely upset by the attempt of my father 
 to explain to the President that I was inclined to disagree 
 with him in politics, and as he had not fully succeeded in 
 impressing his opinions upon my mind, he feared mine 
 would continue to be in conflict with his. I was some- 
 what embarrassed at this, because of the apprehension 
 that I should be lectured for disobedience to parental in- 
 struction. Instead of this, however, he approached and 
 placing his hand upon my head said, in a kind and gen- 
 tle tone of voice: "My son, I have no advice to give 
 you about your politics, except this, — always think for 
 yourself and let your conscience be your guide." I 
 could not be otherwise than strongly and deeply im- 
 pressed by this advice ; and from that moment until now 
 I have held him in such estimation that during sixteen 
 Presidential campaigns in which I have taken an active 
 part, in opposition to the political principles he professed, 
 I have never allowed myself to be betrayed into an ex- 
 pression of unkindness toward him, but have invariably, 
 upon all suitable occasions, defended the honesty, integ- 
 rity and patriotism of his motives. This incident deserves 
 to be related, because it shows that a man who could be 
 imperious when the occasion required possessed, at the 
 same time, such underlying sentiments of kindness and 
 sympathy as dignify human nature. The advice he gave 
 me was good then and is good now. He who follows it 
 may sometimes err, but it will always constitute for him 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. I55 
 
 the safest guide in such matters as involve his own and 
 the general welfare. 
 
 The disruption — for such it was — of Jackson's first cab- 
 inet was of more significance than is commonly supposed. 
 It was understood at the time that it was brought about 
 by those who were chiefly instrumental in producing his 
 election, and had succeeded in getting into his cabinet 
 several who sympathized with them, and one of whom — 
 Berrien — had opposed the mission to Panama under Ad- 
 ams's administration, expressly upon the ground that an 
 alliance between the United States and the South Amer- 
 ican republics would tend to the suppression of the slave 
 trade. By that time they had discovered that Jackson 
 had a will of his own, and could not be used by others 
 for their own selfish ends; and, therefore, they conceived 
 the purpose of withholding their support from his admin- 
 istration, with the hope of being able to elect a President 
 at the next election, in 1832, over whom they could ob- 
 tain complete dominion. Jackson had said in his first 
 message that a President ought not to serve longer than 
 one term, and had recommended an amendment to the 
 Constitution prohibiting a re-election ; and this induced 
 them to begin the formation of a new combination de- 
 signed to control the next nomination or to defeat Jack- 
 son if he should become a candidate again. The prin- 
 cipal step in that direction was to produce a breach 
 between Jackson and Calhoun, in order, as was then sup- 
 posed, to make the latter the successor of the former, and 
 leave the slave trade as it was then carried on, entirely 
 undisturbed, under the pretext that if it were interfered 
 with slavery in the South would be imperiled. In some 
 
156 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 way — never fully explained — a correspondence between 
 Jackson and Calhoun was contrived with reference to the 
 course of the latter pending the proposition in Congress 
 to censure Jackson for his invasion of Florida, and his 
 conduct generally during the war against the Seminole 
 Indians. In this step — by whomsoever contrived — much 
 sagacity was displayed, for it had the effect designed by 
 so completely estranging Jackson and Calhoun from each 
 other that they were never thereafter reconciled. 
 
 The next step necessary to the contemplated end was 
 the disruption of the cabinet. This required greater cau- 
 tion, inasmuch as if it had been accomplished by the 
 mere withdrawal of those members who were parties to 
 the original combination, or influenced by it, not only 
 would they have been condemned by public sentiment, 
 but the main plot would have been discovered and ex- 
 posed. Therefore, as there was no question of politics 
 of which they could avail themselves with safety, one in- 
 volving social etiquette alone was invented. The wife of 
 Eaton — Secretary of War — was objectionable to the wives 
 of the secretaries who were parties to the conspiracy, and 
 they refused either to visit her or receive visits from her. 
 Of course, the public took no interest in so trivial a mat- 
 ter, but the conspirators were none the less active on that 
 account. They carried it so far that Jackson took sides 
 with Eaton and his wife, and the controversy, conse- 
 quently, waxed so warm that the former, in order to lighten 
 the pressure upon the administration, resigned. The res- 
 ignation of Van Buren — Secretary of State — soon fol- 
 lowed, for reasons which nobody understood but himself. 
 The spirit of Jackson had by this time become aroused, 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 157 
 
 and there was a short period when he declined to convene 
 the remainder of his cabinet for consultation, which gave 
 rise to the charge that government affairs were conducted 
 by a "kitchen cabinet." He did not, however, allow 
 this condition of things to continue long, but boldly put 
 an end to it by intimating to Ingham, Branch and Ber- 
 rien that their resignations would be accepted — ^whereupon 
 they, too, retired, leaving Jackson, for a time, without a 
 cabinet. But he was not the kind of man to quail under 
 such a combination of circumstances. On the contrary, 
 he met the issue with his indomitable will and courage, 
 and soon had so many evidences of popular approval that 
 he decided, notwithstanding his recommendation with re- 
 gard to a single term, to be re-elected in 1832, if possi- 
 ble, as his own successor. He accordingly reconstructed 
 his cabinet late in 183 1, out of entirely new men — thus 
 making the issue between him and the conspirators so con- 
 spicuously prominent that it could not be misunderstood. 
 This cabinet was as follows : Edward Livingston of Lou- 
 isiana, Secretary of State ; Louis McLane of Delaware, 
 Secretary of the Treasury; Lewis Cass of Ohio — after- 
 wards of Michigan — Secretary of War ; Levi Woodbury 
 of New Hampshire, Secretary of the Navy, and Roger 
 B. Taney of Maryland, Attorney-General. In the selec- 
 tion of this cabinet he displayed great wisdom, for, in 
 point of ability, it has not often been equaled. 
 
 The politicians were mainly interested in the events 
 which followed, in so far as they bore upon the positions 
 and fortunes of individuals. Van Buren had committed 
 himself in opposition to the mission to Panama, because, 
 as was believed, he sympathized with those who objected 
 
158 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 to an alliance with the South American republics, upon 
 the ground that they favored the suppression of the slave 
 trade; and his resignation of the office of Secretary of 
 State was regarded, for a time, as favorable to those who 
 were rapidly becoming the enemies of Jackson and the 
 friends of Calhoun. His cunning, however, did not de- 
 sert him ; and in order to avoid the responsibility of di- 
 rectly committing himself upon either side of the contro- 
 versy, he prevailed upon Jackson to send him as minister 
 to Great Britain. When his nomination for this office, 
 however, came before the Senate, he was rejected — the 
 first instance of such a rejection where the minister was 
 serving at the court to which he was appointed by the 
 President. Upon his return to the United States he 
 found the issue between Jackson and his enemies so dis- 
 tinctly formed that he was compelled to take one or the 
 other side. He did not hesitate long, but adhered to 
 Jackson — leaving his old associates, with whom he had 
 conspired against the South American republics, to shift 
 for themselves. His object undoubtedly was to obtain 
 the nomination for the Vice-Presidency upon the same 
 ticket with Jackson, so as to acquire a reasonable assur- 
 ance of the successorship to Jackson at the end of his 
 second term, provided he should be successful in the con- 
 test of 1832. In both these objects he succeeded — hav- 
 ing been nominated for the Vice-Presidency, at Baltimore, 
 in May, 1832, by the first Democratic or Jackson Na- 
 tional Convention ever assembled in the United States. 
 As there was no declaration of principles both candidates 
 ran upon the same "platform" — that is, the merits of 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 1 59 
 
 Jackson and the demerits of Calhoun, who could no long- 
 er be tolerated as Vice-President. 
 
 The result of the election was a great triumph to Jack- 
 son, — he having received 219 electoral votes to 49 given 
 to Clay, while South Carolina, refusing to vote for Jack- 
 son, cast her 1 1 votes for Floyd of Virginia, and Vermont 
 her 7 votes for Wirt, who was the candidate of the anti- 
 Masons. The position assumed by South Carolina, un- 
 der the lead of Calhoun, was intended to widen the 
 breach with Jackson by the creation of a sectional party 
 in the South, under the same pretext that led to the orig- 
 inal conspiracy that elected Jackson in 1828, that is, that, 
 by means of Northern aggression, slavery in the South 
 was threatened. In order to effect this South Carolina 
 passed several laws and ordinances, whereby the author- 
 ity of the National Government was defied, and finally 
 went to the extent of preparing, by military organization, 
 to resist that authority. With that view her nullification 
 ordinance was passed, declaring certain laws of the Unit- 
 ed States absolutely null and void within her borders. 
 This was done manifestly with the expectation that the 
 slave States would all unite, and that Jackson would be 
 left either in a helpless minority or be compelled to look 
 only to the North for the support of his administration, 
 in which event the Southern or slave States would declare 
 the Union dissolved and create a Southern Confederacy 
 composed of slave States alone. There was a faint effort 
 at the time to deny this, but subsequent events have ver- 
 ified it. 
 
 Jackson was not deceived by the pretext that South 
 Carolina proposed to act within the Union, for, by this 
 
l6o PERSONAL, RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 time, his eyes were opening to the actual condition of af- 
 fairs. He could see that the conspirators who had con- 
 tributed to his election claimed the prerogative right to 
 dictate the policy of his administration, so as to make it 
 correspond with their own sectional views and objects, 
 regardless of the national welfare; and resolved, without 
 any delay, to exercise all the executive power the Con- 
 stitution had placed in his hands to disentangle himself 
 from any alliance with them, and teach them that the 
 Union must and should be preserved at every hazard. 
 Accordingly, on December ii, 1832 — less than six weeks 
 after his re-election — he issued his celebrated Proclama- 
 tion, wherein he condemned as disloyal all the nullifica- 
 tion proceedings of South Carolina, and declared them to 
 be ' ' incompatible with the existence of the Union, con- 
 tradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, un- 
 authorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle 
 upon which it was founded, and destructive of the great 
 object for which it was formed." He had previously 
 made brief reference to the condition of things in South 
 Carolina, in his annual message, December 4, 1832, and 
 his proclamation was followed, January 16, 1833, by 
 what is known as his nullification message, wherein, after 
 avowing "that the supremacy of the laws shall be main- 
 tained," he declared that if the acts and ordinances of 
 South Carolina ' ' can not be defeated and overcome by 
 the powers conferred by the Constitution on the federal 
 government, the Constitution must be considered as in- 
 competent to its own defense, the supremacy of the laws 
 is at an end, and the rights and liberties of the citizens 
 can no longer receive protection from the government of 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 
 
 l6l 
 
 the Union." And, referring to the asserted right of a 
 State to nullify a law of the United States — as was claimed 
 by the Kentucky resolutions of 1799, of which Jefferson 
 was the author — he emphatically said : "The right of the 
 people of a single State to absolve themselves at will, and 
 without the consent of the other States, from their most 
 solemn obligations, and hazard the liberties and happi- 
 ness of the millions composing this Union, can not be 
 acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be utterly 
 repugnant both to the principle upon which the general 
 government is constituted, and to the objects which it 
 was expressly formed to attain." 
 
 For the expression of these patriotic sentiments Jack- 
 son was denounced by the nullifiers, as directly opposed 
 to the "Jefferson Democracy," to which it was claimed 
 he had committed himself by the combination which 
 elected him in 1828. But he was in no sense intimi- 
 dated by their threats, nor did he in the least shrink from 
 the responsibilities of his position. On the contrary, he 
 pursued the course marked out in his proclamation and 
 message, with such unfaltering courage as commanded 
 the admiration of the world. And now, as the present 
 generation look back to that period and observe the 
 steadiness of his devotion to the Union, there are none 
 willing to withhold an expression of admiration for his 
 patriotic conduct, except those who, to accomplish the 
 ends of their ambition, would pull down the government 
 and revel among the fragments of the wreck. 
 
 The manner in which Jackson bore himself during those 
 troubled and stormy times developed qualities he had 
 not previously been supposed to possess, and which as- 
 
l62 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 sured the country that he did not intend his administra- 
 tion to be impressed by any other will than his own. 
 Even in private life occasions sometimes occur when indi- 
 viduals exhibit qualities unobserved before, and which 
 bring about new developments of character. Whether 
 this was the case with him, at the crisis of his adminis- 
 tration referred to, is immaterial, inasmuch as the coun- 
 try was brought at once to a realization of the fact that 
 ke was President, and none else beside him. If any of 
 the politicians had entertained the expectation, or even 
 the hope, that they could use him for purposes not ap- 
 proved by his own conscience, that idea was dispelled, 
 first, by the dissolution of his cabinet and again by his 
 proclamation and nullification message. By these means 
 he made himself the representative of a power through- 
 out the country which centered in him as in no other 
 man ; and from that time he became the chief figure in 
 national politics, and stamped his name indelibly upon 
 our political history. 
 
 It has been said that he did not write either his procla- 
 mation or nullification message. Whether he did or not, 
 is of no consequence whatever, because he made them his 
 own by signing his name to them, and to him belongs 
 the credit of every sentiment they contain. The farewell 
 address of Washington was said not to have been all his 
 own ; and Jefferson has been charged with plagiarizing 
 part of the Declaration of Independence. Members of 
 Congress and State Legislatures have made speeches and 
 reports prepared for them by others. I have myself 
 known the Governor of one State to send a message to 
 the Legislature several pages of which were written 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 1 63 
 
 by another; and the Governor of another State, not 
 only to accept, but to boast of a public document of 
 which he did not write a single line. But whether these 
 important documents were written by Jackson or not 
 does not concern us half so much as to know their great 
 merit as state papers. Thus considered, it is not be- 
 lieved there are many in our day who will risk their rep- 
 utation by assailing the principles these announced. That 
 he possessed a mind of great strength and vigor — capa- 
 ble of producing them — is beyond any question. His 
 early education was necessarily defective, owing to causes 
 well understood, but he wrote with perfect accuracy, in 
 a bold hand characteristic of himself, and scarcely ever 
 made an interlineation or erasure, — which can be truth- 
 fully said of but few of the most distinguished literary 
 men. His private letters which came into my possession 
 bear the impress of much thought, clear and accurate 
 judgment, and conclusions sagaciously drawn from his 
 premises. There is nothing in either the proclamation 
 or nullification message that might not have been ex- 
 pressed by him in his own clear and emphatic style, and 
 if their accuracy of composition was owing to the pol- 
 ished pen of Livingston, his credit should be none the 
 less on that account. 
 
 I must not here discuss the political doctrines associated 
 in history with the administration of Jackson, or attempt 
 to explain why, with all my admiration for him, I have in- 
 variably opposed them. They belong to the past, and are 
 to be found only in the pages of our common history. The 
 few who were once actively engaged in affirming and de- 
 nying them will soon cease entirely to engage in party or 
 
164. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Other strife, and it is becoming in us to bury with the illus- 
 trious dead all the animosities engendered by excitement, 
 and to do full justice to their memories. Jackson was a 
 great man — stamped as such by nature, as all could see 
 who looked upon his stately figure and manly bearing, 
 and his frank and expressive countenance. Endowed 
 with a courage which no adverse circumstances, and not 
 even the most imminent peril, could shake, he avoided no 
 just responsibility and evaded the performance of no act 
 which seemed to him to lie in the line of duty. With a 
 kind heart — filled to overflowing with generous emotions 
 — he was true to his friends and firm in his friendship. 
 His heart was "open as day" to acts of benevolence and char- 
 ity, and the unfortunate were never turned away from his 
 door. Honest himself, he was unsuspicious of wrong or 
 faults in others, and was, on that account, liable to be im- 
 posed upon . He bore patiently the remonstrances of those 
 who shared his confidence, but never submitted unresistingly 
 to the censure of enemies. He loved the country with true 
 and fervid devotion, and if he committed errors — which the 
 best are unable to avoid — they sprang from no want of 
 the resolute purpose to do what he believed to be right, as 
 his own conscience taught him the right. Others, far 
 more than he, were chargeable with much that during 
 political excitement was laid at his door. He has left the 
 example of a life ended with Christian confidence and res- 
 ignation, and a most beautiful and touching lesson in the 
 unceasing devotion with which he proudly cherished, to the 
 last moment of life, the memory of his wife. And af- 
 ter his race has been so well and successfully ended, and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON. 1 65 
 
 only a few of those who held personal intercourse with 
 him are remaining, it is becoming in us all — and is a 
 source of satisfaction to me — to cherish a kindly remem- 
 brance of his virtues, and to impress upon the minds of 
 those subject to our influence a just admiration for his pa- 
 triotism and uncalculating devotion to the Union. 
 
MA JR TIM ,yAN B VREN 
 
"^^2^^^.^^.^^^ 
 
 *^^^?-_^ 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MARTIN VAN BUREN 
 
 If the attempt were made to classify the Presidents, it 
 would be properly done by regarding the first seven as 
 belonging to the Revolutionary period, because five of 
 them were actual participants in its events, and the other 
 two — John Quincy Adams and Jackson — imbibed its 
 sentiments by actual association with the men of the 
 Revolution, both having been born the same year, 
 1767, before the Declaration of Independence. This 
 would warrant the designation of all the successors of 
 Jackson as Post-Revolutionary Presidents. And this 
 classification would seem otherwise justified by the fact 
 that when Van Buren became President other and coun- 
 teracting influences had arisen, calculated to impair the 
 value of the Revolutionary example, and which did so in 
 fact by the introduction of new methods of organizing 
 and consolidating political parties. 
 
 The events which led to the disruption of Jackson's 
 cabinet produced consequences which conspicuously in- 
 fluenced the political fortunes of individuals. Calhoun 
 had been elected Vice-President upon the same ticket 
 with him in 1828 — having fallen short of his vote only 7, 
 which he lost in Georgia. But the administration was 
 scarcely under way before there were signs of disaffection 
 
 (167) 
 
l68 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 among its supporters — manifestly the result of personal 
 plottings for the control of the executive patronage. 
 The generous and kindly nature of Jackson was imposed 
 upon by these schemers, who concealed their intrigues 
 from him because of the fear that if they were known he 
 would turn upon them in his wrath. Their first fruits 
 were gathered in the dissolution of the cabinet, which had 
 to be reconstructed before the end of the second year. 
 A question of social etiquette and official ceremony was 
 made the pretext for this, but that was of inferior import 
 compared with the actual moving and controlling causes, 
 which were well understood by the initiated but studious- 
 ly concealed from the public. They subsequently be- 
 came well known and are now easily explained. Jackson, 
 in his first message, had recommended an amendment to 
 the Constitution limiting the Presidential service to a sin- 
 gle term, and inasmuch as it was inferred from this that 
 he would not be a candidate for re-election, the question 
 of successorship to him became all-absorbing. It dwarfed 
 every other consideration. And while at the beginning 
 it was cautiously concealed from Jackson, his ultimate 
 discovery of it aroused his indignation and caused him to 
 put the matter at rest, as far as possible, by having him- 
 self announced as a candidate for a second term, without 
 the intervention of a national nominating convention. 
 This bold movement was characteristic of him, and led, 
 in the end, to such crimination and recrimination among 
 the conspirators as to effect their complete exposure. 
 
 Soon after Jackson's first election, Calhoun and Van 
 Buren came to be considered rival aspirants for the suc- 
 cession. How far each contributed to the advancement 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1 69 
 
 of his own interests must, of course, remain a matter of 
 mere speculation; — but there is this to be confidently 
 said of them, that there was nothing in the life and char- 
 acter of Calhoun to show that he was a schemer, while 
 there is everything in the life and character of Van Buren 
 to show him to have been so. Howsoever this may have 
 been, it is undoubtedly true that there were rival combi- 
 nations among the friends of the administration, each do- 
 ing its utmost to secure the successorship to one or the 
 other of these gentlemen. At that time the United 
 States Telegraph — a journal published at Washington 
 City and edited with great ability by General Duff Green 
 — claimed to be the organ of the administration, and as 
 having, in consequence, the right to enjoy the patronage 
 of the public printing. But this journal was devoted to 
 the interests of Calhoun in preference to those of Van 
 Buren. It was supposed that efforts were made to in- 
 duce it to occupy an attitude of impartiality at least, 
 but they were unavailing, inasmuch as General Green was 
 so zealously the friend of Calhoun that his preference for 
 him could not be shaken. It became necessary, there- 
 fore, — in order to counteract his influence — that steps 
 should be taken at once to supplant the Telegraph by the 
 substitution of another journalistic organ of the adminis- 
 tration which should give to Van Buren preference over 
 Calhoun. What steps were taken by the negotiators of 
 this arrangement were, of course, not exposed to the 
 public ; but they soon resulted in the establishment of a 
 new journal called the Globe, at Washington City, under 
 the management of Blair and Rives, very much to the 
 discomfiture of the friends of Calhoun and to the joy of 
 
170 PBRSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 those of Van Buren. And it did not take long thereafter 
 to put an end to the Telegraph, — make the Globe the or- 
 gan and beneficiary of the administration by the patron- 
 age of the public printing, — force Calhoun into an atti- 
 tude of open hostility to the administration, — and leave 
 Van Buren without a rival among the friends of the ad- 
 ministration for the successorship to Jackson. The plan 
 was adroitly contrived by master-workmen and soon pro- 
 duced an irreconcilable breach between Jackson and Cal- 
 houn; but failed only in this, that when Jackson was an- 
 nounced as a candidate for re-election the claims of Van 
 Buren had to be postponed and he had to be reconciled 
 by being made Vice-President in the place of Calhoun — 
 thus supplanting and superseding the latter entirely. 
 
 It required a good deal of what may well be called po- 
 litical legerdemain to carry this arrangement into execu- 
 tion. National nominating conventions were then un- 
 known, and Van Buren was not so favorably known as to 
 entitle him to be placed upon the ticket with Jackson 
 without formal indorsement by one. A delegate conven- 
 tion — the first of the kind — ^was accordingly assembled 
 in Baltimore for the sole purpose of nominating a candi- 
 date for the Vice-Presidency. Although Van Buren had 
 no actual competitor — as Calhoun had been disposed of 
 — and was easily nominated, yet the votes of eight 
 States were cast against him. This, ordinarily, would 
 have amounted to but little, but when it was considered 
 that South Carolina did not vote for him, and that seven 
 out of these eight States had voted for Jackson in 1828, 
 it became necessary to invent some expedient by which 
 they could be induced to vote for Van Buren for the Vice- 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. I^I 
 
 Presidency. Nothing of this kind was necessary so far 
 as Jackson was himself concerned, — for he had merit 
 enough of his own, — but as the politicians had loaded 
 down the ticket with a heavy weight, it became necessary 
 to lighten it as much as possible. This required the 
 manipulation of experts, — made the more delicate by the 
 fact that of the eight States voting against Van Buren but 
 two of them — Indiana and Illinois — were free, while the 
 other six — Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Mary- 
 land, South Carolina and Alabama — were slave States. 
 Although the question of slavery had not then become a 
 dominant factor in national elections, it was deemed nec- 
 essary to placate these six States, so as to prevent them 
 from supposing that the nomination of Van Buren from a 
 free State could, by any possibility, lead to an attack 
 upon slavery in the States. The reason for this lay in 
 the fact that the politicians of the South were already 
 contriving to consolidate that section with reference to 
 slavery, so as to provide, if possible, for the enlargement 
 of its area over territory thereafter to be acquired, or so 
 to employ it, as then existing, as to make it the control- 
 ling power over the national patronage. In order to ef- 
 fect these ends — or, at all events, to assure Van Buren's 
 election as Vice-President — it was deemed prudent to per- 
 mit him to occupy his accustomed non-committal attitude 
 — so entirely congenial to him — so that the politicians of 
 all the sections could represent him as favoring this, that, 
 or the other thing, as local expediency might suggest; 
 and thus enable him to run almost entirely upon Jackson's 
 popularity. Hence, the convention which nominated 
 
1^2 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 him, instead of a platform of principles, adopted a single 
 resolution in these words : 
 
 "Resolved, That it be recommended to the several 
 delegations in this Convention, in place of a General Ad- 
 dress from this body to the people of the United States, 
 to make such explanations by address, report, or other- 
 wise, to their respective constituents, of the object, pro- 
 ceedings and result of the meeting, as they may deem ex- 
 pedient. ' ' 
 
 Nothing of this kind ever occurred before in American 
 politics, and he must be very obtuse who, in view of what 
 has since occurred, does not see that it was the inaugu- 
 ration of a new era of trickery and deception in political 
 elections, which — while it neither strengthened nor weak- 
 ened Jackson who was not a party to it — carried Van 
 Buren into the Vice-Presidency, not on account of his 
 own popularity but because he was associated on the 
 same ticket with Jackson. Nevertheless, however, the 
 electoral vote of Pennsylvania was withheld from him, 
 and he fell thirty votes behind Jackson. 
 
 The popularity of Jackson was greatly increased during 
 his second term, mainly on account of the firm and patri- 
 otic course he pursued with reference to nullification in 
 South Carolina. This so identified him with the national 
 cause as against any form or measures of sectional oppo- 
 sition, that many who had voted against him in 1828 
 readily acquiesced in his re-election. Van Buren kept in 
 a condition to avail himself of this, and being merely the 
 presiding ofificer of the United States Senate, so "trimmed 
 his sails " as to avoid any new complications and keep 
 himself within the shadow of Jackson, in order to become 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1 73 
 
 his successor. He succeeded so well in this that at an- 
 other national nominating convention in 1835, he was 
 nominated for the Presidency, with Col. R. M. Johnson 
 for Vice-President. But this convention pursued the 
 same expedient as that which had nominated him for the 
 Vice-Presidency in 1831, by putting forth no platform of 
 principles, — thus leaving the contest to be conducted, as 
 it had been in his candidacy for Vice-President, upon 
 national grounds in the free, and sectional grounds in the 
 slave, States. The politicians of the South displayed 
 great sagacity and wisdom in this, while those of the 
 North were misled. The former knew that Van Buren 
 had joined the combination to defeat the policy of Mon- 
 roe and John Quincy Adams with reference to the mis- 
 sion to the Congress at Panama, upon the ground that 
 the confederated Spanish-American States had become 
 pledged to abolish the slave trade ; and this knowledge 
 was silently held in reserve so that it could be made avail- 
 able to answer any possible political exigency in the slave 
 States, while the voters in the free States were engaged 
 in the consideration of national questions, without any 
 suspicion of a consolidated South. 
 
 The cards were well stacked, but did not play out so 
 well as had been anticipated, for, by this time, the intelli- 
 gence of the voters of the South had become sufficiently 
 aroused to enable them to see that the scheming politi- 
 cians who had prophesied national interference with 
 slavery in the States, were false prophets, and designed 
 to mislead them for the accomplishment of their own 
 selfish ends. The consequence was that General William 
 H . Harrison — the Presidential competitor of Van Buren — 
 
1^4 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 received 1,842 more popular votes than Van Buren in 
 eleven slave States — South Carolina having cast her electo- 
 ral vote by the Legislature. Van Buren, however, was 
 elected by a popular majority of less than 25,000 out of 
 nearly 1,500,000 votes cast, which majority was less than 
 he received in New York alone — his own State — by over 
 3,000 votes. Moreover, he received but 61 of the elec- 
 toral votes of the slave States, while 61 were cast against 
 him, and his majority of the whole popular vote was 
 more than 100,000 less than that of Jackson in his con- 
 test of 1832, with Clay. These facts tend to show, with 
 reasonable certainty, that but for his association with Jack- 
 son and the popularity of his administration, Van Buren 
 could not have been elected — that the first attempt to con- 
 trol a Presidential election by a consolidated sectional 
 vote was made by his supporters, and with his consent — 
 that this was rebuked by the Southern people themselves 
 because of its tendency to invite sectional antagonism, 
 and that whatsoever efforts were afterwards made to con- 
 solidate the North were responsive to those first made 
 by his partisans in the South. And if the intelligent 
 searcher of our history shall carefully keep these consid- 
 erations in mind, he will find it difificult to escape the con- 
 viction that if Van Buren had not been elected President 
 in 1836, we should have escaped our late civil war. His- 
 tory is something of a labyrinth, yet it is not impossible, 
 in tracing the courses of events, to discover the points 
 where they link together and establish, as well as illus- 
 trate, its philosophy. 
 
 There is nothing within the whole range of my memory 
 of which I can speak more confidently than when I assert 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 175 
 
 that the institution of slavery, as it existed in the South, 
 was not in the least danger at the time of Van Buren's 
 election. Multitudes of Northern people could not be 
 reconciled to the principle upon which it was based, but 
 in this respect they were influenced by the example of 
 the colony of Virginia, in its numerous protests against 
 the slave trade and the English importation of slaves. 
 At the same time, however, they recognized the constitu- 
 tional protection of slave property in the States, and were 
 disinclined to agitate the question. There were a few 
 agitators here and there in the North, but these were un- 
 able to influence public opinion, and could accomplish 
 nothing whatever in Congress, where they were made 
 powerless by the almost entire unanimity of both Houses. 
 Jackson considered them entirely harmless, and therefore, 
 in his last message, December 6, 1836, said: "With no 
 causes at home or abroad to lessen the confidence with 
 which we look to the future for continuing proofs of the 
 capacity of our free institutions to produce all the fruits 
 of good government, the general condition of our affairs 
 may well excite our national pride." In the diversity of 
 sentiment respecting slavery he saw nothing to excite the 
 least apprehension or alarm — nothing threatening to the 
 harmony of the Union, or which he supposed could lead, 
 either in the immediate or remote future, to any improper 
 or unconstitutional interference with slavery in the States. 
 Those who assumed that there was then danger of this 
 and that he did not understand it, or, understanding it, 
 did not admonish the country of its existence, insinuate 
 against him not merely the charge of almost criminal 
 negligence, but of imbecility and want of patriotism. 
 
176 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 His whole life is a sufficient defense against both of these 
 imputations, and his farewell address — dated March 3, 
 1837, the day preceding Van Buren's inauguration — con- 
 clusively shows that he did not consider the rights of the 
 slave States in the least degree imperiled by any existing 
 anti-slavery agitation in the North. If there had been 
 anything of that kind then threatening the country, or 
 promising to do so in the future, he would undoubtedly 
 have expressed his fears for the Union — to which no man 
 was more patriotically devoted — in such terms of admoni- 
 tion and warning as would have rung throughout the 
 land. Instead of this, however, he said nothing about 
 slavery, or slavery agitation, or any threatened in- 
 terference with the rights of the slave States; but, in 
 pointing out the dangers to our peace and harmony, de- 
 clared that, in his opinion, they sprang "from cupidity, 
 from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordi- 
 nate thirst for power" — meaning, of course, among the 
 politicians and not the people — and that from these 
 sources "factions will be formed and liberty endangered." 
 He did not say one word about the threatened aggres- 
 sions of the North upon the rights of Southern slavehold- 
 ers, — nothing from which it could be inferred that he 
 either knew or suspected that any such purpose existed. 
 And he who will now take the trouble to read this mem- 
 orable document, and carefully observe its contents, will 
 see, as plainly as he can distinguish daylight from dark- 
 ness, that when Jackson retired from the Presidency he 
 did not apprehend the least danger of any interference 
 with slave property in the Southern States; but, upon 
 the other hand, that all his fears for the future of the 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1 77 
 
 country were centered in his belief that the "cupidity," 
 and "corruption," and "ambition," and "inordinate 
 thirst for power ' ' which prevailed among the politicians 
 would breed such ' ' factions ' ' as would ultimately endan- 
 ger the Union. In this he was not only wise, but right; 
 and it is only necessary to employ ordinary caution in ex- 
 amining the events which followed his retirement to learn 
 that he had scarcely reached the Hermitage before these 
 factions began to form and were strengthened by federal 
 patronage as plants are invigorated and grow by watering. 
 After Van Buren was nominated for the Presidency, 
 his hands were tied — tightly tied by those who under- 
 stood well how to tether their dependents. Therefore, 
 when it was deemed necessary to employ him in aid of 
 the conspiracy to consolidate the South upon the subject 
 of slavery, he had not the courage to rebuke the conspir- 
 ators or to defend the Northern people against the false 
 imputation of the purpose of interfering with slavery in 
 the States. If he had possessed this courage, a few 
 words of kindly and patriotic remonstrance would have 
 rebuked the malcontents and made them blush, as they 
 also would have destroyed all the germs of sectional pas- 
 sion, which, as we have seen, had not then grown sufiS- 
 ciently to emit their poison. But instead of that, and, 
 manifestly, with the view of kindling the fires of sectional 
 excitement in the slave States so as to assure his election 
 by their votes, he caused a letter to be published during 
 the canvass, wherein he declared his inflexible and un- 
 compromising opposition to " every attempt on the part 
 of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Colum- 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 bia," and also to "the slighest interference with it in the 
 States where it existed." 
 
 This was the exhibition of the kind of courage dis- 
 played by Don Quixote when he made war upon the 
 wind-mills — an assault upon an adversary that did not 
 exist. We shall see presently that those of the North 
 who desired the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
 lumbia were too few to produce a ripple upon the ocean 
 of public sentiment, and that even these few had not ex- 
 pressed any desire to interfere by congressional action, 
 either directly or indirectly, with slavery in the States 
 where it existed. This having been so during the Presi- 
 dential canvass of 1836, it was well understood by Van 
 Buren and his supporters that, while the bulk of the vot- 
 ers of the North were not concerning themselves about 
 slavery, and would cast their ballots without the least re- 
 gard to it, and with reference to questions of government 
 policy, his political fortunes would be bettered if they 
 could excite the fears of the Southern voters by the false 
 pretense that slavery in the States was seriously threat- 
 ened. And, with no other or higher motive than this, 
 the letter of Van Buren was circulated all over the South 
 as a temporary expedient to secure his election; — an 
 artifice covered by disguise so thin that a majority of 
 the Southern people saw through it and cast their votes 
 against him; — for it is characteristic of the American 
 people that they instinctively dislike political trickery. 
 
 Nothwithstanding this. Van Buren's mind was so elat- 
 ed at his election and the stratagem which had pro- 
 duced it, that he pretended to see — what Jackson had 
 failed to observe — that the South had reason to believe 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 
 
 179 
 
 that the North was about to bring about such legislation 
 in Congress as would result in abolishing slavery in the 
 Southern States. Accordingly in his inaugural, delivered 
 March 4, 1837 — the day after Jackson's farewell ad- 
 dress — he introduced the subject of slavery by referring 
 to the States having " domestic institutions which, un- 
 wisely disturbed, might endanger the harmony of the 
 whole ; ' ' and characterizing it as one ' ' of the prominent 
 sources of discord and disaster," he declared that it 
 had "never, until the present period, disturbed the tran- 
 quility of our common country. ' ' This arraignment of the 
 North — for it was nothing else — created intense indigna- 
 tion throughout the free States, where among the popu- 
 lations at large there was only now and then to be found a 
 voter who cast his ballot with reference to slavery; — and 
 it may be parenthetically remarked here, that this indig- 
 nation became so widely extended and controlling in his 
 own State of New York, that while it gave him a major- 
 ity of over 28,000 votes in 1836, the majority against 
 him in 1840 was 10,500, — making a difference of over 
 38,000 votes in less than four years. But in the South 
 it had such effect upon the conspirators against the peace 
 of the Union that they thought they saw in it signs of 
 the triumph they expected to ultimately win by such a 
 dispensation of the federal patronage as they expected to 
 dictate. It is necessary, however, to observe at this 
 point the precise relation which the North bore to the 
 slavery question, in so far as the constitutional rights of 
 the slaveholding States were involved. This is shown by 
 the Congressional records. 
 
 On November 11, 1835, a quarterly meeting of Qua- 
 
l8o PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 kers was held in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, which 
 prepared a memorial to Congress, praying that slavery 
 be abolished in the District of Columbia, because it was 
 "within the constitutional jurisdiction of Congress;" but 
 not intimating the least desire to have it interfered with 
 in any of the States. On January ii, 1836, this memo- 
 rial was presented to the Senate. At the same session 
 several other memorials of the same import from citizens 
 of Ohio, Vermont and Massachusetts were also presented. 
 These gave rise to considerable debate, in which the 
 Southern Senators — under the lead of Calhoun — insisted 
 that they should not be received — which was equivalent to 
 a denial of the right of petition, — and that Congress, al- 
 though it had the exclusive right of legislation over the 
 affairs of the District of Columbia, had no more power to 
 abolish slavery there than it had to do so in the States. 
 This last proposition was denied by several Northern 
 Senators who, at the same time, expressed their unquali- 
 fied assent to the proposition that Congress had no con- 
 stitutional power to abolish or interfere with slavery in 
 the States, but that the States alone possessed that 
 power. The Quaker memorial was made the one upon 
 which all the test questions were determined, and after it 
 had been decided to receive it — that is, not to deny the 
 right of the people to petition — the Senate, on March 1 1 , 
 1836, came to a direct vote upon the motion " that the 
 prayer of the petition be rejected f' which, as all under- 
 stood, was a distinct and explicit avowal that Congress 
 ought not to interfere with slavery even in the District 
 of Columbia. This motion was agreed to by a vote 
 nearly unanimous, that is, \>y yeas 34, nays 6; — the mi- 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. l8l 
 
 nority consisting of the two Senators from Massachusetts, 
 the two from Vermont, one from Indiana, and one from 
 Rhode Island. But nearly all these six Senators ad- 
 dressed the Senate upon the subject, and expressly de- 
 clared that, in their opinion, Congress had no control 
 over and no right to interfere with slavery as it existed 
 in the States. So that upon the latter question — that is, 
 the constitutional power and right of Congress to inter- 
 fere with slavery in the States — the decision of the Senate 
 was absolutely unanimous. To say — as Southern agita- 
 tors did — that there was behind this unanimity a public 
 sentiment among the Northern people different from this, 
 and demanding interference with slavery in the States, 
 was trifling with a matter of most serious import. The 
 only parallel it has in history is the fiddling of Nero when 
 Rome was in flames. 
 
 Other petitions were introduced into the House of Rep- 
 resentatives at the same session, but, like those in the Sen- 
 ate, they had reference only to slavery in the District of 
 Columbia. Many of these doubtless were attributable to 
 the fact that the Southern members of Congress denied 
 the right of the people to petition upon that sub- 
 ject. It was understood at the time that many signed 
 such petitions merely to condemn this unpopular doctrine 
 — very much as prohibitory laws are generally odious. 
 These petitioners were intelligent enough to know that, 
 within less than one year from the date of the Constitu- 
 tion, numerous petitions had been presented from New 
 York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and espe- 
 cially from the Quakers, praying for the suppression of 
 the slave trade and the melioration of slavery in the 
 
1 82 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 States, and that James Madison — then in Congress from 
 Virginia — while he denied the power of Congress to in- 
 terfere with slavery in the States, justified the reception 
 and respectful consideration of such petitions. And, in 
 fact, these petitioners were not mistaken in considering 
 that they occupied the same ground as Madison in as- 
 serting their claim to the highest privilege of citizenship — 
 the right of petition. No matter now, however, about 
 their motives, it serves every practical purpose to know 
 that, after much fiery and vindictive denunciation by South- 
 ern orators, the House of Representatives disposed of all 
 the questions involved by direct votes, and in such way 
 as to leave no doubt whatever about its meaning upon any 
 fair and dispassionate mind. Three distinct propositions 
 were presented to the House and voted upon: i. That 
 all the petitions be referred to a select committee. 2. 
 That this committee be instructed to report "that Con- 
 gress possesses no constitutional authority to interfere in 
 any way with the institution of slavery in any of the 
 States of the confederacy." 3. That "Congress ought 
 not to interfere in any way with slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, because it would be a violation of the public 
 faith, unwise, impolitic and dangerous to the Union." 
 Each one of these propositions was adopted by a separate 
 vote — the first hy yeas, 174; nays, 48; the second by 
 yeas, 201; nays, 7; and the third was divided into two 
 clauses, the first of which was adopted hy yeas, 127; 
 nays, 75 ; and the second hy yeas, 167 ; nays, 6. In or- 
 der, however, to comprehend fully the import and mean- 
 ing of this last vote, it is necessary to observe that it was 
 in the nature of instruction to the select committee that 
 
MARTIX VAN BUREN. 
 
 183 
 
 it should examine and report upon the best method ' 'to sus- 
 tain and preserve the just rights of the slave-holding States 
 and of the people of" the District of Columbia. These 
 votes were all taken February 8, 1836, after Van Buren 
 had been nominated for the Presidency, and whether con- 
 sidered singly or together, they show that, upon the ques- 
 tion of interfering with slavery in the States, the House 
 of Representatives was emphatic in declaring that Con- 
 gress had no constitutional power to do so. 
 
 The select committee provided for by these proceed- 
 ings was composed of nine, as follows : Pinckney, of 
 South Carolina, Chairman; Harmer, of Ohio; Pierce, of 
 New Hampshire; Hardin, of Kentucky; Jarvis, of 
 Maine; Owens, of Georgia; Muhlenberg, of Pennsyl- 
 vania; Dromgoole, of Virginia ; and Turrill, of New York 
 — representing five free and four slave States. It re- 
 ported May 18, 1836, recommending three propositions: 
 I. That Congress possesses no constitutional authority 
 to interfere in any way with the institution of slavery in 
 any of the States of this confederacy: 2. "That Con- 
 gress ought not to interfere in any way with slavery in the 
 District of Columbia : " 3 . In order to put a stop to 
 slavery agitation, "that all petitions, memorials, resolu- 
 tions, etc.," relating to slavery, "shall, without being 
 either printed or referred, be laid upon the table, and that 
 no further action whatever shall be had thereon." The 
 vote upon the first of these propositions was taken May 
 25, 1836, when it was adopted by j/eas 182, naj/s 9. On 
 the next day the other two were voted on, when they 
 were also adopted, — the second hy j/eas 132, nays 45; 
 and the third by jeas 117, nays 68. And thus the whole 
 
184 PKRSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 subject was disposed of and a rule of procedure established 
 which would put a stop to all congressional agitation. 
 This was not what the Southern leaders desired, and 
 Pinckney was denounced upon the floor of the House as 
 a traitor to the South for having produced this result. 
 They desired to figure in the role of agitators, and were 
 indignant that a Southern representative should do any- 
 thing to pacify the country and bring their occupation to 
 an end. They entered upon the task of showing that the 
 abolitionists of the North were so numerous as to threaten 
 the existence of the Union, and their indignation against 
 Pinckney was greatly increased when he told them that 
 he had looked into that matter and found that "the 
 whole number of abolition petitioners scarcely exceeded 
 thirty thousand, one-half of whom were females, and it 
 was confidently believed that a considerable number of 
 the remainder were children." And when we now look 
 back upon those times and see that none of these sought 
 to interfere with slavery in the States, but only in the 
 District of Columbia where the national authority was 
 complete, we not only see that no possible danger to the 
 former existed, but that all this agitation so far back as 
 the first session of the Twenty-fourth Congress was de- 
 signed for the single purpose of consolidating the South 
 and electing a successor to Jackson more obedient to 
 Southern dictation than he had been. None doubted the 
 capacity of these Southern leaders, and when they looked 
 around among the Presidential aspirants they had not far 
 to go before becoming convinced that Van Buren was the 
 man they wanted, because, as a politician, far more than 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1 85 
 
 a Statesman, he would employ the federal patronage so 
 as to secure to the South ultimate victory over the North. 
 Notwithstanding the absolute unanimity in the Senate 
 and the practical unanimity in the House, upon the 
 proposition denying the constitutional right of Congress 
 to interfere with slavery in the States, and the additional 
 fact that not a single petition had been presented asking 
 such interference, Van Buren considered it necessary to 
 placate the Southern voters by announcing, during the 
 canvass, his uncompromising opposition not only to abol- 
 ishing slavery in the District of Columbia, but to ' ' the 
 slightest interference with it in the States where it ex- 
 isted." The object and purpose of this has been already 
 explained, but it may be said in addition that if he had 
 been content to leave the slavery question where the Sen- 
 ate and House of Representatives left it, the tribulation 
 into which the nation has been plunged since would, in 
 all probability, have been escaped. Such a belief has 
 good foundation in the fact that the intelligent voters of 
 the slaveholding States were beginning to open their eyes 
 to their real condition, and to see that the pretense of 
 danger to their slave property was not only false and mis- 
 leading, but made by scheming politicians who had only 
 their selfish ends to attain. And they came to realize 
 this so plainly, notwithstanding Van Buren's attempt to 
 alarm them in his inaugural, that Harrison received 69,- 
 440 popular majority of votes in nine slaveholding States 
 against Van Buren's majority of 14,589 in four, giving 
 Harrison a clear majority of 54,851 popular and twenty- 
 nine electoral votes in eleven slave States. It is evident, 
 therefore, that the repudiation of Van Buren by the slave- 
 
l86 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 holding States would have driven into retirement the 
 conspirators who manipulated him and his administra- 
 tion, had not other and later events occurred which en- 
 abled them to regain the ground they had lost by means 
 of new stratagems more sagaciously conducted. 
 
 The administration of Van Buren was in every sense a 
 failure. This is not the place to discuss the causes of 
 the financial embarrassment which then deranged the 
 commercial and manufacturing interests of the whole 
 country. It was so great as to alarm him, and although 
 he convened Congress in special session September 4, 
 1837, he was unable to recommend any satisfactory 
 measure of relief. In a message of inordinate length he 
 discussed the relations which the banks of the country 
 bore to the volume of business, but was utterly unable to 
 solve the financial problem, although that alone made it 
 necessary to convene Congress. Apart from his sub- 
 treasury scheme — which was the total separation of the 
 public money from banks — no practical measures of legis- 
 lation were recommended. On the contrary, he impliedly 
 admitted the failure of his administration at the very be- 
 ginning by declaring that "all communities are apt to 
 look to government for too much," and consequently 
 that he refrained "from suggesting to Congress any spe- 
 cific plan for regulating the exchanges of the country, re- 
 lieving mercantile embarrassments or interfering with the 
 ordinary operations of foreign or domestic commerce, 
 because, in his opinion, these things, which preceding 
 Presidents had carefully looked after in regulating our do- 
 mestic policy, were "not within the constitutional prov- 
 ince of the general government." His idea was, in the 
 
MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1 8/ 
 
 popular phrase of that day, that "the government should 
 take care of itself and the people take care of them- 
 selves." 
 
 Van Buren was courteous to all and was said to be 
 kind-hearted. It is quite certain that, in his private or 
 official intercourse, he was not apt to make enemies. It 
 has always been puzzling to those who knew both Jack- 
 son and him, to understand how the relations between 
 them could ever have been created, in view of the fact 
 that they were wholly unlike in almost every particular. 
 Jackson was bold and courageous, while Van Buren was 
 timid and cowardly. Jackson shrunk from no responsi- 
 bility pertaining to his position. Van Buren always did. 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that the former is gratefully 
 remembered by the American people, and held in the 
 highest esteem for his patriotic devotion to the Union, 
 while the present generation either know nothing of the 
 latter, or remember him only as a politician and not as 
 a statesman. What Tom Marshall of Kentucky said of 
 Tyler's administration may be much more appropriately 
 said of Van Buren's — that it may be included in a paren- 
 thesis, and left out in reading our history without the 
 least break in the sense. 
 
WILLIAM HENRT HARRISON 
 
/U^ j9:>^di^'Z't>t^in^-^ 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 WILLIAM H. HARRISON 
 
 Either from indisposition or inability, the administra- 
 tion of Van Buren failed to adopt any such measures as 
 were demanded by the necessities of the country. On 
 the contrary, matters were allowed to drift along without 
 the effective interference of the government, until it came 
 to be understood that his policy was calculated to weaken 
 the national authority and to strengthen that of the States 
 throughout our whole political system. This gave en- 
 couragement to the "State Rights," or Strict Construc- 
 tion party, who pretended to have discovered that all the 
 early Presidents had violated the Constitution by be- 
 ginning and prosecuting affirmative measures of policy, 
 designed to promote the "general welfare" by develop- 
 ing the vast natural resources of the country. The South- 
 ern allies of Van Buren could easily see that this was their 
 work, andias they had used him so effectively to begin 
 the consolidation of the South on the subject of slavery, 
 and could not well turn back without letting go the federal 
 patronage they then controlled, they found it necessary to 
 renominate him for the Presidency as his own successor. 
 This they did by a convention held in Baltimore in May, 
 1840, but having been unable to agree upon a candidate 
 for Vice-President, made no nomination for that office. 
 
 (189) 
 
190 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Inasmuch, however, as the combination which had car- 
 ried Van Buren this far along had been unable to identify 
 itself with any legislation beneficial to the country, it was 
 deemed advisable, for the first time in American politics, 
 to put forth a platform of principles — every sentence and 
 word of which was in favor of the sectional South, and 
 not one sentence or word of which recognized the national 
 government as possessing any power whatever to pro- 
 mote the general welfare of the whole country. It de- 
 nied the constitutionality of internal improvements, of 
 the assumption of the State debts and of a national 
 bank in express terms, and denounced the fostering 
 of one branch of industry to the detriment of another. 
 It condemned the deposits of the public money in banks, 
 recommended economy in public expenditures, and made 
 special proclamation of the great merits of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, and invited foreign emigration to 
 this "land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of 
 every nation." But its main and central feature was set 
 forth in a resolution which declared "that Congress has 
 no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or 
 control the domestic institutions of the several States" — 
 that is, with slavery as it existed in them. This is com- 
 parable only with the case of the blustering school-boy 
 who places a chip upon his head and dares any other 
 boy to knock it off, well understanding that none either 
 intend or desire to do so. 
 
 It required very little sagacity to see that the govern- 
 ment could not be well conducted in accordance with the 
 policy foreshadowed by this platform; — that, in point 
 of fact, it did not announce any system of policy what- 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 
 
 191 
 
 ever, but was simply a string of negations — denying ev- 
 erything and affirming nothing. Its chief, if not its only 
 object, was to excite the fears of the South with regard 
 to slavery, by pretending that the North was rapidly or- 
 ganizing to abolish it; when, in fact, nothing of that 
 kind was being done, except that here and there, in dis- 
 tinct localities, a mere handful of abolitionists would pass 
 resolutions in favor of abolition in the District of Colum- 
 bia, which the great bulk of the Northern people of all 
 other parties condemned and repudiated. Yet, in the 
 face of this well attested fact, these conspirators from the 
 South, who had obtained the mastery over Van Buren, 
 were persistent in the attempt to alarm the South, so as 
 to consolidate that section and thus secure Van Buren 's 
 re-election ; — which meant to them the retention of their 
 own offices and the control of the federal patronage. 
 
 The popular dread of a sectional contest for the Presi- 
 dency had caused the nomination of General Harrison 
 by a convention which met at Harrisburg in December, 
 1839. The controlling purpose of that convention was 
 to rebuke the spirit of sectionalism and to bring back the 
 government to those affirmative measures of policy which 
 had originated with the early Presidents and had brought 
 the country to an unexampled condition of prosperous 
 development. It made no proclamation of principles, 
 because not having been customary the country did not 
 expect it, and, besides, Harrison was, in himself, the rep- 
 resentative of nationalism against sectionalism, which the 
 most thoughtful people of both the North and the South 
 then considered the real issue. In order to give some 
 degree of plausibility to the latter, the government had 
 
192 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 been conducted into other paths than those marked out 
 by the Revolutionary fathers, and there was no man in 
 the nation more fitted than Harrison by education, hab- 
 its of thought, and true courage, to bring it back. His 
 mind was early impressed by Revolutionary teachings — 
 his father having been one of the signers of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence — and his whole life had been 
 spent not only in the service of the National Union, but in 
 fidelity to these teachings. Hence, his nomination was 
 considered to be, and was, responsive to the popular de- 
 sire to rebuke those who were endeavoring to kindle the 
 fires of sectional strife, and restore the country to the con- 
 dition of peace, prosperity, and happiness it had en- 
 joyed before it had been carried, unconsciously and by 
 intrigue, to the point of disregarding the admonitions and 
 example of the founders of the government. 
 
 The Harrisburg Convention made a mistake in nomi- 
 nating John Tyler for Vice-President. The most that 
 can be said now by way of excuse for it is that it was the 
 result of patriotic motives, — having been intended to 
 counteract the sectional influences encouraged and pa- 
 tronized by Van Buren's administration. Those who 
 looked to the permanency of the Union and the prosper- 
 ity of all the sections, and were intelligent enough to see 
 that a consolidated South would inevitably lead to a con- 
 solidated North and thereby put the Union in peril, la- 
 bored hard to make such a ticket as would, in the most 
 emphatic manner, represent nationalism as against sec- 
 tionalism. That General Harrison did this nobody 
 doubted, but as he was a resident of a free State it was 
 deemed essential that the candidate for Vice-President 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 193 
 
 should be a resident of a slave State. The sentiment of 
 nationality was so strong in this convention that it ab- 
 sorbed all other considerations, and as Tyler was a resi- 
 dent of Virginia and had given no evidences of a desire 
 to see the South consolidated as a sectional party, his 
 selection as a candidate for Vice-President gave general 
 satisfaction, both in the North and in the South. While, 
 of course, consideration was given to measures of domes- 
 tic policy other than such as related to slavery, there 
 were controlling reasons why, for the time being, they 
 were not made specially prominent. In the first place, 
 it had never been customary to put forth a platform of 
 principles, but instead, to nominate a candidate for the 
 Presidency — as was done by presenting Harrison — whose 
 life and character gave assurance that he could assent to 
 nothing that would tend, in any degree, to endanger the 
 general welfare. In the second place, it was not deemed 
 prudent to set the example of departing from the course 
 of the early Presidents by converting a Presidential cam- 
 paign into a theater for the discussion of mere measures 
 of legislative policy, which, by the theory of the govern- 
 ment, must be decided by the people through their rep- 
 resentatives in Congress. And in the third and last 
 place, it was more necessary than all else to rebuke the 
 spirit of sectionalism, so that the deliberate judgment of 
 the whole people, throughout the Union, could be in- 
 voked in selecting the best affirmative measures of polity 
 to undo the mischiefs with which the country had been 
 afiflicted by Van Buren's studied system of negations. 
 
 The result of the election was decidedly favorable to 
 the national cause, — so much so as greatly to exhilarate 
 13 
 
194 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 its friends, while it depressed, in a corresponding degree, 
 the sectional agitators. The total popular vote was 2,- 
 410,778, of which Harrison's majority was 139,256, and 
 he received 234 electoral votes and Van Buren only 60, 
 which gave him a majority of 174 in the electoral college. 
 Compared with the election of 1836 it taught an instruct- 
 ive lesson, which ought never to have been forgotten. In 
 that election Van Buren carried seven slaveholding States, 
 which gave him popular majorities of 17,893, and Har- 
 rison four, with popular majorities amounting to 19,85 i 
 — giving the latter 1,862 majority in the South; where- 
 as, at the election of 1840 Harrison carried seven slave- 
 holding States and Van Buren four, which gave the 
 former popular majorities amounting to 69,440, and the 
 latter popular majorities amounting to 14,589, — thus giv- 
 ing Harrison a clear majority of 54,851, which was a 
 gain of 52,989 in the eleven slaveholding States — South 
 Carolina continuing to vote by the Legislature — in the 
 four years from 1836 to 1840. These important facts 
 indicate beyond any reasonable doubt, these two things : 
 First, that the sentiment of nationality was growing 
 stronger and that of sectionalism weaker, in the South ; 
 and second, that those who desired sectional strife be- 
 came convinced by these adverse conditions of the neces- 
 sity of some new method of alarming the South and as- 
 suring the accomplishment of their ends by its consolida- 
 tion. What this new method was will appear hereafter. 
 The election of Harrison was not only directly favor- 
 able to the national cause, but it excited both the hope 
 and the belief in multitudes of the most intelligent minds, 
 in the South as well as in the North, that the government 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 195 
 
 would be returned to the lines and measures of policy 
 the Revolutionary fathers had established, and from 
 which it had been carried away by crude and hazard- 
 ous experiments, originating in the causes which Jackson, 
 in his farewell address, had pointed out as the sources of 
 the greatest danger to the country, — that is, in the "cu- 
 pidity," "corruption," "disappointed ambition," and 
 "inordinate thirst for power," of scheming politicians. 
 The abolitionists of the North had shown their strength 
 by voting, at the same election, for James G. Birney, 
 and were able to cast only 7,059 votes, scattered through- 
 out twelve States of the North. These twelve States gave 
 an aggregate popular vote of 845,495 for Harrison, so 
 that the abolition vote was one in every twelve hundred, 
 while there was not a single vote cast for Birney in either 
 of two Northern States — Delaware and Indiana. Inas- 
 much, therefore, as this fact disproved entirely the alle- 
 gation of the sectional friends of Van Buren, that the 
 North was consolidating to interfere with slavery in the 
 States, they were brought to realize that unless their 
 mode of procedure should be varied by new inventions, 
 the Union, as it then was, would be maintained in its 
 complete national integrity and the federal patronage lost 
 to them, probably forever. 
 
 The inaugural of Harrison gave no comfort whatever 
 to those who desired to stir up strife between the sections. 
 On the contrary, it was so crowded with national senti- 
 ments and so eloquent in patriotic appeals to arouse 
 them, that it stirred up throughout the nation the most 
 fervid enthusiasm. They were dull who could not see 
 his familiarity with the philosophy of history, and that he 
 
1^6 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 had studied it so deeply and well as to become convinced 
 that the form of government most conducive to human 
 prosperity and happiness was that whereby the sovereign 
 and controlling authority is irrevocably vested in the 
 people. It was manifest to all that his fixed purpose 
 was to revive the principles and policy of the Revolu- 
 tionary era, so that the government should continue to 
 be the reflex of them, in order to preserve it as it came 
 from the hands of its founders, without danger of sec- 
 tional disturbance. His leading and controlling object 
 was to perpetuate the Union for the benefit of future gen- 
 erations. The first thing he realized, at the beginning of 
 his administration, was the condition into which the coun- 
 try had been brought by the negative and neglectful pol- 
 icy of Van Buren, which had deranged the finances, crip- 
 pled both domestic and foreign commerce, and caused an 
 almost entire suspension in every department of business. 
 Surveying this entire field and considering well the obli- 
 gation of the government to protect the interests of the 
 whole people, by such means as the Constitution had 
 given it, he acted with his accustomed promptitude, and 
 on March 17, 1841 — less than two weeks after his inau- 
 guration — issued a proclamation convening Congress in 
 extra session, "to devise and adopt such measures as the 
 good of the country" required. He made no search 
 after executive powers to accomplish the desired results, 
 for by education and habits of thought he had learned 
 that so far as a President encroaches upon the legislative 
 authority, precisely to the same extent he endangers the 
 plan of government of, for, and by the people. His de- 
 pendence upon the popular intelligence and patriotism 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 1 97 
 
 was not hedged in by either doubts or fears, — for all his 
 associations had led him to believe that the impulses of 
 the people centered in the desire to encourage whatever 
 should legitimately tend to make the United States not 
 only the greatest but the most prosperous and influential 
 country in the world. 
 
 He had already given evidence of his wisdom and dis- 
 cretion in the selection of his cabinet, which was com- 
 posed of six of the ablest and most distinguished of 
 American statesmen, who, besides representing all the 
 varied material interests of the entire country, were the 
 impersonation of the principle of nationality in its highest 
 and best sense. They were Daniel Webster, Secretary of 
 State ; Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury ; John 
 Bell, Secretary of War; George E. Badger, Secretary of 
 the Navy; Francis Granger, Postmaster General, and 
 John J. Crittenden, Attorney-General. They fairly rep- 
 resented every section of the country and all its diversi- 
 fied interests. Webster was the profoundest constitu- 
 tional lawyer in America, and was so recognized by 
 common consent. Ewing illustrated in his wonderful 
 success the beauty of our popular institutions in that he 
 had marched steadily forward from an humble and ob- 
 scure beginning to an eminent position in the front rank of 
 jurists and statesmen. And if the others occupied an in- 
 termediate position each one of them was recognized as 
 possessing the highest fitness for the position in which he 
 was placed. The satisfaction at the selection of such ad- 
 visers was general among all classes, but especially 
 among those who desired to see the government ad- 
 ministered consistently with the principles which had 
 
198 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 prevailed before it had been made a political machine 
 for promoting the personal ambition of individuals by 
 stirring up discord between the sections. But by the 
 mysterious dispensation of Providence, who has wisely 
 withheld from us a key to unlock the secrets of the fu- 
 ture, the hopes and expectations of the country were 
 suddenly blasted by the untimely death of Harrison, 
 which occurred after a brief illness, April 4, 1 841, at the 
 city of Washington. The disease which carried him off 
 ran its fatal course quickly, but he retained his intellect- 
 ual faculties to the end. His last thoughts were of the 
 country. The cabinet, in notifying the public of this fact, 
 said, "the last utterance of his lips expressed a fervent 
 desire for the perpetuity of the Constitution and the pres- 
 ervation of its true principles," a legacy of advice 
 which only patriots leave behind them. 
 
 The death of any man in conspicuous public station, 
 who is known to be fitted for its duties, excites a mo- 
 mentary sadness even in flinty hearts. But that of Har- 
 rison, just when he was about to enter upon his Pres- 
 idential duties with the resolute purpose of devoting his 
 best energies to the advancement of the public good, was 
 a public calamity. There was then no telegraph to send 
 out the notice of it upon wings of lightning, but not 
 many days elapsed before evidences of the deepest sor- 
 row were exhibited in every section. Multitudes felt as 
 if they had lost a friend ; but this was more notably the 
 case among those whose business and industrial interests 
 were involved in the measures and policy of the govern- 
 ment, and who felt they ought not to be abandoned to 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. I99 
 
 the mere accident and hazard of fortune in such pursuits 
 as were identified with the general welfare. But, more 
 than this, the grief was universal among those who loved 
 the Union and desired to see the spirit of sectionalism dis- 
 sipated, as they were assured it would be, by his execu- 
 tive rebuke and by the employment of all the power and 
 authority which the Constitution and laws placed in his 
 hands. 
 
 The esteem in which Harrison was held by those who 
 knew him best was well deserved, for, during his whole 
 life, he was never known to betray a trust. From the time 
 he received from the hands of George Washington a com- 
 mission of Lieutenant in the army — when only eighteen 
 years of age — he never faltered in the discharge of duty 
 or shrank from the responsibilities of his position. What- 
 ever he had to do was done with conspicuous fidelity. 
 He was trusted to the fullest extent by Generals St. Clair 
 and "Mad Anthony" Wayne upon expeditions against 
 the Indians upon the frontier, and with absolute confi- 
 dence in his ability, discretion and skill. After having 
 been made a captain, he resigned his position in the 
 army and was made Secretary of the Northwest Terri- 
 tory, and soon after was elected a delegate from that 
 Territory to Congress. He served as Governor of In- 
 diana Territory until 1813, and gained an important vic- 
 tory over the Indians in 181 1, at the memorable battle of 
 Tippecanoe. He became commander of the Northwest- 
 ern army, and bore a gallant and conspicuous part in the 
 defense of Fort Meigs and in the battle of the Thames. 
 He served in Congress from Ohio one term, beginning in 
 1 8 16, and in 1828 was appointed Minister to the govern- 
 
300 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ment of Colombia, by President John Quincy Adams. 
 In all these positions his conduct was marked by unbend- 
 ing integrity, and among all who were familiar with his 
 life and services, he was universally esteemed to be 
 "without fear and without reproach." To such of these 
 as may now be living, it will not appear too much to say 
 that if his death had not so soon terminated his adminis- 
 tration, he might have reconciled the sections, rendered 
 civil war impossible, and so built upon the foundations of 
 the Constitution as to make the Union impregnable. 
 
 My personal relations with General Harrison did not 
 extend beyond a few casual interviews; except that 
 upon one occasion I had an opportunity of observing 
 him sufficiently to satisfy my own mind that I had not 
 misconceived his prominent characteristics. During the 
 Presidential contest of 1840, I came down the Ohio river 
 from Cincinnati, upon a steamboat, which stopped long 
 enough at North Bend — Harrison's residence — to enable 
 the passengers to go on shore and pay their respects to him. 
 Among them was General Van Rensselaer of New York, 
 between whom and Harrison there had been many years of 
 the most intimate relations. My recollection is that when 
 they were both young they had served together in the 
 army upon' the frontier, and had formed a strong at- 
 tachment for each other, but had not met for many 
 years. I was greatly impressed by their mutual greet- 
 ing, which exhibited upon the part of Harrison that 
 kindliness of manner which is characteristic of a generous 
 heart, always ready to respond to the demands of friend- 
 ship. Their conversation was necessarily brief, but it 
 was such as to assure all who witnessed the interview that 
 
WILLIAM H. HARRISON. 201 
 
 Harrison was possessed of those manly and noble quali- 
 ties which indicate that the heart is in the right place. 
 This very expression was used by one of the passengers 
 after the boat renewed its voyage, and I remember to 
 have been quite well assured that this interview between 
 these two old army companions had softened the party 
 asperities of some who witnessed it, and had stimulated 
 the hopes of others for his triumph at the election. Dur- 
 ing a few moments of private conversation before we sep- 
 arated he expressed a desire to know how the contest was 
 progressing in Indiana, and when I assured him that, in my 
 opinion, he would carry the State, he exhibited the great- 
 est satisfaction and delight, declaring that the former re- 
 lations between him and the people of Indiana had been 
 such that he had rather be defeated for the Presidency 
 with their votes in his favor, than elected with them 
 against him. That he thus felt in all sincerity I had no 
 doubt, and when I afterwards repeated his words to large 
 audiences of Indiana people, the flushed and animated 
 faces of some of his old companions gave satisfactory evi- 
 dence of the hold he had upon their affections. Their 
 votes were cast in his favor by a majority of nearly 
 14,000 — more than double the majority given to Van 
 Buren in any State — and was to him, as I was afterwards 
 assured, the cause of self-congratulation, because, as he 
 said, "the confidence of those we have served, and who 
 know us best, is worth more than the wealth of the In- 
 dies." 
 
 Not many men have lived in this country whose con- 
 duct is more worthy of imitation than that of Harrison. 
 Firm and courageous in the discharge of public trusts, he 
 
202 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 never sought to shun responsibility, but was as true in 
 the performance of duty as the plummet is to the line. 
 Generous-hearted and kind in private intercourse, his nu- 
 merous friends clung to him as if linked by ' ' hooks of 
 steel." Honorable in all his intercourse with the world, 
 his private life was irreproachable. His sincerity was 
 vouched for by his frankness and candor. For the coun- 
 try to have been deprived of the counsel and services of 
 such a man, at a time when they were so much needed, 
 was a sad bereavement. If that affliction had not be- 
 fallen us we should, in all probability, have escaped oth- 
 ers which have caused thousands of patriotic hearts to 
 bleed. Be this as it may, his cabinet, when announcing 
 his melancholy end, furnished an epitaph suitable for 
 carving upon his tomb when they said : ' ' His death was 
 calm and resigned, as his life had been patriotic, useful, 
 and distinguished." Or if it should be necessary to add 
 other words to these to express his unabated love for the 
 Union up till the last moment of his life, he has himself 
 furnished them in this eloquent and golden extract from 
 his inaugural: "It is union that we want — not of a par- 
 ty for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole 
 country for the sake of the whole country, for the de- 
 fense of its interests and its honor against foreign aggres- 
 sion, for the defense of those principles for which our 
 ancestors so gloriously contended." 
 
y^oHN^rwmm 
 
CHAPTER X 
 JOHN TYLER 
 
 The promptness with which Harrison convened Con- 
 gress in special session, in 1841, was accepted through- 
 out the country as indicating his desire for the adoption 
 of some active and efficient measures of policy for the 
 relief of the business community, which necessarily in- 
 volved a departure from the do-nothing policy of Van 
 Buren's administration. To his mind it was clear that 
 the primary object in creating the National Government 
 was to confer upon it such functions as would enable it to 
 do what the States were unable, in consequence of their 
 conflicting local interests, to accomplish, that is, to stim- 
 ulate the enterprise and develop the industrial interests 
 of the whole country and thereby promote the ' ' general 
 welfare" as contra-distinguished from that of particular 
 States or sections. If there was anything involved in 
 the Presidential campaign of the year before it was this, 
 and consequently the call of the extra session inspired all 
 the departments of business and industry with hope and 
 confidence. This was seen as soon as the proclamation 
 became known and evidences of it were furnished almost 
 every day. Neither the purposes of the administration 
 nor the public expectation could be mistaken. 
 
 All former Presidents having lived out their respective 
 (203) 
 
204 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 terms, no Vice-President had ever become President un- 
 til Tyler was made so by the death of Harrison. This 
 presented a new question with regard to the title by 
 which he should be known — whether that of President 
 or merely Acting' President. Some good constitutional 
 lawyers insisted upon the latter, but as the Constitution 
 provided only for a President and a Vice-President, it 
 was settled that Tyler rightfully became the former when 
 he constitutionally ceased to be the latter. This was ulti- 
 mately accepted as satisfactory. 
 
 Although fifty-three years have passed since the 
 Twenty-seventh Congress met in extra session at the 
 summons of Harrison, its proceedings and the events 
 which grew out of them left impressions upon my mind 
 which have not been removed by all the stirring incidents 
 of the intervening years. In attempting to convey some 
 of these to the minds of others I shall endeavor to em- 
 ploy terms of reproach as sparingly as possible, if for no 
 other reason because the passions which the excitement 
 of that period engendered have been cooled, if not en- 
 tirely extirpated, by the ravages of time. Towards 
 Tyler himself my feelings were originally kind, such as 
 made our intercourse agreeable. They became other- 
 wise from what I then believed to be the necessities of 
 the occasion, but even then not such as to create in my 
 mind the desire to attribute to him an unworthy motive 
 when, by possibility, I could, in justice to my own con- 
 victions, avoid it. The time when he had a party at his 
 back to sustain him and his administration, after his 
 persistent disregard of both express and implied pledges, 
 was too short to be computed. It did not take him 
 
JOHN TYLER. 2O5 
 
 long, after a fortunate and favorable beginning, to im- 
 agine himself as having reached what Clay most aptly 
 called a "half-way house," midway between those who 
 had elected and those who had opposed him, which he 
 believed he could make attractive enough for all who 
 were persuaded to suppose that the old parties were dis- 
 solving and that their fragments could be remodeled into 
 a new and better one. It is of no consequence to inquire 
 now when this thought first took possession of his mind 
 or how long he brooded over it before it became positive 
 delusion, inasmuch as it is universally accepted as a fact, 
 the beginning of a series of other facts which bear inti- 
 mate relations to some of the saddest events in our his- 
 tory. 
 
 It has been elsewhere stated that Harrison was nom- 
 inated by those who desired to restore the government to 
 the condition in which its founders left it, by the enact- 
 ment of such laws as experience had shown to he nec- 
 essary and beneficial. Among the measures deemed es- 
 sential were the following: The charter of a national 
 bank, with the view of furnishing a stable and reliable 
 currency, as well as facilitating the financial operations of 
 the government ; the regulation of the tariff laws so as to 
 provide for the exigencies arising out of the horizontal 
 rate of duty contemplated by the compromise act of 1833, 
 and, while supplying the government with abundant rev- 
 enue, give proper protection to all our home industries, 
 and to make such judicious expenditures as were neces- 
 sary to improve the means of intercommunication be- 
 tween the sections — especially the navigable rivers of the 
 interior. All these important objects had been provided 
 
2o6 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 for in our early legislation, and had the sanction — express 
 or implied — of every administration, until Van Buren con- 
 sented to submit to the dictation of the nullifiers who were 
 dispersed by Jackson, and learned from them that Congress 
 had no constitutional power to do these things, but that 
 they must be left to the States themselves, notwithstand- 
 ing there was scarcely a single State that was not already 
 carrying a load of direct taxation almost too heavy to be 
 borne. All these measures, and others incident to them, 
 were directly involved in the Presidential campaign of 
 1840, and were so fully discussed before large audiences 
 in every State and in almost every neighborhood, as well 
 as in the newspapers, that the whole country was apprised 
 of them, as well as of the arguments by which they were 
 defended and assailed. I have personally participated 
 somewhat actively in sixteen Presidential campaigns, cov- 
 ering a period of more than three-score years, and I do 
 not hesitate to affirm that I have never known one when 
 the distinctive political issues involved were discussed and 
 investigated with more thoroughness. I well remember 
 an occasion during that canvass when Robert Dale Owen 
 and myself — each speaking alternate hours — occupied two 
 entire days in discussing these measures — he attacking 
 and I defending them — before a large and intelligent au- 
 dience, whose interest never slackened. But this is cer- 
 tain, as every survivor of that period will remember, that 
 the opinions of Harrison upon all these questions were 
 well understood by the public — for what he thought and 
 believed with reference to them was made the special ob- 
 ject of public inquiry. I recollect both the attack and 
 defense. He was accused of New England federalism. 
 
JOHN TYLER. 207 
 
 because he favored the policy of John Adams's adminis- 
 tration, to which it was repHed that Adams followed the 
 policy of Washington's administration, and Harrison 
 proposed to do the same. 
 
 The people understood it and rendered their verdict 
 accordingly. What Tyler may have thought and be- 
 lieved before then, upon these or any other public ques- 
 tions, did not, to any material extent, become the subject 
 of inquiry by the people. There were two reasons for 
 this: first, he was a candidate for Vice-President, and 
 if elected would be required only to preside over the Sen- 
 ate, without any vote unless that body should be "equal- 
 ly divided" — a condition neither expected nor likely to 
 occur, — and, second, because it was a necessary and un- 
 avoidable inference from the fact of his having agreed to 
 run upon the ticket with Harrison, that if elected he 
 would assist, as far as the Vice-President could, in con- 
 summating the policy approved by the election. Besides, 
 it was a fundamental principle with those who supported 
 that ticket, that the public sentiment expressed at the 
 ballot-box, upon the questions of policy then submitted, 
 should control the action of the new administration, in 
 order to put the government upon the right course, in- 
 stead of allowing it to drift along among dangerous rocks 
 and whirlpools, under the guidance of those whose motto 
 was that "to the victors belong the spoils of office." 
 
 When the Twenty-seventh Congress convened. May 3 1 , 
 1 84 1, it found Tyler and not Harrison in possession of the 
 Presidency. There was grief because the leader of the 
 victorious hosts was absent, but no ostensible reason for be- 
 lieving that the popular verdict which had been so em- 
 
2o8 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 phatically pronounced would be disregarded. If there 
 Were suspicions they were incipient merely and not al- 
 lowed to ripen into positive fears. Hope inspired the 
 majority and nerved them to prompt and vigorous action. 
 This majority consisted of those who had been returned 
 to that Congress, pledged to carry out the measures in- 
 dorsed and approved by Harrison's election, and who, 
 encouraged by the knowledge of that fact, entered upon 
 their legislative duties with the conviction that their own 
 and the public expectations would be fulfilled by both 
 Congressional and Executive obedience to the popular 
 commands. In his inaugural address Tyler had en- 
 couraged this hope by indicating his belief that the nec- 
 essary reform would consist in a departure from the pre- 
 vailing system of negations, and, with seeming purpose, 
 had left it to be believed that, with reference to such 
 measures as Congress should adopt, he would "resort to 
 the fathers of the great Republican school for advice and 
 instruction, to be drawn from their sage views of our sys- 
 tem of government and the light of their ever-glorious 
 example." This was considered encouraging, for there 
 is nothing more palpable than the fact that these fathers 
 had recognized — some by positive action and others by 
 acquiescence — the constitutionality of a national bank, 
 then more earnestly demanded than any other measure, 
 and the necessity for which was directly involved in the 
 Presidential and Congressional elections. 
 
 The first message of Tyler to Congress, dated June i, 
 1 84 1, contained some language of dubious import which 
 inspired afresh the hopes of the minority, who had 
 strained themselves to the utmost to defeat Harrison. 
 
JOHN TYLER. 2O9 
 
 They seemed to think they saw in it words of equivocal 
 meaning, and their courage, previously weakened, was 
 somewhat revived. But the majority believed that in 
 this his real meaning was perverted, and thought they 
 could discover grounds upon which to base their own 
 sanguine expectations; — for, after a studied recital of 
 former events with reference to a national bank as a fiscal 
 agent of the government and the constitutionality of such 
 an institution, the message referred the question to the 
 representatives of the people, who were recognized as 
 the only true source of authority. It addressed Congress 
 in these words: "To you, then, who have come more 
 directly from the body of our common constituents, I 
 submit the entire question, as best qualified to give a full 
 exposition of their wishes and opinions." Whatever 
 else may have been observed by the minority in apparent 
 conflict with this, it was sufficiently assuring to the ma- 
 jority. 
 
 To that majority their duty seemed plain. They were, 
 in a special and emphatic sense, representatives of the 
 principles considered settled by Harrison's election, and 
 were, in addition, pledged to their constituents to main- 
 tain those principles by the necessary legislation. They 
 accordingly, as the most important measure of relief to 
 the country, passed a bill through both branches of Con- 
 gress to charter a "fiscal bank of the United States," 
 which was immediately placed in President Tyler's hands 
 for approval. There was general rejoicing at this in all 
 parts of the country, especially among those who real- 
 ized the necessity of a good and stable currency, so ab- 
 solutely necessary to conduct business successfully in all 
 14 
 
2IO PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 its departments. But not many days elapsed before it 
 was rumored that Tyler was hesitating about giving his 
 approval to the bill ; in fact, it was boasted by some of 
 the minority that they were assured he would veto it. 
 This, of course, put all upon the alert, and the friends of 
 the bill did everything in their power to have it approved, 
 while its enemies were equally industrious in their efforts 
 to procure its rejection. As it was understood that he 
 had suffered himself to be approached and argued with 
 upon the subject, the majority held frequent conferences 
 in order to discover, if possible, the inclination of his 
 mind. I distinctly remember one of these occasions, 
 when a committee was appointed to wait upon and dis- 
 cuss the matter with him. This committee was com- 
 posed of Millard Fillmore, of New York; John S. Pen- 
 dleton, of Virginia, and myself. We accordingly visited 
 the White House and occupied the greater part of one 
 evening in conversation with the President. We pre- 
 sented to him all the arguments and reasons we deemed 
 essential, but he was particularly cautious not to commit 
 himself either for or against the bill — in other words, he 
 was entirely noncommittal. It had been arranged previ- 
 ously that upon the next day all the members of Con- 
 gress, together with Tyler and his cabinet, should visit 
 Annapolis, in Maryland, to see and inspect two govern- 
 ment ships of war, then in the harbor near the naval 
 academy, and when we pressed him as closely as was 
 considered prudent he referred to this contemplated visit 
 and said he had not decided what he would do, as he had 
 not had time to make the necessary investigation, that upon 
 the next day we should all go to Annapolis, when the 
 
JOHN TYLER. 211 
 
 time must be spent in social intercourse and enjoyment 
 and not a word said about politics or the bank bill, and 
 that upon his return he would take the matter up and de- 
 cide. This terminated our interview. 
 
 We were not fully satisfied. Like all are apt to do upon 
 any given subject in which they are deeply interested, we 
 persuaded ourselves that he was merely coquetting with 
 us, and that in the end he would approve the bill. 
 There were too many facts tending in that direction to 
 warrant any other conclusion. Tyler had been person- 
 ally present at the Harrisburg convention which nomi- 
 nated Harrison and himself, and had professed both sat- 
 isfaction and gratification at the result. He had gone 
 there as a delegate for the special purpose of securing the 
 nomination of Clay, who was the most distinguished 
 champion of the "American system," which included all 
 the distinctive measures involved in the Presidential cam- 
 paign of 1840, and in the election of the majority in Con- 
 gress. His having been present to accept the nomina- 
 tion for Vice-President under these circumstances, and 
 having acquiesced in the manner in which the campaign 
 was conducted, as well as in the principles avowed, we 
 felt ourselves forbidden to positively question his sincer- 
 ity, although some things said by him were calculated to 
 excite slight suspicion of it. Our anxiety, however, was 
 so great that we put such construction upon the interview 
 as our hopes and desires dictated — the wish being 
 ' ' father to the thought, ' ' and so reported to those in 
 whose behalf we acted. 
 
 When I reached the depot the next morning I soon 
 learned that Tyler had not arrived, although the train 
 
212 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 was expected to leave in a few minutes. There was 
 some little delay on his account, but he did not make 
 his appearance and we left without him. Observing this 
 my suspicions were at once aroused, and I turned to 
 Truman Smith of Connecticut, who was near me, and af- 
 ter explaining the character of the interview the previous 
 evening, expressed to him my fears that we had been de- 
 ceived, — that it then seemed to me, for the first time, 
 the bill would be rejected — and that Tyler was remain- 
 ing at home in order to prepare his veto message. And 
 it so turned out, for a few days after — August i6, 1841 — 
 he sent his veto to the Senate — in which body the bill 
 originated, — and thereby cruelly blasted the hopes and 
 expectations of those to whom he was indebted for the 
 ofifice he filled, and did it manifestly with the purpose of 
 gaining the favor of those who had villified and de- 
 nounced both Harrison and himself, and with the further 
 object of building up a third party through which he 
 might obtain the Presidency " in his own right." I am 
 unable to picture the dismay which followed, although 
 the fifty-three intervening years have not erased the im- 
 pressions from my mind. A triumphant majority — flushed 
 with one of the most signal political triumphs known to 
 our history — was suddenly made almost helpless by one 
 single stroke of the Executive saber. The vast multi- 
 tude of voters behind them were defied, as if they were a 
 thoughtless rabble or the subdued creatures of a crowned 
 monarch. And a threatening cloud was suspended over 
 all engaged in business operations — from the merchant 
 upon the high seas to the laborer at the forge — so that 
 there came from every direction mingled sounds of dis- 
 
JOHN TYLER. 213 
 
 may and indignation; — dismay because of the threatened 
 wreck of private fortunes, and indignation at the unprece- 
 dented betrayal of the public trust. 
 
 The veto message did not display adroitness enough to 
 elevate it above the standard of a commonplace produc- 
 tion. In so far as it made the pretense of argument it 
 was stale and flat — not coming up, either in force or dig- 
 nity, to many of the stump speeches by which a national 
 bank had been assailed during the Presidential canvass. 
 Evidently the part out of which he expected to make the 
 most for himself, was that in which he endeavored to 
 show that he was voted for and elected with full knowl- 
 edge, upon the part of those who supported him, that he 
 had always denied the constitutionality of a national 
 bank, — a position utterly at variance with his having 
 gone as a delegate to the Harrisburg convention to secure 
 the nomination of Clay, — with his having there person- 
 ally accepted the nomination for the Vice-Presidency, — 
 with the known sentiments of Harrison, whose popularity 
 secured his own election, — and with the whole course of 
 the Presidential canvass. What he said about those pro- 
 visions of the bill which allowed branch banks to be estab- 
 lished in the States either with or without their consent, 
 would scarcely have availed in a justice's court, for the 
 reason that the government would not represent a nation 
 if the execution of any of its powers were dependent upon 
 State approval, — a proposition perfectly familiar to all 
 who have read enough of our history to know that the 
 old Confederation was abandoned and the Constitution 
 adopted expressly to get rid of that dependence. 
 
 Enough soon occurred to cause his sincerity to be 
 
214 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 questioned, for whether from "compunctious visitings of 
 conscience" or some other cause left unexplained, he, a 
 few days after, authorized Daniel Webster, his Secretary 
 of State, to seek an interview with some representative of 
 the Congressional majority, with the view of ascertaining 
 whether a new bill could not be agreed upon and passed 
 containing such provisions as he would be willing to ap- 
 prove, — undoubtedly hoping that if this scheme were 
 successful the credit would enure to himself. This inter- 
 view was had between Webster, representing the Execu- 
 tive, and John M. Berrien, Senator from Georgia, repre- 
 senting the Congressional majority. The result of it was 
 — as stated by Berrien and never denied — that an effort 
 should be made to construct a new bill so drawn as to 
 meet the approbation of the President. To accomplish 
 this it was arranged that John Sergeant of Pennsylvania 
 — a member of the House — should prepare such a bill. 
 He did so by the aid of Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, and after its completion it was made 
 known to Tyler, who assented to it without any qualifica- 
 tion. This movement was far from satisfactory to the 
 majority, many of whom insisted that it could not be ac- 
 cepted without recognizing the right of the Executive to 
 interfere directly with and influence legislation. It not 
 only intensified the excitement but produced decided ill- 
 feeling. Nevertheless, the majority felt constrained, by 
 a sense of duty to the country, to subdue their passions 
 as far as possible in order to secure some measure of re- 
 lief, knowing, as they did, that all branches of business 
 were threatened with ruin in consequence of depreciating 
 
JOHN TYLER. 215 
 
 currency and the general financial derangement. Influ- 
 enced alone by this consideration they finally consented to 
 accept the new bill which had been prepared at Tyler's 
 suggestion and approved by him. It was, accordingly, 
 introduced and passed by decisive majorities through 
 both houses of Congress, — some still complaining of the 
 manner in which it had been dictated by the Executive, 
 but all exulting at the prospect of affording relief to the 
 country, although it was not of the character promised 
 or desired by them. Notwithstanding all these facts, 
 however, Tyler also vetoed this bill, by a message sent 
 September 9, 1841, to the House of Representatives, 
 where it originated. This message was, in many re- 
 spects, a repetition of the former veto, and if there had 
 been any special merit in its argument to attract atten- 
 tion, it was overlooked entirely in consequence of the in- 
 dignation felt at his violated pledges. It would be im- 
 possible now to explain the extent of this indignant feel- 
 ing among the friends of the measure, and a large share 
 of it was imparted to its enemies, who, while they sup- 
 posed themselves profited by the treachery of Tyler, had 
 too high a sense of honor to conceal their real sentiments. 
 Two days after — that is, September 11, 1841 — all the 
 members of the cabinet, except Webster, resigned their 
 offices in disgust — having been unwilling to serve longer 
 in connection with an administration whose chief had mis- 
 led and deceived them. They are entitled to honorable 
 mention, and were as follows : Thomas Ewing, Secretary 
 of the Treasury; John Bell, Secretary of War; George 
 E. Badger, Secretary of the Navy; John J. Crittenden, 
 Attorney-General; and Francis Granger, Postmaster- 
 
2l6 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 General. Not one of these distinguished men could, 
 consistently with his own self-respect, have acted other- 
 wise ; for they were all unwilling to remain longer in po- 
 sitions which would, in the least degree, warrant the sus- 
 picion that they were wanting in fidelity to their own pro- 
 fessed principles or their personal integrity. 
 
 This flagrant desertion by Tyler of the friends who had 
 elected him placed between him and them a barrier to all 
 future friendly relations, which was never afterwards re- 
 moved — a gulf which could never be bridged over. But 
 four members of the House of Representatives withdrew, 
 in consequence, from the ranks of the majority, and these 
 soon became known as the "corporal's guard." They 
 deluded themselves with the hope that, as they seemed 
 to find pleasure in the "half-way house," then erected 
 for the first time, others would likely be attracted by its 
 temptations until it should become crowded with such 
 multitudes, held together by the rewards of federal patron- 
 age, as Tyould ultimately build up a "third party," strong 
 enough to make Tyler President "in his own right." 
 They could not tolerate the idea that, since the death of 
 Harrison, he had been "standing in another man's shoes," 
 when, as they conceived, he was worthy to stand in his 
 own and illumine the Presidential office with his own 
 light. By the aid of Executive patronage, a newspaper 
 organ called the Madisonian was established in the city 
 of Washington, the columns of which were filled from day 
 to day with fulsome flattery of Tyler and vindictive de- 
 nunciation of those who had elected him — ^which exhib- 
 ited upon the part of the administration the disposition 
 to pay for former kindness with monstrous ingratitude. 
 
JOHN TYLER. 21*] 
 
 Notwithstanding this, however, the extra session called 
 by Harrison persisted courageously in the work he de- 
 signed it should accomplish, until it consummated several 
 important measures of acknowledged public utility. It 
 was not of the character to be deterred from the patriotic 
 discharge of duty by the antagonism of an Executive who 
 would have been entirely imbecile but for the constitu- 
 tional powers he accidentally possessed, and which not a 
 thousand men in the United States, outside the office- 
 holding circle, ever intended — either before or after — 
 to confer upon him. 
 
 In the first annual message of Tyler, December 7, 
 1 84 1, he foreshadowed a new plan of a fiscal agent of 
 the government, which he said had been prepared by 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance to his in- 
 structions, and the chief merit of which was, in his 
 opinion, the entire separation of the government from 
 banking institutions of every kind. Nothing came of it, 
 however, if for no other reason, because the majority of 
 that Congress, taught by experience at the special ses- 
 sion, were not then in a mood to be entangled again in 
 the meshes of a net woven by Executive hands. There- 
 fore, they gave special attention to other important mat- 
 ters, particularly to such as related to revenue. 
 
 Because of the diminution in the revenue, occasioned 
 by the compromise act of 1833, which materially reduced 
 the duties upon imports, a provisional tariff act was 
 passed and vetoed by Tyler without exciting any special 
 surprise. This, however, was not considered as having 
 any material bearing upon the general question of the 
 tariff, which subject was embraced in another bill not yet 
 
2l8 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 acted on. The latter was prepared with great care and 
 contested at every stage of its progress by its adversaries. 
 It was not framed with reference to Tyler's opinions, but 
 inasmuch as in his message to the extra session he had 
 recommended the distribution of the proceeds of the sales 
 of the public lands among the States, a provision to that 
 effect was inserted in it, the object being to accomplish 
 in one bill what, under ordinary circumstances, would re- 
 quire two separate bills. In so far as the question of pro- 
 tection to our own manufacturing and laboring industries 
 was involved, it was supposed that Tyler had laid down 
 in his message such principles as fully covered it. He 
 there admitted the necessity of discriminating in the pro- 
 tected articles as well as in the amounts of duties, and 
 also in favor of manufacturers. This left no ground for 
 objection except to the amounts of the duties, and it was 
 not supposed that there could be any to these — at all 
 events, from the Executive department — inasmuch as 
 they concerned alone the amount of revenue to be raised, 
 and therefore involved legislative discretion merely. This 
 general tariff bill was accordingly passed by both Houses 
 of Congress and sent to him for his approval. The 
 same course of procedure as had been taken with refer- 
 ence to the first bank bill was not then adopted, but he 
 was left to the exercise of his own discretion. This was 
 rendered in some sense necessary by the fact that the 
 chasm ;he had created between himself and the majority 
 had not been bridged over, nor was it likely to be. The 
 result was that on August 9, 1842, he sent to the House 
 of Representatives, where the bill originated, another 
 message vetoing this bill also. He did not base his ac- 
 
JOHN TYLER. 219 
 
 tion upon the want of constitutionality, as in the case of 
 the bank, but upon the ground that the bill contained 
 clauses for the distribution of the land fund among the 
 States, which he had recommended in his message to the 
 extra session. It created no immediate surprise, for ru- 
 mor had already announced that the bill would be re- 
 jected, but demanded upon the part of the majority of 
 the House that the country should be fully informed of 
 the view they took of the Presidential objections. For 
 that purpose the message was referred to the committee 
 on manufactures, at the head of which was the venerable 
 John Quincy Adams. After due consideration that com- 
 mittee made a report, through its chairman, criticising 
 the message with merited severity, but, at the same time, 
 in a manner entirely respectful to the President. It 
 recommended the adoption of a proposition to amend the 
 Constitution by providing that a majority, instead of two- 
 thirds, should thereafter be sufiScient to override a Presi- 
 dential veto. Tyler took offense at this and sent to the 
 House a "protest," August 30, 1842, complaining that 
 he had been "condemned without a hearing," and de- 
 manding that it be spread upon the journal so as to give 
 it as much publicity as Adams's report. His requestwas 
 granted, and if this "protest" shall hereafter be deemed 
 important to the student of our political history, it is so 
 preserved that it can easily be found . 
 
 In the meantime, James I. Roosevelt, of New York, 
 introduced a revenue bill, pending the consideration of 
 which Thomas M. T. McKennon, of Pennsylvania, moved 
 to substitute for it the bill which Tyler had vetoed, omit- 
 ting the section which related to the land fund. This be- 
 
220 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ing a new proposition, the House was brought by it to 
 another direct vote upon the tariff question. The vote 
 was taken upon McKennon's proposition the same day, 
 and resulted in its defeat by a tie vote — loi ayes, loi 
 nays — and the result was hailed with outspoken rejoicing 
 by the enemies of a protective tariff. I had voted — 
 along with several other equally decided advocates of a 
 protective tariff — in the negative, and if a majority could 
 have been obtained for the bill, would have permitted my 
 vote to remain as I gave it, in order to let it stand as my 
 solemn protest against executive dictation. Landaff W. 
 Andrews, of Kentucky, felt and voted as I did, and im- 
 mediately upon the announcement of the result, he and 
 I agreed that we would change our votes and save the 
 bill if possible. I immediately moved to reconsider the 
 vote, which was carried, and thereupon it was again 
 taken upon the final passage of the bill and was carried 
 by a majority of two, Andrews and myself having both 
 voted for it. There were, besides these changes, six more 
 votes cast than upon the first proposition ; and of these the 
 bill gained four and its enemies two. Having soon passed 
 the Senate, it was sent to the President, who, having fully 
 committed himself to the doctrine of protection in his 
 message, was constrained to approve it. And thus the 
 tariff law of 1842 was passed. It was a triumph over 
 Tyler, but not esteemed so much on that account as it 
 was because of its having been a more signal triumph 
 over the enemies of American manufactures, industries 
 and labor, and all who, for party or other purposes, were 
 striving to prevent the United States from becoming the 
 greatest manufacturing country in the world, and, there- 
 
JOHN TYLER. 221 
 
 fore, the greatest consumer of the surplus products of ag- 
 riculture. 
 
 When Tyler made up his mind to break away from the 
 friends who had made him President by electing him to 
 the Vice-Presidency, and to ' ' set up for himself, ' ' he evi- 
 dently attributed to sincere motives the compliments be- 
 stowed upon him by those who had done their best to de- 
 feat him. It is an attribute of some minds that they are 
 unable to penetrate the flimsy veil of flattery, and ac- 
 cept it for real praise; — and this was his condition. He 
 did not seem to realize that the ranks of his old friends 
 remained unbroken, except by the defection of the "cor- 
 poral's guard," and that the object of his old enemies 
 was to use him and his administration for purposes of 
 their own, precisely after the manner of the man who 
 employed the fingers of another to ' ' draw hot chestnuts 
 out of the fire." And he moved forward — slowly at first 
 but soon with rapidity — until he became involved in in- 
 discretions to such an extent that even the declamatory 
 eloquence of Wise, his ablest and sincerest defender, 
 could not sufificiently vindicate him. Pressed on all 
 sides by difficulties he had not foreseen and could not 
 successfully encounter, he undertook to discover some 
 political question not yet made threadbare by the buffet- 
 ings of former parties ; in order, by its newness, to attract 
 the public attention and disarm his adversaries. In this 
 way he hoped to ward off the blows his old allies were 
 aiming at him, and to form a rival alliance with others more 
 in fellowship with himself. It was what, in military par- 
 lance, is called a strategic movement. 
 
 In casting his telescope across the political sky, his eye 
 
222 PERSONAL. RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 rested upon the young republic of Texas, whose brave 
 sons had avenged the massacres of the Alamo and Go- 
 liad, and had vindicated their right to independence at 
 San Jacinto. He was fully instructed with regard to its 
 history, — how the United States had acquired territorial 
 jurisdiction over it by the purchase of Louisiana from 
 France, which might have been extended to the Rio 
 Grande river, but that by the treaty of 1819, for the pur- 
 chase of Florida from Spain, that jurisdiction had been 
 withdrawn to the Sabine; — and how efforts had been 
 made by several preceding administrations to re-acquire 
 it to the extent of its original boundary, by amicable ne- 
 gotiations with Mexico. He knew, moreover, that the 
 independence of Texas had been recognized by the 
 United States, England, France, and Belgium; and that 
 there was a general desire among the people there to be- 
 come annexed to the United States, and that in all prob- 
 ability, this would have been already accomplished but 
 for such continued hostilities between Mexico and that 
 country as might have involved the United States in war 
 with a neighboring and friendly power. 
 
 Discarding, therefore, the cautionary and judicious pol- 
 icy of Jackson with reference to the recognition of Texan 
 independence, he conceived the idea of inaugurating such 
 exclusively executive measures as would bring about an- 
 nexation without the knowledge or consent of Congress or 
 the people. He undoubtedly expected to surprise the 
 country and to win a complete triumph over all adversaries, 
 as he perfectly understood the sympathy of the American 
 people for all struggling republics, and especially for that 
 of Texas, whose independence had been gallantly won by 
 
JOHN TYLER. 223 
 
 the swords of their own kindred, a large proportion of 
 whom had emigrated from the United States. Conse- 
 quently, the means he employed were entirely secret — 
 studiously kept so from what he evidently supposed to be 
 prudential motives. So far as appears, there was noth- 
 ing known of his purpose beyond the executive depart- 
 ments of the government until April 22, 1844, when he 
 laid before the Senate for ratification a treaty with Texas 
 for its annexation to the United States. This was the cul- 
 mination of a series of executive maneuvers practiced by 
 the administration without the knowledge of Congress and 
 the country, and when it is considered that it occurred 
 just before the conventions of the two old parties for the 
 nomination of candidates for the Presidency were held, 
 the prominent precedent events which led to it deserve 
 to be kept in remembrance, so as to incite popular vigi- 
 lance to such an extent that they shall never be repeated. 
 In September, 1843, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 of Mexico, in an ofificial communication, informed the 
 United States Minister, then in the City of Mexico, that 
 the annexation of Texas to the United States would be 
 regarded by Mexico as a " declaration of war ' ' against 
 that country. The latter offered no explanation of the 
 purposes of this government, but communicated the facts 
 to the administration and awaited official instructions. 
 Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, was then Secretary of State, 
 and he, on October 20, 1843, notified the Minister of the 
 United States that the language of the Mexican Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs was considered "offensive" because it 
 was in the nature of a " threat ; ' ' and required him to 
 notify the government of Mexico that as Texas was ' ' an 
 
224 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 independent and sovereign power, competent to treat for 
 herself," the United States "will not feel themselves un- 
 der any obligation to respect ' ' the former relations be- 
 tween Mexico and Texas, and that if war ensued in con- 
 sequence of annexation, "Mexico herself will be the ag- 
 gressor, and will be alone responsible for all the evils 
 which may attend it." A correspondence then ensued 
 between the Secretary of State and General Almonte, the 
 Mexican Minister to the United States, at Washington 
 City, which, although of the nature of a diplomatic duel, 
 ended as it had begun, — neither party conceding any- 
 thing material to the other. The last important letter of 
 the Secretary of State was written a short time before he 
 lost his life by the explosion of a gun on the United 
 States steamer Princeton. Previous to that sad event, and 
 while this correspondence was in progress, a "private 
 citizen" of Washington City — who, Thomas H. Benton, 
 of Missouri, in his "Thirty Years in the United States 
 Senate," says was General Duff Green — was sent to En- 
 gland to discover what effect the annexation project had 
 produced in that country. The full report of this private 
 citizen, whoever he was, was not made public, but 
 enough of it was obtained to show its character and the 
 important bearing it had upon subsequent events. On 
 August 8, 1843, Upshur, Secretary of State, in an offi- 
 cial communication to our Charge d' Affaires in Texas, 
 notified him that he had obtained information by "a pri- 
 vate letter from a citizen of Maryland" to the effect that 
 ' ' the abolitionists of Texas ' ' were negotiating with the 
 British government, — that their representative had "sub- 
 mitted his project for the abolition of slavery in Texas" 
 
JOHN TYLER. 225 
 
 to Lord Aberdeen, the Prime Minister of England, and 
 that the project was this: "That there shall be organ- 
 ized a company in England, who shall advance a sum 
 sufficient to pay for the slaves now in Texas, and receive 
 in payment Texas lands; that the sum thus advanced 
 shall be paid over as an indemnity for the abolition of 
 slavery ; ' ' and that he was authorized by the Texan Min- 
 ister in London to say to the Secretary of State, "that 
 Lord Aberdeen has agreed that the British government 
 will guarantee the payment of the interest on this loan, 
 upon the condition that the Texan government will abol- 
 ish slavery." After this most extraordinary statement, 
 the Secretary of State — with the view, undoubtedly, to 
 excite our representative to Texas to additional prompti- 
 tude and diligence, — informed him that this "private let- 
 ter ' ' was written by " a man of great intelligence, and well 
 versed in public affairs," and that he — the Secretary of 
 State — had ' ' every reason to confide in the correctness 
 of his conclusions." 
 
 It is difficult to conceive the degree of credulity neces- 
 sary to give credit to such a story as this. It bears upon 
 its face satisfactory evidence of having been manufact- 
 ured for the occasion by some one who regulated his con- 
 duct by the motto, "the end justifies the means." That 
 it was false must have been apparent to those who availed 
 themselves of it, and that it was known to be so by the ad- 
 ministration before the annexation treaty was laid before 
 the Senate, there are record facts to prove. When in- 
 formation of it reached the Foreign Office of the English 
 government. Lord Aberdeen, by a dispatch dated Decem- 
 ber 26, 1843, instructed the British Minister at Wash- 
 es 
 
226 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ington City to lay the same before the Secretary of State. 
 This he did February 26, 1844, nearly two months be- 
 fore the treaty was sent to the Senate, by furnishing the 
 Secretary of State a copy of Lord Aberdeen's dispatch, 
 wherein he emphatically contradicted this improbable, 
 if not impossible, story, by declaring that England had 
 no intention of interfering with slavery in Texas, but 
 would leave that country free to make her own "unfet- 
 tered arrangements" touching her own affairs. There are 
 other complications which the intelligent searcher after 
 the "truth of history" will find both interesting and in- 
 structive, but the facts here stated are sufficient of them- 
 selves to conclusively establish the propositions, first, that 
 the pretext held out to justify the administration in mak- 
 ing the treaty of annexation was an agreement between 
 the Earl of Aberdeen and the abolitionists of Texas for 
 abolishing slavery in Texas; and second, that this was 
 known by the President to be false and unfounded when 
 he laid the treaty before the Senate ! Comment upon a 
 fact so humiliating to the nation is unnecessary. 
 
 Nevertheless, it gave rise to the demand, as Benton 
 clearly shows, for the "immediate^' annexation of Texas, 
 in order to protect slavery as it existed in the Southern 
 States ; and steps were promptly taken to arouse the fears 
 of the slave-holding population, so that by placing the 
 motto of "Texas or disunion" upon their banners, they 
 might consolidate the South and stimulate their allies in 
 the North, in order to control the approaching conventions 
 for the nomination of Presidential candidates. Benton 
 gives the proceedings of several Southern meetings, at 
 one of which, held in South Carolina — after John C. Cal- 
 
JOHN TYLER. 32 7 
 
 houn had been appointed Secretary of State as the suc- 
 cessor of Upshur — it was resolved that if Texas was not 
 admitted into the Union the slave States should "proceed 
 peaceably and calmly to arrange the terms of a dissolu- 
 tion of the Union," and annex Texas to a new Southern 
 confederacy. 
 
 The annexation treaty having been thus procured and 
 laid before the Senate, April 22, 1844, so short a time 
 before the meeting of the two nominating conventions, it 
 is obvious that Tyler indulged the hope, if not the ex- 
 pectation, that the one or the other would see in it such 
 an exhibition of sagacity and statesmanship as would 
 render it unsafe to pass him by without recognition. In 
 point of fact, it was understood at the time to be "a bid 
 for the Presidency." To the credit of the two parties, 
 however, it did not disturb the surface of the political 
 sea with a single ripple, in so far as the Presidential nom- 
 inations were involved. The convention of those who 
 had elected Harrison and Tyler met May i, 1844, and 
 nominated Henry Clay for President and Theodore Fre- 
 linghuysen for Vice-President. That of the old enemies 
 of Harrison and Tyler — ^whose praises of the latter had 
 been unbounded since his veto of the bank bill — met May 
 27, 1844, and nominated James K. Polk for President 
 and Silas Wright for Vice-President ; and when Wright 
 declined, put George M. Dallas in his place. And what, 
 after all the pains he had taken and all the plottings he had 
 contrived, must have wounded Tyler deeply, he did not 
 receive a single vote in either convention, and soon after, 
 June 7, 1844, the Senate rejected his annexation treaty 
 by a vote of thirty-five against it with only sixteen in 
 
228 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 its favor. Then, if not before, he was brought to realize 
 his true position, — made so plain that no sagacity was 
 required to see it. The convention that nominated Polk 
 and Dallas had inserted in its platform a demand for ' ' the 
 r^-annexation of Texas ; ' ' and Wright, its first choice for 
 Vice-President, as well as several other prominent sup- 
 porters of Polk and Dallas, voted against the annexation 
 treaty. When Tyler saw this he must have been stu- 
 pefied if he did not realize how he had been moved 
 about like a pawn upon a chess-board, and that those 
 whom he had obeyed had concealed from him their se- 
 cret purpose to ultimately annex Texas in some way, 
 whereby the whole credit should inure to them and no part 
 of it to him. And thus it was he found that the words of 
 promise, so profusely held out to him, were all broken, 
 and where he had expected to find friends he found ene- 
 mies ready to stab him from behind. And more than 
 that, he found them playing with "loaded dice," and 
 perfectly familiar with all the tactics of the ring, as well as 
 with all the methods of manipulation necessary to win suc- 
 cess. Whatsoever he may have been before, from that 
 time he became a political nonentity, powerless to pro- 
 mote his own fortunes or to injure those of others. If he 
 had planted seed which he expected to produce a rich 
 and bounteous harvest, he was then brought to the har- 
 rowing conviction that other sickles, and not his own, 
 would reap it. 
 
 The events connected with the making of the treaty for 
 annexing Texas, without any notification to the people 
 and without their approval, ought never to be forgotten, 
 but should be held in perpetual remembrance in order to 
 
JOHN TYLER. 229 
 
 guard well the future integrity of the nation. We have 
 seen how false was the pretext that England was plotting 
 and had agreed to compensate the owners of slaves in 
 Texas in the event of their emancipation, and that the ab- 
 solute falsity of this pretext was authoritatively commu- 
 nicated to our Secretary of State on February 26, 1844. 
 Yet the treaty was made by Tyler and Calhoun with the 
 Ministers of Texas on April 12, 1844, and sent to the 
 Senate April 22, 1844. These facts are sufificiently 
 startling of themselves, in view of the British Minister's 
 notification to Secretary of State Upshur, but they be- 
 come more so in view of the further fact that between 
 those two dates, on April 19, 1844, Secretary of State 
 Calhoun instructed our Charge d' Affaires in Mexico to 
 notify the Mexican government that the treaty had been 
 made from no hostile or disrespectful feelings towards 
 that country, but ' 'that the step had been forced on the 
 government of the United States in self-defense, in conse- 
 quence of the policy adopted by Great Britain in reference 
 to the abolition of slavery in Texas. ^' The knowledge of 
 these false pretenses could not be concealed from the 
 Senate, although they were successfully hidden from the 
 country, and when exposed to that body they were found 
 to be so unjust to Great Britain that in order to condemn 
 them as emphatically as possible, it rejected the treaty by 
 a vote of more than two to one, although some of the 
 Senators who voted with the majority favored annexation 
 both then and afterwards. This signal and merited de- 
 feat of the treaty was a fortunate event in the politics of 
 the country, because it taught those who had engineered 
 the scheme that the Constitution had not been abrogated 
 
330 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 and that the people had not vacated the seat of sovereign 
 power. They were made to realize that the time had not 
 arrived when the treaty-making power could annex for- 
 eign territory, with the stipulation that it should be ad- 
 mitted into the Union as one of the States, when the 
 Constitution confides the duty of creating new States only 
 to Congress, representing the whole body of the people. 
 There has been no time since, and it is hoped that none 
 will hereafter arrive, when the experiment could be re- 
 peated. 
 
 It is quite certain that much of the preliminary plan- 
 ning by Tyler's administration to bring about the annex- 
 ation of Texas will never be known, the principal actors 
 having carried with them to their graves such secrets as 
 they did not deem it expedient to expose. Enough, 
 however, has been made known to show, not merely the 
 ardency of their purpose, but the extraordinary means 
 adopted to accomplish it. After the war with Mexico 
 had begun, in consequence of annexation, and while the 
 bill appropriating $3,000,000 to carry it on was pending 
 in Congress, General Samuel Houston, one of the Sena- 
 tors from Texas, made a carefully prepared speech in the 
 Senate, February 19, 1847, in which he minutely de- 
 tailed the means resorted to by Tyler's administration to 
 obtain the consent of Texas to be annexed. He took 
 special pains to say that Texas would not consent unless 
 she could obtain satisfactory "guarantees" for her own 
 protection, because annexation "would certainly provoke 
 hostilities with Mexico and expose her to all the hazards 
 of a war," which she would be unable to encounter with- 
 
JOHN TYLER. 23 1 
 
 out the aid of the United States. Texas, he said, "was 
 wooed and won to join this Union," and he did not hesi- 
 tate to tell how it was done. It seemed, according to him, 
 thtt some previous negotiations upon the subject had been 
 suspended, and that in consequence Texas had become 
 indifferent upon the subject and treated the question of 
 annexation "with apathy." Upshur, Tyler's Secretary 
 of State, wrote the United States Charge (T Affaires in 
 Texis, directing him to adopt such measures as would 
 "incuce the government of Texas to accede to the prop- 
 ositiDn of the President of the United States by re-open- 
 ing negotiations." It is deemed best to give what fol- 
 lowed in his own words, because any synopsis of them 
 woald appear incredible. He said: 
 
 ' ' Before the government of Texas would entertain the 
 application made by the government of the United States 
 :o send a Minister to Washington City to treat for annex- 
 ition, the Executive of that country required, through her 
 Secretary of State, that the government of the United 
 States should pledge itself that a squadron sufficient in the 
 estimation of the President of Texas should float on the 
 Qilf, and that five hundred cavalry and one thousand 
 infantry should be stationed on the frontier of Texas, and 
 that both the land and naval forces should be subject to the 
 orier of the President of Texas. 
 
 ' ' But this was not deemed a sufificient guarantee for 
 Texas, and the President was required to pledge himself 
 tlat in case of the failure of annexation from any cause, 
 t}e United States would enter into a defensive alliance 
 liith Texas against Mexico, and give assurance or guar- 
 antee to the independence of Texas." 
 
232 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Having established the proposition that Texas wis 
 ' ' wooed ' ' into annexation by the importunities of the 
 United States, after she had decided to remain an inde- 
 pendent power, he proceeded to demonstrate one of riie 
 most potent and controUing facts in the whole annexatpn 
 programme, — that is, that the administration of Tyler, 
 influenced by its overweening anxiety, agreed to /the 
 "guarantees" proposed by the Ministers of Texas — 
 Messrs. Henderson and Van Zandt — who were theJi in 
 Washington City as the representatives of the independ- 
 ent government of Texas. He read to the Senate a let- 
 ter from Calhoun, Secretary of State, to these Ministers, 
 whereby he informed them that their letter to Upshul of 
 January 17, 1844, — about six weeks before Upshur's 
 death — had been laid before the President, who had in- 
 structed him to say to them ' ' that the Secretary of the j 
 Navy has been instructed to order a strong naval force to/ 
 concentrate in the Gulf of Mexico to meet any emergency \ 
 and that similar orders have been issued to the Secretary 
 of War to move the disposable military forces on ou 
 Southwestern frontier for the same purpose. Should th: 
 emergency arise to which you refer in your note to Mi. 
 Upshur, I am further directed by the President to saj, 
 that during the pendency of the treaty of annexation, h: 
 would deem it his duty to use all the means within h\\ 
 power by the Constitution to protect Texas from all foreign 
 invasion." And then, after having shown the foregoin; 
 facts in order to avoid the possibility of being misunderi 
 stood. Senator Houston proceeded to express the vie'\| 
 which Texas took of her relations with the United State 
 after the letter of Calhoun, as Secretary of State. Refer 
 
JOHN TYLER. 333 
 
 ring to the land and naval forces, ordered to the Gulf 
 and to the Southwestern frontier, he said : ' 'They were 
 to be subject to the President of Texas, and act at his bid- 
 ding. ' ' Again : ' ' They were both to be subject to his 
 command ; consequently they were both to be employed 
 for the protection of Texas, which was then a foreign 
 country.'^ 
 
 The facts thus explained, with great distinctness, by 
 Senator Houston, are eminently important and suggest- 
 ive. They establish the following extraordinary propo- 
 sition : First, that the annexation of Texas was brought 
 about by Tyler's administration after Texas had decided 
 to abandon the project and remain independent; second, 
 that it was persistently urged upon Texas with the full 
 understanding that it would result in war with Mexico ; 
 third, that, in order to accomplish it, the administra- 
 tion pledged the government of the United States to de- 
 fend Texas by military and naval forces; fourth, that, 
 in order to prepare for this, a naval force was concentra- 
 ted in the Gulf of Mexico, and a portion of the army 
 sent to the Southwestern frontier; and, fifth, that these 
 naval and army forces were placed under the command 
 of the President of Texas. And when the additional 
 fact is observed that the letter of Calhoun to the Texan 
 Ministers, informing them that the United States offered 
 these "guarantees" to Texas, was dated April ii, 1844, 
 and that the annexation treaty was agreed to by Tyler 
 the next day — April 12, 1844 — the conclusion is inevi- 
 table that these promises of Tyler, Upshur and Calhoun 
 were the sole inducement to the treaty and the consid- 
 eration to be paid for it. 
 
234 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 Calhoun — ^who was then in the Senate — felt himself 
 constrained to notice Houston's speech, in so far as it 
 placed Tyler's administration in the attitude of having 
 brought on the war with Mexico. In doing this he ad- 
 mitted the authenticity of his letter of April ii, 1844, to 
 the Ministers of Texas, and the conditions of guarantee 
 as therein stated, but met the charge of responsibility for 
 the war, as made against Tyler's administration, as fol- 
 lows: "All that the administration could then do was 
 to place a fleet on the Gulf, and to send General Gaines 
 on the frontier ; and if Mexico should make any hostile 
 movement, to bring the subject before Congress. The ad- 
 ministration was aware that the question of war was with 
 Congress and not with itself. The administration was 
 resolved to do all that it could constitutionally do ; but on 
 the question of war it could only make a recommendation 
 to Congress, and that it would have done." 
 
 There is nothing in the law of nations which forbade 
 the annexation of Texas. She had sundered her rela- 
 tions with Mexico by successful revolution and had es- 
 tablished and maintained an independent government. 
 In this she occupied an attitude analagous to that of the 
 United States when they declared their independence of 
 Great Britain, and also of Mexico herself when she 
 threw off the Spanish yoke. Although General Jackson, 
 in a special message to Congress, December 21, 1836, 
 had recommended "that we should still stand aloof" from 
 the condition of hostilities between Mexico and Texas 
 and not then recognize the independence of the latter, 
 yet this was done soon after, in March, 1837, and was 
 followed in 1840 by England, France and Belgium. So 
 
JOHN TYLER. 235 
 
 ■ 
 
 that, at any time during Tyler's administration the 
 United States had the undoubted right, by the principles 
 of international law, to annex Texas. But there had ex- 
 isted for a long time a controversy between Mexico and 
 Texas about the western boundary of the latter, whether 
 it was the Nueces or the Rio Grande river, and the United 
 States had no right, either by international or other law, 
 to disregard the existence of this controversy and take 
 from Texas any territory which rightfully belonged to 
 Mexico. Hence, in annexing Texas it was our duty to 
 see that there was no unjust encroachment upon the rights 
 of Mexico — in other words, that we should not permit 
 Texas to transfer to us territory which did not belong to 
 her or such as was in dispute between her and Mexico. 
 And such was the relation in which the United States 
 stood to Mexico both before and after the rejection of the 
 annexation treaty with Texas. In this view the treaty, if 
 it had been ratified, would have furnished Mexico no just 
 cause of war against the United States if it contained 
 necessary provisions for adjusting the question of dis- 
 puted boundary with Mexico. On the other hand it 
 would have been an act of friendship toward Mexico, and 
 it is quite probable that she would have so accepted it — 
 at all events it may be fairly presumed that President 
 Paredes, of Mexico, meant this when he said, after the 
 war broke out, that he ' 'did not declare war against the 
 United States," because that could only be done by the 
 Mexican Congress, but was only acting in "defense of 
 Mexican territory which is invaded by troops of the 
 United States," manifestly meaning the disputed terri- 
 tory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. How- 
 
236 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ever this may have been, there were domestic questions 
 involved of equal if not far greater importance to us, aris- 
 ing out of the conduct of Tyler's administration in agree- 
 ing to the "guarantees" exacted by the Texan Ministers 
 before the treaty and as its inducement, and in so concen- 
 trating our navy in the Gulf and part of our army upon 
 the frontier, as to indicate a preparation for war, if not an 
 actual invitation to Mexico to that effect. In speaking of 
 these movements and "guarantees," Senator Benton af- 
 terwards said in debate : ' 'They, the President [Tyler] 
 and his Secretary of State [Calhoun], made the war 
 themselves, and made it unconstitutionally, perfidiously, 
 clandestinely and piratically. The secret orders to our 
 army and navy were piratical, for they were without law, 
 and to waylay and attack a friendly power with whom 
 we have a treaty of amity." This is strong language, 
 perhaps too strong, but the mildest terms in which the 
 matter can be properly spoken of is to say of it that it 
 was an actual threat of war flung in the face of a neigh- 
 boring nation with which we were at peace, with a full 
 knowledge upon our part that she could not, by any pos- 
 sibility, raise an army to contend against ours in the field 
 or prevent us from appropriating to ourselves whatever 
 portion of her territory we coveted. 
 
 After the defeat of the annexation treaty, at the first 
 session of the Twenty-eighth Congress, and before the 
 meeting at the second session of the same Congress, a 
 Presidential election was held and Polk was elected. It 
 was claimed that the question of annexing Texas was so 
 immediately involved in that canvass that this election set- 
 tled it affirmatively, and it is fair to say that, after the 
 
JOHN TYLER. 237 
 
 American fashion, it did. At all events, it was done at 
 that session by a joint resolution which passed both houses, 
 and became a law by Tyler's approval on March i, 1845 
 — only three days before the close of that Congress and 
 the termination of Tyler's administration. The history 
 of this resolution in the various stages of its progress is 
 of no consequence now, but it is important to bear in 
 mind that it did not undertake to define the boundaries of 
 Texas, but, on the contrary, annexed the territory "prop- 
 erly included within, and rightfully belonging to, the re- 
 public of Texas," with this explicit condition, that the 
 State of Texas was to become an integral part of the 
 Union, "subject to the adjustment by this government of 
 all questions of boundary that may arise with other govern- 
 ments." The plain and palpable meaning of this is that 
 Congress refused to recognize either the Nueces or the Rio 
 Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico, or to 
 define it in any way, but, instead, was especially particular 
 in providing that the question should be left open to be 
 thereafter arranged by negotiation with Mexico, in the 
 method common among nations, and that it should be 
 done by the "government" of the United States, and not 
 by the President. 
 
 Tyler doubtless considered this a vindication of the 
 whole line of policy he had pursued, and that the honor of 
 adding another star to the national banner would attach tc 
 his administration. The territory acquired was sufficient 
 for an empire, but that weighed nothing in comparison 
 with the honor and glory he had won by triumphing over 
 adversaries whose forces he had dispersed by his skill and 
 prowess ! He had no party at his back to signalize the 
 
238 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 grandeur of his triumph by deafening shouts of applause, 
 but, as the world judges by results rather than by details, 
 his name would become conspicuous in history as the au- 
 thor of measures which had culminated in marking out 
 the nation's highway to the Pacific! That he indulged 
 in these feelings nobody doubted at the time, for he 
 was so constituted as to be unable either to suppress or 
 conceal his governing emotions. But his exhilaration was 
 for a brief period only, for it did not take him long to dis- 
 cover that those into whose arms he had thrown himself 
 and whose embraces he had supposed to be sincere, had re- 
 solved that his work should inure to their honor alone, by 
 so making up the record of history that his name should 
 be omitted in the recitals which proclaimed their own tri- 
 umphs. All this will be made to appear hereafter, when 
 the events which followed the close of his administration 
 are detailed with particularity enough to show that when 
 his immediate successor entered upon the work of out- 
 bidding him for fame, he found it necessary to exercise 
 the royal prerogative right to trample upon the Constitu- 
 tion, as if its only value consisted in the parchment pre- 
 served in the Department of State. 
 
 What I have said of Tyler is for the purpose only of 
 explaining the grounds upon which my estimate of his 
 official character rests. It is written far more in grief 
 than anger — for whatever animosity I may once have 
 felt toward him has long since died away — having been 
 buried with him in the tomb. I was his friend in sincer- 
 ity, and never his personal enemy, even when our politi- 
 cal differences were at their height. It pained me when 
 our relations were changed — ^which did not occur until. 
 
JOHN TYLER. 239 
 
 with his executive saber, he aimed, what seemed to me 
 to be, a deadly blow at the happiness and prosperity of 
 the country. He may have persuaded himself that he 
 was right, but the whole course of subsequent events, as 
 appears clear to my mind, attests the reverse. What the 
 nation has suffered from his executive perverseness any 
 intelligent man can see by casting his eyes back upon the 
 last fifty years of our history. If he had consented that 
 the country should be supplied with a sound and stable 
 currency, our domestic trade, both at home and upon the 
 seas, would have enjoyed unparalleled expansion and de- 
 velopment. If he had not agitated and excited the coun- 
 try with the proposition to annex Texas at an inoppor- 
 tune time, the question of enlarging the area of slave ter- 
 ritory would not have been likely to lead to sectional an- 
 imosity and strife ; and the fortunes of that young and 
 interesting republic — the heroism of whose sons was not 
 surpassed by that of the Greeks at Platasa — might soon 
 have been blended with our own, peacefully and without 
 complaint from any quarter. Then, the boundary line 
 between the United States and Mexico could have been 
 settled in the spirit of amity and concord, to the mutual 
 satisfaction of both governments; — our navy would have 
 been left to pursue its rightful occupation of protecting 
 our commerce upon the ocean, and our army would not 
 have been required to advance with hostile purpose to the 
 Rio Grande; the war with Mexico would have been 
 avoided ; all the territory we have since acquired from 
 Mexico might have been peacefully obtained for less 
 money than it has cost, and without the sacrifice of hu- 
 man life ; the question of introducing or prohibiting slav- 
 
240 PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS. 
 
 ery in that territory would not have placed the sections 
 in deadly hostility to each other, but would have been 
 settled in that spirit of amity and good faith which gave 
 birth to the Union; and instead of the terrible and dev- 
 astating civil war through which we have passed, the 
 sixty-five millions of people who now occupy the territory 
 from sea to sea would furnish a brighter and more at- 
 tractive example than they do to the millions of other 
 countries who are struggling after the possession of those 
 rights which we, in the face of all the forms of imperial- 
 ism, have declared to be natural and inalienable.