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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE LIFE OF
ANDREW JACKSON

Copyright, iqo2, by the Colonial Press, New York
ANDREW JACKSON IN 1 845. AGE 78
From a, portrait by G. P. A. Healy, commissioned b:' Louis Philippe to paint it with the portraits of
other Americans for the palace at VersaiUes. It was executed a few weeks before
Jackson died and was considered a good likeness

THE LIFE
OF
ANDREW JACKSON
By
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT, Ph. D.
Professor of History in Smith College
VOLUME TWO
Illustrated

"If yo-u would preserve your reputation, or that of
the state over which you preside, you must take
a straightforward determined course; regardless of the
applause or censure of the populace, and of the fore
bodings of that dastardly and designing crew who,
at a time like this, may he expected to clamor
continually in your ears." — Jackson to Governor
Blount, 1813.

Garden City New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1911

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DICLTIDING THAT Ot TRANSLATION
INTO POREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
COPYRIGHT, Igll, BY DOUBLEDAY, SAGE & COMPANY

CONTENTS
CHAPTER Volume II page
XIX. The Campaign Against John Quincy Adams. . 375
XX. Cabinet-making and the Inauguration . . . 408
XXI. Jackson's Appointments to Office . . . . 437
XXII. "The Eaton Malaria"  458
XXIII. Checking the Desire for Internal Improvements 475
XXIV. Calhoun's Isolation Completed  497
XV. The Cabinet Dissolved  520
XXVI. Jackson and Nullification  545
XXVII. The United States Bank— Beginning the Fight
for Re-charter  584
XXVIII. The Attempt to Re-charter the Bank ... 610
XXIX. The Bank of the United States— The Deposits
Removed  631
XXX. American Diplomacy Under Jackson . . . 656
XXXI. Minor Problems of the Two Administrations . 684
XXXII. Personal Characteristics  700
XXXIII. Closing Years  722
Index  753

ILLUSTRATIONS
Andrew Jackson in 1845. From a portrait by
G. P. A. Healy  Frontispiece
FACING PAOE
Andrew Jackson. From a portrait by D. M. Carter 476
Andrew Jackson in 1835. From a painting by Major
R. E. W. Earl  676
Andrew Jackson in 1845. From a daguerreotype by
Dan. Adams, of Nashville  746

VOLUME II

CHAPTER XIX
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Adams's administration is interesting because in it were
organized two new political parties and because it saw the
progress of the long and unhappy war on Adams and Clay.
The pohtical situation was rather chaotic, and methods
of opposition were uncouth and violent; but it was the
seed-time of democracy, and it opened a new phase of American
history. National politics in 1824 were personal. After 181 5, the re
publican party began to ignore the principles on which Jefferson
founded it and to follow expediency. It estabUshed a national
bank five years after it declared such an institution imconstitu-
tional, it adopted Hamilton's theory of a protective tariff, and
it favored roads and canals at national expense and passed two
bills to that effect, which were vetoed by Madison and Monroe,
two statesmen who still clung to the pohtics of Jefferson. Men
who believed in, and others who opposed, these divergent poU-
cies were all accepted as republicans. A party which embraces
such dissimilar groups can hardly have any other prindple than
the desire for success.
Another pecuUarity of the situation was that neither of the
five leading candidates for the presidency, all recognized repub
licans, stood distinctly for any one policy. It is true that Craw
ford, special heir of Virgima influence, was considered a champion
of state rights, but there were so many repubUcans of avowed
national tendency that he dared not speak loudly for his doc
trines. In the same way was the freedom of the others limited,
37S

376 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of Calhoun, who stood for internal improvements, of Clay, who
advocated the tariff, and of Adams, who leaned to strong govem
ment generally. Jackson alone was not associated in the pubUc
mind with any particular poUcy — neither his length of service
nor his poUtical aptitude gave him the opportunity — but, his
supporters, who favored him on personal grounds, were of such
varied views that he dared not speak emphaticaUy on any im
portant subject. PersonaUty was the principal basis of the
canvass, and in such a canvass, it was natural that there should
be much overpraising and much abuse.
The new parties were personal. They were a Jackson party
and an anti- Jackson party. After a time, Jackson's bold meas
ures, which he justified by principles, aroused protests from per
sons who believed in opposite prindples. Thus personaUty was
merged with theory, and parties again became groups of persons
who desired the same measures..
The anti- Jackson men were composed chiefly of the supporters
of Adams and Clay. While the first of the two was not popular
in New England, he was trusted as a representative of Eastem
interests, and Jackson, the frontiersman, was distrusted as a
representative of ideas foreign to the older states. Clay's logical
support was in the West, but he had just taken a dangerous
liberty with it. No one could doubt that this section would
prefer Jackson to Adams in a clear contest between the two men.
Yet Clay defied the sentiment, in some respects in the face of
positive expressions of it, and by entering the cabinet made
plausible the charges that he acted for his own gain and that he
cared not for the wiU of the people. These charges, it is tme,
counted for little with men who admired Adams and his secre
tary of state; but they were accepted by the great mass of people,
very numerous in the West, who thought originally that Jackson t
would make a better President than Adams. How Uttle h^
added to the combination with which he threw in his fortunes is

^CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 377
shown by the fact that in the election of 1828 Adams received
not one Western electoral vote.
The Jackson party, when fully developed, embraced its own
followers and most of those of Calhoun, Crawford, and CUnton,
the last not very numerous, but important in New York. Early
in 1825, the Crawford forces had not joined it, although in
certain matters — as in the opposition to Clay's nomination —
some of them acted with it.
"The Jackson men being in the field, " wrote Van Buren from
Washington, on December 25th, "are of course looking out for
the weak points in the enemies' lines and are ready for the assault
where opportunity offers. We of the Crawford school lay
upon our oars and will not lightly commit ourselves except in
defense of old principles. " ' The shrewd New Yorker was only
hesitating through a sense of dignity. He could have no ob
jection to an alliance with a promising Jackson faction. A
year earlier, August 26, 1824, he was proposing a union between
Clay and Crawford, the former to be vice-president. This, he
then said, would lay the foundation of a grand repubUcan party
with which he would be happy to cooperate permanently,
and it would be easy to see that the condition of Crawford's
health would give the vice-presidency under him a pecuUar value.'
The scheme failed and the grand repubUcan party was left to be
formed by other means. In the spring of 1826, Crawford was
entirely eUminated from national politics and Van Buren was
acting with the Jackson leaders in the plans which were laid
against Adams. He admits he had then determined to cast his
lot with a man from Tennessee.' He carried most of his faction
with him, but it was a bitter piU for the Virginians, long the
poUtical arbiters of the country, to foUow the leadership of the
Western statesmen. From 1789, until the triumph of Jackson,
'Van BuKD to Butler, December 35, 1825, Van Buren Mss.
'Van Buren to Benjamin Ruggles, August 36, 1824, Van Buren Mss.
'Van Buren, Autohiotrathy, I., go. Van Buien Mss.

378 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
with the exception of two years under Madison, there was always
a Virginian in the cabinet: from that triumph untU the adminis
tration of Tyler, there was not another in that body.
In 1825 the Jackson and Calhoun wings of the party were
quite distinct. With the latter were most of the experienced
poUticians of the party. CaUioun, coUege bred, sociaUy. prom
inent, and long experienced in high office, was looked upon by
many as the redeeming force in the cmde group. He was
supported by the capable Pennsylvania leaders in the party
and the Jackson men themsielves realized his strong position
within the organization. But they did not reUsh the confidence
with which some of his Ueutenants viewed his prospects. It was
through his efforts that General Duff Green was made editor
of the party organ, T^ Daily Telegraph, pubUshed at Washington.
Green was more careful of the interests of his patron than of
the party, and as time passed his policy irritated the leaders
of the other wing. In that group the Tennessee senators, White
and Eaton, were most prominent. They were not able to cope
with the men of the Calhoun wing, either tiirough inteUect or
poUtical capadty. It seemed to them imequal that the par
ticular foUowers of Jackson, whose popularity was the basis
of the party's hopes, should be overtopped by the Calhounites,
who for their ambition were grafted on the orgamzation. All
this they felt, but in the presence of party perils they considered
it wise to subordinate their feelings. Outwardly, therefore, aU
was serene, but when success should remove the pressure of a
common danger, serious dissensions were likely to appear.
Crawford hated CaUioun cordiaUy and charged him, for nation
alistic views, with treason to repubUcanism. Van Buren in
herited this dislike, and that was enough to induce him to side
with the Teimessee faction in the new party. But his interests
also drew him in the same direction. There had been an heir
presumptive since 1800, Madison to. Jefferson, Monroe to Mad-

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 379
ison, and Crawford to Monroe; it had become a normal phase of
American politics, a position to be fought for; and the sagadous
Van Buren saw an opportunity to win it through the support of
Jackson and those members of his party who were most closely
associated with him. Nor was his accession unwelcome to the
Tennessee faction. They found him a valuable aUy in resisting
the threatened predominance of Calhoun, and his social position
was a blessing to a party which was sensitive imder the criti
cisms of the rather supercillious society of the capital. In
these unannounced dissensions was the foundation of a bitter
future conffict.
The position of Jackson in the coming campaign was a quiet
one. Returning from Washington in March, he was received
with ovations by his supporters in Pennsylvania and along the
Ohio. He spoke freely about recent events and openly charged
Clay with purchasing a cabinet position by making a President.
In Nashville, he was given a great dinner at which many toasts
were made in his praise. He then retired to the "Hermitage"
and passed the days in dignified ease, as became one who beUeved
in the theory, then generaUy esteemed, that a good patriot should
never seek and never decline office. The managers in Washing
ton charged themselves with the burden of consolidating the
various interests which could be brought to his support. He
was made to see that he could not aid them by remaimng in the
public view, and the faithful Lewis was placed at his side to act
at once as a restraining force on his impulsive temper, and as a
convenient intermediary between him and the Washington manip
ulators. But Jackson was not a tool of his subordinates. They knew
how strong was his wiU and 'were most cautious in trying to in
fluence it. Ordinarily he was a cool and shrewd poUtician, and
his course was not as much shaped by impulse as we are apt to
think from the occasional outbursts, which the picturesque school

38o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of historians have often described. He was a man of the
people, sharing their opimons of govemment, their suspicions and
their credulity; and on most questions he knew how the people
would feel. His absolute courage made him willing to appeal
to the voters over the heads of the poUticians on some of the most
important matters of his time. He left much to his managers,
but he usuaUy understood their plans, and never interfered
capriciously. In the most serious affairs, he took charge of the
situation with the confidence of an autocr^, and in every case
with success. Such a man could not be a mere figure-head, how
ever much of the ordinary direction of affairs he may have sur
rendered to others.
When he was defeated in 1825, it was generaUy understood
that Jackson would be a candidate in the next campaign. It was
no surprise, therefore, when in the foUowing October the Ten
nessee legislature again recommended him to the people as a
candidate for the presidency. A few days later, he appeared
before that body to resign his seat in the senate. IncUnation,
he said, prompted him to retire to private life and the recent
action of the assembly seemed to make such a step proper. To
this simple announcement he added a poUtical appeal. He en
dorsed a constitutional amendment then being discussed before
the pubUc to limit the President to one term of four or six years,
and he suggested another amendment by which a member of
congress should not be appointed to an administrative office
during the term for which he was elected and for three years
thereafter. The language in which he supported the suggestion
is strong and apparently sincere. In view of his later appoint
ments, it is worth quoting:
The effect of such a constitutional provision is obvious.
By it Congress, in a considerable degree, would be free from that
connection with the executive department which, at present,
gives strong ground of apprehension and jealousy on the part of

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 381
the people. Members, instead of being Uable to be withdrawn
from legislating on the great interests of the nation, through
prospects of the executive patronage, would be more liberally
confided in by their constituents; while their vigilance would
be less interrupted by party feelings and party excitements.
Calculations, from intrigue or management, would faU; nor
would their deUberations or thdr investigations of subjects
consume so much time. The morals of the country would be
improved, and virtue, uniting with the labors bf the Representa
tives, and with the official ministers. of the law, would tend to
perpetuate the honor and glory of the govemment. But if
this change in the constitution should not be obtained, and im
portant appointments continue to devolve on the Representatives
in Congress, it requires no depth of thought to be convinced,
that corruption wiU become the order of the day, and that under
the garb of conscientious sacrifices to estabUsh precedents for
the public good, evils of serious importance to freedom and
prosperity of the republic may arise.'
Here was evidently an allusion to Adams's appointment of
Clay to a cabinet position; but in Jackson's first cabinet five
of the six members were taken from congress.
When congress met in December, it was known that Adams
would be opposed at every possible pbint. The Jackson-Cal
houn men were alert and not very scrupulous. They had their
first opportunity in the President's annual message, which was,
indeed, an unfortunate utterance. Jefferson advocated the
smallest sphere of governmental activity compatible with the
pubUc welfare. Adams desired a generous poUcy of govern
mental supervision, the spirit of which was certainly non-
Jeffersonian. Just at this time pubUc men were disputing over
the power of congress to construct roads, canals, Ught-houses,
and harbors; but here was an academic argument for a general
system of pubUc impirovements. "The great object," the mes
sage said, "of the institution of civil govemment is the improve-
'NUes, Register, XXIX, is?.

382 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ment of the condition of those who are parties to the social com
pact. " This could be partly obtained through roads and canals,
"but moral, poUtical, and inteUectual improvement are duties
assigned by the Author of our Existence to social, no less than
to individual man. " To be more specific, the government should
maintain a national university, geographical and astronomical
observatories, and explorations of coasts, rivers, and interior
plains. In his enthusiasm he declared: "It is with no feeUng
of pride as an American that the remark may be made that on
the comparatively smaU terrestrial surface of Europe, there are
existing upward of one hundred and thirty of these light-houses
of the skies, whUe throughout the whole American hemisphere
there is not one." The closing sentence was most unwise!
"While foreign nations, less blessed with that freedom which is
power than ourselves, are advancing with gigantic strides in the
career of public improvement, are we to slumber in indolence or
fold up our arms and proclaim to the world that we are palsied
by the wiU of our constituents? Would it not be to cast away
the bounties of Providence and doom ourselves to perpetual
inferiority?"' This message must have emanated solely from the author's
faculty of theorizing, since it is impossible to see how he could
have justified it on any ground of poUcy then plausible. Those
who favored intemal improvements were committed to Calhoun,
and in the Jackson combination, the Crawford faction, which
StiU held out, was sure to take fright at doctrines so like the old
federaUst arguments of 1800, and the repudiation of strict ac-
countabiUty to constituents was entirely opposite to the trend of
the times. All these points were quickly seized by the opposition,
and the country rang with jeers and denunciation. The ex
pression, "light-houses in the skies," was particularly unfor
tunate: it was too much like "castles in the air." As might
•Richardson, Messages and Paters 0} the Presidents, II., 311-317.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 383
have been expected, Virginia, the home of old repubUcanism,
was particularly offended. Ritchie, editor of the Richmond
Enquirer, long the exponent of that school, opened fiercely On
the administration, publishing its indignation in a series of
articles by W. B. Giles, a bold defender of radical state rights
theories.' In congress another Virginian, no less a personage
than John Randolph of Roanoke, opened the vials of his wrath,
denouncing the union of Adams and Clay in the weU-known
words, "the coalition of BlifU and Black George — the combina
tion, unheard of tiU then, of the Puritan and Blackleg. " Thus the
Crawfordites were led to cooperate with the Jackson-Calhouni
combination; and this threatened a general Southern and Western
movement against the occupant of the President's mansion.
Along with this statement of Adams's loose construction view
came notice of the proposed Panama Congress. This was a
meeting of delegates from South and Central American states
at the IsthmuSj to which the United States in the preceding
spring was invited to send delegates. Clay favored the scheme
from the first; but the President, more cautious in diplomacy,
deferred action until he was informed more definitely of the
subjects to be considered. It was not until November that
they were submitted by the South Americans. There was not
entire unanimity in the propositions of the various states, but
it was evident that the repubUcs of the South desired to have a
league with our government, by which the attempt of any Euro
pean power to interfere in American affairs should be resisted-.
The league was to have a biennial congress, to be govemed by
a majority of its members in time of war, and have authority to
apportion the contribution of each state in troops and money.
Adams justly reaUzed that we should suffer in such a partner
ship, and, while he appointed commissioners, he instmcted them
to assent to nothing, tiU it was submitted to our congress.
¦Adams, Memoirs, VII., 104.

384 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
The cause of South America was ever popular in the United
States. Clay's championship of it in Monroe's administration
was one of his most popular actions. The Monroe Doctrine,
with which Adams was largely concerned, was received with
satisfaction by the people. This last step in the same direction,
for which it was thought Clay was chiefly responsible, created
alarm among his opponents. They feared that it, would be
popular because it stood for liberty and because it was aimed
at the Holy Alliance, which American opinion held in special
horror. They also saw in it, says Van Buren, something that
would draw attention from the bargain and corruption cry, and
by uniting Clay and Adams in a popular undertaking serve to
justify their association in the government.' They resolved to
attack the mission as vigorously as possible. In doing so it
served their purpose to describe the project, not as Adams had
Umited it in his instructions to the commissioners, but as it was
designed by the South Americans, as a plan to found a permanent
league. The construction was unfair, but it was not designed}:
for a very discriminating audience. For some time the man
agers debated whether the mission should be opposed in the
senate, on the confirmation of the commissioners whom Adams
had nominated, or in the house on the necessary vote of money
for expenses. It was finally decided to make the fight in the
senate, since there the Jackson forces had their best speakers.'!
The discussion was prolonged as much as possible to enable
public opinion to form itself; but in the end the senate sustained
the President by a vote of twenty-four to nineteen. The fight?
was renewed in the house on the appropriation of money, but
it was there lost by a majority of one hundred and thirty-four
to siity. The most important result for the young Jacksdii;J
party was that it gave an opportunity to perfect its new organi-l
'Van Buren, Autohiotrathy, I. 93. t
'Ibid, 94.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 385
zation; and it was significant that in the senate Van Buren took
prominent part against confirmation.
The opposition also brought slavery into the discussion, with
eyes shrewdly cast toward the effect on the South. It was then
feared that France or England might get possession of Cuba and
Porto Rico, and the proposed congress would likely desire to
fit out an expedition to make them free of Spain. This would
involve the Uberation of the slaves there, as in the other revolu
tionized Spanish colonies. The congress would also discuss
the suppression of the slave-trade, and the recognition of the
independence of Hayti, both measures distasteful to the South.
Should the government lend its influence to a movement which
had it in so great a menace for the South? It was ever easy to
arouse Southern voters on this question, and Hayne's fiery
rhetoric was sagaciously expended in a speech, a characteristic
part of which was as foUows:
With nothing connected vpith slavery can we consent to
treat with other nations, and, least of aU, Ought we to touch the
question of the independence of Hayti in conjunction with
revolutionary governments, v/hose own history affords an ex
ample scarcely less fatal to our repose. These govemments
have proclaimed the principles of liberty and equality; and have
marched to victory under the banner of universal emancipation.
You find men of color at the head of their armies, in their legis
lative halls, and in their executive departments. . . . Our
poUcy, with regard to Hayti, is plain. Other states wUl do as
they please — but let us take the high ground that these questions
belong to a class which the peace and safety of a large portion of
our union forbids us even to discuss. Let our government
direct aU our ministers in South America and Mexico to protest
against the independence of Hayti. But let us not go into
councU on the slave-trade and Hayti.'
On this phase of the opposition. South CaroUna, Georgia, and
Tennessee stood side by side with aU the rest of the South.
Kongrcssioital Debates, 1835-6, Vol.n., Part I, 166.

386 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
This debate drew Calhoun, presiding over the senate, into
its vortex. When the abuse of the President began, he was
asked to rule out of order such attacks on a high officer of the
govemment. He decUned to do so on the ground that the senate
had no rule on the subject and that he, as servant of that house,
had not the authority to make one. He was probably techni
cally correct, but it was beUeved that partisanship and an un
wiUingness to offend the Jackson party by seeming to repudiate
them, helped him to realize the nature of the technicaUty. The
incident led to a heated correspondence in the newspapers. He
was attacked by a writer signing himself "Patrick Henry," who
was reported to be Adams himself, and defended by one calling
himself "Onslow," who was Calhoun.' It was not agreeable
to see the two highest officers of the government wranghng thus
in the press; and it shows how far the vice-president had become
actively enlisted in the attack on the administration.
The debate on the Panama Mission was drav^n out untfl late
in April, 1826; and although the delegates were despatched, it
was too late for the congress, which adjoumed after a short
session without accompUshing anything. During the winter
and spring the "Friends of Jackson," as the party caUed itself,
made several minor moves against the President and his secre
tary of state. Amendments to the constitution were demanded
prohibiting the appointment of congressmen to office, forbidding
the reelection of a President, and defining the powers of congress
in regard to intemal improvements so that state rights should
not be imperiled. Resolutions were offered asking the President
to report how many members of congress had been appointe(fl
to office by the Presidents since the adoption of the constitution.
These attempts to involve Adams in the error of abusing the
patronage seem absurd, coming from the party which was des
tined to go to the greatest extremes in the same direction. In
'Hunt, Life of Calhoun, s8. The "Onslow" numbers are in Calhoun, Worts, VI., 393-34S.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 387
fact, Adams was trying, much to his poUtical damage, to resist
the current, which then ran strongly for political appointments.
"Patronage," as then used, meant the expenditure of pubUc
money which brought benefits to a certain part of the voters.
Benton uses the term to indicate all the national expenses except
the public debt.' He speaks of " executive patronage, " meaning
poUtical emoluments, as appointments and the pubUc printing.
He probably would have called appropriations for canals and
roads some other kind of patronage. With the growth of the
revenue came an enlargement of executive patronage, and in a
system of appointments, which had no other test of merit than
the judgment of the appointer, inefficient men came into office
and poUtical appointments were numerous. As long as there
was no opposition party this made little difference, but with the
organization of the Jackson group to embarrass Adams it was
natural that the evils of the system should be saddled on him.
Old repubUcans, country gentlemen, and many others believed
that the tendency was dangerous; and the Jackson managers
deemed it politically worth while to attack it. The appoint
ment of Clay seemed in a striking manner to give opportunity
to connect the administrations v?ith the evil.
Macon was selected to bring the matter up in congress. At
his suggestion a committee was appointed to bring in a report on
the reform of executive patronage. May, 1826, Benton for the
committee reported six biUs and a long argument for reform.
The biUs dealt with the pubUc printing, officers who handled the
revenue, postmasters, cadets, and midshipmen, and provided
that miUtary and naval officers should, not be dismissed from the
service at the wiU of the President. The argument of the report
was so sound that it has in later days been cited by civil service
reformers as a landmark in the progress of their cause; but to

>Benton,.r*»V«3i Years' -View, I.,,8i.

3^8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
apply it to Adams was absurd. How skilfuUy they attacked
him is shown in the foUowing extract:
The Ejng of England is the "fountain of honor": the President
of the United States is the source of patronage. He presides
over the entire system of Federal appointments, jobs, and con
tracts. He has "power" over the "support" of the individuals
who administer the system. He makes and unmakes them.
He chooses from the circles of his friends and supporters, and
may dismiss them, and upon aU the principles of human action,
will dismiss them, as often as they disappoint his expectations.
His spirit wiU animate their actions in all the elections to ¦ State
and Federal offices. There may be exceptions, but the truth
of a general rule is proved by the exception.'
The condition here described was a possibility, it was even a
tendency of the day, but it is certain that Adams did all lie could
to resist it. The imputation that he did otherwise was a political
ruse de guerre, unworthy of those who used it, but liable to be
used by their opponents if opportunity offered. It also described
exactly the condition the patronage was going to assume under
Jackson triumphant.
A week later, Benton called up the biUs and asked that Macon,
who had long interested himself in the subject, be heard in their
defense. But that gentieman announced that he was too iU
at that time to assume the task and moved that the matter te
laid on the table. It was not again taken up, v/hich was prob
ably as far as it was meant to carry it from the beginning. Ten
days later congress adjourned, and the "Friends of Jackson"
returned to their constituents. Another election was on hand,*
the issue of which justified aU their hopes: both houses of con
gress passed into their control, and the result in 1828 seemed
assured. They took courage and prepared for battle.
Kongressional Debates, 1825-6. Vol. II., Part I., 672, 707; Part II., Appccdix, 133, 136.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 389
These charges against the administration seem rasping enough
from the turbulent Benton, but they are especially unpleasant
from the experienced and cultivated Calhoun. "It must be
determined in the next three years," he wrote to Jackson,
"whether the real governing principle in our system is to be the
power and patronage of the Executive, or the voice of the people.
For it is scarcely to be doubted that a scheme has been formed
to perpetuate power in the present hands, in spite of the free
and unbiased sentiment of the country; and, to express it more
correctly, those now in power act on a scheme resting on the
supposition, that such is the force of the Executive influence,
that they, who wield it, can mould the public voice at pleasure,
by an artful management of patronage.'" Could Calhoun have
believed his words, or did his desire to flatter the impiUsive Jack
son run away with his discretion?
The question of patronage being thus presented to the pubUc,
the managers turned to the bargain between Adams and Clay,
chiefly with the purpose of breaking down Clay. All Jackson's
utterances in this affair indicate his sincere belief in the charge.
He was convinced that Buchanan in approaching him caifte with
authority from Clay. But his managers were not so ingenuous.
In October, 1826, Duff Green knew from Buchanan himself
that the charge could not be substantiated, and yet he used it
with the greatest assurance. "I had no authority," said the
man from Pennsylvania, "from Mr. Clay or his friends to pro
pose any terms to General Jackson, in relation to their votes,
nor did I make any such proposition. ... I am clearly of
opinion that whoever shaU attempt to prove by direct evidence
any corrupt bargain between Mr. C  and Mr. A  wiU
faU.'" For aU this. Duff preen and his coUeagues made the
cry do their service.
'Calhoun to Jackson, June 4, 1826, Jackson Mss.
•Buchanan, Writings (Moore, Editor), I., 218.

390 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
In the spring of 1825, Jackson, in his correspondence and his
private conversation, spoke freely his beUef in Clay's compUdty
in the affair. He said he would have been elected had the wfll
of the people not been thwarted by this "Judas of the West."
There is no reason to believe he did not speak as freely during
the foUowing two years to persons with whom he was thrown,
but no such conversation was reported in the press, possibly be
cause nothing was to be gained by it. But in March, 1827, an
unsigned letter appeared in the FayettevUle, N. C, Observer,
reporting a conversation at the "Hermitage," in which Jackson
repeated explicitly the story that Clay's friends proposed to
his friends to make him, Jackson, President if they were assured
that Adams should not continue secretary of state. The letter
was widely reprinted and caUed forth a card in which Clay
denied aU knowledge of such a bargain and said he doubted if
Jackson made the statement attributed to him. Then the
anonymous correspondent. Carter Beverly, of Virginia, uncovered
himself, and called on Jackson to verify what was printed in the
Observer. Jackson compUed with becoming reluctance. It was
tr^e, he said, that in the privacy of his own fireside, he declared
his belief, but since the matter was repeated abroad he did
not hesitate to avow his opinion. He then repeated the sub
stance of the proposition which he aUeged the friends of Clay
made to him in the beginning of January, 1825, which was
that if assurances were given that Adams should not remain
secretary of state, Jackson would have the support of Clay's
friends. When Clay saw this letter in print, he felt he could afford to
reply. He pubUshed a denial and caUed for the name of the man
who made the proposition to Jackson. He was duly informed ' f I
that the proposition came from James Buchanan, of Penns)d- |
vania, whose participation in the affair has already been dis
cussed. Buchanan how pubUshed a statement which supported

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 391
Jackson's up to the critical point, and failed there because it
did not aUege that an actual bargain was offered. But it was
strong enough for the Jackson papers, who heralded it as com
plete vindication of their hero. The hero himself, as we have
seen, inwardly, chafed because it was not more emphatic' But
the pubUc were satisfied. If there were certain things lacking
in the proof, did not Clay's acceptance of the secretaryship more
than make up for them? The argument was effective with the
least thoughtful part of the voters.
WhUe this matter proceeded successfully for Jackson, the
tariff question came up again and brought serious danger to
his cause. The champions of protection were active in the North.
They had passed beyond the infant-industry argument and were
proclaiming the advantages of a home market through the growth
manufacturing tovsms. The appeals were attractive to the
farmers of Pennsylvania and New York, and found response even
in the trans- AUeghany region, where all classes were enthusiastic
for the development of their splendid resources. But the South
was equally unanimous against the tariff. Virginia, strong in
the old republican school, opposed it on constitutional grounds;
South Carolina, more practical and less wedded to old theories,
rested her opposition on sectional interests, and by strenuous
fighting was becoming the leader of a new school of Southeri?
politics. It seemed impossible to reconcile the two views, and
herein lay Jackson's peril: for he depended as much on South
CaroUna and the far South as on Pennsylvania, New York,' and
the West. It would take careful management to steer his cause
safely between the groups. How cleverly it was done we shall see. \
In the first place, his ovm record favored his plans. He
voted in congress for a tariff which would develop the miUtary
resources of the country. This moderate position need alarm
'See above, H., 361,
>W. L. Maiey to Van Buren, June 25, 1S97; January 29, iS23; Van Buren Mss.

392 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
neither side. Such a man, said his friends in the North, could be
reUed on to see that the blessings of protection were not sac
rificed to the Southern demands. Such a man, said his advc-
cates in the South, could be relied on to oppose the selfish plans
of that section which would build up their ovm interests at the
expense of those of another. Adams and Clay stood openly for
protection and were not embarrassed by defection in their camps.
In the second place, the Jackson congressmen and party
workers generaUy were more anxious for the success of their pres
idential candidate than for the passage of a tariff. But they
were afraid of their constituents North and South. The task,
then, resolved itself into preparing a line of conduct which
would satisfy the voters, and all the movers of the pawns were in
secret accord as to the ethics of their conduct.
The plan foUowed is supposed to have been devised by Van
Buren. Whether it was his or not, he gave his best efforts to
carry it through. The speaker of the new house was Andrew
Stevenson, of Virginia, an old republican who foUowed Van
Buren into the Jackson camp. For some time committees had
been non-partisan, which was not unnatural under Monroe's
and Adams's policy of "amalgamation." But Stevenson sig
nalized the advent of a new party system by giving their control
to his own friends. He placed two Adams, and five Jackson
men on the committee on manufactures, to which was
allotted the task of bringing in the new tariff bill.
After much delay the committee introduced its biU. It hap
pened then, as later, that states which wanted higher duties on
most articles wanted lower rates on others. Thus, New England, ;. .
demanding protection on her manufactures, asked for free raw
materials. The bill now reported placed duties generaUy high
on aU articles, including the raw materials used in New England. Ill
The biU would please the Middle states and the West, but it
would be unpopular in the South and New England. It was the

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 393
purpose of the framers to resist aU attempts to amend the biU,
in the belief that on the final vote it would be defeated through
'the decisive action of New England members. The South was
induced to vote dovm aU the New England amendments in the
belief that the biU would thus finaUy be defeated, and the measure
came to its last vote in nearly the same shape as it came from the
committee. But here the unexpected happened: the South,
as was anticipated, voted against the biU it had vigorously re
fused to amend, but enough New Englanders voted for it, with
aU its faults, to make it a law. Nobody but the Jackson mana
gers was pleased with the result; but the political effects were
good. The Southern members could report to their constituents
that they voted against it, although they had not the satisfaction
to say they defeated it. The Northem Jackson members could
report that they voted for it. It was a lucky deUverance for
the party.'
The tariff of 1828 was only one incident in a campaign of ex
citement. Each party was bitter and personal in its abuse of
the other. AU the squabbles of Jackson's early Ufe were brought
up to show he was not fit to be President. The hanging of Ar
buthnot and Ambrister, the unauthorized invasion of Florida,
and the quarrel with CaUava were cited to show his lack of re
spect for law. The execution of mutinous miUtiamen in the
campaigns of 1813 and 1814 was recaUed to show his ferocious
temper; and when a Philadelphia editor pubUshed a hand-biU
showing a coffin with the victims standing by its side, the idea
was caught up eagerly and repeated in aU parts of the coimtry.
Jesse Benton, the cause of the quarrel of 1813, also contributed
his mite, a hand-biU in which his version of the dispute was
given to show that Jackson was truculent and treacherous to an
opponent. Van Buren thought that this abuse served to keep
'Taussig, Tarif History ofthe United Slates, sth edition, 86-ioS. In 1837, Calhoun in a speech in congress,
explained this bargain, in which he thought the Southerners had been deceived. See his Works, III., 47.

394 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the candidate's name before the people, who otherwise might, ,
have forgotten his pretensions.
The worst and least justifiable of these personal charges was
reviving the story of his marriage. The irregularity of this
ceremony was brought up to his disadvantage in his early career
in Tennessee poUtics, and it was not to be expected that it should
be omitted in this campaign; but we are hardly prepared to find
that it was a main argument in the leading opposition newspapers.
It appeared in the National Journal, a paper pubUshed in Wash
ington, apparently under close supervision of the President.
Jackson thought, and correctly, it seems, that if Adams had
used his influence the matter would have been kept out of its
columns. He held, therefore, that his antagonist was con
structively responsible for the attack and felt justified in with
holding from him the ordinary social courtesies of gentlemen.
Some of Jackson's supporters were wUling to reply to these
charges in kind, and the story was started that Adams, whUe
minister to Russia, was concerned in deUvering a beautiful
American girl to a Ufe of shame in order to gratify the lust of
an aristocrat. The tale as told was entirely untrue. Duff
Green, editor of the Telegraph, went even further. "I saw
the necessity," he wrote, referring to the attack on Mrs. Jackson,
"of bringing home the matter to Mr. Adams's own faimly and
by threats of retaliation drove the Journal to condemn itseU.
This you have no doubt seen and understood. The effect here
was like electricity. The whole Adams corps was thrown into
consternation. They did not doubt that I would execute my
threat, and I was denounced in the most bitter terms for assail- fil
ing female character by those very men, who had rolled the
slanders on Mrs. Jackson under their tongues as the sweetest. •'I?'
morsel that had been dressed up by Peter Force and Co., during^l
the whole campaign.'" To this shameless avowal Jackson re- '
'Green to Jackson, July 8, 1827, Jackson Mss.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 395
pUed that it would be weU now and then to throw into the enemy's
camp a few firebrands in the shape of facts, "but that female
character should never be introduced by my friends unless a
continuation of attack should continue to be made against
Mrs. Jackson, and that by way of just retaliation upon the
known GUILTY. My great wish is that it may be altogether
evaded, if possible, by my friends. / never war against females,
and it is only the base and cowardly that do. " '
It was fortunate for Jackson that whUe these charges were
being made, he was at the "Hermitage" under the soothing
influence of Major Lewis and Judge Overton. Inwardly he
raged, as is shown by an allusion to Clay in one of his letters.
" I have lately got an intimation of some of his secret movements,
«^hich, if I can reach with positive and responsible proof, I vsdU
wield to his political and, perhaps, to his actual destruction. He
is certainly the basest, meanest, scoundrel that ever disgraced
the image of his god — nothing too mean or low for him to con
descend to, secretely to carry his cowardly and base purposes of
slander into effect: even the aged and virtuous female is not
free from his secrete combinations of base slander — but enough,
you know me, I will curb my feelings until it becomes proper to
act, when letuhntive justice wiU visit him and his panders heads. "'
In another case he was not so weU controUed. In 1826,
Southard, secretary of war, in a private conversation at
Fredericksburg, Va., criticized the defense of New Orleans and
praised Monroe's activity as secretary of war at the time, at
tributing to him much of the merit of saving the city. An
exaggerated account was carried to Jackson, who vprote a severe
letter to Southard and sent it imsealed by Samuel Houston.
This messenger showed the communication to some of the party
managers in Washington, who agreed that it ought not to be

'Jackson to Green, August 13, 1827, Jackson Mss.
'Jackson to Houston, December is, 182S, Jackson Mss.

396 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
deUvered. It was, in fact, withheld and an appeal was made to
the writer, with the result that some weeks later Southard re
ceived a written demand for an explanation. It contained no
other denunciation than a cool statement that Jackson considered
the criticism of his campaign as a blow from the administration.
Southard in reply denied that he intended to reflect on the
military conduct of his correspondent, and here the matter rested
so far as the campaign was concerned;' but it was destined to
play an important part in another interesting phase of our
story.' This incident iUustrates Jackson's relation to his party mana
gers. They were alarmed because they reaUzed that his fiery
temper was liable to burst forth at any time, and they took
steps to restrain it. Several of them v?rote him in the most
cautious manner, urging such arguments as they believed must
convince him that he ought to keep quiet. Eaton spoke ear
nestiy: "Many friends, "he wrote, "begged him to urge Jackson
not to notice things Clay was sajdng." My reply to these
anxious friends was, " ^Fear not, General Jackson wiU not so far
insult his friends as to take his ovm cause into his ovm hands
and from his friends.' . . . They only ask of you under any
and aU circumstances, to be stiU and let them manage whatever
is to be done.'" Caleb Atwater also wrote, from Ohio: "For
Heaven's sake, for your country's sake, do remember that but
one man can write you dovm — his name is Andrew Jackson."'
At first Jackson was not docile under these attempts at con
trol. To Polk, who begged him to make no reply to an expected
request for his views on internal improvements, he wrote with
some spirit: "I have no disguise with my friends, but am not
-ftV
'Adams, Memoirs, VII., 218, 220, 221, 222, 223, 22s; alsT Tackson to Houston, November 22, 1826, Jackson
Mss. Jackson publisiied in a pampUet bis two letters to Soutliard and the latter's reply.
!See below. 11.. 500.
'Eaton to Jackson, January 21, 1828, Jackson Mss.
*Atwater to Jackson, September 4, 1828, Ihid,

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 397
in the habit of gratifying enemies. I have nothing in my po
Utical creed to keep secrete, it was formed in the old RepubUcan
school, and is without change. I have no secretes, nor have I,
nor do I wish to conceal my opinions on the powers of the general
government, and those reserved to the states respectfuUy [sic.]
as it respects internal improvements, I never have withheld them
when I spoke upon, this subject, and I am sure I never wiU,
and I am sure the general government has no right to make in
ternal improvements within a state, without its consent first
had and obtained. " '
So spoke the leader in December, 1826: a year later he was
in a more cautious frame of mind and when he was appealed to
for his opinion on the tariff, referred the inquirers to his votes
in congress and his letter to Dr. Coleman.'
In this connection the foUowing letter has much interest.
It is written to Major Lewis from Washington, is signed
"B  ," and seems to come from Benton.
The present administration is the most effective enemy of
internal improvements that has ever appeared among us. They
are ruining the cause by prostituting it to electioneering, and wiU
be attacked upon that ground. I think it probable that Jackson
will be catechized upon this subject, either by some overzealous
friend or insidious enemy. I have talked wdth V. B. and others
about it. They think as I do, that things are well enough now
and ought not to be disturbed. If , therefore, a friend should
put interrogatories, we think he ought to be made to comprehend
that there is no necessity for any pubUc answer. If an enemy
should do so, and at the same time be so respectable as to make
an answer indispensable, we think that it ought to be given
rather by a general reference to the votes given by J  in the
Senate than by a particular confession of faith. The right of
the people to know the poUtical sentiments of a pubUc man,
might be admitted; the decUning of declaring these sentunents,

'Jackson to Polk, December 27, 1826, Polk Calendar.
•Jackson to Polk, March 23, 1828, Polk Calendar.

398 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
on the eve of an election, might be stated; and then the necessity '
of a declaration in this case might be obviated by a general
statement that his votes in the Senate would show his opinions.
These votes wiU be satisfactory to most of the advocates of the
doctrine, and at the same time, they do not go the whole length,
as is weU known in Virginia and elsewhere. If nothing but news
paper caUs should be made, I think they should be left to news
paper answers. Adams's votes in the Senate upon this subject
wiU be fully exposed. He voted against every measure of the
kind ever proposed in that body whUe he was a member. These,
with his old federal votes against the West and Louisiana wdll
appear in bolder reUef than they have ever yet been seen in.
We are all divided here according to our politics, just as they were
in '98. Our friends mean to fight it out; if they are conquered
they want no quarter, and if they are victorious, thej' wiU owe
no favors.'
A long letter to Jackson from Robert Y. Hayne has much of
the same tenor, and throws some light on the character of the
writer. *
"We know Mr. Clay weU enough to understand," he says,
"the course that vdll be pursued in matters where his wiU is
law. Altogether unprincipled, ambitious, daring, bold, and
without the smaUest regard either to the courtesies or decendes
of life, he inspires his poUtical foUowers with a spirit not unlike
that which distinguishes a savage warfare, sparing no age, sex,
or condition. There is stiU another motive that lurks beneath
the unmanly and ungenerous course of the administration, it
is the desire to betray you into some indiscretion. They have
taken pains to impress the pubUc mind wdth the beUef that your
temper unfits you for civU government. They know that a
noble nature is always Uable to excitement, and they have put,
and wiU continue to put, into operation, a hundred schemes to
betray you into some act or expression, which may be tumed
i"B" [Bentonl, to Jackson, February 32, 1837, Jackaon Mss.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 399
to their own advantage." Adams, he added, refused to answer
pohtical questions because he was President; and was not Jackson
the saviour of his country and the representative of the people,
equal to Adams in dignity?
Then Hayne came to affairs near his ovm heart, the tariff
and Calhoun's position in the party. It is true, he said, that the
Southern people ' 'deny the power of Congress to legislate on these
points,' yet we feel that our interests are safe in your hands." As
for the party itself, its greatest danger was from dissensions be
tween its parts, which before uniting with it had their own mutual
differences.' It was a mild hint at the rivalry of Calhoun and
Van Buren, then weU established.
Thus labored the little group in Washington, Van Buren,
hand in hand with the Tennesseeans, and Calhoun's friends co
operating, all nervously anxious about their relations wdth the
chieftain whose name was their best card. John Quincy Adams
caUed them the "privy council," and they foreshadowed the
''Kitchen Cabinet" not yet in existence. In NashviUe a similar
group was preparing pamphlets and newspaper articles in the
common cause, its most appreciated work being a long defense
of the iharriage of the leader. In it were Judge Overton, a
companion of Jackson's earUest days in the West and a true
friend through life, and Major Lewis, whose personal influence
vdth the candidate was strong for many years. Twenty-five
years later, Parton, then writing his Life of Jackson, came
strongly under the influence of Major Lewis, who made him be
Ueve that much of the poUtical history of the period came out
of the latter's activity. Later historians have been apt to
speak of him as an astute and farrsighted party manager. From
the many traces we have of him in the Jackson correspondence,
the impression seems to be erroneous. Lewis had much to do
'Hayne was referring to the tarifl and internal improvements.
•Hayne to Jackson, June s. 1837, Jackson Mss.

400 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
wdth appointments to office and with Jackson's conduct toward
men, but others seem to have devised party moves. His letters
show us a garmlous man, with no noticeable power of initiative,
but industriously active in flattering his leader and ministering
to his prejudices. It is probable that Jackson's advice to Polk
in 1844, indicates Lewis's true abiUty: "Keep Blair's Globe the
administration paper," he writes, "and WilUam B. Lewds to
ferret out and make known to you aU the plots and intrigues
hatching against your administration and you are safe."
Van Buren says that it was predicted in 1825, that Jackson's
popularity would pass before 1828. The energy of his managers,
and abuse from his opponents, gave the Ue to the prophecy.
By the end of 1827, Adams seemed sure of nothing but New
England: to his enemy were conceded Pennsylvania, Virginia,
the CaroUnas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, wdth good
prospects in the Northwest. The debatable states were New
York, Missouri, Kentucky, and Louisiana. In aU these states
the greatest activity existed on each side.
The situation in New York was exceedingly important. Here
the republicans were in two factions. Van Buren's, which sup
ported Crawford in 1824, and De Witt Clinton's, which first
supported him for the presidency in that campaign and later
toyed with both Jackson and Adams. Clinton had long desired
the presidency, but his lukewarmness toward the War of 1812,
won him the opposition of the Virginians, who gave Tompkins
the vice-presidency in 18 16 and thus satisfied New York while
they ignored Clinton.
After the election of 1825 Clinton coquetted wdth both parties.
Adams refused to encourage him because it was unwise "to
make one scale preponderate by weights taken from another. " '
He feared to offend Van Buren, of whose cooperation he had
some hopes; but he only angered Clinton, and soon both repubU-
lAdams, Memoirs, VII., 185, 202. See also, Alexander, Political Bistory of New Tori, I., 335-7.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 401
can factions were supporting Jackson. Clinton desired the vice-
prfesidency, and Van Buren seconded the pretension as a means of
uniting the New York repubUcans and of embarrassing CaUioun.
The Tennesseeans were also favorable to CUnton. It shows
how much the organic nature of the party was developed that
Jackson remained apparentiy neutral to the matter. But
Calhoun was deeply concerned,' and a Uvely dissension was
imminent in the party when in February, 1828, CUnton died. Van
Buren reaUzed the importance of this event and moved quickly
to capture the dead man's foUowers. With aU solemnity the
New York delegation arranged a memorial meeting for the de
ceased at which Van Buren presided and made a speech in honor
of the man whom he had long opposed. Much other labor was
expended on the subordinates in the faction, with the result that
they came under the command of their old rival, but not in a
very docUe frame of mind. They retained much Qf their old
feeUng and made trouble in the distribution of federal offices,
but they voted with the party and made Van Buren the topmost
figure in New York poUtics.'
In the West the Clay support fought with great spirit and in
Louisiana they were particularly vigorous. If we may believe
Edward Livingston and other correspondents, federal office
holders in New Orleans were most partisan and worked contin
uaUy for the administration. The same, it may be said, was
aUeged of the officials in parts of Ohio, whfle Adams complained
that in the New York election of 1827, the federal officers in the
state were against the administration.' To overcome the op
position in Louisiana, and to make a good impression every
where, it was planned to have on January 8, 1828, a great
celebration of the battle of New Orleans. Jackson, who had
'D. Green to Jackson, October ai; Branch to Ibid, December ii, 1827; Jackson Mss.
•Adams, Memoirs, VII., 370. P. N. Nicholas to Van Buren, October 13; Marcy to Ibid, December 10
J. A. Hamilton to Ibid, December 21, 1826; Van Ness to Ibid, February 22, 1827; Van Buren Mss.
«I. L. Baker to Jackson, September i, 1827; E. Livingston to Jackson, August 12; Ibid to Jackson, November
15, 182S, Jackson Mss; Adams, Memoirs, VU., 349-

402 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
refused to visit a Kentucky watering-place for fear it might be
pronounced electioneering, gave hunself to the scheme and ar
rangements were made to make the occasion as conspicuous as
possible. PoUticians from as far as New York came to join
the company of friends who escorted the leader. The occasion
was made a fruitful scene of intrigue for the favor of the hero
untfl some of his old and non-political friends became disgusted
and were only induced to remain wdth the party by the argument
that a withdrawal would be interpreted unfavorably by his
enemies.' Jackson newspapers heralded the events of the joumey
far and near. A committee of citizens of New Orleans met him
at Natchez, and the party arrived at the battie field on the anni
versary of the victory. Four days were spent in festiAdties
during which the city of New Orleans gave itself up to ex
travagant demonstrations of joy. Never was a historical cele
bration made to contribute to political ends wdth better
success. Jackson's utterances on this occasion were praised by his
friends as fllustrations of his eloquence and good sense. The
public did not reaUze how weU he was coachedi^ beforehand.
Andrew P. Hajme, brother of the South Carolina senator and old
companion in arms, took care that they slfoifld say just the right
things. There were to be three spgpches,''-!^ said to Jackson be
forehand, but he hoped only one would be published; and there
were two ideas he wanted to see in them: (i) that Jackson, like
Cincinnatus, left his home at his country's caU, performed the
task required of him, and returned to his home again; (2) a mild
but manly reference to the wicked attacks on Mrs. Jackson.
Beside this he hoped that the speech would be entirely miUtary
and that the speaker, like Washington, would read it.' That
Jackson carefully filed this communication among the papers
¦Dunlap to Jackson, August lo, 1831, Copy in Library of Congress. See also American Bistorical ilKH'
tint (Nashville), DC., 93.
•Hayne to Jackson, December 27, 1827, Jackson Mss.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 403
he kept for the future historian shows that he valued highly the
advice in it. John Quincy Adams teUs us the speech deUvered
was written by Major Henry Lee, a ready hack v^iter of the
time, then intimately associated with the general.'
Already it was evident that the popular enthusiasm for
Jackson was overwhelming. The frigid honesty of the exist
ing President could not withstand its power, and he early foresaw
the end. He was a bad loser, as his father was before him, and
expressed his contempt for his detractors in language which
might rather be expected from them. He confided to his diary
that Ingham, Randolph, HamUton, and some others were
"skunks of party slander who had been squirting round the
House of Representatives thence to issue and perfume the at
mosphere of the Union. '" For Calhoun he expressed an equaUy
vigorous, if less picturesque, opinion. "Calhoun," he wrote,
"is a man of considerable talent and buming ambition; stimu
lated to frenzy by success, flattery, and premature advancement;
govemed by no steady principle, but sagacious to seize upon
every prevaiUng popular breeze to sweU his own sails; showering
favors with lavish hands to make partisans, without discernment
in the choice of his instruments, and the dupe and tool of every
knave cunning enough to drop the ofl of fools in his ear."'
For Clay, also, the situation had Uttle comfort, and he talked
gloomfly with his chief. When the latter remarked that after
the people had four years of Jackson, they would be disgusted
and turn to the Kentuckian, Clay said that the reaction woidd,
indeed, come, but not tiU he was too old to profit by it. He was
deeply dejected and offered to retire from the cabinet, but Adams,
knowing this would be taken as a sign of defeat, urged him to
take a rest instead.' Thus, with discouragement for the ad-

•Adams, Memoirs, VU., 477.
Vbid. VII., 431-
Vbid, vn., 447.
Vbid, vn., 382, 51S, 5», $11.

404 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ministration and wdth uproarious enthusiasm for its opponents
the country came to the election day.
There could be no doubt of the result. The autumn was
hardly at hand before congratulations began to arrive at the
"Hermitage." They came from old friends and new ones, from
those who offered sincere admiration and those who expected
favors. Among the weU-wishers was Gen. Thomas Cadwal
ader, of Philadelphia, social leader in the city and valuable
salaried lobbyist for the United States Bank, who paid compU
ments to the fine cUmate, soil, and people of NashviUe, invited
Jackson to visit him in Philadelphia, and added: "Mrs. Cad
walader desires me to say that no endeavor wiU be spared to
supply to Mrs. Jackson the places of those warm friends whom she
wiU leave behind her. '" The Cadwaladers were as prominent
in Phfladelphia as the Livingstons were in New York and New
Orleans. Did the doughty General Thomas dream of an in
fluence over the incoming President Uke that which Edward
Livingston established over him at New Orleans? If so, he was
to be rudely disappointed. Jackson coifld see the difference be
tween the efficient organizer of the resources of defense and the
pompous agent of the bank, as our story wiU unfold later.
Nor was Hayne, the nuUifier, less courteous. He wrote that
Mrs. Ha)aie would like to make any necessary arrangement
for Mrs. Jackson's comfort before the arrival in WasSngton.'
The election results justified the expectations of both friends
and flatterers. Every electoral vote south of the Potomac and
west of the AUeghanies went for Jackson, together with those of
Pennsylvania. All of New England except one vote in Maine,
and aU of Delaware and New Jersey were for Adams. New
York gave twenty and Maryland five for Jackson and they
gave respectively sixteen and six for Adams. In aU, Jackson

'Cadwalader to Jackson, June 21 and October 15, 1828, Jackson Mss
•Hayne to Jackson, December 18, 1828, Jackson Mss.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 405
had one hundred and seventy-eight electoral votes and Adams
had eighty-three. Calhoun had aU the Jackson votes except
seven of Georgia's nine, which Crawford's hatred took from him
for the benefit of WiUiam Smith, of South Carolina.
The country now rang with shouts for the victor, and aU
eyes turned toward NashviUe. There were poUtical servitors
who sought their reward, "old repubUcans" who rejoiced that
the nationalizing tendencies of Adams were checked, believers
in democracy, who thought that the reviving aristocracy was
crushed, and low tariff men who considered the defeat of Clay a
public blessing. AU turned expectantly to the one who had
saved them. Bustle invaded the quiet of the "Hermitage,"
and rejoicings mingled with preparations for a new phase of
Ufe for its occupants. In Nashvflle men of both parties united
to give their first citizen a public dinner, which should be worthy
of his success. Suddenly aU these expressions of joy withered
before the brief iUness and death of Mrs. Jackson.
Spite of its irregularity Jackson's marriage was a very happy
one. His wife had little education, but she was naturally intel
ligent; and she had that intense feeling for goodness and innate
beauty which sanctifies love. She had the esteem of most of the
people who knew her, and some of her friends loved her deeply.
She was fond of young people and assumed a motherly attitude
toward them which they appreciated highly. To a large circle
of such admirers she was known as "Aunt Rachael." Her
affection was deep enough to win her husband's strong nature
and make him her lover as long as he lived. Her devotion to
reUgion broke dovm his indifference on that subject — he was,
it seems, never antagonistic to it — and he became in the latter
part of his Ufe a loyal, if not a devout, Presbyterian.
His care of his wdfe was constant, and he never forgave those
who injured her. Much as he was enraged by the attacks on
her in the campaign of 1828, he kept from her aU knowledge

4o6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
that her name was used untfl she accidentaUy discovered the
fact after the election. An account of her death which has sur
vived among those who were most intimately associated wdth him
presents the foUowing story: About a month after the election,
she drove into Nashvflle to purchase clothes for use in her new
station. She was quite happy in the occasion and went from
shop to shop with interest tfll her strength was gone. Then she
retired to the private office of a newspaper editor, one of her
relatives, to rest until her carriage was ready for the retum.
Here she came upon a copy of the pamphlet issued by her hus
band's friends in her defense. It came as a surprise and she
was overwhelmed. When her companions came an hour later,
they found her crouching in a comer, weeping and hysterical.
On her way home she made every effort to resume her com
posure, so as to avoid giving pain to her husband, but she was
not successful. The forced gaiety which she assumed attracted
his attention at once and he had the story of the day's happenmg; •
From that time, says the narrative, she grew worse, at last taking
to her bed and dying on December 23d.' For some years her
health had been poor, and the final coUapse was attributed to
heart disease, but Jackson believed that her grief was a cause.
The blow left him dazed, and he sat by the body for a whole night
in the belief that life was not entirely extinct. He buried her
in the garden at the "Hermitage," near the Uttle Presbyterian
church which, chiefly from his own funds, he buflt in 1823 for
her gratification.' One of the last acts before his departure for
Washington was to order a suitable monument for the grave.
Mrs. Jackson's memory was after this the gentlest spot in his
life. When accusations were brought against the good name

'The author had this account from Mrs. Elizabeth Blair Lee, daughter of F. P. Blair, Sr., who remembered
it from her youth, when she had it from Major Lewis. She considered it probable; but Parton, who had a
marked faculty for using a good story, and wbo used Lewis freely, says nothing of it.
•A receipt among his papers, 1823, shows that he gave iiso to its erection and fnmiahed matetialsi but fol
tlie latter he rendered a bill.

i "

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 407
of Mrs. Eaton, it was sufficient for him that she had been re
ceived by his departed wife. His wife's natural goodness and
strength of character won the respect of many of his friends.
She was in Washington with him during the winter of 1824-5,
and one of the acquaintances she made was Lafayette, who
stopped at the same hotel with her. When she was dead he
expressed his sympathy to Jackson in a letter in which he said:
"You know how very kind and affectionate your exceUent lady
has been to me; the opportunities I had to appreciate her worth
had more particularly attached me to her. I was dafly antici
pating the general approbation she could not have failed to ob
tain in her situation.'"
Many years afterward, the "Hermitage" became the object
of pflgrimage for patriotic and curious travelers, and an old
servant of its former owner was employed to show it to such
visitors. He had a reverent respect for Jackson and would
show, with great pride, the objects associated with the general's
political and mflitary life. In Jackson's bedroom was a picture
of Mrs. Jackson, which the old Negro would describe as follows:
"This is de picture of Miss Rachael. Every moming de general
would kneel before it and tell his God that he thank him to spare
his life one more night to look on de face of his love."
But however crushing the personal affliction, political affairs
did not wait. The funeral was hardly over before the prepar
ations for Washington demanded his attention. He hurriedly
gathered up his thoughts and turned his face toward a new
field of duty.
•Lafayette to Jackson, February 36, 1829, Jackson Mss.

CHAPTER XX
CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION
It was the middle of January, 1829, when Jackson set out for
Washington amid the plaudits of his countrymen. Reform
of abuses was the cry of the campaign just ended, and he was
gratefuUy hafled as the giver of better things. One admirer
, thanked God that he had seen the overthrow of John I and
John II, and he hoped he would not live to see another of that
race and the same country on the throne.' John Brovra, of
Virginia, who described himself as "an old revolutionist and
one of your warmest friends, and an individual of the near two
hundred thousand freemen, which I hope have taught congress
a lesson not soon to be forgotten," also gave his opinion of the
situation. He was especiaUy anxious that the "court etiquette
and pompous perade" in Washington be reformed. Such dis
play was not in keeping wdth republicanism. It is tme it was
practised by "General La Fiatte," but he could be forgiven be
cause he had the "voletile fancy of a Frenchman." The writer
did not think such flattery could please any reaUy wdse man,
and he hoped Jackson would discourage it. It was the simple
letter of a countrjmaan, a man who held the views of the people
around him, but Jackson did not disdain the advice; and he
filed the letter after endorsing it thus, "a friendly letter — worth
reading — private."' Jacksoii was an average man; and his
power to appreciate the views of average men was one of his
best traits.

'D. C. Ker to Jackson, November ii, 1838, Jackson Mss.
•John Brown to Jackson, March 10, 1829, Jackson Mss.
408

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 409
The President-elect proceeded on his journey by easy stages.
From NashviUe he reached the Ohio at LouisviUe, thence up
the river to Pittsburg, and at last over the moimtams to the
capital. Duff Green, desiring that he should appear imder the
prestige of the Calhoun faction, planned a great cavalcade to
meet him at Pittsburg and escort him by relays to the end of the
journey. But Van Buren opposed the scheme on the ground
that it would be unacceptable to Jackson, and it was abandoned.'
The people along the route made up by their enthusiasm aU
the eclat that was lost in the absence of an escort. At last the
party came to Washington on February nth, the day the electoral
votes were counted in the senate.'
The city was fuU of anxious faces. So much had been said
about electioneering by office-holders that it was generaUy be
lieved that wholesale removals would be made. Later, when
dismissals for cause did not yield enough vacancies to satisfy
the many applicants they insisted that removals without cause
should be made, and the demand was frequently granted.
Office-seekers and others flocked to Jackson's hotel, urging
their claims on him and on whatever friend they thought had
influence wdth him. For Adams, whose gifts were aU exhausted,
they had no thought. Even Jackson ignored him. On the
ground that Adams was responsible for the continuance of the
attacks on Mrs. Jackson, he refused to make the usual caU of
the incoming upon the outgoing President. A few confidential
friends consoled the correct and unbending New Englander; he
remained in the White House untfl the day before the inaugu
ration, when he removed to a place on Meridian HiU, near the
westem boundary of the city, and left his rival to take informal
possession of the official residence.
When Jackson arrived, Febmary nth, cabinet-making wras al
ready the chief object of interest. A smaU group of confidants
'J. A. Hamilton to Jackson, November 34, 1828, Jackson Mss.
•Niles, Register, XXXV, 4or, 409-

4IO THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
gathered to advise with him, and the remainder of the poUtical
world looked on as rumors came from the centre regarding the
fate of one or another aspirant for office. Senators White and
Eaton and Major Lewis were continuaUy with him. Van Buren
was absent, detained in Albany by his duties as governor; but
he was represented at Washington by J. A. Hamilton, who wrote
frequently about the progress of events.
The onlooking poUticians were divided, according to their in
terests, into several groups. Most noticeable were the supporters
of Van Bm-en. They had a certain theoretical alUance with the
constitutional views of the Crawford party, but their chief con
cem at this time was the future of their leader and the distri
bution of state offices. For some time it was known that the
New Yorker would have choice of the cabinet positions. He
was, next to Calhotm, the ablest man in his party, and his party
services were~~^eeminent. In 1828, he resigned his seat in the
senate and ran for governor of his state, because it would unite
the party for the benefit of Jackson. The appointment was,
therefore, eminently proper from a party standpoint, and it
was fiUed with credit, as later events showed. Some of his
friends desired him to become secretary of the treasury because
of the large number of offices to be disposed of in that depart
ment,' but the secretaryship of state was offered, and accepted,
because its incumbent, by the prevaiUng opimon, was heir-ap
parent. Jackson offered the state department on February 15th,
after consultation with Hamilton; and it was accepted on the
20th, with the stipulation that it shoifld not be necessary for
the duties to be taken up untfl the legislature of New York
should adjourn, probably at the end of March.'
To ffll the office tenaporarfly, became the object of one of the
'Silas Wright, Jr., to Van Buren, December 9, Verplanck to Ibid, December 6; Thomas Ritchie to Ibid,
March 11, 1828; Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, February 15; Van Buren to Jackson, February 20; J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren,
Febuary 12, 1829; Van Buren Ms&

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 411'
minor moves on the board. Hamilton desired the position and
Van Buren approved of his ambition; but an obstacle appeared
in Henry Lee, a scheming hack writer, who had attached him
self to the NashviUe group and who by flattery of Lewis and by a
plan to write a life of Jackson had worked himself into favor.
The gravest charges were aUeged against his private Ufe, but
this seems not to have been known to Jackson. Lee now de
sired to be chief clerk in the state department, an office held long
and efficiently by Daniel Brent; and if Lee were chief clerk it
ought to devolve on him to preside over the department during
the absence of the secretary. Hamilton, therefore, set his face
to defeat the hope of Lee, who was strongly fortified because he
had a letter of endorsement from Lewis. He attacked his op
ponent on the ground of moral character. White, to whom he
took his complaint, was shocked at the state of the case, declared
that Lee must be shaken off and said that he woifld be con
sidered an offense, if the truth were known, to the honor of the
general. He also condemned "in unmeasured terms" Lewis,
whose error of judgment is very evident. The upshot was that
Van Buren interfered and wrote to Jackson asking that Hamfl
ton might be secretary pro tempore, and the request was granted.'
Lee was shunted off into a smaU foreign consulship, for which
the senate rejected him. He was deeply disappointed and tumed
against the administration.
Calhoun's influence hung over aU cabinet appointments, al
though it is impossible to connect him directly with any one se
lection. Van Buren's friends feared him greatly, but they
dared not oppose him openly. They were disposed to credit
him wdth more abiUty in intrigue than he possessed, and some
of them even thought that bringing Van Buren into the cabinet
was a scheme by which the latter could be discredited before
the country. When it was seen how weak was the cabinet,
'J. A. Hamilton to Van Buien, January i, February 13, 18 and 35, 1829; Von Buren Mss.

412 'THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Van Buren himseU had doubts, as we shaU see, about the wdsdom
of his acceptance.'
Pennsylvania offered two candidates for position, S. D. Ing
ham and Henry Baldwin. Jackson favored the latter on per
sonal grounds, but the Calhoun interest in the state centered so
strongly on the former that he yielded, and it was decided that
Ingham should have an offer of a cabinet position. Calhoun's
strong supporters pressed him for secretary of the treasury,
finding, it seems, some fitness in giving the second place in the
cabinet to a Calhoun man, if Van Buren was to have the first."
In this affair CaUioun himself was in a rather deUcate situation
because his own state was opposed to Ingham, and supported
for second choice a man who had the backing of Van Buren
himseU. They were committed to nullification in its first stages
and did not want to see the treasury controUed by a man with the
tariff views of the Pennsylvanian school. They urged Langdon
Cheves, of their own state, and if he could not be appointed,
Lewis McLane, of Delaware. Cheves was soon seen to be out
of the question, and they clung to McLane the more fiercely;
but he had no chance, although Van Buren himself wrote a
letter in his behalf to Eaton. Another aspirant was Albert
GaUatin, whom Van Buren, through Hamflton, suggested for
treasurer. The approach was made through Lewis, who re
jected it at once saying: "The old man, if he comes here, will
have the whole credit of the administration. There is no use in
having him. Ee wanted to be Secretary of the Treasury."'
Another object of concem was John McLean, of Ohio. He was
in Calhoun's interest and was looked upon wdth disfavor by the
Van Buren men.' He was postmaster-general under Adams and

'E. K. Kane to Van Buren, February tg, 1829, Van Buren Mss.
"L. McLane to Van Buren, February 19; J. Hamilton, Jr., to Van Buren, February 19, 1829; Van BotCD
Mss. 'J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, March 6, r829. Van Buren Mss.
Vbid to Ibid, February 13, 1829, Van Buren Mss.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 413
used his office against the election of his superior. He could
not be ignored, because of his recognized abiUty, and he caused
some embarrassment by aspiring to a higher rank than he then
held. Moreover, he was popular in the West and wdth the
Methodists in the country at large. It was good poUcy to keep
him in the cabinet, and after much hesitation he consented to
remain where he was, his office being raised to fuU cabinet rank,
which before this it did not have.
In the meantime, the Virginians stood patheticaUy aside. It
was the first cabinet-making in our history in which they had
no share. Mr. Speaker Stevenson, Editor Ritchie, and others
waited in vain to be caUed into councfl. Van Buren, old
Crawford leader and friend of the new regime, received their
confidences, as we may see in his correspondence, but did
nothing. Jackson was not favorable to Virginia, but Calhoun urged that
some attention be shovm and L. W. TazeweU was offered the
war department. He refused it, probably because he wanted
nothing less than first place. He was then assigned to the British
mission and accepted it; but March nth, when popular opinion
ran strongly against the new administration, he declined it on
the ground of business interests.' When TazeweU was passed
over for cabinet rank, Virginians tumed to P. P. Barbour, whom
they desired to make attorney-general.
The war department was given to Senator Eaton. Jackson
said he thought he ought to be aUowed to have a personal
friend in the cabinet, on whose confidential advice he might
lean,' and no onie objected. The choice was between Senators
White and Eaton. The foUowing extract from a letter from
Eaton to his colleague seems to indicate that it was left to the
two men to decide which should be chosen.

'Hamilton, J. A., Reminiscences, 91.
•L. McLane to Van Buren, February 19, r829. Van Buren Mss.

414 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
A letter, received some time ago, from General Jackson,
stated he desired you or me to be near him. In a recent conver
sation with him, he remarked that he had had a fuU and free
conversation with you; and at the close remarked that he de
sired to have me with him. I presumed, without inquiring, that
he had probably talked with you on the subject, and that you had
declined accepting any situation, as you before had told me
would be your feelings. Nothing defiiute has taken place on
this matter between General Jackson and myself, and I hope
you know me well enough, and my regard and friendship for
you, to know this, that I should never permit myself to stand in
competition with any desire you may entertain. If you have
any desire, say so to me in confidence, and it shaU so be received.
If you have none, then in reference to any and all considerations
I should consent to any such appointment. Think of this and
give me your opinion frankly.'
White was a man of honor and has preserved the respect of the
historian. He could do nothing but decline to stand in the way
of his friend, which is undoubtedly what Eaton expected of him.
The navy department went to John Branch, senator from
North Carolina and former governor. He was noted for noth
ing but his good dinners and correct manners; and the impression
got abroad that he was brought forward because it was felt that
something must be done to promote the social prestige of the
new party. Eaton stood strongly for Branch," however, and it
is reasonable to assume that he did so because he wanted to
withstand Virginia's claims, which were pressed in favor of
Tazewell and probably because he felt that the weak-wiUed
Branch would at least be manageable. The appointment dis
pleased many people, and McLane probably voiced a general
opinion when he wrote: "By what interest that miserable old
woman. Branch, was ever dreamed of no one can teU. '"
'Eaton to White, February 2*3, 1829, Memoirs oi B. L. White, 266.
^C. P. Van Ness to Van Buren, March 9, 1832, Van Buren Mss.
•McLane to Van Buren, February tg, 1829, Van Buren Mss.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 415
The attorney-generalship only remained unprovided for.
The Virginian leaders were especially anxious about this office;
and Ritchie, sending suggestions on the subject, made it plain
that there ought to be "a strong constitutional Attorney-Gen
eral. " ' P. P. Barbour proved to be the Virginia candidate; and
he and Berrien, of Georgia, finaUy were the two leading can
didates. The Tennessee managers were for the latter, and he
was selected, Eaton's influence being the determining factor.'
Ten days after the arrival of Jackson aU these arrangements
were made. Intimations of what was going on reached the
outer group of politicians from time to time. They did not
know what was happening, but realized that they were ignored.
The South Carolina school wdth Hayne and James Hamfl
ton, Jr., at their head, and the Virginians, led by Stevenson,
Archer, and Tazewell, were much chagrined. One moming the
Telegraph announced that the President-elect would be glad
to see persons who desired to offer advice about the cabinet; but
not one of them budged toward Jackson's lodgings, by this time
popularly dubbed "the Wigwam."' February 17th, by one ac
count, he told Calhoun that he had the highest confidence in
these gentlemen, calUng several Virginians and South Caro-
Unians by name, and would like to confer with them. They
caUed immediately. Hamflton, of South Carolina, was spokes
man and began by praising the selection of Van Buren. Then he
came to the chief point of his anxiety. There was, he said,
great concem about the treasury. Here Jackson interposed,
saying Ingham was to have that place to meet the united demand
of the Pennsylvania delegation. Then Hamflton suggested that
Cheves would be suitable for secretary of the treasury, but
'From a memorandum in Jackson's handwriting headed "Mr. R  e, R  , Va." It contains sugges.
tions for cabinet members and seeras to be based on a conversation, either directly or indirectly. It is without
date; Jackson Mss.
«C. P. Van Ness to Van Buren, March 9, 1832, Van Buren Mss; J. A. Hamilton's assertion (.Reminiscences,
page 91), that Berrien was a Calhounite was probably an afterthought.
•Mrs. M. B. Smith, Pirst Forty Years of Washington Society (G. Hunt, Editor), 383.

4i6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Jackson replied that this was impossible. He also set aside the
suggestion that it be McLane and closed the interview by say
ing that he should take a middle course on the tariff, striving
to pay the debt and taking steps to reform the pubUc service.
With this the conference ended. The invited gentlemen went
home dazed and indignant. They went to the meeting to give
advice; and not to learn that aU was arranged. "I assure you,"
said James Hamflton, jr., in closing his accoimt of the interview,
"in the words of Sir Anthony Absolute, 'I am perfectly cool —
damn cool — never half so cool in my life '." McLane spoke more
plainly. " How lamentably, " he exclaimed, " stands the old man
on his two prominent grounds of commitment — a reasonable
disregard of old party distinctions, and an unnecessary resort
to congress for cabinet appointments." AU the circle were
drawn from one party and four of them were from congress,
three of the four being "of the least capacity." '
The announcement of the cabinet could now no longer be
delayed. The first impression was unfavorable. J. A. Hamfl
ton later said it was "the most unintellectual cabinet we ever
had. " ' Besides those who were disappointed, there were many
who were grieved to see inexperienced men selected. But most
singularly the first opposition was from Tennessee, where Eaton
was well knowm. The state's delegation protested against his
appointment. They did not like his ambition and his e\ddent
purpose to manage the President. The protest was futfle. Jack
son declared that it made him feel weU again to get such opposi
tion and sent the delegation a severe reproof.' It was not like
him to give up a friend because objection was made to him.
The cabinet was a surprise to Van Buren himself. No one,
he says, was more disappointed than he, and, he added, Ingham
'Hayne to Van Buren, February 14; J. Hamilton, Jr., to Ihid, February 19; L. McLane to Ibid, February
t4; and J. A. Hamilton to Ibid, February t4; 1829— ;Van Buren Mss.
•Hamilton, Reminiscences, 2x5.
•J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, February 23, rg29; Van Buren Mss.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 417
was the only appointee whom he had heard mentioned before
hand for the cabinet.' McLane advised hhn dhectly to have
nothing to do with the administration, and in Washington, other
friends spoke to the same effect. Lewis was imeasy lest Van
Buren's assent be withdrawn, and assured J. A. Hamflton that Van
Buren was not out of favor. Jackson was somewhat concerned
tfll assured that the New Yorker would accept. Lewds summed
up the situation in saying: "It is a Cabinet which is decidedly
favorable to Van Buren. He has not a more devoted friend than
Eaton, and Branch is the same." "Be assured Calhoun is dis
appointed," adds Hamflton, "and he now hopes that Jackson
may be thrown into his arms by your refusal.'"
This ebulUtion served to draw the line between the specific
Jackson faction, and the old controUing force in the repub
lican party. It also aroused Jackson's resentment against the
Virginians and anti-tariff South CaroUnians. It was not a
serious affair; and Cambreleng estimated it rightiy when he
wrote to Van Buren, March ist:
The short and long of the matter is this — The democrats
are aU not only satisfied but gratified with the cabinet, while
the whole federal phalanx is shocked at the idea that the plebeian
race should have the ascendency in the councils of the President.
The cabinet is infinitely better for harmony, for aU practical
purposes, for the interest of New York, and for the country than
it would have been if the treasury had been occupied by a gentie
man of the immoveable pertinacity of Mr. Cheves and the navy
by the vanity and eccentricity of Mr. TazeweU. You would have
had aU leaders and no wheel-horses, and the first hfll you reached
would have upset you afl. Murmurings are now pretty secret.
But when Mrs. L  , Mrs. H  , Mrs. S  , and Mrs.
McL:  hold one of their caucuses, ye gods what a storm!'

'Van Buren, AutoUograthyJjS^is, Van Buren Mss.
•J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, February 21, 1S29, Van Buren Mss.
•Cambreleng to Van Buren, March i, 1829; Van Buren Mss. Probably Mrs. Livingston, Mrs. Hayne,
Mrs. Sargeant and Mrs. McLane.

4i8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
The prediction of Cambreleng proved correct. James Ham
flton, jr., before a month passed, wrote that he was satisfied wdth
the cabinet. He added with characteristic bluntness that he
leamed "that old venal Swiss GaUatin is fishing for France. I
hope to God that the General wiU not disgrace himself by coun
tenancing the rapacity of this old vulture. . . . Thank God
I want nothing for myself, as I would not give a damn 'to call
the king my Brother. ' '"
Another echo of pubUc opinion in South Carolina came from
Dr. Thomas Cooper, long an extreme republican and then presi
dent of the state university. Van Buren he wrote confidingly,
was now the "master mover" at Washington, adding "take care
to be so. You aspire to the succession: do not count on New
England but look to the South and West: your great competitor
wiU be Calhoun, but support of intemal improvements wdU sink
him unless he repudiates it. " Cooper closed by urging that South
CaroUna would secede if the tariff poUcy of the past was con
tinued. The letter shows how close Van Buren up to this time
was to the nuUifiers, and how little they were associated as yet
wdth Calhoun.'
Before Jackson's administration fairly began, his cabinet
lost one of its strongest men in the resignation of John McLean.
It was wdth reluctance that he consented to remain postmaster'
general, and his unwiUingness increased as the days went by.
There was vacancy on the supreme court bench, and the day
after the inauguration McLean expressed his wiUingness to take
that instead of a cabinet position. The suggestion pleased Lewis
and the Van Buren men, for it gave them a chance to remove a
Calhoun supporter from the President's council; but they had
to overcome one obstacle. W. T. Barry, the recently defeated
Jackson candidate for govemor of Kentucky, was slated for the
'J. Hamilton, Jr., to Van Buren, March 25, 1829; Van Buren Mss.
•Thomas Cooper to Van Buren, March 24, x82g. Van Buren Mss,
(f

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 419
court vacancy and it was proposed that he should exchange
places with McLean. The Jackson supporters from that state
opposed Barry's elevation to the bench because he was of the
reUef party in Kentucky poUtics,' but with some difficulty they
were brought to consent to his nomination. They must now be
induced to consent to place hhn in a stiU higher position, and
the appointing councfl realized that it was difficult. J. A.
Hamflton undertook to convince one of them, T. P. Moore, of
Kentucky, taking him before breakfast, because, as he said, a
man is not so proud when his stomach is empty. The resiflt
justified the tactics, but it is not certain whether it was the hour
of approach or some intimation of the appointment as minister
to Columbia, which Moore later received, that worked his con
version. "Calhoun," says Hamilton in reporting the affair to
his leader. Van Buren, "is cut up by this measure, as is very
manifest. He begins to feel that there is an influence beyond
that he can hope to exercise." Branch, Eaton, and Berrien
were opposed to the change because they thought it would weaken
the cabinet.' They were right: Barry was in no sense fitted for
the position, and through his inefficiency the post-office came into
great confusion.
In actual operation, the cabinet proved better than was ex
pected, partly bn account of the superior administrative abiUty
of the secretary of state and partly because it existed during
quiet times. Ingham succeeded in the treasury at a time when
there were no financial difficulties. Eaton made a good secre
tary of war when the only business of his department related to
Indians, and Branch made no mistakes in managing a navy which
could hardly be said to exist. McLane hesitated to become
attorney-general because, as was said, he feared to encounter
'The relief party favored the relief of debtors, opposed the United States Bank, and advocated the
overthrow of the old courts which declared their measures unconstitutional. See Sumner, Life <ff Jack
son, Chap. VI.
•j. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, February 37, and March 6 (3), 1829, Van Buren Mss.

420 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
at the bar Wehster and Wirt,' but Berrien, a weaker man took
the office without fear, and was lucky enough to survive. Barry
alone feU mto positive disgrace through mismanagement. The
reorganization of the cabinet two years after it was appointed
may, however, have saved other departments from misfortune.
These events mark the last stage in the disintegration of the
Virginia hegemony. A new combination was formed in which
the West and Southwest were the controUing force, and that
region took two places in the cabinet. The two extremes of
the old combination. New York and Georgia, were bound to the
new by the gift of two cabinet positions, and another symbolized
the loyalty of Pennsylvania. The old slave states could not be
ignored, but here the representation went to North CaroUna.
This large but unaggressive state had generaUy foUowed Vir
ginia's leadership, and it was good policy to cut it away from the
old aUiance, which was thus shorn of influence at every point.
The proud old state accepted the situation wdth as good grace
as possible. The announcement of her humiliation produced
astonishment in Richmond, and "it required," said Stevenson,
"iaU our skifl and pmdence to quiet" the people.'
But the task of rebumishing the state's prestige was better
assigned to Ritchie, whom the picturesque Randolph xaUed with
some exaggeration "the Janus-faced editor of the Richmond
Enquirer, who has contrived to keep in with every admimstration,
save the short reign of John Adams, the second, and then he kept
an anchor out to windward for Henry Clay.'" Ritchie wrote
to Editor Noah, of New York, co-worker in the cause of
democracy: I am deeply sensible of the compUment you pay to the prin
ciples of Virginia. But I have no idea that the sceptre wiU come

•Verplanck to Van Buren, December 6, r828. Van Buren Mss.
•A. Stevenson to Van Buien, April 19, 1829, Van Buren Mss.
•Colton, Private Correstondence of Henry Clay, 363.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 421
round to her, for several years to come. We are content to be
without it; and even without any hand in the administration.
If General Jackson can do better elsewhere be it so; but we shaU
not, on this account, be less anxious to support the admimstra
tion of the man we have supported, if he guides his course by
Uberal and enUghtened principles. I pledge you my honor that
aU the Uttle hints you may have seen in the coalition prints about
the discontent and disaffection of Virginia are utterly false and
unfounded. As for the future, said Ritchie, aU his hopes were in Van Buren,
in whose "tact, sagacity, and knowledge of mankind, temper and
admirable talents" he had confidence. "But aU these wiU be
of Uttle avail unless he has the courage to teU General Jackson
the truth. Some of his friends have doubts on this respect. I
confess I have none ... If you shoifld see Mr. Van Buren, be
so good as to present this subject in the most striking way you
see best.'"
The only glimpses we get of the inner working of the circle
which considered the cabinet appointments indicates that Jack
son was the final appeal in the selections. Thus, Hamflton
in one letter says that Jackson and White are going to ride and
he thinks much will be settled on the ride. He was a man diffi
ciUt to move when his mind was made up; but he was ap
proachable to influence before he decided. Like most men of
passion, his choice could be determined by some trifle of tem
per or accidental mood, and for this reason those who sought
to direct his wiU were ever cautious about theh manner of
approach. Cabinet-making was soon forgotten in the delights of the in
auguration. Ten thousand visitors crowded Washington to
see their favorite take the oath-of office. "I never saw such a
crowd before," said Webster. "Persons have come five hun-

'Ritchie to Noah, March 15, 1829; Van Buren Mss.

422 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
dred mfles to see General Jackson, and they really seem to think
that the country is rescued from dreadful danger. "
March 4th was a sunny day wdth a suggestion of spring. "By
ten o'clock," says an eye-witness who was not a Jacksonian,
"the Avenue was crowded wdth carriages of every descrip
tion, from the splendid Baronet and coach, dowm to wagons
and carts, fiUed with women and children, some in finery and
some in rags, for it was the people's President; the men aU
waUced." Before noon the steps, porticos, the surrounding terraces, and
the large enclosed yard to the east of the capitol were aUve wdth
humanity. Francis Scott Key, long used to great spectacles,
looked on from the gate of the yard and exclaimed, "It is
beautiful, it is sublime!" At length persons on the west^ront,
looking down Pennsylvania Avenue, the view of which w/as then
not obstructed by the trees in the grounds, saw a small company,
approaching on foot. AU wore their hats but a taU gentieman
in the middle, whose erect figure and white head were recognized
as Jackson's. The procession foUowed the avenue up the hiU on
the south side of the capitol, and crowds rushed thither to
get a view of the hero. "There, there, that is he," exclaimed
some, "he with the white head." "Ah," murmured others,
"there is the old man and his gray hair, there is the old veteran,
there is Jackson!" Through such eager, pressing crowds he
passed slowly into the capitol.
On the east front the crowd awaited the taking of the oath and
after that the address. On the portico was a table covered wdth
a red cloth, behind it, the closed door from the rotunda. The .
portico and the steps were fiUed wdth ladies in gay colors, the
ground was covered wdth the expectant multitude, "not a ragged
mob, but weU dressed and well behaved, respectable and worthy
citizens." At length the door behind the table opened. Out
came the marshals, the judges of the supreme court, and behind

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 423
them, the white-haired Jackson. He bowed gravely to the peo
ple, who responded wdth a great shout in unison. Then came the
inaugural address, read in a low voice, which many strained their
ears in vain to hear. Then the oath was administered by the
chief justice, the aged MarshaU, whose Ufe was a protest against
the poUtical views of the Jackson party, and an attendant
presented the Bible. Taking it in his hands, the President kissed
it, laid it dowm reverently, and bowed again to the people. At
this his admirers, no longer restrained, rushed past the officials
up the steps and seized his hand to congratulate him. With
difficulty, he pushed through the throng to a gate, at which
his horse awaited him. Here he managed to mount and set off
for the White House foUowed by a promiscuous multitude in
carriages, in carts, on horseback, and afoot. "Countrymen,
farmers, gentlemen, mounted and dismounted, boys, women
and chfldren, black and white" were in the train.
At the Mansion, refreshments had been provided for a large
number of ladies and gentlemen; but there were no poUce ar
rangements to preserve order and the rabble mshed in with the
better class of people. , They crowded around the President un
tfl he was only saved from bodily harm by some gentlemen,
who made a circle in front of him and kept back the intruders
by main force. He shook hands with the curious untfl at last
he was glad to escape by a side entrance to his lodgings at -
Gadsby's hotel. The rabble feU on the refreshments, jostUng the
waiters as they appeared at the doors, breaking the china and
glassware, standing in muddy boots on damask covered chairs,
' spoiUng the carpets, and creating such a press that it was no
longer possible for those on the inside to escape by the doors.
The wdndows were used for exits for the suffocating masses.
Mrs. Smith, who visited the place after three in the afternoon,
found the President gone and the parlors in possession of "a
rabble, a mob of boys, Negroes, women, children, scrambUng,

424 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
fighting, romping. " Several thousand doUars' worth of broken
china and cut glass and many bleeding noses attested the fierce
ness of the struggle. Where the chaos would have ended is not
to be determined had not some sagacious ones thought of the
expedient of sending tubs of punch out to the lawn and thus
turned aside a part of the incoming stream.' Among the guests
was James Hamilton, Jr., the nulUfier, whose description of the
scene is as foUows:
'It was a glorious day yesterday for the sovereigns, who as
sembled here to the amount of 15 or 20,000, who hafled the
chief with the most enthusiastic applause, and greetings.
The ceremony went off wefl, and the principal person ac
qmtted himself with a grace and a 'composed dignity' which I
never saw surpassed. The address itself is excellent, chaste,
patriotic, sententious, and'digrufied. It says afl that is necessary
to say on such an occasion and exposes no weak flanks that it may
be necessary [to] defend hereafter. As far as I have heard (al
though I confess I have not conversed with the ultra-tariff
men), it has given universal satisfaction. It has a commendable
brevity, the limits of which I hope in none of his state pap ers
he wdU ever transcend.
After the ceremony the eld chief retired to the Palace where
we had a regiflar Saturnalia. The mob broke in, in thousands.
Spirits black, yeUow, and grey, poured in in one unintermpted
stream of mud and filth, among the throngs many subjects for
the penitentiary and not the fewest among them where [sic]
Mr. Mercer's tyros for Liberia. It would nave done Mr. Wflber-
force's heart good to have seen a stout black wench eating in
this free country a jeUy with a gold spoon at the President's
House. However, notwithstanding the row Demus kicked up
the whole matter went off very well through the wise neglect
of that great apostle of the "fierce democracy," the chairman of
the central committee, which body corporate, so far from being
defunct by the election of Old Hickoiy, seems now to have
'This account is based on the narrative of Mrs. M. B. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Sociily
(Huat.Editjr), 290-298. The quotations in the teit are from thia work.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 425
gathered fresh vitaUty and has, I beUeve, even taken the old
man under their parental guardianship.'
The inaugural address which pleased Hamflton was not the
one which Jackson brought with him to the capital. In the
large coUection of papers which the general left to posterity is a
copy of the inaugural address in his own hand, and indorsed by
him, "Rough Draft of the Inaugural Address." As an ex
pression of ideas, language, and pohtical principles, it is the best
outcome of'the thinking of this remarkable self-made statesman
and, in spite of its length, it deserves pubUcation. It reads:
Fellow Citizens: — ^About to enter upon the duties to which
as president of the United States, I have been caUed by the vol
untary suffrages of my country, I avail myself of this occasion to
express the deep and heartfelt gratitude with which a testimoiual
of such distinguished favor has been received. To be elected
under the circumstances which have marked the recent contest of
opinion, to administer the affairs of a govemment deriving aU its
powers from the wdU of the people — a govemment whose vital ~
principle is the right of the people to control its measures, and
whose only object and glory are the equal happinesss and freei-
dom of aU the members of the confederacy, cannot but penetrate
me with the most powerfifl and. mingled emotions of thanks, on
the one hand, for the honor conferred on me, and on the other,
of solemn apprehensions for the safety of the great and impor
tant interests committed to my charge.
Under the weight of these emotions, unaided by any confi
dence inspired by past experience, or by any strength derived
from the consdous possession of powers equal to the station, — ^I
confess, fellow citizens, that I approach it with trembling re
luctance. But my country has wflled it, and I obey, gathering
hope from the reflection that the other branches of the Govern
ment wdth whom the constitutional wdU associates me, wiU
yield those resources of Patriotism and inteUigence by which
the administration may be rendered useful, and the honor and
'J. Hamilton, Jr., to Van Buren, March s, iSW. Van Buren Mss.

426 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
independence of our wddely extended republic guarded from en
croachment; but above aU, trusting to the smiles of that over
ruUng providence, "in the hollow of whose hand," is the destiny
of nations, for that animation of common council and harmonis
ing effort, which shaU enable us to steer the Bark of Uberty
through every difficulty.
In the present stage of our history, it wiU not be expected of
me on this occasion to enter into any detafl of the first principles
of our government. The atchievements of our fathers, our sub
sequent intercourse wdth each other, the various relations we
have sustained wdth the other powers of the world, and our pres
ent attitude at home, exhibits the practical operations of these
principles, aU of which are comprised in the sovereignty of the
people. This is the basis of our system, and to its security from
violation and innovation must our practice and experience as a
government be dedicated. To the administration of my iUus
trious predecessors, I wfll be permitted to refer as mhors, not
so much for the measures which may be demanded by the present
state of the country, but as appUcations of the same principles to
the various exigencies which have occurred in our history, and
as shedding light upon those which may hereafter arise. It is
thus the great moral race we are running, connects us wdth the
past, and is tributary to the events which are to come: thus, that
every period of our government is useful to that which foUows, not
as a source of principle, but as guides on that sacred fountain to
which we must often go for the refreshment of our laws, and the
invigoration of the public morals. It is from this source that
we derive the means of congratulating ourselves upon the present
free condition of our country, and build our hopes for its future
safety. In fine, FeUow Citizens, this is the bulwark of our Uber
ties. Among the various and important duties that are confided
to the President, there are none of more interest than that which
requires the selection of his officers. The appUcation of the laws,
and the management of our relations wdth foreign powers, form
the chief object of an Executive, and are as essential to the wel
fare of the union as the laws themselves. In the discharge of
this tmst it shall be my care to fiU the various offices at the dis-

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 427
posal of the Executive wdth individuals uniting as far as possible
the quaUfications of the head and heart, always recoUecting that
in a free government the demand for moral qualities shoifld be
made superior to that of talents. In other forms of government
where the people are not regarded as composing the sovereign
power, it is easy to perceive that the safeguard of the empire
consists chiefly in the skiU by which the monarch can wield the
bigoted acqiuescence of his Subjects. But it is different with
us. Here tiie wdU of the people, prescribed in a constitution of
their own choice controuls the service of the public functionaries,
and is interested more deeply in the preservation of those qual
ities which ensures fidelity and honest devotion to their interests.
Provisions for the national defense form another class of
duties for the Representatives of the people, and as they stand
in deUcate connection wdth the powers of the general and State
Governments when understood to embrace the protection of
our owTi labour, merit the most serious consideration. Legis
lation for this object encouraging the production of those articles
which are essential in the emergencies of war, and to the inde
pendence of the nation, seems to me to be sanctioned by the
constitution as lawdul and Just. The general safety was the
great motive for the confederation of the States, and never would
have been effected without conferring on the Federal Govern
ment the power to provide those intemal supplies which consti
tute the means of war, and which if left to the ordinary oper- /
ations of commerce, might be witheld at a time when we most
needed them. A Judicious Tariff imposing duties high enough
to insure us against this calamity wdll always meet wdth my hearty
cooperation. But beyond this point, legislation effecting the
natural relation of the labour of the States are irreconcilable to
the objects of the union, and threatening to its peace and tran-
qmUty. ^
RecoUecting that aU the States are equal in sovereignty,
and in claims to the benefits accraing from the confederation,
upon the federal principle of providing by taxation for the wants
of the Govemment, it seems Just that the expenditures should be
distributed regard being first paid to the national debt, and the
appropriations for the support of the Government, and safety

428 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON "
of the union. The necessity of conforming more closely to this
principle is iUustrated by the dissatisfaction which the ex
penditures for the purposes of improvement has already created
in several of the States. The operation of the principles, as
fixed on this equitable basis, wfll give to the States the fiscal
prosperity of the nation, and secure harmony by removing the
grounds of jealousy.
Between the powers granted to the general govemment, and
those reserved to the States and the people, it is to be regretted
that no line can be so obviously drawn as that all shaU under
stand its boundaries. There vviU be a teritory between them,
which must be govemed by the good sense of a nation always
ready to resist oppression, and too high minded to forget the
rights of the minority. It is the inheritance of that sentiment
of conciUation, and spirit of compromise which gave us the con
stitution, and which is to enable us in the progress of time to
amend such defects in the system as experience may detect.
FuUy sensible of the necessity which I shaU have for the exer
cise of this spirit on the part of my feUow citizens, I shaU notice
with pleasure an unreserved examination of the measures of my
administration, and shaU be the last to cry out treason against
those who interpret differently from myself the poUcy, or powers
of the government.
Some of the Topics which shaU engage my earUest attention
as intimately connected with the prosperity of our beloved coun
try, are, the liquidation of the national debt, the introduction
and observance, of the strictest ecohomyTrrtBejdrsbursements
of the Governmentj a Judicious tariff, combined wiiK'sTJ^ex-
ing car e of commerceand agriculture, and£eg3fl3.1ed.byj^eprm-
ciples before adyerted to,_ a. Just respect for Stateji^tsjand the
maintainence of State sovereii^ty as thFTjest ^fick ol'^the
tendencies to consoUdation; and the drstributron^f^tbe^rplus
revenue amongst the States according to the apportionmeiit of
representation, for the purposes of education'and'lHteS^ im
provement, except where the subjects are^iili^^-national.
With the accompUshment of these objects I trust the memorials
of our national blessings may be multiplied, and the scenes of
domestic labour be made more animating and happy.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 429
Among Jackson's papers there is ulso a manuscript endorsed
in his own hands, "Inaugural Address as T)eUvered. " It is in
the hand of a copyist and on a pecuUar large sheet of foolscap
like that of the "Rough Draft." A third copy also is found in
the same coUection, tied together with ribbon, written on one
side of an ordinary sheet, and evidentiy that from which Jackson
read. Now the interest of this is that the three copies are aU
different. They seem to represent three stages in the prepara
tion of the document. The "rough draft" was Jackson's owm,
the second copy, or the "address as deUvered," was the result
of consultation with his friends at the "Hermitage," and the
third copy, or the copy wdth the ribbon, was that which sur
vived after it was inspected by his friends in Washington, and
from which he actuaUy read. It is Uke the copy in The Messages
and Papers of the President. ,
The second copy, much unUke the first, differed from the third in
several respects, the most important being that where the seventh
paragraph of the printed address, the third copy, deals with inter
nal improvements it merely says that they and the diffusion of
knowledge are important and should be encouraged. The second
copy, evidently the one brought from Tennessee with the intention
of deUvering it, gives this paragraph and adds the foUowing:
After liquidating the national debt, the national income wdU
probably exceed the ordinary expenses of government, in which
event, the apportionment of the surplus revenue among the
states according to the ratio of their representation for these
purposes, will be a fair, federal, and a usefifl disposition of it.
Every member of the Union, in peace and in war, wiU be bene
fitted by the improvement of our inland navigation, and the
construction of highways in the several states. And the Repre
sentative principle, upon the virtue of which our state and federal
govemments are founded, can reach its maximum value, only by
a wide and efficacious diffusion of instruction — knowledge and
power being in this respect coexistent quaUties.

430 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
It is not too much to suppose that 'this paragraph was cut out
after his arrival in Washington. The tenth paragraph of the
third draft must have been added in the capital, since it does
not appear in the second copy. It relates to the reform of the
patronage. There is in none of the copies an aUusion to the
United States Bank, which is remarkable, since Jackson five
years later made a contradictory statement in reply to a question
from Polk. He said:
The President wdth his respects repUes to Colonel Polk,
that he understood him correctly, that the original draft of his
inaugural address was made at the Hermitage, that his views of
the United States Bank were incorporated in it, and also his views
of the surplus funds that might casuaUy arise in the treasury.
These two paragraphs were by the advice of his friends here,
both left out of the inaugural address, and were both introduced
into his next annual message. It was thought that both these
topics were better suited to an annual message, than an inaugural
address, and thus you, if necessary, may use it. Every one that
knows me, does know, that I have been always opposed to the
U. States Bank, nay aU Banks.'
Unless there was a copy of the address which is not preserved,
we must conclude that Jackson's memory played him a trick in
regard to the bank matter. Washington gossip in 183 1 said his
memory was bad.'
The address deUvered is easily accessible to the reader. It
contained the usual expression of respect for the presidency, and
promised to protect the rights of the states, to practise economy,
and to try to pay the national debt. It gave a cautious ap
proval to a tariff which would "equaUy favor" agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures, except that special encouragement
should be given to the production of artides " essential to our

'See Polk to Jackson, December 33, 1833, Polk Papers, Library of Congress. On the back of this letter
Jackson writes the above.
•Mrs..M. B. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society (Hunt, Editor), 320.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 431
national independence. " It pronounced intemal improvements
and the diffusion of knowledge " of high importance" ; it promised
not to increase the army, but to keep it and the navy at their
existing state of efficiency; and it praised a patriotic and weU
orgamzed militia as an "impenetrable aegis" which in spite of
imperfections would protect us from foreign foes. It announced
a just and liberal policy toward the Indians, undertook to re
form abuses of the patronage, and closed by invoking Divine
assistance for aU his efforts. It was, as Hamflton, of South
Carolina, said, a satisfactory address, dignified enough and not
likely to arouse the opposition of any hnportant section of pubhc
opinion.' The impression was general at the time that Jackson did not
write the address. Adams thought it was by Henry Lee, and
Col. J. A. Hamilton says he had much to do with it in Wash
ington. This impression was connected wdth the feeling that
Jackson could not write such a paper as appeared in print. But
his opponents were apt to underestimate his abflity. The rough
draft, or first copy, which has survived and was undoubtedly
his ovm work, indicates that he could write a very good paper.
The changes subsequentiy made by the advice of his friends were
made for reasons of poUtical expediency.
The first weeks of the administration were fuU of doubts.
The persistence and cmde maimers of the office-seekers filling
the hotels and public bufldings seemed to show a deterioration
in public life. Persons who did not get a cabinet position did not
conceal their disappointment; and less interested observers be
gan to shake their heads, while the Adams-Clay opposition glee-
fuUy declared that the victors were discredited in the very be
ginning. No man then in the administration could check this
tendency to confusion, Jackson least of aU, whose dafly com
panions were Eaton and Lewis, themselves leaders of the forces

'Richardson, Messages and Pafers of the Presidents, II.. 436.

432 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of devastation. So great was the danger that even R. M.
Johnson, of Kentucky, on his way home, wrote to urge the Presi
dent to dismiss his unofficial advisers, adding that people said
Jackson needed no organized committee to sustain him or en-
Ughten his councils.' From this situation. Van Buren's quiet
dexterity probably saved the government. He alone of the
cabinet had the confidence of the older poUticians, he alone could
remove from adnuiustration circles the appearance of social
crudeness, and he alone had the address to bind up the wounds
of disappointed leaders, satisfying them with some of the higher
diplomatic positions not yet assigned.
Van Buren left Albany for Washington late in March. In
New York he met Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, who had
been urged in vain for cabinet position as the representative of
New England. He was disappointed and talked freely about
affairs at the capital. At Phfladelphia, the traveler encountered
Edward Livingston, who had no cause for dissatisfaction; for he
was first offered a seat in the cabinet and refusing that was offered
the ministry to France, of aU places the one he most wanted.
Yet Livingston and his wife were fuU of forebodings, complain
ing especiaUy of the lack of social dignity in the White House.
They could not foresee, said Van Buren, that Jackson's receptions
would eventuaUy become as elaborate, brilUant, and popular as
those of any of his predecessors. Continuing his journey the
secretary met at New Castle, Del., the disappointed McLane,
from whom came the same doleful tale. From Washington
came the same story in a large nuniber of letters from personal
admirers who did not Uke the looks of things, and some of whom
advised him not to become secretary of state.
Van Buren reached Washington in the evening. His carriage
was hardly at the hotel before he was surrounded by candidates
for office. They foUowed him to his room, where he lay on a sofa
'Johnson to Jackson, March 9, 1829, Jackson Mss.

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 433
and said he would caU on the President in an hour but Would
hear their clauns in the interim. At last he set out for the
White House, and his own account of his reception gives us an
, excellent picture of the lonely occupant of the mansion. He
says: A soUtary lamp in the vestibule and a single candle in the
President's office gave no promise of the cordiaUty with which
I was, notwithstanding, greeted by Genl. Jackson on my visit
to the White House. I found no one with him except his in
timate friend. Major Lewis. His health was poor, and his
spirits depressed as well by his recent bereavement of his wife, as
by the trials of personal and poUtical friendship which he had
been obliged to encounter in the organization of his cabinet.
This was our first meeting as poUtical friends, and it was certainly
a pecifliar feature of that interview and no insignificant illus
tration of his nature that he received with most affectionate eager
ness at the very threshold of his administration the individual
destined to occupy the first place in his confidence, of whose
character his only opportimities to learn anything by personal
observation had been presented during periods of active political
hostiUty. He soon noticed my exhaustion from sickness and
travel and, considerately postponing all business to an appointed
hour next day, recommended me to my bed. From that night
to the day of his death, relations, sometimes official, always
political and personal, were inviolably maintained between that
noble old man and myself, the cordial and confidential character
of which can never have been surpassed among pubUc men.'
Van Buren does not overstate the matter. The two men first
met, but in a purely formal manner, in the winter of 1815-1816.
They next saw one another when the elder became senator from
Tennessee in 1833. They discovered then that they agreed in
principles but were opposed in personal feeUngs. In 18 19
Jackson visited New York and gave a toast at a Tammany dinner
in honor of CUnton. He was largely prompted to this by his dis-
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, I., ii-rs. Van Buren Mss.

434 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
like of Crawford, whom CUnton opposed; but the affair offended
Van Buren, Crawford leader in the state. After Jackson retired
from the senate in 1825, no communication passed between
him and the New Yorker, except one letter introducing a friend
and one or two others of a formal nature.' The interview at
Washington was, therefore, literaUy the beginning of the inti
macy of the two men. Van Buren intimates that the relation de
veloped rapidly, that it sprang out of Jackson's spontaneous
feeUng and was retumed at once by its object. The statement
may well be true. Affliction left him isolated; he was too strong
by nature to be satisfied with the political wisdom of men like
Lewds and Eaton and turned to the ready sense of the secre
tary of state. He found in him a certainty of purpose and judg
ment which relieved his own inexperience whfle it satisfied the
friends of the administration.
The first business between the two men referred to diplo
matic appointments. Jackson admitted that he had made a
mistake in offering TazeweU the mission to England and Liv
ingston that to France. Van Buren as frankly repUed that if he
had been consulted, he would not have made the offers. Each
position involved much work on incomplete diplomatic business
and young men, he thought, ought to be sent to fill them. Since
the offers were made it was believed that nothing could be done
to withdraw them, but it was decided to urge each to hasten his
departure, a course which solved the difficulty; for when Taze
weU and Livingston found they were expected to set out at once
they both declined. At this interview Jackson asked the secre
tary to suggest a minister to Spain. The latter mentioned the .
name of Woodbury, and the President, wilUng to concfliate ^
New England, adopted the suggestion. But Woodbury, after
much hesitation, also declined.
When Tazewell declined, Berrien, the^ new attorney-general,
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, I., 16-71

CABINET-MAKING AND THE INAUGURATION 435
was suggested for the EngUsh mission; and Jackson, pleased
with the idea, made the offer.' It was considered certain that the
tender would be accepted; and Van Buren seized the opportunity
to satisfy the federahsts and the disappointed South CaroUnians
by offering the attorney-generalship to McLane, who gladly
assented. But here, much to the surprise of aU, Berrien announced
that he would remain in the cabinet, and McLane, his pride some
what hurt, consented to go to England. It was arranged, how
ever, that if there should be a vacancy on the supreme court
bench McLane should be recaUed to take it. He was a man
of abflity, but possessed of an unsteady ambition which was
destined to limit his ultimate success.' His wife was a briUiant
social leader in the capital, and it was supposed that his eager
ness to enter the cabinet was partly due to her influence.
When Livingston refused the mission to France on account
of the condition of his private affahs, Van Buren saw in it an
opportunity to soothe Virginia. He selected for the place, W.
C. Rives, who accepted. He was of the younger school of his
state's leaders and fifled Van Buren's ideal, that to endure the
rebuffs of the French ministry and persistently f oUow untfl they
would settle our claims, it was necessary to have an agent in
Paris who had a career to make, not one who would feel disposed
to rest on his laurels rather than subject his dignity to the sUghts
of an indifferent govemment. The appointment justified this
expectation. Rives took up the task required of him with as
siduity and by his insistence forced the French ministry to come
to an agreement as to our claims, although it took the threats of
Jackson at a later day to make them actuaUy pay over the
money.' Having thus smoothed out the political situation, Van Buren
tumed to the condition of official society, which was much
'Lyttleton Tazewell to Jackson, March 20, r829; Jackson Mss.
•Van Buren, Autobiograthy, I., »-s6. Van Buren Mss.
•See below. Chapter XXX.

436 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
disturbed by the lack of prestige on the part of the Tennesset
group. He says that when a senator he came, "as a brothei
Dutchman" into close friendship with Baron Huygens, mihistei
from HoUand, and with Sir Charles Vaughn, the English minister.
Relying on these to help him, he invited aU the diplomatic corps
to meet him at the White House to be presented to the President.
He then told Jackson that in an informal interview these two
diplomats had expressed the opinion that if, in the coming pre
sentation, the assurances of the inaugural address were repeated
it would enable the ministers to make such reports as would have
good effect at home. The secretary, therefore, advised the
President not to make a formal address but to say that he stood
by the inaugural, that he desired peace wdth aU the world, that
he had no prejudices nor predflectipns among foreign nations, and
that he should try to advance his own nation through unselfish
and frank negotiations. The reader wdU observe that these
suggestions went further than the inaugural; but Jackson fol
lowed them, delivering himseU, as Van Buren says, in his "in
variably happy and expressive manner." The diplomats were
weU pleased. A short time afterward, they were invited to a
dinner which was served in a creditable maimer and at which
"the simple yet kindly, old fashioned manners of the ho^"
surprised and captivated the guests. And thus, says our in
formant, the anxiety of these foreign gentiemen was relieved and
their prejudices softened "by the most approved diplomatic
machinery.'" Moreover, when it was knovra in Washington
that the diplomats were pleased, popular apprehensions were
lessened. Thus the first weeks of the administration passed
wdthout calamity and with some degree of success.
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, I., 6S-70, Van Buren Mss.

CHAPTER XXI
Jackson's appointments to office
The power the President gets from appointing the administra
tive officials puts a severe test on his judgment. Neither the
constitution nor the laws provided any other means of determin
ing the capacity of the appointee than the wdll of the appointer;
but as party developed the choice became less a spontaneous act
of the President and more an expression of partisan feeUng.
Under Jackson the political party achieved a new stage in its
development. It took a more popular basis and evolved the
nominating convention as a means of expressing its wfll in one
important phase of its activity. The party thus gained in self-
expression. It took greater control over its leaders and forced
them to f oUow in some degree its wishes in making appointments.
This process is seen in Monroe's administration; it was resisted
by Adams wdth results unfavorable to his popularity; it found
its fuU opportunity under Jackson. The last-mentioned Pres
ident did not create the spoils system: it came wdth new condi
tions. His responsibiUty was that he did not oppose but approved
it through his sympathy with the new party ideals.
It is difficult to determine on what principle the early Presi
dents arrived at their estimate of an appUcant's fitness for office.
The recommendation of friends probably had much weight and
party lines were usuaUy followed. Thus, Washington in the
beginning of his administration selected most of his subordi/
nates from persons who had favored the adoption of the consti4
tution. In Rhode Island and North Carolina, the two states*
which entered the union after it was formed, the customs officers
437

438 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
were anti-federaUsts in accord vrith prevafling state poUtics,
Washington appointed the large majority of their successors
from the federahsts.' If it should be said in extenuation that he
beUeved the union would be safe only in the hands of officers
loyal to its estabUshment, it would be pertinent to say in reply
that this is the ordinary justification of party appointments.
^f When Jefferson became President he found the offices fuU of
federalists. He proposed to appoint republicans until they
equaled their opponents, but wdth the disappearance of the
federalist party aU the civfl service was fifled with repubUcans.
With a design of building up his ovm support, Monroe announced
what he called an "amalgamation poUcy," selecting officers
from both sides. This displeased those who beUeved themselves
the genuine representatives of republicanism. Later these
were mostly Crawfordites and carried their feeling for party
appointments into the larger Jackson party which was formed
after the election of 1824. Partisanship, therefore, was never
quite absent from the choice of officials before 1829.
On the other hand, personal favor and various otiier reasons
than fitness for the office decided the selection vrithin party
Unes. Sometimes women in Washington sought office for their
friends: for some applicants poverty, or a large family, or kinship
with a man of prominence, or the favor of an ex-President were
made grounds for appointment. A letter from Monroe to Jack
son, 1821, in regard to the new officials selected for Florida has
this interesting statement:
Mr. Alexander Scott,of Maryland,is appointed to the CoUector
of the Customs, Mr. Steuben Smith, of New York, Naval officer,
Mr. Hackley, of Virginia, Surveyor, and Mr. Baker, of this
place. Inspector of Pensacola. The first mentioned is a man
of considerable Uterary acquirements and strict integrity, well
connected in his State. The second is the son of Col. Wm.
'Fish, The Civil Service and Patronage, n-13.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 439
Smith, who was Aide-de-camp to General Washington in the
revolutionary war, and afterwards Secretary of Legation at
London, where he married the daughter of Mr. Adams, former
President. He is the nephew of the present Secretary of State,
and his wife is the sister of Mr. Adams. Of Mr. Hackley you
may have heard in Spain, his wife is the sister of Governor
Randolph of Virgiiua, and Mr. Madison and others, our friends,
have strongly recommended liim to me. As these persons are,
I beUeve, literaUy poor, as is indeed, Mr. Baker, who was formerly
consul in Spain and Italy, and in whose favor Mr. Jefferson takes
an interest, I wish you to place them, if possible, in some of the
public bufldings, of which I presume there are some not necessary
for your owm accommodation. It is I beUeve customary for
the revenue officers to be thus provided, wherever it is practi
cable, and in no instances can such provision be more important,
or indispensable to the parties than the present.'
Monroe does not avow personal reasons for the choice of all
the officials in Florida, but the frank reference to them here
seems to indicate that such reasons were not unusual in his mind.
The idea is supported in the foUowdng extract from a letter by
Mrs. Margaret Bayard Smith:
I have tried and other friends have tried, to procure a clerk
ship for him.' Mrs. Porter did her best and I used all manner
of persuasion and argument with the kind, good natured secty.
of War. — "My dear Madam, what am I to do? When we
ask Congress for more Clerks in the Dept and teU them the
present number is insufficient for the duties of the offices, the
reply is. If you continue to fill the offices with old men, no number
wdU be sufficient. Get young men and fewer will answer and
the work be better done. This is too tme, the public benefit
is sacrificed to private interest and charity. The Departments
are UteraUy overstocked wdth old, ineffident clerks. I cannot
serve your friend, consistentiy with duty.'"
•Monroe, Writings, VI., 183.
•The reference is to a relative of her husband. Rush was secretaqr of war.
*Pint Forty Yeara <4 Washington Society (Hunt, Editor), 376.

440 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
In another connection Rush spoke of the ¦^ar department as
the "octogenarian department." '
The old method of appointment made possible, and by this
evidence it actually created, inefficiency in office. Jefferson
made many removals which were really political, but he usuaUy
managed to find some other reason to justify his action.' The
party once established in power, removals were infrequent;
poUtical reasons ceased to act; and it was so hard to prove
a charge of inefficiency that it was rarely attempted. Moreover,
there was a prevalent notion that office was properly a safe
refuge for deserving old men who had served the public. These
difficulties gave a strong reason for passing the Four Years' Law
of 1820. Crawford probably wrote the biU, and he undoubtedly
supported it. For tenure during good behavior of a large number
of officers who handled the revenues, chieiiy in the treasury
department, was now substituted a four years' term. By leaving
incumbents subject to reappointment the secretary was able to
control their action, if he chose to do so.' It is possible that
Crawford favored the law for its bearing on his coming canvass
for the presidency, but it is not clear that he did so ; for the
chief support of the theory is the diary of John Quincy Adams,
not always reliable when dealing with one of the diarists' poUtical
rivals. Apart from any such purpose, the bill made removals
f of inefficients easy, but it applied to only a portion of the officials.
The overthrow of the caucus, like everything else that gave
the political party a more popular basis, tended to the spoils
system. Under the caucus the member of congress had a feel
ing of proprietorship in the offices. He freely asked for them
for himself and for his friends. Under the later system he lost
his controUing influence with the appointing power and with
the growth of democracy looked more carefuUy to the will of his
./ 'Colton, Private Correstonienee of Clay, i88.
•Fish, The Civil Semet and Patronage, 42.
Khid, 66-70,

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 441
constituents. That wdU was now embodied in the demands of
poUtical lieutenants and supporting editors, the persons who are
ever at the bottom of demands for party rewards. They were the
class that supplied the office-seekers ? they felt that reward for
loyal service was theirs by right.
The conviction that the pubUc service suffered from favoritism
and inefficiency and the growth of democratic party organization
were two reasons for the development of the spofls system.
A third was the beUef in rotation in office. Long terms seemed
to favor the creation of an official aristocracy and to produce
an official class who were indifferent to popular approval. More
than all else, party lieutenants believed that the rewards of party
fideUty ought to be distributed among the workers with approx
imate equaUty. When the system was logicaUy developed,
rotation in office would apply within party lines as well as without.
Partisan appointments have long existed in English-speaking
countries. They were used in the colonies to support the crown
influence, and after the revolution many states saw them adopted
to support party power. But they took their earUest and most
complete development in New York, where the people from an
early period were used to little local self-government. A large
number of militia and civil offices were appointive — ini82i there
were over 8000 of the former and 6,663 o^ the latter — ¦ and the
first state constitution created a council of appointment, consist
ing of four members and the governor, who were to fiU this large
number of places. From 1777 to 1795 and from 1801 to 1804
George Clinton was governor, and his own rule was merged so
completely and quietly into that of his nephew, De Witt Clinton,
that it may be said to have persisted tfll the death of the latter
in 1828. These' two men built up by skflful management of the
appointments a devoted party, in most respects Uke the modern
poUtical "machine." Their example was imitated by others;
and although in 182 1 the number of appointive offices was greatly

442 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
reduced and the councfl of appointment aboUshed, the spofls
system remained a firm characteristic of party life. To control
the many political subordinates and to direct them efficiently in
the elections there now came into existence a small central
group of party leaders called the "Albany Regency," at the head
of which, in the period of which we are speaking, was Martin
Van Buren.'
New York was not alone in the development of partisan
appointments. Pennsylvania has been pronounced as bad,
and the evfl was not unknovm in New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
and Massachusetts. The aristocratic caste of Southern society
was not favorable to rotation in office, but in the West, which
was dedicated to social equaUty, rotation was demanded as
necessary to democracy, and politicians there were alive to the
opportunity of turning it toward an effective system of party
appointments.'
^ Thus we see that by 1824 the spofls system was established
in many of the states and was in fair way to be adopted in the
national government, had not President Adams intervened. He
would lend himself in no manner to the introduction of the
system. His appointments took no partisan nature, nor would
he remove an official because he took part in politics. He was
so rigid that he won the disapproval of not only his more selfish
foUowers but his most inteUigent and liberal supporters. Ed
ward Everett, a fair representative of the latter class, declared
m 1828:
We both probably know cases — I certainly do — of incum
bents, who have actually become hostile, on the calculation that
they are safe now, and can make themselves so, in the contin
gency of a change. For an Administration then to bestow its
patronage, without distinction of party, is to court its ovm de-
Vak, Tie Civil Service and Patronage, 86-9t.
'Ibid, 92-103.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 443
struction. I think, therefore, that FideUty to itself requires,
that every Administration should have the benefit of the cordial
cooperation of aU its members. It cannot be supposed, consider
ing how nearly equal the parties are in numbers, that there are
not good men, for any and every service, on the side of the
Administration. And tho' I would apply the general rule, with
the greatest possible lenity, in the individual case, yet the rule
ought to be, that, other things being equal, the friends of the
Administration sh'd have the preference. Our present chief
magistrate made the experiment of the higher principle, of
exclusive regard to merit ; and what has been his reward? A most
furious opposition, raUied on the charge of the corrupt distri
bution of office, and the open or secret hostiUty of three-fourths
of the office-holders in the Union.'
Everett's sense of the drift of political opinion was correct. The
country was turning toward a new doctrine, and Adams's attempt
to. hold it back was futile.
It was weU known during the campaign that Jackson woifld
favor partisan appointments. His strong and oft repeated
charge that the offices were filled with inefficient and cormpt
men was but lajdng a basis for removals. Leading Jackson
papers said he would, if elected, remove all who deserved it.
General Harrison was heard to say he woifld not support him
if he did not beUeve Jackson would, the day he arrived at Wash
ington and without the formaUty of a trial, hand up every rascal
of them.' So strong was the expectation among the foUowers
of the general that Everett thought Jackson could not be elected
if he were now to avow the sentiments in the Monroe letter of
1816.' It is too much to expect absolute consistency of a statesman.
In 1798 Jackson characterized a proposition to fill the offices

'Everett to John McLean, August i, 1828, Proceedings of tht Massachusetts Bistorical Society, February
1908, jer.
'Ibid to Ibid, August 18, 1828, Ibid, 37a-
>Ibid, 376-

444 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
with federalists as an " insolent attack " on Uberty.' He probably
merely expressed a temporary feeUng of resentment against
his opponents; for when later in the same year he resigned his
seat in the senate to become judge, his new appointment and that
of his successor were made strictly on party Unes, and without
objection on his part.' The apparent Uberality in the Monroe
letter, 1816, may be explained on the ground of his strong mfli
tary feeUng. He was chiefly concerned that federalists who
fought in the war should be considered in the appointments,
and we must not forget that to Lewis's embelUshing hand we
owe some of the strongest expressions in the letter.
As a soldier he would be pleased to lessen party spirit which
would prevent a national cooperation in resenting the foreign
wrongs. It was a worthy ideal, but it did not deny the feel
ing that offices should be given to gentlemen who deserved to
be taken care of for past services. He was disappointed when,
as governor of Florida, he was not aUowed to ffll the subordinate
offices there with friends and old mUitary associates. In 1818
he recommended to Monroe the wdshes of an old revolutionary
soldier in words which explain his view at that time better than
any words of the historian. Hewnrote:
Colonel Sherbume, Chickasaw agent, requested me to name
to you that he was wearied wdth his situation, of which I have
no doubt; his age and former habits of Ufe but Uttle calculated
him for happiness amidst a savage nation. But being dependent
for the support of himself and sister on the perquisites of his
office, he can not resign; but it wduld be a great accommodation
to him to be transferred to Newport, should a vacancy in any
office occur that he was' competent to fiU. I have no doubt
but he is an aimable old man; and from his revolutionary services,
I sincerely feel for him. He is unacquainted with Indians,
'Jackson to Overton, January 32, r798, a copy in the Library of Congress, original In Nashville, Tennessee.
•Willie Blount to Sevier, July 6 and August 13, 1798, American Bistorical Magaam (Nashville), V,i
I3Z-I23.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 445
and aU business which relates to them; but at the treaty, as soon
as he did understand our wdshes and that of the government,
he aided us with aU his might. The colonel never can be happy
amidst the Indians. It would afford me great pleasure to hear
that the colonel was comfortably seated in an office in Newport,
where he could spend his declining years in peace and happiness
with his own countrymen and friends.'
' One who could write thus in 1818 could not, consistently,
criticise the administration ten years later for having the service
fuU of old and inefficient men.
So much was said about the abuse of the patronage during
the campaign of 1828 that Jackson himself came to believe it
and heard of election results with a grim determination to make £
changes. "I know the General is resolved," wrote Major '
Lewd^, "on making a pretty general sweep of the departments.
It is expected he wiU cleanse the Augean stables, and I feel pretty
confident he wfll not disappoint the popular expectation in this
particular. He is determined on making a radical change in
the offices — on giving them a complete overhauUng; and to do
this effectuaUy an almost entire new set must be put in." Lewds
was then at Jackson's elbow and must have known his superior's
private feeling in the matter. His opiruon, also, is corroborated
by J. A. Hamilton, who wrote Van Buren to the same purport ^
on February 27.' And yet a dean sweep was not made. Some ^
hand, it may have been Van Buren's,' intervened to secure
moderation. A great many more removals, however, were made
than at the beginning of any preceding administration, and this,
vath the prevalent apprehensive terror made the period remem
bered as a debauch of partisanship, a characterization it hardly
deserves.

'See Parton, Life of Jackson, II., 526.
•Lewis to J. A. Hamilton, December Z2, 1828; Hamilton to Van Buren, February 27, 1820;
Van Buren Mss. Also Jackson to Van Buren, March 31, 1829, Jackson Mss.
•Van Buren to Jackson, enclosing letter from Ritchie, March 31, Z829; Jackson Mss.

446 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
For the distress of the ejected Jackson had warmest sym
pathy. " My feelings have been severely crowded by the various
appUcations for reUef ," he wrote ten weeks after the inauguration,
" . . . Would you beUeve it, that a lady who had once roUed
in wealth, but whose husband was overtaken by misfortune and
reduced to want, and is, and has been an appUcant for office,
and weU recommended, appUed to me vrith tears in her eyes,
soUdting reUef, assuring me that her children were starving,
and to buy them a morsel of bread she had to seU her thimble
the day before. An office I had not to give her, and my cash
was nearly out, but I could not vrithold from her hah of the
pittance I had with me."'
Much was said by the Jackson men before election about the
corruption of the office-holders. They entered office themselves
with the desire and expectation of finding much fraud. But
"^search as they might, they could find only one wrong-doer,
Tobias Watkins, fourth auditor. He was short in his accounts,
and was indicted and sentenced to imprisonment. Jack
son ordered a label to be displayed over the door of the im-
happy man's prison ceU announcing that it led to the " Criminal
Apartment." '
' During the first weeks of the administration Washington
was fiUed with gloomy tales of suffering among office-holders
and office-seekers. Those who were in office trembled for their
futures: those who sought positions displayed the most distressed
conditions as a means of recommending themselves to the sym
pathy of the appointing power. Wherever one went were signs
of woe. "We have not had leisure yet," said Jackson on May
26th, "to make the necessary arrangements of reform. We are
progressing, and such is the press for office, and the distress here,
that there are for the place of messengers (for the Departments)

'Jackson to Cryer, May 26, r82g, American Historical Magatine (Nashville), IV., 231,
•Sumner, Life of Jackson,irev'isai edition), 189.

JACKS0N;S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 447
at least twenty applicants for each station, and many appUcants
who have been men of wealth and respectabiUty. StUl if our
friend Gwinn wdshes to come on here, when we finaUy organize
the Departments, and tum out the spies from our camp, I wdU
preserve an office for him. But we are now having a thorough
investigation into the situation of aU Departments, and the
inquiry wdU be made how many, if any, clerks can be dispensed
with." The clamor of the pubhc did not deter Jackson, who wrote in
his private journal some time between May 18 and June 23, 1829:
There has been a great noise made about removals. This to
be brought before Congress wdth the causes, wdth the propriety
of passing a law vacating aU offices periodicaUy — then the good
can be re-appointed, and the bad, defaulters, left out without
murmurs. Now, every man who has been in office a few years,
believes he has a Ufe estate in it, a vested right, and if it has
been held twenty years or upwards, not only a vested right,
but that it ought to descend to his children, and if no chfl
dren then the next of kin. This is not the principles of our
government. It is rotation in office that wifl perpetuate our
liberty. There can be no doubt that he acted from what be beUeved to
be the best interests of the public, and our condemnation must
faU on his capacity of forming a correct decision, rather than
on his intention. A letter to Mrs. Pope, wdfe of a prominent
Frankfort, Kentucky, supporter, who intervened to secure the
retention of a postmaster, shows how rigorously he appreciated
his duty. It also may help to show that the situation was less
severe than has been supposed. He wrote:
Your letter of the 30th ultimo has been received, and I
embrace the first leisure moment since, to explain to you the
reasons which produced the removal of Mr. H  Acting
upon the information contained in your first letter on the subject,

448 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
I felt a pleasure in the supposition that he coifld be retained
without violating a proper regard for the duties of my office, or
for the opinion of the great body of the people interested in
that which he fflled. This pleasure I assure you, Madam, was
heightened by the respect which I entertained for your wdshes;
and it was not without much pain that I felt constrained to act
upon the beUef that you had mistaken his true character. Un
questioned authority has been lodged in the department of the
Postmaster General for the assertion that Mr. H  intem
perate' habits disquaUfy him, in a great degree, for the personal
discharge of the duties of the office, and that he had been in the
custom from this cause, of entrusting its keys to individuals
obnoxious to the community in many points of view. An extract
of the memorial on this subject I enclose for your satisfaction 
It is a painful duty to be the instmment of lessening the resources
of a family so amiable as that of Mr. H  but when the
public good cafls for it, it must be performed. As a private
individual, it would give me the greatest happiness to alleviate
their distress, but as a public officer, I cannot devote to this
object the interests of the country.'
When he came into office Jackson found that many officials
were insolvent and deeply in debt. It revolted his honest soul,
and he directed aU such persons to be (Usmissed. He would not
have the government service a refuge for such defrauders. He
ordered a search of the jail records, which showed that eighty-
eight persons were thus deUnquent. Some of them had taken
the bankrupts' oath twelve times in a few months.'
A story preserved among his friends teU show his love of honesty
once brought to pay debts long ignored, a man over whom
he had no offidal authority. The keeper of a boarding-house-
in the capital had for lodger a congressman who evaded his
obUgations to her. At length she saw no other hope than to
'The word "intemperate" is erased in the text.
'Jackson to Mrs. F. Pope, June 8, 1829, Jackson Mss.
•Fr3 n an unlitel m^nirandum in Jackson's hand. It undoubtedly refers to the beginning of his admin
istration. Jackson Mss.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 449
take the matter to Jackson, who heard her story and said, "Have
him give you a note for the amount due and bring the paper to
me." The delinquent readfly gave his note, for it was worth
nothing. When Jackson received it he endorsed it and gave
it to the woman with the remark, "I think he wfll pay it now."
The expectation was a just one: no member of congress was
wiUing to lose his hold on presidential favor by forcing the chief
executive to pay his board bifl, or to have his constituents know
that he threw his money obligations on the shoulders of the hero
of New Orleans.
The prospect of wholesale removals brought protests from some
of the prominent men in the party. They feared the influence
on public opinion, and one of them used the sagacious argument
that it would be better to keep the appUcants unsatisfied, sajdng,
"The hope of office wdll secure you more support than the en
joyment of it." ' Jackson endorsed the letter to be kept carefuUy
and ffied it among his special papers. The appointment of editors
brought the loudest protest. A partisan ecUtor of the day was
apt to be a hired hack-writer for whom his own employers had
little respect. He was rewarded wdth contracts to print the
laws and with other govemment publishing, but he was not
expected to have office. In the democratic upheaval which
brought Jackson to power this specious distinction tended to
disappear. Editors worked as hard in the canvass as poUtical
speakers and asked for the same rewards. Jackson complied
with their requests, showing his favor for the profession by
appointing Amos KendaU, a Kentucky editor, an auditor in the
treasury department and taking him for one of his confidential
advisers. The objection to such appointments was strongest
wdth the Virginians, long attached to the traditions of official
propriety. Their disappointment reached the President through
several sources, most notably in a letter from Ritchie to Van
'John Pope to Jackson, February 19, 1829, Jackson Mss.

4SO THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Buren.' But the protests did not change his attitude. He be
Ueved he was right, and he justified himself in a long letter from
which the following is an extract:
You will recoUect that in the recent political contest it was
said, and truly said, to be a struggle between the virtue of the
American people and the corrupting influence of executive patron
age. By no act, by no solicitation of mine, and apart from any
interference of myself, did the people in their kindness, present
me as their canciidate. The different presses of the country
acting upon their owm impulses, espoused one side or the other,
as judgment or other cause operated. Those who stept forward
and advocated the question termed the side of the people, were
a part of the people, and differing only in this that they were
the proprietors and conductors of the press — in many cases
purchased by themselves expressly for the purpose of aiding in
the "grand cause." And to what motive other than the love of
coimtry and the exercise of a sound judgment could their course
be ascribed? I was not abroad seeking popularity, nor did I
trammel or commit myself by pledges to remove partisans
in the event of success. No one has ever accused me of doing
so, and hence we are bound to believe that they were disinter
ested in thkr support of me. Many maintained and beUeved,
and especiaUy the politicians of the country, that no efforts
of the people, Yould be found sufficient to counteract the subsi
dizing influencevof government. Upon this ground then, whatever
motive could arise founded on self, was of a character to invite
chiming in with the powers that were then in existence. Yet
many editors did not, and hence can we resist the impression*^
that they were actuated by the same generous and patriotic'
impulse that the people were?
If these suggestions be founded in truth, why should this
class of citizens be excluded from offices to which others, not
more patriotic, nor presenting stronger claims as to qualification 5
may aspire? ¦'

'Van Buren to Jackson, March 31; Jackson to Van Buren, March 31, 1829; Jackson Mss. Ritchie to Van
Buren, March 27; W. S. Archer to Van Buren, May 6, 1829; Van Buren Mss. Jackson to J. Randolph, Nov
ember II, and J. Randolph to Jackson, November 22, 1S29; Jackson Mss.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 451
To estabUsh such a precedent would I apprehend, have a
powerful tendency to place the control and management of the
press into the hands of those who might be destitute of principle;
and who prosecuting their profession only as means of UvUhood
and lucre, would become mercenary, and to earn their penny
would abandon principle, which ought to be their rifle of action.
The road to office and preferment, being accessible aUke
to the rich and the poor, the farmer and the printer, honesty,
probity and capadty constituting the sole and exclusive test,
wdU I am persuaded, have the happiest tendency to preserve
unimpaired freedom of political action; change it and let it
be knowm that any class or portion of citizens are and ought
to be proscribed, and discontent, and dissatisfaction wiU be
engendered. Extend it to editors of papers, and I re-iterate,
that men of uncompromising and sterling integrity wdll no longer
be found in the ranks of those who edit our pubUc journals.
I submit it then, to your good sense and calm reflection, what
must be the inevitable resiflt of things in this country, when
the press and its freedom shaU become so depressed and degraded
as to be found altogether under the control of men wanthig in
principle and the proper feelings of men?'
This letter, the draft of which exists in Jackson's own hand,
well iUustrates his grasp on poUtical matters. The naivet6 wdth
which he passes judgment on the motives of the editors measures
his manner of estimating his supporters. His indifference to
the influence of the dignified classes appears in his readiness to
accept the editors as equal advisers and supporters. His belief
in the people as the source of poUtical authority and his confidence
in his own cause appear in all the phases of the letter. It marks
him as an honest, credulous, determined, uninformed, and uncom
promising leader of a democratic upheaval, a man who does not
hesitate to put into force a new idea through fear of violating
estabUshed procedure.
Later in his administration he was surrounded by skflled

'Jackson to Z. L. Miller, May 13, 1839, Jackson Mss.

452 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
observers of human nature and they were able to protect him
from too ready confidence in impostors; but in his first days
this defense was not established, and the effect was sometimes
bad. It was notably so in the case of Samuel Swartwout, an
adventurer who came seeking any office which might offer.
He had facility and assurance, beneath which the credulous
President was not able to penetrate. He carried off one of the
best prizes in the govemment, collector of the port of NewYork.
The position controUed the appointment of many subordinates,
it involved the handling of much money; and it had an important
relation to the merchants of the greatest importing city in the
country. Through the custom of taking the bonds of the mer
chants to secure deferred payments of duties, large discretion
was left to the coUector; and he ought to be a man of sound bus
iness judgment. Measured by any of these needs Swartwout was
not a success. He had no experience, he had not the confidence
of the business men of the city, he was an inveterate speculator,
and he considered office an opportunity to make money. He
was weU known in New York, and Van Buren opposed his
appointment. But Swartwout had won Jackson's confidence
and had petitions numerously signed. As some of the New York
congressmen were for him and the senators (Ud not work against
him, he carried aU before him.
In making this appointment Jackson's personal feeling went
against the recommendation of every friend who ought to have
had influence in the matter. Ingham, in whose department
the New York coUectorship lay, was against it. Cambreleng, a
congressman from the state, v/rote: "If our coUector is not a
defaulter in four years, I'U swaUow the treasury, if it was all
coined in coppers.'" The assurance which enabled Swartwout
to wdn Jackson made him a popular official and for a while he
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, 70-83; Cambreleng to Jackson, April ts. Van Buren to Dudley, April 20I
Ibid to Cambreleng, April 23, 25, and another letter of the same month, but without date to Cambreleiil
snd Bowne — 1829; Charles E. Dudley to Van Buren, April sg, 1829; Van Buren Mss.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 453
got on wdthout difficulty. The President was pleased with this
and sometimes raUied Van Buren and the New Yorkers at the
failure of their forebodmgs. But beneath this suave exterior
the coUector was nevertheless a defaulter. His peculations
began in nine months after he entered office and continued
until when they were discovered in 1838 they amounted to a
milUon and a quarter.'
Jackson's rage when he heard the news was characteristic.
The delinquent, who had fled the country, ought, he wrote, to
be captured and throwm into prison. Many times the woriter
advised him not to speculate whfle a government official and he
always promised to foflow the advice. " Can he Uve after this?
or wdU he cut his own throat?" It must be evident to aU that
Swartwout coifld not have defrauded the govemment wdthout
the assistance of the United States Bank, and the event, said
Jackson, ought to show the country that there should be a com
plete (Uvorce between banks and the government.' His aUusions
to the matter are innocent of seU-condemnation.
Swartwout estabUshed in New York the Seventh Ward Bank
to help in his personal schemes. It was a political institution
and reUed on government deposits. In 1834 he deshed to get
a govemment deposit and appealed directiy to Jackson. Post
master-General Barry, he wrote, deshed a loan from the bank on
accoimt of the post-office department and he was wdUing to
accommodate him if fifty thousand doUars of the funds for buflding
the new custom house were placed in the bank. AU this he
related in a letter to the President,' m which was endosed the
foUowdng to the secretary of the treasury:
My dear sir : It is so recent that the commission for buflding
the Custom House have received 50,000 DoUars, for that object,
'Felix Grundy to Jackson, November 13, 1828, Jackson Msi.
• Jackson to Blair, January 5, 1839,'Jackson Mss.
•Swartwout to Jackson, March 8 (1834 or 1835), Jackson Mss.

I

454 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
that they do not wdsh to press the Department for a further loan.
Yet I can assure your exceUency, that a (haft for another sun
of 50,000 Dls. would be of great importance to many of our
friends who wd. be infinitely benefited by its use in the shape
of Loa:ns, who can not get it out of the Depsts. Banks. This
I know. Whfle MilUons lay in the vaults of these Institutions,
many of which are opposed to us in poUticks, this Uttle patri
otic Institution is working its way among our friends, loaning
aU it can to our friends and sustaining the administration by
aU the means in its power. If, therefore, a further sum of 50,000
Dls. could be placed to the credit of the comimssion we would
place it in that institution, and it would be used, I can assure
you, for the benefit of the administration and its friends. Your
kind interference might do this for us and we should be infinitely
obUged thereby.
The application seems to have been successful; but apart from
that, it is discreditable to a President of the United States that
he was approachable in such a matter; and that he should have
preserved the letter wdthout evidence of (Uspleasure at its con
tents is at least surprising.
sa. Removals under Jackson are believed to have been very
numerous; but the avaUable evidence shows that while they
were more than under former Presidents, they were not so many
as in later administrations. The newnessi of the systern and the
vehemence of party feeUng have unduly impressed the imagina
tion of the historian. There were then 612 presidential officers,
and only 252 were removed. Of more than 8,0(X> post-masters
and theh deputies only 600 met a Uke fate. Deputy post
masters were not presidential officers untfl 1836, and they had
small salaries; so that changes here may be attributed to
resignations or the caprice of the imme(Uate superior quite
as readfly as to the spirit of the a(hninistration.'
Nine months after his inauguration Jackson summed up his
view of appointments in his first annual message, saying:
'Fish, The Cinil Service and Patronage, 124-138.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 455
There are, perhaps, few men who can for any length of time
enjoy office and power wdthout being more or less under the
influence of feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of
their political duties. Their integrity may be proof against
improper considerations imme(Uately addressed to themselves
but they are apt to acquire a habit of looking with indifference
upon the pubhc interests and of tolerating conduct from which
an unpracticed man would revolt. Office is considered as a
species of property, and government rather as a means of pro
moting in(Uvidual interests than as an instrument created solely
fdr the service of the people. Cormption in some and in others
a perversion of correct feeUngs and principles divert govemment
from its legitimate ends and make it an engine for the support
of the few at the expense of the many. The duties of all pubUc
offices are, or at least afhnit of being made, so plain and simple
that men of intelUgence may readily quaUfy themselves for their
performance; and I can not but believe that more is lost by the
long continuance of men in office than is generaUy to be gained
by their experience. I submit, therefore, to your consideration
whether the efficiency of the Government would not be pro
moted and official industry and integrity better secured by an
extension of the law which Umits appointments to four years.
In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit
of the people no one man has any more intrinsic right to offi(:ial
station than another. Offices were not estabUshe(i to give
support to particular men at the public expense. No in(lividual
wrong is, therefore, done by removal, since neither appointment
to nor continuance in office is matter of right. The incumbent
became an officer with a view to public benefits, and when these
require his removal they are not to be sacrificed to private
interests. It is the people, and they alone, who have a right to
complain when a bad officer is substituted for a good one. He
who is removed has the same means of obtaining a living that
are enjoyed by the miUions who never held office.'
Jackson's extreme democracy made him oblivious t() the
dangers from partisan appointments. He saw the evils of

'Richardson, Messages «»d Pafers of the Presidents, U., 448.

456 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
long terms when incumbents were selected on personal grounds;
but he was incapable of understan(Ung how his own system would
bring greater inefficiency. His assertion that aU men could
easfly learn to perform the duties of the pubUc offices was pal
pably false, and experience quickly proved it. There was as
much (Ushonesty among his own appointees as among their
predecessors and as much inefficiency. George Bancroft, him
self a democrat, who had business to transact with the treasury
department in 183 1, said: "Talk of reform! The departments
are fuU of the laziest clerks, and men are paid large salaries for
neglecting the pubUc business.'"
The permanent effect of this change has often been pointed
out. Although it was, as just stated, an out-growth of forces
beyond Jackson's control, it received from the capricious nature
of many of his selections an exaggerated viciousness which was
apparent to his best supporters. Even Marcy, supposed to have
had no conscience about bad appointments, declared privately
that Jackson made many "mis-appointments"; and Gideon WeUes
said the President allowed himself "to be importuned" into
"very improper" selections. WeUes added: "Office seeking
and office getting has become a regular business where impudence
triumphs over worth.'"
From what has been said it is evident that whfle the spofls
system was a development in connection wdth the general evolu
tion of democracy, Jackson (Ud not try to check its progress but
facflitated it. His removals were not as numerous as those
under many later Presidents. . President Cleveland, elected as
a reformer, and acting under the pressure of party organization,
removed many more.' It was in the nature of the case that
the system should appear in connection wdth the forces which
ruled pubUc Ufe at the time. Any man who could have been an
'Howe, Life of George Bancroft, I., r97.
•Marcy to Van Buren, February X2, t838; Welles to Ibid, April 37, 1838; Van Buren Mss.
"OevxyNaUonal Problems, 35-39.

JACKSON'S APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE 457
exponent of the democratic movement would probably have
believed as Jackson believed in regard to appointments.
The group who advised with Jackson in making the cabinet
continued to surround him after the inauguration and furnished
the beginning of what came to be knovm as the " Kitchen Cabi-
nfet." Its membership varied from time to time; but W. B.
Lewis, Amos KendaU, and A. J. Donelson, the President's
private secretary, were generaUy in it. But Donelson was inde
pendent and was usuaUy opposed to the Eaton-Lewis interest.'
Van Buren was included also, but he was a member of the
regular cabinet part of the time and his advice was probably on
large matters rather than on the general affairs which are sup
posed chiefly to have engaged the attention of the "Kitchen
Cabinet." Eaton was a member until he left Washington in
1 83 1. Duff Green may have been admitted to council in the
earliest months of the administration, but he could not have
had a fuU membership. After the Globe was estabhshed in 1830,
F. P. Blair, its editor, was a regiflar member.
The influence of this group was believed to be great. Jackson
might weU be sensitive on the point, since it tended to belittle
him. "In regard now to these complaints," he said to John
Randolph, "and others of a similar character founded on a pre
tended (Ustmst of influences near or around me, I can only say
that they spring from the same false view of my character.
I should loath myself did any act of mine afford the sUghtest
color for the insinuation that I foUowed bUndly the judgment
of any friend in the discharge of my proper duties as a pubUc
or private individual.'"
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, HI-, 189; Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Randolph, November 11, 1831, Jackson Mss.

CHAPTER XXII

"the EATON MALAIOA"

There were better phases of Jackson's presidency than adopt
ing the spoils system. We may have varymg degrees of com
mendation for his attitude toward internal improvements, his
destruction of the United States Bank, his introduction of vigor
into our fpreign relations, his prompt (Usposal of the Indian
question in Georgia, and his opposition to nuUification in South
Carolina; but his course in regard to each has a defense which
satisfies many fah minded men. This more attractive side of
Jackson now lies before us; but before it can be considered an
other chapter must be given to party intrigue. An unpleasant
episode here intervened and was utilized by the masters of
the two factions in the party in such a way that it become an
important historical event.
"The Eaton embroglio," says Van Buren, was "a private and
personal matter which only acquired political consequences
by its adaptation to the gratification of resentments springing
out of the formation of the cabinet, and, as was supposed, to
the elevation or depression of individuals of high position."'
As Van Buren himself was one of the individuals referred to,
his statement has pecuUar interest. Abundant evidence has
been given to show how much the Calhoun- Van Buren rivaby
was present in making the cabinet.' It persisted after that event,
and as Eaton was active in the interest of the secretary of state
and the ladies who refused most strongly to receive Mrs. Eaton

•Van Buren, Autobiograthy, 47; Van Buren Mss.
•See above, IL, 410-418.

4S8

"THE EATON MALARIA" 459
were associated with the friends of Calhoun, the matter wasl
presented to Jackson as a conspiracy against Eaton by thei
Calhounites, and the presidential wrath which resulted was used *
to break down the vice-president's position in the party. Simi
lar intrigues are found in the history of other nations; and
they usually exist there, as in the case before us, in a circle which
surrounds some ruler whose powerful wdll is not restrained by
calm judgment.
When Eaton arrived in Washington in 1818 to become a
senator he became a boarder at the tavern of WiUiam O'Neil,
an Irishman whose ready wit made him popular among mem
bers of both houses of congress. "Peg O'Nefl," daughter of
the host, was growing up into a dashing young woman whose
rather free manner won her the disapprobation of the best so
ciety. Disagreeable stories were told about her, and they (Ud
not cease when she married Timberlake, a dissipated purser
in the navy. He was frequently absent from home for long
periods, during which she remained with her father and saw
much of the boarders. It seems to have been during this period
that her name and Eaton's began to be associated. History
can have no object in proving that these persons did wrong:
it is only essential to remember that many people of the day
believed it. In 1828 Timberlake committed suicide at sea.
Some said it was because of his own dissipation, others that it
was from humiUation at the conduct of his wife. The following
New Year's Day, Senator Eaton, inthnate friend and party
manager of the now triumphant Jackson, married the widow
in Washington. His best friends felt that it was an unfortu
nate step.' Official society was aheady shocked at the crude
ness of the manners of the new party: they were not wflling

'"Poor Eaton is to be married tonight to Mrs. T  1 There is a vulgar saying of some vulgar man, I
believe Swift, on such unions - about using a certain household. . .{sic] and then puttmg :t on one s head. -
Cambreleng to Van Buren, January i, 1829, Van Buren Mss. Cf the foUowmg; This .s as they say,
to beray the panier, and then put it on your head. "-Montaigne, Essays. (Temple Classics), V.. 109.

46o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
to tolerate in addition a person whose reputation was assafled
by common rumor.
Eaton's promotion to the cabinet was unpopular on the
poUtical side. Many Tennesseeans (UsUked him, and the dele
gation in congress protested to Jackson hhnseff. Judge White,
the other senator, would have been more rea(Uly received as
the man most worthy of recognition from the state. Eaton
and Lev/is were brothers-in-law, and both were committed to the
cause of Van Buren. "No man," said Lewds long afterward
when speaking of the New Yorker, "exerted himself more in
his behalf than I (Ud, or stood by him with more unshrinking
firnmess in the darkest hour of his political existence.'" In
the controversy over the treatment of Mrs. Eaton he was Jack
son's personal adviser. Many of the letters in the affair are
copied in his ovra hand. He was Uving in the President's
mansion in close personal relations wdth Jackson. There
can be littie doubt that he stimulated the old man's suspicion
and resentment and gave them a turn against the Calhoun
faction. His manner of making himseff feared by the office-
seekers is seen from a protest of Gen. R. G. Dunlap, an out
spoken Tennesseean who long had acquaintance with the
most prominent men in the state. "His only importance,"
wrote Dunlap to Jackson with the freedom of an old friend,
"is that by his hinting impudence when out of your presence, of
being in the Prest [President's] confidence he assumes the mark
of an adviser. This holds you responsible for his siUy conduct."'
But the pirotest was futile, and Lewis kept his position of con
fidential adviser in smafl matters.
The announcement that Eaton would be in the cabinet brought
protests from many people in Washington. Jackson heeded them
not: he said he welcomed the opposition, that he felt happier

'Lewis to Jackson, August 30, rS3g, Mss in possession of W. C. Ford.
•Dunlap to Jackson, June 30, 1831, copy in Library of Congress.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 461
in a storm, and that he would not abandon his friend.' But
his determination (hd not improve Eaton's position in the city.
"To-night," says a wrriter who could speak for society, "the
bosom friend and almost adopted son of General Jackson, is
to be married to a lady whose reputation, her previous connec
tion wdth him both before and after her husband's death, has
totally destroyed. She is the daughter of O'Neal who kept
a large tavem and boarding house. . . . She has never been
admitted into good society, is very handsome and of not an
inspiring character and violent temper, She is, it is said,
irresistible and carries whatever point she sets her mind on.
The General's personal and political friends are very much
disturbed about it; his enemies laugh and (Uvert themselves
with the idea of what a suitable lady in waiting Mrs. Eaton wdll
make to Mrs. Jackson. . . . We spent the evening at Dr.
Shnm's last night. All present were Jacksonians — Dr. Simm
the most ardent and devoted. He had lately received a letter
from Gen'l. J. which he promised to show me. I wanted
to see it immediately, suspecting, as I told him, if he deferred
showing it, it would be with the intention of correcting the
orthography. He laughed and joked on the subject very
good nature(Uy and about Mrs. Jackson and her pipe in the
bargain.'" At the time this letter was written Mrs. Jackson was in«
her grave and Mrs. Andrew J. Donelson, wffe of the private
secretary of the President, was designated for mistress of the
official household. She was a woman of strong and placid
character, competent to sustain the (Ugnity of the station, and
by no means disposed to tolerate the kind of woman Mrs. Eaton
was reputed to be. Her husband was not strong for the
Eaton-Lewis influence. He resented theh methods and re-
'J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, Februaiy 23, r829, Van Buren Mss. '
•Mrs. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society (Hunt,Editor), 353. Like many women of the fioB-
tier, Mrs. Jackson smoked a pipe.

462 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
beUed when he felt that political faction was to be made to
cover social impropriety. He was more emphatic than his
wife in regard to the Eatons.'
At the first official functions Mrs. Eaton was received with
stu(Ued indifference by the wives of other cabinet officials. If
they were in the same receiving party with her, they ignored
her presence; if they were at dinner with her they spoke not;
and aU that Jackson coifld do to show his favor brought her no
more consideration than at first. "With the exception of two
or three timid and rather insignificant personages, who trembled
for their husbands' offices," says our informant, "not a lady
has visited her, and so far from being inducted into the Presi
dent's house, she is, I am told, scarcely noticed by the females
fcof his famfly."' The supporters of Adams and Clay observed
this situation with pleasure and were wiUing to make it as
unpleasant as possible. Observing their actions Jackson came
to believe that all the trouble which fell on Eaton was designed
by Clay. A few weeks later he thought the trouble began
with Eaton's enemies who, despairing of office as long as the
secretary of war had influence, wished in this manner to over
throw him. It was some months later when Jacksonr attributed
the "conspiracy" to Calhoun.'
*" The storm burst on Jackson soon after the inauguration.
Rev. J. M. CampbeU, pastor of the New York Avenue Presby
terian Church at which the General and Mrs. Jackson formerly
worshiped, felt impelled to remonstrate wdth him. He was a
young man and (Ud not dare approach JaCksori himself, but got
Rev. Ezra Stfles Ely, of Phfladelphia, an old friend and corre
spondent of the President then in attendance on the inauguration,} '^
to promise to make the protest. Doctor Ely did not find an
opportunity to do this in the capital, but on his return to his
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, 189, Van Buren Mss.
•Mrs. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society (Hunt, Editor), 288.
•Jacksonjto  , April 26, 1829, Jackson Mss.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 463
home wrote at length, reciting the stories reported against
Mrs. Eaton. Jackson's reply was characteristic. His cor
respondent did not know, he said, that the stories aUuded to
sprang out of Clay's contrivance and were circulated to blacken
the writer through his friend. As for Mrs. Eaton he believed
her a chaste and maligned woman, and his departed wife had
believed her above reproach, and nothing short of absolute
proof would convince him to the contrary. There is no record
that Jackson ever changed an opinion once formed, whatever
the proof offered to him. Now committed in this quarrel he
remained tiU the end of the unhappy struggle firm on the side
of what he thought injured honesty. "This," he said, "was a
righteous course founded upon the principles of that gospel,
which I not only profess to beUeve, but do religiously believe." '
"I told them," he wrote to another, "I (Ud not come here to
make a Cabinet for the ladies of this place but for the nation,
and that I believed, and so I do, that Mrs. Eaton [is] as chaste
as those who attempt to slander her."'
The inner circle of the admiinstration party desired tb keep
the affah out of poUtics, but their opponents forced it forward.
Jackson's wrrath could be counted on, and it was fair game to
stimulate it to his ovra ruin. The Van Buren group also reaUzed
the opportunity it gave them to injure CaUioun; and so both
forces cooperated to deepen the scandal.
During the spring and summer of 1829, Jackson, thoroughly
bent on restormg the reputation of Mrs. Eaton, sent to various
parts of the country to get evidence which would support his
views. FinaUy on September loth, when the affair had stewed
for six months, he summoned the cabinet for the consideration
of the matter. AU the evidence he had coUected was submitted
to it and two of the chief accusers of Mrs. Eaton were brought

'Jackson to Mr. S.— New York, September 37. 1829, Jackson Mss.
¦Jackson to  , April 36, r839, JacksoaMss.

464 . THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
forward to testffy in person. One of them remarked that he
beUeved Eaton innocent, when the President exclaimed, "And
Mrs. Eaton also!" The other repUed, "On that point I would
rather not give an opinion"; at which Jackson exclaimed,
"She is as chaste as a vhgin!" The second accuser deshed to
be heard, explaining that he had not meant to arraign the
a(hninistration but to save it from (Uscredit. He began to argue
^against the sufficiency of the evidence produced in support
of the wdfe of the secretary of war, when Jackson sharply' re
minded him that he was summoned to give evidence and not
to pass upon it. With this the meeting dissolved, the cabinet-
members going away in a rather (Usgusted mood, and JacksiiM
remaining satisfied wdth the investigation in which he plalj^d
the parts of advocate and judge.' )ir!//
But poor Mrs. Eaton's postition was no better than formerly.
Mrs. Calhoun was against her; the la(Ues of the cabinet — even
Mrs. Branch and Mrs. Berrien, whose husbands were brought
into office through Eaton's influence, in order to weaken CaUioun
— were aU against her; the White House la(Ues were firmly
of the same opinion; and some of the women of the (Uplomatic
corps were as defiant as the American ladies. Society was rent
in twain, and some prominent men left their famiUes at home
rather than encounter the perils of entertaining sociaUy.
Van Buren was a widower, and thus had a rare opportunity
to increase Jackson's friendship for him. He gave a dinner
at which the sUghted lady received from him every mark of
respect. He caUed on her and in other ways showed his con
fidence in her. Through his influence Sh Charles Vaughan,
the British minister, who was also unmarried, came to treat her
with consideration. The two men with the President formed
the centre of the Eaton party. At this time Van Buren was
throvra into intimate relations wdth his superior in office. They
'Parton, U,fe of Jackson, HI., Chapter t8.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 465
rode together daily, breakfasted together frequentiy, and ex
changed views on most matters of governmental pohcy. But
the secretary was too shrewd to refer to the bearing of the affah
on his own case. Jackson later absolved him from any attempt
to promote it as a means of defeating his rival.
By autumn, 1829, the situation in official society was acute.
During the spring the government was newly organized and
during the summer society was chiefly out of the city, so that
there was no obligation to entertain officiaUy. Untfl November
no cabinet chnners were given, Jackson fearing that the ever
present discord might embarrass them. But private enter
tainment was waiting, according to custom, on official hospi
taUty, and people were remarking the con(Ution into which
society was drffting. The President and his secretary con
ferred and invitations were sent forthwith for a cabinet fete.
All the members attended with their wdves at the appointed
time, which pleased the chief. He assurned his most courteous
ah and took out to cUnner Mrs. Ingham, who was entirely com
mitted to the insurgents. Van Buren took Mrs. A. J. Donel
son. Both men tried to make the dinner table a scene of mirth;
but they fafled signaUy. They coifld make no impression on
the stoUd faces of the company, where rebelUon was written
on every featitre. At length the company departed, leaving
a sore and disappointed host. The occasion, as the secretary
put it, was "a formal and hoUow ceremony."
Next came, by regular usage, the dinner of the secretary of
state. Whether in politics or society Van Buren was a good
diplomatist, and. he used aU his abflity to make his dinner a
success. He expected, and he said as much to Jackson, that the
opposition, unwilling to oppose the President openly, would
take this as the occasion to show their hand, and that the cabinet
ladies would decline to attend. With this in view he invited
to the dinner Mrs. Randolph, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson,

466 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON ,
and caused it to be knovm that the event was in a sense given
in her honor. Her presence would repair the loss of prestige
if all the cabinet wives were absent. His anticipations were
correct: Branch and Ingham came to dinner, but their wives
declined. Eaton and Barry also came, but their wives acting
together remained at home. Berrien, the remaining member,
had an engagement out of town. But Mrs. Randolph was
present and charmed the company by her distinguished man
ners, and the (Unner passed off very successfully.
Soon afterward the Russian minister, Baron Kmdener,
also a bachelor, gave a ball to the cabinet. As Mrs. Ingham
was absent he took in Mrs. Eaton, next in rank in the ca,binet
precedence, and to Secretary Eaton feU Madame Huygens,
wife of the Dutch minister. At this the Dutch lady was greatly
offended and expressed her chagrin openly, and refused to
remain in the dining-room when she saw she was to sit by Mrs.
/"Eaton. She declared, so it was reported, that she would give a
ball to which the upstart would not be invited, and Mrs. Branch,
-. Mrs. Berrien, and Mrs. Ingham were said to have promised to
do the same.' The report, whether true or not, made a great
impression in the city. The inner White House circle pro
nounced it conspiracy to crush Mrs. Eaton, and since it could
not be attributed to Clay it was laid at the doors of the vice-
president, or his friends. When, a few days later, an anony
mous letter appeared in a city paper attacking Van Buren
for trying to force an objectionable woman on good society
it was taken as confirmation of the charge. It was about this
time that the intrigue was made to operate against Calhoun.
In the meantime, Mrs. Eaton made no progress. Enter
tainments in private houses were generaUy denied to her, but
she continued to attend public affairs throughout the early^
winter; At last she was the object of such contempt at a balj
'These events are described in Van Buren's Autobiograthy, III., 1S6-213, Van Buren Mss.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 467
on January 8, 1830, that she could no longer expose herself
to the chance of further indignity, and she began to remain
at home.'
Jackson was now deeply angry. He felt that his wiU was de
fied, and this touched him in the most sensitive spot. One
morning before breakfast he summoned Van Buren, who found
him in a state of excitement. His eyes were bloodshot and he
admitted that he slept none the preceding night. He an
nounced that he had come to a fixed determination as to his
course in the much discussed affair, that he would investigate
// and if the reports of Madame Huygens's threat were true he
would send her husband back to HoUand and dismiss the cabinet
for conspiring to bring him into contempt. Van Buren sought
to quiet him. If there was a conspiracy, he said, the pro
posed manner of dealing with it was entirely proper, but he
doubted if the Dutch lady made the threat attributed to her,
and he offered to find out if she was guilty. He cafled on Huy
gens, wdth whom "as a brother Dutchman" he was on terms
of friendship, and from both him and Ma^me Huygens se
cured such a plain denial of the aUeged conspiracy that the
President was satisfied.
But Jackson was not reassured. It was not his nature to
submit to defiance, and Washington was plainly in arms against
him. The rebels were women, safe from his vengeance, but
he undertook to reach them through their husbands. Late
in January he again summoned the secretary of state and showed
him a paper he proposed to read to the cabinet. The visitor
objected that the paper did not say clearly enough that Jackson
had no intention of interfering wdth the domestic affairs of his
advisers, and he suggested that it be read to the cabinet and not
sent to them in wrriting.' The suggestion was foUowed, and

•Mrs. Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society, (Hunt, Editor) 3"-
•Van Buren, Autobiograthy, III., 209-212, Van Buren Mss.

468 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Ingham, Branch, and Berrien were summoned to an interview
which Jackson described as follows:
Several members [of congress] came to me and after re
porting these facts [in relation to the aUeged conspiracy], asked
if I intended to pennit such an in{Ugnity to be offered to me
unnoticed: I assured them I would not, and that I would
caU for explanations from them. I therefore sent and had an
interview with these Gentlemen. I informed them of the in
formation I had reed of the combination from the members
of congress, and the plan having been carried into execution
and that I had sent for them for explanation and enquiry whether
the information I had reed was correct. When we met I read
them the foUowing statement: —
The personal difficulties between some of the members of
my cabinet have assumed an aspect and received a bearing
in regard to myseff which requires an expression of my per
sonal feelings. To prevent future misunderstandings I have
deemed it expe(Uent to have this interview with Mr. Ingham,
Mr. Branch, and Mr. Berrien. When we met I said to them (Mr.
Ingham, Mr. Branch, and Mr. Berrien)' that the course pursued
by them to Major Eaton and his family as reported to me, was
in my opinion, under the circumstances not only unjust in
itseff but disrespectful to myseff. The grounds upon which
this opinion is founded are substantiaUy these:
¦^ I do not claim the right to interfere in any maimer in
the domestic relations or personal intercourse of any member
of my cabinet nor have I ever in any manner attempted it.
But from information, and my ovra observation on the general
course of events I am fuUy impressed wdth a beUef that you and
your families, have in addition to the exercise of their own
undoubted rights in this respect taken measures to induce
others to avoid intercourse wdth Mrs. Eaton and thereby sought
to exclude her from society and degrade him. It is impossible
for me on the fuUest and most dispassionate view and considera
tion of the subject to regard this course in any other Ught than
a wanton disregard of my feelings and a reproach of my official
'The text bas been followed literaUy. It is not always in direct quotation.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 469
conduct. It is I, that have without soUcitation, or deisign on
his part caUed Major Eaton into my cabinet, and it is I, that
wdth the fuUest conviction of the injustice of the imputations
which as I firmly believe malice and envy have cast upon his
wife continue him there. If her character is such as to justify
active measures on the part of the members of my cabinet to
exdude her from virtuous society it is I who am responsible to
the community for this alledged indignity to the pubUc morals.
I wiU not part with Major Eaton from my cabinet and those
of my cabinet who cannot harmonize wdth it had better with
draw, for harmony I must and will have. It is in vain to attempt
to disguise the true aspect of the question, and it is not in my
nature to do so if I could; nor can I consent to harbor any
feeUngs toward those with whom I am in the habit of dafly
association without distinctly expressing and apprising them
of these opinions. My whole Ufe has been at variance with such
a course, and I am too old to practice it now. I must cease
to respect myself when I find I am capable of it. Therefore
have I sought this interview, to assure you that if there be any
truth in the report that you have entered into the combination
charged, to drive Major Eaton from my cabmet that I feel it
an indignity and insult offered to myself, and is of a character
that will remain hereafter to be condemned.'
On this paper Jackson endorsed:
This was read- to them, and bemg inf ormed by the gentlemen
that as far as their influence went, it was exercised clifferently,
and their wish was to harmonize the cabinet, I determined not
to dismiss them.
But he sent them away wdth the suggestion that they "arrange
their parties in the future so that the world should not get this
impression"; i. e., the unpression that they were determined
not to recognize the Eatons.
"The Eaton Malaria," as Van Buren aptiy caUed it, was
'The memorandum quoted exists in Jackson's own hand. Several copies of it are in the Jackson Mss.
See also Jackson to Eaton, July r9, 1830, Jackson Mss. For Berrien's account of the afiair, see Niles, Register,
XL., aSi-384 aad ante.

470 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
now come to its most noxious stage. Washington gossip talked
of nothing else, pubhc business halted, and there was general
expectation that the cabinet would be reorganized. But some
calm head, it could hardly have been Jackson's, worked for
restraint. The paper read to the cabinet members suggests
two explanations, in each of which there is probably some
truth. In one sense it was an expression of an egotistical man's
sense of indignity at being thwarted in his will; in another it
may well have been presented to the three gentlemen in the hope
that through a sense of resentment or propriety they would
resign their positions. When the wrath of the President abated
somewhat and the rebuked officials did not resign, the situation
became sUghtly less strenuous. The administration would have
welcomed their withdrawal, but it was not wifling to assume
the responsibflity of dismpting the cabinet on such grounds.
It was extremely doubtful if even Jackson's popularity could
at this time stand the odium of (hvi(Ung his party to serve
an intriguing favorite.
The culmination of this quarrel marks also a change in the
President's relation to the city in which he was now the leading
citizen. At his arrival he was much talked about. In spite
of what his enemies said of his policy and capacity, his character
remained unimpeached. People had a feeling of sympathy for
the frank and brave old man, now burdened by domestic afflic
tion, whose shortcomings sprang chiefly from neglected oppor
tunities. Mrs. Smith, an intimate friend of Clay's famfly and
wdfe of the president of the branch of the United States Bank,
wrote: "I think I shafl like him vastly when I know him — I
have heard a number of things about him which indicate a kind,
warm, feeUng and affectionate heart. — I hope sincerely he may
get safely over the breakers which beset his entrance into port,
and when in — God grant the good old man a safe anchorage
in StiU waters." A year later the same vmter was entirely in

"THE EATON MALARIA" 471
sympathy vrith the opposition. "Altho' I sincerely believe
him to be a warm, kind-hearted old man," she wrote "yet so
passionate and obstinate, that such a subserviency must be
very gaUing and hard to bear. In truth, the only excuse his
best friends can make for his violence and imbeciHties, is, that
he is in his dotage."'
Mrs. Eaton's withdrawal from social functions relieved
somewhat the acuteness of the situation. The cabinet went
on wdthout open friction, but stiU wdthout cordial cooperation
until in the following year it was reorganized by the resignation
of a part and the dismissal of all the rest of the members but one.
Major Eaton's friends speak of him as good-natured and able.
In Washington he was undoubteffly popular, and but for his
wdfe's controversy he might have maintained himself in the
party he did so much to organize. Spite of the loyal support
of his chief, success was now impossible. Moreover, the con
troversy embittered his temper and made him a host of enemies
and was, through the plans of his wdfe, shifted to Tennessee,
where he had opponents also. In the summer of 1830 the couple
were in that state. Jackson was there, also, to spend a vacation.
The preceding hot season he passed at the Rip Raps, a pleasant
islet which the government owned in Hampton Roads; but now
he returned to the "Hermitage," doubly dear by reason of its
association wdth his departed wife. The old scenes brought
a revival of his sorrow and increased his feeling of loneUness;
for the aU pervading controversy had divided his own household.
In the "Hermitage," scowling and bemoaning the ingratitude
of those for whom he had done so much, he heard that the Eatons
were coming to the state capital and that the leadmg society
there were determhied not to receive them. He aroused him
seff instantly; the travelers were invited to make a visit to
his home, and preparations were made to give the affair aU
'Mrs. Smith, Pirst Forty Years af Washington Society, (Hunt, Editor), 285, 32r.

472 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
possible 6clat. His ovm connections, that is to say, Mrs. Jack
son's relatives, were divided by the controversy, but steps
were taken to bring them together so that the famfly should
not appear to be inharmonious.
AU eyes tumed to the "Hermitage," and Jackson's friends in
the Tennessee tovras through which Eaton must pass arranged
(Unners which must satisfy the utmost vanity of the visitors.
The NashviUe banquet was to be especiaUy cUstinguished, but
many people, some of them leading democrats, refused to attend.
To Jackson this was conspiracy — a part of the Washington
conspiracy, he said. It seemed essential to have a more success
ful reception at his home, and this could not be done unless
the Donelsons were united. To secure such union he appealed
to General Coffee, next to himself the most pronunent member
of the connection. That gentleman labored hard and patched
up a truce, by which aU parties agreed to come to the "Hermi
tage" and show formal respect to its visitors. "My dear
Major," now wrote the host to Eaton wdth satisfaction, "I
send my son to meet you at Judge Overton's, and to conduct
you and your lady with our other friends to the Hermitage
where you wiU receive the heartfelt welcome that you were ever
wont to do, when my Dr. departed wife was living. Her
absence makes everything here wear to me a gloomy and mel
ancholy aspect,' but the presence of her old and sincere friend
wiU cheer me amidst the melancholy gloom wdth which I am
surrounded. My neighbours and connections wiU receive you
and your Lady wdth that good feeling which is due to you, and
I request you and your Lady wiU meet them vrith your usual
courtesy.'" Thus outward peace was restored, whfle beneath
the surface were stifl bitterness and war.
With the connng of autunm the storm shifted its centre to
Washington, but there was no yielding on the part of "the
'Jackson to Eaton, Auguat 3. 1830, Jackson Mas.

"THE EATON MALARIA" 473
conspiracy." In fact, it laid a firmer hold on its object by de
priving him of A. J. Donelson, on whose services he was much
dependent. Mrs. Donelson, presiding over her uncle's estab
Ushment, received Mrs. Eaton as her uncle's guest, but she would
not caU on her. This finaUy irritated Jackson so much that
he gave his niece the option between yielding or leaving the
White House. She chose the latter, and nephew and niece
went back to Tennessee. The lonely old man was deeply hurt
and voiced his despair as follows:
If my famfly and professed friends had remained faithful
to me, and the great interests of their country, instead of falUng
into the trap of the great intriguer Mr. Calhoun, how much
better for them, and gratffying to me. They have decided and
withdrawn from me. I rest upon providence and the good sense
of the people for my support, and I am sure it is the best. The
only thing to be regretted is, I am thrown upon strangers, who
I have to rely [sic], instead of those I took great pains in educa
ting that they might be a comfort and aid to me, in my decUning
years. I have hitherto had sufficient energy to pass thro'
any and every difficulty that presented, and I stfll tmst that
a kind providence wdU not forsake me in the severest trouble.'
In September, 183 1, Donelson and his famfly retumed and
peace again ruled in the mansion,' but at this time the Cabinet
was renewed, and the source of (Uscord was happfly removed
from the city. Jackson said he hoped they came "wdth aU
those feeUngs which ought at first to have accompanied them
hither. They know my course and my wishes, and I hope they
come to comply with them.'"
In these later stages the "Eaton Malaria" runs mto the Cal
houn quarrel and the general party upheaval which accompanied

•Jackson to Rev. H. M. Cryer, May 20, 1830, American Bistorical Magatine (Nashville), IV., 134.
>W. B. Lewis to Van Buren, September 17, 1831, Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, September 5, 1831, Van Buren Mss.

474 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the steady advance of Van Buren into the position as heir
apparent. Before we consider these things we must know about Jackson's
relation to the general poUtical progress in the early part of
his administrations.

CHAPTER XXIII
checking the desire for internal improvements
The first congress under President Jackson met December 7,
1829. Andrew Stevenson, a Virginia repubUcan, was chosen
speaker of the house by the votes of 159 of the 194 mem
bers present. His foUowing represented all who opposed
Adams and Clay, and most of it would probably have gone
for the new President had he favored the old Monroe poli
cies. But Andrew Jackson had his peculiar support and he was
going to have his peculiar policies. Out of them sprang
the historic democratic party, whose birth may well be placed
at this period. It was Jackson's vigorous personaUty
and the advancement of Martin Van Buren which drove this
dividing wedge into the older organization. Clay gath
ered up as far as he could all the riven fragments
and united them wdth what was left of the Adams- Clay foUowdng,
wdth an eye to the election of 1832. The group which grew
out of his efforts became the whig party. -^
The new cabinet was approximately representative of
the combined interests which voted for the victor, but
the new policies were chiefly (Uctated by one section
of the cabmet. Monroe and Adams and their predeces
sors treated the cabinet as a council of state, which
adopted poUcies on the mitiative of the President. Many
of Jackson's wisest supporters desired him to foUow the
same practice, since that would give the more experienced
men in the party an opportunity to modify the course
47S

476 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
to be pursued. But he dedded othenvise.' A short
time after the inauguration he ceased to caU crabinet meetiflis.
Heads of departments he treated as high administrative officers,
and the consideration of poUcies was left to informal consulta
tions with those intimate friends in whom he had confideacB.
He tended to reduce the cabinet to the rank of administrative
subordinates.' After the reorganization of 183 1 he showed
less of this purpose. He consulted freely in reference to the
removal of the deposits. But when his mind was made up on
an important affair he was apt to override cabinet opinion.
The first annual message (Contained both old and new ideas.
Of the former were its recommendations that internal improve
ments ought to be undertaken but by some means which would
be constitutional and which would not create (Uscord among
the lawmakers, that the pubUc debt ought to be paid, and that
the Indians should not be aU()wed to set up a state witlujn the
jurisdiction of Georgia. Two other principles must have dis
appointed the strict repubUcans, although they were calculated
to please members of the pairty who supported the national
program which Calhoun had favored. They were: (i) That
free trade is desirable, but since "we must ever expect, selfish
'Among the Jackson Mss., without date, but classified as of October, 1828, is a "memorandum of joints
to be considered in tbe administration of the govemment." It is in Jackson's hanii and reads: ' "Mr. R —
R  , Virginia: rst A strong constitutional attorney-general.
"2nd A genuine old-fashioned cabinet to act together and form a councel consultative. ,''^'''
. "3rd No editors to be appointed. '
"4th No members of Congress, except heads of Departments or Foreign Ministers, to be appoihted.
;, . "sth No foreign missions to be originated without the Senate 8:c &c.
"6th The Public Debt paid off, the Tariff modified and no power usurped over intemal improvement?.
"7th A high minded enlightened principle on tbe administration of the govt, as to appointments
and removals. These things will give a brilliant career to the administration." . .
I cannot think this paper contains Jackson's own views. It seems to have been a memorandum he made
for his guidance in summing up the views of another man. The line at the top, "Mr. R — e R — : Va," sug
gests Ritchie, editor of the Richmond Enquirer, whom Van Buren in writing to Jackson the following spring
called the most influential editor in the country. He spoke for the Virginia faction and was heard far and widft
There is no evidence that he visited the "Hermitage" before the inauguration, but the summary of hisviem
could have been made by Jackson after an interview with some intermediary, or as a deduction from Ritcbit'i
editorials. Ths second and third points of the memorandum are clearly contrary to Jackson's opmloiu, vUcb
would make it improbable that the paper was intended to record his ideas. — J. S. B.
'For a good discussion of Jackson's relation to the cabinet, see MacDonald, Jacksonian Democracy, •>'•

ANDREW JACKSON
From a portrait by D. M. Carter, engraved by A. H. Ritchie. Carter, bom m 1827, and eighteen when
Jackson died, could hardly have painted from life. He seems to have followed a portrait
by Earl. The picture, engraved by the popular Ritchie, was purchased
by many admirers of the General

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 477
legislation in other nations" we must continue "to adapt our
owm to their regulations," that the existing tariff had brought
neither the iUs nor the benefits predicted for it and should be
modified, and that aU sections "should unite in diminishing any
burthen of which either may justiy complain";' and (2) That
the surplus revenue after the debt was paid should be distributed
among the states. Calhoun, in common with all who opposed
a high tariff, objected to distribution because by diminishin|i?
the surplus it lessened the need of tariff reduction, but many
of his older foUowers in the Mid(Ue States and the West
gave it hearty support. Another recommendation, although it
rested logicaUy on old republican principles, was in its practical
import essentiaUy new and was destined to become the most
characteristic measure of the democratic party in its early phase.
It referred to the United States Bank and said that in the opinion
of the President it was not too soon to consider the recharter
of the institution and that it was certain that some of the
objects for which the bank was founded were not accompUshed.
Jackson took his immense popularity for approval of his
policy, and he' was right in doing so; for although his miUtary
reputation brought him before the people, the feeling that
he represented them and could be tmsted to act for them served
to sustain him in his long period of public life. He considered
his ovm ideas the people's ideas. No President kept a more
watchful eye on congress to see that they did not violate the
wdll of the people. Excluded from congressional haUs by custom,
through friends he kept well informed of aU that transpired
there. Either A. J. Donelson or Major Lewis was usuaUy there
and made quick report to the chief. Thus the leader added to
the ordinary feeling of party loyalty the force of a mfld terror, j
increasing the coherence of his own party and embittering
the attitude of his opponents.
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of Ihe Presidents, n., 442.

478 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON"
The house was tractable but the senate was otherwise. The
removal of officials particiflarly displeased it. It debated for
¦•some time a resolution questioning the President's power of
removal; but the practice was too long established to be over-
throvm. The senate showed displeasure by rejecting some of
the nominations and by making others appear so dubious that
they were withdrawn by the President. One of the unfortu
nates was Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, a relentiess champion
of democracy in whose newspaper the most cruel things were
said about the enemies of Jackson. The senate refused to
confirm his nomination and he went back to New Hampshire
in a rage. He soon had his revenge. Levi Woodbury, a senator
with higher ambitions, was induced to resign his seat and, in
183 1, Hfll came back to Washington as senator-elect in his
stead. When the cabinet was reorganized in the same year
Woodbury's self-denial had its reward. It pleased Jackson
and the whole administration party to see him whom the digni
fied upper chamber thought unfit for second comptroUer of
the treasury taking at the behest of the people a seat in the
very body which rejected him. But the senate had too much
respect for the President's popularity to embarrass him with
many rejections. Later, when feeling ran higher, they were
not so considerate of his vrishes. Daniel Webster correctly
described the situation in saying: "Were it not for the fear
of the outdoor popularity of General Jackson, the senate would
have negatived more than half his nominations. There is a
burning fire of discontent that must, I think, some day break
out. When men go so far as to speak warmly against things
which they yet feel bound to vote for, we may hope they will
soon go a little further.'"
There was undoubtedly discontent in the party, but Jackson's
courage and strength were to prove sufficient for its control.
^Webster, Private CorrestoTidence, I., 501.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 479
It was excellent strategy to force HiU on the senate as a vindi
cation of his nomination and as a way of letting the world see
how General Jackson could make himself obeyed. The world
was going to see in a few years many simflar iUustrations of
his capacity for poUtical command.
Some of the signs of discontent came from followers of Cal-'^
hoim. They did not reUsh Van Buren's steady march mto
presidential confidence, and Duff Green's columns revealed
their cooUng ardor. Jackson urged Green to write more in
cisively, saying wdth his usual plainness that congress was
giving itself chiefly to president-making. The editor showed
his pique in his reply. How could he defend the administra
tion's poUcies unless he knew what they were, he said. Since
the cabinet met no longer to consider policies of government,
no one felt authorized to defend a measure as an expression of
party purpose.' Green's reply had much truth in it, but it
made no impression on Jackson. The influence of Van Buren
stea(Uly increased and through it an issue was made in this
very session of congress which, while it struck openly at Clay,
dealt Calhoun a severe blow in a less obvious way. It was
the veto of the MaysviUe Road BiU, which checked the impulse
for roads and canals at national expense, a measure on which
rested much of the South Carolinian's strength.
Calhoun was most prominently identified with intemal
improvements, one of the movements for domestic development
which became popular after the war of 181 2. He was responsi
ble in 181 7 for the biU to use for this purpose the bonus of the
Second United States Bank, which Madison vetoed on consti
tutional grounds. Accompanying the veto was a suggestion
that the constitution be amended to aUow the expenditure of
money for public improvements, but nothing came of it. The
people of the Northwest were especially anxious for roads and
•Cited by Parton, Life of Jackson, HI., 377-

48o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
canals; they were not able to constmct them by private enter
prise, the new state govemments were not rich enough for
the task, and they tumed to the national govemment. Penn
sylvania, through whose territory lay the route to the West
most talked about, also supported the movement. Besides
these, a few people everywhere believed that the government
should undertake such works. Federahsts supported the move
ment as it suited their interests rather than from principle, it
seems, smce New England, the centre of federaUsm, but aheady
supplied with roads and somewhat equipped wdth canals, went
i strongly against the measure.
Madison's veto did not end the agitation. MiUtary roads
were from the first favored by a larger number of people than
. non-miUtary roads; and there was now disposition to place the
whole movement on that basis. Resolutions were passed asking
the secretary of war, Calhoun, to report a system of such in
temal improvements as were necessary to the pubUc defense.
He compUed wiUingly and in 1819 submitted a comprehensive
plan which he said would be "among the most efficient meam
for the more complete defense of the United States." But he
was careful to add that the work should not be authorized
unless it was considered constitutional and that he did not enter
into that phase of the question.' The report served for propa
ganda, as was doubtless intended, and three years later the
feeling for roads and canals was stiU stronger. Both principle
and local interest combined to make a majority for it in congress.
The strict republicans, with the Virginia leaders at their head,
viewed this growth of opinion with alarm, and Monroe was
not sorry for an opportunity to give it a check. He made a
biU to coUect .toUs on the Cumberland road serve as an occasion.
In vetoing it on May 4, 1822, he submitted his "Views on the
Subject of Intemal Improvements," a historical discussion of
^American State Patirs, Miscellaneous, 534.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 481
the question from the constitutional standpoint; and he added
that there should be an amendment to permit the constmction
of roads and canals.' This document was weU received by the
strict repubUcans, and Jackson wrote its author in terms of
warm commendation for its principles.
Nevertheless, the subject would not down. In 1824 a bfll
was passed to authorize a survey of such transportation routes
as were necessary to the commercial, miUtary, and postal needs
of the country. Monroe approved the biU on the ground that
it was in the province of congress to ascertain what was needed
in this nature. The execution of the task fefl to Calhoun, stiU
secretary of war. The series of roads and canals which he
now recommended was large enough to offer something to every
important section of the union. It embraced: (i) A canal
from Washington to the Ohio to be extended later to Lake
Erie; (2) An inland waterway along the Atlantic coast from
the Potomac to Boston harbor; and (3) A road from Washington
to New Orleans. Calhoun added that there were other improve
ments which, whfle not essential, were "deemed of great impor
tance in a commercial and miUtary view." They were canals
connecting the Savannah, Alabama, and Tennessee Rivers,
the James and the Kanawha, the Susquehanna and the AUe-
gheny, the St. Johns in Florida with the Gulf of Mexico, and
the St. Lawrence with Lake Champlam. Nor was this aU:
in due time other routes were recommended, as a road from
Baltimore to Philadelphia, another from Washington to Buffalo,
the extension of the Cumberland Road to the capital of Mis
souri, and a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi.
This survey was defended on the ground that it would be an
inteUigent suggestion for the expen(Uture of private and state
funds. The strict repubUcans opposed it on the groimd that
it sought to combine the interests of aU parts of the union in
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, U,, 142, 183.

482 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
a congressional majority large enough to override a presidential
veto. It was undoubtedly calculated to whet the popular
desire for internal improvements. Jefferson and his Virginia
foUowers dedared vrith (Usmay that this tendency was hre-
sistible.* Of the candidates for the presidency then before the country,
Clay, Adams, and Calhoun were openly for intemal improve
ments and they were wflUng to avoid constitutional objections
by trusting to a favorable interpretation of the right of congress
to estabUsh post roads, or to regulate interstate commerce,
or to provide for the pubUc defense. Calhoun's constitutional
position was not quite so clear as Clay's and Adams's, probably
because of South Carolina's trend to strict construction. Jack-
"son also favored intemal improvements when they could be
shown to contribute to the military safety of the nation. But
he held some decided opinions about state rights, and it could
be foretold how he would act if the matter were robbed of its
miUtary significance.
Only Crawford, of the five canclidates, was dear in his oppo
sition to the poUcy, and when he was eliminated by ilhess
there was much discouragement among those who thought
that the government should not play into the hands of politi-
dans who stimulated the demands of interested voters. The
election of Adams and his combination with Clay made it
seem probable that this poUcy would gain rapidly in the country.
On the other hand drawing Crawford, CaUioun, and Jackson
into the opposition gave strength to those who objected to
internal improvements. Van Buren was strongest in the com
bination and sought to carry it over to the strict republican
view. December 20, 1825, he introduced a resolution den)dng
the power of congress to constmct roads and canals, but the
senate left it unnoticed.
^ 'Writing of Jefetson (Memorial Edition), XVI., 140.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 483
Whfle no great work of intemal improvement was authorized
under Adams, smaller works, roads and harbors, were ordered
to the extent of more than two miUions, which, was two and a
third thnes as much as was spent for the same purposes vmder
aU the preceding Presidents. Each appropriation stimulated
the demand for others, and the success of the Erie Canal, com
pleted in 1825, seemed to add confirmation to aU favorable
prophecies. There was undoubtedly a strong tide running for
pubhc improvements at the close of this administration, held
back only by the factious quaUty of the opposition to Adams.
But with the advent of a new President other results seemed
Ukely.' Jackson's views of the constitution were formed through
feeling rather than intellect. They were formed in the early
school of Monroe and Randolph, and although he voted for
miUtary roads and for the systems of surveys of 1824, he was
Ukely to come over to the opposition when shown that it took
the same position as the party to which he gave his first aUe
giance. The veto of 1822 served such a purpose. "My opinion
has always been," he wrote to Monroe, "that the Federal
Govemment did not possess the constitutional right; that it
is retained to the states," and that in time of war the national
authority may repair roads and control them but must surrender
them when peace returns.' In the first draft of the inaugural
address, however, he showed that he was carried away by the ,
Westem sentiment, saying that internal improvements, when
not of an entirely local character, should be buflt by the
national government. When the address had gone through the
hands of pmdent advisers in Washington it merely declared
that "intemal improvements and the diffusion of knowledge,
so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of

'Turner, Rise of fhe Nea West, SJ4-»3S, 286-588.
•Jackson to Monroe,^July a6, i8sj, Jackson Mss

484 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the Federal Government, are of high importance." In his
first annual message he came again to the subject and said
that the surplus revenue after the debt was paid should be
divided among the states in proportion to population for intemki
improvements. The old method of distribution by congress
directly he said was bad, meaning, as it seems, on account of
the jobbery in applications. He did not appear to realize
that distribution to the states would largely transfer this job
bery from congress to state legislatures. But even here
Jackson guarded himself by saying that if the constitution
would not allow the suggested course an amendment shoifld be
submitted to the people to secure the desired permission.'
Van Buren, apparently, was sincerely opposed to the poUcy
of internal improvements. He voted for some of the earlier
bflls, but Monroe's veto put him to thinking, and he concluded
that the poUcy was both dangerous and unconstitutional'
Afterward he opposed it as opportifnity offered but noticed
that it gained continually in pubU(i opinion. He at length
decided that nothing could stand against it but Jackson's popu
larity; and he determined to try to bring that to bear. As
early as possible after he entered the cabinet he (Uscussed the
matter with the President.
The two men proved to be at one in the matter. A careful
consideration showed that they felt it necessary to check the
course of pubUc opinion, and it was agreed that the secretaiy
should keep his eye on congress and report to the President
when a biU was being debated which seemed proper for veto.
The design was kept quite secret by the two men, which
was ever Van Buren's inclination in regard to contemplated
actions. In politics he liked to move quickly and unexpectedly
on an adversary.
¦Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, Tl., 451.
>Van Buren, Autobiograthy, HI., 149, 152-15S; Van Buren Mss.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 485
Affairs m Pennsylvama at that time made it a delicate thing
to oppose intemal improvements. The state was largely com
mitted to that poUcy both because any direct approach to the
upper Ohio must pass through its bounds, and because a number
of wealthy contractors in Philadelphia were actively agitating
at the national capital and among the people at large in behaff
of appropriations, from which they expected to reap large
profits. They had strong influence wdth the state politidans
and controUed a number of newspapers. Beside this, the
Quakers, a numerous body of voters, were already displeased
at Jackson because he favored the removal of the Cherokees in
Georgia; and if he had any definite plans against the United
States Bank he must have realized that he would need, in order
to carry them through in Pennsylvania, the home of the parent
bank, aU possible popularity in that state. These various
thhigs were duly considered by Van Buren, but he concluded
that the President's popularity was enough to overcome even
these difficulties and Jackson, agreeing to take the responsibiUty,
it was determined to go ahead wdth the program.
Aprfl 26, 1830, McDuffie, of South Carolina, was in the midst
of a stately speech on the inequaUties of the tariff. At the end
of two hours he paused and said that he had now submitted
the dry and less interesting part of his argument, that the re
mainder would be more pleasing, and that with the permission
of the house he should Uke to discontinue at that time and con
clude the next day. He was indulged, and Fletcher, of Kentucky,
suggested that the rest of the sitting be given to some minor
bill that could be passed in a short time and moved a considera
tion of the bUI to subscribe to the stock of a road from Mays
viUe, Ky., to Lexington, in the same state. Then in the most
confident tone he explained that the Kentucky legislature
had incorporated the company to bufld and operate the road,
that while it was within the state entirely, it was part of what

486 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
would be a great national road when completed, and that by
taking stock in so promising an enterprise the govermnent
could not lose its investment. He spoke briefly- and was fol
lowed by a Georgian who was surprised that Fletcher should
fancy the bifl would have no opposition. It was essentially
a local bifl, and it predpitated a debate which ran through
three days before the house passed it by a vote of 102 to 86.
The senate debate on the measure is lost but it passed that
body safely and went to the President about May 20th.
The MaysviUe Road was as local as any important road witliin
a state could be. It was in the state in which Clay Uved and
the biU was supposed to be a kind of challenge from that gentle
man, both of which facts, it seemed to Van Buren, would appeal
to the President. As soon as the house approved the measure
he mentioned it to Jackson in one of their dafly rides on the
Tenallytown road. He offered to submit reasons — which
he had already prepared — why the bill should not become a
law. The offer was accepted, and the paper which was handed
over was kept for five days without intimation of the President's
opinion on it. Jackson then announced his entire acquiescence
and asked the secretary to prepare a statement of the consti
tutional grounds on which a veto might rest. This kind of
a document had also been previously prepared in antidpation
of such a request, and it was duly handed to the head of the
government. Van Buren also suggested that if a statement
of the national finances were made it would show that there was
not enough money in the treasury to pay the due proportion
of the national debt, provide for the expenses of government,
and support internal improvements. This suggestion was fol
lowed also.
The bfll represented a popular opinion, and a veto needed
aU possible support. Not one in twenty, says Van Buren,
beUeved that Jackson would venture to reject it, and it was the

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 487
intention of the secretary of state that they should not know
it until the biU was passed. He feared that Clay, if he thought
a veto imminent, would drop the bfll and bring in another less
local and one in which a larger group of people were interested.
Jackson at first was for opening the way for the veto by proper
editorials in the newspapers and as soon as the plan was settled
said, "Give it to Blair," which he habitually pronounced
"Bla-ar." But the arch-schemer induced hhn to conceal his
intentions. In spite of these precautions an inkling of what was coming
got abroad, and the Kentuckians were much (hsturbed. They
sent R. M. Johnson, at that time a close friend of Jackson's,
to ascertain what he would do. The visitor was given to grandflo-
quent language, even in private conversation. When he en
tered the President's office the secretary of state was prudently
present. As the visitor proceeded with his argument his language
became warm. He said that the state of Kentucky demanded
the MaysviUe Road, and that to veto the bfll would defeat
the democratic party in the state. " If this hand were an anvfl,"
he exdaimed, extending the left arm with the palm upward,
" and a fly were sitting on it, and a sledge-hammer should come
dovm on it like this" — bringing dovm his right hand with a
blow — " that fly would not be more surely crushed than the
democratic party in Kentucky woifld be crushed by this veto."
At this pohit Jackson, whose interest grew with Johnson's,
rose to his feet with an air which meant danger. Had the
speaker considered the state of the treasury balance? "No,"
was the reply. "WeU, I have," said the general hotiy; and
he went on to say that he was elected to pay off the national
debt, how could this be done and the proposed intemal im
provements constmcted wdthout borrowdng? — and borrow
he would not.
The President's fervor cUsconcerted his interlocutor, who

488 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
hesitated and prepared to leave the room. Van Buren watched
the scene with deep interest. He feared, he tefls us, that Jack
son's temper had revealed too much of his purpose and ob
served to Johnson that he must not think the President's mind
was made up, and, in fact, that he and Jackson were just going
over the MaysviUe bfll when the visitor arrived. At this Jack
son took his cue, changed his tone, and succeeded in restoring
the Kentuckian to what Van Buren cafls "his accustomed
urbanity." Johnson faithfully reported to his coUeagues all
these occurrences. Then they asked him what he thought
Jackson would do with the biU. He repUed that in his opinion
nothing short of a voice from heaven could prevent "Old
Hickory" from vetoing the biU, and he doubted if that could
prevent it.
Interest in the outcome was now stronger than ever, but no
one cared to risk a second interview with Jackson. They went
to Van Buren instead, both friends and opponents of the biU.
He had much trouble to keep them from finding out what was
to be done; but mysterious sflence was one of his peculiar
qualffications, and he employed it here so weU that he not only
deceived the interrogators but even created the opinion that
he was opposed to the veto. One of the reasons said to have
been given for rejecting him as minister to England in 1832
was that he favored the Maysvflle Road.
The senate was debating the biU whfle this was going on,
and in due time they gave their assent. The Westem states
and Pennsylvania now looked anxiously to Jackson. Van
Buren was also deeply concerned, and he kept close to the
President's side. On the morning the veto was sent to congress,
he breakfasted at the White House, Barry, Eaton, Lewds, and
Felix Gnmdy being present also. The others had long faces,
knowing what was coming and believing it would damage the
party. Jackson was extremely weak from flhiess, and the

CHECKING INTERNAI. IMPROVEMENTS 489
secretary of state whfle assisting him up the stairs remarked
that the others seemed alarmed. "Yes," was the reply, "but
don't mind that. The thing is here [touching his breast-pocket]
and shall be sent up as soon as congress convenes."
The veto was addressed to the house of representatives,
in which the biU origmated. Its readmg was received wdth
severe sflence. It not only defeated the MaysviUe Road, but
it chaUenged the principle of intemal improvements. Some
of the democrats ¦ were alarmed, some were angry, some
predicted that the result would be fatal in Pennsylvania and the
West, and others saw in it a shrewd electioneering move, worthy
of the astute secretary of state. Care had been taken to write
the veto so that it would appeal to the largest number of
people. Those whose interests would be injured by it
were ignored — their opposition was taken for granted ;
but every possible phase of constitutionaUty and ex-
pe(Uency was exploited to convince the people at large that
to appropriate the national funds for roads and canals was
illegal and unwise.
The defeat of the measure pleased the old repubUcans. They
attributed, it largely to Van Buren and on it founded a hope
that the Westem influence would not entirely direct the party.
In Virginia a number of them assembled to give John Randolph
a parting dinner before his departure for Russia. One of the
toasts was. The rejection of the Maysville Road Bill — // falls
upon the ear like the music of other days. This was drunk stand
ing with three times three cheers. In Pennsylvania the im
pression was not at first so favorable. A congressman from that
state remonstrated with Jackson in person. He was patiently heard
and told to say no more untfl he consulted his constituency.
He promised to do this and a short time after he reached his
district he wrote to say that the voters endorsed the
President.

490 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
"The veto,"' says Van Buren, "was the wedge which split
the party of internal improvements, a party which was 'wdelded
by a triumvirate of active and able young statesmen as a means
through which to achieve for themselves the gUttering prize
of the Presidency, operating in conjunction with minor classes
of poUticians, looking in the same general direction, and backed
by a Uttie army of cunning contractors." Calhoun, Clay,
and Adams had each leaned hard on intemal improvements,
from them each drew much of his popularity; and the removal
of the issue from the field of active politics was a sad blow to
each. Clay and Adams could have expected Uttle else, but to
Calhoun it gave notice that he was losing position in the demo-
s cratic party and that his rival was in the lead. The fact that the
defeat of intemal improvements would weaken CaUioun probably
added to the secretary of state's zeal in the matter; although
it must be remembered that the advisers from Tennessee,
generaUy opposed to the vice-president, were not now against
him, but held back on account of what they considered party
expediency. The MaysviUe veto was skilfuUy written. Its purpose was
to overthrow a well-rooted popular feeUng. An embarrassing
feature was that Jackson himseU had voted for the survey bill
of 1824 and for some other minor bifls to constmct roads. The
document, therefore, must not make him appear inconsistent
or seem to despise the popular fancy. Littie regard was paid
to the opinion of the poUticians, for it was beUeved that they
would acquiesce if pubUc opinion could be reached. As to the
contractors, they were equally ignored; for their opposition*
was certain whatever was done against them, and their rage
would only serve to show they were speculators disappointed
of their profits, and that all Jackson had said about them was
tme.
>Van Buren tells the story of the Maysville veto with full details and with apparent frankness. See Auto
biograthy, UI., iS2-i6g, Van Buren Mss.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 491
In his argument Jackson emphasized the local character of
the proposed road; and while he did not openly dispute the
principle of appropriations of this kind, he depicted mcidentally
many of the evfls he thought would come from it. We had
gone too far, he said, from the pruiciples of 1798 to take a stand
now on the strictest construction of the constitution in regard
to appropriations. Jefferson, Ma(Uson, and Monroe signed bifls
to construct roads, and as for Adams, it was wefl known that
he was committed fuUy to mternal improvements. The ap
parent reluctance with which this was admitted would please
the strict repubUcans, and the wiUingness to accept things
accomplished would please many who held a different view.
What was the principle on which Jefferson, Madison, and
Monroe acted? From Madison's and Monroe's vetoes it was
seen to be that the govemment had power to appropriate
money for public works which were not local, but whose benefit
was to the nation. The MaysviUe Road was local, and therefore
he opposed it. He thus reconciled his argument with his votes
in congress aU of which he could defend on the ground that
they looked to national benefits.
Two principal arguments were added to reconcile the people
to a reversal of a policy which evidently was agreeable to them:
I. Certain revenues were pledged to pay the national debt,
while congress was then in the very act of reducing duties on
certain articles. Yet the demand for expenditures was great:
if to the necessary expenses of government were added the
appropriations for internal improvements then proposed there
would be for the current year a deficit of ten mflUons. Thus
we should have either to give up such appropriations, or abandon
the pajmient of the debt, or increase taxes. But if the money
may not be raised now, the people need not be (Uscouraged.
The inteUigent American people could be tmsted to carry this
poUcy through at a time more auspidous than the present.

492 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Let us, however, give all present efforts to extinguish the debt.
How much would it not strengthen the national character in
the eyes of the world to see a republic founded as an experiment,
come successfuUy through two great wars, prosperous, free from
debt, and united in its spirit! How much better was this than
"a scramble for appropriations that have no relation to any
general system of improvement!"
2. Assuming that congress could by the constitution con
struct improvements, it was certain that it could not "prosecute"
them. But there was so much uncertainty as between the
two rights that it was unwise to proceed further untfl the con
stitution was amended so as to make its meaning perfectly
clear. If the people really desire improvements they wifl not
fail to make such an amendment, which was particularly de
sirable in order to enable congress to regulate and conduct
such improvements wdthout infringing the jurisdiction of the
states in which they lay. The Cumberland Road was an
example of the evfls under present con(Utions; for years the
right of congress to conduct it was questioned, and sometimes
funds were voted for that purpose, and sometimes they were
refused. All such confusion would be avoided if the people
were asked to pass on the subject by a proposed amendment.'
PubUc appropriations for intemal improvements have several
times been considered by the American people, either in congress
or in state legislatures, or in mimicipaUties. There has usually
been a weU-defined consdousness of the need of such appropria
tions to secure desired utflities; but practical wisdom has
generaUy halted before the evident danger of jobbery in se
lecting the works to be constmcted or in awarding the con
tracts. Jackson's aUusion to this danger was wdse; for the
people are slow to trust themselves wdth the supervision of so

'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, II., 483-493.

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 493
large a system of expenditures for a purpose in which selfish
motives can operate so easfly.
From Ma(Uson's veto to Jackson's was a period of thirteen
years. Holding back internal improvements during that time
was fatal to those who hoped to have them through national aid.
The movement was aheady transferring itself to the states.
Pennsylvania and the states west of it were particularly extrava
gant, and the results were repudiation of debt or heavy
embarrassments. The MaysviUe veto undoubtedly tumed a
large part of this financial waste away from the national
treasury. The congressional elections of 1830 supported the adminis
tration, and this was taken as endorsement of the veto. The
vehemence with which the opposition denounced that policy
during the campaign warrants the assertion that the pubhc
had ample opportunity to repudiate it if they had so desired.
Van Buren, watching the situation, feared,' as he teUs us, that
the antipathy to improvements would go so far as to include
among forbidden things such necessary works as light-houses,
fortifications, and harbor improvements. He wanted to get
before the pubhc some statement of soimd principles which
should show what might and what might not be provided.
In order to bring up the question again in a proper way,
and to make friends for his pohcy, he wrote to MacUson, living
in Virginia at the age of seventy-nine. The MaysviUe message
assumed that MacUson's veto of 1817 conceded "that the right
of appropriation is not limited by the power to carry into effect
the measure for which the money is asked, as was formerly
contended."' This, as Van Buren reveals in confidence, was
a doubtful construction of the early veto, but it was used in the
hope of bolstering up the argument of 1830. It was a good
point on which to hang a restatement, and probably a modffi-
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, II., 486.

494 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
cation of Jackson's position, and he desired to, open a corre
spondence which should give him such an opportimity.
He proceeded cautiously, sending MacUson, in the first place,
a copy of the veto message wdth a simple note of personal com
pUment. As he expected, the eye of his correspondent feU on
the questionable aUusion to the message of 1817, and a protest
foUowed. The intention of Ma(Uson's veto, said the writer
of it, was "to deny to Congress as weU the appropriating power,
as the executing and jurisdictional branches of it," which was
the general understanding at the time the veto was delivered.
The situation was now to the Uking of the clever secretary.
Repljdng at once he said that the question of intemal improve
ments was not settled, that it would come up again in the future,
and the President would be pleased to have his predecessor's
opinion on four points: (i) A precise view of the govemment's
power to appropriate money to improvements of a general
nature. (2) A rule to govern appropriations for light-houses
and harbor improvements. (3) The expediency of refusing
intemal improvements until the national debt was paid. (4)
The strong objection to subscriptions by the United States
for stock in private companies.
Madison's reply to the first question was less definite than
his interrogator desired. It enumerated certain works on
which the govemment might expend money, declared that
discretion ought to be left to the legislature, that funds should
be apportioned among the states accor(Ung to population, but
that there were certain objections to this. As for light-houses
and harbors, that depended on whether they were local or
general, and on how much a given work was local and how much
it was general, and each case was to be decided on its merits,
The repUes to the other two points were equaUy indefinite:
the national debt ought to be paid wdth aU possible expediency,
but some conceivable expenditures would take precedence,

CHECKING INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 495
each to be considered on its owm merits; and the govemment
ought sometimes to aid, and sometimes to refuse to aid private
corporations. To these categorical statements he appended
a general opinion that internal improvements are unconstitu
tional but that they are highly important when properly se
lected, which was but reasserting the veto of 18 17.' Such a
response could have given little comfort to Van Buren. It
neither supported his contention nor contracUcted it so cUrectly
as to furnish the basis for an opposing argument. By July,
when the reply was written, it was evident that public opinion
was so far wdth the veto that it was nee(Uess to say more than
had been said. It was good pohcy to let weU enough alone.
But Jackson was too practical to go to extremes. Appro
priations for Ught-houses and harbors were continued, and
funds were granted to keep in proper condition certain works
already undertaken. For example, the Cumberland Road,
which received before the Maysville veto total grants for
$1,668,000, received after that event during Jackson's adminis
trations $3,728,000.'
A year later Jackson wrote to KendaU: "I wish you to look
at the Harbor BiU, and compare it with my veto message on
the MaysviUe Road BiU, and my message to Congress in 1830.
I have left in the hands of Major Donelson, Genl. Gratiot's
report on the items in the bfll, from which you wiU find that
many are local and useless; few that are national. I am de
termined in my message, if I Uve to make one to Congress, to
put an end to this waste of pubhc money, and to appropriations
for intemal improvements, untfl a system be adopted by Congress
and an amendment of the Constitution; in short to stop this
corrupt, log-roUing system of Legislation." But harbor ap
propriations continued to be made after the old manner.
'Madison, Letters (Edition 1884), IV., 87-93.
•Report of Colonel Albert: See Wheeler, Bistory of Congress, U., 124-

496 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
The history of the MaysviUe message iUustrates Jackson's
relation to his advisers. He could not have written this message;
but its significant ideas were his. He could not have planned
actions so wefl calculated to manipulate the situation for his
advantage, yet he gave intelligent approval to the plans when
made by another and had the courage to carry them through.
Moreover, the veto is not far beyond the clause in the draft
of the first inaugural where he declared against intemal improve
ments of a local nature. Most of his important policies are found
in an undeveloped form in his earUer doctrines..
The Maysville message has an importance in the history of
American politics not at first observed. It was the first dis
tinctive measure of the Jacksonian democracy. It marked the
complete union of the old Crawford group with the original
Jackson men. FinaUy, it robbed Calhoun of a popular poHcy
and weakened him so much that his enemies dared to proceed
to destroy him utterly. How they realized their final plans in
this process and the part Jackson took in it is the subject of the
next chapter.

CHAPTER xxrv
Calhoun's isolation completed
By 1830 the two factions among those who voted for Jackson
in 1828 were weU developed. Their rivalry entered mto the
selection of the cabinet, the Eaton embrogUo, the Maysvflle '
veto, and the ever-present hopes of the succession in 1832. It
was the chief phase of public Ufe in the early years of the ad
ministration. If an office-seeker failed to get Van Buren's^
support he was likely to attach himself to Calhoun, and vice
versa. Each faction was too strong to yield to the other, and
war to thie end was necessary. Each was composed df poUti
cians; for the dissension did not reach the mass of voters, who
thought of Jackson only. He became the arbiter of the dispute.
The last move of the Van Burenites was to excite his terrible
anger against their enemy. Before its force no appeal to justice
and no revelation of political intrigue was able to stand.
Jackson's friendship for Calhoun was as early as the Seminole
affair, which began late in 181 7, just as the latter of the two men
became secretary of war. It was doubtless stimulated by his
hatred of Crawford and Clay. He thought that the secretary
of war supported, him when the other two would censure him
for invading Florida, and whfle on his way to Washington to
defend himself in that matter he gave for toast at a dinner,
"John C. Calhoun — an honest man the noblest work of God."
Calhoun did not entirely deserve this confidence; for in the
earliest cabinet councils on the matter he said that the leader
of the Florida invasion ought to be cUscipUned for violating
orders. Jackson knew nothing of this, and Calhqun aUowed
497

498 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
him to remain uninformed. He seems to have been a Uttle
in awe of the fiery Tennesseean.
In the campaign of 1824 Jackson favored either Calhoim or
Adams before he himself was announced as a candidate. The
aUiance between his and Calhoun's groups was probably ar
ranged by their respective lieutenants wdthout much aid from
the principals. Letters exchanged by the two men at infre
quent intervals do not mention any such bargain. Jackson
wrote with his usual directness, but Calhoun was apt to show
a nervous attempt to please, as though his position was unpleas
ant and involuntarily taken. "I would rather have your good
opinion," he wrote in 1821, "with the approbation of my own
mind, than all the popularity which a pretended (?] love of the
people, and a course of popularity hunting can excite." "I
find few with whom I accord so fuUy in relation to poUtical
affairs as yourself," he wrote in 1823.' Calhoun was not nat
urally uncan(Ud, and he must have found it hard to flatter.
He was very ambitious and bowed before the Jackson wave
through the hope that he might at last ride on its top. The
health of the Tennesseean was excee(Ungly bad, and he openly
declared for only one term: it was a fair prospect for him who
could hope for the succession. Very few letters between the
two men are preserved for the period from 1824 to 1829, but all
obtainable evidence shows that personal relations between
them were fri^n(fly. Jackson knew of the opposition of his
particular supporters to the South CaroUnian, but he did not
give himself to it. Party harmony was essential in the cam
paign and in the first months of the new administration.
Calhoun seen from a distance was a man after Jackson's
ovm heart. He had courage, vigor, and candor; and these
quaUties won the Tennesseean. But closer contact showed a
man who was cold, correct, and inteUectual, a public man of
'Calhoun to Jackson, March 7, 1821, and March 30, 1833, Jackson Mss.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 499
the old Virginia manners, and one who could not bend to the
wiU of a leader. If he had won the friendship of the Tennessee
group in 1825, before they gave themselves to another, his
future would haye been different.
The course of Duff Green was another disturbing factor.
Brought from Missouri to Washington in 1826 to estabUsh the
sQaUy TelegrapJfyyhe attached himself to Calhoun's interests.
He was-i?ashpajfogant, and turbulent. He made it clear that
Calhoun was to have the succession, as though he would frighten
off other aspirants; and in many ways irritated the opponents
of the South CaroUnian. January 17, 1828, he announced
Jackson and Calhoun as the repubUcan ticket, seeking to com
mit the party and to defeat those members of it who at that
moment were scheming to bring forward De Witt Clinton. This
was borne patiently throughout the long fight against Adams
and in the early years of the first administration, and he received
his reward in the Uon's share of the pubhc printing; but the
stronger grew the opposite faction the less wfllingly they gave
him the position of editorial oracle. His paper reflected the
change of temper: when Jackson in the vrinter of 1829-30
chided him for not defending the policies of the government,
he replied that he was no longer informed of those policies.'
A more facfle man than Green would have been better suited
to his chieftain's purposes. On the other hand, one must re
member that the Jacksonian democracy was organized in
Jackson's own spirit of absolute leadership. From an editor
who served it mflitary obedience was demanded. If Green
would not give himself to the cause body and soul he must
give place to some one who was more obedient.
It does not appear when the anti-Calhoun faction began to
urge Van Buren for the succession. They concentrated on De
Witt CUnton for vice-president in the winter of 1827-28 and
'Silas Wright to Van Buren, December 9, iSsS, Van Buien Mss.

50O THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
had he Uved he might have become a formidable antagonist of
the South Carolinian. But his death in Febmary, 1828, left
the opposition headless. Many of them were for Van Buren
before this, but he was not taken at once for the vacant posi
tion. He was Uttle knovm in national politics, he was closely
associated wdth Crawford whom many Jackson men hated, and
he was unpopular through having the reputation of a shrewd
manipulator. As a member of cabinet he commanded great re
spect, but he was not in 1828 the man to defeat Calhoim for
second place in the administration.
You are now the "master mover" in Washington: "take
care to be so." Thus wrote in substance Dr. Thomas Cooper,
March 24, 1829, in recognition of Van Buren's preeminence
in the cabinet. We have seen the pre(Uction fulfiUed. He
not only managed his department wdth cre(ht; but he saved
the administration's prestige in social matters, he steered himself
safely through the dangers from the "Eaton malaria," he
brought the President to support the old repubUcan view of
intemal improvements, and he made himself the most trusted
friend of Jackson and the glorified hero of the " Kitchen Cabinet."
Whfle he thus advanced, his rival, Calhoun, was steadily falling
into cUsfavor with the President.
5!l. The first noticeable rift in the relation between Jackson and
Calhoun occurred in 1826. In that year some of Jackson's
enemies criticized his defense of New Orleans, and a friendly
paper in Tennessee replied wdth the countercharge that Monroe,
then secretary of war, did not support him fairly in that military
expe(Ution. It was at this time that Jackson became involved
in the controversy with secretary of the navy. Southard,
over the latter's assertion that Monroe saved the New Orleans
campaign from failure.' This touched the feelings of Monroe
who undertook to refute the editor of the Tennessee newspapers.
'See above, II.. 396. *

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 501
He wrote to Senator WTiite, of that state, offering to submit
documents in substantiation of his assertion that he gave aU
possible aid to the operations in Louisiana. '^^Tiite was re
assured in a measure and showed the letter to Jackson, who
passionately pronounced Monroe guflty of deception.
While this affair transphed some unknown hand brought
Calhoun into it. Sam Houston, then a Tennessee member of
congress and in fufl sympathy with the anti-CaUioun faction,
got possession of a letter from Monroe to Calhoun, written
September 9, 1818, in which the President told his secretary
of war what should be done with the invader of Florida. It
showed-AaLngither of the two men approved that invasion,^
whidhLjyas. contrary to^ Jackson's understanding of their atti
tude at the time. Houston sent the letter to the "Heriiiitage,"
where the effect was decided. "It smelled so much of decep
tion," said Jackson, "that my hair stood on end for one hour."'
He was then warm against Monroe, which was some protection
to Calhoun. He thought that the latter caused the matter
to be revealed to him to show how false was the former.
It has never been explained how this letter was taken from
CaUioun's possession. He was conscious that a letter had been
purloined, but had no description of it until nearly a year later,
when he leamed that it was in Jackson's hands. The mischief-
maker, who sprung the trap in February, 1827, evidently wished
to leave the men most concemed without a chance to explain^
Calhoun now approached White and Eaton, saying that if the
letter in question was Monroe's of September 9, 18 18, it was
written, as he knew, with friendly intent to the general. The
latter was forced to acknowledge the date of the letter, and
CaUioun placed in the hands of the intermediaries a long cor
respondence between himself and Monroe, and those gentlemen
'Monroe, Writings (Hamilton, Editor), VII., 93, I04- Jackson to H. L. White, February 7, 1827, March
30, 182S, Jackson Mss.

S02 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
professed themselves satisfied.' They could have no object
in discrediting Monroe, no longer a factor in poUtics, and the
vice-president's reputation with Jackson had suffered the
first taint, which was aU that the plotters could expect at that
time. Toward Monroe the attitude of Jackson was frigidly dignified,
but to the South CaroUna statesman he was formal and courte
ous. He was, as Calhoun himself said, a man of "good sense
and correct feelings, when not under excitement." He had
been unwisely left in ignorance of the ancient division in the
cabinet and he was naturally shocked when undeceived. While
he froze toward the ex-President, he was excessively pohte
toward CaUioun. If the latter, so he wrote to White, claimed
that the letter was stolen from him, it should be returned.
Two months later he wrote directly to the vice-president in
fuU explanation of his position in 1818, expressing himself in a
restrained manner, entirely worthy of a public man.*
In the meantime, Crawford, iU enough to be put out of politics
and weU enough to try to mar the hopes of his old enemies,
took a hand in the attack on CaUioun, whom he pronounced a
burden on the ticket. White and Felix Grundy, to whom he
revealed his plans, gave Uttle heed, but he proceeded to scheme.
He made up his mind that Macon, of North Carolina, ought
to be vice-president and to that end wrote letters to prominent
men in aU the states outside of New England. He tried to get |
Van Buren to carry New York for Macon, but that wdly leader
woifld not range himself openly against his antagom'st. Craw
ford was very bitter and worked unrelentingly. He asserted
that if CaUioun could be defeated for second place on the ticket
he could be kept out of the cabinet of the new President. "I
wiU myself," he said, "cause representations to be made to
»Calhoun, Letters (Jameson, Editor), 254. See also Calhoun to Jackson, July 10, 1828, JacksoB M»
¦Jackson to White, March 30, 1828; ibid to Calhoun, May 25, 182S, Jackson Mss.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 503
General Jackson that wdU prevent his being taken into the
cabhiet of General Jackson.'" It seems evident also that
Lacock, an opponent of Jackson, knew in 1819 of Jackson's
much-discussed letter to Monroe, asking for permission to invade
Florida, and it is not likely that Crawford left him in the dark
in regard to other features of the situation.'
Both Crawford and Van Buren were in correspondence with
Affred Balch, who lived near Nashvflle and worked agamst
the Calhoun supporters in Tennessee. The election of 1828
was hardly over when he wrote to the New Yorker that the two
factions in the state were already organizing with an eye to
the succession. Two years earUer, he said, he began to recruit
for Van Buren there, and his success was remarkable. He
added, "P appears to be well but (entre nous) he is wearing
away rapidly. It is strange, but it is as true as holy writ, that
_ already J°'^ successor is as much spoken of as J"'' late success."'
After the inauguration both sides held themselves in restraint,
not wishing to embarrass the common cause; but when congress
convened in December there were many opportunities for mis
understandings, and the Eaton affair as weU as the rise of Van
Buren in presidential confidence heightened the tendency.
Calhoun was clearly losing ground and his opponents were
more sure of themselves. It began to be reported that his
friends would like to see the general discre(Uted so that they
would seem the most capable element of the party. Calhoun
denied the charge, saying: " So far from opposing, we may appeal
with confidence to the proceedings of both Houses to prove,
that our support has been more uniform and effective that
any other portion of congress. It is an object of ambition wdth
'Crawford to Van Buren, December 2r, 1827, and October 21, 182S; Van Buren to Crawford, November
14, 1828; Van Buren Mss. Crawford to White, May 27, 1827; and Grundy to Jackson, November ao, 1828;
Jackson Mss.
>Parton, life of Jackson, II., 553.
'Van Buisn to Jackaon, September r4, 1847; Balch to Van Buren, November 27, 1828; Van Buren Mm.

504 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
us to carrry the General through with glory; and whfle we see
wdth pain every false move, we have never permitted our feel
ings to be aUenated for a moment. Ours is the position of
honest and sincere friendship, and for us a perfect contrast
to that pursued, in the quarter to which I aUude."'
Another important fact in this connection was the rise of
nuUification. This movement sprang up in South CaroUna
without the aid of Calhoun, but in 1829 it had fuU possession
of the state and he gave it his powerful support. From its
inception it had Jackson's opposition, as wiU be shown in the
proper place; and it, therefore, furnished another means utflized
by the surrounding circle, to turn him against the vice-president.
The spring of 1830 brought the first preparations for the
coming congressional elections. With it came revived talk
about the next presidential contest, and one of the matters of
speculation was the possibflity of Jackson's accepting a second
term. AU the anti-Calhoun element desired such an event,
weU knowing that Van Buren r. .uld not take first place from the
South Carolinian in an open field. They probably had little
(Ufficulty to induce the leader to agree with them on this point,
although there is no positive evidence on the matter; and they
turned themselves to the business of disposing of Calhoun.
Their reliance was on the secrets of Monroe's cabinet when it met
to consider Jackson's invasion of Floridain 1818. They proposed
to create rupture between the two men and the month of May
was the time when it seemed best to bring it about.
On the twelfth of that month, the very day they put the final
proofs into Jackson's hands, Calhoun wrote as foUows:
My true position is to do my duty without committing my
self, or assuming unnecessary responsibility, where I have no
control. The times are perilous beyond any that I have ever
witnessed. All of the great interests of the countiy are coming
'Calhoun, Letters (Jameson edition), 272.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 505
into conflict, and I must say, and with deep regret I speak it,
that those to whom the vessel of state is entmsted seem either
ignorant, or indifferent about the danger. My great ambition
is to see our country free, united and happy, and placed where I
am, I owe it as a duty to myself and country to preserve unim
paired the pubhc confidence. Thus acting, the first step is to
postpone all questions as to myself, tiU it becomes necessary
to decide, and the one to which you refer among the others:' when
the time comes it wiU present a grave question, to be decided
wisely only by weighing fully considerations for and against.
I consider it perfectly uncertain, whether General Jackson
wiU offer again or not. Some whp regard their own interest
more than his just fame are urging him to offer, but it wfll
be difficult to reconcfle the course to his previous declarations,
unless there should be the strongest considerations of the pubhc
good to justify him.!
On the following day the writer of this letter received formal
notice from the President that hostiUties were begun.
What was Jackson's attitude toward Calhoun before this time?
It is difficult to say, but there is strong circumstantial evidence
that he was already determined to repudiate him. Lewis's
position goes far to show as much. "You cannot but recoUect,
General," he wrote in 1839, "that before your instaUation into
office even, I had several conversations with you upon the subject,
and importance of looking to Mr. Van Buren as your successor
for the same office. From that time to the day of his election
I spared no pains, but exerted every honorable effort in my
power to accomplish that object."' Van Buren himseff says
that Jackson was against Calhoun before May, 1830, but that
it was late in the same year when he first told the New Yorker
that he was to be successor. Moreover, knowledge of Calhoun's
position in 1818 came to Jackson gradually, and was so clearly
¦I. e., the succession.
•Calhoun, Letters (Jameson edition), 272.
•Lewis to Jackson, August 30, 1839, Mss. of W. C. Ford, Boston.

5o6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
delayed for the critical moment that we wonder if the Presi
dent could have been entirely ignorant of the earlier stages
of the matter.
The story of the breach of relations, so far as can be gathered
from avaflable evidence, is as foUows: Col. James A. Ham
flton, of New York, old supporter of Crawdord and friend of
Van Buren, attended the celebration of the anniversary of the
Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1828. He joined General
Jackson's personal party at Nashvflle and went down the river
with them, winning the general by his ready tongue and
poUtical standing untfl he was taken into the bosom of the
famfly. He became very intimate wdth Major Lewis, with
whom he had much in common. The two men played their
game so openly and persistently that they disgusted some of the
general's older and more cUsinterested friends.'
Hamflton offered to use his influence to bring Crawdord to
support Jackson and proposed to retum north by way of Georgia,
in order to talk with the old chieftain. He and Lewds discussed
the differences between the two men, and the latter said that
Jackson thought Crawford wanted to court-martial him in 1818.
Jackson was approached and gave such preliminary overtures
as were necessary to effect a reconciUation.
At MUledgeviUe, Ga., Hamflton found that Crawford was
absent from home for a fortaight. Deciding not to wait, he
imburdened himseff to Forsyth, then govemor, who under
took to see the absentee and write the result of the effort. In
r due time a letter came from the govemor saying that Crawford
was friendly and that he avowed that it was Calhoun who
favored the punishment of Jackson in 1818. Hamflton kept
the letter and says he told Lewis nothing about it, but it is
harcUy to be thought that so important a piece of in-
'R. G. Dunlap to Jackson, August ro, iSst, Copy in Library of Congress. Also in American Historical
Magatine (Nashville), IX., 93. Also Van Buren, Autobiograthy, IV., 27, (Library, of (Congress, Transcript)

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 507
formation was allowed to lie dormant in the hands of Calhoun's
enemies. Aprfl 3, 1828, Lewds, in Nashvflle, heard that his daughter
was fli in Philadelphia, and set out the next day to visit her.
He went through Washington, which, if he traveled the usual
route by Pittsburg, must have been out of his way, and leamed
there that his daughter was better. IncidentaUy he met Van
Buren for the first time. In Phfladelphia he was completely
reassured as to his daughter, "and," he adds, "as I was
anxious to get back home I hurried on to New York, which, never
having visited, I desired to see." There he was shown Forsyth's
letter to Hamflton. He was surprised at the contents but did
not mention the matter to Jackson when he returned to Tennessee.
He feared that the general, whose feeUngs were then highly
wrought up over the attacks on Mrs. Jackson, might break
into some explosion which would injure his chances of election.
The letter was concealed more than a year.
So far the plausible Lewds; but there is reason to suppose that
the affair (Ud not proceed quite so properly. On the boat which
carried Jackson to New Orleans for the celebration of 1828 was
Gen. R. G. Dunlap, old friend and a comrade in the Sem
inole war; and he was not a poUtician. He told what he saw
and heard on the boat, not for pubUcation but to Jackson himseU
for his information. He said that Hamilton spoke to him of his
proposed visit to Georgia and continued: "He then stated that it
was beUeved that General Jackson was to be assailed either by
Mr. Adams or Mr. Monroe in relation to the affair of the Seminole
War in Florida, and that some of the General's friends (stating
that he and, Major Lewds had taUced about the matter) beUeved
that Mr. Crawford could give evidence growdng out of Mr. Mon
roe's Cabinet councils which would vindicate the General against
such an attack." After saying this Hanulton went on to express
doubt of Calhoun's loyalty to Jackson. Dunlap gave him Uttie

5o8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON^
comfort, saying he cared not what Calhoun felt in 1818 ff he
would only act fairly now. "I felt a contempt," he said to
Jackson, "which I had tried to suppress for several days for the
conduct of some of your suite, whom, I believed, were feeding
your fears and passions wdth a view exclusively to fasten them
selves on your kindness." He was so much chagrined that
wdth General Smith and Colonel Martin he agreed to leave the
party in New Orleans and stop at another hotel; but they were
(hssuaded by Houston, lest Jackson's friends should seem to be
divided.' From this it- is evident that Hamflton knew while
stifl on the Mississippi what Crawford would say to him; and
if that be true it goes far to show that the visit to MflledgevUle,
which plays so central a part in Lewis's general story, was a cut
and dried affair to give Crawford a suitable opportunity to
launch his secret on its fatal course.
But let us return to Lewis. Through most of the year 1829
Jackson was ignorant of Forsyth's letter, but in the autumn it
was thought fit to bring it to his attention, and the means used
were worthy of the genius of a man like Lewds. In November
Monroe dined with Jackson. Lewds, Eaton, and Tench Ring
gold were also present. At the table Ringgold remarked that
in 18x8 Monroe was the only member of the govemment who
iiavored Jackson in the Seminole affair. Lewds innocently as
serted that Calhoun was said to have been on that side, but the
other held to his original statement. When the guests were
gone Lewis and Eaton remained. Jackson caUed for his pipe
and feU into d reverie, the two others talking between themselves
as he smoked. Was Eaton not surprised, said the ingenuous
Lewis, at what Ringgold said? Then the general, catching the
drift of things, started up asking what Ringgold had said. Lewis
told him, but Jackson said there was some mistake.
"I replied," says Lewis, "I am not sure of that."
'Dunlap to Jackson, August lo, i83r, copy in Library of Congress.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 509
"Why are you not? " inquired the general.
"Because I have seen a letter written eighteen months ago,
in which Mr. Crawford is represented as saying that you charged
him with having taken strong grounds against you in Mr. Mon
roe's cabinet, but in that you had done him injustice, for it was
not he, but Mr. Calhoun, who was in favor of your being arrested,
or punished in some other way."
Jackson now demanded to see the letter from Forsyth, and
Lewis hurried to New York to get it; but Hamilton objected that
it ought not to be surrendered without the consent of the writer.
It was then agreed that as Hamflton and Forsyth would both be
in Washington at the approaching session of congress, the matter
might be left in suspense untfl then. But the Georgian, on his
arrival, insisted that Crawford's original statement be secured,
to which Jackson agreed. So says Lewds; but there is an unex
plained lapse of time in the affah: congress convened on Dec
ember 7 th, Forsyth, who was a senator, took his seat on
December 9th, the letter to Crawford was no{^written untfl April
1 6th following,' and that was the day after the celebrated
Jefferson anniversary dinner.' Crawford's reply, written Aprfl
30th, reached Jackson May 12th, and it confirmed everything-
The next day. May 13 th, the President enclosed the Crawford
letter with a note to the vice-president inquiring frigicUy if
the statement was true. Calhoun acknowledged receipt instantly
and promised to reply more fuUy in a short time. He expressed
satisfaction "that the secret and mysterious attempts which
have been making by false insinuations for years for poUtical
purposes, to injure my character, are at length brought to' light."
Calhoun had his faults: he was ambitious, unsympathetic,
chary of friendship, and wiUing to follow the tide of popular
favor where it counted hi his career. He had tried to ride the

'Calhoun Works, VI., 360.
•See below page 555-

SIO THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Jackson wave, and was about to be submerged by it. In this
respect we can have Uttle sjonpathy for him; but as the victim
of the cheap and heartless strategy by which he was now cast
out of the poUtical household he awakens our interest. Van
Buren, the beneficiary of the plot, is said to have known nothing
of it. It is entirely probable. It was a part of the game that
he should be ignorant, and at the time he doubtless knew that
he was ignorant of it; but he received the cloak of the despofled
victim and wore it in public without shame.
May 29th Calhoun's promise was fiflfiUed. In a letter, covering
twenty-two pages of his Works he took up one by one the
accusations of Crawford and rebutted them completely, so far
as they impUed treachery to Jackson. He also made it clear to
any impartial man that the charges proceeded from the hatred
of him who made them. "I shoifld be blind," he continued,
''not to see that this whole affair is a poUtical maneuver, in
which the design is that you should be the instmment, and myself
the victim, but in which the real actors are carefully concealed
by an artful movement. ... I have too much respect for
your character to suppose you capable of participating in the
sUghtest degree in a poUtical intrigue. Your character is of
too high and generous a cast to resort to such means, either for
your own advantage or that of others. This the contrivers of
the plot well knew; but they hoped through your generous
attributes, through your lofty and jealous regard for your char
acter, to excite feeUngs through which they expected to con
summate theh designs. Several indications forewarned me,
long since, that a blow was meditated against me."'
The writer could not have expected to convince Jackson at
this stage of the affair. Foreseeing that things tended to an
exposure he was putting the case as weU as possible for that
purpose. It was to this end that his letter abounded in fine-
'Calhoun, Works, VI., 36a-

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 511
spun arguments from which, hi fact, he never could escape.
They convinced nobody, and the severe terms ua which he
arraigned the plotters, though weU deserved, were futile, both as
to Jackson and as to the pubUc. He would have done better
to admit his original position in 1818, and to have shovm that
what he did was in accordance with his sense of duty and wdth
out intention of injuring the general. That he had aUoWed
Jackson to remain undeceived through these years was the
weak side of his position, and his faflure to deal wdth it gave the
latter an opportunity to reply wdth good effect.
I had been told, said the President in substance, that it was
you and not Crawford who in 181 8 tried to destroy my reputa
tion. I repeUed the charge with in(Ugnation "upon the ground
that you, in all your letters to me, professed to be my personal
friend, and approved entirely my conduct in relation to the
Seminole campaign. ... I had a right to beUeve that you
were my friend, and, until now, never expected to have occasion
to say of you, in the language of Csesar, Et tu, Brutel"'^ The
communication closed with an intimation that the affah would
be laid before the pubUc at the proper time.
Now foUowed a warm correspondence between Jackson, Cal
houn, and Forsyth, extending through the summer. The
President at last closed it, leaving "you and Mr. Crawford and
aU concerned to settle this affair in your ovm way." Calhoun,
hritated by this summary (Usmissal, threw aside aU semblance
of deference and wrote a scathing denunciation of the whole
intrigue. Why should Jackson, he asked, who boasted of his
fairness have turned to Crawford, the writer's bitterest enemy,
to know what transpired in Monroe's cabinet? The letter was
not answered, but endorsed on it in the ^great slanting hand
writing of the President one reads: "This is fuU evidence of
'C. Crocker to Scott, March r6, 1826, as follows, "But it was in the spirit of Et fu, Bnrfe,"— Lockhart,
Life of Scott (Riverside edition), Vin., 48.

SI 2 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the duplicity and insincerity of the man and displays a Uttleness
and entire want of those high, dignified, and honorable feelings
which I once thought he possessed."'
Whfle this correspondence progressed Calhoun received a
biting letter from Crawrf ord, wdth the information that a copy was
sent to Jackson also. Its character is incUcated by some extracts.
"I make no doubt," said the writer of it, "that you would have
been very glad to be spared the trouble of making so elaborate
a comment upon a letter of three pages. I make no doubt that
you cUslike the idea of being exposed and stripped of the covert
you have been enjoying under the President's whigs by means of
falsehood and misrepresentation." And again: "A man who
knows, as I well do, the smaU weight which any assertion of
yours is entitled to in a matter where your interests lead you to
cUsregard the truth, must have other evidence than your asser
tion to remove even a suspicion." And finally this: "Fromthe
time you established the Washington Republican for the purpose
of slandering and vflff3dng my reputation, I considered you a
degraded and disgraced man, for whom no man of honor and
character could feel any other than the most sovereign contempt.
Under this impression I was anxious that you should be no
longer vice-president of the United States."' The venom of
this letter ought to have cUscredited Crawford as a wdtness
with any fair minded man.
This controversy showed Jackson and his imme(Uate supporters
that it was necessary to have another organ than Green's
Telegraph. Of the latter he said: "The truth is, he has pro
fessed to me to be heart and soul against the Bank, but his idol
controls him as much as the shewman does his puppits, and we
must get another organ to announce the poUcy, and defend the

'CalhDun to Jackson. August 25, r830, Jackaon Mss. See also Calhoun, Works, VI., 400.
'Crawford to Calhoun, October 2, 1830, Jackson Mss. See also Shipp, Giant Days, or the Lift and Tint
tf W. B. Crawford, 338.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 513
administration, in his hands it is more injured than by all
the opposition.'" Looking around for an editor he hit upon F.
B. Blair, formerly a Clay supporter in Kentucky, who had
become an advocate of "reUef "and "new court" poUcies, and as
such defended Jackson in 1828. Blair was deeply hostfle to
the Bank of the United States. He was a friend of Kendafl,
who now urged that he be brought to Washington. He accepted
the proposition made to him and on December 7, 1830, brought
out the first number of the Globe, destined to be the most influ
ential American newspaper of this time. He began wdthout
capital, but the administration used its influence and soon
got him two thousand subscribers to which was added a share
of the pubhc printing. He made an admirable partisan e(Utor.
His style was forcefifl, biting, and micompromising. Jackson
found in him a kindred Westem sphit entirely at his service.
When Jackson desired to lay a matter before the public he
would exclaim, " Send it to Bla-ar," pronouncing the word in the
old North-of-Ireland way. Blah, for his part, adnaired Jackson
greatly and with sincerity. From his letters we have interesting
glimpses of the President, one of which is as foUows:
It is a great mistake to suppose that Old Hickory is in
leading-strings, as the coalition say. I can teU you that he is as
much superior here as he was with our generals during the war.
He is a man of admirable judgment. I have seen proof of it
in the direction which he has given to affairs this winter, in
which I know he has differed from his advisers. ... He
is fighting a great poUtical battle, and you wdU find that he wfll
vanquish those who contend wdth him now as he has always
done his private or the public enemies."
Van Buren has long been supposed to have brought on the
attack on his rival. Lewis says that neither the secretary of
state nor hhnseff played such a part, but that it came about as
'Jackson to Lewis, June 26, r83o, Mss. New York Public Library.
'Atlantic MontMy, LX., 187.

514 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
an acddent. But it must have been taken wdth fuU knowledge
of the supporters of the man from New York. When Calhoun's
first long statement was received, the letter of May 29th, Jackson
was in a violent temper and sent the communication to Van
Buren for his opinion of it. The latter read the first page and
handed it back to the messenger remarking that it would prob
ably produce a mpture with the President and that it would
be better ff he, the secretary, could say that he knew nothing of
it. When it was returned Jackson asked what his favorite
thought of it.
"Mr. Van Buren," said Lewis, "thinks it best for him that he
should not read it," and he gave reasons for the opinion. The
general smiled and said : " I reckon Van is right. I dare say they
wifl attempt to throw the whole blame upon him."'
Long afterward, when the heat of the controversy was past,
and Calhoun and Van Buren had gone through the formaUty of
reconciUation, Jackson sent the latter the foUowing statement:
Hermitage, July 31, 1840
Dear Sir:
It was my intention as soon as I heard that Mr. Calhoun had
expressed his approbation of the leading measures of your
a(hninistration and had paid a visit to you, to place in your
possession the statement which I shaU now make, but bad
health and the pressure of other business have constantiy led
me to postpone it. What I have reference to is the imputation
which has some times been thrown upon you, that you had an
agency in producing a controversy which took place between Mr.
Calhoun and myself in consequence of Mr. Crawford's disclosure
of what occurred in the cabinet of Mr. Monroe relative to my
military operations in Florida during his administration. Mr.
Calhoun is doubtless already satisfied that he did you injustice
in holding you in the sUghtest degree responsible for the course
I pursued on that occasion; but as there may be others who may
'For Lewis' narrative, see Parton, Jackson, III., 3ro-330.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 515
be StiU disposed to do you injustice; and who may hereafter use
the circumstance for the purpose of impugning both your char
acter and his, I think it my duty to place in your possession the
following sympathetic declaration, viz., That I am not aware
of your ever saying a word to me relative to Mr. Calhoun which had
a tendency to create an interruption of. my friendly relations with
him — that you were not consulted by me in any stage of the cor
respondence on the subject of his conduct in the cabinet of Mr.
Monroe, and that after this correspondence became public the only
sentiment you ever expressed to me about it was that of deep regret
that it should have occurred.
You are at liberty to show this letter to Mr. Calhoun, and
make any other use of it you may think proper for the purpose
of correcting the erroneous impressions which have prevafled
on the subject.'
This statement was in keeping with Jackson's generosity
toward a friend. It was supported by Van Buren's own assertion
in his unpublished autobiography. He was too wise a poUtical
manager to become involved in a quarrel which related so dosely
to himself, and which must inevitably be made public.
With the end of this correspondence late in the summer of
1830, there was a lull in the controversy. Calhoun busied
himself in getting letters from other members of Monroe's cabinet
of 1818, aU of whom, except Crawford, gave evidence to support
him. Monroe himseff made a statement to the same purport.
Even R. M. Johnson, a friend of Jackson, gave assurance that
in 18 19 CaUioun in reference to the invasion of Florida "always
spoke of you (Jackson) with respect and kindness.'" AU this
was in anticipation of publication, but each side hesitated to
commit itseff to the pubUc. Each desired the advantage of being
able to pronounce the other the aggressor, and, therefore, the
disturber of party harmony.
The achninistration felt that it was not a time for dissension
'Van Buren Mss.
'R. M. Johnson to Jackson, February 13, iSsr, Jackson Mss.

5i6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
in the household. Clay was raUying his friends and joining to
them the friends of the bank and intemal improvements. Noth
ing must be done before the November elections, and their
results were not so overwhelming that opposition could be
ignored. Calhoun undoubte(Uy underestimated his difficulties.
He (Ud not realize how much he was hampered by nuIUfication.
It tumed from him the great body of Northem sentiment at a
time when he needed aU his strength. He took the hesitation
of the administration for weakness and beheved that he could
blast Van Buren by showing what a nefarious scheme had been
concocted: January 13, 183 1, he wrote:
The correspondence between the President and myself
begins to excite much attention and speculation. I arrived
here [Washington] before New Year's day some three, or four
days, and as I did not attend on that occasion, it confirmed the
rumours already in circulation of a seperation between us.
Mr. Crawford's correspondence wdth Mr. Adams and Mr. Crow-
inshield placed the opponents of the administration in pos
session of the knowledge of the correspondence between us, and
their policy has been to force it out. As far as I am concemed,
it would be desirable, but as I have acted on the defensive thus
far and intend to do so throughout, I wifl not publish unless it
should become absolutely necessary. In the meantime, I per
noit whatever friend desires to read the correspondence, which
has given a pretty general knowledge of its contents here. The
result has been, in the opinion of aU my friends, to strengthen
me, and to weaken those who have got up the conspiracy for
my destruction. Every opening was made for me to renew
my intercourse with the President, which I have declined, and
wiU continue so to do, till he retracts what he has done.. His
friends are much alarmed.
To another he wrote: "Those who commenced the affair are
heartily sick of it."'
Van Buren corroborates to a certain extent this view of
the situation. He admits that about the beginning of the year
^ 'Calhoun, Letters (Jameson edition), 279, 283.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 517
overtures for reconcilation between Jackson and the vice-presi
dent were made and nearly succeeded, and that if they had not
fafled the South Carolinian would have reached the goal of his
ambition.' Failure came because Calhoun was too eager to strike
Van Buren behind the President's cloak. His friends, and prob
ably some others, flattered him that by exposing the intrigue
he coifld destroy the chances of the secretary of state. They
believed the latter a shrewd upstart, who had no weapon but
trickery, and that this would be ineffective if the people could
see how it worked. They forgot, if they ever knew, Jackson's
power of friendship.
Calhoun even fancied that the pubUcation could be dhected
so pointedly toward his rival that Jackson would be indifferent
about it. With that object in mind he submitted to Eaton the
long pamphlet he had prepared and asked^this confidential friend
of the President to remove before pubUcation aU points which
would be personally disagreeable to the chief. Eaithn promised
to submit the manuscript to Jackson, but he failed to do so and
returned it without saying the President did not see it. No
corrections had been made in the text, and Calhoun, beUeving
that there was plaua sailing ahead, with the aid of Duff Green,
proceeded with the plans for pubUcation. Febmary i sth, by way
of preparing the pubhc, Green pubUshed in the Telegraph a
number of extracts from Van Buren papers, the purport of which
was to bring out their candidate for the presidency in case Jack
son dedined to run. This was to show that the Van Buren
faction had introduced discord into the party. Two days later
the complete pamphlet was given to the world.'
Jackson prepared a reply but on consideration decided not
to pubUsh it. He felt, says Benton, that it was not becommg
for a President of the United States to become a party to a
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, IV., 33-37 (Transcripts).
'Telegrafh, February 15 and t7, 1831: See also Niles. JJegfatoi-.XL., ir.and Calhoun, Worts, VI„^40-44S.

Si8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
newspaper controversy. The defense remained unpublished
for over twenty years and was at last incorporated wdth certain
omissions in Benton's View.^
Calhoun's cUsfllusionment was rapid. The administration
party showed eager hostflity and ranged itseff on the side of
Van Buren. Blah's newly estabUshed Globe gave the pace for
a him(hed other newspapers. "Mr. CaUioun's pubUcation,"
it said after reviewing the events which preceded its pubUcation,
"therefore, was whoUy uncalled for. It is a firebrand wantonly
thrown into the RepubUcan party. Mr. Calhoun wfll be held
responsible for afl the mischief which may foUow.'" In a short
time the whole country rang with the conffict, and aU hope of
peaceful relations between President and vice-president was
destroyed. Fighting for Ufe, Calhoun set about to organize his group to
break the power of Van Buren, safely ensconced under the wing
of the popular idol. "He came in like a mercenary," said Duif
Green of the secretary of state, "and having divided the spoils
among his foUowers he seems resolved to expel the native troops
from the camp. I wiU expose him."' A movement was launched
to unite aU opponents of the secretary of state. The old Clinton
faction of New York was approached and gave assurances of
support; the dissatisfied Virginians offered anothef body of
recruits and arrangements were made to estabUsh a newspaper
to sustain them under the e(Utorship of R. H. CraU6; in Penn
sylvania Calhoun counted on Ingham, aheady aUenated from
Jackson and about to resume through the (Ussolution of the
cabinet his former position as state leader;' and in the South
he had a strong foUowing among those who resented the high
IBenton, View, I., 167.
'GtoSe, February 21, 1831.
'Duff Green to Cabell and Co., April i6, i83t. Green's letters. Library of Congress.
'Duff Green to "Cabell Esquire," June ar, 1831. Duff Green's letters to Crallfi and others in the Library
•f Congress throw much light on the Calhoun movement from 1831 to 1836.

CALHOUN'S ISOLATION COMPLETED 519
tariff. His efforts were expended within the party with the object
of defeating the nomination of Van Buren in 1832, for dther
first or second place on the ticket.
AU this aroused Jackson. He came out openly for his favonte,
consenting to take reelection as a means of carrying through his
pohcy. Leading his weU-organized party, he attacked every
show of opposition wdth the ardor of a miUtary man, and the
people foUowed him tumultuously. In the face of such a force.
the insurgents could do nothing. Calhoun was isolated. Broken|
and desperate he became a sectional leader, but it was not!
untfl Jackson's hand relaxed its grasp on the democratic party
that he again became an important factor ia national pohtics.

xxv
THE CABINET DISSOLVED
The reorganization of the cabinet foUowed hard on the rupture
wdth Calhoim. It was a shrewd move in the interest of Van
Buren, and the evidence seems to show that it (Ud not originate
wdth Jackson. It removed Calhoun men from the cabinet,
eUminated the disturbing Eaton affair, weakened the criticism
of the new favorite for the succession, assured a united cabinet,
and placed the anti-Calhoun faction at the head of the party.
It completed the evolution of the Jacksonian organization which
was about to estabUsh a rigid control of pubUc affairs.
Calhoun's pamphlet produced a powerful effect. InteUi
gent men who were not biased by party feeling could not but see
the intrigue which had been used, and politicians feared the
results. In Richmond, Va., his friends were very active and
proposed to give him a dinner on his retum from Washington,
but by the greatest effort, the opposing faction was able to pre
vent it on the ground that party harmony ought to be preserved.
The action of Virginia in this crisis would have exerted much
influence in other states, and each faction was anxious to
control it.
Friends in Richmond kept Van Buren informed of the situa
tion there. "In my opinion," wrote Archer on March 12th,
"nothing can restore the administration to popularity but a
thorough reorganization bf the cabinet. This cannot in my
judgment be done tifl after the next election. The govemment jg
is too much weakened to give any more local disgusts. This
hazard can't be mn now. At another time it must be accom-
S20

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 521
pUshed, and what wdU be the greatest obstmction, I fear, Mr.
Eaton (toward whom as you know, I have personaUy a kind
feeling), must be induced to accept some honorary form of re
tirement." It was a fortnight after he received this letter
before Van Buren, by his owm account, decided to resign. Three
weeks after it was written Andrew Stevenson wrote: "We shaU
probably have war to the knife, and shaU lose some of our forces."'
By this time, many party leaders realized the burden of carry
ing Eaton. They also knew how hopeless it was to expect
Jackson to repudiate him. One day on Pennsylvania Avenue,
General Overton, a close friend of Jackson, met Major Bradford,
another friend of the President. Both were Tennesseeans.
"Bradford," said he, "there must be a change in the cabinet
or we cannot get along. "
"Change! What change, sir, do you mean?"
"I mean, sir, that Major Eaton must be removed."
Overton added that over one hundred congressmen would go
home dissatisfied, unless something was done. Bradford re
plied, "If the whole country were in a body to press Andrew
Jackson to this act they would not succeed wdthout showing
better cause than, as yet, is knovm. "
"WeU, sir," repUed Overton, "it wiU be tried, for there is to
be a meeting for that very purpose very soon. "
Bracfford consulted Barry who was much concemed at the
news and by his advice Jackson was approached.
"After I had made my communication," says Bra{fford, "he
[Jackson], instantly raised himseff to the height of his noble
stature and vrith eyes Ughted up .wdth feeUng and determination,
he uttered these words: 'Let them come — let the whole hun
dred come on — I would resign the Presidency or lose my
Ufe sooner than I would desert my friend Eaton or be forced to

'W. S. Archer to Van Buren, March r2 and 27, 1831; A. Stevenson to Van Buren, April 4, 183'; Van Buren
Mas.

522 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON ,
do an act that my conscience may cUsapprove. I shaU send for
General Overton to-morrow and sift this affair to the bottom. ' '"
Thus there was smaU hope for Eaton's cUsmissal: we shaU see
that by skifful maneuvering he was brought to resign.
Van Buren's interests coincided wdth the desire for a new
cabinet. By getting out he would reUeve himseff from the
charge of directing the govemment in his owm behalf, he would
suffer no loss but rather gain strength wdth Jackson, who would
now regard him as a generous and self-denying man, and he wotdd
remove himseff from what might be an unpleasant storm centre.
He considered the matter carefuUy and decided to wdthdraw.
He resolved, as he says, to broach the matter to Jackson on one
of their daily rides, but time after time as he thought to speak his
courage failed and he deferred the matter. His son, who knew
his father's resolve chaffed him privately for these postpone
ments. Finafly, one day, as President and secretary rode through
Georgetown into the TenaUytown road, the latter found op
portunity to declare his purpose. , ' '^^ -:,
In their general conversation, Jackson referred to the (Uscord
in his councfls and said that he had hopes of peace. "No,
General," said the other, "there is but one thing can give you
peace." "What is that, sir?" said Jackson quickly. "My resig-
nation." "Never, sir," exclaimed the general: "even you know
UtHe^f Andrew Jackson if you suppose him capable of consent
ing to such a humiUation of his friends by his enemies!"
It took four days, says Van Buren in his circumstantial account
of the affair, to convince the old man of the wdsdom of the pro
posed action. What arguments were used we are not told, but
in a long ride that took them beyond their usual tuming pomt
at the TenaUytovm gate, he was at last brought over. It was
then that the President suggested the EngUsh mission for_his
companion.
'Major Samuel Bradford to Jackson, February aS, 1832, Jackson Mss.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 523
Next moming Van Buren was early at the White House.
Jackson was much agitated and said with his usual (hrectness
that it was his custom to release from association wdth him any
man who felt that he ought to go, and that he would accorcUngly
let his secretary foUow his desires. This, says the latter, was
precisely the turn he had most feared: his request, after a night's
reflection, was construed as indicating a wdsh to leave an un
popular association. With much warmth and unfeigned con
cern the secretary vrithdrew aU he had said and declared he would
keep his place untfl dismissed. This earnestness and evident
candor touched the old man's heart and complete harmony was
restored. During the aftemoon of the same day, they again rode horse
back. It was now agreed that the matter might be discussed
with Barry, Eaton and Lewds; and the next night, the five men
dined together at Van Buren's house. Up to this point Van
Buren's resignation only was under discussion. Nothing had
been said about Eaton's, but the whole (hift of the argument
must have pointed to that as a logical outcome of the situation.
Eaton was thus forced to take a position, and in the night's
conversation he said that inasmuch as he was the original cause
of the entanglement, he also would withdraw in the interest of
harmony. Van Buren then asked what Mrs. Eaton would
say of this and her husband repUed that she would gladly con
sent. The matter was definitely determined at this meeting,
and next evening the party assembled again, Eaton reporting
that his wife approved of the proposed arrangement. Her com
pliance could hardly have been hearty, however; for when a few
days later Jackson and Van Buren on one of their stroUs, made
her a visit, their "reception was to the last degree formal and
ccild." When the secretary aUuded to this, Jackson only
shrugged his shoulder and said it was strange. After Eaton's
announcement at the meeting referred to, it was agreed that

S24 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON-
both men should resign in writing and that the letter from the
secretary of war should be dated earUer than the other.*
Eaton's letter had date of Aprfl 7th, and Van Buren's, Aprfl
uth, but they were not announced in the Globe until Aprfl 20th,
when Van Buren's note and Jackson's reply were given in fufl.
Eaton's gave a desire to retire to private lffe as the ground on
which it rested, but his friend's was more delicately drawn,
AUuding in guarded terms to the charge that he was aiming atthe
presidency, the writer declared that he sought only to relieve the
Presideiit from such false imputations, and that he woifld have
done this sooner had not pubUc business which was just com
pleted, made it necessary to remain in office. The matter re
ferred to was negotiations with England and France, two com
plicated affairs, which were just completed wdth cre(Ut and
success. Jackson accepted these resignations in two courteous
notes, which left no doubt that he parted wdth the men in the
most friencUy spirit.'
It was not a great sacrificie on the part of either of the two men.
In reorganizing the cabinet, MtLane, by the anangement made,
would retum from London and Van Buren would have the
vacant place. Eaton, it was expected, could be made a senator
from Tennessee, and he would thus be able to continue his
stmggle against his Washington foes wdthout seeming to retreat
before them.
The pubUc knew Uttle of what was going on behind the scenes
and the first intimations of resignations caused friends of the
two secretaries, to think them out of favor with the President.
Van Buren's supporters in New York were in consternation until
he sent a letter to Butler, his old law partner, with spedfic re
assurances. His retirement, it said, was of his ovm initiative
and would not have been allowed by the President, "if he had
'Van Bursn, Autobiograthy, IV., 82-92.
'Parton, Life of Jackson, III., 317-3S2.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 525
not been satisfied by me that it was caUed for by the pubUc
interest and could not be ultimately preju(Ucial to me." It
dosed by suggesting that his friends be given an intimation of the
true state of affairs and by hinting that other resignations would
foUow.' Virginia also gave the outgoing secretary of state much anxiety.
He wrote a precautionary letter to Ritchie, editor of the Rich
mond Enquirer, and completely won that variable personage.
A reassuring reply came quickly, one feature of which was an
injunction not to take an office by way of substitute for the sur
rendered secretaryship. This was in order that the very sus
picion of coUusion should be avoided. Two weeks later, when
it was known that Van Buren was to be minister to London,
the Richmond editor took the opposite point of view, writing a
long argument to show that it was Van Buren's duty to take the
proffered appointment. The sqiflrming of poor Ritchie is one
of the pathetic things in the process by which Virginia was shom
of her political prestige, and it was likewise a partial cause of
that cUsaster."
These efforts were seconded by Jackson, who made one of
his visits to the Rip Raps, in Hampton Roads, in the early
summer of 183 1. He received calls from many Virginians and
talked freely of the situation. To the visitors he affirmed his
undiminished confidence in the New Yorker. In fact, from now
on he made no secret of his wishes in regard to his favorite.'
The withdrawal of two cabhiet members gave opportunity
to dismiss the others. They came in as a unit, said Jackson,
and they should go out as a unit. The assertion was not true,
but it served the purpose of him who made it; and there was
undoubte(Uy truth in the notion that the President ought to
have a harmonious councfl. Accordingly, Aprfl 19th he informed
' 'Van Buren to B. F. Butler, April t6, and B. F. Butler to Van Buren, April 22, rSsi; Van Buren Mss.
'Ritchie to Van Bur^n (no date, about April 22), and April 30, rSsi; Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Vau Buren, July ri, i83r; Van Buren Mss.

526 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Ingham and Branch of the retirement of their coUeagues and
intimated that he would be pleased to reorganize the cabinet.
They resigned promptly and with as much good temper as could
be expected under the circumstances. Berrien was absent on
public business. On his return Jackson expressed his wishes in
a conversation and a letter of resignation was immecUately
sent, June 19, 183 1. Barry, postmaster-general, was allowed
to remain in office. HeJKa&a weak man and neither"si3e con-
sidered his presence important. ——
The formal (Ugnity wdth which the secretaries retired was not
to last long. Early in May, Duff Green in the Telegraph began
to refer pointe(Uy to Mrs. Eaton, going so far as to say that
Ingham, Branch, and Berrien refused to receive her. As neither
of these gentlemen denied the assertion Eaton took it for ac
quiescence in the charge. If no cloud had been cast on the
lady's fame, his conduct would have been natural, but in view
of the Washington gossip for nearly two years past, the husband
expected too much. He was wfl(fly angry and in a note asked
Ingham if he approved Green's assertion. His former coUeague
replied contemptuously: "You must be a Uttle deranged, to
imagine that any bluster of yours could induce me to (Usavow
what all the inhabitants of this city know, and perhaps half the
people of the United States beUeve to be true." This reply
doubtless relieved its author's pent-up feelings, but it was rude
and unnecessary. Eaton foUowed it by a demand for "satis
faction," but the other only belittied the demand. Then the
Tennesseean sent a note in a tone of lofty bluster in which his
feelings found their highest expression in the assertion that his
adversary was a coward.'
Ingham was now han(Ung over the keys of office, which he
had retained in order to complete some unfiinished work in es
tabUshing a system of standard measurements, and he was on
u 'Parton, Life of Jackson, III., 365.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 527
the point of leaving Washington. It was Saturday, June i8th,
that the report was concluded, and on that day he sent his reply
to Eaton's first note. Hurryhig his preparations for departure
whfle he ignored the second note seemed, therefore, to give color
to the opinion that he was running away from the quarrel. Eaton
was bent on having an encounter and on the same Saturday
vacated the war office, which he had retained temporarily.
Dr. P. G. Randolph, husband of Mrs. Eaton's sister, was placed
temporarily in charge. Next moming he hitmded himseff into
Ingham's private apartments and inquired if the latter intended
to answer the chaUenge which had been sent. Ingham replied
that he would answer when he saw fit, and Randolph announced
that if an acceptance were not received, Eaton would take
prompt measures to redress his wrongs. For this the visitor was
shown the door.'
Next day, Monday, Ingham gave up his office, sent Eaton a
contemptuous reply to the chaflenge, and prepared to leave the
city. During the moming he made some cafls on friends, and
when he retumed home at one o'dock learned that Eaton had
inquired for him at the treasury department and had sub
sequently spent much of the forenoon at a grocery store from
which Ingham's residence could be watched. He was also
told that Eaton, Randolph, Major Lewis, J. W. CampbeU and
others had been seen together as though they were united to
carry out some design. He concluded that his life was in danger
and armed himself, but when he later went out with friends to
the treasury department, he was not molested. In the after
noon Eaton was seen to walk several times past the house, as
though he were looking for Ingham.
All this the retiring secretary of the treasury constmed as
a conspiracy. He remained at home on Tuesday and at four
o'clock Wednesday moming set out for Baltimore. Before he

'Niles, Register, XL., 317. 33', 367.

528 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
went he sent Jackson a siUy letter charging a conspiracy to
assassinate him, the writer. If he beUeved what he wrote, his
duty was to have made his charge before the police authorites
and to have remained in tovm as a witness. The complaint was
referred by Jackson to the parties impUcated. They aU denied
concerted action, but Eaton admitted that acting for himself
alone he had sought an encounter wdth Ingham in order to
rechess his wrongs. Thus passed the " assassination " of Ingham,
except as it was used by the newspapers for poUtical effect.' It
created a great deal of talk, and ten days later it was the chief
object of conversation at Quincy, Mass., where Adams
remarked to a cafler from the South that he thought Eaton did
right and was much persecuted in his relations with the cabinet
members, but that he ought to have retired wdthout making an
issue of his wife's character before the American people.'
General Coffee's opinion of the affair is also interesting. This
old companion in arms of Jackson was in retiremer^t but kept a
close eye on aU that touched his old friend and commander.
The Washington troubles gave him much concem and he re
lieved his mind in a confidential letter to Jackson. Eaton's
position, he said, was proper but the time was bacUy chosen. It
might add serious embarrassment to the administration. "At
suitable seasons," he continued, "I expect he wfll go the whole
hog round." Let him be patient; a favorable opportunity would
undoubtedly occur when a meeting could be made to "come on
by accident. " '
^ Dissolving the cabinet gave joy to the opposition. What
could these wholesale resignations mean? said their press with
affected simplicity. They were, repUed the Globe, purdy poli
tical and not mysterious, a necessary step to preserve the equflib
rium of factions within the party. The (Uscreet sflence which
'Niles, Register XL., 302, ssr.
'Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, XLIU., 73.
•Coffee to Jackson, July.,9, iS3r; Jackson Mss. \

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 529
the outgoing cabinet members preserved supported this view;
but men who knew the situation best beUeved that something
was behmd the scene. The Telegraph, whose editor, said General
Coffee ought to be chaUenged for a duel, also knew the secret,
and his remarks concerning the administration were very bitter.
Ingham's friends in Pennsylvania foUowed the lead of the Tel
egraph. The opposition seized on every intimation of a rupture
in the councils of their enemies and sought to widen the breach.
The blustering of Eaton against Ingham was particularly inter
esting to them, and Nfles, in fuU sympathy with their side,
continually reminded his readers that it was aU very significant.
At this time Branch and Berrien began to talk, and it was about the
interview in January, 1830, in which Jackson tried to induce the
cabinet members to drop the (Uscriminations against Mrs. Eaton.'
To Duff Green belongs the crecUt of prying open this phase of the
controversy. He charged Jackson wdth saying that the cabinet
should receive Mrs. Eaton or lose their places. Blah, coming to
the aid of the President, demanded proof. Green gave none,
but it became known that Berrien would substantiate the charge.
Blair then tumed on Berrien, who at length published a state
ment in which he asserted that the President in the interview
referred to, made the recognition of Mrs. Eaton the concUtion
on which he. Branch, and Ingham should remain in the cabinet,
aud he denied that Jackson in that interview read from a written
statement or other paper.' Ingham and Branch corroborated
the statement in formal botes,' evidence not to be reconcfled wdth
a memorandum, several copies of which exist in Jackson's hand
writing, but which was then unpubUshed.
The President observed the controversy vrith great interest,
and although Ingham and Berrien made more than one effort
to draw some explosion of temper from him in regard to it, he
'See above, II., page 467.
•Niles, Register, XL., 38r-384.
•Jackson to Van Buren, July 11, tSst, Van Buren Mss.

530 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
remained discreetly silent. So far as he was concemed, the (Ussolu
tion of the cabinet was accomplished peacefuUy. He ignored the
outbreak of temper between Eaton and Ingham, and when the lat
ter referred the aUeged conspiracy to him he acted wdth becoming
faimess. To the pubUshed statement of Berrien, he also offered
a dignified appearance. But inwar(fly he was deeply agitated.
At first Calhoun was the object of his temper. Berrien, he
said, July uth, was going out Uke a gentleman, but the vice-
president was continmng "his old course of secrete writing and
slandering me. I have a few extracts from his letters sent to
me, which in due time, wiU aid in finishing a picture I mean to
draw of himl " If this intention refers to his formal reply, we
know that its publication was wisely deferred.' A fortnight
later, when the Globe's caustic attacks brought Berrien into the
controversy, Jackson changed his mind about that gentleman.
But his greatest scorn was reserved for Ingham; and when that
person published a letter to him before it had time to arrive, he
caused a secretary to write a frigid reply refusing to receive
further communications. The secretary's letter was promptly
published in the Globe.'
The autumn after Eaton left office, he visited Tennessee. The
Jackson party there exerted themselves with great success to
make his reception briUiant. Every lady in Nashville except
Mrs. Dr. McNairy, so wrote Judge Overton, cafled on Mrs.
Eaton; and fifty-four out of the sixty-nine members of the legis
lature attended a dinner to Eaton, Branch was then traveling
in Tennessee and arrived at NashviUe at just this unlucky
moment. "He reached NashviUe the evening of the dinner,"
writes Jackson to Van Buren, "and, on the next day went to
the Assembly room, where Mr. Bell and Major Eaton were by
invitation, and after remaining in the lobby for some time with-
'See above, II., 517.
'N. P. Trist to Ingham, see the Globe, July 11, 1831.

) )\

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 531
out any attention being paid to him, he retired. He doubtless
exdaimed in his anguish 'FareweU, a long farewell to all my
greatness,' as he how cUscovers his sad mistake hi supposing
that he, Ingham, Berrien, CaUaoun, Duff Green & Co., could
raise up and crush whom they pleased at pleasure, and destroy
me by prostrating Eaton and yourself. Those men have faUen
unwept, unhonored and unsung. . . I fear them not, nor
need you. You are gaining strength daily in the nation and wdU
continue to do so, and rise in pubhc estimation in opposition to all
their intrigues to prevent it. Your enemies might as well attempt
to change the running of the water in the Mississippi, as to pre
vent you from obtaining the increased confidence of the people. '"
His personal affection for the favorite came out in many littie
touches. July 23rd, when the controversy was warmest, he himg
a picture of his friend in his owm apartment. "It appears to
look and smfle upon me as I write," he said.' And two days later
he wrote; "Let me hear from you, and any idea that may occur
to you worthy to be presented to Congress, suggest it to me."'
To Dunlap he wrote: "I never acted wdth a more frank and candid
man than Mr. Van Buren. — It is said that he is a great magician
— I believe it, but his only wand is good common sense which he
uses for the benefit of his country. " ' To Judge White, he wrote :
"I say to you frankly, that Van Buren is one of the most frank
men I ever knew, wdth talents combined wdth common sense,
but rarely to be met with — a true man with no gufle."
In the meantime, the guileless Van Buren succeeded in keep
ing himseff untouched by the prevafling controversies. He
left the country late in the summer. He wrote frequent letters
to Jackson, but he has kept the historian as much at sea as his

'Jackson to Van Buren, November 14, 1S31, Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, July 23, t83t. Van Buren Mss.
'Ibid to Ibid, July 25, i83r; Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Dunlap, July 18, 1831, copy in Library of Congress. Jackson to White, April 9, 1831, Jack
son Mss.

533 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
contemporaries. Later in Ufe he asked Jackson to return his
letters, and the old man with accustomed sincerity compUed
without retaining copies. Van Buren gave as the ground for
his request the desire to use them in his autobiography; but the
completed manuscript of that work contains few references to
the letters to Jackson.
But Jackson's confidence in his friend was not misplaced.
Van Buren was by far the wdsest and coolest head among those
who conducted the administration. He was always restrained,
always master of his tongue and pen, suggesting more than he
said, and careful to leave no positive impressions on others which
might embarrass him in the future. In success and defeat he
remained tme to the old chieftain. Beneath the cool exterior
of the one was the capacity to understand the genuine quaUties
which lay beneath the crude and turbulent nature of the others.
Many of Van Buren's friends were opposed to the appoint
ment^ to England. They feared he would lose control of the
situation through absence. His judgment was to the contrary:
he believed his influence at the White House was strong enough
to withstand absence. In fact he had the assurance of Jackson
himself that all his power would be exerted to make the New
Yorker the next President. Moreover, it was evident that by
going abroad, he would lessen the strength of his opponent's
argument that he was the shrewd manipulator of the President
and those who controlled the party machinery. When in the
foUowing whiter his short-sighted foes defeated his nomination in
the senate, he became a martyr in the eyes of his party and it
was now a point of honor to carry him through the democratic
nominating convention. Up to that time, his nomination in
1832 seems not to have been a part of the plan arranged by the
inner circle in Washington.
The work of fiUing the cabinet vacancies was taken up in con
nection vrith the task of getting rid of the former incumbents, Van

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 533
Buren .remaining hi Washington to assist. At Jackson's sugges
tion, he wrote on Aprfl 9th to Edward Livingston. "The Pres
ident," he said, " wants you to come here at once and to manage
so that your destuaation is unknown; and he wfll judge of your
fitness for the duty he has in view by the secrecy and prompt
ness with which you execute this request.'" The communication
was essentially a miUtary order, and the recipient obeyed with
alacrity. He was now out of debt and wiUing to exchange his
seat in the senate for the first position in the cabinet. He was
a nationaUst in his views and his appointment was unpopular
wdth the strict constructionists of New York and Virginia; but,
as Ritchie said, they did not complain since Jackson asserted
that he would "give the rule" and that it would be the part of
the secretaries to execute his views.'
FiUing Eaton's place was more difficult. The plan had been
that H. L. White should resign his seat in the senate to take the
war department and that Eaton should have the vacant sena
torship. Although Van Buren suggested White for a place,' Jack
son himself assumed the task of inducing the Tennessee senator
to comply with the first phase of the plan. Aprfl 9th, the day Van
Buren summoned Livingston, he himself wrote White in a far
less commanding tone. The letter gives such an intimate view
of Jackson's mind at this time that it is weU worth pubUshing in
its entirety. It mns: Strictly confidential. Washington, Aprfl 9th, 1831'
My Dr. Sh
When first elected President of the United States, my first
concem was to select a cabinet of honest talented men, and good
repubUcans, amonghst whom, I might have one, from personal
acquaintance, I coifld with safety confide You and Major
'Van Buren Mss.
•Niles, Register, XL., 169.
•Van BuKD, Autobiograthy, JU., 4; Van Bum Mss.

S34 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Eaton were the only men with whom, I had such acquaintance
and intimacy that ensured me my entire confidence were well
placed (and who could be tho't of to fiU such a place), one of
whom I tho't it necessary for the success of my administra
tion, should be in my Cabinet. Both of you had taken a promi
nent share in my election, which drew me from my chosen rethe-
ment, I therefore thought I had claims upon you to aid me in the
administration of the govemment. With these feeUngs, on the
close of the election in 1828, 1 addressed you, asking you to come
into my Cabinet, and requesting if anything of an imperious '
nature should deprive me of your services, make your determin
ation known to Maj. Eaton, as I calculated that one or the other
of you would.
When I reached Washington, for reasons which you assigned
as imperious, you declined, and it was with great reluctance and
much difficulty, and persuasion, Maj. Eaton consented. He
has made known to me his intention to withdraw, and has tend
ered his resignation. It is with the greatest reluctance I part
with him, but his decision is final. You know the confidence I
have in him, but knowing how much he has unjustly suffered
I cannot longer detain him contrary to his wishes and to his
happiness. He has been cruelly persecuted, and from a combin
ation of sources, that until lately, some of them I did not suspect.
I have in my reply to Major Eaton's letter of resignation,
closed mine thus, "I wdll avail myself of the earUest opportunity
to obtain some qualified friend to succeed you, and until then 1
must solicit that the acceptance of your resignation may be
deferred." I have therefore a right to claim your aid as my
faithful friend, Eaton has determined to retire. The reasons
that influenced your determination in 1829, does not now exist.
It is true you have drank the cup of bittemess to the dregs,
your bereavements have been great — wdth me you can Uve
(I have a large room for you) who can sympathize wdth your
sufferings, and you can keep your little son and daughter with
you and attend to his education, and the duties of your office
wiU give employ to your mind. This must be employed to pre
serve Ufe, and in this employment you wiU not only render im
portant services to your country, but an act of great friendship

THE CABINET DISSOLVED $$$
to me. I cannot hesitate to believe, but that you will yield your
consent. I shaU await your answer with much anxiety.
I pray you to look about and you will see the great (Ufficulty,
not to say impractibility [sic] of supplying your place in case of
refusal, and I therefore feel the more justified in ad(hng the claims
of private friendship, to considerations of public character.
You must not my dear friend refuse my request. If at any
time you should find the duties of the office too much for your
health or other opportunity should offer to place you in a situa
tion more congenial with your past pursuits, we wfll have time and
opportunity to prepare for the gratification of your wishes, which
shaU continue as they have heretofore been the rule of my con
duct in whatever relates to yourseff always, satisfied that they
will be none other than such as are reasonable.
Mr. Van Buren has also intimated to me his intention to
withdraw, of course, a reorganization of my cabinet (proper)
wiU be made. The Postmaster-genl. wfll only remain. When
Eaton and Van Buren goes, justice to them, and to myself,
and that electioneering scenes in congress may cease, or the in
triguers exposed, wiU induce me to re-organize my Cabinet.
This I regret, but have a long time foresaw, admonished but
could not controle; my Cabinet must be a unit. I sincerely re
gret to loose Eaton and Van Buren two more independent re
pubUcans does not exist, who have laboured with me, wdth an
eye single to the prosperity of the union. StiU Mr. Van Buren,
was singled out as a plotter. The cry plot, plot in Mr. Calhoun's
book bro't me in mind of the old story — rogue cries rogue
rogue first to draw the attention from himself, that he might
escape. I say to you frankly, that Van Buren is one of the most
frank men I ever knew, wdth talents combined with cominon
sense, but rarely to be met wdth — a true man with no guile.
With my kind soUcitations to you and your Uttle family and
your connections beUeve me. Your friend, Andrew Jackson.'
The Honorable
H. L. White.

'Jackson Mss.

536 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON,
White's afflictions, to which allusion was here mad3, were the
loss of most of his family, the latest being the death of his wdfe on
March 25, 1831. It is usuaUy asserted that these misfortunes
caused birn to refuse the proffered secretaryship; but his reply to the
letter quoted does not mention them. The reasons there assigned
are that he was unfit for the position and too old to leam, that
he could not afford to leave his property in Tennessee, and that it
was against his principles to take office from a personal friend.'
The receipt of this letter was foUowed by a conference to which
Van Buren, Eaton, and Livingston were summoned. "It wifl
now be proper," said Jackson to them, "to make a selection and
the task is one of some difficulty. " ' _It_was, in fact, as hard to
get_a^anjor_the-place,_npt tainted- with GaUiQun..influence who
would command the respect of the country,. as to find another
way of pro~riding"for Eaton. The result of the conference was
a still more' ufgeiif letter from Jackson to White trying to shake
his decision. AU White's arguments were cUsposed of — they
were not formidable — the duties of the department could be
easily learned and his property interest at home could be taken
care of. Surrounded as he was, said Jackson, by bank men,
nuUifiers, and advocates of internal improvements, it was hard
to find a man in whom he could confide. He must have one to
whom he could unbosom himseff, and who should it be but his
old friend? "I could get," he added, "Col. Drayton, perhaps,
who might be in favor of rechartering the Bank, acquainted
with miUtary matters, but unacquainted wdth Indian matters
and whose appointment would arouse haff of South Carolina
and let it be remembered that he has been a strong Federalist.
I Uke the man but I fear his poUtics — and having taken Mc
Lane (a FederaUst), into the Treasury, I do not Uke to be com
peUed to take another."'
'White to Jackson, April 20, r83t, Jackson Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, May 20, z83r. Van Buren Ml*.
•Jackson to White, April 29, r83i, Jackson Ms*.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 537
This entreaty was seconded by the personal intercession of
Major F. W. Armstrong, a mutual friend, who pled so weU that
White gave a reluctant consent; but a month later this was
withdrawn on the ground that another daughter had developed
C(5nsumption and he felt it his duty to remain near her in Ten
nessee. But we may look behind his excuses; his desire for re
tirement did not prevent his retention of his senatorship, and his
grief (Ud not keep him from a second marriage in the foUowing
year.' It seems that he had deeper reasons for his refusal than
those assigned. He well remembered, if we accept the gossip
of the day, the manner in which Eaton elevated hhnseff into the
cabinet, he was not in S3mipathy with the Eaton-Lewis influence
in administration circles, he was not enthusiastic for Van Buren,
and he was not now disposed to play the part which the combi
nation arranged for him. He thus won the opposition of the inner
drcle in Washington, we eventuaUy find him coolhig toward the
administration, and in 1836, he ran against Van Buren for the
presidency. The war department was now offered to Drayton, who de
clined, and it was then accepted by Lewis Cass, who had a good
record as govemor of Michigan. Lewis McLane, retumhig from
London, became secretary of the treasury, reaUzing an old ambi
tion for cabinet honors. The navy department was given to
Xigvi WoodbuJ^V^-NewJIamps^he^Kman of exceUent capadty,
whose~one fault, in the eyes of .Isaas. HiU, was that in Ports-
moutbrhe and his lamfly associated with the aristocracy and not
with the Jackson party there.' Roger B. Taney, a promising
lawryer ot Balthnore, JaecamejattOTney-genera,!, and^^^^W^^ abiUty
justified the selection. Barry remaine(f postmaster-general. It
wa:s a fe^pectable cabhiet, devoted lo Jackson, submissive to his
leadership, favorable to Van Buren, and for the most part com-
'Armstrong to Jackson, May is; Jackson to White, June i; and White to Jackson, June ts; i83r;
Jackson Mss. See also. Memoir of White, 419, 447-4SO-
V'Masaachusetta Historical Society Proceedings, XLm., 73.

538 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
mitted to those aggressive measures into which the administra
tion was about to throw itself. EstabUshing it was a gain in the
jvorking strength of the party.
The new cabinet incUcated a new party control and new
ideals. It announced that power was gone from Virginia and
South Carolina and centered in a combination of the newer
states of the West and Southwest vrith the large democratic
states of the middle sea coast.
Eaton's future was a source of anxiety to Jackson, who clung
stubbornly to a friend in distress. Since it was impossible to
thmst him into White's seat, Eaton tumed to that of Grundy,
the other Tennessee senator, whose term expired in 1833.
Grundy supported Jackson, who was thus forced to assume a
neutral position. Each side claimed sympathy, but the President
persisted in outward impartiaUty, although there are
indications that secretly he leaned to Eaton.' But Grundy's
appeal to the people was successful, and Eaton, who had Uttle
strength in the state when deprived of Jackson's open support,
was forced at last to give up the fight. He was then wdlliUg to
accept the govemorship of Florida. The place (Ud not please
him, and he gave broad but vain hints that he wanted the gover
norship of Michigan, then vacant through the death of Gover
nor Porter. In 1832, he was a delegate to the Baltim'ore con
vention. It was reported that he would vote against Van Buren,
probably because the New Yorker's disfavor in Tennessee lessened
Eaton's chances for the senatorship. But his rebeflion dis
appeared with an intimation that Jackson expected him to do
his duty.' In 1836, he was made minister to Spain. Richard
Rush, Adams's candidate for vice-president in 1828, but now a

'McLemore to Jackson, September 25; Jackson to D. Buford, September 10, 1833; William Carroll to Jack
son, August 9 and December 3, 1833; Grundy to Jackson, May 6 and August 7, 1833; Jackson Mss. In
the Jackson Mss. is a letter in Eaton's behalf, September,— 1832. It is addressed "Gentlemen", and is
in Jackson's handvrriting. If sent at all, it was probably intended for discreet use.
•Parton, Life of Jackson, III., 421.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 539
fervid Jackson man, made the journey across the Atlantic in the
same ship wdth Eaton and wrote enthusiasticaUy of him. Mrs.
Eaton and her daughters, he said, were the life of the party
aboard.' In 1840, Eaton turned openly against Van Buren and
supported the enemies of Jackson. It completed a series of
(Usappointments, which his capacity and character cUd not de
serve. His unfortunate marriage wrecked a career of much
promise. When Jackson heard of his course in 1840, he pro
nounced Eaton "the most degraded of all the apostates fed,
clothed, and cherished by the administration."
The events of 1831 brought into high Ught the position oi'
the "Kitchen Cabinet." Many men, some of whom were
friends of the administration, thought that the trouble grew
out of the course pursued by this group of irresponsible persons.
Eaton's association wdth the group strengthened the idea in the
popular mind. The candid Dunlap expressed his opinion of this
phase of the situation in the foUowing words to Jackson : "Whfle
the nation may admire the firm friendship by you manifested for
Mr. Eaton, they cannot but rejoice at the hope of his retirement.
Mr. W. B. Lewds, ahnost too smafl to write about, occupies a
position before the nation alone from his, presumed and assumed
intimacy with you, which merits little attention. Send him
home and no longer hold yourself accountable to the free and
enlightened people for the arrogant foUies of such a smaU
but busy man. ... To speak plain, the opinion prevafls
at large that W. B. Lewis is one of your most confidential
CounciUors. This fact does, whether it be true or false, seriously
affect the public. It raises a suspicion of your fitness to rule;
paralyzes every noble feeling of your friends when it is said
Billy Lewis is your Prest councillor. " ' Affred Balch, another
Tennessee supporter and a friend of Van Buren, spoke quite as
'Rush to Jackson, September 26, 1836, Jackson Mss.
•Jackson to Kendall, September 23, 1840; Cincinnati Commercial, February 5, 1879.
»R. G. Dunlap tojjacksoi, June 30, r83T, copy in Library of Congress.

540 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
plainly. The feeling is general, he said, that in Washington
there is "a power behind the throne greater than the throne
itself. ... It is my most decided opinion that Major
Lewis should set up an establishment for himseff — should
tiU the close of the next session of congress (Usconnect himself
from you and see you only in a ceremonious manner. It is also
my opinion that Mr. KendaU should attend only to the duties
of his office and let you whoUy alone. " ' These things (Ud not
destroy Jackson's hpld on the Tennesseeans: he was theh one
hero and his grasp on the state organization was absolute; but
the popular impatience expressed itself in defeating Eaton's
attempt to be a senator and in the aUenation of White.
The "Kitchen Cabinet'! was not aboUshed, but it underwent
two important changes. In the first place its personnel eha.ng^, .
The removal of VaiT Buren und Eaton took away two ofthe
strongest members. Lewds opposed Jackson ~Dn~ the bank
question, and weakened his influence. After 1831, the most in
fluential friends of the President were Kendall, Blair, A. J. Don
elson, and Taney. JITuia_wce--see-4lieJfKitchen.XIahi3ieL'i=arfiiy;
through a reorganization of its own. In the second place,
the party machinery was growing and the "Kitchen Cabinet"
became less of a personal affair and more of an expression of
party wfll. The increasing tendency to leave the patronage
to members of congress, the removal of faction which caused the
group to spend much energy in intrigue, and the crystalUzation
of well defined party principles operated to the same end. This
renewed group was less repugnant to the people than its
predecessor. But one act remained to complete the readjustment ofthe
party, the nonaination of Jackson and Van Buren in 1832. Na
tional nominating conventions had suddenly sprung into existence:
the anti-masons held one in 1830 and another in 1831, the
'Alfred Balch to Jackson, July ai, t83t: Jackson Mss.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 54X
national repubUcans held one in 1831, and the democrats fol
lowed the example in May, 1832. Jackson was induced to
stand for a second term by the assurance that it was necessary
to preserve the union and by his innate repugnance to aUowing
himself to be driven by his opponents.' Delegates to the con
vention were chosen for loyalty to him, and his power was enough
to carry them for his favorite. Major Lewds, was the chief in
stmment through which this wUl was made manifest to the mem
bers of the convention. By correspondence and by personal
soUcitation he caused them to see that they would have the op
position of the leader if they did not vote for Van Buren. On
the first baUot the New Yorker received two hundred and eight
votes while his two opponents had together oifly seventy-five.
When Van Buren sailed for Lond'^n, it was not determined
that he should be the can(Udate for vice-president. Jackson,
in fact, had a plan by which his friend should stay in Europe
for two or three years, then come back to the cabinet and be in
a position to be urged for first place on the ticket in 1836. "The
opposition," he said — he was writing to Van Buren and the date
was December i7tb — "would be glad to reject your nonaination
as minister if they dared, but they know it would make you too
popular." Referring to Livingston's desire to go abroad he said:
I am anxious again to have you near me, and it woifld afford
me pleasure to gratify both. I find on many occasions I want
your aid and Eatons. I have to labour hard, and be constantly
watchfuU. Had I you in the state department and Eaton in
the war, with the others fifled as they are, it would be one of
the strongest and happiest administrations that could be formed.
We could controle the Uttle federaUst leaven, in that high-mhided,
honorable, and talented friend of ours, Mr. McLane. Cass is an
amiable talented man, a fine writer, but unfortunately it is hard
for him to say no, and he thinks aU men honest. This is a vhtue

'Jackson to Van Buren, September i8, r83r; Van Buren Mss.

542 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
in private, but unsafe in pubhc Ufe. . . . You are aware of
the friendship I have for Livingston, and the respect I have for
his talents; that he is a polished scholar, an able writer, and a
mpst exceUent man, but he knows nothing of mankind. He
lacks in this respect that judgment that you possess, in so em
inent a degree, his memory is somewhat faiUng him. ... I
would not be surprised if contrary to your declared wishes, you
should be run for vice-presidency. As sure as the senate makes
the attempt to reject your nomination, I am told it wifl be done.'
January 2 sth the threatened rejection was carried inthe senate,
the opposition resting on Van Buren's instructions to McLane
in 1829 and Calhoun with four faithful foUowers cooperating
with them on the ground that the New Yorker had seduced the
mind of the President and formed plots within the party. The
rejection was carried by the deciding vote of the vice-president. '
Instantly the country was in a state of excitement. Meetmgs
to endorse the rejected man were held in New York and through
out the country. The Jackson party declared that the insult
was really against Jackson and the President agreed with the
assertion. "This is your flood-tide," wrote the faithful Marcy
to the absent one in London, "and if you wish to make your
voyage, you should not neglect it. If there is hazard in the game,
I think you stfll should play it. " ' He added that if Van Buren
did not come forward others would do so, that P. P. Barbour, of
Virginia, was being pressed by the anti-tariff men and if not
chosen for second place would be a strong candidate for first
lionor in 1836.
Jackson also wrote. "The insult to the executive wodd be
avenged," he said, "by putting you into the very chair which
is now occupied by him who cast the deciding vote against you.
Hayne voted against you and his reasons for it shows that he
ijackson to Van Buren, December 17, 1831, Van Buren Mss.
•See Benton, View, I., 214-220, for an interesting account of Van Buren's rejection. See also Isaac Hill
to Van Buren, January 29, 1832, Van Buren Mss.
>W. L. Marcy to Van Buren, January 26, 1831, and February 12, 1832, Van Buren Mss.

THE CABINET DISSOLVED 543
has faUen from the magnanimous position that we always as
signed hhn.'" Whfle this letter was crossing the ocean, it
passed another coming westward to the writer of the first.
"My dear friend," it began, "I looked over the papers by the
last Packet with no smaU degree of impatience f oj^ a letter from
you — not that you owed me one, for I am ashamed to say that
on that point, I am greatly your debtor, but from my anxiety
to leam the precise effect which the extraction of a baU from your
arm has had upon your health and conffort. The several grave
suggestions in your long and uateresting letter wfll not be lost
sight of, but wifl be deferred without prejudice untfl things
become a Uttle more settled with you and we see things in a
dearer hght than at present. The opposition are feeding fat
their old opposition against me I see, and what I confess sur
prises me a Uttle, is to find that Mr. Clay is so bUnd as not to see
the advantage which in the eyes of aU honorable and liberal men
he gives me over him by his course in the senate in respect to
my nomination." I have never seen the old aristocratic and
federal spirit, he continued in substance, support a man of whom
they chd not feel sure that he was untrue to the democracy.
They supported you at first on account of your letter to Monroe,
but when you announced democratic views in later letters they
tumed against you. "They ruined Burr beyond redemption,
they crippled Clinton, gave Calhoun his first mortal wound,
and to form a correct estimate of the havoc which they have
made with poor Clay, it is only necessary to contrast his present
situation with what it was when he was the leader of the Repub
lican Party in the House of Representatives. "
At this point the letter was intermpted tiU the next day,
and in the interval came news of his rejection in the senate.
His mail was fuU of advice as to coming home. Most of his
correspondents advised him to return at once to look after his
'Jackson to Van Buren, February 12, 1832, Van Buren Mss.

544 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
affairs, but Lewds and Cambreleng thought it would 'be; vrise
to wait untfl the nominating convention had met, and he de
cided to take their suggestion, thus, as he said, giving the lie
to those who accused him of intrigue and "leaving my fate to
the unbiased cUsposal of our poUtical friends. " '
Late in March, he left London for a short visit on the conti
nent and anived in America early in July. In England he was
diplomaticaUy successful, and the king, in telling him fareweU
said: " WeU Mr. Van Buren, I cannot, of course, take part in the
decision of your govemment, nor any branch of it, but I may be
permitted, wdthout any impropriety, to express my regret that
it has been thought necessary to remove you from us." And
as a token of esteem, the departing minister was invited to visit
Windsor Castle from Saturday until Monday, where the king
and queen. Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Vaughan, former minister
to Washington, (Ud aU they could to make his stay pleasant.
He confided it aU to Jackson with the intimation that it would
be unwdse to teU it abroad, lest it be thought that he was not a
democrat; but he felt these attentions woifld counteract the
attempts of his enemies "to mortify me in the presence of the
assembled representatives of Europe, and the aristocracy of
this country, and through that means to reach you. " '
Andrew Jackson could not have suspected how skiffuUy his
favorite was identifying his cause wdth that of the leader. To
him it was aU a piece of downright wickedniess on one side and
suffering virtue on the other. He showed his appreciation of the
latter and his power to put down the former in the work of the
Baltimore convention. When the repucUated minister arrived,
the die was cast. He was accepted cancUdate for yoke-fellow
in the canvass; and from all sides came demands for his counsel
in meeting the crisis which the party now faced.
'Van Buren to Jackson, February 2oj and Van Buren to John Van Buren, Februaiy 23, 1832, Van Buren Mss.
'Van'Buren to Jackson, March 28, 1832, Van Buren Mss.

XXVI
JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION
In the process by which Jacksonian democracy separated itself
from the older repubUcan factions in Virginia and South Carolina,
the destruction of the movement for nullification was an impor
tant and instructive incident. JDtjresgrygd frg.-ffMi2S§LkS,^is
of the party, saved the union from attempted separation, and
gave the wortd-ffH-tUuslraToii of tlie 'stTSH^^ of the
nian who directed the affairs of the central govemminfr A
furTtef'TCSUlt'lt^ytharit fc'iyslinizedl^ influence
in the" extreme 'SouOirwEicEl]EdeFCHlioi5^
give°3irection to later history.
In"tEe~Eegmmng of the national government, the federahsts
were supreme in South CaroUna, foUowing a group of which
C. C. Pinckney was the chief ornament. The republicans
carried the state for Jefferson, but their leaders were personaUy
not able to cope with those of the opposite party. The state
resented the inferior position to which the Virginia leadership
assigned it and was one of the first to range itseff wdth those who
threatened to overthrow that leadership before the beginning of
the War of 1 8 1 2 . Three leaders now appeared, Lowndes, Cheves,
and CaUaoun, either of whom was the equal of any Virginian
then in active poUtics. In their reaction against the old school
and partly because of the conthiuance of the old federaUst
leaven in the state, they became more national than the strict
repubUcans. A protective tariff, a national bank, and mtemol
improvements aU found place in theh philosoohy. They be
came leading advocates of each of these poUcies and had their
S4S

546 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
followers in many parts of the country. In the breakdowm of
the Virginia influence during Monroe's second term, Lowndes
and Calhoun had ambitions for the presidency. The former was
nominated by the state legislature for that high station in 1821,
and he was endorsed as a nationaUst. His death a year later,
removed him from the arena, and CaUioun received a similar
nomination, although it is doubtful if he was as popular with
the mass of South Carolinians as Lowndes. In the same year,
1822, Robert Y. Hajme was elected United States senator as a
nationalist, defeating WiUiam Snaith, against whom a strong
argument was that he favored secession rather than accept the
Missouri Compromise.' AU these incidents show that at this
time the state was safely national, in spite of a strong and
rather ra(Ucal state rights party, and that Calhoun, whfle not
very popular wdth the masses, had the support of the dommant
group of poUticians and was everywhere honored as a man of
great abiUty and as a son who was likely to bring honor to the
state. Ten years later, this cpnciition wasjreversed. The state rights
party was in control of the goveminent, the voters were warmly
committed to nuUification, and leaders who formerly spoke of
the blessings and glories of the union had hurrie(fly given in their j
allegiance to a group who looked upon separation as possible
and under certain conditions as desirable.
!^ The cause of this change of political sentiment was the tariff.
It seemed as if the manufacturers of the North would never be
satisfied wdth moderate protection and that they were deter
mined to have their desires regarcUess of the interests of the agri
cultural South. Whatever they asked, they managed to find
a way to carry through congress, and when at last they carried
the tariff of 1828, Southern feeling was bitter. South Carolina
was particularly violent, and its violence looked to action.
VJervey, Robert Y, Bayne and his Times, I2j, 143, r44.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 547
Whfle Virginia taU^ed about* strict construction and constitu
tional theory, this more aggressive community began to devise
some practical means of counteracthig the so-caUed wiles of the
North. NuIUfication was invented as an instrument of war:
its legitimacy was accepted by the state at large. The people of
South Carolina were ever sensitive in resenting what they con
sidered discrinunation. They were accustomed to fervid elec-
tioneermg from early days; and when the supporters of nuUi
fication suggested this extreme measure as a fundamental right
they made it the occasion for a cmsade of liberty. This extrem
ity of fervor was not calculated to lead to wise action or conect
thinking. It caused the state to exaggerate its wrongs and to
accept a constitutional theory which its well wdshers hi other
Southern states would not adopt for their own.
But behind the tariff was slavery. Calhoun, in 1830, expressed
a recognized truth when he said, speaking for his people:
I consider the Tariff, but as the occasion, rather than the
real cause of the present unhappy state of things. The tmth can
no longer be disguised, that the peculiar domestic institution of
the Southern States, and the consequent directibn, which that and
her soil and chmate have given to her industry, has placed them
in regard to taxation and appropriations in opposite relation to
the majority of the union; against the danger of which, if there be
no protective power in the reserved rights of the states, they
must in the end be forced to rebel, or submit to have their per
manent interests sacrificed, their domestic institutions subverted
by colonization and other schemes and themselves and children
reduced to wretchedness. Thus situated, the denial of the right
of the state to interfere constitutionally in the last resort, more
alarms the thinking, than all other causes; and however strange
it may appear, the more universally the state is condemned
and her right denied, the more resolute she is to assert her con
stitutional powers, lest the neglect to assert should be considered a
practical abandonment of them, under such circumstances.'
'Calhoun to Maxey, September ir, 1830, Marcou Mss.

548 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
The leacUng opponents of the tariff in South Carolina were
Crawford men, who disliked Calhoun intensely, among them
Dr. Thomas Cooper, WilUam Smith, and James H[amilton, Jr.
They began serious agitation after the passage of the tariff bifl
of 1824 and were wefl received by the people of the state.
'Each advance of the tariff in national politics mcreased their
hold hi South Carolina. Fighting for power as well as for
principles, they turned the popular resentment against everything
JNorthern. They attacked Adams for his centralizing poUcies
and arraigned internal improvements in terms that made
Calhoun wdnce. Few state politicians dared withstand them,
and many foUowers of the vice-president, among them Hayne
and McDuffie, gave in their support.
The wincing Calhoun (Ud not long hesitate. Much as he
valued his national influence, he reaUzed that it was worth Uttle
if he had not the support of his own state. He gradually shifted
his position on the tariff and in 1827 defeated the woollens bifl
byJiis casting vote in the senate. He thus lost an hnportant
„ part of his support in the North, whfle he made himself secure
in the South. As to his presidential ambition, he hoped that
the shifting of the poUtical current might soon leave the tariff
high and dry and that his connection with the Jacksonian
democracy might bear him forward in its successful sweep. But
the tariff would not down. The la^ passed in 1828 was more
objectionable than any of its preSecessors, and in spite of the
fact that its worst features were introduced by Southerners to
make it so objectionable that New England would vote against
the bifl, the South was deeply resentful. The wrath of the
South Carolinians was, therefore, proportionally increased and
Calhoun's complication wdth their cause was further augmented.
Both he and they were now irrevocably launched in the course
of nuIUfication.
CaUaoun (Ud not originate the nullification theory. In 1827,

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 549
there appeared a series of essays under tiie title of The Crisis,.
deaUng with the situation in the state and announcing nullifi
cation as a remedy. They were written by Robert J. TumbuU,
?:..H^^?^5i?-il!?---?^™^ll^%Ji?ii^^^^^ At that time, the
majority'of the anti-tariff men in South CaroUna favored pacific
measures to carry their purpose. They taUied about the baUot-
box, the influence of pubhc opinion, and the results of cooper
ation among aU the states which were opposed to protection.
TurnbuU threw aU this aside. "Let South CaroUna be bold
and resist oppression, " he said. The union was not yet enough
consolidated to make it possible to coerce a state: the conduct of
of Georgia hi regard to the Indians showed this. It was never
intended that the supreme court, a part of the general govem
ment, should be arbiter in a dispute between that govemment and
a state: its decisions ought not to extend to poUtical matters.
Let the legislature of a sovereign state protest, there was no
tribunal of last resort, and the state might do as it saw fit. In
its assertion of the compact theory and the denial of the arbitra
ment of the supreme court, this doctrine undoubtedly bore
resemblance to the Virginia-Kentucky resolutions, and it was
the unshaped form from which Calhoun evolved his perfected
theory.' It cUd not contain the word "nuUification," the
proposed plan of meeting the situation being described merely

as '"resiscance."

TumbuU's appeal met wdth little response at once, but in th^
foUowing year, the "tariff of abominations" brought an actual
crisis. Some of the state's delegation in congress were for re
signing as a protest, but after consultation, it was agreed to try
to temper the popular resentment untfl after the election, and
then to let the people's wrath have its own course.
This hesitancy was due to anticipations in regard to Jackson.
The South Carolinians had much hope that he would oppose the

'See The Crisis (t827}; also Houston, Nullification, 71-73.

SSo THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
tariff. It is tme he was mildly for protection in 1824, and his
utterances in the campaign were exceedingly cautious; but this
was only politics. Was he not a Southem man, a cotton planter,
and if CaUioun, one of the partners in the great national game
could be shaken from his position why not the other? So they
reasoned, and they would do nothing rash in the crucial year of
1828, nothing that woifld throw the election into the hands of
Adams 'and Clay, from whom they could expect no help at aU.
The election was hardly over before they threw themselves
on the administration. Cooper, an old Crawford leader, opened
correspondence with the New York Crawfordites. If the tariff
was not repealed, he said, there would be no union at the end of
the new administration, and New York especiaUy might take
warning lest the South goaded to anger should transfer the
"Southem agency" to London. By "Southern agency" he
meant the function of handUng Southem products and purchases.'
These protests were made to Van Buren as controling member
of the cabinet, and they kept up until weU into 1830. His own
letters in reply, so far as they are preserved, were most non-com
mittal. But the confident tone in which his correspondents
continued to write indicate that they were not repulsed. Cam
breleng and J. A. Hamilton, who also received letters, were more
alarmed and felt that a compromise ought to be made.
But Cooper and his associates did not wait to see what Jack
son would do. Before the election of 1828 was decided, they
made arrangements for a vigorous campaign as soon as that
event was out of the way. In the summer of 1828, several of
them visited Calhoun at his South Carolina home. He talked
to them freely, and at their suggestion stated his views in his
famous Exposition, This, wdth littie change, was presented;^
to the legislature the following autumn, as the report of a com
mittee. It was not adopted, but five thousand copies were
'Cooper to Van Buren, March 24, 1829, Van Buren Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 551
ordered printed for distribution. It was a formal and complete
statement of the theory of nullification, furnishing a constitu
tional argument for doing what TurnbuU declared could and
ought to be done. It was known at the time by a few of those
most concerned that it, came from the pen of the vice-president.'
When in 183 1, after his definite break with Jackson, Calhoun
threw himself openly into the cause of nuUification, he re-stated
his position in An Address to the People of South Carolina.
The argument in these two papers was so subtle that few of
those who tried to explain it, gave evidence of understanding
it. So many interpretations were given that in 1832, Calhoun,
at the request of James Hamilton, Jr., wrote an amplification of
his doctrine knovm as the Fort Hill Letter. From these three
papers posterity has derived its knowledge of the theory of nul-
ification. To quote the words of the author, "The great and
leading principle is, that the general govemment emanated
from the people of the several states, forming distinct poUtical
communities, and acting in their separate and sovereign capac
ity, and not from all the people forming one aggregate poUtical
community; that the constitution of the United States is, in
fact, a compact, to which each state is a party, in the character
already described; and that the several states, or parties, have
a right to judge of its infractions; and in case of a deliberate,
palpable, and dangerous exercise of power not delegated, they
have the right, in the last resort, to use the language of the
Virginia Resolutions, 'to i-hter pose for arresting the progress of the
evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the author
ities, rights, a-nd liberties appertaining to them.' "'
I Out of this was constructed the principle that a state might
Sannul a law of congress which it pronounced unconstitutional, and
Ithat the general government was an agent of the states, in fact,
* 'Hunt, Life of Calhoun, loS, 109.
•Calhoun, Works, VI., 60.

552 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
an agent of any particular state, so far as the wfll of that state
was concerned. It was a doctrine of more devastating effect than
secession. Secession would have spUt the union in twain;
•*iulUfication was calculated to cUssolve it state by state.
Developments in South Carolina attracted attention in other
states and in Washington. Anti-tariff men generaUy, and par-
v^ ticularly the Southerners, felt sympathy for the movement, but
hesitated to commit themselves to so unexpected a doctrine.
NuUifiers were exceedingly anxious to get the support of Vir
ginia, which might carry that of other states, and that probably
is why they stressed the connection between their movement
and the resolutions of 1 798-1 799.
One natural result was to stimulate the feeling for union, and
the two sides thus formed soon came to a clash in the debates in
congress, Webster and Ha3Tie being the opposing champions.
The latter rejoiced in the opportunity to set before the world
the doctrine of the new school, and his great speech did aU for
the cause that could have been expected of him. It won more
respect from Southerners of the day than posterity has given it.
Benton praised it highly, and in South CaroUna it was haUed
as a "com-plete answer" to the aggressive North. Later it was
asserted, but without specific supporting evidence, that the
President at that time held the same view. He considered
himseff a state rights man, and probably approved Hayne's
defense of tbe cause. But we must not take very seriously his
estimate of a constitutional argument. His opinions were
chiefly formed through feeUng, and they were apt to change
with the occasions.
Through all this period, Jackson's attitude tbward the nulli-
^ers was candid but discreet To James Hamflton, Jr's., assur
ance. May, 1828, that the state would "take no strong measure
untfl your election is put beyond a doubt, " he repUed in words
which would have been understood by a man less devoted to his

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 553
enthusiasm. It was much to be regretted, he said, that the tariff
came up for cUscussion at this thne: "There is nothing I shudder
at more than the idea of a separate Union. . . . The State
govemments hold in check the federal and must ever hold it in
check, and the virtue of the people supported by the sovereign
states, must prevent consoUdation, and wiU put down that cor
ruption engendered by the executive, wielded, as it has been
lately, by executive organs, to perpetuate their own power. The
result of the present struggle between the virtue o'f the people
and executive patronage wiU test the stabiUty of our govem
ment. " '
September 3d Hayne wrote. He denied that his people desired
disunion, as charged from some quarters, and declared they
were loyal to Jackson and beUeved in his fairness. "Should
Mr. Adams be reelected," he said, "and should his adminis
tration continue to act on the policy of whoUy (Usregarding the
feelings and interests of the Southem States; should they push
the manufacturing system to the point of annihilating our for
eign commerce, and above aU, should they medcUe with our
slave institutions, I would not be answerable for the conse
quences. I think our Legislature wiU probably take strong
grounds on these subjects, but I have no apprehension of theh
going at this time beyond a formal manifesto setting forth
the injuries of the South, and giving a solemn waming against
the consequences of a continumis disregard of our rights and in
terests. Should you be elected, as there is every reason to be
Ueve, we shaU look to you as a Pacificator. '" The manifesto, to
which he referred, was undoubte(fly Calhoun's Exposition.
Hayne's letter was a waming and a suggestion. There is no
evidence of Jackson's real feeling about the matter. OutwarcUy,
at that time, he gave no token of opposition, but he yielded noth-

'J. Hamilton, Jr., to Jackson, May 23, r828; Jackson to J. Hamilton, Jr., June 29, 1828, Jackson Ms3.
•Hayne to Jackson, September 3, 1828, Jackson Mss.

554 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ing to the nuUifiers in their desire to have a secretary ofjthe
treasury favorable to a lower tariff. Calhoun's connection wdth
the movement was soon known in Washington, at least as early as
inauguration day, but this could hardly have affected Jackson.
NuUffication was as yet entirely theoretical, it was in touch with
the Southern party, he was still wefl cUsposed toward the vice-
president, and party harmony was essential. But the control
ing faction was opposed to CaUaoun, and in that was the pos
sibility of much hostility.
The bold challenge of 1828 was followed by a year and a
half of singular calm. Did they wait for the expected triumph
of CaUioun in 1832, or were they endeavoring to leam what
Jackson woifld do if the program should proceed at once? Neither
question can be answered, but Calhoun's expectations in the
former respect must have been deeply bound up wdth those of
the South Carolina party, and a reaUzation of this gave courage
to his enemies. The Webster-Hayne debate in January, 1830,
placed the two theories of the union definitely before the nation.
People everywhere were taking sides, and it began to be asked
on which the President would be found. Within three months
^ of the famous debate the question was answered at the Jeffer
son dinner.
In the autumn of 1829, the President leamed of Calhoun's
position in regard to the invasion of Florida, during the winter
and early spring the Eaton affair was in its most annoying stage,
and that also bore on his feeling toward CaUioun. It was,
therefore, natural that he should have made the occasion of de
nouncing nullification that for striking Calhoun a severe and un
expected blow. April i sth, was Jefferson's birthday, long observed
by democrats for renewing their devotion to party principles.
As the day approached in 1830, the South Carolina group pre
pared to take prominent part in its celebration. Their object,
says Van Buren very plausibly, was two-fold; (i) to get the sym-

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 555
pathy of Virghiia by exalting Jefferson and by stressing the re
lation of their owm doctrine to the resolutions of 1798, and (2)
to please Georgia, long opposed to South CaroUna, by praising
her position in the affair of the Cherokees, itself a kind of nulli
fication. Invitations were sent as a matter of course to Jackson and
Van Buren. The two took counsel and agreed that Jackson
at the dinner should give a toast which should announce the
hostility of the administration to nuUification. The sentiment
was written dowm and placed in his pocket before he went to the
dinner. When called on he arose and proposed: "Our Unions
it must be preserved!" Constemation seized the state rights
¦I III I • "• II  ' '
group. Hayne, quick witted and resourceful, hastily suggested
to the speaker that the word "federal" be placed before the
word " union. " He thought this would make the toast lean some
what to a state rights interpretation. Now this, says Van Buren,
was the way the sentiment was first written, but Jackson,
scrawUng it off on his toast-card just before he arose, omitted
"federal." No objection was made to its restoration.
Calhoun, who followed, gave a toast more expressive of South
CaroUna principles — "The Union, next to our liberty most
dear! May we all remembertEaT'ir'caii only be preserved by
respecting the rights of the States and (Ustributing equaUy the
benefit and the burthen of the Union!'" It lacked the laconic
force of Jackson's utterance, nor (hd it come wdth the same sense
of authority. It is noteworthy that the next day Forsyth wnrote
to Crawford the letter which brought forth the avowal of Cal
houn's attitude in the Seminole affair.'
The South Carolinians did not take offense at the toast but
, tried to lessen its effect by asserting that it must be understood
\ in a "Pickwickian sense." Some of them took conifort out of

,(i94)

1 'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, Ti, 99-107, Van Buren Mss.
•See above, II., 509.

5S6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the Maysvflle veto, which came a month later, but among them
were few of those who followed CaUioun closely. In the state,
they tried to create the feeUng that they had the President's
support. About this time — in May, 1830 — Joel R. Poinsett,
retuming from Mexico, arrived in Washington and had a frank
talk wdth Jackson about South CaroUna affairs. The latter
showed that he was committed against nuUification which he
pronounced madness. Poinsett proceeded to South CaroUna,.
where an active union party was being organized. In it were
former Govemor Taylor, D. R. Williams, D. E. Huger, James
L. Petigru and Hugh S. Legare. Between these two parties
there was much scowling with some stronger action during the
second half of 1830. Early jn the next year, Calhoun pub
Ushed his attack on Van Buren and Jackson, and in the foUowing.
summer he uncovered his position as champion of nuUification
and gave a vigor to the protesting party in his state which up
to that time it did not have.
These events seem to indicate that throughout the quiescent
period in 1830, the movement waited on Jackson. The vice-
president arrived in Washington a few days before New Year's
determined to keep aloof from the President. He refused to
attend the New Year's reception at the White House and showed
to whomever asked to see it the hostfle correspondence of the
prececUng summer. To his friends, he wrote in deprecation of
theh confidence in the President: "The position which General
Jackson has taken of halting between the parties," he said, "as
ff it were possible to reconcUe two hostile systems, must keep us
(Ustracted and weakened during his time. To expect to be able
to support him, taking the position he has, and to unite the South
in zealous opposition to the system, which he more than half
supports, is among the greatest absurdities. Had he placed .
himself on principle, and surrounded hhnself with the talents,
virtue and experience of the party, his personal popularity would,

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 557
beyond all doubt, have enabled us to restore the Constitution,
arrest the progress of cormption, harmonize the Union, and there
by avert the calamity which seems to impend over us; as it is,
that very popularity is the real source of our weakness and dis
traction. . . . BeUeving that an united effort of the South is>i
hopeless during his time, we must next look to the action of our ovmjf
state, as she is the only one, that can possibly put herseff on her )
sovereignty. Nothing must be omitted to unite and strengthen
her, for on her union and firmness, at this time, the Uberty'
of the whole country in no small degree depends.'" In the
'Exposition Calhoun established himself as covert leader of nuUi
fication; in this letter he came out as open leader of the cause.
An incident of midsummer, 1830, shows how the game was
played in the plan to win Jackson for one side or the other.
When Poinsett arrived in Charleston, the union faction gave him
a dinner which was intended to rally their own foUowers. The
nulUfiers decided to have a dinner of their own and made the
arrival of Senator Hayne the occasion. The event was a great
success and attracted notice throughout the country. James
Hamflton, Jr., sent an account of it to Van Buren, with whom he
was in frequent conespondence.' He added a waming against
Poinsett, (:harging him with a declaration against devolution,
that is, against handing the presidency dovra to a successor. And
then Hamilton shrewdly observed that he himseff was for the
reelection of Jackson and that the influence of the United States
Bank in the state was against the nuUifiers. He evidentiy
hoped this would draw the sympathy of the man at Washington,
of whom, Calhoun declared a half year later, as we have seen,
that he only could unite the whole South ua the cause of nuUi
fication.

'Calhoun, Correstondence (Jameson, Editor), 280.
•J. Hamilton, Jr., to Van Buren, September ao, t83oj Van Buren to Jackson, July as, 1830; Van Bureo
Mss.

558 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
It is impossible to say how near Jackson came during this
I period of waiting to fulffi the hopes of the nulUfiers. With most
( of their leaders he was on friendly terms, but whether his motives
'^were poUtical or otherwise does not appear. In his ordinary
^miibds he was a good politician and quite as capable of a deep
tgame of delay as some who were not so violent in their moments
Vf excitement.
Van Buren's attitude at this time is more easfly seen. Ham
ilton's letters impressed him, and on the one just mentioned,
he endorsed the opinion that the letter showed that in the Charles
ton dinner, the nuUifiers went further than they intended. A
few days after he heard of that affair, he wrote to Jackson that
nuUification was declining and the more reliable element among
its supporters would soon return to a better state of mind.
This shrewd poUtician was very timid and dependent on his
coUeagues for his views. Both faiUngs here tended to bring
him into acquiescence wdth the part of the scheme it was desired to
make hhn play.
Having brought Van Buren to a yielding state of mind, the
nuUifiers sought through him to affect the wiU of Jackson him
seff. Hayne cautiously made the approach. October 28th— it
was StiU 1830 — he wrote to Van Buren in anticipation of ap
proaching events. The situation in South CaroUna, he said,
was exaggerated by enemies out of the state. No measures had
been adopted or contemplated looking "in the remotest degree"
to a dissolution of the union: the announcement of an abstract
right on the part of a state to judge of an infraction of the con
stitution and to provide means of redress, he asserted, "no more
impUes the immediate and rash exercise of that power than the
assertion of the right of a state to secede from the Union (which
aU seem to admit), imphes that the Union ought to be imme
cUately dissolved. . . . 'The extreme medicine of the State
is not likely to become our daily bread.' If our friends in Wash-

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 559
mgton have the smaUest uneasiness at the state of affairs in
South Carolina, bid them dismiss their fears. No rash measures
wfll be adopted — but tranquflity wfll never be restored to the
South untfl the American System is abandoned, and ff the federal
govemment shafl go on m the assumption of unconstitutional
power, collision with the States wfll sooner or later become
inevitable. '"
As to practical affairs, Hayne adnaitted that the legislature
was about to vote on a convention, but suace a two-thirds vote
was necessary to call such a body, he thought it would not carry.
But if it should be called, it would undoubtedly be more con
servative than the legislature. Its effect would be to draw the
attention of the country to the burden of the South on account
of the tariff, and that would give Jackson an opportunity to
intervene as a "pacificator." The letter reveals the part the
mfllifiers hoped to get the President to play, and this probably
accounts for their quiet attitude in 1830. They were wflUng
to award to Jackson the glory of making a compromise, if he
could only be relied upon to play the right part at the proper
time. ¦
But Jackson was not suited for the part he was desired to*
assume. The only pacification he was apt in making was such
as he gave to the Creeks in 1814 and to the army of Pakenham
a few months later— the peace of submission. He was already
determined that the plans of the nulUfiers were "mad projects,"
and he caused his friends to know his position." In the autumn
the attempt to caU a convention was defeated in the legislature
by the efforts of the active union party, who were already be
ginning to assert in the state that the President was on theh
side. They could cite his Jefferson birthday speech as well as his
declarations to friends to show that he was against the nuUifiers.
'Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Robert Oliver, October 26, r83o, Poinsett to Jackson, October 23, r83o; Jackson Mss.

S6o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Calhoun's special friends knew of the quarrel of the preceding
summer, and they must have knovm how hopeless it was to
expect help from Jackson. The vice-president, fresh from con-
sifltations with these friends, arrived in Washington late in De
cember and began at once to prepare the pamphlet he soon hurled
at Van Buren. He would have been pleased, as we have seen,'
to keep the President out of the quarrel entirely, but that was
impossible. From that time, CaUioun became the chief reUance
of the nuUifiers, and his powerful aid, with the sunender of
thoughts of compromise, gave the party the dominance in the
state. ' In the summer of 1831, two Charleston merchants, both
nuUifiers, undertook to test the constitutionality of the tariff
laws. They refused to pay the bonds they had given to guar
antee the payment of duties on certain commodities, aUeging
the iUegality of a protective tariff. The district-attorney was
^structed to prosecute them, but he, a nuUifier, refused and
resigned his office. Jackson's ffist impulse was to impeach him
for violating his oath, but that v/as too impracticable, and he
contented himself with sending a secret agent to Charleston to
report on the progress of events while proceedings to coUect
the bonds were halted. At the same time, he was in constant
correspondence with the union leaders in the city, particularly
Poinsett, from whom he received full information. Letters to
and from these leaders constitute a valuable source of infor
mation for this phase of the movement.'
While things hung in the balance, ahnost at the last moment
before the appearance of the Calhoun pamphlet, Hayne and his
friends undertook to get one of their supporters appointed dis-
trict-attomey in South CaroUna. Jackson refused to make the
'See above, IL, 517.
•They are found in the Jackson Mss., in the Library of Congress, and in the Poinsett papers in the pos.
session of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Tbe latter collection has been freely used by Still£ in a sketch
of The Life and .iervues uj Jt/et A. rotnsett ir'tiunsyivrama Magasine oJ Bistory, 1888.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 561
appointment, and Hayne wrote a remonstrance against his
action, arguing that the admmistration ought to be as fair as
the state rights party in South Carolina, which placed union
men in state office regardless of their politics. Jackson repUed
frankly that he did not believe a state could nuUify a law of
congress and that he would be highly blamable if he appointed
a man to execute the laws of the union who openly avowed that
one of those laws could not be executed in the state in which he
Uved. It was a considerate lett-er, and it expressed great per
sonal consideration for many of the nulUfiers. It must have
ibeen the resiflt of careful consideration; for on the back of
Hayne's letter he wrote in terms less cautious: "Note — I draw^
a wide difference between State Rights and the advocates of
them, and a nulUfier. One wiU preserve the union of the States. '
The other wfll dissolve the union by destroying the Constitution "
by acts unauthorized in it. '" This comment has logical defects,
but the letter to Hayne must have left no doubt in that gentie-
man's mind in regard to the attitude of the President.
Having lost hope of Jackson's aid, the nulUfiers now pro
ceeded, as Calhoun indicated in January,' to organize that force- ,
ful protest which was to run so close to disunion. Even after
the publication of the pamphlet in regard to the breach with the
President, CaUioun thought it best to say little about Jackson
and to concentrate the opposition on Van Buren,' his purpose
being, evidently, not to give the former a pretext to take decided
part in the controversy. But this was soon seen to be impossible.
May 19th, a dinner was given to McDuffie in Charleston, at which
the most extreme nuUification sentiment was avowed. Even
I this did not arouse CaUioun. He saw the tendency it would
! have to commit the state, but he favored moderation for the
present, beUeving it necessary to give the thinking portion of
li

' 'Jackson to Hayne, February 6, 1831; Hayne to Jackson, February 4, 1831. Jackson Mss.

•See above, II. 557-
•Calhoun, Correstondence (Jameson, Editor), 289. 290.

S62 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the democratic party time to rally to him, after his exposure of
Van Buren.' His hesitation lasted until July 26th, when he came
definitely forward as the avowed champion of the nuUffiers. His
challenge was expressed in the Address on the relations which
the States and General Government Bear to Each Other, a
restatement of the arguments of the Exposition of XS28.
From that time he was the open and preeminent leader of the
South Carolina movement, giving it a powerful impetus and
making it clear that the people of the state could no longer avoid
a choice between union and nuIUfication.
When the Address I was given to the pubUc,, Jackson's
position was made equaUy clear. Jifly 4th, both sides in Charles
ton made elaborate preparations to celebrate the hoUday. There
were speeches by the respective leaders, and the unionists read
publicly wdth great pride a letter from Jackson announcing com
plete opposition to nuIUfication, an opinion, he said, "which 1
have neither interest nor inclination to conceal.'" This letter
was dated June 14th, the day before Berrien, the last oppositioil
member, left the cabinet and several days before the angry con- ,
troversy between Eaton and Ingham incensed both sides. It
seems that in this step Jackson acted deUberately: the alliance
vrith Calhoun was repudiated, friends of CaUioun were thrust ^
out of the cabinet, and now the administration was ranged
against nuIUfication. The democratic party had cast off the
semblance of nationaUsm which internal improvements had
implied, it was about to crush that extreme form of state rights
which came to a head in South Carolina.
In the foUowing wdnter, the tariff was again before congress, j
A new bfll was passed, the chief purpose of which was to remove
the inequaUties which won for the bfll of 1828 the name, "Tarifi
of Abominations. " It was much Uke the biU of 1824, and was
'Calhoun Correspondence, 294; Niles, Rtgisftr,iOt., ajt
•Niles, Register, XL., 3Sr.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 563
stir strongly protective. It did not satisfy the South, and the,
nul 'fiers, whose ahn was to threaten so loudly that the majority
wculd abandon some of theh niunerical advantage, decided that
the contest should go on.
The tariff passed in July. South Carolina found it exceedmgly
objectionable and the nulUfiers raised loud cries in the campaign
then waging and demanded a convention to consider the state's
relation to the new law. The results at the poUs were favorable
and the governor, an ardent nuUifier, caUed a meetmg of the
legislature, whi^ quickly ^ordered an election iQai-a^canvaition to.
jn^et.jonrTS'ovembier 19th. This precipitancy was employed in
order that the intended programme might be completed before
the meeting of congress in December, 1832. Now appeared the
effects of the powerful efforts of Calhoun. Nearly the whole
state tumed to his doctrine, and, November 24th^ the convention
jga^sedJthe^glBfiusjiu^^ '^bls instrummt de-
. dared thetariff laws^^j8_ajidj%2jmcQnstitution^^ and not
bmding on the..state,Jt prohibited appeals to the supreme court
of the United States in cases arising under this ordinance, it
ordered all state officials except members of the legislature to take
an oath to obey the ordinance, and it fixed February i, 1833, as
the day when it would go into operation. It closed wdth a threat
that an attempt of the federal govemment to oppose its enforce
ment would absolve South Carolina from aUegiance to the union
and leave it a separate sovereign state.'
Three days later the state legislature met in regular session
and passed laws to meet contingencies Ukely to arise. It en-'^
acted a replevin law and other bills to enable a person who re
fused to pay duties to recover damages from federal customs
officers, who might seize his goods, it passed a law looking to
armed resistance, and finaUy adopted a test for ridcUng the state
of officials who would not accept nuUification. Thus panopUed
'Houston, Nullification in South Carolina, 106-111.

S64 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
South CaroUna marched to the contest wdth the nation, at whose
head was Andrew Jackson, keenly aUve to the situation.
! September ii, 1832, before the South CaroUna elections were
I held, Jackson, fully aUve to the progress of nuUification, sent a
jwaming to Woodbury, secretary of the navy. Efforts were
'being made, he said, to win naval and army officers in Charleston
from their loyalty to the union, and this must be prevented.
There were plans, he asserted, to gain possession of the forts there
in order to prevent a blockade of the place, and he directed that
the naval authorities at Norfolk, Virginia, be in reacUness to,
despatch a squadron if it were needed.' October 29th, he ordered
the commanders of the forts in Charleston harbor to double theh
vigilance and defend their posts against any persons whatsover.*
Early in November, he sent George Breathit to South CaroUna
ostensibly as an agent of the post-office department, but he
carried letters to Poinsett and was instructed to visit various
parts of the state observing the temper, purposes, and nuUtary
strength of the nulUfiers. "The duty of the Executive is a
plain one," said Jackson, "the laws wiU be executed andThe
ItJnion j)reserved by aU the constitutional and legal means he is
invested withpand I rely with great confidence onth'e^stf^ort of
every honest patriot in South' Carolina. *^'"  -^
When Jackson heard the news from South Carolina, he wrote
in his fragmentary joumal:
South Carolina has passed her ordinance of nuIUfication and
secession. As soon as it can be had in authentic form, meet it
with a proclamation. Nullification has taken deep root in Vh-
ginia, it must be arrested by the good sense of the people, and by
a fifll appeal to them by proclamation, the absurdity of nuUi
fication strongly repucUated as a constitutional and peaceful 5.
measure, and the prindples of our govt, fully set forth, as a *
govemment based on the confederation of perpetual union
'Jackson to Woodbury, September tt, r832, Jackson Mss.
'Jackson to secretary ot war, October 29, rSss, Jackson Mss.
•Jackson to Poinsett, November 7, 1832, Poinsett Papers, Still^e's sketch reprinted, 6t.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 565
made more perfect by the present constitution, which is the act
of the people so far as powers are granted by them in the federal
constitution.' Here we have the germ cf the nuUification proclamation.
The ideas are not as clear as in that famous paper, but the note*
shows that he was on his ovm initiative thoroughly opposed to'
secession. The position of the executive, however, had some serious diffi
culties. Legally he might interfere forcefully in state matters
in two events: i. If the governor of the state requested him to
suppress an insurrection; but under existing circumstances in
South CaroUna this was not to be expected. 2. To enforce the
laws of congress; but the laws provided no clear procedure for
such intervention when the law was violated by a state. It was
contemplated that in an ordinary case a federal officer could
summon a, posse comitatus, as a state officer might do, to aid him
in his duty; but this could harcUy be done against a whole people.
It was an unforseen contingency, and the executive branch of
government must find a way to meet it. Jackson realized the
deficiency and asked congress to enact a law to remedy it; but
untU that could be done, he fell back on the theory of the posse.
He encouraged Poinsett and his friends to be ready to be sum
moned on such duty, he placed arms at convenient and safe
places, some of them across the North Carolina border, and he
promised that if necessary, he would march to the aid of the
defenders of the union at the head of a large force from other
states, itself a kind of augmented posse comitatus.
Such was Jackson's feeling: in practice, he could not go so
far. NuUification. untfl the adoption of the ordinance of No
vember 24th, was closely bound up with the general Southern
opposition to the tariff, and the administration hesitated to
press it lest the whole South should become nuUifiers. The
'Jackson Mss.

S66 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
South CaroUnians played earnestly for this wider cause, and
sought particularly to win Virginia. To that end, they stressed
the coimection between nuUification and the Virginia and Ken
tucky Resolutions, trying to convert the regulai: repubUcans in
that state. But the old antipathy was too strong: Virginia
repubUcans of the Crawford school dislflced CaUioun and aU he
stood for too much to foUow him into his new vagaries. AU
this did not appear on the surface, and when in July, 1832,
Senator TazeweU, an extreme state rights doctrinaire, suddenly
resigned his seat in the United States senate, it caused much
apprehension in administrative circles' which desired to avoid
taking the initiative in a policy of repression.
./But vigflance was not relaxed. Seven revenue cutters and
'¦ the Natchez a ship of war, were sent to Charleston with orders
to be ready for instant action. They took position where their
guns could sweep the "Battery," the fashionable water front,
on which dwelt the most prominent famflies in the place. Troops
were ordered from Fortress Monroe to reinforce the garrison,
and General Scott was (Urected to take chief command of the
defenses and to strengthen them as he found necessary. There
was to be no relaxation of the, customs regulations, and in all
things the_authQrity of the government must be unimpaired.
But it was not desired to irritate the inhabitants, and -tiie com
mander was (Urected to surrender aU state property claimed of
him, even to arms and miUtary supplies.
November i8th Jackson pronounced the movement of the nulU
fiers a bubble, but admitted their recklessness might lead to
worse. In the forthcoming message, he said, he would refer to
the affair as something to be checked by existing law. He
would only ask that the revenue laws be changed so that in
states where the legislature sought to defeat them, the coUector
might demand duties in cash. By ceasing to give bonds to
'Jackson to Poinsett, December 9, 1832, Poinsett Papers, in StUK's reprint, page 64.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 567
secure deferred payments, the payer pf duties could'not bring
suit in which he disputed the legaUty of the duty. "This,"
declared Jackson, "is aU that we want peacefuUy to nullify
the nuUifyers. " |
The quick and vigorous action of the nuUifiers in the succeed
ing fortnight made him change his mind. In his annual message,
December 4th, 1832, he refened to the danger which threatened,
expressed the hope that the laws would prove sufficient for the
crisis, and promised to communicate further information on the
subject if it should be necessary.' These words disappointed
most friends of the union, and his opponents opeiily expressed
their horror. " The message, " said Adams, " goes to dissolve the
the Union into its original elements and is in substance a complete
surrender to the nulUfiers." Jackson was much embarrassed
by the situation. The party was alarmed at the prospect of a
contest which nught involve the whole South. When the message
was written, some days before it went to congress, he was not
convinced that extreme measures would be necessary.
About this time he received a letter from Poinsett, written
November 29th, which showed how dangerous the situation had
become in the disaffected state. Sixteen thousand citizens.
said the writer, were deprived of their rights by the recent action
of the legislature and left wdthout other source of help than the
national government. Some unionists. Colonel Drayton among
them, thought congress would acquiesce and let South Carolina
go in peace: some despairing ones even talked of leaving the state
for other homes. But Poinsett protested that he would remain
and fight it out, whatever the consequences. Such a letter was
calculated to arouse the deepest emotions in a man like Jackson,
who on December 2nd, said in a letter of his owm, "Nullification
means insurrection and war; and the other States have a right to
t 'Jackson to [Van Burw], November i8, t832, Jackson Mss.
•Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, U., 599.

568 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
put it dcwn. " December 5th, he announced that congress would
sustain him in a programme of force against nuUification. "I will
meet it," he said, "at the threshold and have the leaders arrested
and arraigned for treason. I am only waiting to be furnished
with the acts of your Legislature to make a communication to
Congress, asking the means necessary to carry my proclamation
into complete effect, and by an exemplary punishment of those
leaders for treason so unprovoked, put down this rebelUon
and strengthen our happy Govemment both at home and
abroad. . . . The wicked madness and folly of the leaders,
the delusion of their foUowers, in the attempt to destroy them
selves and our Union has not its parallel in the history of the
world. The Union will be preserved. The safety of the repubUc,
the supreme law, which wfll be promptly obeyed by me. "'
The proclamation, which he issued the day after he sent this
message of support to the union men in South Carolina, was
a waming to the nuUifiers, an appeal to the patriotism of the
nation, and a constitutional argument against the doctrines of
Calhoun. The doctrine of state veto on laws of congress, said
the proclamation, is constitutionally absurd, and if aUowed it
; would have dissolved the union when Pennsylvania objected to
j the excise law, when Virginia resented the carriage tax, or when
New England objected to the War of 18 12. A law thus nul
Ufied by one state must be void for aU; so that one state could
repeal an act of congress for the whole union by merely declar
ing it unconstitutional. Through the whole (document, ran a
strong vein of nationalistic phflosophy, supporting the right of
congress to estabUsh protection, denjdng that the constitution is
a compact of sovereign states, and announcing that a state has
no right to secede. The proclamation closed with a fervid appeal
to the "fellow-citizens of my native state" not to incur the pen
alty of the laws by foUowing bUncUy "men who are either de-
'Jackson to Poinsett, December 2 and 9, 1832, Poinsett Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 569
ceived themselves or wash to deceive you." "The laws of the
United States must be executed," said the President, "I have no
discretionary power on the subject; my duty is emphaticaUy
pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you
might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you; they
could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a
forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws,
and they know that such opposition must be repeUed. Theh
object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion
by armed force is treason. Are you ready to incur its guflt?" '
The nuIUfication proclamation is written wdth a charm of
logic and nicety of expression worthy of John MarshaU. There
is a persistent and widely accepted tradition that it was the work
of Edward Livingston, who as secretary of state signed it with
Jackson. Both its literary quality and its subtlety of reasoning
show that at least the part relating to constitutional matters was
not the work of the President. The closing part — the appeal
to the South Carolinians — has much of his fire and suggests
that he wrote it originally, but that its style was remodeled by
him who wrote the former part. As a whole, the proclamation is
one of the best papers of an American Presid«ent and compares
favorably wdth the inaugural addresses of Lincoln.
A letter to General Coffee, written December 14th, gives Jack
son's views without Livingston's charm of statement. In it is
the following:
Can any one of common sense believe the absurcUty that a
faction of any state, or a state, has a right to secede and destroy '
this umon and the Uberty of our country with it, or nuUify the
laws of the Union'; then indeed is our constitution a rope of sand;
under such I would not Uve. . . . This more perfect union
made by the whole people of the United States, granted the
general government certain powers, and retained others; but
'Richardson, Messages and Pafers of the Presidents, U., 640.

S70 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
nowhere can it be found where the right to nullify a law, or to
secede from this union has been retained by the state. No'
amendment can be made to the instrument, constitutionally, but
in the mode pointed out in the constitution itself, every mode
else is revolution or rebelUon. The people are the sovereigns,
they can alter and amend, and the people alone in the mode
pointed out by themselves can dissolve this union peaceably.
The right of resisting oppression is a natural right, and when
oppression comes, the right of resistance and revolution are
justifiable, but the moral obligations is binding upon aU to ful
ffi the obligations as long as the compact is executed agreeable
to the terms of the agreement. Therefore, when a faction in a
state attempts to nuUify a constitutional law of .congress, or to
destroy the union, the balance of the people composing this
union have a. perfect right to coerce them to obedience. This
is my creed, which you wdU read in the proclamation which I
sent you the other day. No man will go farther than I wdU to
preserve every right reserved to the people, or the states; nor
no man wiU go farther to sustain the acts of congress passed
according to the express grants to congress. The union must be
preserved, and it wiU now be tested, by the support I get by the
people. I wdU die for the union.'"
* In this letter we find no mental subtlety and but the simplest
! ideas of constitiitional law; but in strength of wiU and deVotioB.^
t' tcTthe union itis splendid.
The response of the states,' about which he was anxious,
was soon seen to be aU that could be desired. One after another
they sent assurances of support, and later came resolutions from
states north and south condemning nuIUfication as a doctrine
and as an expedient. There C(Duld be no (loubt that if the matter
came to the worst, ample forces would be ready tiTsu^fess the
nulUfiers.^ In forty days, Jackson said, he could throw fifty
'American Bistorical Magadtu (Nashville), IV., 236.
•For responses of the states and other documents on this subject, see Ames, StaU Documents on Federal
Relations, 164-X90.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION , 571
thousand men into South Carolina and forty daysthereafter as
many more.' ,
The attention of both the administration .and South CaroUna
was especially directed toward Georgia and Virginia. Between
the position of the former in regard to the Indians" and that of the
nulUfiers there was much in common. Ja.ckson feared that she
would go over to the new heresy and foresaw that if he had a
clash with her on that account, she would be ranged on the side
of South CaroUna in the larger quarrel. He urged the Georgia
congressman and ex-Governor Troup to do aU they could to avoid
a clash and to Governor Lumpkins wrote, "My great desire is
that you should do no act that would give to the Federal Court
a legal jurischction, over a case that inight arise wdth the Cherokee
Indians;" and he begged Lumpkins to beUeve in "my continued
confidence and respect, in which, you may always confide, until
you hear otherwise from my own lips, all rumors to the contrary
notwithstanding. " ' Under the circumstances, Georgia owed it
to Jackson to remain quiet, and her attitude in the crisis of the
winter was aU that could be expected. Her legislature was con
tent to pass resolutions caUing for a convention of the states to
amend the constitution in regard to the point in question.
Virginia was important on account of her influence. To the
earnest entreaties of South CaroUna her reply was resolutions
in which she professed entire loyalty to the resolves of 1798 and
1799, and the cUspatch of an agent, B. W. Leigh, to urge the
nuUifiers to suspend their orcUnance until congress adjourned.
He arrived after February ist, but what he asked had been done
before that time. A group of prominent nulUfiers, acting in-
formaUy, in Charleston, on January 21st, approved certain re
solutions adArising the officers of government that it would not be
weU to enforce the ordinance at present and pledging themselves

'Jackson to Poinsett, December 9, 1832, Poinsett Mss.
•Jackson to Lumpkins, June ss, 1832, Jackson Mss.
'Ste below, pages SS4-09S

572 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
to fulffi the program of nuIUfication if at the end of a reasonable
time the demands of the state were not granted. The resolu
tions were extra legal, sensible, and effective. February ist came
and went without conffict, and the federal officers continued to
coUect duties in the Charleston custom-house without opposition.
Meantime, the state was greatly excited. The unionists were
actively preparing for an encounter, though careful to do aU in
their power to prevent one through some rash deed. The nuUi
fiers were equaUy seff-restrained in regard to actual fighting. But
each side prepared arms and ammunition, driUed its supporters,
and kept watch on its antagonist. Jackson was kept informed
of aU that was done and was keen for a struggle. His fighting
blood was up, and he threw aside all that caution which he (Us-
played earlier in the movement. "The moment they are m
hostfle array in opposition to the execution of the laws, " he wrote,
"let it be certified to me, by the atty. for the District or the
Judge, and I will forthwith order the leaders prosecuted and
arrested. If the MarshaU is resisted by twelve thousand bay
onets, I will have a possee of twenty-four thousand. "' Whfle
the "force biU" was before congress, he wrote: "Should congress
fail to act on the bill and I should be informed of the iUegal as
semblage of an armed force with the intention to oppose the
execution of the revenue laws under the late ordinance of So.
Carolina, I stand prepared forthwith to issue my proclamation
waming them to (Usperse. Should they fafl to comply vrith
the proclamation, I wiU forthwith call into the field such a force
as wiU overawe resistance, put treason and rebelUon dovm wdth
out blood, and arrest and hand over to the judiciary for trial and
punishment the leaders, exciters and promoters of this rebeUion
and treason. " He had a tender of volunteers from every state
in the union and coifld bring twp hundred thousand into the
field within forty jdays. Should the govem(Mr of \^irghua/ he
il 'Jackson to Poinsett, January x6, X833, Poinsett Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 573
said, have the folly to forbid the passage of troops through his
state to the scene of treason " I would arrest him at the head of
his troops and hand bim over to the civfl authority for trial.
The voluntiers of his own state would enable me to do this." '
When Jackson sent his proclamation to Poinsett in December,
he said he was only waiting for certified copies of the acts of the
South Carolina legislature putting nullification into force in order
to ask congress for power to enforce the proclamation and punish
the leaders of the rebeflion.'' This information did not come, and
unwilling to wait longer than January i6th, he sent to congress
on that day, a special message asking for authority to alter or
abohsh certain ports of entry, to use force to execute the revenue
law, and to try in the federal courts cases which might arise in
the present contingen{;y. Five days later, a bifl in accord with
these requests was introduced in the senate by Wilkins, of Penn
sylvania. It was popularly called the "force bfll," but the nul
Ufiers expressed their horror by styling it the "bloody biU."
Ihere was much opposition to it; for many who were not
nuUifiers, were unwiUing to coerce a state.
The situation brought genuine alarm to the managers of the
Jacksonian democracy. It was not possible to teU how much the
Calhoun defection would weaken the party. The last stages of
the fight against the bank were approaching when the admin
istration would need all its resources. Moreover, the tariff wave
was rece(Ung. It had been partly due to the enthusiasm of the
mral North and West for " the American system " through which,
it was beUeved, cities, better transportation, and rich and pros
perous farming communities would soon spring up. This was
an unwarranted expectation, and the moment of elation was
passing. Many poUticians of the old repubUcan school yielded
to the tariff unwiUingly and at the first intipaation of recession

'Jackaon to Poinsett, January 24, 1833, Poinsett Mss.
'Ibid to Ibid, December 9, 1832, Poinsett Mss.

574 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
supported the reaction. From all these causes the time favoreJ
I compromise. Before congress met the administration was prepared to take
a mflder position on the tariff. The approaching extinction of
the pubUc debt, which would give a surplus, made revision seem
necessary. December 13th, in a letter in the Richmond Inquirer,
a close friend of the govermnent, probably Cass, secretary of war,
suggested that Virginia propose a reduction of the tariff. This
was better than a suggestion in the annual message, since such
a course would tend to turn from the President the protectionist
group. December 2 7th, the house committee of ways and means.
through its chahman, Verplanck, of New York, introduced a new
tariff bifl, reducing the duties in two years to about half of the
former rates. It was prepared by Cass, Verplanck, and othe
administration friends, but was especiaUy supported by the New
York school, who foUowing suggestions from South Carolina,
were willing to have their favorite appear as "pacificator."' Its
appearance aroused strong hostflity from the protectionists, and
not aU the New York democrats could be got to vote for it.
It was too drastic a reduction for the circumstances, and it
stuck in the house so long that Van Buren's opponents had the
opportunity to pass a bfll less injurious to the manufacturers;
and in doing so, they gave the honor of the compromise to
another than he.
Clay came into the senate in December, 1831: early in Jan
uary 1833, Calhoun, resigning the vice-presidency, took the seat
in that body made vacant by the election of Hayne to the govern
orship of his native state. Each new senator smarted from defeat
at Jackson's hands, each felt that Jackson was leading the country
to misfortune, and each was bent on impeding the cour.«e of the
destroyer. Early in the year it was noised abroad that they
were in aUiance against the administration. In regard to the
'Cambreleng to Van Buren, December 29, X832, and February 5, 1833, Van Buren Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 575
"force biU" the Kentuckian was chiefly sUent. He woifld not
fight the battles of the state rights advocates, not even to em
barrass Jackson, nor would he help suppress nuIUfication. In the
final vote on the bifl, he (hd not respond on either side. His
energy was saved for the tariff.
But Calhoun was deeply engaged as soon as the "force biU"
appeared in the senate. He offered resolutions in support of his
theory of government, and when the senate brushed them aside,
he plunged into the acrid debate with aU his energy. In the
beginning it was evident that the extreme state right demo
crats found the biU very cUsagreeable. Jackson was forced to
see a cUvision in his own ranks. " There are more nuUifiers here, "
he said, "than dare openly avow it," but he cUd not doubt they
would be good Jackson men at home.'
If his enemies had combined with the (Usaffected in his ovm
party the biU might have been defeated. But they could no
more combine in this way than the ra(hcal state rights men could
support a bifl to give the President the authority to suppress a
state. Webster has been praised for coming to the defense of
the bill. It would have been entirely captious for him to oppose
it. He could hardly break down Hayne's nuIUfication arguments
in 1830 and refuse in 1833 to create the means necessary to put
his own views into execution. But his aid was splencUdly ren
dered and most effective. He brought the anti- Jacksonians
vrith him, and these, wdth the loyal Jackson foUowers, made the
bfll safe in the senate.
Before it could pass Calhoun withdrew his-^pposition in
consequehceirf"Qay's concessiOT^ Febmary 12th the
father:3)f;lth^e„jiAmericaa,_system,'' whfle Verplianck's biU was
stifl in^the house, arose in the senate and offered a compromise
tariff Qifhis own. It proposed that for aU artides which paid
more than 2o~ per cent, duty the surplus above that rate
'JadtsiSaTreXryer, February 20, r833, American Historical Magazine (Nashville), IV., 237.

576 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
should be gradually reduced untfl in 1842 it should entirely dis
appear. Verplanck would have reduced duties vrithin twqjj^ears
by halfl Clay would do it in ten years tp„ a 20 per cent, basis.
The latter plan was less violent than the former and was pre
ferred by the manufacturers, if either must be taken. This was
all that South Carolina contended for. NuIUfication was the
club with which she sought to ward off a danger, and that danger
gone she wilUngly threw the club away: she protested from the
first that she disliked to use it. When the vote on the "force
biU " was taken Calhoun and his followers left the chamber. Ob
stinate John Tyler would not run away, and he loved state rights
too much to support the biU. He, therefore, remained in his
seat and cast the only negative against thirty-two affirmative
votes. In the house the biU passed in much the same manner,
John Quincy Adams leathng the anti- Jackson party in favor of
the measure.
Clay's part of the compr(maise was adroitly played. His bifl
was opposed in the senate because it vvas unconstituti^^jfor a
revenue bill to originate in th9,t chamber. He then arranged
through much quiet work to have it substituted for the Ver
planck bifl in the other house, which through the opposition of the
tariff party was not likely to pass at that session. February 2 sth,
in the afternoon as the house was about to adjourn for dinner,
Letcher, of Kentucky, Clay's fast friend, arose and moved the
substitution of bills. After a short debate the change w^as made
and the bfll ordered engrossed for the third reading by a vote of
one hundred and five to seventy-one. The tariff men were
surprised, but the administration party were previously informed
of the plan. They raUied to the proposition as part of the cpm-
promise..by„wduch the South Carolina crisis was- to be. removed
from the stage of action. The thing was done so quickly',
said Benton, that" the hot dinners of the representatives- were
eaten before the food became cold.'

'Benton, View, I., 309-3r2.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 577
Van Buren's friends were shocked. AU the honor of pacifica
tion to which they looked through the Verplanck bfll were
suddenly snatched away by Clay. They thought a trick was
played on them and Cambreleng complained that everybody
seemed to be against New York.' He was nearly right: except
for Jackson himself, very few of the leaders in Washington seemed
to care to help the New Yorker to the goal of his ambition.
Although the South CaroUnians resisted the passage of the
"force biU" to their uttermost, they accepted the compromise.
Their convention reassembled March nth to consider the situa
tion. It repealed the ordinance nuUifying the tariff laws of
the union and passed another nuUifying the "force biU." The
latter step was ridiculous, but it saved the face of the nuUffy-
ing party and enabled it to claim complete victory. No one,
within the state or out of it, was disposed to deny them this
comfort. Most people were glad to be rid of an unpromising
situation — the politicians because they had other affahs to
arrange, and the people because they loved peace and feared
disunion. Jackson alone of his party seems to have looked beyond the
political significance of the situation. In spite of his latent
feeling of protest, he temporized along with the others untU the
nuUification ordinance was passed. This action he took as a
chaUenge, and leading his unwflling foUowers he committed his
party to the cause of union. His letters to Poinsett and the
repUes to them show well the conditions in South CaroUna.
But the Van Buren correspondence at this period — the letters
of party lieutenants to Van Buren and those which passed
between him and Jackson — show the political side.
The nuUification proclamation, as it was the first note of
Jackson's more energetic programme, was the first sign for dissat
isfaction among his foUowers. They cUsliked its national tone
'Cambreleng to Van Buren, February 5, 1833, Van Buren Mss.

578 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
which Cambreleng pronounced "the metaphysics of the Mont
esquieu of the Cabinet." To the mass of people, he said, this
would make no difference; they would see only an endangered
union, whereas "the speculations are left for refinements of
those who are only capable of transferring the special plea(Ung
of chancery into the councfls of statesmen." '
The Ustlessness of the party in the face of cUsunion is another
iUustration of the divergence between its attitude and that of
the President. The day before the date of the proclamation
Michael Hoffman, a New York congressman, described the
situation to Van Buren. He thought the ways and means
committee would be satisfactory on every bank question, and
that on the tariff it would not adopt South Carolina's equalizing
ifltimatum; but "meanwhfle South Carolina wdU rush on i-n
furorem. The President wiU march against her, civfl war wiU
rage, and the poor fools who can see no danger now, wifl be
frightened out, not of their wdts, for they have none, but out of
their foUy. How they wiU behave then I cannot anticipate, for
when their foUy is gone, there wiU be nothing left of them."
He added that General Scott thought the situation very delicate."
A week later so vaUant a person as Benton wrote that every
body was concemed to prevent the begiiming of bloodshed in
South Carolina, that there was talk of an extra session of congress
in the spring, and that all agreed peace would come ff Jackson's
suggestion in his message of a more moderate tariff were adopted,
but the existing congress would not support this.' This idea
found support in Cambreleng's terse forecast: "We shaU do
nothing," he wrote "but project tariffs this wdnter — whfle the
Legislature wiU talk of a convention of states. We shaU have
some riots in Charleston, some bloodshed perhaps; some stormy
debating hi congress in February and the new congress wfll
'Cambreleng to Van Buren, December lo, 1832, Van Buren Mss.
'Hoffman to Van Buren, December 9, 1S32, Van Buren Mss.
•Benton to Van Buren, December r6, 1832, Van Buren Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 579
have to act and supersede the necessity of a convention."*
In no letter in either the Jackson or Van Buren correspondence
is there evidence that any other leader in his party felt the
same impulse that Jackson felt to cmsh resistance and enforce
the authority of the union.
These alarms were poured into the ear of Van Buren, who as
vice-president-elect remained decently at Albany untfl March 4th.
With characteristic, and probably necessary, caution he ap
proached Jackson on the subject. Our people are restive, he
said, because the opposition try to interpret some parts of the
proclamation as a condemnation of the state rights doctrine
of the West and South. They find difficulty in holding meetings,
and there is a cUsposition to say harsh things, which is unfor
tunate. Great discretion is necessary in New York on account
of the diversity of tariff opinion and of feeUngs engendered in
the late election. This he said in substance, closing wdth the
assurance that he would do what he could to keep things on the
right course.'
Jackson's reply took littie notice of Van Buren's warning but
dwelt on the imminence of armed force. The moment the
nulUfiers raised an army, he said, he would issue a proclamation
telling them to (Usperse and give the marshal troops enough to
suppress them. He would arrest the leaders and tum them over
to the United States courts for trial. He referred to Virginia's
late reassertion of the doctrine of 1798, saying:
The absurcUty of the Virginia doctrine is too plain to need
much comment. If they would say, that the state had a right
to fight, and if she has the power, to revolution, it would be right
but at the same time it must be acknowledged, that the other
states have equal rights, and the right to preserve the union.
The preservation of the union is the supreme law. To shew the
'Cambreleng to Van Buren, December 9, 1833, Van Buren Mss.
•Van Buren to Jackson, December 22, r832, Van Buren Mss.

S8o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
absurcUty — Congress have the right to admit new states. When
territories tht[y] are subject to the laws of the union; The day
after admission they have the right to secede and cUssolve it.
We gave five mflUons for Louisiana. We admitted her into the
union. She too has the right to secede, close the commerce
of six statfes, and levy contributions both upon exports and
imports. A state cannot come into the union without the consent
of congress, but it can go out when it pleases. Such a union
as this would be Uke a bag of sand with both ends open — the
least pressure and it runs out at beth ends. It is an insult
to the understanding of the sages who formed it, to beUeve that
such a union was ever intended. It could not last a month.
It is a confederated perpetual union, first made by the
I' eople in their sovereign state capacities, upon which we the
1 eople of these United States nade a more perfect union,
which can only be dissclved by the people who formed it,
and in the way pointed out in the instrument, or by rev
olution.' Van Buren's anxiety was not allayed by this vigorous utterance
and he wrote again. He agreed that there shoifld be no falter
ing now, but warned his friend that merely passing an act to .
raise a miUtary force was not treason and that constructive
treason was unpopular in the United States. He advised
Jackson to ask only for force to execute the laws. He knew
the latter would say that this was the writer's old trick of saying,
" 'caution, caution'; but my dear sir, I have always thought
that considering our respective temperaments, there is no way
perhaps in which I could better render you that service which
I owe you as well from a sense of deep gratitude as public duty."
He added that Virginia was much concemed over the proclama
tion that he did not think South Carolina would secede but if
such a thing happened Virginia would desire the remaining
states to decide whether they would form a new union without
'Jackson to Van Buren, December 25, 1832, Van Buren Mss.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 581
the seceder or wage war to retain her in the union. The best
solution he saw was the modifigEttipn of the tarfff.' '~"~^
Other lettefs foUdwed-ffom the same writer, but a fortnight
passed before they were answered by the busy Jackson. This
reply showed unexpected seff-control. It was necessary, he
said, to protect good citizens and federal officers in South Caro
lina who might faU under the state's laws of vengeance; and as
to the tariff, it was necessary to think of both ends of the union;
for New England, protected by the tariff, might be as wiUing to
secede if protection was abandoned as the South if it was not
abandoned. NuUification and secession must be put down once
for all: he must give congress fuU notice of the danger so that
it could act before February ist, or he would be chargeable with
neglect of duty. "I wifl meet aU things wdth deUberate firmness
and forbearance, but wo to those nuUifiers who shed the first
blood. The moment I am prepared wdth proof I wdU cUrect
prosecution for treason to be instituted against the leaders,
and if they are surrounded with 12,000 bayonets our marshal
shaU be aided by 24,000 and arrest them in the midst thereof.
llJpthiagjinust be j)a3mttqd,,ta.weaken~'0UF-gover^nment at home
or abroad. Virginia, except a few nulUfiers and poUticians, is
trhe to thS^ core. I could march from that State 40,000 men in
forty days. Nay they are ready in North Carolina, in Tennessee,
in aU westem States, and from good old democratic Pennsylvania
I have a tender of upwards of 50,000; and from the borders of
South Carohna in North Caroluaa I have a tender of one entire
Regiment. Iheuniga_shaU be preserved."'
On the day Jackson wrcDtrthiS'Setermined letter, SUas Wright
wrote in another strain to Van Buren. Everything, he said,
was at stake, even the union as well as "our most favorite poUti
cal hopes and prospects." For the time he seems to have forgot-
'Van Buren to Jackson, December 27, 1S32, Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, January 13, 1833, and Cambreleng to Van Buren, December a6, 1832, Van Buren
Uu.

S82 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ten that aU his hope consisted in sticking close to that leader
who alone could carry into safety the head of the New York
group. In consternation he demanded that Van Buren teU
him how to vote on the Verplanck bifl, he admitted that he had
never voted from couAdction on the tariff question, but from expe
diency, and declared himseff vrilling to do it again. As to others,
"the President is very well and cool, calm, and coUected, but
very firm and decided as to the use of force. As to the sustention
of his position that a state cannot secede he is very sensitive,
and even abuses mUcUy Mr. Ritchie." The secretary of war was
"highly excited" and McLane in the treasury department,
"is much more so."'
Jackson's keen observation of the situation chd not relax
and for the next month the politicians tried to find a way out of
the labyrinth. The postponement of the execution of the
nuIUfication ordinance seemed only to delay the day when he
must strike rebelUon. By this time he had lost most of his
interest in the attempt to settle the tariff question; and when
Clay's compromise was introduced he was, quick to resent the
prospect that it _ should take precedence of the_"f(Dfce'hfllv"
"I am Just informed," he wrote hastily to Grundy on tiie night
of Aprfl 13th, " that there wfll be another move to lay the judiciary
['force'] bfll on the table until Mr. Clay's tariff bifl is cUscussed.
Surely you and aU my friends wfll push that bifl through the
senate. This is due the country, it is duetto me, and to the
safety of this union and surely you and others of- the committee
who reported it wfll. never let it slumber one day untfl it passes
the senate. Lay aU delicacy on this subject aside and compel
every man's name to appear upon the journals that the nuUi
fiers may all be cUstinguished from those who are in support of
the laws, and the union."' His efforts were not successful. His
'Wright to Van Buren, January 13, 1833, Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Grundy, February 13, 1833, American Historical Magazine, (Nashville), V,, 137.

JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION 583
bfll — in the letter to Grundy he calls it "my bfll" — passed the
senate before Clay's compromise tariff biU, but they both
reached Jackson for signature on the same day. It must have
made him fed that it was worth httle to provide a means of
checking the pretensions of a wflful state whfle giving it at the
same time the object for which its wiffulness was exerted. NuU
ification was South Carolina's weapon. Using it successfully
in 1833 showed how it could be used and established her prestige
in the practice. Had the desires of Jackson been supported
by a less timid group of poUticians state rights might now have
been broken and a sterner struggle in the succeeding generation
noight have been avoided.
It is difficult to give Clay and Calhoun their just places in
this affair, so weU are mingled selfish and apparently sincere
motives; it is easier to praise Webster, although when he fought
for the union he but stood where he stood before; but as regards
the President there can be no such hesitation. He forsook his old
go§ition^jj^Lst-.asid£_iheJbraiij^^ and declared_for
yiejimon^whg9Jt-w.as.iii, da,nger. His pohtical philosophy was
a ^simple one, when putto the tesL  It embiaced-^obecUence
to_his auth6iify7^p[^l3lScinfipDly, .and..eo.i^^ to carry out
^^.pu^oses. The first and the third united to shape his course
on nullification: the second and third unite„d to (Urect it in the
next great crisis of -^his career, the stmggle against the Second
United States Bank.

CHAPTER xxvn
THE UNITED STATES BANK — BEGINNING THE FIGHT EOR
EE-CHARTER
So FAR this account of Jackson's administration has been chiefly
concerned with the evolution of the Jacksonian party. In
1824, one man's popularity boldly utflized, drew together a vast
number of voters. To them were joined the groups by Crawdord,
Calhoun, and Clinton, each fuUy suppUed with poUticians of
all grades. When the party came into power it was a group
of factions which slowly became an organic unit. The aUgmnent
of interests into the Calhoun and Van Buren groups, the ex
clusion of the opponents of Van Buren from the cabinet, the
identification of the New Yorker with the original Tennessee
following, the formation of a cabinet devoted to this faction,
the clever elimination of Calhoun until he was forced into party
rebelUon, and finaUy the escape from a stmggle wdth the South
at the instance of South CaroUna whereby the party might be
rent in twain; these were the chief steps in the process of unifi
cation, and each has been explained at length.
^ At the head of this array stood Jackson, probably stronger
through his forceful personaUty than any other American since
Washington. He was no economist, no financier, no inteUigent
seeker after wise and just ideals, and his temper and judgment
were bad; but his wiU was the coherent force of a party organiza
tion more complicated, and yet better adjusted, than existed
before that time in our govemment. Courage, knowledge of
the people, simplicity of manner, the common man's ideal of
honesty and patriotism, and a willingness to discipline his sub-
584

' BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 585
ordinates when necessary were the qualities which kept the
party oganization effective. "Jackson's popularity wfll stand
anything," said his friends in expressing their confidence in his
leadership. His opponents said he was drunk with power.ip.
Popular hero or tyrant he was now, in the years 1832 and 1833,
come to the supreme test of his strength, the open fight against
the bank.
The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816,
to continue for twenty years with one year more to close its
affairs. The capital was thirty-five milUons, one fifth subscribed
by the govemment. This subscription was paid in a note
at 5 per -cent, interest, and it was believed that the dividends
and the rise in the value of the stock would bring the pubhc
treasury a good profit on the transaction. A board of twenty-five
directors, one fifth appointed by the President of the United
States, selected the bank's administrative officers, created
branches with local boards of cUrectors, invested the bank's
funds, and provided for its other business. Foreign stock
holders were not to vote for directors and frequent reports
must be made by the bank to the secretary of the treasury.
The most important other features of the charter were as fcil-
lows:(i) The bank might issue notes without restriction, but they
must aU be signed by the president of the institution and must be
redeemed in specie under penalty of pa3dng 12 per cent, inter
est per annum on notes for which specie was refused. (2) Its
notes were receivable for govemment dues, a privilege ex
tended to notes of state banks only when they were redeemed
in specie. (3) It kept the pubUc deposits without interest, a
valuable privilege in the prosperous years during which the
charter ran. {4) It was to pay a bonus of one and a half nail-
Uons and to transfer pubUc funds without cost to the govemment.
(5) The secretary pf the treasury might remove the dep'osits from
the bank, but he should "hnmediately lay before congress, ff

586 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
in session, and if not, immecUately after the commencement
of the next session, the reasons for such order or direction."
But was congress then to pass on the reasons submitted? And
would the deposits be restored if it chd not approve? On this
point the charter was not so clear that it escaped much later
controversy.'
.., The size and privileges of the bank gave it power over other
banks, and such was the intention of congress. It received large
quantities of state bank-notes and by presenting them for re
demption forced the banks of issue to maintain adequate specie
reserves and to refrain from overissue. No single state bank
or possible combination of them was able to exercise the same
influence over the great bank, which was thus able to appro
priate to itseff much of the volume of new bank-notes which
the business of the country demanded. This, probably, was its
most pronounced monopolistic feature.
The bank inevitably had the opposition of the state banks,
and since the latter were connected wdth local poUtics it became
an issue in state poUtics. Bad management and the panic
of 1819 made it necessary to take over large quantities of real
estate, especiaUy in the West, and when this was later sold at
an advance the former owners gnashed their teeth. "I know
tovms, yea cities, . . . where the bank," said Benton in
1831, "already appears as an engrossing proprietor." Out
of this hostflity of the people and the poUticians grew state
legislation intended to check or destroy the federal incorporated
institution. The bank was saved by the interference of the
supreme court. In two cases, McCuUoch vs. Maryland (1819) and
0sbom_^?5^the Banktr8-24); it was held that a statedaadmopower
over a bank incorppfated by congress. Thus baffled, popular
hostiUty receded but did not (he. It survived in local (Ufferences,
and when Jackson raised his voice against the bank it came to
'Far the charter, see United Stales Statutes at Large, IH., 366.

BEGINNING THE, BANK WAR 587
his aid. Some of his strongest supporters, as Amos KendaU
and Frank P. Blair, of Kentucky, were warm in the early fight
to restrain that institution. \
Nicholas Biddle was president of the bank when it completed ]
this victory. He graduated at Princeton, became a lawyer,
dabbled in literature, and at length was secretary of legation in
London and Paris. In 1819, through political influence, he was
appointed govemment (Urector of the bank. He knew something
of political economy and now gave himseff to the study of bank
ing, of which his active mind soon achieved the mastery. He
was a man of personal power, came to dominate the board of
(Urectors, and in 1823 was elected president to succeed Langdon
Cheves. He quickly became the controling force in the insti- '^"¦
tution. When Cheves became president in 181 9 bankruptcy was
imminent. He adopted a severe pohcy, curtaUed loans, coUected
debts without regard to persons, and brought affairs again to
a safe conchtion. But he made himself unpopular and his resig
nation gave pleasure to the bank's patrons. Biddle profited
by the reaction. He increased loans moderately, enlarged the ^r
note issues, and made some slight concessions to the state banks.
Business generally was good, and results justified his liberaUty.
He reorganized the branches, got better directors as opportu
nity offered, and adopted better banking methods. Dividends
increased and the bank's stock became more valuable.
Besides having many sober qualities Bid(fle was bold and
imaginative. In the beginning he restrained these impulses,
but as success came he gave them freer play. Holding down the
issues of state banks as much as his favored position permitted, ^
he enlarged his own circulation from four and a haff miUions in "
1823 to twenty-one millions in 1832. This caused dissatisfaction
on the part of the competing banks, but it was not Iflie him to
tum aside on account of his opponents. He had much latent

S88 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
pride, he loved his own power, and soon became the chief force
in the administration of the bank. He was aUowed to control
the selection of the private (Urectors, the appointment of the
committees, and thus he became, as was inevitable wdth a strong
man, the centre of the bank's policy as truly as Jackson was the
dominant force in the national government. When his wifl was
limited by his opponents his resourcefulness was apt to find
some way to circumvent them, as was shown in the case of the
branch drafts.
These drafts came into existence in the foUowdng manner:
In developing his policy of restraining overissue of state banks
he wished to put out large amounts of his own notes. But the
charter provided that he and his cashier must sign aU such notes,
and it was a severe tax on his physical strength to sign as many
as were needed. Four times before his term of office the bank
asked that this feature of the charter be amended, but congress
always refused, probably because they desired to use this pecu
Uarity of the law to restrain the issue of the bank. Bid(fle con
strued it as an act of pique. A cautious man would have.yielded,
but not he. He invented the branch draft, in size, design, and ,
coloring so much like a bank-note that the average man took it
for one. It was drawn by the branch on the mother bank in
Philadelphia and made payable to some subordinate of the
branch, or order. The subordinate endorsed it, and it became
transferable. These drafts were received wdthout question by
the bank and the public and untiri83S by the government itself.
They were not illegal and they were aU redeemed by the bank;
but they were a subterfuge and the anti-bank group dedared
that they were a practical violation of the charter.
Biddle could not have kept the bank out of poUtics, and he
probably did not expect to do it. The fact that its charter
must be renewed made the question a political one. The general
revival of state rights theories had its bearing, and the personnel

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 589
of the bank's management had an influence on the question;
for men of (Ugnity and wealth, as were the directors and officers,
naturaUy opposed Jackson's election. On the other hand,
wherever the anti-bank party existed it as naturally tumed to
Jackson. In Kentucky and New Hampshire this was particu
larly true. Biddle understood the situation, but observing that
the opposition came from the less intelligent portion of the
Jackson supporters, he hoped he could by reasonable methods
carry his cause through congress. He could count on aU the
Adams men and on the followers of Calhoun. His chief trouble
would come from old-school followers of Crawford and from the
Jacksonian democrats, not a very formidable combination.
Biddle looked upon it as a group inspired by ignorance and
prejudice, and he felt that it would yield before the intelligence
which he could bring to bear on the matter. His expectations
would in all probabUity have been accompUshed but for the
opposition of Andrew Jackson.
We know Uttle of Jackson's early attitude on the subject, but
all we know marks him for an opponent in one way or another.
In 1817, "the aristocracy at NashviUe," as he later caUed it,
tried to secure the estabUshment of a branch in the town. They
encountered a state law forbidding a bank without a state charter,
but got it repealed in spite of the opposition of Jackson and many
others.' Later in the same year he refused on constitutional
grounds to sign a memorial for such a branch; but he was wiUing
to recommend certain men for officers in the branch, not as an
endorsement of the institution but as a testimonial of the char
acter of the persons.'
In New Orleans in 182 1 when about to assume the office of
governor of Florida he asked the branch in that city to cash a
draft on the state department for ten of fifteen thousand doUars
'The date of this recommendation was formerly given as t827, but Catterall correctly places it as r8t7;
See Second Bank of the United States, 1S3. '
•Jackson to Benton, November 29, 1837, Jackson Mss.

590 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
and was refused because at that time the parent bank had ordered
that drafts should not be cashed. The incident annoyed him.
He could have got the money by selUng a draft to brokers in
the city, but he said he would never discount his govemment's
bifls, "and more particularly to the branch bank of the United
States, in which is deposited aU the revenue of the govemment
received in this place." '
In 182 1, while govemor of Florida, he forwarded a petition
for a branch at Pensacola. Opponents later took this to in(Ucate
that he then favored the bank; but he repUed with evident
truthfulness that in sending the petition he merely acted for
others and was not committed to support the request. There
is no evidence to show that his bank views changed after his
election. On the contrary such facts as we have go to support
his plain assertion made in 1837 : " My position now is, and has
ever been since I have been able to form an opinion on this sub
ject, that Congress has no power to charter a Bank, and that the
states are prohibited from issuing bflls of credit, or granting a
charter by which such bifls can be issued by any corporation or
order.'"
I During the six years throughout which Jackson was before the
Icountry as presidential candidate nothing happened to show
his views on this question. But the increasing certainty that
he would be President made him an object of interest to the bank.
In 1827 a branch was created at NashviUe and thither came
Gen. Thomas Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, agent of the bank,
to supervise its establishment. He became acquainted with
Jackson, and the two corresponded after the agent's retum to
Phfladelphia. Cadwalader's letters are fifled with insinuating^
friendliness. In one he regrets that he caimot settle in NashviUe,
and he extends a warm invitation for Jackson and Mrs. Jackson
¦Jackson to Adams, April 24, 1S21; American State Paters, Foreign, IV., 756,
•Jackson to Benton, November 29, 1837, Jackson Mss.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 591
to visit Philadelphia. " Mrs. Cadwalader," he concludes, " deshes
me to say that no endeavor wiU be spared to supply to Mrs. J.
the places of those warm friends whom she wiU leave behind her.'"
Election day had not quite arrived when he wrote in a pean of
glorification that the Phfladelphia contest went "right" and that
Sergeant was defeated. Coming to the bank he said: "Having
had a particular agency in selecting the first Ust of Directors
of the office of the Bank in your Quarter, I feel very anxious to
know how far public opinion approves of the administration."
Complaint had come to him that the men were unpopular, that
the president was selfish and had no influence out of his office,
that relatives of the president were given unwarranted favors
in borrowing, that G. W. CampbeU was the only proper man
on the board, and that under pretext of getting business men in
office "our friend Major Lewis is removed in order to make way
for a man recently accused and convicted (in pubUc opinion)
of fraud for a series of years by the use of false weights at his
cotton gin." He closed by saying he should be grateful if Jack
son woifld convey any useful information on this subject to him,
either personaUy or as a director in the parent bank.'
Nothing could be plainer than this offer to hand the Nash
vflle branch over to the Jackson party; the reply was creditable
to the writer of it "Never having been," said Jackson wdth
dignity, "in any manner, connected wdth Banks, and having very
Uttle to do with the one here, I feel myself unable to give you any
satisfaction about it." The cUrectors, he added, were reputed
honest men, most of them were Europeans who had recently
settied in the neighborhood, and some were young men who were
under obligations to the president of the branch. He had heard
complaints but could not say whether they were tme or not, but
"if it is any part of the poUcy of the mother bank to conciUate
iCadwalder to Jackson, June 2t, 1828, Jackson Mss.
'Cadwalader to Jackson, October 15, t828, Jackson Mss.

592 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the states and make theh Branches acceptable to the people,
then I think a portion of their boar(i at least, should have been
composed of men better known, and possessing more extensive
influence than most of the cUrectory of the- Bank at NashviUe
do."* Here were both dignity and poUcy.
Polk assures us that in the winter before the ffist inauguration
Jackson taU^ed freely to his friends at the "Hermitage" about
his opposition to the bank. The President's own recoUection
of the matter supported Polk in the assertion that a declaration
against the bank was incorporated in the first draft of the inaug
ural address, probably an early, rough draft, from which the
intended matter was dropped at the suggestion of friends.'
Soon after the inauguration Jackson retumed to the subject,
writing to Gmndy in regard to a national bank scheme. The
latter had long been interested in banks, being the author of the
Tennessee law of 1820 creating a loan office.' W^hat he said to
Grundy is not preserved, but the latter said in his reply: "On
the subject of the National Bank you have in view — I admire
the project and beheve that the president of the U. States,
who shaU accompUsh it, wiU have achieved more for his country,
than has ever been effected by any act of legislation, since the
foundation of the government. I wdU furnish as early as I can
my views at large on that subject, agreeably to your request." ,
Five months later Grundy sent an outline plan of a bank
with a capital stock of forty mfllions based on the national
revenues, half of the capital to be owned by the states in pro
portion to population, the rest to be ovmed by the federal gov
ernment, and the central directors to be elected by congress.
The plan had little influence, perhaps not as much as a suggestion
of John Randolph's which probably reached Jackson about the
'Jackson to Cadwalader, November i6, 1828, Jackson Mss.
•See above, II., iio.3 See also Congressional Debates, X., Part II., S263.
'Sumna, Life of Jackson (edition tSgg), 158, 159.
'Grundy to Jackson, May 22, 1820, Jackson Mss.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 593
end of December, 1829. In 1811, said he, he prepared a plan of
a bank to take the place of the first bank: it was to be attached
to the customs of the govemment and the great custom-houses
were to be branches to keep and pay out funds.'
Whfle Jackson thus thought of the bank from the standpoint
"of principles, some of his party managers considered it frbm a
practical side. They charged, and they probably beUeved, that
it took active part in poUtics in several states in the election of
1828. The charge seems to have been true to some extent in
Kentucky. The victors were hardly in the sad(Ue before they
began to talk openly about their wrongs. They may have in
tended to frighten the bank, vrith the object of lessening its parti
ahty for the opposition and of getting members of theh own party
appointed cUrectors. The result showed that Biddle was not proof
against their designs.
The incident which best served them was the charges against
strong-wiUed Jeremiah Mason, president of the Portsmouth,
N. H., branch, and friend of Daniel Webster. Isaac Hfll,
leader of the rural wing of the Jackson party there, charged
that Mason discriminated against administration men in making
loans, that he was cold in his manner and generaUy unpopular.
The complaint was made to Ingham, secretary of the treasury,
iri June, 1829, and -he sent it to Bid(Ue. About the same time
BidcUe received complaints directly from Senator Woodbury
wdth other protests of the same nature, and he concluded the
situation demanded serious consideration. But he made the
initial mistake of getting angry. He wrote two letters on the
same day, July 18, 1829, explaining in one of them the situation
in Portsmouth. This was calmly stated and made a good show
ing for Mason. But in the other he undertook to defend the
bank from the imputation of partisanship. There were not,
he thought, another five hundred persons in the country so free
'Randolph to J. H. Burton, December 12, 1829, Jackson Mss.

594 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON .
from politics as those who dhected the affahs of the bank and
its branches. He was confident of his position, and as for the
demands of those enemies he made by refusmg crecht, he felt
that "even in the worst event, it is better to encotmter hostiUty,
than appease it by unworthy sacrifices of duty."
It was incUscreet to open this phase of the affah; for it gave
Ingham an opportunity to shift the correspondence from the
facts and to rest it where he could appeal to party feeling. In
his reply he nearly ignored the ffist of the two letters but tumed
to the other eagerly. He said:
Whfle I would scmpulously forbear to assume any fact de
rogatory to the character of your board or those of the branches,
it is not deemed incompatible with the most rigid justice, to
suppose that any "body of five hundred men, not selected by an
Omnisdent eye, caimot be fahly entitied to the unqualified
testimony whicli you have been pleased to offer in their behalf.
It is morally impossible that the character of aU the acts of the
cUrectors of the branches, much less theh motives, could be
knovm to the parent board; hence, the dedaration that "no
loan was ever granted to, or withheld from an individual, on
account 'of poUtical partiaUty or hostihty," must be received
rather as evidence of your own feelings, than as conclusive
proof of the fact so confidently vouched for.
In dosing Ingham reiterated his right to keep an eye on the
bank's relation to politics, said he knew this would be attributed-
to false motives, but that he should do his duty as an officer
of the govemment.
Before Biddle replied to this the Portsmouth investigation
was ended in Mason's favor. Reporting this, he added, as though
he Could not resist the temptation to argue:
Your predecessors, Mr. Morris, General Hamilton, Mr.
Wolcott, Mr. Gallatui, Mr. CampbeU, Mr. DaUas, Mr. Crawdord;

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 595
and Mr. Rush, were gentiemen of acknowledged inteUigence
and fideUty to their duty. Yet, neither during the existence
of the first Bank of the United States, even when there were no
govemment dhectors, nor since the existence of the present bank,
nor in the interval between them, does it seem even to have
occurred to them that it formed any part of their duties to
enquire into the political opinions of officers of the banks in
which pubhc funds were deposited.
Analyzing and construing the secretary's letter he aUeged that
it contained three false assiunptions: (i) that the treasury could
influence the election of bank officials, (2) that there was "some
unexplained but authorized action of the govemment on the
bank "of which the secretary was the proper agent, and (3) that
he could and should make suggestions in regard to the attitude
of the bank toward poUtical matters.
This letter was uncUplomatic. Aggression was not BidcUe's
cue, but he (Ud not know it. Like most of his dass, he had
contempt for these new poUticians who rode into power imder
cover of popular enthusiasm for a war-lord. He beUeved they
dared not attack so powerful an institution as the bank. He
did not reaUze until too late thfe immense strength of popular
feeling as embodied in the new party.
Ingham showed a better comprehension of the situation. He
denied flatly the ffist and thhd of his correspondent's assertions
but assented to the second. The relation of the bank to the
currency, the credit, and the political Ufe of the coimtry gave
him, he said, the right to enquire into the actions of the institution.
And he added significantly, speaking of himseff as the secretary
of the treasury:
Before he can be tempted to exercise the authority wdth
which Congress have invested him, to vrithchaw the public
deposites, he wdll do as he has done, submit cUrectly to your
board whatever imputation may be made, and respectfully.

596 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
resolutely, and confidently ask, nay demand, the fuUest examina
tion; and he tmsts that he may not be noisconceived when he
adds, that nothing coifld, in his opinion, more imperatively
exact this energetic movement than a wefl formulated conric
tion of the bank's being, as was said of its predecessor, an eiigine
of poUtical party.
He also said, and it was wdth dearer poUtical wdsdom than
Biddle's: I must premise, notvrithstanding the pecuUar increduUty
shown to simflar [previous] assurances, that no wish is, or ever
has been, felt by me, to convert or attach the influence of the
bank to any poUtical party, but, on the contrary, speaking with
"unreserved freedom," although in the joint (Uscharge of public
functions, comity and co-operation cannot be too much culti
vated; in the arena of party conffict which you almost tempt
me to beUeve unavoidable, the hostiUty of the bank, as a
political engine, would be preferable to its amity.
BidcUe submitted this letter, Uke the others, to his board of
directors. They evidently realized to what a state of initation
the affair was ten(Ung and at their behest he wrote that as the
secretary cUsclaimed the views attributed to him they were
satisfied, and he withdrew their protest against those views.'
This ended the inddent. In it the administration showed its
teeth, probably all it intended to do in the beginning. Biddle
showed, also, his method of opposition: it was incautious, over-
sanguine, and liable to underestimate the strength of popular
feeling against the bank. But reflection lessened pugnadty,
and before the correspondence closed various administration men
were appointed directors in the branches. For afl his strong
words Biddle bent easfly to necessity; and not persistence so
much as bad judgment accompUshed his defeat.
'This controversy is described, and the correspondence is published, in Retorts of Committees, bt KSiion
land 'Congress. Volume IV., 437, et seq.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 597
Jackson took no part in this affair, although he must have
watched it keenly. An extract from Biddle's letter of September
15th, was sent to him and on the back we read in Jackson's hand:
"BidcUe's letter. Repeats their good feeUngs to the adminis
tration and theh great aid offered to it in the pa3mient of the
late sum of the pubhc debt? Why this so often mentioned?
Answer for poUtical effect — and newspaper slang &c.?. . .
The act of Congress their guide — tme, but if that charter is
violated is there no power in the government to inquire and
correct if true. . . . See answer. The reply as to the
purity of the Branch (Urectors well said."'' This endorsement
in Jackson's own hand shows that in the autumn of 1829 he was
keenly alive to the poUtical activity of the bank and on the
whole suspicious and hostile.
Bid(Ue knew not Jackson's feeUngs and was already planning
to make the administration his friend. October 14th, whfle his
correspondence with Ingham was in progress, Biddle was
writing to Lewds, on whom he rehed for influence wdth the
a(hninistration, seeking to establish an understanding with
the President. He desired his letter shown to Jackson,
which was done. Lewis, who was friendly to the bank, repUed
hopefuUy, asserting that the latter had high esteem for Biddle
personaUy and saying that poUtics should not enter into the
management of the institution. Bid(fle also sent friends to
Washington to assure the head of the government that
reports of pohtical discrimination in the branches were exag
gerated. By this means and by placing Jackson men on
the dhectorates of some of the branches he felt that this
danger was passed. He even asked Lewds to induce the
President to speak favorably in the annual message of the
aid the bank had given in redeeming % 8,710,000 of the debt
ih the preceding July. The assistance in that transaction was
'Jackson Mai.

598 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
reaUy considerable and Jackson readfly promised to do wi:hat
was desired, and kept his promise, as his message shows.' At
that time he had no specffic grudge against the bank, although
'"he was generaUy opposed to it. Lewis, leaning as usual to the
institution, made more of this concession than the facts warranted
and deceived the over-sanguine bank president. "I think you
wifl find," he wrote, "the old fellow wdU do justice to the Bank."
BidcUe, pleased vrith this success, determined to move for
re-charter. He conceived a plan by which through the opera
tions of the bank he would pay the remaining national debt
by January 8, 1833, knowing weU how quickly Jackson would
catch at the idea of making the anniversary of the battie of New
Orleans the time for achieving an object so much in his heart.
The idea, suggested through the faithful Lewis, pleased the Pres
ident, who asked for particulars. They were as foUows: For
a new charter and for the government's seven millions of stock
in the bank and cash equal to one half the par value of the
thhteen miffions two hundred and ninety-six thousand of 3
per cent, revolutionary debt stfll unpaid, Bid(Ue would give the
seven miUion doUars certificate of indebtedness, bearing interest
at 5 per cent., which the government owed for its stock and
assume aU of the 3 per cents. The remaining debt, a Utfle
more than thirty-seven miffions, he thought might be redeemed
from the surplus revenue in the time specified. It is tme that
about nine miUions of this was not due untfl the years 1833-
1836, but there woifld be enough surplus revenue to meet this,
and if the govemment would pay the money to the bank he wodd
also assume that. He even suggested that he would agree to
give in addition a bonus of one and a haff mflUons.
By this offer the bank seemed to be wiffing to assume twenty
milUons of debt in exchange for six miffions six hundred and
forty-eight thousand doUars to meet haff the revolutionary
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, II., 451.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 599
3 per cents, and for the govemment's bank stock, a total
of Uttle more than thirteen miUions par value. But it was not
reaUy so advantageous to the national treasury. The 3
per cents, were then worth less than par and the bank stock was
worth one hundred and twenty-five and wdth a new charter would
probably be worth one hundred and ffity. Professor CatteraU
justly observes that the property the govemment was asked to
transfer was worth to the bank under the proposed con(Utions
as much as seventeen miffions, so that BidcUe would be giving
for the new charter, bonus included, only four and a haff mffiions,
and not the seven and a half mflUons wffich on its face the offer
seemed to imply. This plan was commumcated to Lewis, Nov
ember IS, 1829.'
For aU this the propos^ition was a good one, and Jackson vvas
impressed by it; but it chd not overcome ffis constitutional
scruples, and he said as much. BidcUe went to Washington,
had a conversation wdth the President, and canied away the
conviction that he would at last overcome aU objections and
get what he wanted. He has left the foUowmg memorandum
in his ovm hand wffich gives the cUstinct idea that Jackson
in the interview made no defimte promises but bore himself
wdth (Ugmty and seff-restramt:
Mr. Biddle: I was very thankful to you for your plan of
paying off the debt sent to Major Lewds. I thought it my
duty to submit it to you.
I would have no difficulty m recommendmg it to Congress, but
I tffink it right to be perfectly frank with you. I do not thmk
that the power of Congress extends to charter a Bank ought
[out] of the ten mfles square. '
I do not (hslike your Bank any more than aU banks. But
ever smce I read the history of the South Sea bubble I have been
afraid of Banks. I have read the opimon of John MarshaU
who I beUeve was a great and pure mind — and could not agree
'Citterall, Second Bank, 188-194, has well described this incident.

6oo THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
with him — though if he had said, that as it was necessary for the
purposes of the national govemment there ought to be a national
bank I should have been cUsposed to concur. But I do not think
the congress has a right to create a corporation out of the ten mfles
square. I feel very sensibly the services rendered by the Bank
at the last pajmaent of the national debt and shaU take an op
portunity of declaring it pubUcly in my message to congress.
That is my own feeling to the Bank — and Mr. Ingham's also
— He and you got mto a difficulty thro' the foolishness — if I
may use the term of Mr. Hffi.
Observing he was a Uttle embarrassed I, [BidcUe] said "Oh,
that has all passed now." He said with the Parent Board ancl
myself he had ever reason to be satisfied — that he had heard
complamts and then mentioned a case at Louisvffie of wffich
he promised to give me the particulars.
I said "WeU I am very much gratified at tffis frank explana
tion. We shaU aU be proud of any kind mention in the message
— for we should feel Uke soldiers after an action commenced by
their General." "Sir," said he, "it vvould be only an act of
justice to mention it."'
BidcUe probably cUd not appreciate' Jackson, whom popular
opimon thought easfly influenced. He doubtless knew that
the majority of the cabinet were for the bank, he counted strongly
on Lewds, and he said that some other advisers, meamng members
of the "Kitchen Cabinet" had become frien(fly. He could not
have mduded among them Amos Kendall who never favored
the bank. Later he was surprised at the annual message and
thought Jackson had deceived him; but wdthout more spedfic
information than he gave it is hard to believe this of a man whose
nature was adnuttedly frank to the pomt of rashness. It is
easier to tffink that the bank president counted too much on
his owm mampulations. However that may be, he was in no
position to cpmplam that the questipn pf recharter was prema
turely opened.
'Catterall, Second Bank, t79, 184, 192, thinks this document an unsigned letter from Jackson to Biddle.
But th* handwriting is Biddle's and its content is only explainable as above.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 6oi
The first annual message, Deceiriber 8, 1829, was expected
with keen interest. Near the close of the document was the
foUowmg: The charter of the Bank of the Umted States expires m 1836,
and its stockholders wffi most probably apply for a renewal
of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils resulting from pre
cipitancy in a measure involving such important prmciples and
such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, m justice
to the parties interested, too soon present it to the deUberate
consideration of the legislature and the people. Both the
constitutionaUty and the expecUency of the law creatmg this
bank are weU questioned by a large portion of our feUow-citizens,
and it must be admitted by aU that it has fafled in the great end
of establisffing a umform and sound currency.
Under these circumstances, if such an mstitution is deemed
essential to the fiscal operations of the Government, I submit
to the wisdom of the Legislature whether a national one, founded
upon the credit of the Government and its revenues, might not
be devised wffich would avoid all constitutional difficffities and
at the same time secure aU the advantages to the Govemment
and country that were expected to resffit from the present bank.
Remonstrance came at once from the friends of the bank,
and the Adams men echoed the protest. To say that the bank
had not given the country a imiform and sound currency was
undoubtecUy an error and mcUcates the superficiaUty of ffis
ideas of finance. He probably meant that the bank fafled m
the purpose for wffich it was estabUshed because the coimtry
had a variety of depreciated state bank-notes, but a good financier
would have knovm that the bank measurably restramed such
issues and prevented far worse con(Utions than existed.
The message was also criticized because it raised at tffis early
date a question wffich must be settled after the end of the term
foi: wffich he was elected. But on that point he stood on better
'Kichardson, Message! and Papers of the Presidents, II., 46s.

6o2 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ground. There was an educational value in an early considera
tion of the matter; for ff the bank ought not to be rechartered
the people ought to have their attention called to it soon enough
to form an opiffion. If financial evfls shoffid come from such
a precipitation of the question, that was an evil inherent ffi the
system by wffich financial mterests were made dependent on
poUtical connections.
The reference to the bank pleased aU who supported the school
of revived state rights as weU as that vast democratic mass whose
poUtical consciousness Jackson was then caUmg mto existence,
jmen wrho jresented the privfleges of a great monied coloration.
Business interests and persons generaffy~whp did not cUstmst
wealth found it iU advised, and the poUticians who foUowed Clay
and Adams stimffiated their opposition. But Jackson did not
falter; he wrote on December 19th:
I was aware the bank question woffid be cUsapproved by aU
the sordid and mterested who prize seff-mterest more than the
perpetuity of our Uberty, and the blessmgs of a free repubUcan
govemment. . . . The confidence reposed by my coimtry
(Uctated to my conscience that now was the proper time, and,
although I disliked to act contrary to the opiffion of so great a
majority of my cabmet, I coffid not shrink from a duty so impe
rious to the safety and purity of our free institutions as I con
sidered tffis to be. I have brought it before the people, and I
have confidence that they wdU do their duty. '
And he took up at once the formffiation of a plan for a bank
to replace the one then in existence. He had talked over his
idea with the facile Hamflton; and he now asked him to work
out the detafls in two plans, one for a bank subordmate to the
treasury department, wffich woffid receive deposits, transfer
the pubUc money, and estabUsh a sound and uffiform currency;
"the other of a rffixed character wffich may fulffi aU the purposes
'Hamilton, Reminiscences, isr.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR. 603
of a bank, and be free from the infrmgenient of state rights and
our Constitution." Two weeks earher HamUton was mformed
m confidence that in a certam contmgency he woffid become
secretary of state, and he appUed himseff to the task now required
with such industry that on January 4, 1830, he sent the President
a scheme for the creation of five "offices of deposit" to receive,
coUect and cUsburse the national funds.' But notffing came of
Jackson's efforts at that time. Congress was soon considermg
ffis suggestions with such an unfavorable attitude as to preclude
further development of ffis ideas.
But they were continuaUy in his mind, and in a letter of Jffiy
17th, he stated them in a way wffich, though not very expUcit,
leaves no doubt of the spring of ffis aversion to the mstitution
then existing. He wrote:
I have not time to go mto the Bank question at present, can
offiy observe, that my own opmion is, that it should be merely
a National Bank of Deposit, with power ffi time of war to issue
its biUs bearmg a moderate rate of mterest, and payable at the
close of the war, which being guaranteed by the national faith
pledged, and based upon our revenue woffid be sought after by
the monied capitaUsts, and do away, ffi time of war, [with] the
necessity of loans. This is all the kind of a bank that a repubUc
shoffid have. But if to be made a bank of discount as wefl as
deposit, I would frame its charter upon the checks of our govem
ment, attach it to, and make a part of the revenue, and expose
its situation as part thereof annuaUy to the nation, and the
property of which woffid then onure to the whole people, instead
of a few monied capitalists, who are tracUng upon our revenue,
and enjoy the benefit of it, to the exclusion of the many. The
Bank of deposit, and even of discount woffid steer clear of the
constitutional objections to the present Bank, and aU the profits
arismg woffid accrue and be cUsposable as other revenue for the
benefit of the nation.*

'Hamilton Reminiscences, 151 (2).
.'Jackson to  ..July 17, 1830. Jackson Mss.

6o4 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Jackson preserved a letter from Alfred Balch, a Nashvffie
supporter, wffich voices the ordmary cpmplamts agamst the
bank, complaints wffich sunk deeply mto Jackson's mind. Balch
writes: Old Mr. Cratcher told me a few days ago, that he had a
check on the Bank of the U. States last week, dravra by a pubUc
officer, payable at sight at Pffila. He went to the office here
and wished cash for it. They charged him one per cent, for
advancing the money. Notes payable at the office at Boston
are thrown in here. If you wish to receive sflver for them you
must pay two and one-half per cent. Instead of loanffig money
here at 6 per ct., they wiU buy a biU on the office at New
Orleans, charge you i3^ per cent, premium and 6 per ct., all
payable in advance ancl the office at New Orleans wiU charge you
i3^ per cent, for acceptmg it there. So that the object of this
immense institution is to make money, to secure a large ffividend
for the benefit of the great stock-holders on the other side of the
Atlantic. As to the effects of the office here, they must m the
end prove in the last degree calamitous. Those who borrow are
encouraged in their extravagant modes of dressmg and living
wffich are far greater than their means wdU justify. Many are
buflding little palaces, f urnisffing them in very expensive style,
and the chfldren of many are dressed as though they were the
sons and daughters of princes. What may remam of the
wrecks produced by these splendid follies wiU after a few years
be sdzed on by tffis Mammoth Bank. '
The writer was a man of note ffi Tennessee, a poUtician of
influence, and a supporter of Van Buren. His opiffion was not
worse than that of the average man in the country; and it was
tffis average opiffion, wffich resented the bank as a great and
devouring monopoly, that gave the ffitimate stroke to what
Jackson repeatedly called "the hydra of corruption."
That part of the message wffich related to the bank was referred
'Balcb to Jackson, Januaiy 7, rSso, Jackson Mai.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 605
m the senate to the committee on finance and ffi the house to the
committee of ways and means. Bidcfle welcpmed tffis as an
opportuffity to get endorsement for the bank, since he knew that
each house was now ffi its favor. He wrote the report of the
former committee almost verbatim' and furffished the facts
on wffich the latter rested. When these reports were accepted
in the two houses he scattered them broadcast throughout the
country. He said he was anxious lest tffis activity and the
opposition of congress shoffid hritate the president.' That
he coffid have the least doubt on the point shows that he knew
not Jackson.
The bank situation at tffis time derived a pecuUar sigmficance
from its connection with Caffioun, who ffi May of tffis year
came to a defiffite,but not yet announced breach with the Pres
ident. McDuffie, Caffioun's representative ffi the house, was
chairman of the ways and means committee, whose report not
offiy supported the bank of the Uffited States, but contemptu
ously declared that the proposed substitute was fraught with
danger. It would increase the patronage, become an engine
of tyranny, and fail to give needed banking fadUties. Perhaps
the Calhoun wing of the party thought it time to show that
they were not identified with Western ideals; Van Buren also
played his part. He professed strict state rights theories,
wffich showed Jackson that ffis heart was right, whfle to ffis
friends he said — with an eye on the financial influence of New
York — that with Madison he thought that doubts of the power
of congress to create the bank were settled by the decisions of
the supreme court and by the acqffiescence of the people.' Every
Uttle helped, and the upshot was that the McDuffie report
awakened Jackson's wrath. He called on J. A. Hamflton to
write a cmsffing reply and got willing compUance, but with
'Catterall, Second Bank, rgS, note 3.
•Catterall, Second Bank, 199, note 5.
'Hamilton, Reminiscences, 150.

6o6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
admirable calmness he retumed the paper wdth the request
that Caffioun's name be stricken from it.
"From a correspondence lately between him and myseff,"
he continued, "in wffich I was obliged to use the language of
Csesar, 'Et tu, Brute?' it nught be thought to arise from personal
feeling, and arouse the sympathy of the people ffi ffis favor.
You know an experienced general always keeps a strong reserve,
and hereafter it may become necessary to pass in review the
rise and progress of tffis hy(ha of corruption, when it wfll be
proper to expose its founders and supporters by name. Then,
and then only, can ffis name be brought wdth advantage and
propriety before the nation. I return it for tffis correction,
wffich, when made, and two foflowmg numbers forwarded vrith
it, I wffi have them pubUshed in the Telegraph. Tffis is the
paper, for more reasons than one."'
It was good ppUtics to make Green pubUsh the piece; for it
would tend to weaken McDuffie as the exponent of the Caffioun
faction, and Jackson did not feel strong enough in the party to
try to go alone. But he foresaw the open breach and was
determmed to have a new editor.'
To sum up, he opposed a bank in the hands of inffividual
! capitaUsts, Eastern men and foreigners, who nught and probably
did have a large political influence through a series of powerid
lobbies as well as through participation ffi nominations if not in
tactual elections. He beUeved that a bank attached to the
treasury would give all necessary bankmg services. His plan
would build up a patronage qffite as dangerous as the influence
of the present ffistitution, but he was honestly unconscious of
danger from that source. He knew that Biddle was strivmg for
re-charter, that he circulated thousands of documents favorable
to the bank, that he employed Gallatin and others to write for

' Hamilton, Reminiscences, i68.
•Jackson to Lewis, June 26, 1830, Mss. New York Public Library.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 607
it, that Webster was a member of the central board of directors,
and that aU its influence would be brought to bear on members
of congress to get a new charter. At tffis time the Caffioun
controversy, the Eaton affair, and the cabinet cUssensions
embarrassed the party, and it took a great deal of courage to
drive the quarrel wdth the bank into the midst of tffis complex
poUtical situation. But he (Ud not hesitate. No other man then
in pubUc Ufe, says Van Buren, equaled ffim in confidence that
the people woffid support one who labored wdth sincerity for
their interests.'
During the autumn of 1830 Biddle induced many bank sup
porters to urge Jackson to change ffis views. They found ffim
calm but reticent. They got the impression, and it became
a certainty wdth Biddle himseff, that wffile the President pre
ferred ffis ovm bank plan he woffid not veto a new charter if
congress took the responsibffity of passffig it. The moment
seemed propitious, and the bank's president determined to ask
for a charter at the corffing session. His hopes were transitory;
for the second message, December 6, 1830, repeated the declar
ations of the first and amplified the President's scheme for a bank.
Some autograph notes prepared in anticipation of tffis occasion
indicate that the plan incorporated in the message was essenti
aUy Jackson's. They have tffis other advantage that they show
what he at that time reaUy thought of the existing bank. The
corporation, he said, had two disadvantages, (i) It was unconsti
tutional because congress had no power to create a corporation,
because it withdrew capital from the control of the state, because
it bought real estate without the consent of a state, wffich the
federal government itself could not do; and (2) It was dangerous
to liberty because through its officers, loans, and participation
ffi politics it coffid buUd up or puU down parties or men, because it
created a monopoly of the money power, because much of the
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, VI., 36, Van Buren Mss.

6o8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
stock was owned by foreigners, because it would always support
ffim who supported it, and because it weakened the state and
strengthened the general government. Two thffigs about these
reasons are notable: notffing was said about the faflure of the
bank to give a good currency, and the mstitution is not pro
nounced unsafe. On the contrary, much is said for the bank.
"Tffis Bank," says the memorandum, "renders important ser
vices to the Govemment and country. It cheapens and facfli-
tates all the fiscal operations of the Govemment. It tends in
some degree to equalize domestic exchange, and produce a sound
and uniform currency." It was not to be destroyed but a sub
stitute provided "wffich shaU yield aU its benefits, and be ob
noxious to none of its objections." There is every reason to
believe that at tffis time Jackson's attitude toward the ffistitu- '
tion was reasonable and weU meanmg.
The bank party were discouraged. Their newspapers found
the proposed substitute unworthy of serious notice. But the
situation was not alarmmg. Lewis gave Bid(Ue private assur
ances of peace,' and he weU m.ight do so; for as yet the chief
.members of the admiffistration circle were for the bank. The
^tpolicy of opposition was distinctly Jackson'3, and he was not
disposed to push his ideas for the present. No biU to re-charter
was ffitroduced in the wffiter of i830-'3i, congress adjoumed in
March, the cabinet was reorganized in May and June, and
harmony reigned in the party. Most of the new cabmet were
f rien(Uy to the bank, but none would oppose the President openly
on vvhat was now a fixed policy with him. McLane, secretary
of the treasury, an old federaUst, favored the bank, but the
President liked him personaUy and each was cUsposed to overlook
the conviction of the other on tffis crucial poffit. Livingston
was for temporizffig, but Taney, who became attomey-general
was a resolute state rights man and gave a vigorous noind with
'(^tterall. Second Bank, 204, note i.

BEGINNING THE BANK WAR 669
a vast capacity for work to the destmction of the bank, wffich
he dislUied as much as Kendall or Jackson, ffimseff. Cambre
leng pronounced ffim "the only efficient man of sound princi
ples in the Cabinet." ' Outside of it Blair gave powerful aid
with the Globe and KendaU planned unceasmgly. Van Buren,
whose hand in the conflict was usually conceded, was sent to
England, but ffis New York supporters foUowed Jackson faith
fully. Thus throughout the first congress under Jackson the bank
controversy was precipitated, but neither side ventured to carry
it to the final stage. Each made a definite appeal to public
opinion, Jackson by his statements that the objects for wffich
the institution was founded were not accomplished, that it was,
in fact, a menace to good government, and by ffis proposition
that its functions be given to a bank in the profits of wffich the
capitalists of the country should not share. The bank was now
put on the defensive, although the time was corffing when it
must assume the initiative and ask for its object or pass out of
existence. Newspaper comment on each side was acrimonious
and the people were taking sides with more passion than judg
ment. The twenty-second congress, wffich met December 5,
183 1, saw the conflict fought to its legislative dose. -
'Cambreleng to Van Buren, February s, '832, Van Buren Mss; Jackson to Blair, January t7, r843, Jackson
Mss.

CHAPTER XXVIII
THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK
As THE beginnmg of the new congress approached Bid(Ue became
alive to the situation. He was already in commuffication vrith
McLane and Livingston, both of whom favored a new charter.
The former went to PhUaddpffia ffi October and pledged the
admmistration to a more pacific policy. He said that smce
Jackson knew he coffid not get ffis own bank scheme adopted
he would accept the old charter with certain modifications. It
was agreed that McLane, as secretary of the treasury, shoffid
advocate re-charter ffi ffis ovm report and that the President
ffi the message should say that having brought the matter before
congress he would leave it with them. Both features of the
agreement were kept, McLane's literaUy but Jackson's with a
modffication wffich gave uneasmess to the bank. He said in
the message, December 6, 183 1, that he stiU held "the opmions
heretofore expressed in relation to the Bank as at present organ
ized," but that he would "leave it for the present to the mves-
tigation of an enlightened people and their representatives." '
Reassertffig his previous opiffions and speaking about the
approval of the people were matters not considered in the secret
coffierence ffi Phfladelpffia.
It seems likely that McLane misjudged Jackson. Effiovring
ffis inexperience and mistakmg the import of ffis corcUaUty in
personal relations, he based ffis assurances not merely on what
Jackson said but on what he thought he could induce him to
say. We know not what Jackson told ffim, since no first hand
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, H., SS8.
610

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 6ii
evidence survives on the point. AU our ffiformation comes
from Biddle, vvho had it from McLane and others equaUy biased
toward the bank. They were all striving to influence the Pres
ident, especiaUy the secretary of the treasury, who would gaffi
in public esteem if he could take the party safely tffiough tffis
perplexmg situation. Jackson probably was carried further
by tffis assaffit than he reaUzed. He lUced McLahe's frank way
of dealing vrith ffim and forgave ffim the contrary report on
the bank. "It is an honest dffierence of opiffion," he said,
"and ffi ffis report he acts fairly by leaving me free and uncom-
noitted. Tffis I wiU be on tffis subject." '
The growdng ascendency of McLane (Usmayed the anti-bank
men. They began to say Jackson had surrendered, and they
never forgave the secretary for what they considered a treach
erous and seffish pohcy.' When the President knew of theh sus
picions he denied the imputation of sffiftffig, saying: "Mr.
McLane and myself understand each other, and have not
the slightest disagreement about the principles, wffich wiU
be a sine qua non in my assent to a biU rechartering' the
bank.'" '
The situation favored wire-puffing. A group of New York
democrats sought to advance theh ovm ffiterests by gettmg a
charter for a bank to replace the existing institution, but the
scheme was weak politically and financially and did not go far.
The bank democrats sought to reconcfle the President's oft-
mentioned bank plan wdth sometffing the present bank would
accept as a modification of their charter. They used aU their
power of persuasion on ffim, and he probably gave up sometffing
for the sake of the party; but he talked little and we cannot say
what he relinquished. Divided as the party was, it was evident
ijacksonto Van Buren, December 6,1831, W.Lowrie to >iti, February 27, 1832; Van Ness to ibed March
9, r832; Van Buren Mss.
'J. A. Hamilton to Van Buren, December 7, i83r. Van Buren Mss.
•Jackson to Hamilton, December r2, r83t, Reminiscences, 234.

6i2 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
that the bank question ought to be deferred untfl after the coming
election: on tffis pomt aU democrats were agreed.
The anti-bank men were alarmed at these developments,
J. A. Hamilton spoke in (Usmay of making a flying trip to London
to talk over the matter with Van Buren. Cambreleng wrote,
January 4, 1832, that Jackson stood entirely alone, and that
McLane, Livingston, Cass, Lewis, CampbeU, were for the bank.
"Woodbury," he said, "keeps snug and plays out of aU the
corners of ffis eyes. Taney, strange as it may seem, is the best
Democrat among us. He is with KendaU, Hffi, Blah, etc.
Barry, I presume, I should have put wdth the President, or else
in the last Ust. McLane has burnished aU ffis sateffites wdth the ,
Bank gold and sflver. Somehow or other they afl begin to
tffink the Bank must be re-chartered." Neither Hamflton nor
Cambreleng would say that Jackson had entirely surrendered.'
John Randolph, also, wrote to remonstrate. On ffis opposition
to " the Chestnut Street Monster," he said, rested ffis support
of the administration; for he considered tffis the overshadowing
issue. If Jackson (hsappointed him in tffis respect he wodd
stifl support ffim agaffist Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and Adams —
"the best of the set" — but ffis vote would be deUvered with
forceps.' Jackson repUed at once. Reports that he was for
ttt.he bank were not true, he said: he beUeved it unconstitutionafes
and " on the score of mere expeffiency dangerous to Uberty, and
therefore, worthy of the denunciation wffich it has recdved
from the disciples of the old RepubUcan school." He beUeved h
had failed to serve the country as was expected and woffid never
give it ffis official sanction; and as to McLane's report, that was a
matter of individual opinion over wffich he, Jackson, had no
control. When Randolph got tffis letter he was very ffi but
managed to send a reply worthy of ffis wdt. "I see," he wrote,
'Hamilton to Van Buren, December 23, 1831; Cambreleng toVanBuren, January 4, 1833; VanBurenMss,
i 'Randolph to Jackson, December 19, i83r, Jackson Mss.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 613
" that with your arch enemy the grand Nuffifier working in the
Senate with the Coalition and his clientele dependent upholdmg
the Bank in the other House and aU working against you that
you have Sysiphean labor to perform. I wish I were able to
help you roU up the stone, but I cannot. I am finished." On
tffis letter Jackson endorsed as directions for ffis secretary;
"Regret ffis incUsposition and never fear the triumph of the
.U. S. Bank wffile I am here." '
Nor was McLane ffimself sure of ffis ground with the Presi
dent; he told the bank it ought to be satisfied with the message,
that it showed Jackson was wavering, and that ff time were
given him, he would become convinced of his error. Both
McLane and Lewis urged that in the meantime the President
ought not to be pressed. Every party consideration demanded
that he veto a charter introduced in the corffing session of con
gress but they put their advice on other grounds. He woffid, they
thought, take a charter now as a chaUenge and veto it, even if
he thought it woffid mean defeat in the next election.'
Clay's foUowers, the national republicans, were dismayed at
the apparent agreement between the President and the bank.
They considered the bank controversy their chief asset; and
Clay was in no mood to let McLane's clever manipulation wdth-
(iraw it from their hands. In their national nominatmg conven
tion ffi December, 1831, they championed the bank, arraigned
Jackson for his hostiUty to it, and asked the people not "to
destroy one of their most valuable estabUshments, to gratify
the caprice of a chief magistrate, who reasons and advises upon
a subject, with the detafls of which he is evidently unacquainted,
in direct contradiction to the opinion of his own official coun
seUors. . . . He is fully and three times over pledged to the
people to negative any biU that may be passed for re-chartermg
 />
'Jackson to Randolph, December 22, t83r; Randolph to Jackson, January 3, t83i, t832; Jackson Mss.
¦Catterall, Second Bank, 218, 219, notes i, 2 and 4.

6i4 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the bank, and there is Uttle doubt that the additional influence
which he woffid acquire by redection, woffid be employed to
carry through Congress the extraordinary substitute which he
has repeatedly proposed." '
In congress the leading national repubUcans urged an aggres
sive policy. They believed a veto woffid leave them ffi good
fighting shape in the coming campaign, and even if Jackson were
redected they expected such a majority ffi the two houses
that the charter could be carried over a veto. Let the bank but
act boldly, they said, and the world should see.
For a brief time Biddle was courted by two parties, the sup
porters of Clay and the democratic faction wffich foUowed
McLane. He hesitated and considered, seeking to get the
best resffits for the institution over which he presided. To pro-
•^eed now meant a veto: everybody told ffim that. Should he
take McLane at his word, keep the bank out of the coming
campaign, and trust Jackson not to veto it afterward? What
assurance had he from Jackson ffimself that he could rely on
democratic friendship? Was the party not afraid of the election
and merely seeking for time? For if the bank did not ask for a
charter now it must do so in Jackson's next term. It coffid not
escape Jackson's veto, if he were determined to give it. Thus
Biddle pondered, weighing the arguments on each side. He
himself was a national republican. His friend, John Sergeant,
who was long a trusted standing counsel for the bank, was
candidate for vice-president on that ticket. Webster, another
retamed counsel and a member of the central directorate,
was a leader in that party, and the whole financial connection
was trained with it. It was the side to wffich he woffid event
ually tum if necessary, and in the absence of defimte assurances
from Jackson himself it was probably considerations like these
that weighed most wdth him.
'Niles, Register, XLI., 310.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 615
January 6th he forwarded to DaUas, democratic senator from
Pennsylvania, the memorial of the bank asking for a new charter,
and on the ninth it was presented in each house. In the senate
it was referred to a select committee of wffich Dallas was chair
man. In the house it was sent to the comnuttee on ways and
means, McDuffie, chahman. Four and a haff months it lay un
touched while each side ,gave itself to the task of arousing the
country to the situation. Petitions were secured ffi large num
bers, the most notable being from banks and business organ
izations ffi favor of the bank. But that which commanded most
attention, after the congressional investigation,' was a memorial
passed by the Pennsylvania legislature with nearly a unanimous^
vote in favor of the charter. It was beheved that Jackson could
not be redected without the vote of this critical state.'
McLane was discouraged by the introduction of the bank's
memorial. Four days before it appeared he protested to BidcUe,
saying that if his advice to defer action were not taken he could
do nothing further for the bank. He now became indifferent,
but Livingston took up the work ffis colleague let faU. An
intimation was given that a charter might not be vetoed, and
Biddle caught at the hint. A new negotiation began in which
he declared of Jackson: "Let him write the whole charter wdth
ffis own hands. I am sure that we would agree to his modifi
cations; and then let him and his friends pass it. It wdU then be
ffis work. He wffi then disarm ffis adversaries." With these
ffistmctions, IngersoU, BidcUe's agent, approached Livingston,
who now claimed to speak for the administration. February 2 2d,
they drew up a plan with the foUowffig new features: (i) The gov
ernment to ovm no stock but to appomt directors on the parent
board and one on the branch directorates. (2) States to tax
the bank's property as they taxed other property witffin their
'See below, p. 617.
•Catterall, Second Bank, 221-223.

6i6 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
borders. (3) The bank to hold no more real estate than it needed
for its own use. {¦-,) A portion of the stock in the bank to be
opened to new subscriptions. ( 5) The directors to name two or
tffiee of their number one of whom the President of the Uffited
States would appoint president of the bank. The first three
of these features were offered as Jackson's terms, the others as
coming from other persons in the administration circle. Bidffie
approved aU but the last, wffich he passed over in sUence.'
Professor CatteraU thinks that here Livmgston spoke truly
for the President, but it seems more probable that the secretary.
rffisjudged his superior. Jackson's strong assurances to Randolph
shPw that up to tffis time he played a game, concealing his real
purpose from the bank democrats and working for party har
mony. It ought to require stronger evidence than the general
assertion of the enthusiastic and impractical Livingston to show
that Jackson was now wilUng to retreat after the combat was
, joined. Two months earlier he said of Livingston, "He knows
nothing of mankind. He lacks in tffis respect that judgment
wffich you [Van Buren] possess, in so eminent a degree, his mem
ory is somewhat fafl\mg him.",' Is it likely that Jackson wodd
now have revealed ffimself to one of whom he spoke such tffings?
Moreover, Livingston later told Parton that Jackson would
have accepted a charter ff the bank had beea a little complaisant.'
This was in opposition to Livingston's position in 1832, when he
said Jackson had agreed to accept a charter and when the bank
was enthely complaisant. It adds a shade of doubt to Living
ston's creffibffity as a witness of Jackson's ffitentions ffi February
1832.
••~~4fe^ During all tffis time the anti-bank democrats had been as
quiet as Jackson ffimself. But now they came forward with a
'CatteraU, Seconi Bank, 224-228.
•Jackson to Van Burjn, December r7, i83t, Jackson Mss. See also Van Buren, Autobiograthy, VI., 186,
Van Buren Mss.
'Life of Jackson, m., 395.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 617
play that checked aU attempts at compromise. It was such a
simple thing that we must think it was held back for just such
an emergency. Benton has the credit of originatmg the idea.
At ffis suggestipn Claytpn, ffi the hpuse, mpved an ffivestigatipn
into the affairs of the bank. Smce that ffistitution was applying
for re-charter it could not oppose the investigation, nor could it
hurry the charter through untfl the inquiry was made. A com
mittee was appointed, the majority democrats, with Clayton
for. chairman. For six weeks it gave itself to the task, takffig
evidence ffi Washffigton and Philadelphia. At the end it sub
mitted three reports, one by the majority against the bank, one
by the mmority ffi support of the bank, and an ffidividual
report by John Qumcy Adams, concurred in by one other member
of the committee. The last was a scathmg denunciation of the
whole movement against the bank.' The findings of the majority
have not received much respect from posterity, so far as they
involve principles of fffiance; but they displayed certain weak
points ffi the bank's conduct which appealed strongly tothe
popffiar nund when the report became an important camp.aign
document. They had little influence on the fight within congress,
where members' mmds were already made up.
The bank sent its shrewdest lobbyists to Washington to watch
the situation. Horace Binney, reputed one of the best lawyers in
the coimtry, appeared soon after the memorial was introduced ; Cad
walader did what he coffid, and Samuel Smith, of Baltimore, was
nearly as energetic; but on May 20th, as the debates were about
to begin, Biddle himseff went to Washmgton and took persons.1
charge of the fight outside of congress. Three days later the bill
was taken up in the senate, June nth it passed by a vote of
twenty-eight to twenty and was sent to the house, where it passed
Jffiy 3rd by one hundred and seven votes to eighty-five.
Jackson's veto came promptly, prepared probably by Taney,
'These three reports are in Congressional Debates, VIII., part III., Appendix, 33-73-

6i8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
who wrote many of his papers in connection vrith the bank affair.
It attacked the bifl on grounds of constitutionaUty and expe
diency. It was written wdth an eye to the commg campaign,
and the most important features were the foUowmg :j
The bank was a monopoly extended for ffiteen years beyond
its existing term for which the proposed bonus of three million
doUars was not adequate payment. With re-charter the stock
woffid undoubtedly be worth one hundred and fifty doUars a
share, and instead of continffing to have the old bank "why
shoffid not the government sell out the whole stock and thus
secure to the people the full market vtlue of the privfleges
granted?" Moreover, other citizens than the present share
holders — who were foreigners and a few wealthy Eastem capi
taUsts — had asked to be allowed to subscribe for a part of the
stock, and theh rights should not have been ignored: they wodd
have given more than the bonus provided ffi this bfll. But it
is said that closing up the bank woffid make a pressure ffi business :
tffis was not true in any just sense, smce the time was ample
for easy adjustment to new conffitions, and any pressure resffiting
must be due solely to the deliberate action of the bank.
The charter by obUging the bank to fumish lists of stock
holders made it possible for the states to tax the shares, but this
became a blemish in the eyes of the President, since in the West
and South, wher.e the bank realized a large part of its profits,
there were few shareholders. For example, there were none in
Alabama, yet the Mobile branch made ninety-five thousand
doUars of profit the preceding year, aU taken out of the state,
much of it for foreigners, and the state not aUowed to tax it one
penny. By the new charter the notes of a branch were to be redeemed
by any branch without discount when offered by a state bank.
This was very weU so far as the state banks were concemed,
'For the veto see "Richardson, Messages and Paters, II., 576.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 619
said the veto, but why discriminate against the individual
holders of branch notes?
Foreign stockholders were not to vote, and as the stock went
abroad the holders of it at home would have an increasing share
of power until the bank was at last controlled by a smaU cUque
of our own bankers. But if war occurred with the nation in
wffich the foreign holders Uved their position would give them a
great advantage over us. The American officers of the bank
would be subservient to the foreign shareholders, "and aU its
operations witffin would be in aid of the hostfle fleets and armies
without. ControUing our currency, receiving our pubUc moneys,
and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence, it woffid be
more fornaidable and dangerous than the naval and nuUtary
power of the enemy." The writer of the paper thus found no
difficffity ffi making the foreign shareholders powerless ffi times
of peace and predominantly powerfffi in times of war.
There was much like tffis, five pages of it at the begirming
and three at the end, but ffi between these two parts was an argu
ment on constitutionality which could have come from no other
member of the anti-bank coterie than Taney. It was ffi itself
a veto message and repeated some of the things which went
before or came after it. It was expressed in concise, legal style,
in contrast to the loose iUogic of the rest of the document. It
is as if it were furnished to the President as a message proper,
was deemed too cold for popular reading, and was lengthened
at each end by some such purveyor of balderdash as Isaac HiU
or Amos Kendall.
In this mterior, more argumentative, part the writer laid
dovm the President's view of ffis relation to the supreme court.
This tribunal, said the message, "ought not to control the co-
ordmate authorities of this government. . . . Each pubhc
officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears
that he wiU support it as he understands it, and not as it is under-

620 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
stood by others. . . . The opiffion of the judges has no more
authority over Congress than the opmion of Congress has over
the judges, and on that point the President is independent of
\ both. The authority of the supreme court must not, therefore,
^1 be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when
I acting ffi their legislative capacities, but to have offiy such influ
ence as the force of their reasoffing may deserve." This
statement has often been quoted without the last sentence in
it. Such an omission does injustice to Jackson, so far as the
sentiment can be said to be ffis.
¦"¦^--•"--•rr.iijrhe bank men received the veto message wdth shouts of deUght.
They beUeved it would make converts for their side and ordered
tffirty thousand copies printed for distribution. Bidffie said of
it: "It has aU the fury of a chained panther, bitmg the bars of
ffis cage. It is reaUy a manifesto of anarchy."' Tffis utterance
shows how much the head of the bank party was carried away
by the ardor of combat. The message contamed neither fury
nor anarchy. There was ignorance of finance in it, but it was
shrewdly planned to reach a class of people whom BidcUe and the
important men who dealt in banking understood no more than
Jackson understood the bankers. For every respectable citizen
whom the message (Usgusted there were many average men who
j beUeved that the accumulation of great wealth ffi the hands of
' one corporation threatened Uberty and to these its reasoning
was satisfactory.
The veto drew party Unes for the democrats, some of whom
voted for re-charter with misgivings. Jtut^they must now stand
for Jackson or agaffist ffim. The very rejoicmg^onEFiiaB
tional repubUcans hardened the aUegiance of democrats to their
own party. Wffile many poUticians nearer home sent assurances
of support, James Buchanan, in St. Petersburg, sent in ffis sub
mission. Tfll now, he said, he was for the bank, but the veto
'Clay, Correspondence, 341.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 621
converted him; he woffid support ffis leader. More mterestmg
stfll is the course of Senator DaUas, whom the bank selected
to lead its fight ffi the senate. The first evidence of Jackson's
wrath ffiled ffim with dismay, and before the end of the session
he was talking to ffis intimates about repu(Uating the bank.
Arrived at home he fffifiUed ffis threat. He said:
A few- days satisfied me, that my friend, The Bank, was,
either with or without its own consent and conffivance, tak
ffig a somewhat too ostensible part ffi the political canvass.
The institution, as an useful agent of government, is one
thing — its directors or managers, or partizans, are quite
another thffig — both uffited are not worth the cause which
depends on the re-election of Jackson. On the very day of
my anival, I passed by a large Tovm-meeting convened to
denounce the Veto and uphold the bank — and the sight of
it roused me into an immediate effort to procure a counteracting
assemblage on the same spot, that day week. Some very kind
friends strove to throw cold water upon my ardor by ffinting
that my votes and speeches in the Senate were recent and well
remembered — that my position woffid be awkward, if I did
not faU into the ranks of those who at least condemned the
Veto, etc. I took counsel of my conscience and judgment —
and being perfectly self-convinced that I might be both a true
and constant friend of the Institution, and at the same time an
unflincffing adherent to Democracy and the re-election of Jack
son, I attended the meeting — made my speech — and felt
instantly relieved from what seemed to me, before, might be
thought an undecided and equivocal attitude. The tmth is, as
you know, that altho solicitous to save the corporation by a
re-charter, I never conceived it to be of the immense and essen
tial importance described by my Senatorial neighbor on the
left and rear — I was always for the sentiment wffich is now
hoisted most ffigh — Jackson, bank or no bank.'
In applying for a charter and throwing ffimself into the hands

' G. M. Dallas to BidEord Brown, no date but in r832, probably late in the summer. See Trinity College
(.North Carolina) Historical Paters, VI, 68.

622 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of the national repubUcans Biddle made the bank the cffief ques
tion of the presidential contest, and the stumps throughout the
icountry rang wdth cries for and agamst until the November
election was held. Jackson's two hundred and nffieteen votes
to Clay's forty-ffine can offiy be considered as the nation's verffict.
The President ever claimed that Bidcfle ought to have accepted
the resffit as final, and that if he had done so the later evfls in
the situation woffid have been avoided. It is certaffi that Bid(fle
did not think the fight ended. He hoped by some turn to wrest
victory from the situation. Foreseeing the distress wffich must
attenci the closing of the bank, he hoped that it woffid be enough
to show the American people the folly of 1832, and to indued
them to reverse their verffict.
Durffig the campaign of 1832, and ffi the controversy over the
removal of the deposits in 1833, maijy charges were made against
the bank. Some were true, some partly true, and some false.
It seems wefl to deal with them here.'
I. It was charged that ffirectors, especiaUy in the branches,
were appomted from poUtical motives. The charge was partly
tme. From the beginnmg directors were selected with the
intention of favoring the party ffi power. Bid(Ue found the
system in force when he took office but disapproved of it and
did sometffing to check it. It existed when Jackson became
President of the Uffited States. Directors were usuaUy taken
from the merchant class, most of whom opposed him. From the
victors came a demand for representation on the boards. Biddle
was too practical to resist absolutely. He threw the Nashville
branch entirely mto Lewds's hands and held back offiy when he
saw that this prince of spoilsmen was bent on getting control
of afl the branches in the West. The trouble here lay with the
system, not with Biddle. Americans were hot partisans: there
'These charges have been so well summed up in Professor Catterall's eleventh chapter (pages 243-284)
that I have been left no choice but to follow his treatment with little addition of new facts. — The Author.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 623
was no neutral class from whom strictly non-partisan directors
could be suppUed.
2. The bank was said to lobby in its ovm behalf. It never
deffied the assertion; but it declared that it used no corrupt
methods, and proof to the contrary was not produced. Jackson
claimed that it bribed its way ffi congress, but this was the vapor
ing of partisan anger. Nevertheless the wealth of the bank,
its able cUrection, and its extended influence gave it great power
through the use of what may be termed legitimate lobbyffig.
It is a question if merely in this kmd of activity it could be
pronounced a harmless participant in public life.
' 3. There were frequent charges of usffig money at the poUs.
The charge was repeated most forcefuUy and with most detafls
in regard to the Kentucky branches. It was aUeged that ffi
1828, two hundred and fifty dollars of the bank's money were
used outright ffi treatffig at the polls and in hiring hacks to take
voters to the voting places. Worden Pope, connected with the
LoffisviUe branch, denied this charge. He was the man accused
m it and said that the "new court" party had spent money in
poUtics and he merely "beat them with their own dirty stick,"
but that aU the money he used was his own and he spent it of
ffis ovm volition.' Reliable evidence on such a point is difficffit
to obtaffi, but when the officers individuaUy avowed the practice,
the pubUc was naturaUy sensitive about the action of the bank.
4. Biddle was accused of giving special favors to congressmen,
such as lending money on insufficient security, transferring
money for them without charge, and paying their salaries in
drafts on distant cities wdthout cost, favors which he did not
extend to private persons. Facts to prove these assertions
were adduced, althoiigh the occurrences were not so common
as the professed terror of the democrats impUed. He also
'Jackson to Ingham, December 20, 1830; R. Desha to Jackson, December s, 1828; W. Pope to Jackson,
June Z9, r83i; Jackson Mss.

624 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
advanced the money for congressmen's salaries ffi anticipation
of the passage of the general appropriations bfll and without
interest. By loss of such interest and of exchange on drafts
the bank gave to members of congress several thousand doUars
a year. Bid(fle's pffilosophy on matters like these is expressed
ffi the foUowing words:
The existence of tffis institution must depend on the opimon
entertained of it by those who wdU before long be asked to continue
its Charter and altho' I woffid sacrifice notffing of right or of
duty to please them or to please anybody, stiU if a proper occa
sion presents itself of rendering service to the interior proving
the usefffiness of the Bank, so as to convert enemies mto friends,
we owe it to ourselves and to the stockholders not to onut that
occasion.' 5. Another charge was subsidizffig the press. It was persist
ently made and widely beUeved. Bidffie, it was thought, lent
money readily to newspapers and made them ffis tools, and only
those were considered honest wffich (Ud not wear ffis coUar. Yet
his avowed poUcy was otherwise. When Webster advised him
to help Gales and Seaton, publishers of the Intelligencer, on the
ground that their influence was usefffi, he refused pointedly,
saying that it woffid be a just reproach to the bank to undertake
to lend its funds under such conditions. Tffis he said in 1828,
when the question of re-charter was not up; but three or four
years later he made large loans to e(Utors, some of them the most
important defenders of the bank in the profession, and others
opposed to it. The Intelligencer now got over forty-four thou
sand doUars and Duff Green of the Telegraph, since Calhoun's
defection a friend of the bank, got twenty thousand. Biddle
declared that aU these loans were made as mere business propo
sitions, and it was pertinently asked if effitors alone shodd be
denied accommodation — as pertinently as Jackson asked if
'Biddle to Webster, December a, 1838, quoted by Catterall, Secona Bank, 257.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 625
echtors alone shoffid be denied appomtments to office. The
matter is perplexmg; for we cannot know how much a loan to a
supporter was an inducement to defend the bank, or how much
one to an opponent was given because a refusal would be heralded
as an act of oppression. It was offiy one of the uffiortunate
compUcations arismg from the connection of the bank with
poUtics. But ffi one loan Biddle was not clear of wrong-domg. The
Courier and Enquirer, of New York, was one of the most impor
tant papers in the country. Its e(Utors were J. Watson Webb,
James Gordon Bennett and Major M. M. Noah. Webb was
for Adams, but ffis associates were for Jackson and fixed the
policy of the paper. In 183 1 they formed a scheme agaffist the
bank, as Beimett described it. Through the aid of SUas E.
Burrows, a merchant with a sffifty poUtical connection, they
got ffiteen thousand doUars from Bid(Ue, in Phfladelpffia, giving
in exchange Noah's note endorsed by Webb for dghteen months.
The note was payable to Burrows, who transferred it to BidcUe
and from ffim personally received the money, and it was offiy
some months later that the President entered it on the books of
the parent bank; but as soon as it was given the joumal changed
its poUcy and began to advocate re-charter. In February,
1832,. when an investigation of the bank was moved in the house
of representatives, Burrows appeared ffi Pffiladdpffia, borrowed
ffiteen thousand doUars of the bank, and wdth it took up the
teU-tale note, thus transferring the debt from the effitors to
ffimseff. In the same year Noah left the paper and it came out
for Clay. In August Webb borrowed twenty thousand and ffi
December ffiteen thousand more. With accmed mterest his
debt amounted to a Uttle less than ffity-three thousand doUars.
A part of it, eighteen thousand six hundred doUars, was protested
ffi 1833, and two years later he offered to settle it at ten cents
on the doUar. Webb claimed that when the debt was made the

626 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
paper was ample security for its repayment. But the devious
manner ffi wffich the first loan was secured, the fact that the
time aUowed amounted to five years — wffich was agamst the
rffie of short loans for ordmary patrons — and the efforts to
conceal it from the mvestigatmg committee show that it was
not an ordmary busmess transaction.
6. The liberal circffiation of speeches, pampffiets, and maga
zme articles was considered an evfl by Bid(Ue's enemies. His
ovm pomt of view was irreproachable. The first bank, he
thought, was destroyed ffi 1811 because the people ffid not under
stand its services. "I saw the manner ffi wffich the smaU dema
gogues of that day deceived the commuffity," he said — "and
I mean to try to prevent the smaU demagogues of tffis day
repeating the same delusions."' He threw ffimseff mto the task
of effiightenment with ffis usual energy, and he soon had the
appearance of tryffig to carry the popffiar mind by storm. To
the democrats it seemed that he identified himself wdth the prop
aganda of their enemies. They complained that a semi-pubHc
mstitution shoffid use its money agaffist them. When the
investigations showed that ffi 183 1 the (Urectors ffi Phfladelphia
gave the bank's president power to spend money for necessary
purposes wdthout vouchers and vrithout reporting the purpose
of expenffiture, the democrats made bitter complamt. The
authority was excessive: it vritnessed the confidence of the
directors in Bid(Ue but it ought not to have been grantedi
7. BidcUe's power was really autocratic, and it was aUeged that
he used it improperly. By the rffies he was a member of each
committee of the directors, and by the rffies of 1833 he named
every committee but one. The most important comnuttees
in the transaction of busmess were those on discounts, wliich
-met tvrice a week, and on exchange, wffich met daily. His
strong personaUty dommated each group, as, indeed it dominated
'Biddle to (lales, March 2, 1832; quoted by Catterall, Second Bank, 366, note i.

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 627
the board and even the shareholders. At meetmgs of the
latter he usuaUy held mcUviduaUy or joffitly vrith others a major
ity of the proxies, and from the time he showed ffimseff success
fffi m the management of the ffistitution ffis word was decisive
in annual meetmgs. He was of the type frequent enough ffi the
financial world, a strong wffied man who takes the mitiative
and whose assumption of authority is approved on account of
his success.
8. The charge wffich attracted most attention was ffi connec
tion with the redemption of the 3 per cents., the facts of wffich
were as foUows: In March, 1832, the government notified the
bank that ffi Jffiy it would pay haff of the tffirteen millions of
tffis debt stffi outstancUng. The moment was mopportune for
BidcUe: the govemment had recently paid a large amount of
its debt for which the bank furffished the money out -of the
deposits, and it was not able to furffish six and a haff mflUons
more m specie on such short notice. But he himself was to
blame. He knew the pohcy of Jackson was to pay the debt
as fast as possible, and he coffid weU have assumed that aU the
surplus wffich was accumffiatmg ffi the treasury woffid be used
for that purpose. Instead of reservffig it in ffis vaults, he had
incautiously lent it to the ffivesting pubhc, and it coffid not
qmckly be caUed in. Lending had been too Uberal ffi the past
year, and six months earUer he gave orders to lend no more
uffiess it was necessary to support the vital business of the
country. Time and again he repeated tffis warmng, but the
branches were lax, or the impetus of specffiation was irresistible,
and discounts went on mcreasmg at the rate of ten millions ffi
six months.'
The offiy other thing was to postpone the payment of the
debt. BidcUe appealed to the government vrith that ffi view
and was given an extension of three months. Witffin tffis adffi-
'Catterall, Second Bani, 146.

628 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
tional time the bank coffid not hope to wdthdraw the necessary
money from the busuiess of the country, especially as it soon got
notice that on January, i, 1833, the government woffid pay the
other half of the 3 per cents. Then Bid(fle conceived, wdth the
aid of Cadwalader, the plan of postponmg a large part of the
ffistaUment by a deal with its holders. Cadwalader was sent
to London to offer the foreign bondholders the obUgations
of the bank at one year's time wdth mterest at 3 per cent, for
these bonds to the amount of five miffions. Bonds thus secured
were to be turned over to the government, wffich woffid reUeve
itseff from aU responsibffity by canceUffig them. Thus the bank
would take the place of the govemment for tffis much of the
debt, wffich it woffid be able to extend one year.
Some of the foreigners gave approval to the scheme, but antici-
patmg that some would be slow to accept it, Cadwalader
arranged that the Barings, of London, shoffid buy for the bank
the rest of the required amount and wdthhold the certificates
from the government. Now the charter of 18 16 forbade the
Bank of the Uffited States to buy govemment stock. The
scheme as arranged by Biddle was no violation of tffis law, but
Cadwalader's mo(Ufication of it was qffite another thmg. More
over, it involved delay in the payment of the debt, wffich wodd
certamly give offense ffi Wasffington. Cadwalader seems to have
desired to keep the affair secret, but it was known at once in
London and soon after ffi New York. It was reported to Biddle
ffi two letters, the first mformaUy and a few days later in the
written agreement vrith the Barings. The latter was received m
Phfladelpffia, October 12 th, after its substance was pubUshed in
New York. The president of the bank at once repuffiated; it;
but ffis enemies said he did not repudiate the informal agreement
and offiy rejected the formal one because he found the matter
had become pubUc.
The affair caused much comment. Cadwalader took aU the

THE ATTEMPT TO RE-CHARTER THE BANK 629
blame on ffis own head, and the bank managed to get the money
for the 3 per cents. No one coffid justify the purchase of bonds
in violation of the charter; but Biddle did not thhik the attempt
to mterfere wdth the govemment's plan to pay the debt unjustifi
able. "Supposing that the certificates are delayed for a few
months," he said, "what harm does that do to anybody? The
interest has stopped — the money remaffis in the Treasury; so
that mstead of depriving the Govemment of the use of its funds,
directly the reverse is true, for the Government retains the
funds and pays no ffiterest."
The various charges against Bid(Ue were greatly exaggerated
by ffis enemies. He was painted as drunk wdth the power wffich
money gives, and the denunciation was so extravagant that he
benefited by the reaction. But he is not to go scot free. He
ffid not buy votes to control elections, but he appomted partisan
directors when he thought it necessary; he did not reaUy sub-
siffize the press, but he was unquestionably entangled with Noah
and Webb in an unjustifiable maimer: he did not bribe legislators,
but he employed a strong lobby, gave favors to members of
congress, and by circulatmg their speeches identified himseff
wdth party propaganda: he chd not improperly lend the bank's
money to friends, but he took the authority mto ffis own hands
and agamst its owm rules until he had the power to do so: he did
not authorize the purchase of the 3 per cents., but he showed
ffimseff defiant of the wffi of 'government in tryffig to postpone
payment ffi order to get out 'of a situation ffito wffich ffis own
carelessness had brought him.
We ought not to forget that Bid(Ue's difficffities were great.
The nation was not wise enough to exercise pohtical oversight
over so large a maclime as the bank. It had a feeUng that a
corporation as powerfffi as tffis was dangerous to Uberty, and
it woffid not be shown otherwise. BidcUe's weU-meant efforts
to eiffighten the people were thought to be attempts to ffide ffis

630 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ovm errors. Jackson frequently declared for " a complete cUvorce
of the govemment from all banks": ff there is no other reason
for tffis, it woffid be enough that the separation he estabUshed
has prevented the recunence of the paiffiffi scenes and contro
versies wffich were precipitated by an enraged people about the
Bank of the Uffited States m the days of its destruction.

CHAPTER XXrX
THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES — THE DEPOSITS REMOVED
The presidential election was now over, and the veto was sus-
taffied. Many people hoped that the question would be chopped
and the bank aUowed to die peacefuUy when the charter expired,
but not Jackson. He beheved that the bank by calUng ffi its*
loans coffid (Ustress the people untfl they demanded re-charter.
He beUeved, also, that congressmen were not proof agaffist the
wdles of the bank and that a democratic majority nught, in the
face of strong busffiess pressure and by means of bribes, be m-
duced to pass a charter over ffis veto. He decided to remove
the degosit§_at. once, and thus to cripple the baffij^'s fightffigi
povver^jto settle the question before the election of 1836, and tol
avoid jeopar(Uzffig the, pubhc deposits at the time wheinL"the last/
fight for re-charter must come up. ™ -""^^ ~ —-—.«.»„..«., ^
Van Buren, who was opposed to the bank on constitutional
grounds, wished to see the question settled before the next
election. He suggested that congress be asked to estabhsh a
bank such as Jackson woffid approve ffi the District of Columbia,
wdth branches only by the consent of the states concemed.'
It was beUeved that congress could not be mduced to take this
step, and Van Buren then supported removal. But he feared
its influence on his foUowdng ffi the North, and by conamon
consent he was aUowed to remain as much as possible ffi the
background m the contest about to begm.
Nothmg was to be expected from the congress wffich m the
recent session passed the charter. If a blow was stmck it must
t 'Van Buen to Jackson, Kovember i8, tSss, Van Buren Mss.
631

632 THE LIFE OF ANDREW jACKSON
Jae by the executive jtseff: and the long vacation begffimng March
4, 1833, afforded the opportuffity for such action. Up to that
time nuffification and the tariff compromise occupied the atten
tion of the politicians. Everybody, Jackson mcluded, was wffi-
mg to let the bank question Ue tiU those matters were ffisposed
of; but their program was made out and offiy awaited the adjourn
ment of congress to be put mto force. Tffis was ffi spite of the
fact that ffi the precedmg December, Henry Toland, appomted
by Secretary McLane to mvestigate the concUtion of the bank,
reported that the mstitution was perfectly sound, and ffi spite
of the plamer fact that the house of representatives on March
2nd by a large majority declared that the deposits were safe in
its custody.
The anti-bank democrats were prepared to ignore Toland and
congress, but they coffid not ignore the secretary of the treasury,
since he alone coffid give the order for removal. McLane was so
strong a man that he coffid not easily be ffismissed, and some
other way must be found to cUspose of him. It was discovered
that Rives desired to retum from Paris and that Livmgston
vrished to have ffis place. It was accordmgly ananged to make
the transfer and to give McLane the secretarysffip of state which
Livmgston woffid reUnqffish. For the vacant treasury a New
York man was first thought of, probably because the Van Buren
men coffid be counted on; but the idea was rejected, and a Penn-
sylvaffian was taken. Wiffiam J. Duane was the man, suggested,
it seems, by McLane.' He was the son of the former repubUcan
editor, ancient enemy of GaUatffi, DaUas, and the whole conser
vative republican faction. The old man was the leader of the
masses, whose support was essential to carry the state against
the bank, and it seemed a good thmg to have the son deal the
blow wffich was now meditated.
Duane was not an able man. Henry Lee, when he tumed
'Jackson to Van Buren, September ts, 1832, Van ivien, Autobiograthy, V„ 180-igs, Van Buren Mss.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 633
against Jackson, described ffim as "that other Darlmg whom
you fished up from the desk of a dead miser, and the bottom of
the Pffiladelpffia Bar, to put in the seat wffich was once fiUed by
Alexander Hamflton.'" The offer was made by McLane in
behaff of the President, and after hesitating for two months
Duane accepted January 30, 1833. It was not the plan to change
the cabmet untfl after the tariff muddle was cleared up, and so
it was not untfl June ist that the new secretary took ffis place.
Jackson was now ffi constant consffitation wdth KendaU,
Blair and Taney, the most active enemies of the bank. To
accompUsh their purpose woffid deprive the government of a
safe place of deposit and lessen the volume of sound currency in
the country. To meet the objections on these accounts they
urged that state banks of undoubted soun(ffiess coffid be got to
keep the deposits, and as for the currency, the country woffid
be better off if only hard money was used.
But they were more imme(Uately concemed with the poUtical
phase of the question. As a maffifesto on this side Amos KendaU
prepared a letter to the secretary of the treasury givffig reasons
for removal. He mentioned the ffisecurity of the funds, but
dwelt on the poUtical aspects of the matter. The bank, he said,
was as much of an enemy as it coffid be and removmg the de
posits woffid not mcrease its hostffity. On the other hand, the
state banks, now mtimidated by the great corporation, woffid
become friends of the government as soon as they knew the
pubUc money was taken away from that corporation. Removal
woffid please the South and West and have the support of the
banks of New York, always jealous of Pffiladdpffia's preeminence
m financial affairs. Pennsylvaffia, he adnaitted, woffid be
ffissatisfied, but New Englan(i cared Uttle for the bank and coffid
be ignoi'ed. Re-charter, thought KendaU, was likely if nothing
was done. Congress was fuU of doubt and the bank would
'Lee to Jackson, December 37, 1833, Jackson Mas.

634 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
corrupt enough members at the next session to have its way.
But vigorous action now would commit the friends of the admin
istration, show that the banks were unnecessary, and answer
the complaint of many Jackson men that "it is useless to buffet
the bank with our left hand as long as we feed it with our
right.'" Three days after his lieutenant deUvered tffis maffifesto
Jackson submitted five questions to ffis cabmet. He asked:
(i) Has anythmg happened smce congress met last to justffy a
new charter? (2) is the bank reliable and faithfffi to its duties?
\ (3) shoffid there be a new bank, and if so wdth what privfleges?
• (4) shoffid re-charter be aUowed wdth mo(Ufications? and (5)
; what shoffid be done ffi the future with the deposits? Comment-
' mg on ffis own questions Jackson indicated that he was against
the contffiuation of the deposits.
It was about tffis time, a Uttle earUer or later, that he took
the advice of the cabinet as to whether it woffid be wiser to
proceed agaffist the bank by a writ of scire facias or to remove
the deposits. They aU agreed that a writ woffid be unwise:
it woffid come at last to the supreme court, and no one codd
doubt how MarshaU woffid decide it.
The President soon knew the attitudes of the secretaries.
Livingston and Cass_were forthe bank, Barry andj]aneywere
outspoken agamst it, Woodbury was not clear ffi ffis reply to ffie
(Questions asked, but beUeved that if the bank con^^^TFought
to have new (Urectors and stockholders on the principle that
the old set had received the benefits of it long enough." McLane
took two months to write a long reply to each question. He
thought the bank safe, the deposits in no danger, and he opposed
removal. "The wffidffig up of [the bank's] concerns wdthout
embarrassment to the country," he said, "is under the most
favorable circumstances rather to be hoped than expected.
'Kendall to McLane, March i6, 1833, Jackson Mss.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 635
It is not for the Government to add tP the inherent difficulties
of the task, but rather to aid ffi obviating them; not for the sake
of the bank, but rather that of the community," On the report
Jackson endorsed, "There are some strong points in tffis report
all ably cUscussed. — A. J."'
It is hard to reconcfle tffis outward appearance of deUbera
tion with ffis mward suspicion and irritation. To intimates he
spoke of a newly discovered combination between Clay and
Caffioun which secured the recent tariff law in order that the
revenues shoffid be large and remam on deposit for the benefit
of the bank. These utterances throw so much hght on his
mteUectual quaUty that one of them is given at length:
Tffis combination wdelds the U. States Bank, and wdth its
corrupting influence they calcffiate to carry everytffing, even its
re-charter by two thhds of Congress, agaffist the veto of the
executive, if they can do tffis they calculate with certainty to
put Clay or Caffioun ffi the Presidency — and I have no hesita
tion to say, if they can re-charter the Bank, wdth tffis hydra of
corruption they wffi rffie the nation, and its charter wdU be per
petual, and its cormptffig influence destroy the Uberty of our
country. When I came into the adnaiffistration it was said,
and beheved that I had a majority of seventy-five. Smce then,
it is now believed it has been bought over by loans, discounts
&c., &c., untfl at the close of last session, it was said, there was
two thirds for re-chartering it. It is beheved that ffi the last
two years, that it has loaned to members of congress and sub
sidized presses, at least half a miffion of doUars, the greater part
of wffich wffi be lost to the Bank, and the stockholders, — and
ff such corruption exists ffi the green tree, what vriU be in the
dry? Such has been the scenes of cormption ffi our last congress,
that I loath the cormption of human nature and long for retire
ment, and repose on the Hermitage. But untfl I can strangle
tffis hydra of cprmption, the Bank, I wdU not shriidt from my
'McLane to Jackson, May ao, 1833. Jackson Mss.

636 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
duty, or my part. I think a system may be arranged wdth the
State Banks, with aU the purposes of deposits, and faciUties
of the government ffi its fiscal concems, wffich if it can, wiU
withdraw the cormptffig influence now exercised over congress
by tffis moffied institution wffich wffi have a healthy effect
upon the legislation of congress and its morals, and prevent
the contmued dram of our specie from the westem states to
the East, and to Europe to pay the (Uvidends. I am now en
gaged ffi tffis mvestigation, and I trust that a kmd superin-
tendffig providence will aid my deliberations and efforts.'
Jackson had real doubts about the disposal of the deposits
if they were removed. He asked several friends if they woffid
be safe ffi the state banks. KendaU urged their entire security,
and other advisers wrote to the same effect. Hugh L. Wffite,
of Tennessee, approved of the state banks and suggested that
aU the funds be deposited ffi one state bank — one of those in
Virgiffia woffid serve — and let tffis bank distribute the money
among other institutions and become responsible to the govern
ment for its safety. As to the time of removal, that ought to
have been when the bank fafled to call in the 3 per cents., but
the opportimity havmg passed and congress havmg declared
the institution solvent, pubUc opiffion would ndt now support
removal. He advised that the matter be submitted to congress
at its next session.'
An appeal to congress was not the purpose of Jackson, and
it was decided early ffi May to proceed wdth his plans. It was
time for action, if the matter was to be accompUshed before con
gress met in December. First, the cabmet was reorgamzed.
Livmgston went to Paris, scandaUzmg ffis friends by borrowing
eighteen thousand dollars from the vricked bank before his
departure. McLane took the state department, and Duane
'Jackson to C!ryer, April 7, 1833, American Bistorical Magazine, (Nashville,) IV., 239.
•White to Jackson, April it, 1833; Thomas Ellicott to Jackson, April 6, 1833; Powhatan EUis to Jackson,
July 2, 1833, Jackson Mss.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 637
on June ist became secretary of the treasury. The President
was now ready to proceed. He desired to set thffigs going befoire
^ii^^iJ^I^'S^i^Si^:^^-^^ ^ visit'to New England.
Duane was not told beforehand what was expected of him,
but he was stupid if he did not have a pretty clear knowledge of
the situation. For three months and a haff he carried on a game
of fence the object of wffich was to defer action. Jackson at
first pressed him gently, showmg for once forbearance and
self-control. In the beginnmg he merely stated what was wanted,
and when Duane demuned told ffim to take time and report
on the matter when the trip to thf North was over. Meanwffile
he promised to send the secretary a statement of ffis views.
The day he began ffis joumey Jackson wrote Van Buren as
foUows: I want relaxation from business and rest, but where can I
get rest; I fear not on this earth. When I see you I have much
to say to you. The Bank and change of deposits, have engrossed
my mind much, is a perplexing subject, and I wish your opmion
before I finaUy act. This is the only difficffity I. see now on our
way. I must meet it fearlessly, as soon as I can digest a system
that wffi insure a solvent currency.'
Three days later KendaU also wrote to Van Buren. Jackson,
he said, was decided about the necessity of removal, but was
stffi debating as to the time and the new method of keeping the
deposits. In anticipation of tffis visit KendaU sent Van Buren
the foUowing outline of a plan of procedure with reasons for
action: Place the deposits with two banks in New York and
vrith one each ffi Boston, Phfladelpffia, and Baltimore, and pos
sibly in Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans,
with the understandmg that these banks should coUectively
guarantee the safety of the funds, though they shoffid place some
'Jackson to Van Buren, Juns 6, 1833, Van Buren Mss.

638 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of the money in such other banks as they shoffid select wdth the
approval of the treasury. Tffis, it wfll be seen, was an ampU
fication of Wffite's suggestion.
KendaU further suggested the gradual wdthdrawal of funds
then ffi the Bank of the Uffited States. Tffis, he said, ought to
be done "soon enough to take the last doUar out of the Umted
States Bank and present a new machffie ffi complete operation
before the next session of Congress" and it ought to begin before
September at least. The bank, wffich had ffitherto been on the
defensive, would thus )deld the advantage of that position to
the govemment; the state banks, Uberated from theh fears of
the "great Mammoth," woffid become friends of the govern
ment; and these facts, wdth the popffiarity of Jackson, wodd
carry the country.
In New York the President and vice-president went over the
matter, and June 26th the former sent ffis decision to the secretary
of the treasury. He outlmed a plan for removal with the essen
tial features of KendaU's plan and mclosed a long exposition of
the whole question, evidently from the pen of KendaU. He gave
Uttle more time to ffis journey. IUness prostrated ffim in Boston,
and in a very feeble condition he set out northward but not
untfl he attended Harvard commencement, where the president
and corporation coffiened upon ffim the honorary degree of
doctor of laws. The honor was lost on its recipient, who cared
nothmg for such a compUment, and it angered ffis opponents,
especiaUy John Qffincy Adams, who after that referred to
him as "Doctor Andrew Jackson." At Concord, N. H, the
traveler became so ffi that he gave up the joumey and
retumed to Wasffington as qffickly as possible, arrivmg there
July 4th.
He soon mvited Duane to an interview. The latter was
recovering from a severe ffiness and arrived very weak and
pale. Jackson met ffim wamfly, took both ffis hands m his

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANE 639
own, reproved ffim for coming out in such an effieebled concU
tion, and told ffim to defer the interview untfl strength returned.'
Duane wdUingly complied, and Jffiy 12th he delivered ffi person
a long letter summarizing ffis reasons for not removmg the deposits
untfl the matter was referred to congress. On the fifteenth there
was a conference in wffich the two men came no nearer together,
but they preserved their good temper, Jackson protestffig ffis
adimration for the frankness of ffis secretary. But Duane
was not really frank; for he still hesitated to say whether or not
he woffid do what was expected of him.
Several interviews foUowed,' in wffich neither man convmced
the other; but Duane was mduced to appoint KendaU special
agent to interview state banks and report on their avaflabiUty
as places of deposit. He cUd tffis reluctantly, but said that if
when he considered the report hewas unable to order the removal
of the deposits he woffid rethe from the administration. Tffis
was the ffist real satisfaction Jackson got from the secretary,
and shortly afterward he went to the Rip Raps, in Hampton
Roads, for a month's rest. He was accompaffied by Blair,
and the two had dafly coffierences about the pohtical dtuation.
KendaU meanwhfle mdustriously visited the bankers of the cities
to the northward.
Itwas a crjtical-period ffi the conffict. Duane was fighting
fof time; McLane ancl most of the cabinet supfro^e3^Bi]m;^ia,nd
Van Buren^himsglf , bjagnd-taffi^eader by every possible ffiterest,
could not bmgffiniself^tojEay^^^ It was at
best but Uttle time that coffid be gained before congress met:
why not let it pass ? Many persons, whigs and democrats, felt
that an order for removal woffid but make plainer the incompe
tence and passions of the President and in that way make surer
the fight for ultimate re-charter. Would Jackson yield before
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, V., 302, Van Buren Mss.
'For the facts in the Duane controversy reliance has been had chiefly on Duane's Narratae, where the letters
¦re given on both sides.

640 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the fears of ffis friends or the evident glee of ffis opponents?
The bank men were extremely busy. Bidcfle exerted ffimself
to send to Jackson an avalanche of petitions ffi favor of the
bank. They came from afl kmds of busffiess organizations
and reflected the general apprehension of ffisaster ff the centre
of the banking function were struck dovra. McLane was also
active. He was ffi close touch vrith Duane, so that some men
said he was the real head of two departments. He conceived a
compronoise, wffich about the midcUe of August he laid before
Van Buren. He proposed that Jackson shoffid assert executive
control over the deposits, order their removal on January i, 1834,
and announce it in ffis message to congress. He woffid thus avoid
the imputation of ignoring congress. KendaU heard of the
scheme on ffis travels and said he woffid accept it ff McLane,
Duane, and the bank democrats woffid agree to use theh
influence to remove the deposits when congress met; otherwise
he feared a two thirds majority woffid order the continuation of
the bank.'
About tffis time Jackson appealed to Van Buren for adrice.
That cautious gentleman was in a (Ufficffit position. His well-
known support of McLane ffi general caused ffim to be considered
persistently friendly to the bank deriocrats. and so good a judge
of events as James Gordon Bennett thought the plan to remove
the deposits was hatched by KendaU to kffi Van Buren dong
with the bank.' Appealed to directly, the vice-president sought
to avoid the responsibflity of a direct answer. He knew nobody,
he said in reply, whose opimon on such a matter was worth so
much as that of Silas Wright, whom he had sent for; and later
he woffid write more defimtdy.
"Tffis bank matter," he added, "is to be the great finale of
your pubUc Ufe, and I feel on that account a degree of soUcitude
'Kendall to Jackson, August rr and r4, 1S33, Jackson Mss.
¦Bennett to Van Buren, September 23 (2), 1833, Van Bm-en Mss.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 641
about it but httle less than that which is inspired by the public
cpnsiderations connected wdth it. I hope that we shaU m the
end see the matter ffi precisely the same Ught; but be that as it
may, inasmuch as I know no man in the purity of whose inten
tion as it respects the pubhc I have greater, if as great, confidence
as I have in yours, and as I cannot but look upon you as incom
parably the most faithful, efficient, and (Usinterested friend I
have ever had, so I go with you agamst the world, whether it
respects men or tffings.'"
Wright duly reported that three of the leadmg democrats ffi
Albany favored imme(Uate removal, one advised waiting on
congress, wffile he himself was for the plan suggested by McLane.
Van Buren supported ffis friend's recommendation. Let all
arrangements be made at once, he said, and especiaUy the
selection of the state banks of deposit, tffiee of which ought to
be in New York, and it woffid be better to have four there; for
"those engaged in them, like the rest of their FeUow Creatures
are very much govemed by their own interests." '
To tffis Jackson replied in rmld surprise that Van Buren had
accepted the plan of McLane. It brought real alarm into the
breast of the New Yorker, who, in company with Wasffington
Irvffig, was then about to set out on a four weeks' trip to the
Dutch settlements on the North River and Long Island. He
wrote hastily to explain that he and Wright were not understood,
that they gave their advice thinking that January ist began the
fiscal year, but since they leamed that October ist served for that
purpose they were not so decided. In fact, they offiy preferred
New Year's Day, but woffid yield to the wisdom of the President.
And then came to Van Buren a more disqffietffig message.
Jackson, beset by doubts, wanted ffis best Ueutenant with ffim
and asked ffim to come to Wasffington. It was a rude interrup
tion of the carefuUy planned visit to the Dutch. Van Buren
'Via iiuran to Jackson, August rg, r833, Jackson Mss.
'Silas Wright to Van Buren, August 38th: Van Buren to Jackson, September 4, 1833; Jackson Mss.

J^,-.

642 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
.wanted to keep ffimseff as free as possible from the commotion
at the capital. His letter decliffing the suggestion also contams
other mterestmg matter:
" I shaU be governed in that matter," he wrote, " altogether by
your wishes. You know that the game of the opposition is
to reheve the question, as far as they can, from the influence
of your weU-deserved popffiarity with the people, by attributing
the removal of the Deposits to the soUcitations of myseff, and
the monied junto in N. York, and as it is not your habit to play
into the enemies hands you wiU not I know request me to come
down uffiess there is some adequate inducement for my so doing.
With tffis consideration in view, you have offiy to suggest the
time when you wish me to come down, and I wiU come forthwith.
. . . And always remember that I tffink it an honor to
share any portion of responsibffity ffi tffis affair.
"AUow me to say a word to you in regard to our friend McLane.
He and I (Uffer toto coelo about the Bank, and I regret to find
that upon almost aU public questions the bias of ffis early feel
mgs is apt to lead us in different ffirections. StiU I entertain
the strongest attachment for him, and have been so long in the
habit of interceding in ffis behalf that I cannot tffink of giving
it up, as long as I believe it in my power to serve him, and his.
From what passed between us at Wasffington, I tffink it possible,
that he may, (if Mr. Duane resigns) tffink himself obliged to
tender his resignation also, which if accepted would inevitably
ruin ffim. Your friends would be oblige(i to give him up poUt
ically and when stript of his influence ffis former Federahst
friends woffid assuredly visit their [iflegible] mortifications at
ffis success upon ffim in the shape of exffitations at ffis fafl. I
am quite sure that if ever he tenders ffis resignation he will
nevertheless be anxious to remain if he can do so with honor, and
if you should say ffi reply — that you wdll accept his resignation
if he insists upon it but that you confide in him &c., notwithstand
ing the dffierence between you upon this point, and that if he
could consistently remain in the admffiistration you wodd be
gratified, I thffik he would be induced to with(haw it." '
'Van Buren to Jackson, September 7, 11, 14, 1833, Jackson Mss.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 643
Jackson at tffis time was much influenced by a report from the
govemment directors in Pffiladelpffia. Before the biU to re
charter was introduced, when final action was stiU doubtful,
Bid(Ue was courteous to these directors, but afterward ffis atti
tude changed. In the begirming of 1833, when new comnuttees
were made up, no govemment director was appointed to a stand
ing committee, although later in the year two found places on
minor committees. Saner men Uke Webster advised against
this poUcy, but Bid{Ue's attitude was thorough.' Early in April
Kendall communicated to the government directors Jackson's
desire that they shoffid report on the condition of the bank.
They repUed that the books were not open to directors generaUy
and that they could do nothing uffiess the secretary of the
treasury gave them authority to inspect individual accounts.'
But April 22nd they sent a report shovring that Gales and Seaton
had borrowed a large sum on the security of a contract to print
the Congressional Debates, for which the money was not yet
appropriated, but wffich would without doubt be paid. The
loan was techmcally irregular, but it was reasonably safe.
Tffis report did not warrant action, but August 19th the direct
ors, four of them now cooperating, sent another report. They
at last had access to the expense account and reported a large
increase in recent years, chiefly for printing pamphlets and
other articles in defence of the bank. They cited a resolution
of the board, March 11,1831, authorizing Biddle to print what he
chose to defend the bank, and under which many items were
charged without vouchers. This, as the directors said, enabled
the bank's president to use the whole press of the country to
aid him in his fight, and wdthout accountability, if he chose to
go that far. As a matter of fact Bid(Ue spent in tffis way vrithout
vouchers untfl the end of 1834, twenty-nine thousand and

'Catterall, Second Bank, 309-
¦Sullivan, Wager and Gilpin to Jackson, April 8, t833, Jackson Mss.

644 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
six hundred dollars, a sum wffich seemed very large to
the people of the day. It made a deep impression on the
President, as his paper read ffi the cabmet on September
1 8th' shows.
Early in September Jackson was back ffi Wasffington pressing
Duane for final action; and as the secretary stiU held that con
gress shoffid be consulted the President hesitated no longer.
Before going southward he told Taney to be prepared to take
the treasury department, and he now proceeded ' with
his plans.'
Whfle at the Rip Raps he dictated his reasons for remov- '
ing the deposits and sent the paper to Taney for revision. Under
ffis hand it became a proper state paper and not a "combattive
BuUetin," as Van Buren pronounced the first draft.' September
17th the President took the opinion of the cabinet; it was as in the
preceding March, except that Woodbury came over definitely
to the President. Next day they were summoned to hear the
statement of his reasons for removal. It became known as
^ "The Paper read to the Cabmet on the Eighteenth bf September"
and contamed the assertion that the deposits ought to be removed
on October ist. Duane must now determine what he would do,
since Jackson's position amounted to an order. He took a night
to consider and announced that he would not order the transfer
or resign. He preferred (Usmissal, tffinkmg he would stand
better with the country and thought himself justified ffi ignoring
ffis promise to resign. Through five days Jackson sought to
change the decision of the secretary, displaying at the same tune
the greatest personal consideration for his feelings. Nothing
shook Duane's decision, and September 23rd he received a formal
note of ffismissal, the draft of wffich exists in Taney's handwrit-
'The reports of the directors, April 22nd and August tgth, are in Congressional Debates, Volume X.,
part 4. pages 69-74.
n'aney to Jackson, August s, r833, Jackson Mss.
•Van Buren, Autobiograthy, V., 2t6.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 645
ing.' On the same day the attorney-general was authorized to
take charge of the treasury.
Achniffistration friends were now concemed lest McLane and
Cass shoffid feel compeUed to resign also. They dreaded another
explosion ffi the cabmet,. and when they were discussffig Taney's
copy of the paper read to the cabinet they suggested as much
to Jackson, who said he cared not; they coffid do no rffiscffief;
but that he was wffiing to assume the responsibflity, and he
added a clause to that effect to the paper before him. This,
says Blair, is the origin of the oft-mentioned responsibffity clause.
When Taney read it later he was puzzled to know how it got
in and, when Blair told of its origffi, he said: "Tffis has saved
Cass and McLane; but for it they woffid have gone out and been
ruined. As it is, they wffi remam and do us much rffiscffief."
When McLane and Cass consffited Jackson on the 24th he
said they ought to be satisfied vrith ffis assumption o'f respon
sibffity uffiess they wished to go into 'Opposition. They gave
no defiffite answer for some days and in the meantime he
cast about for their successors. He deshed, as he said, men who
ffid not tffink they had "a right to transact the busmess of the
departments adversely to what the Executive believes to be the
good of the country. ... I hope for the best; but let what
wifl come, the sun wiU contmue to rise ffi the East and set ffi
the West, and I trust in a kind Providence to gmde and dhect
nae and in a virtuous people's support."' I
Taney's apprehensions were groundless. September 26th he]
ordered that government funds henceforth be deposited ffi
specified state banks, and immediately came such an outpouring
of wrath that democrats generaUy, bank and anti-bank men,
were driven into sohd formation. McLane and Cass offered
their resignations and Jackson, in the words suggested by Van
'Jackson Mss.
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, VI., 3, Van Buren Mss.
'Jackson to Van Buren, September 34, 1833, Mss. Library of Congress.

646 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Buren, refused to accept them. Benjamffi F. Butler, mtimate
friend and law partner of the vice-president, accordffig to a
plan previously formed by that far-seeffig adviser, was given the
vacant attomey-generalsffip.'
The meeting of congress, December 2nd, saw the beginnmg of
an angry struggle. The message pronounced the bank "a
permanent electioneering engine" wffich sought "to control
pubUc opinion tffiough the cUstress of some and the fears of
others." Biddle, it said, was curtaiUng ffiscounts as the pubUc
funds were vrithdrawn, and tffis was done in order to force
restoration of the deposits and ffitimate re-charter. The message
acknowledged that the President in regard to the bank ffid not
agree with the recent session of congress, for whose opimons
generaUy it protested respect; and it left the issue to the judg
ment of the members of congress fresh from the people. The
style of the message was Uke that of Taney.
k^ The secretary of the treasury reported at length ffis reasons
for removmg the deposits. He was the ablest man ffi the anti-
bank faction, and ffis report is in pleasing contrast wdth the
loose reiterations of suspicions and assumptions wffich came so
plentifuUy from his coUeagues. He clearly ignored Jackson's
contention that the deposits were not safe in the bank but
justified removal on grounds of expeffiency. By the sixteenth
section of the charter he had fffil cUscretion to act as he saw fit.
He must report his reasons to congress, but that body was not
given the right to pass on them. The power to order restoration
with the consent of the President was, however, impUed in the
general control of congress over the pubUc funds.
The whigs and the bank, now thorougffiy uffited, struck
back at Jackson as they could. They beUeved pubUc opinion
was outraged by removing the deposits and felt warranted in
'Van Buren to Jackson, September 14, 1833, Jackson Mss. See also above, U., and Farton, Life cl
Jackson, III., 501-503.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 647
adopting a poUcy of mmor restrictions wffich were, in fact, but
expressions of their anger. By a vote of twenty-five to twenty
they refused to confirm the renomination of the govemment
cUrectors, whom the bank party caUed spies. Biddle used ffis
influence to secure tffis rejection,' but Jackson renominated
the (Urectors, and they were again rejected. The senate showed
its cUspleasure further by repucUating Taney's nomination
as secretary, and in 1835 they refused to conffim ffis nommation
to a seat on the supreme bench, although in March, 1836, when
tbe admffiistration was somewhat stronger ffi the senate, he was
by a strictly party vote conffimed as cffief justice in succession
to John MarshaU. It was Taney's fortune to take an unpopffiar
side in two important crises, but ffis mental acumen cannot be
denied. During the rest of the adnaiffistration he was the Presi
dent's cffief adviser and wrote for him many state papers,
among them the Farewell Address.
The session of congress beginnmg ffi December, 1833, was a
stormy one. In the house Jackson had a majority; in the senate
he was ffi the rffinority, and his opponents embraced Clay,
Caffioun, and Webster. Over six hundred petitions, cffiefly
from the tradffig and manffiacturing towns of the seaboard,
were sent to congress in reference to existing business cUstress.
Most of them admitted that distress existed. Those prepared
by the wffigs claimed it was due to the removal of the deposits,
and those wffich the democrats forwarded said that it came
tffiough the designs of Bidcfle. There can be no doubt that the
poUticians' pictures of cUstress increased the fedffig of panic
beyond its natural limits.
As deputation after deputation came to ask Jackson to restore
the deposits he lost ffis temper. Let them go to Biddle,
he said, and ask ffim to stop contraction. As for Jackson, he
woffid never consent to re-charter the "mammoth of cormption";
'Catterall, Second Bank, 309.

648 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
he had ffis foot on it and woffid not reUnquish ffis advantage;
sooner than favor restoration of the deposits or re-charter he
woffid suffer ten Spaffish mqffisitions. Retuming delegations
reported much like tffis ffi reply to their requests. The tone was
enough like ffis private letters to make it seem very probable,
and after a whfle, probably by the advice of friends, he demed
hhnself to all petitioners. Announcement of his furious repUes
produced cUsgust among thoughtfffi people, but such persons
were arrayed against Jackson long before that. It pleased the
masses to know that theh hero woffid not relax ffis hold on the
bank. Early in the session Clay, accepted leader of the bank men,
got the senate to caU for the paper read before the cabmet on
September i8th. Jackson refused on the ground that the senate
had no right to caU for a paper subrmtted to the cabffiet. He
meant no cUsrespect to the senate, he said, whose functions he
woffid ever respect, but he woffid preserve the independence
of the executive as a coorffinate branch of the government.'
It was a very firm reply, as (hgffified as the request itseff,
and it left Clay without ground of protest. The criticism that
it was the act of a despot is baseless, since Jackson acted dearly
wdtffin ffis constitutional rights. Nor is there force ffi the charge
that he violated the secrecy of the cabffiet in pubUsffing the
document. The President is not bound to keep secret ffis own
utterances to the cabinet, especiaUy ffi the case under consider
ation, where the utterance was a general defense of an action
vitaUy interesting tp the pubUc.
December 26, 1833, Clay introduced two resolutions, one
agamst Jackson's and the other agamst Taney's part ffi removing
the deposits. After much debate they were amended and
passed in the foUowing form: "Resolved, (i) That the Presi
dent, in the late executive proceecUngs in relation to the pubUc
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, IH., 3$.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 649
revenue, has assumed upon ffimseff authority and power not
coffierred by the Constitution and the laws, but m derogation
of both. (2) That the reasons assigned by the Secretary for
the removal are unsatisfactory and msufficient." They were
passed, the latter on Febmary 5th, by a vote of twenty-eight to
eighteen, the former on March 28th, the vote being twenty-six
to twenty.
The resolution against Taney was to be expected, but how
could that against Jackson be justified? Clay feU back on the
phraseology of the law of 1789 creating the treasury department,
ffi wffich congress, desiring to keep witffin its own hands the
finances of the nation, assigned to the secretary specific duties
and required him to report to congress, and not to the President,
as other secretaries reported. Clay, therefore, held that the
secretary of the treasury was the agent of congress, that under
congress he had sole control of the deposits, and that the Presi
dent's interference was unwananted. The argument was weak
because the President had power to remove the secretary of the
treasury and congress knew it when it gave the latter the power
to wdthdraw the deposits. The secretary, therefore, must exercise
ffis control over the deposits subject to the power of the President
to remove him, and congress must have mtended tffis to be, or
it woffid have provided otherwise ffi the charter.
To tffis attack Jackson sent a protest' ffi which he pronounced
the senate's resolution unconstitutional. It was, he said, reaUy
a judicial act analagous to impeachment, for wffich the consti
tution provided a procedure. The argument was not convinc
ing, but it served to introduce a long defense of aU the Presi
dent had done ffi the matter of removal, and it contained bodily
copies of state resolutions approving ffis course. It was designed
for an appeal to the people. The senate refused to enter it on
the records, wffich gave ffis friends an opportunity to say he was
'Kichardson, Messages and Papers, III., 69-94.

650 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
not offiy condemned without a hearffig, but ffis protest ffi defense
of ffis conduct was treated with contempt.
The composition of tffis protest ffiustrates Jackson's method
of using ffis assistants. Butler worked on the legal side of it,
Taney was worn out wdth other cares and probably ffid Uttle,
and to KendaU was assigned the task of presenting arguments
of a poUtical nature. But neither suborffinate was left unaided.
Jackson worked out each phase of the protest and sent it to the
proper man for review and suggestion.'
When these resolutions passed the senate it seemed to many
that Jackson's defeat was sure. Some of ffis friends were doubt
fffi and ffis enemies were jubflant. But he did not falter. He
looked to the approval of the people, whose feelings he under
stood, because he was their representative. Although arguments
were made on each side of the controversy then waging, it was a
battle of passions, and in it ffis strong spirit was at its best.
Every charge of calamity from the course he had pursued could
be turned by mgenious statement ffito a charge of evfls due
to the bank; and the pubUc mffid was not sober enough to weigh
the ffice points in the case.
Jackson was not blindly guessing when he expressed confidence
in the people. The election of 1832 showed how much they
trusted hhn. As Van Buren said many years afterward, nothing
but ffis popffiarity coffid have carried the people in the contest
against the strongly intrenched bank. The congress wffich met
m December, 1833, showed the effect. Although the senate,
less responsive to popffiar wdU, was for the bank, the house was
strongly against it. It showed its temper by redectmg Ste
venson, a thorough Jackson man, speaker, and by substituting
James Knox Polk, equaUy committed to Jackson, as chairman
of the ways and means committee, for McDuffie, Calhoun's
'Jackson to Kendall, no date, but while this protest was being prepared. Cf. Cincinnati Commercial, Feb
ruary 4, 1879.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 651
devoted agent. Removing the deposits completely identffied
the issue with Jackson, and Polk's aggressive policy forced
members to support it or appear before the people as opponents
of the President. Thus, wffile the senate passed a resolution
for restoring the deposits, Polk was able to carry in the house
four resolutions reported from ffis comnoittee to the foUowing
purport: (i) That the bank shoffid not be re-chartered, carried
by a vote of one hundred and tffirty-two to eighty-two; (2) that
the deposits shoffid not be restored, one hundred and eighteen
to one himdred and three; (3) that state banks should keep
the pubhc funds, one hunched and seventeen to one hundred and
five; and (4) that a select committee be appointed on the bank
and on the commercial crisis, one hundred and seventy-one tp
forty-two. The margin of safety was not large, but it showed a
great change in sentiment since 1832, when the charter passed
the house by a vote of one hundred and seven to eighty-five.
Meanwhfle the advocates of the bank showed weak points.
In the ffist place, their opposition was partly factious. When
the commercial paffic became acute the bank held tightly to its
funds, although it was evident that they were not imme(hately
needed. A mild spirit at the time woffid have done it much
credit in the public eye. Some of its friends took tffis as evidence
that it had too much power. Bid(Ue, who was cautious and
rash by turns, now meant that the country should have enough
of Jackson's financiering. "The relief," he said," to be usefffi and
permanent, must come from congress and from congress alone.
If that body vrill do its duty, relief wfll come — if not, the bank
feels no vocation to redress the wrongs inflicted by these miserable
people. Rely upon that. ThisworthyPresident thinks that because
he has scalped Indians and imprisoned judges he is to have his
way vrith the bank. He is mistaken."' This was m February, 1834.
'CatteraU, The Second Bank, 339. The course of the bank in this connection is discussed in Catterall's
chapter Xm.

6S2 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Moreover, the senate majority was rent by (Ussension. Clay,
Caffioun, and Webster each had ffis own plan of action. The
last mentioned introduced a bffi to extend the charter six years.
Caffioun, thinking the time too short, moved to extend twelve
years, but Clay would accept neither, and forced the others to
inactivity in order to prevent open dissension. He was deter-
iffined to lead or oppose the combination.
His triumph in the resolutions to censure Jackson was a barren
victory. Already the country was going agaffist the bank.
People were getting accustomed to the finandal distress and the
poignancy of suffering was passing.' February 26th, Governor
Woff, of Pennsylvaffia, a consistent democrat, formerly friendly
to the bank, sent a message to the legislature chargmg the bank
with producing the pressure ffi the money market " to accompUsh
certain objects inffispensable to its existence." ' The party in
that state came to ffis support to the ffismay of Bid(Ue._ In
New York at Governor Marcy's suggestion the state issued six
mffiions of stock to be loaned to the banks to reUeve their embar
rassment.' At this point Bid(fle was face to face with a revolt by the
merchants, especiaUy in New York. They formed a committee
wffich said that if he did not resume discounts they woffid pubUsh
their conviction that he ought to do so. He hesitated, but at
the end of March announced that loans woffid be resumed for a
month. Immeffiately the pubUc declared that tffis action showed
that contraction had not been necessary, and the bank was
never able to meet the charge. Men thought, all but the out
spoken bank, men, that Biddle had gone into a conflict vrith ,
VAndrew Jackson using for weapon his abiUty to create a money
pressure, and they concluded that abandoffing the weapon in-
(Ucated his defeat.
'CatteraU, Second Bank, J3fi-337.
•Niles, Register, XLVI., 26.
'Hammond, Bistory of New York, II,, 441; Alexander, Political Bistory of Nem York, I., 4aa

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 653
The courage of the anti-bank men was achnhable, their general-
sffip was exceUent, but their methods were not always commend
able. Preju(Uce, ignorance, and seffishness abounded rather
more than on the other side. For example, after denoimcmg
the bank for creating distress, they declared when it resumed
(Uscounting that tffis was offiy done to create another oppor
tuffity to inffict a pressure.' Of the same nature was the plan
early ffi 1834 of some old bank men and some of Jackson's
supporters ffi New York to have a new bank for their ovm
advantage. Van Buren woffid not countenance the scheme.
It would have been unwise to crush one baiik to bufld up another
in wffich admiffistration favorites had part, and popffiar incUgna-
tion over such a tffing must have faUen heavfly on the vice-
president, since his immediate supporters were in the scheme.'
The congressional elections of 1834 were made to tum on the
bank question. The most excited feeling prevafled ffi the
country; and BidcUe, fearing personal violence, fiUed ffis house
with armed men as the election approached. He was not
molested, but the election went against him by a large majority,
and the fate of the bank was sealed. The institution was so
dead that some wffig politicians began to rejoice that they woffid
not agam have to carry its weight of unpopffiarity. Its later
ffistory is not a part of tffis story.'
The sffifting of public opmion was utilized by the admiffistra
tion leaders in the fight for the expunging resolutions. When
Clay's motion of censure passed, Benton gave notice that he
woffid move to expunge it and in the foUowing session redeemed
ffis promise. Clay charged Jackson with assuming power
ffiegaUy, and Benton moved to expunge on the ground that the
charge was false, unjust, and passed without giving the accused
'PoUi to Jackson, August 23, 1834, Jackson Mss.
'Van Buren to Thomas Jefferson (of New York), January ts, 1834J J. Hoyt to Van_Buren, January 19,
February 4, r834. Van Buren Mss.
¦For an account of the closing of the bank, see CatteraU, Second Bank, chapter XV.

654 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
an opportuffity to be heard. The resolution was, therefore, an
mffictment of the senatorial majority, the court of trial being
the people. The offiy overt act to be aUeged in support of Clay's
charge was the dismissal of Duane, wffich was not unconstitu
tional. Benton's inffictment, therefore, was essentiaUy true,
and Clay's impetuosity had placed ffis party in a bad position.
The democrats made an issue of redressing the wrongs against
Jackson, the people were raffied, state legislatures voted ffistmc
tions to senators, and senators gave place to others who came
fresh from the convinced people until the complexion of the
senate was changed. As Benton said in announcing his purpose
to keep the matter before the people untfl the expunging reso
lutions were passed, the decision was wdth the American people.
He thought he was begmffing a contest of several years, but
opiffion developed so fast that victory came in less than three.
December 26, 1836, the tffird anffiversary of the day on which
the condemnatory resolutions were introduced, he announced
that retribution was about to be taken. After reaffing an exult-
mg preamble he moved that black lines be dravra around the
entry in the journal of the obnoxious resolutions and across it
written the words, "Expunged by order of the Senate." The
motion came up for adoption on January i6th. Foreseemg a long
ffight session he provided in a committee room an abundance of
hams, turkeys, roast beef, wdnes, coffee, and other food to sustain
ffis friends through the struggle. His ovra friends said little,
but Caffioun, Clay, and Webster ffi moumfffi speeches protested
against what was about to be done. It was, they said, ffi viola
tion of the constitution, wffich reqffired a correct joumal of the
senate's proceedings. The resolution was carried by a vote of
twenty-four to nineteen.'
Benton's florid language does not hide the true meaffing of the
fight. Clay's imtiative was wrong: he sought to cmsh Jackson

¦Benton, Thirty Years' View, I., 524-550, 545-549, 717-727.

DEPOSITS REMOVED FROM THE BANK 655
and thought it woffid (hscrecht a man to have the majority of
the senate pronounce him gffilty. The time had come when
the people did not foflow a senate vote blffidly. Benton made
them see the personal feehng in the attack of Clay, Webster, and
Caffioun. Although ffis appeal contamed both passion and
misstatement, it rested on truth. The old school of pohti-
dans. Clay among them, were apt to tffink too Uttle of the
average man's abffity to understand their real motives.
The expunging resolutions cffiefly concemed the weffare of
the party. For Jackson they were important as representmg
the end of ffis bank war. The revived nationahsm of 181 5-1820
expressed itself ffi the tariff, the movement for intemal improve
ments, and the Second Bank. They were now all checked, and,
besides that, the erratic desire for decentralization in South Caro
Una was suppressed, and the tendency to aristocratic institutions
ffi the hands of the conservative r^ubUcans was replaped by
avigprpus and weh-prganjggd^democratic paT^^ were
the acffievements of Jackson and the few men who supported
ffim. They were the cffief resffits of ffis admiffistration. Prob
ably no other President ffi time of peace has effected such impor
tant steps in our poUtical ffistory. But they are not Jackson's
offiy acffievements. The period of ffis power is also marked by
notable events in foreign affairs and by such domestic actions as
ffis IncUan and land poUcies, all of which are yet to be exammed.

CHAPTER XXX
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON
The phases of Jackson's adnuffistration thus far ffiscussed
relate to domestic pohtics. Of the other phases the most
important is foreign affahs; and ffi tffis field it vriU be nec
essary to observe ffis deaUngs wdth Great Britian, France, and
Mexico. The West India Trade: When Jackson became President
England persisted ffi her ancient policy of exploitffig trade with
her colonies for the benefit of her own merchants. The West
Inffia trade, closed to the Uffited States when they became an
independent nation, was stiU deffied to them after much nego
tiating. In the treaty of Ghent, 1814, no relaxation was secured,
nor were concessions obtaffied during Monroe's a(immistrations.
John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, whose vigorous poUcy
served well against a nation as weak as Spain, coffid wring noth-
ffig from the naistress of the seas. The situation was not im
proved when he became President vrith the aggressive Clay for
secretary of state. Retaliation succeeded here no better than
ffi the days of Jefferson.
The development of this controversy was as foUows: After
due efforts at a diplomatic settlement Monroe in 18 18 resorted
to retaUation. At ffis suggestion congress closed American
ports to British ships comffig from the ports not regularly open
to American ships. We thus meant to put England in our ports
on tne same footing ffi regard to the West India trade as she
insisted on aUowing us in the island ports. It was a hardship
to the planters ffi the islands, for they found it convement to
656

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 657
give themselves cffiefly to sugar raismg and to rely on the
United States for their food supply.
Great Britain was anxious to save the planters and opened
Halifax to American ships. Tffis, she thought, woffid draw to
that place the American products which had formerly gone to
the islands and that they would be shipped thence to their
former destination in her ovra sffips. We met her move by
tightenffig our own system. We forbade the exportation of
our products to the West Indies ffi British sffips and the impor
tation of products from that place imless they came dhectly.
These regulations, it must be remembered, did not concern our
direct trade with England, wffich was not affected on either side.
In announcing the latter restriction our miffister said we
would modify it ff England wpffid make reciprocal concessions;
but the British miffistry treated the proposition wdth mdifference.
They soon had reason to change their views. The West Indian
planters depended on the Uffited States for certaffi suppUes;
and if they could not have them legaUy they would have them
ffiegaUy. Smuggling, ever an attendant on the navigation '
laws, now became worse than before, and the British government
could not stop it. Law-abidmg planters protested agaffist the
situation, and ih 1822 restrictions were made somewhat Ughter.
We were aUowed to carry certain products to certain West
India ports on paying colonial tariffs there plus 10 per cent.
discriminating duty in favor of the Cana(han and other British
ports northeast of us.
In reply Monroe opened our ports to British sffips brmging
West India products, but he imposed on them a differential
tonnage duty of one doUar a ton and a differential impost of
10 per cent. Tffis concession did not concem our trade wdth the
colonies on our northeast. The restrictions Monroe retained
were thought to equahze those England retained, but to Englanci
they seemed excessive and she issued an order to coUect a dff-

6s8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ferential tonnage duty of four sffiffings sixpence on American"
sffips ffi the West Inffies. Thus the evidences of a rdaxing
pohcy ffi 1822 cUsappeared ffi 1823, and the contest went on as
formerly. Each side stuck to its position, and although attempts
were made at a settlement through diplomacy the situation was
unchanged for two years.
FffiaUy, Jffiy 5, 1825, ParUament passed a new act wffich
was a stffi further concession. Adams pronounced it ambiguous,
but it offered us the same rights in the West Indies that we gave
to English vessels in our waters, provided we accepted the offer
ffi one year.' Congress failed to meet tffis offer, partly because
the opposition flouted anytffing the administration was supposed
to desire, and partly because the rising spirit of protection was
instinctively against any suggestion of lower rates.
The President thought the affair coffid be settled by negotia
tion and sent GaUatin to London to see what coffid be done. He
arrived after the year of grace expired and was met with news of
a recent order to exdude our sffips from the West Inffies. By no
persuasion coffid he get Cannffig, now Foreign Secretary, to open
the door again which some months earUer we might have
freely entered.'
British poUtics were then in a state of change, and the law of
1825 grew out of a wave of reform. The years 1822-1825 were
very prosperous ones: revenues increased, taxes were reduced
and made more logical, trade expanded, and the merchants were
too weU pleased to be intolerant of change. Behmd the reforms
of the day was a group of liberal men led by Huskisson and
Robinson. They planned large tffings, but in December, 1825,
the bubble of prosperity burst, the buoyancy of reform receded,
and hope of changmg the country's coloffial trade relations went
'For documents connected with this phase of the controversy, see American State Papers, Foreign, Vlj
84, 214-247. See also, Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, II., r84.
'American Stale Paters, Foreign, VI., 246-266, 294; Adams, Life of Gallatin, 615-620.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 659
wdth it. Canning, who reUshed a policy of force ff he
thought it justffiable, remained obdurate untfl ffis death in
1827.' The position of Adams was characteristic. It was, also, just
that which ffis father, rffinister to England in 1785, took when the
West India trade first became a matter of negotiation after the
revolution. He would convince England that her navigation
laws were unwise; and England woffid not be convmced. He
would make her see her true ffiterests: Canffing thought it
humihating in the naistress of the seas to be ffistructed by America.
Loyalty to the national dignity and a wiUingness to hector ffis
opponents came naturaUy to the rigid New Englander. We are
not surprised that he closed his account of the affah by saymg:
"It becomes not the seff-respect of the United States either to
soUcit gratuitous favors or to accept as the grant of a favor
that for wffich an ample equivalent is exacted."' They
were fine words, but they were not exactly apphcable to the
situation. In the campaign of 1828 Adams was reproached for ffis faflure
to accept England's offer, and ffis successor felt obhged to try
to undo the wrong wffich was aUeged to have been done. Mc
Lane, rffinister to England, was impressed wdth the opportuffity
he had to achieve hnportant resffits. He was very ambitious
and saw in the business the pathway to the ffighest hopes. His
instructions gave ffim every mcentive to bol(ffiess. After
reviewmg the progress of the affair smce 1815 Van Buren said
plaiffiy we had made three mistakes : one in denymg that England
shoffid levy protecting duties in her coloffies, another in reqffirmg
that British sffips from the colomes to the United States shoffid
retum thither, whereas England aUowed our sffips leavmg her
coloffies to go anywhere, and another ffi f aflmg to accept the offer
'Walpole, Bistory of England, II., t5r-rfir, t68, t8r-t93.
*Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, H., 383-

66o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of 1825. McLane was to commumcate as much of tffis to
British mmister as he saw fit.'
We must not criticise Van Buren too severely for tffis attitude.
The tffiee errors he named are taken strictly from tffiee which
GaUatm announced ffi one of ffis ffist despatches from England
m 1826.' Later on GaUatm added other reasons for the un
happy feeUng over the question, but he thought the errors of
our government very important. Van Buren, therefore, was
offiy acknowledging opeffiy what another had a(hffitted in
confidence to his superior.
But Van Buren's greatest departure from conventional
methods of negotiatmg was ffis way of assuring England that
ffis offer was reliable and justified. Our former poUcy, he said,
had been subrmtted to the American people and by them rejected;
and the present govemment now spoke wdth authority. "It
shoffid be sufficient," he added, "that the claims set up by them,
and which caused the mtermption of the trade in question, have
been expUcitly abandoned by those who ffist asserted them, and
are not revived by their successors."
Van Buren's diplomacy was direct, that of ffis predecessor was
formal. He undoubtedly violated the cUgnified conventions of
the service, but he gave a clear and sensible tum to the business
ffi hand. His practicality is showm in the form in wffich he
would have the settlement embodied. The former admims
tration had preferred to act through diplomacy and a treaty,
he said; and the English govemment had stood for an act of
the legislature. But he was wdUffig to use either method, as
was thought most convenient. He says that McLane ffimself,
looking through the case before ffis departure for England,
concluded that the only way to re-open it after England's sum
mary decision in 1826 was to urge a change in American opimon
'McLane's correspondence went to Congress, January 3, i83r, and was published in Executive Documats.
3tst congress, snd session, number 24, page 64.
¦Adams, Life of Gallatin, 617.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 66i
and asked permission to proceed on that basis. Jackson con
sented and McLane wrote his own ffistmctions to that mtent.'
The British govemment received the American advance
cordiaUy, but Canada protested loudly. She had advantages
in the West Indies wffich woffid be destroyed by the proposed
agreement. Her protest delayed action several months, but
Van^ Buren had private assurances that matters went weU.
Jackson's first annual message also helped to make yiddffig
easy. "With Great Britam, alike distmguished ffi peace and
war," said the message, "we may look forward to years of
peaceful, honorable and elevated competition. Everytffing ffi
the concUtion and ffistory of the two nations is calcffiated
to mspire sentiments of mutual respect and to carry convic
tion to the minds of both that it is their pohcy to preserve the
most cordial relations." '
But the American position was not altogether concfliating.
Whfle it abandoned the contention of the past, it announced a
positive attitude for the future. "WTiatever be the disposition
wffich His Majesty's government may now be pleased to make
of tffis subject," said McLane to Lord Aberdeen, "it must
necessarfly be final, and indicative of the poUcy to wffich it wfll
be necessary, in future, to adapt the commercial relations of
each country." One who knew Jackson could not doubt the
meaning of these words.
Waiting without results at last began to exhaust the President's
patience, and Aprfl lo, 1830, he wrote Van Buren as foUows:
We ought to be prepared to act promptly in case of a faflure.
We have held out terms of reconciUng our differences vrith
that nation of the most frank and fair terms. Terms wffich,
if England reaUy had a wish to harmonize, and act fairly towards
us, ought to have been met in that spirit pf fraidmess and candpr
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, V., 6i, Van Buren Mss.
sSictaaideon, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, U., 443.

662 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
and friendsffip with wffich we proposed them. These terms
being rejectee! our national character and honor reqffires, that
we shoffid now act vrith that promptness and energy due to our
national character. Therefore let a commuffication be pre
pared for Congress recommencUng a non-intercourse law between
the Uffited States and Canady, and a sufficient number of cutters
commanded by our naval officers and our ovm midsffipmen made
revenue officers and a double set on every vessel &c., &c. This
adopted and carried into effect forthwdth and ffi six months
both Canady and the West India Islands wdU feel, and sorely
feel, the effects of their foUy in urging theh government to
acffiere to our exclusion from the West Inffia trade. Wffi Mr.
Van Buren tffink of these suggestions and see me early on Monday
to confer upon tffis subject ? ' ,
April 6, 1830, after six months of waiting, McLane ffinted to
Van Buren that an act of congress might pave the way for success,
and May 29th such a law was passed. It authorized the President
to grant the necessary privileges to British ships as soon as he
knew that England woffid give us simflar terms." Tffis was
foUowed by complete success in London. The British restric
tions were removed, and October 5, 1830, Jackson issued a
proclamation opening the trade vrith the islands.'
The arrangement merely opened the American and West"
Inffia ports respectively to the sffips of the other nations without
restriction as to tonnage or place of departure. It ffid not
lessen the right of either nation to lay imposts ffi the islands or at
home. Under tffis feature of the case the British government
imposed such duties that the American trade suffered greatly,
and opponents of Jackson declared that the boasted diplomatic
triumph of the administration was as nothing. But we never
coffid hope to prevent another nation from coUecting duties,
most of all when we were committed to our ovm tariff policy;
'Jackson Mss.
'Peters, United States Statutes at Large, IH., 4t9.
'Kichardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, n., 497.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 663
and we had removed an unpleasant source of intemational
irritation. Opponents of Jackson have said that it was the faflure of
the British coloffial policy more than diplomatic ability that won
the settlement of 1830. On the other hand, the British minis
try was more disposed to relax in 1825 than in 1830. Tffis was
partly due to the strong movement for economic reform in the
former year. In the latter the whole kingdom was stffi aUve
for reform, but of a poUtical kind. So far as the break-up of
the old system of restriction was concemed, aU was done in 1825
that was done later. The task was to remove from the minds
of the ministry the determination to resent the tone of American
diplomacy, and that was done by the direct and practical
methods under Jackson's direction.
The French Spoliation Claims, Since 1815 American citizens
had claims against France for destruction of property under
Napoleon. Like the matter of West India tra-de, they long
encumbered our diplomacy, and it was wise to have them settled.
W. C. Rives, of Virginia, who went to France as miffister, was
mstmcted to settle the claims if possible. European nations
had simflar claims in 1815, but they were soon paid: Americans
felt the sting which their own position thus ffivolved.
Rives arrived in Paris in the autumn of 1829, just after the
Martignac ministry was replaced by the reactionary Polignac, a
change wffich he thought unpropitious for ffis hopes. PoUgnac's
first position was that France could not pay for Napoleon's
spoUations,but when reminded that she paid other simflar claims
and that the United States should insist that the nation was
responsible for the acts of the de facto government he promised to
look ffito the matter.
Rives pressed the subject steadfly, and two months later the
mmistry agreed that they ought to pay for American property
destroyed at sea, but were not liable for seizures under the BerUn

664 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
and Milan decrees. Rives took this for a favorable sign, but soon
leamed that the minister was bent on delay. A reference in
Jackson's first annual message to a possible "coffision" with
V France was construed as offensive, and it took much patience
on Rives's part to smooth matters. FinaUy, on Febmary 12, 1830,
i'PoUgnac admitted that the Berlin and Mflan decrees grossly
/ violated the law of nations, but said it would bankrupt the coun
try to pay afl the damages from Napoleon's violations of that
law. Under the pressure of Rives's continued demands he agreed
that he might be vriUing to pay for the seizures at sea and for
some of those under the offensive decrees. Rives cUsclaimed
any special desire to estabUsh his theory and said he would
be satisfied vrith payment for losses, whatever ground it was
placed on. It was agreed that a project be submitted to the
king and ministry for a commission to consider the claims
specfficaUy, and a few days later it was announced that the
plan was approved.
At tffis point the chambers met in the beginnmg of March.
They were bitterly opposed to the king for many Ulegal actions;
pay ffig the American claims was unpopffiar because it would
necessitate mcreased taxes; and the opposition used the occasion
to weaken the govemment vrith the people of France. Rives,
deeply alarmed, cafled on Lafayette, stiU a ffim friend of America,
who by ffis influence was able to secure the silence or moderation
of several hnportant newspapers, and thus the danger was
aUeviated. But immediately another obstacle appeared ffi certaffi counter
claims France brought forward. The eighth article of the
Louisiana purchase treaty provided that French sffips shodd
have the privfleges of the most favored nation ffi American
ports, and damages were now asked because losses were mcurred
m the troublous times of Jefferson and Madison. It was a
strained interpretation, but Rives saw it would embanass the

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 66s
negotiations and wrote to Van Buren for permission to offer to
meet it by reducing the duty on French wdnes imported mto
America. The request was granted, and May 20th he mentioned
it to PoUgnac, whose wilUngness to concffiate the commercial
interests of his country prompted him to receive it glacUy.
Hope agam revived, only to be dashed to the ground when on
June 8th an mvestigating committee reported agamst the claims
on the ground that Napoleon ffimself woffid not have paid them.
The despairing and disgusted Rives expressed ffis feelings in a
private letter in which he said: "In the diplomacy of tffis
govemment nothing is certain but what is past and irrevocable.
Indeed, ffi my transactions vrith them I have almost come to
adopt the vffigar mle of mterpretffig (heams, and from what is
said to conclude that the precise contrary wdU be done."
A week later affairs brightened wdthout apparent cause.
Polignac became amiable and proposed a commercial treaty ffi
which shoffid be mcluded the concession on wdnes. It was
about to be consummated, when the revolution of July 26-30
drove Charles X ffito exfle and placed Loffis Pffilippe on the
throne. Negotiations now ceased; and the unwiUmgness of the
new govemment to mcrease the taxes left little hope tbat the
business woffid soon be resumed.
Yet on September 9th Rives took it up agam, offiy to be met
by a refusal. M0I6, the new foreign mffiister, said the claims
were just, but the govemment needed money too hadly to think
of assuming their payment. Rives, however, persisted and
secured a commission to examffie them specificaUy. On it
served G. W. Lafayette, son of the Revolutionary hero. The
king mterested himseff ffi the matter, professing ffis sympathy
for our claims, and urging us to have patience.
Matters were reaUy progressmg; and added promise came
from a handspme aUusipn to the kmg wffich Jackspn, at
Rives's suggestipn, iacprpprated m ffis secpnd annual message.

666 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
FinaUy the commission concluded its labors late ffi March, 1831.
The majority would not allow the claims under the decrees, but
were wflling to pay ten miffion francs for other losses. The nu.
nority — G. W. Lafayette and Pmchon — admitted both kmds
of claims and fixed the damages at tffirty miflion francs.
Subsequently Sebastiani, then the foreign miffister, commu
nicated the decision to Rives and said the miffistry, wdffing to be
Uberal, would pay fifteen millions. Rives was indignant and
said it was mockery to talk of that sum and if the offer was
definitive the negotiation was at an end. Sebastiam said it
was not defiffitive but told him to reflect on it. A fortmght
later he offered twenty-four miffions, when Rives said he woffid
settle for forty miffions. After some other ffiggUng they com-
pronoised on twenty-five miffion francs, and it was agreed that
we should pay France one and a haff miffions for seizures on
our ovm part, and the reduction of vrine duties was to be made
as an offset for the claims under the eighth article of the Louis
iana treaty. These terms were emboffied ffi a treaty wffich
was dffiy signed July 4, 1831. It was a notable triumph for
wffich Rives's energy, tact, and patience were mostly responsible.
It pleased the American people, who saw in it another ffiustration
of Jackson's just but vigorous methods of clearmg our (Uplomacy
of old issues.'
p The treaty, ratified Febmary 2, 1832, provided for payment
m six annual instalments, the first a year after ratification.
But no money could be paid untfl it was voted by the chambers,
and as French pubUc opiffion thought the amount agreed upon
too large the chambers were loath to execute the treaty. It
was not untfl they were about to adjoum after an eight months'
session that the matter was taken up, and then it was (Usmissed
without action. In the meantime, the secretary of the treasury
'The facts for this narrative of the French negotiation are taken from the records in the ofSce of the secre
tary of state in Washington, France, volumes 24-S7. For the treaty of 1S31, see Haswell, Treaties and Con
tentions, 345.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 667
drew a draft on the French govemment for the first ffistalment,
wffich, forwarded through the United States Bank, was duly
protested for lack of funds. On tffis transaction Biddle de
manded the usual protest charges amountffig to nearly one
hundred and seventy thousand doUars. One hundred and
thirty-five thousand doUars of this sum were for damages, the
rest for protest cost, interest, and re-exchange. The admiffistra
tion was willing to pay all but the item for damages. The
demand was witffin the meaffing of the law, but to Jackson and
to most people it seemed unfair for the rich bank to exact the
last pound of flesh, especially since it han(Ued so large a portion
of surplus government funds without paymg interest on them.
Tffis was ffi May, 1833, and had sometffing to do wdth the deter-
rffination to remove the deposits. Jackson took refuge beffind
the government's immunity from a suit and refused to pay the
bill. When in July, 1834, Biddle deducted the amount from
the govemment's dividend as a stockholder in the bank the
wrath of the adnaiffistration was unbounded.
In September, 1833, Livingstpn, succeeding Rives, anived in
Paris and addressed himself to the problem of gettmg the treaty
executed. The king and ministry professed themselves ready
to pay, but the chambers were obdurate, and wdth them Livmg
ston could have no relations. He concluded that nothmg but
a show of force would reach the ears of the French people, long
accustomed to despise us. He hffited at such a course to the
ministry and broadly suggested to Jackson that the coming
annual message take a firm tone.
The suggestion was so qffickly seized that it may be doubted ff
it was necessary. In fact, June 6 th Jackson ordered the navy to
be ready for service.' October 5th he' said, "There is nothmg
now left fpr me but a recommendation of strong measures."
Van Buren, now a close adviser in aU tffings, gave ffis approval
'Jackson to tbe Secretaiy of the Navy, June 6, r834i Jackson Mas.

668 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
of an energetic policy. "Your past forbea,rance," he wrote,
"wffi now come to our aid, and the opposition wffi, I trust, before
winter be wffipt."
The message bore wdtness to the President's eamestness. It
recounted the efforts to mduce France to execute the treaty,
gave the king credit for his mtention to urge the chamber at
its next session to vote the money, and declared that the
President had exhausted his resources. If congress vrished to
await the action of the French chambers, notffing need be at
tempted during its commg short session; but if from the omission
of the chambers in five sessions to provide for the execution of
a solemn treaty it should doubt their ffitention to execute it,
congress must determine for itseff what course should be foUowed.
"Our mstitutions are essentially pacffic," said he ffi dismissing
the subject. "Peace and friendly ffitercourse vrith aU nations
are as much the desire of our government as they are the
mterests of our people. But these objects are not to be per
manently secured by surrendering the rights, or permitting
the solemn treaties for their indemnity ffi cases of flagrant
wrong, to be abrogated or set aside." He dismissed the subject
by recommen(Ung that if France did not pay we seize enough
French property, pubUc or private, to satisfy the claim.'
The message reached France early in January and raised a
storm of anger. But it also showed the people they faced a
crisis and made the world see that the supineness of American
diplomacy was past. Livmgston reported that the ffigher respect
for our government was discernible m the attitude of ffis feUow
ministers in Paris.
The French miffistry dared not acquiesce in the position taken
by Jackson. They held that the national faith was impeached,
and after five days informed Livingston that they had recaUed
their minister in Washington and added that Livffigston's
'lUchardson, Messages and Papers ef the Presidents, m,, 100-106.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 669
passport was at ffis disposal. But our representative was not
wdffing to leave ffis post wdthout a more definite dismissal.
He held on for awhfle and received instmction as to his conduct.
If the chambers cUd not pass a law then before them to pay the
money Livingston woffid close the legation and leave Paris;
if they passed it he nught leave the legation in the hands of a
charge d'affaires and retire to a neighboring country.
The law refened to was not defeated. It hung ffie a long
thne and finaUy passed vrith the proviso that the money shoffid
not be paid untfl satisfactory explanation was made of the lan
guage of the annual message. Livffigston at once left affairs in
the hands of Barton, charge, and sailed for home on the Con
stitution, wffich by orders awaited ffis departure at Havre.
He protested as he went that France had no right to require
explanation of words in the President's message, a paper solely
for the mformation of congress.
The law ffi question was sent to Pageot, charge in Washington,
who offered to read it to Forsyth, now secretary of state. But
Jackson forbade such recogffition, sa3dng: "We woffid not per
mit any foreign nation to ffiscuss such a subject. Nor woffid
we pernoit any or aU foreign nations to interfere wdth our domes
tic concerns, or to arrogate to themselves the right to take offence
at the mode, manne^, or phraseology of the President's message
or any official commumcation between the different co-ordinate
or other branches of our government." '
Barton, in Paris, was at the same time mstructed' that he must
not (hscuss the message or give any explanation of it. He was
(Urected to hfform the French miffistry that the RothschUds were
our agents to receive the money due. If it was not paid ffi tffiee
days he was to make a last formal demand for it: if it was not
then paid witffin five days more, he was to demand ffis passports,
'Jackson to Livingston, September 9th; ibid to Forsyth, September 6, r835, Jackson Mss.
'Jackson to Barton, instructions, draft in Jackson's hand, September 6, t835, Jackson Mss.

670 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON ^
close the legation, and come home. He compUed wdth ffistmc
tions, but the offiy reply of the noinistry was that they were
ready to pay the money as soon as the Uffited States woffid
declare that they "ffid not intend to caU ffi question the good
faith of His Majesty's govemment." Barton coffid make no
such concession. November 8th he asked for ffis passports, and
three weeks later left Paris, closing the legation untfl the appear
ance of Cass, December i, 1836.'
When in September, 1835, Pageot offered to communicate to
Forsyth the French law disposing of the matter he read, also
mformaUy, a letter in explanation of the case. Forsyth refused
to receive it or to take a copy, but it contained the French defense.
It adnoitted that the law to pay the money was thrice presented
to the chamber and once rejected, and that it was not presented
to the short session of August, 1835; but tffis was because the
king felt that it would be rejected at that session. It declared
what seemed to be true, that the miffistry smcerely desired to
execute the treaty. As to Jackson's contention that a foreign
government could no more notice a President's message than a
committee report or a speech in congress, the reply was that
France did not demand a categorical denial, but offiy assumed
that a disclaimer would be made and suspended action untfl it
came. In view of assurances to Barton, this feature of thfe
explanation was merely a quibble. '--
The French complication had its influence on poUtical con
ditions. In the senate Clay introduced resolutions wffich
passed unanimously, declarmg that legislative action ought
not to be taken. In France they were cited ffi debate to show
that Jackson was not supported in congress. The house was
less hostile. It resolved that the treaty ought to be executed
and that steps should be taken to meet any probable emergency.
'Livinsston*s and Barton's reports are in Letters from Ministers, state department, France, volume 27.
Their instructions are in Instruction, France, volume for rS29-i344. See also, Richardson, Messages and
Paters of the Presidents, III., 130-132, i3S-r4S, 178-185, r93-i97.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 671
Tffis happened in January and Febmary, 1835. As the months
passed pubhc opinion sobered. There was little real apprehen
sion of war, but the wffigs affected to believe that it nught come
through the rashness of an irascible old man. The message of
1834 was, in fact, neecUessly strong. Members of the President's
own party urged ffim to be moderate in the next annual message.'
They had some effect, although they did not seriously modify
ffis private views. If France were an honorable nation, he said
privately, she woffid pay the money and demand an apology
afterward; that was what Napoleon would have done. But
from Maine to Florida came the voice, "No apology, no expla
nation — my heart cordiaUy responds to that voice.'"
The message of 1835 showed careful treatment. There was
a long review of the French affair justifymg what had been done,
but expressed m terms of restraffit; there was also a specific
deffial of any intention "to menace or ffisffit" France, and the
case was closed in these words:
France having now through aU the branches of her govern
ment acknowledged the valiciity of our claims and the obligation
of the treaty of 1831, and there really existing no adequate
cause for further delay, wfll at length, it may be hoped, adopt
the course wffich the interest of both nations, not less than
the principles of justice, so imperiously require. The treaty
being once executed on her part, little vnll remam to disturb
the friendly relations of the two countries — notffing, mdeed
wffich wUl not yield to the suggestions of a pacffic and
effiightened poUcy and to the influence of that mutual good
wifl and of those generous recoUections wffich we may confidently
expect wdU then be revived ffi aU their ancient force. In any
event, however, the principle involved ffi the new aspect wffich
has been given to the controversy is so vitaUy important to the
mdependent administration of the Govemment that it can
'Gooch to Jackson, November 28, 183s, Jackson Mss; Ritchie to Van Buren, November 28, 1835; J. A.
Hamilton to Van Buren, January 20, 1836, Van Buren Mss. ,
'An undated draft, destination not given, in Jackson's handwriting, Jackson Mss.

672 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
neither be sunendered nor compromitted wdthout national
degradation. I hope it is unnecessary for me to say that such a
sacrifice wffi not be made through any agency of noine. The
honor of my country shaU never be stained by an apology from
me for the statement of truth and the performance of duty."'
It is not difficffit to guess what parts of tffis paragraph were
ffi Jackson's original chaft.
By tffis time it was evident that neither nation deshed war,
and France accepted the pacffic utterances in the message as
sufficient (Usclaimer. Before tffis was known ffi Wasffington
Barton arrived with news of the last acts of ffis residence in
Paris. Jackson sent another message, January 15, 1836, soft
ened probably tffiough the efforts of Livingston, in wffich he
ffinfly insisted on ffis position and suggested that if the money
was not paid we shoffid exclude French ships and goods from our
ports. Before it coffid be knovm in France a settlement was
practicaUy arranged. January 27th, Bankhead, British charge
in Wasffington, offered the services of ffis nation to meffiate the
ffispute and each side accepted. He next announced that
France was satisfied wdth the message of December, 1835, and
would pay the money. All trouble disappeared quickly, and
May loth Jackson sent a gracious message announcffig that four
of the six instahnents were aheady paid and cor(Ual relations
with France were reestabUshed.'
One characteristic touch closed the ffiddent : Febmary i6th
Livmgston wrote mclosmg a letter from Baron de Rothschfld
mtimatffig that France woffid receive a miffister and that
Livingston's reappointment would be agreeable. Livmgston
closed his letter by admittffig that he had a "desire of enjoymg
on the spot the triumph of your firm and energetic measures.'"
'lUcbardson, Messages and Paters of fhe Presidents, III., r6o.
''R\mt,Life of Livingston, Ai%; ^chssison. Messages and Paters of the Presidents, IH., 188-193, 213,31s-
222,227. •Jackson Mss.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 673
Such flattery was supposed to be most effective with Jackson,
but here it had no power. Cass got the appointment to Paris,
and Livingston retired to private hfe.
Relations with Mexico: In the treaty with Spain, 1819, the
United States gave up their claim to Texas in order to make sure
of Florida. Many people, some of them poUticians of mfluence,
like John Quincy Adams, hoped to purchase what the treaty
reUnquished. Jackson, who consented to the treaty because
at the time he thought more of Florida than of Texas, had the
general Southwestem feeUng for Texas, but he refused the offer
to be our first rffinister to Mexico after that nation became
independent.' Ninian Edwards, to whom the place was next
offered, was recalled before he reached ffis destination; and
Poffisett, dispatched early ffi Adams's administration, first took
up the task of arranging a commercial treaty between the two
powers. Acting o^ instmctions from Clay, he tried to get
the new repubhc to accept the Rio Grande, or some other point
south of the Sabine, for our boundary. Mexico took tffis as an
attempt to profit by her weakness, her suspicions of our motives
were aroused, and she steacUly refused to yield to our plans.
Poinsett was then directed to offer one miffion doUars for Texas,
but he concluded that to do so would offiy enrage that power,
and did not mention the offer. Instead, he concluded a com
mercial treaty in 1828 in which the Sabme was declared the
boundary. When Jackson became President tffis treaty was not ratffied.
He suspended action upon it and sought to reopen negotiations
for the purchase of Texas. Expressing ffimself confidentiaUy to
Van Buren he said that he thought two noiffion dollars would
serve to amend the Mexican constitution so as to aUow a sale of
a part of the domain, and he was wffiing to give five miffions to
get Texas to the "great prarrarie or desert." He beUeved we
'Jackson to Adams, March t5, r823, Mss. in state department.

674 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ought to have tffis region, because a foreign power ought not to
have the tributaries of the Mississippi and because "the God
of the universe had mtended tffis great vaUey to belong to one
nation.'" Next day he outUned Poffisett's mstructions and sent them
to Van Buren. He poffited out the foUowmg advantages to
Mexico if she sold us Texas: the boundary woffid be a natural
one, the money woffid enable Mexico to maintain herself against
Spaffi, the danger of a conffict between her citizens and ours
woffid vanish, the difficffity of managffig the Texans be obviated,
and finaUy by surrendering the territory as a mark of esteem for a
sister repubUc she would show herself "worthy of that reciprocal
spirit of friendship wffich should forever characterize the feelmgs
of the two governments toward each other."
Our objects in getting Texas were: the safety of New Orleans
and the Mississippi vaUey, the need of new territory for the
Inffians who must be moved from the East, and the acquisition
of a natural boundary. He thought the nflddle of the great
desert would be such a boundary, and if that coffid be obtained
he woffid pay not more than five millions.'
Meanwhfle Poinsett was ffi trouble ffi Mexico. He took the
side of the party favoring a democratic government, aroused the
anger of an opposffig faction wffich made capital out of the
suggestion that the domain was about to be divided, and reso
lutions were passed against ffim in the legislature of one of the
confederated states. He was no longer useful, and Jackson
recaUed ffim, but in doffig so sought to save ffis feeUngs in aU
possible particffiars. He even protested agamst the resolutions
conceming Poffisett.
Poffisett was succeeded by Col. Anthony Butler, a former
military comrade of Jackson, whose diplomacy proved to be
'Jackson to Van Buren, August 12, r829. Van Buren Mss.
'The draft is preserved in the Jackson Mss. and also in the Van Buren Mss. See also. Reeves, Cijfotsuy
linder Tyler and PM, 65, note 11 .

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 675
bad. The years during wffich he directed our affairs m Mexico
are pronounced by Professor Reeves "a seven years' period of
cheap trickery.'" He led Jackson to think that Texas coffid be
purchased by proper negotiation and he produced on the Mexican
government and people the worst opiffion of our aim and honesty.
His chief object seems to have been to prolong ffis period of
emplojmoent and to overcast ffis failure by deludmg the adimn
istration with false hopes. He wrote many personal letters to
Jackson in which he promised everytffing but fulffiled notffing.'
In Aprfl, 1831, he confirmed Poffisett's commercial treaty of 1828
and in a separate agreement accepted the boundary of 1819.
Both were ratified and promulgated by the American government
in 1832.'
Buying Texas, the greatest object of ffis mission, was thus
left to further negotiation. As no direct offer moved the
Mexicans, Butler tried indirection. He referred to Jackson a
plan to pay five miUion doUars, part to Mexico and part to the
adventurers who had acquired vast land grants in Texas. The
scheme contained great possibiUty of fraud. Jackson said ffi
reply that we would not take Texas subject to any land grant
except Austin's, that we woffid pay the money to Mexico, and
cared notffing about what she did wdth it, but that Butier must
take the greatest care to avoid "the imputation of corruption."
Tffis was not encouraging, and ffi 1835 Butler appeared in
Wasffington to urge in person a stffi more doubtfffi scheme.
He brought a letter purporting to be from Hernandez, a priest
ffi Santa Anna's household, saymg that for a bribe of haff a
million to be distributed where needed the sale could be made for
five miUion dollars. On it Jackson endorsed the foUowing:
'Reeves, Ditlomacy under Tyler and Polk, 69.
^The Jackson Mss. contain many private letters from Butler to Jackson, with replies of the former. See
February 27, r832, October 28, t833, February 6, March 7 and October 2, 1834: of the latter, see April 19,
1832, and November 27, r833, with endorsements on Butler's letters.
"Reeves, Ditlomacy under Tyler ani Polk, 69-74; see also, Adams, Memoirs, XL, 343. The Hernandez
letter is in the Jackson Mss. under date March 32, 1835.

676 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Nothmg wdU be countenanced by the Executive to bring, the
Government under the remotest imputation of bemg engaged in
corruption or bribery. We have no concern in the apphcation
of the consideration to be given. The pubhc functionary of
Mexico may apply it as they deem proper to extinguish private
claims and give us the cession clear of aU fficumbrances except
the grants which have been compUed with. A. J. June 22-35.
The reader wdU give ffis own interpretation to these words.
Tp the writer they seem to show that Jackson was a practical
man among other practical men, and that he was not shocked at
the idea of bribery, but was carefffi that he should not commit
it. That he ffid not disnuss Butler ffifficates a duU conscience
on the point. But he was not wiffing to tolerate daUying.
Butler was alarmed at the tone taken toward him and protested
that he coffid finish the business if given another chance. He
was sent off to ffis post with the iffiormation that sometffing must
be done before the annual message was prepared. His renewed
despatches were, however, ffi the old tone of apology and delay,
and December i6th he was recaUed. Powhatan Effis, ffis suc
cessor, quickly realized the true situation of affairs in Mexico
and gave up the plans for purchasffig Texas.
Later Butler's proposition became known to the pubUc, and
he sought to justify himself by saymg that in a private conversa
tion Jackson gave it ffis approval. He said he was authorized
to (Ustribute eight hundred thousand doUars of the purchase
money where it woffid be useful and that Santa Anna was to
get one fourth of the amount.' Jackson denied the charge
and pronounced its maker a har. It is a poffit of veracity which
defies certainty. Butler's course as miffister leaves us Uttle
cUsposition to accept ffis word; and Jackson's memory on points
of controversy was apt to be bad. His memorandiSn quoted
above probably expresses ffis real attitude at the time.
'A. Butler to Jackson, July 28, 1834, Jackson Mss. Jackson's denial is endorsed on this letter also.

ANDREW JACICSON IN 1835. AGE 68
From a painting by Major R. E. W. Earl who lived with Jackson in the White House and had
orders for many portraits. Political opponents called him the " King's Painter." In
this picture the posture is characteristic, but the expression of the mouth
is like that of most of the portraits by Earl, and was con
sidered unsatisfactory by the friends of Jackson

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 677
By tffis time the province was in the throes of revolution,
and Mexican diplomacy took another turn. A large number
of claims of American citizens against Mexico were taken up
vigorously. EUis was ordered to press their adjustment and
ff not successfffi to demand his passport. He foUowed ffistmc
tions faithfuUy, met a refusal, and December 16, 1836, left
Mexico, where we had no other miffister for three years.*
One of the severest charges against Jackson ffi connection
with Texas was aiding the revolutionists. It grew partly out
of ffis desire for the provmce and more particffiarly out of ffis
friendship for Samuel Houston, Texan leader. The first tffing
in connection with this charge is a note ffi ffis own handwritffig
in a fragmentary journal which he kept for a time after he
became President. It reads:
May 21, 1829 — reed from Geffi. Duff Green an extract of a
letter (Doctor Marable to Genl. G) containing declarations of
Gov. Houston, late of Tennessee, that he would conquer Mexico
or Texas, and be worth two miUions ffi two years, &c. BeUev
ing this to be the efusions of a distempered brain, but as a pre
cautionary measure I chrected the Secretary of War to write
and inclose to Mr. Pope, Govr of Arkansas, the extract, and
instruct ffim if such illegal project should be discovered to exist
to adopt prompt measures to put it down and give the govem
ment the earliest intelligence of such ffiegal enterprise wdth the
names of aU those who may be concemed therein."
Of similar significance is the foUowmg: In the year 1830, Hous
ton was in Wasffington, where he feU ffi vrith a Dr. Robert Mayo.
He spoke about his plans and Mayo revealed them to Jackson
in a long letter. The latter endorsed the letter and ordered
that Wiffiam Fulton, secretary of Arkansas Territory, be ffi-
formed of the report. Such a letter was written to Fffiton
'Reeves, Dltlamacy under Tyler and Polk, 76.
¦Jwkaon Mss.

678 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
stating that the aUegation was probably erroneous, but that
carefffi watch shoffid be made for attacks on Texas, and ff such
shoffid be probable to communicate vrith the President. A copy
of this letter was placed wdth Mayo's and they remamed in
Jackson's possession untfl he was about to leave Wasffington.
Then they were both sent to Mayo, who placed them ffi the
hands of John Qffincy Adams. Jackson's Fulton letter was then
read in the house of representatives by the New Englander as
evidence that Jackson favored Houston's designs. Jackson
did not know he retumed the copy of the letter to Fffiton with
Mayo's and persisted in tffinkmg that it was stolen from ffis
ffies. He made, also, some bitter remarks about Adams for
ffis supposed part in the transaction. But ffis treatment of
Mayo's letter is Uke that of Marable's, and the two incidents
show pretty clearly that he proposed to preserve neutraUty, at
least outwarcfly, wffich, ffi view of American feelffig, was about
aU that could be expected.
Nor can it be held that he deshed Texas ffi order to increase
/slave territory. As a slaveholder he probably sympathized
with the feeling that the institution shoffid have a normal
field for growth, but he wanted the province beyond the Sabine
for national reasons. When President Burnet of Texas sent
ffim a letter justifyffig annexation on sectional and poUticd
grounds, he repudiated the argument, saymg that nationahty
was the offiy sufficient basis for such a policy.'
In the beginning of the revolution Jackson ordered the district
attorneys to prosecute violators of neutraUty "when mdications
wananted,"" but the instmctions were generally ffisregarded.
Agents opeffiy coUected bands of "emigrants" for Texas who
made no secret that they would fight for the revolutiomsts.
Without their help Texas could not have defeated Mexico. It
'From copy of a letter in Van Buren Mss., without date, endorsed by Van Buren, "President's Letter."
'Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, HI., rsi.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 679
is said that most of them retumed to their former homes after
the war. PubUc opiffion supported them, and it would have
been difficult for the govemment to detain them had it been
more serious in its efforts to do so.
Fightmg began ffi October, 1835 ; and m the foUowdng January,
General Games, commandmg the Westem department, was
ordered to the Loffisiana border to protect it from Inchan
attacks, no signs of wffich were visible. He was ordered to
cross the Sabme if necessary as far as Nacogdoches, fifty miles
vrithin the province lOf Texas. He was given the 6th regi
ment and cafled on each of the govemors of four neighboring
states for one thousand mounted rffiemen. When the Texans
won their victory at San Jacinto, April 21st, he was twenty-five
mfles north of the boundary waiting for the riflemen. He now
concluded they would not be needed and suspended the caU.
It was afterward pointed out that at tffis time it was generaUy
beUeved ffi Texas that the war was over. But a few weeks later
it was knovm that Mexico was preparing to renew the stmggle.
About, the same time two wffite men were kffied by Caddo
Indians near Nacogdoches, and some wffite women and chfldren
were taken prisoners. Gaines declared these Indians must be
overawed and in June, 1836, threw two hundred men into that
place and wdth the rest of ffis force encamped on the Sabffie.'
There was no real danger from the Indians, and it is hard to
believe that Gaffies's movements were not made with an eye on
the development in Texas.'
When Gaines decided to occupy Nacogdoches he caUed out
the mihtia the second time. Jackson was at the "Hermitage"
when news of it came to Tennessee. The govemor responded
with eagerness and asked Jackson ff he might send more men
than were reqffired of him. He was told m reply that Gaffies's
'Report of secretary of war. Congressional Debates, XUI., part 2, page 23; correspondence of Gotostiza
vrith Forsyth and Dlckins; ibid, XIV., part 1, 17S.

68o THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
caU was overnfled as unnecessary and that no troops were to
be sent unless orders came direct from the war cepartment.
To the govemor of Kentucky he sent the same cUrections.
Tffis seems to have been on Jackson's own imtiative. A few
days later he received a letter from Kendall ffi Waslungton
saying that Gaines's advance was ill-advised and ought to be
retraced. September 4, 1836, he ordered that general to ob
serve strict neutrality, not to enter Texas uffiess the Mexicans
failed to restrain the Indians, and to hold no correspondence
vrith either Texas or Mexican leaders.
As soon as the Texans began to fight they appealed to Jackson
for recognition of independence or annexation. Wffile Houston
was fleeing before the advancing Santa Anna, six days before
San Jacinto, Stephen Austin sent an earnest appeal. " Oh, my
countrymen," he cxied, "the warm-hearted, cffivalrous, impifl-
sive West and South are up and moving in favor of Texas. The
calculating and more prudent, tho' not less noble-minded North
are aroused. . . . Will you turn a deaf ear? "" Tffis appeal
came as a letter to the President, cabmet, and congress. On
the back of it Jackson wrote: "The writer does not reflect that
we have a treaty with Mexico, and that our national faith is
pledged to support it. The Texans before they took the step
to declare themselves Independent wffich has aroused and
united aU Mexico against them ought to have pondered weU.
It was a rash and premature act, our neutrality must be faith
fully maintained. A. J.""
The victory at San Jacinto changed the aspect of affairs.
Comrffissioners came now to ask for annexation, on the foUowing
terms: (i) confirmation of the Texan laws, (2) assumption of
Texan debts, (3) guarantee of land titles to bona fide settlers,
(4) the recognition_of slavery, and (5) liberal appropriation of
'Cannon to Jackson, August 4 ; Jackson to Cannon, August 5th ; ibid to Govemor of Kentucky, August 7tb|'
Kendall to Jackson, August 3rd; Jackson to Gaines, September 4, 1836; Jackson Mss.
'Jackson Mss.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON "68i
land to education.' The mdorsement on Austm's letter indi
cates that Jackson was not enthely enthusiastic for the stmgglers.
His action m the summer in regard to recogffition and annexation
confirms the view. June 6th the house of representatives resolved
to recognize the independence of the provmce as soon as it had
an estabhshed government. He accordmgly sent a confidential
agent beyond the Sabme to report on concUtions there, and to
the Texans he woffid promise nothing until he had defiffite
iffiormation. He was foUovring the example of Monroe ffi
recogffizing the South American states. The reports from the
agent, Morfit, were adverse to Texas. The inhabitants, he said,
were few and widely cUstributed, and probably not able to
maintain themselves against their enenoies. In a private letter
to Jackson, Houston confessed that the new state coffid not
sustain itself and appealed to his old friend to save it." December
2 ist the President in a special message recommended that recog
ffition of independence be deferred.' It was believed that Van
Buren inspired it.' Certaiffiy on December 8th Jackson was
wilUng to let congress act.'
The Texans were greatly cUsappomted, but they soon found
grounds to hope for better tffings. Sentiment in the coimtry de
veloped, and taUc of action by congress was heard. Febmary 2,
1837, Jackson took up the matter wdth the chairman of the
house committee on foreign affairs. He had come to tffink that
England was about to recogffize Texas.' March ist the senate
resolved to extend recogffition and the house voted to pay the
expenses of a nainister to the repubUc if the President saw fit
to appomt one.
'Forsyth to Jackson, July rs, t836, Jackson Mss.
'Houston to Jackson, November 2o, 1836; see Miss Ethel Z. Rather, The Annexation of Texas, published
in the Quarterly of th: Historical Association of Texas, rgro.
'Richardson, Messages anl Paters of the Presidents, UI., 265; for some of Morfit's reports see Congres
sional Debates, XIII., part 2, page 82.
'Van Buren to John Van Buren, December 22, 1835; W. Irving to Van Buren, February 24, 1836; Vaa
Buren Mss.
'Jackson to Kendall, December 8, rS36, Cincinnati Commercial, February 4, 1879.
'Jackion to Howard, February 2, 1837, Jackson Mss.

682 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON • ^
When tffis matter came up the presidential election of 183O
was approacffing. The bank was dead legaUy, but the wffigs
opeffiy declared their purpose to restore it. Jackson was
extremely anxious to avoid anytffing wffich woffid weaken
Van Buren's chances in the election or cUvide the democrats in
congress. He and the New York group must have seen that the
admiffistration coffid not afford to identify itseff too far vrith
Texas. It was, said he to congress, a very deUcate matter.
The delicateness of it lay in the fact that Americans of the
South and Southwest had revolutioffized the provmce, Games
standing conveniently by as an apparent resource in time of
trouble. Hastily to recogffize Texan mdependence woffid have
the air of an indorsement by the admiffistration, and that
would imperil Van Buren's chances and threaten the contmua
tion of Jackson's policies.
In the summer Jackson received a letter from captive Santa
Anna proposing American interposition between Mexico and
the resisting Texans. He replied that he would be pleased to
extend the good offices of his country when he knew that Mexico
desired them. He penffitted the proposer to go to Washmgton
to try to make some arrangement of a pacific nature. Santa
Anna arrived early ffi 1837. He was well received and set out
for ffis home in Febmary, pronoising to use ffis efforts for peace.
In Mexico ffis influence was superseded by a rival, and he rethed
to ffis estate untfl a new revolution gave him an opportumty
to regam power. Jackson thought Santa Anna a tme friend of
Texas.J The offiy survivffig evidence of ffis relations wdth Jackson
m Washffigton is an undated memorandum ffi Jackson's hand
which seems to refer to tffis period. It relates to a commum
cation with Santa Anna and contains an offer of tffiee and a
half miffions for Texas, not as a purchase but as a concession
'Lends to Houston, Oct. 27, r836, Mss. in New York Public Library.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY UNDER JACKSON 683
on our part, the boundary to be the Rio Grande to tffirty degrees
latitude and thence west to the Pacific. Santa Anna, for his
part, agreed to use his ffifluence for peace.'
Jackson's diplomacy satisfied the nation. What it lacked ffi
digffity it gained ffi strength. It secured American interests ffi
the West India trade, the French claims, and the Texas matter.
In regard to the last ffis course was moderate and national.
Had he taken the view of either extreme he must have chiven
the other to desperation. As he said repeatecUy ffi the close of
ffis admiffistration, he chiefly desired to repress the growing
sectionaUsm which came from the efforts of designing men.
Both ffis principles and ffis desire to make Van Buren President
were in support of this feelffig.
Abroad Jackson's diplomacy was weU respected. Foreigners
thought less than we about his diplomatic form. They saw
cffiefly the resffits of his forcefffi wffi. He brought a greater
respect for American rights ffito theh mmds than any man
smce Washington. Van Buren reportmg a conversation vrith
Palmerston writes: "He said that a very strong impression
had been made here (in London) of the dangers wffich tffis
coimtry had to apprehend from your elevation, but that they
had experienced better treatment at your hands than they had
done from any of your predecessors.'"
'Jackson Mss. The correspondence of Jackson and Santa Anna is also in the Jackson Mss., July 4 tod Sop.
tember 4, 1836. See also Richardson, Messages and Paters of the Presidents, IH., 274-276.
¦Via Buren to Jackson, September 28, t83i; Van Buren, Autobiography, IU., 94.

CHAPTER XXXI
MINOR PROBLEMS OF THE TWO ADMINISTRATIONS
Besides the matter already considered, Jackson had to deal
with certain hnportant minor affairs, some of wffich he hffierited
from the precedmg admmistration, and some others wffich
w^e created in ffis ovm time. Of the former class was the
task of removmg the Indians from the region north of the
" Gffif of Mexico and east of the Mississippi in order to open tffis
land to white settlers.
When the stream of population ran into the wfldemess it
foUowed the Ohio ffi general, fiUing the land on each side
and dovra the Mississippi to its mouth. In the North, another
stream ran along the lake shores and, carrying the Indians of
the old Northwest before it, graduaUy swept them back into
the great plains of the newer Northwest. But the extension of
settlements dovm to the Gffif made impossible such a riddance
of the red men of the South. It left surrounded by a zone of '
white popffiation the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Cfficka-
saws, together numbering in 1825 as many as ffity-tibree thousand
six hundred soffis; and they occupied tribal lands aggregating
more than tffirty-three million acres. They coffid not be pushed
gradually back as in the Northwest: they must be extermmated
or induced "by one means or another to remove to the plains,
where the problem of contact with the wffites woffid be post
poned to a remote generation. The other altemative, peaceful
residence among the wffites; was not considered possible for any
large body of Inffians, North or South. The offiy thffig which
people thought feasible was to remove them bodfly: and as this
684

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 685
was a task for the national govemment its execution devolved
on the President.
Of the four Southwestern tribes the position of the Cherokees
was severest, and by following the story of tffis nation in some
detafl we may understand the experience of the others. Although
they held lands in both Alabama and Tennessee, their chief
holding, more than five miUion acres, was in Georgia, and the
land was very fertile. In 1802 Georgia made a general agree
ment wdth the Uffited States, one feature of which was that the
latter should extmguish the title of the Indian lands witffin
the state's bounds "as early as the same can be peaceably
obtained on reasonable terms." At that time the Cherokees and
Creeks owned twenty-five miUion acres in the state. By 1825
the amount had been reduced by several treaties to nme miffion
acres. But the spread of cotton cultivation made theh land
seem necessary for settlement, and Georgia became eager that
the federal government shoffid execute the pronuse of 1802.
It did not appease her to say that the Indian title could not be
quieted either "peaceably" or "on reasonable terms," wffich
was all that was promised. She saw herself threatened perma
nently wdth the presence of an inferior people, wdth a govern
ment of their ovm planted sohdly witffin the state limits
and claiming immunity from the state laws; Such a situation
coffid not have been contemplated ffi the formation of the
union; and Georgia found much sympathy wdth her desire to
overthrow it, although her methods of deaUng with it were
neither reasonable nor becoming. ~ •
The Cherokees also deserve our sympathy. They were the
most civflized of the Southern tribes, they had passed far mto
the agricultural stage, and removal was sure to brmg economic
loss and social cUsorganization. They were specfficaUy protected
ffi their rights by treaties wdth the United States. There was
ffi the begffimng a feelffig that an Indian treaty was not fully a

686 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
treaty and that it was not, therefore, the supreme law of the
land. The supreme court, in a case wffich arose m tffis contro
versy, decided to the contrary;' but at that time pubhc opmion
was so much excited ffi Georgia that it was not mochfied by the
decision. In fact, there was sometffing ffiogical in the idea that an
IncUan tribe, which had no sovereignty, coffid make a treaty,
usuaUy a mark of sovereignty; and congress recognized it m
187 1 when it ordered that in the future agreements and not
treaties he made with the Indians. The Cherokees had good
advice in aU phases of the controversy. In 1824 they declared
ffi tribal councfl that they would not seU a foot of land and sent
commissioners to Washmgton to ask that the agreement of 1802
be rescinded. Calhoun, secretary of war, told them ffi reply that
the agreement must be kept and the Indians must remove or
give up their tribal authority and be absorbed wdth the citizens
of Georgia. They, on their part, refused to budge, and thus
the matter was left to simmer for five years. Meanwhfle the
state tffieatened the Indians and denounced the national govem
ment, but it did not precipitate civfl war by an actual resort
to force.
Jackson entered the presidency when tffis matter was stifl
unsettled. Adams showed a certain amount of sympathy for
the constitutional position of a state threatened with division of
its power by creating a separate authority witffin its border;
but he was for legal methods and woffid not tolerate violence
on the part of Georgia. Jackson, however, had a Westem man's
view of the IncUan question. He showed it by a determffiation
to appoint a Westerner secretary of war. Eaton, who fiUed
the office, soon gave the Cherokees to understand that the govem
ment would not support them in opposition to the laws of Georgia.
The Georgians were countffig much on just this stand, but in
order to be certain they waited for the first annual message.
'Cherokee Nation vs Georgia, 5 Peters, 17.

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 687
It gave them aU they required. It not offiy referred to affairs
in Georgia, but it laid down a general IncUan policy at variance
wdth that previously foUowed and in every respect essentiaUy
favorable to their purposes.
The old idea, it said, was to civffize the savages; but by
purchasing their lands piecemeal we have kept them moving
westward so constantly that they could not absorb civffization,
and thus the government's object was defeated. A portion
of the Southern Indians, however, wdth a fair prospect of civffi
zation, were in conffict with the states of Georgia and Alabama,
wffich claimed sovereignty respectively over everybody vrithin
their Unfits. Now the constitution guarantees that no new
state be can formed within another state without the consent of
the latter. Does it not foUow that no ffideppndent state could
be formed vrithin those limits? Would such a thing be tolerated
in Maine or in New York? Jackson reported, therefore,
that he had told the Indians they woffid not be supported in
their attempt to estabUsh independent govemments witffin
state lines and that he advised them to settle beyond the Mis
sissippi. He also recommended that congress set apart an
ample region in the Far West to which the Indians might remove
and Uve without conflict wdth the wffites. A few weeks later
a bifl was introduced and passed by a party vote to set aside
a Western region and to appropriate money to aid the removal
of those IncUans who chose to accept the offer.
Tffis boded iU for the Cherokees. Anticipating the action of
congress, their legislative councfl ordered that all who accepted
lands ffi the West and settled on them should lose tribal mem-
bersffip, that those who sold their property to enoigrate shoffid
be wffipped, and that those who voted to seU a part or aU of
the tribal possessions shoffid be put to death. It was their
reply to the attempt to lure them away.
On the Georgians the effect of Jackson's announced view was

688 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
equaUy decisive. December 22, 1829, the legislature passed a
law to extend its authority over the Creeks and Cherokees
on June i, 1830, with provisions to make it (Ufficffit for the
savages to evade its enforcement. They knew definitely that
there was now a President who would not interfere with their
plans. Alabama and Mississippi legislatures foUowed the
example of Georgia.
On the appointed day the govemor of Georgia proclaimed
this law throughout the state. Soon afterward a clash occurred
between state officers and the United States troops in Georgia,
and the governor asked the President to order the withdrawal
of the troops. The request was readfly granted. It emphasized
Jackson's po.rition that Georgia might exercise sovereignty
witffin her borders.
The Cherokees had friends and advisers among the whites,
and all persons opposed to state rights were naturally drawn
to their side. They rested their case on the sanctity of their
treaties. An Indian tribe, they contended, was a state, a
foreign sovereign state, and a treaty with it was a part of the
supreme law of the land. When Georgia was about to execute
her law of December 22, 1829, they applied to the Uffited States
supreme court through their counsel, WilUam Wirt, for an in
junction to restrain such action. The case was argued in the
January, 183 1, term, Georgia ignormg it entirely on the ground
of no jurisdiction. MarshaU gave the decision, taking up first
the question of jurisffiction. By the constitution the Umted
States courts are open to states, citizens of states, foreign
states, and citizens of foreign states. Manifestly an Indian
tribe to come witffin the meanmg of the constitution, must
be either a state as a state within the union, or a foreign state.
Marshall held that it was neither, that it occupied a pecdiar
position and was, in fact, a "domestic dependent nation" with
a relation to the United States analogous to that of a ward to

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 689
a guardian. A tribe, therefore, coffid not sue m the Uffited
States courts, and the mjunction prayed for could not be granted.
Whfle the Cherokees lost the case ffi poffit, they were pronounced
a state — that is, a defiffite civfl power, and tffis was in opposition
to Georgia's purpose to treat them as a mass of individuals over
whom she might assert authority. The poffit would be worth
something in resisting the state's pretensions.'
Meantime the case of Com Tassel came up. Tffis brave
had kiUed a feUow Cherokee, for wffich he was tried and con
demned in a state court. He appealed to the federal supreme
court, aUeging no jurisdiction in the Georgia tribunal. Although
Wirt hurried to trial the injunction ca,se, which was then pending,
Georgia would not stay sentence, and Corn Tassel was executed
before the highest court ffi the land could consider his fate. Tffis
utter defiance of the court coffid not haye happened if the exe
cutive department had been disposed to protect the court.
The case of the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, just described,
lost some of its strength in view of tffis situation. It was de
cided a few days after Corn Tassel was hanged.
Another case showed even more plaiffiy the attitude of the
President. By the Georgia law wffites noight not reside wdth
the Indians without state licenses. Tffis was mtended to
exclude from the tribes those wffite friends who encouraged
them not to sell their lands. Among these people were a number
of Northem missionaries, who trusted to the Uffited States
law. Eleven of them were arrested for violating the state
statute; nine 3delded rather than remain in prison, but two,
Worcester and Butler, appealed to the United States supreme
court. Again Georgia denied jurisdiction and refused to appear,
and agaffi MarshaU decided against her. In an opiffion whose
positive tone seems to proceed from a feeUng of indigffity
that he was already ignored, MarshaU held that Georgia was
> 5 Peters, i4o.

ego THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON ,.
wrong at every pomt. "The Cherokees," he said, "were a
nation, they were so recogffized by the govemment and by
Georgia herself untfl recent years, theh laws were not to faU
before a state, and the United States had the authority to pro
tect them. The sentence of the missionaries was pronounced
nufl.' Georgia disregarded the vercUct utterly, kept the mis
sionaries ffi prison more than a year to vincUcate her authority,
and finaUy pardoned them.
Jackson's refusal to execute the decree of the court ffispleased
the friends of the nussionaries, particularly the Methoffists
and Friends, and votes were lost ffi the election of 1832. Van
Buren said the defection from tffis cause was eight thousand in
westem New York alone.' It produced a more permanent impres
sion on persons ffiterested ffi constitutional mterpretation. The
President justified himseff on the ground that the executive,
coordmate ffi authority with the jucUciary, was not bound to
interpret the constitution as the supreme court mterpreted it.
He could hardly have known ffis own mind on tffis pomt, for he
put his defense on more than one ground. To Cass he wrote
\ that it must rest on the prfficiples in Johnston vs. Mcintosh.'
He said in explanation of his general position: "No feature
in the Federal Constitution is more prominent than that the
general powers confened on Congress, can offiy be enforced,
or executed upon the people of the Union. Tffis is a Govem
ment of the people." * Tffis position was nearly opposite to
that he assumed ffi reference to nuffification wdtffin a year.
To ffis friend Coffee he wrote that the difficffity was weakness
of the government. "The decision of the Supreme Court," he
said in aUusion to the case of the missionaries, "has faUen still
from the Govemment, not strong enough to protect them in
' 6 Peters, 51S-S96.
'Van Buren, Autobiograthy, III., trg-120. Van Buren Mss.
' 8 Wheaton, 543-605.
'Draft in Jackson's handwriting, no date, Jackson Mss.

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 691
case of a coffision with Georgia." ' It seems at this time not
to have occurred to ffim that the govemment was weak or strong
as the executive vriUed.
The fundamental explanation of Jackson's argument on this
matter was ffis sympathy wdth Georgia. He beUeved that the
Indians should not remain permanently vrithin the borders of
a state. Of removal as a fact Van Buren observes: "That
great work was emphaticaUy the fruit of ffis ovm exertions.
It was his judgment, ffis experience, ffis indomitable vigor
and unrelenting activity that secured success. There was no
measure in the whole course of ffis administration of wffich he
was more exclusively the author than tffis." It was a pohcy
conceived in a spirit of humamty. February 22, 1831, it was
formulated in a special message to congress.' A real friend of the
Indians, said he, would urge them to remove. If they remained
wdtffin state limits there would ever be trouble, and liberal
aid ought to be given them in settUng new homes. No one
regretted the hardsffips incidental to the process more than he;
but they were iUs wffich must be endured.
The conffict wdth the supreme court brought ffim into oppo
sition to Cffief Justice MarshaU. A popular tracUtion, ffist
printed so far as I know by Horace Greeley, repiresented Jackson as
sa3dng after the decision in the case of the noissionaries: "John
MarshaU has made ffis decision. Now let him enforce it."'
It is not sure that these words were actuaUy uttered, but it is
certain from Jackson's views and temperament that they noight
have been spoken. His antipathy for the cffief justice was so
strong that in 1835 he refused to attend a memorial meeting
m ffis honor. He avowed high appreciation of MarshaU's
"leaming, talents, and patriotism," but as one who (Ud not
agree wdth the ideas of constitutional law held by the deceased
'April 7, r832, copy in Dyas Collection, Library of Congress.
'Richardson, Messages ani Paters of the Presidents, U., S36-
C 'Greeley, The American Confiict, I., io6.

692 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
jurist he coffid not imite in honoring him wdth those who (Ud
so agree.'
Jackson's refusal to execute the judgment of the supreme
court left the Cherokees at the mercy of Georgia. They real
ized that they must lose ffi the long nm, and a party of them,
led by John Ringe, advocated removal, whfle another, led by
John Ross, were for stajdng ffi Georgia. In 1835 the former
party agreed to the cession of the remaimng tribal lands to the
Uffited States for five mflUon doUars and land beyond the Mis
sissippi. The Ross faction held out untfl 1838, when Umted
States troops under General Scott forcibly expeUed them.
They went to Indian Territory, created by a law of 1834, when
they received lands near those of the Creeks, Cffickasaws, and
Choctaws, who had before that time accepted the terms of the
government. These other tribes had aU locked to the Cherokee
case for an intimation of what woffid be done and made terms
accordingly.'
— The payment of the pubUc debt was another measure wffich
appealed to Jackson's political sense. Scrupffious in pa3dng his
own obUgations, he thought it equaUy desirable that the govem
ment shoffid owe notffing. His first message held out hope of
the early accompUshment of ffis desire — privately, he thought
it might be done wdtffin his first term of office. The revenues
from imports and land sales were large and yielded a yearly
surplus wffich was used for tffis purpose. In 1834 the last of
the debt was discharged. His message to congress ffi that
year expressed ffis gratification, but he added the caution that
the situation be not made the excuse for future extravagance.
Extravagance was, in fact, a menace, as it ever is when there
is a large surplus. Plans were made by various interests
looking tP the dissipation of the surplus. Intemal hnprove-
'Jackson to Chandler and Williams, September i8, 1835, Jackson Mss.
'For important documents on the controversy with Georgia, see Ames, State Documents on Pederal RiMoni
ir3-i32.

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 693
ments woffid have been a ready preventive of government
hoarffing, but the MaysviUe vetp had tpp well cUsppsed of them
tP wanant the hope that they could be carried. The most
probable course was one suggested from several sources, and
very popular in the West, for distributing the surplus among
the states after the debt was paid. The anti-tariff men de
clared that it was supported by the tariff party, lest an accumu
lating surplus shoffid lead men to tliink tbat the tariff ought
to be reduced.
Early in ffis presidency Jackson beUeved in (Ustributing
the surplus among the states according to representation in
congress. He said as much in the ffist draft of ffis maugural
address and he repeated it in his ffist annual message. If it
could not legally be done, he said, it would be vrise to amend
the constitution so as to aUow it; and he made it a point against
Caffioun that he opposed distributffig the surplus. Jackson's
view was in opposition to the state rights^ school, and as this
group came into prominence in his party he veered away from
distribution. There was as Uttle reason that he shoffid favor
it as that he should support internal improvements, and he must
have seen it. In his second annual message he retumed to
the subject as a means of providing internal improvements.
The surplus, he said, should be given to the states accordffig
to representation in congress; for they coffid best assign it
to the ends contemplated. By the time he wrote the tffird
message ffis opinion had undergone a change. He then recom
mended that the tariff be so adjusted that after the debt was
paid no more money should be taken from the people than was
necessary for the expenses of the government.' ^
The ground thus left unoccupied was seized upon by Clay —
not at first through design on his part; but through the maffipu-
lation of ffis enemies. By a trick he was forced in 1832 to take
'Richardsoo, Uasttget and Papen ofthe Presidents, IL, 45t, 5r4, 556.

694 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
a stand on the land question.' After deliberating he moved
to distribute among the states the proceeds of the sale of pubUc
lands. He took pains to say that it was unconstitutional
to ffistribute the revenue, but that the proceeds of land sales
was another matter. The bffi got through the senate, to fafl
in the house. Clay brought it forward again ffi December,
1832. It was then passed and went to Jackson in the last days
of the congress. He appUed the "pocket veto" and sent
congress when it convened in the foUowdng December ffis reasons
therefor. Clay argued that the lands were a guarantee for
the payment of the national debt, and that inasmuch as tffis
was about paid the further proceeds should be distributed.
Jackson denied the first proposition, held that no ffistmction
was to be made as to the source of revenue, and objected to the
method of distribution provided in the bffi. He also found it
at variance with the doctrine of the MaysviUe veto, wffich of
itself was enough to insure rejection. In the veto Jackson took
occasion to say, as he said in the message of 1832, that the
I proper way to deal vrith a surplus from the sale of the lands was
to reduce the price to or near the expense of sales.' In this
he put ffimself ffi Une vrith the general Westem land poUcy,
dear to the heart of Benton and of many another Jackson leader
from the newer states.
But the strongest argument against approving the bffi was
its tendency to make the states look to the federal govemment
for benefactions. The object of the biU was to (hstribute not
the surplus of the land sales, but aU the proceeds from such
sales, wffile the expenses of the land offices were made a charge
on the general revenue. Tffis was a bill to create a surplus and
once adopted might lead to vast extravagances of a sinular
nature. "It appears to me," said Jackson, "that a more ffirect
'Sargent, Public Men and Events, I., 205-208.
'Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, UI., s6.Sg.

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 695
road to consoUdation can not be devised. Money is power,
and in the Govemment which pays aU the public officers of the
states wdU aU poUtical power be substantially concentrated.
. . . However wiffing I noight be that any unavoidable surplus
m the Treasury shoffid be returned to the people through their
State governments, I cannot assent to the principle that a
surplus may be created for the purpose of distribution." Many
of Clay's poUcies seem to have been adopted wdthout definite
conviction of their soundness. In seeking an exit from a perflous
position he had ffit upon a measure wffich he thought very
popular; but most tffinkffig people must have found it an
unhealthy symptom of a feverish state of public morals. There
was abroad a strong desire for assistance from the central govern
ment. Clay was wdUing to stimulate and profit by it politicaUy :
Jackson <hd not hesitate to attack it and to seek to check it.
The veto of 1833 did not dispose of the question. The actual
accumulation of a surplus strengthened the demand for cUs-
tribution. By 1836 the surplus was more than tffirty millions,
and the abstraction of so much money from business channels
was an economic evil. Clay, therefore, retumed to his plan for
reUef, which he vaiffiy sought to get adopted ffi the session of
1833-1834. Another bill introduced late in 1835 was much
like that wffich Jackson vetoed in 1833. It proposed to (hstribute
the net proceeds of the land sales during the years 1833 to 1837
inclusive. Fifteen per cent, of the sales in the new states was
to go to those states and the remainder was to be (Uvided in
proportion to federal popffiation, the new states sharing ffi tffis
aUotment also. Clay put the net amount for 1833-1835 at
twenty-one miffion. He pushed the bffi vrith ffis usual skiU
and early m May it passed the senate.
But other plans were formed. In the house a bffi was now
introduced to distribute the surplus from whatever source.
It was caUed "An act to regffiate the deposits of the pubUc

696 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
money." Some of its sections, when it took final shape, pro
vided more careful regulations for the banks of deposits. Others
provided that the surplus funds of the govemment above
five miUion dollars should be deposited vrith the states, accord
ing to federal popffiation. It soon became known in congress
that Jackson would approve this bill but woffid veto Clay's.
Admiffistration men were evidently alarmed at the trend of
opinion for distribution and took this means of meetmg it.
They were pleased that the President woffid not longer resist
what they considered the ffievitable an(i carried the bifl through
the house with enthusiasm by a vote of 155 to 38. In the
senate it was also passed, and Jackson approved it June 23^
1836. It provided that aU the money in the treasury January
I, 1837, above five miUion dollars, should be deposited with
the states in four equal payments on the first days of January, ^
April, July, and October. In return the statps were to give
negotiable certificates of deposit, without interest until nego
tiated, payable to the S3:retary of the treasury on demand.
This preserved the form of a true deposit, by wffich many who
voted for it made themselves believe the law constitutional.
Jackson ffimself in ffis last annual message spoke as though he
believed tffis, and he deprecated the habit of speaking of the
distribution as though it were a loan. But practical men thought
the payments woffid never be demanded.
Jackson himself had doubts about the conectness of his
approval and tumed to Taney, then his mentor in constitutional
matters. The cffief justice replied that the precedent was bad;
for if congress might coUect money to deposit vrith the states
it might do anytffing; that the money could not practically be
recovered from the states; and that most democrats regretted
the passage of the bfll. But he added that he thought Jackson
did wefl to approve it under the circumstances.' Probably
'Taney.to Jackson, June 20, r836, Jackson Mss.

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 697
the impelhng cause of approval was the necessity of helping
Van Buren in the campaign then in progress.
By December, when congress met, Jackson's ideas were more
defiffite; and he spoke severely in his annual message of the law
just enacted. Advertffig to the fact that the deposits were real
deposits and not to be considered as gifts, he opened the whole
discussion agam. He poffited out with a clearness that suggests
the pen of Taney the evils Ukely to come from the policy in
augurated, and he urged that the best way of preventing them
was to coUect smaUer taxes. "To require the people," he
said, "to pay taxes to the Govemment merely that they may be
paid back again is sporting with the substantial interests of the
country." The paragraphs on the subject closed with a strong
argument for economy and self-control m the govemment's
financial pohcy.' Events about to come reinforced it, and,
with the paffic of 1837 at hand, the further (Ustribution of the
surplus ceased to be a problem for the statesman.
In the same message Jackson discussed the state of the cur
rency. He came out for specie as the money of the constitution,
and spoke at length of the bank-note system then in use and
much abused. He reaUzed the danger to the country from the
issue of notes in large excess of good business principles and he
brought out in more than legitimate reUef the bearing of the
point on the bank controversy.
Tffis waming was weU timed; for the accumulation of the
large surplus in the deposit banks had led to the overissue of
their notes. With it went a wave of speculation which caUed
out a vast amount of paper from banks whose soundness was
questionable. Tffis was especiaUy tme in the West, where
speculation, cffiefly in land, was most prevalent. So eAddent
was it that the currency was bad that Jackson issued, July 11,
1836, tffiough the secretary pf the treasury, the celebrated
'Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, UL, 239-340.

698 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Specie Circular, by wffich lands must be paid for ffi specie. The
; occasion for this order was evident.
In the West a distinct kind of currency had become abundant
known as "land-office money." Tffis was the notes of the de
posit banks and those of such other banks as the deposit banks
would receive. They were legaUy receivable for lands and
were paid in for that purpose at the land offices, to be deposited
ffi the banks, where they were lent to land speculators, who again
paid them in for lands. The ease with wffich tffis coffid be done
stimulated a great amount of specffiation. Land sales before
1834 were less than four miUion doUars a year; in 1835 they
were nearly ffiteen miffions, and in 1836 more than twenty-four
nulUons. For these large sales the govemment had cffiefly
the creffits of the banks in wffich the funds were deposited,
and the soundness of those banks was jeopardized by their
large loans to the speculators. Nor did the lands sold represent
settlements. They were largely held by speculators, great and
small, and the actual settlers must buy of them at an advance
or take inferior lands or lands remote from the zone of settlement.
The situation was altogether unhealthy both from a fiscal,
a business, and an agrarian standpoint; and Jackson's deter
mination to check it before worse evils foUowed was a wdse
move. The Specie Circffiar caused (hstress among the specffia
tors, it started a specie movement toward the West, and it
hdped to accentuate the pafficky trend of 1837; but it was a
healthy antidote to the situation of 1836 and enabled busmess
men to take some precautions against danger before the storm
actuaUy burst. Jackson ffi the annual message of 1836 summed
up its benefits as foUows:
It checked the career of the Westem banks and gave them
ad(Utional strength in anticipation of the pressure which has
since pervaded our Eastem as well as the European commercial

PROBLEMS OF TWO ADMINISTRATIONS 699
cities. By preventing the extension of the credit system it
measurably cut off the means of speculation and retarded its
progress in monopolizing the most valuable of the public lands.
It has tended to save the new states from a non-resident pro-
prietorsffip, one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement
of a new country and the prosperity of an old one.
The Specie Circffiar was by Jackson's own a(hnission inspired
cffiefly by the desire to restrain the land speculators. Van
Buren justly said the people woffid approve it on this account.
In tffis respect it was like most of his other measures relating
to business interests. His pohcies toward the bank, the cur
rency, the sale of land, internal improvements, and the dis
tribution of the surplus had tffi's tffing in common: they were
afl aimed at what he considered an abuse of privflege. Wffile
each of these measures had its specific economic significance,
each had, also, a conamon relation to the anti-monopoUstic
spirit which came as a reaction against the rapid growth of the
specffiative class. In aU these matters he voiced the people's
cry against their own exploitation. Crude as some of ffis ideas
were, they wefe founded on some of the most permanent prin
ciples of equaUty. It cannot be doubted that he checked
tendencies essentially dangerous in the day of over-confidence,
when men forgot ancient principles and looked mostly to the
present advantage. He espoused the interest, as he thought,
of the average man, and the average man approved it.

CHAPTER XXXII
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
At this point we turn from Jackson's conflicts and problems
5 and consider the man himseff. His enemies hated him and
* rarely saw ffis good qualities; ffis friends loved him and reluc-
ji tantly admitted ffis faflings; and ffi a sense each was right.
I Some of the good tffings he chd are exceUent and some of the bad
' tffings are wretched. His puzzling personaUty defies clear
analysis, but we must admit that he was a remarkable man.
He lacked much tffiough the want of an education, and he ac
quired much through apparent accident, but it was offiy ffis
strong character wffich tumed deficiency and opportuffity aUke
to ffis purpose and made ffis wiU the strongest influence ffi ffis
country in his time.
The secret of ffis power was ffis adjustment to the period
in wffich he lived. Other men exceUed ffim in experience, wisdom,
and balanced judgment; but the American democrats of the
day admired neither of these qualities. They honored courage,
strength, and directness. They could tolerate ignorance but not
hesitancy. Jackson was the best embodiment of their desires
from the begffinmg of the national government to ffis own
day. Jackson accepted democracy wdth relentless logic. Some
others beUeved that wise leaders could best determme the poUcies
lof government, but he more than any one else of his day threw
/ the task of judging upon the common man. And tffis he did
without cant and in entire sincerity. No passionate dreamer
of the past was more wflUng than he to test his prmciples to
700

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 701
the uttermost. "Ypu knpw I never despair," he said; "I have
confidence in the virtue and good sense of the people. God
is just, and while we act faithfuUy to the Constitution, he wdU
srffile upon and prosper our exertions.'"
Mere miUtary glory wdll not explain ffis hold on the nation.
It undoubtecUy had much to do with his ffitroduction into
national poUtics, but it soon gave place to a popularity resting
on other quaUties. In fact, ffis pecuUar character shone beffind
ffis mffitary fame and recommended ffim to the people. They
liked ffis promptness in invading Florida in 1818 and his abmpt
bridUng of the daUying CaUava in 182 1 as much as his victory
at New Orleans. Other generals won victories in the war, but
they did not become poUtical forces through them. To the
people the old government seemed weak and unequal, and
Jackson, the man who solved difficffities, was elected to reform
it. When the process of reform began his capacity as a poUtical
leader showed itself. Probably he coffid have been redected
in 1832 independently of ffis war record.
Much has been said about ffis honesty. The historical
critic and the moraUst know tffis for a common virtue. Most
of Jackson's contemporaries were as honest as he, but he ex
ceUed them in candor, wffich is frequently pronounced honesty.
He was apt to speak his mind clearly, although he could on
occasion, as has been seen, be as ffiplomatic as a deUcate case
demanded. Van Buren said in apparent sincerity that he be
Ueved "an honester or in any sense a better man was never
placed at the head of the Government." '
Many citations and incidents in the prece(Ung pages vritness
Jackson's lack of restraint and fair judgment. They seem to
suggest habitual errors of mind; but we are assured that such
was not the case. Even Caffioun, in the bittemess of the final
'Jackson to Van Buren, November r, t83o. Van Buren Mss.
¦Vis Buren to John Randolph, April i3> 1831. Van Buren Mm.

702 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
quarrel, admitted that in ordinary matters and when not irri
tated by some unusual tffing he was fair and reasonable. The
explosions of anger for which he was noted were incident to a
tense natural temperament; and they were apt to come when
he was off ffis guard. In dangers wffich were anticipated he
was extremely cool. Thus at New Orleans he broke into violent
rage when he saw the column on the west bank faUffig back,
although when the lines were assafled two hours earUer he was
complete master of himself. In the long struggles agamst ffis
political enermes he was never surprised into some rash explo
sion, although many efforts were made by opponents to lead ffim
into such a situation. "He was," says Van Buren, "in times
of pecuUar difficulty and danger, calm and equable in ffis car
riage and always master of ffis passions." '
But Van Buren woffid not claim that he was fair toward an
opponent. "The conciUation of ffi(Uviduals," he said, "formed
the smaUest, perhaps too smaU a part of ffis poUcy. His strength
lay wdth the masses, and he knew it. He ffist, and at last in afl
public questions, always tried to be right, and when he felt that
he was so he apprehended little, sometimes too Uttle, from the
opposition of pronoinent and powerfffi men, and it must now be
adnoitted that he seldom overestimated the strength he derived
from the confidence and favor of the people." '
In England Van Buren came into contact with the Duke of
WdUngton, then a leader of the conservatives there; and he
made the foUowdng comparison between the Duke and Jackson:
There were many points in wffich he and General Jackson
resembled each other. In moral and physical courage, in in
difference to personal consequences, and in promptness of action
there was Uttle if any ffifference in their characters. The
Duke was better educated and had received the instruction of

'Autobiography, V., 84, Van Buren Mss.
'Ibid, III., 52.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 703
experience upon a larger scale, but the General in native ffitellect
had, I think, been more richly endowed.'
But there was a marked dissimilarity wffich Van Buren
overlooked. The EngUshman was cautious, steady, and per
sistent; the American was aggressive, incautious, and disposed
to throw aU ffis strength into a frontal attack. WeUffigton was
a conservative by nature, Jackson was a radical; WelUngton
in poUtics led the party of privilege, Jackson led the party of
equality. Neither coffid have performed the task of the other.
When Jackson became President it was expected that he woffid
faU under the influence of favorites. His ffiexperience in national
affairs made it essential that he should take advice freely, and
he himself was conscious of it. But he was never a tool. In
all ffis important measures he was the dominant figure. The
Maysville veto was, perhaps, the affair in wffich another had
most part, but even here Van Buren, who suggested the measure,
was carefffi to base it on Jackson's known opposition to the
invasion of state rights and to the exploitation of the pubUc
treasury by private parties. He approached the matter most
cautiously and used ffis best tact to conceal ffis purpose.
Other Presidents were dependent on advice, but they usuaUy
cpnsulted their cabinet. Jackson, when a general, rarely
held mffitary councfls; when President he rarely held cabffiet
meetings. A formal cabinet decision Umited him; he preferred
to consult whom he vrished, informally and without responsibflity.
Out of such conditions grew the "Kitchen Cabinet." Tffis
group did not control ffim outright; afl its members approached
him wdth great caution, and they accomplished their ends only
by tact and insinuating appeals to ffis feelings.
If ffis poUcies were ffis own ffis documents were usually pre
pared by others. He was not a master of writing or argumen-

'Autobiograthy, IV., r67, Van Buren Mss.

704 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
tation, but he knew well what he would fight for. His private
letters show crude reasoffing to support objects wffich are ffic-
tated by common sense. His best documents are his miUtary
proclamations, where there is room for the play of such strong
feelmgs as courage, endurance, and loyalty — quaUties in
which he was at ffis best.
His lack of poUtical knowledge made him in cases where
knowledge was essential a bad judge of men. In 1834 he ex
pressed a desire to appoint Cuthbert, of Georgia, to the supreme
bench, upon wffich Van Buren observed that there were two
Cuthberts in Georgia, Alfred, of whom he had never heard that he
was a lawyer, and John, whom he did not tffink equal to the
position.' Jackson took the rebuke ffi good spirit, and ap
pointed another man.
Van Buren's anxiety to escape blame for participating in the
removal of the deposits has been aUuded to;' but we are hardly
prepared for the foUowdng audacious utterance made the. day
after the order to remove went into effect:
You wdll see by the mclosed, that the opposition have com
menced the game I anticipated. Ihey have found by experi
ence that their abuse of you is labour lest, and they conclude
wisely that if they could succeed in sffiftffig the Bards, question
from your shoffiders to mine, they would be better able to serve
the Mammon than they are at present. Now, although I cannot
grumble at the service they are rendering rre with the people,
by identif)dng me with you in tffis n: atter, it wffi not do for
us to expose the great measure to prejudice by doing anything
that would tend in the slightest degree to wdthdraw from it
the protection of your name."
The object of this pecuUarly insidious flattery probably never

•Jackson to Van Buren, October 27thj Van Buren to Jackson, November s, t834. Van Buren Msi.
'See above, II., 640-642.
"Vaa BKrdn lo Jackson, October 2, 1833, Van Buren Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 705 \4
suspected its nature. To the faults of a friend he was singularly v
bUnd. Of associates other than Van Buren, Lewis seems to have
had influence chiefly ffi personal affairs. He was at home ffi the
Eaton intrigue, the exclusion of Caffioun, and the nomffiation
of Van Buren in 1832. He Uved in the President's house and
encouraged the impression that he held the key to ffis favor.
He was able by this means to exert a wdde influence among the
office-seekers. Jackson used ffim freely ffi matters high and
low. At one time he wants ffim to stay ffi Wasffington to keep
an eye on the situation during the President's absence: at
another he gives him all kinds of minor commissions, as wrriting
papers and selling cotton.' Kendall had more to do wdth poU
cies, but ffis influence came comparatively late. He was power
ful in the bank controversy, a strong supporter of Jackson's
anti-bank views, and after that war was won ffis influence sur
vived in general matters. Blair, who came into touch with the
adnunistration in 1830, became after a wffile a warm personal
associate; but he was not a man of creative power. He loved
Jackson and fought faithfffily for him, but the many letters
which passed between them show no evidence that he sought to ,
modify the President's political Ufe. J
But Blair gave a rich friendsffip. He had the homely vhtues *¦
of the West. His home on Pennsylvania Avenue opposite the
President's house was presided over by a vrife who to a larger
cffiture added the reliable virtues of Mrs. Jackson. It was a
haven of comfort to the tired spirit and body of the harassed
and pain-racked Jackson, and he made touching references to
it as long as he lived. To Mrs. Blair on the eve of ffis departure
from Washmgton he wrote the foUowffig characteristic words:
I cannot leave tffis city wdthout presentmg you my gratefffi

'Illustrations are found in the Ford Mss. See calendar in Bulletin of New York Puhlic Library, IV., 295-302.

7o€ THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
thantis for the great kindness you have extended to me and my
famfly whilst here. When sick you visited us and extetided to
me and our dear little ones aU comforts within your power.
We all part with you and your dear husband and amiable famfly
with sincere regret; but I trust in a kind providence that I may
reach home and be spared until I have the pleasure of seeing
you and Mr. Blair and your dear EUza at the Hernoitage. You
wiU receive a good welcome. I beg you to accept as a memento
of my regard a heifer raised by me since my second election.
She vriU bring you in mind of my fondness for good milk, and how
I was gratified in this fondness from your liberal hands.'
If he had th^ failings of suspiciousness, narrovmess, and vin
dictiveness, he had also the calmer virtues of domesticity and
personal honor. He was peculiarly gentle wdth the weak.
Women were pletised with his protecting chivalry. They ad
mired his grave dignity and warm emotions. For chfldren he
had a tender heart, and the cry of an infant aroused ffis warm
sympathy. His letters contain many expressions of pride in
the developments of the children of ffis adopted son and of ffis
tress over their suffering. Into his relations wdth ffis relatives
storms rarely entered. To them he was the clan leader and
defender. With tme Southern feeling he took every woman seriously.
In 1833 a New Haven spinster appealed to Van Buren to intro
duce her to Jackson, so that she might wdn his affection and
become his wife. Her letter was forwarded to Jackson, who
wrote in the finest possible strain, and wdth ffis owm hand:
"Whatever may be her virtues, I could make but one answer
to any partiaUty they coffid form for me, and that is, my heart
is in the grave of my dear departed wdfe, from which sacred spot
no living being can recaU it. In the cffitivation of the sentiments
of friendship, which are perhaps rendered more active by the
less I have sustained, I trust I shaU always be able to produce
'March 6, rS37, Jackson Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 707
smtable retums for the favor of my acquaintances; and if there
fore I ever meet tffis lady I shall hope to satisfy her that I ap
preciate as I ought her kindness, tho' I cannot for a moment
entertain the proposition it has led her to make."'
Much of the affection of his old age centred in the famfly
and person of his adopted son, a man whose business failures
brought much sorrow. For the son's vrife, Sarah York Jackson,
the father had a strong affection which was weU deserved by
her cahn and faithful care of ffis old age. His fatherly instinct
was marked. It appears with many other vhtues, in the foUow
mg letter to Andrew Jackson, Jr., written from Wasffington,
March 9, 1834, after paying many of the young man's debts:
My dear son, I reed yesterday your letter of the i6th ffitimo,
and have read with attention, and am more than pleased that
you have taken a just view of that fatherly advice I have been
constantly pressing upon you, believing as I do, that uffiess you
adopt them you cannot possibly get weU thro life and provide
for an increasing family wffich it is now your duty to do, and have
the means of giving them such education as your duty to them
as a parent requires, and their standing ffi society, merits.
My dear son, It is enough for me that you admowledge your
error, it is the error of youth and inexperience, and my son I
fully forgive them. You have my advice, it is that of a tender
and affectionate father given to you for your benefit and that of
your dear and amiable famfly, and I pray you to a(fliere to
it ffi aU respects and it wdU give peace and plenty thro lffe and
that of your amiable Sarah and her dear littie ones. Keep
dear of Banks and indebtedness, and you Uve a freeman, and
die ffi independence and leave your family so.
Before tffis reaches you, you wdll have received my letter
enclosing Mr. Hubbs note, canceUed; and as soon as you fur
nish me with the fuU amount of the debts due by the farm, vrith
any you may have contracted in Tennessee, and the contract
vrith Mr. Hill for the land purchased, I wdU, if my means are
'Van Buren to Jackaon, July 22nd; Jackson to Van Buren, July 25, 1833; Van Buren Mss.

7o8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
equal to the object, free you from debt and the farm, when the
farm wdth the aid of your owm industry and economy must
support us, and after I am gone, you and your famfly. Hence
it is, and was, that I was and am so soUcitous to be furnished
vrith the fffil ffiformation on aU the points required of you.
Those who do not settle aU their accounts at the end of the
year, cannot know what means he reaUy possesses, for the next;
and remember, my son, that honesty and justice to aU men
reqmre that we shoffid always live within our own means, and
not on those of others, when it may be, that those to whom we
are ffidebted are relying on what we owe them, for their own
support. Therefore it is unjust to live on any but our own means
honestly and justly acquired. FoUow tffis rule and a wise and
just providence wffil smfle upon your honest endeavours, and
surround you vrith plenty, so long as you deserve it by your
just and charitable conduct to aU others.'

In 1829 many persons thought that a democratic President
would rob the office of its dignity. Their fears were offiy par
tiaUy realized; for although the new party gave a touch of
crudeness to Ufe ffi Wasffington generally, the manners of the
democratic President on formal occasions were aU that could
be desired. Francis Lieber, who visited ffim, spoke admiringly
of ffis "noble, expressive countenance," and said: "He has the
appearance of a venerable old man, his features by no means
plaffi; on the contrary, he made the best impression on me."
Tyrone Power, the actor, gives tffis account:
As viewed on horseback, the General is a fine, soldierly, well-
preserved old gentleman, wdth a pale, wrffiklei countenance,
and a keen clear eye, restless and searching. His seat is an un-
commoffiy good one, his hand apparentiy Ught, and ffis carriage
easy and horseman-like; circumstances though trifling in them
selves, not so general here as to escape observation. ...
Both the wdfe and sister of an EngUsh officer of high rank,
'Jackson Mss.
•Perry, Life of Lieber, 92, 93.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 709
themselves women of remarkable refinement of mffid and man
ners, observed to me, ffi speaking of the President, that they had
seldom met a person possessed of more native courtesy, or a
more cUgnffied deportment.'
A more critical and less friencUy observer was Nathaniel
Sargent, who said : "In any promiscuous assembly of a thousand
men he woffid have been pointed out above aU the others as
a man 'bom to command,' and who woffid, in any dangerous
emergency, be at once placed in command. Ordinarily, he had
the pecuUar, rough, independent, free and easy ways of the
backwoodsman; but at the same time he had, whenever occa
sion required, and especially when ffi the society of ladies, very
urbane and graceful manners.'"
John Fairfield, congressman from Maine, said of ffim: "He
is a warm-hearted, honest old man as ever Uved, and possesses
talents too of the ffist order, notwdthstan(Ung what many of
our Northem folk tffink of him. He talks about aU matters
freely and fearlessly wdthout any disguise, and in a straight
forward honesty and simpUcity of style and manner wffich you
woffid expect from what I have before said of ffim. I wish
some of our good folks North could hear him talk upon a subject
m wffich he is interested, say the French question, which he
taUced about on Monday evening. I tffink their opinions woffid
undergo a change.'"
Life in the President's house now lost something of the good
form of the Virgima regime, but it lost nothmg of the air of
domesticity. Throughout most of the two admimstrations the
household was dhected by Mrs. A. J. Donelson, a woman of
firm and refined character whom the people of Wasffington
greatiy respected. Hef husband, a private secretary of more
'Power, Imtressions of America (London), t836, 1., 279, 28t.
'Sargent, Puhlic Men and Events, I., 35, 246.
•John Fairfield to bis wife, December 9, 1835; Fairfield Mss. in the possession of Miss Martha Fairfield,
Saco,Me.

7IO THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
than or(Unary abffity, v/as related to Mrs. Jackson. Their
presence in the Wffite House gave sometffing of the "Hermi
tage" feeling to the place. PoUticians came and went as freely
in office hours as in any exterior public office in the city. Inti
mates like Van Buren, Eaton, and Blair dropped in at any time,
before breakfast, or in the eveffing, as mcUnation prompted;
and the industrious Lewds for a large part of the admiffistrations
lived in the house. OrdinarUy the President and ffis famfly
made one group in the evenings. If a cabinet member, or
other official, appeared to talk about pubUc business, he read
his documents or otherwise consffited vrith Jackson in one part
of the room, the ladies sewing or chatting and the chfldren
playing meanwhile in another part.'
The levees were as republican as Jefferson coffid vrish. George
Bancroft thus describes one he attended in 183 1:
The old man stood in the centre of a Uttle circle, about large
enough for a cotiffion, and shook hands with everybody that
offered. The number of ladies who attended was small; nor
were they briffiant. But to compensate for it there was a
throng of apprentices, boys of all ages, men not civilized enough
to walk about the room with their hats off; the vilest promis
cuous mecUey that ever was congregated in a decent house;
many of the lowest gathering round the doors, pouncing with
avidity upon the wine and refreshments, tearing the cake vrith
the ravenous keenness of intense hunger; starveUngs, and
fellows wdth cUrty faces and dirty maimers; all the refuse that
Wasffington could tum forth from its workshops and stables.
In one part of the room it became necessary to use a rattan.*
Bancroft was ever a precise gentleman and in ffis owm day in
the capital ffis entertainments were models of propriety, but
we cannot doubt that the people at the levee he attended were
absolutely mde. Fortunately he was at a select reception and ffis
'For Vaa Buren's praise of Jackson's love of family, see Autobiograthy, IV., 82, Van Buren Mss.
2Howe, Life of Bancroft, I., iq6.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 711
inopressions of it were better. '^'The old gentleman," he said, "re
ceived us as civilly as any private individual could have done;
he had me introduced to afl the ladies of the famfly, and such
was the perfect ease and good breeding that prevafled there,
tbey talked to me as though I had been an acquamtance of ten
years' standmg. ... I received a very favorable impression
of the President's personal character; I gave ffim creffit for
great fiminess in his attachments, for smcere kindness of heart,
for a great deal of philanthropy and genuine good feeUng; but
touchmg his quaUfications for President, avast there — Sparta
hath many a wiser than he.'"
Of a reception at the Preddent's, December 24, 1835, we
have tffis description: More than 300 guests were invited, and
there was on tffis eveffing much scurrying of the innumerable
hacks on Pennsylvaffia Avenue to take guests to the mansion.
Entering the door we leave our wraps, cross a large empty room,
pass another door to a room in wffich Jackson meets his guests.
He receives his company by shaking hands vrith each, which is
done in a very kind, courteous and gentlemanly manner, and
sometimes with friendly warmth, according to the personage."
We may loiter in this room if we wdU, but we probably pass on to
the "blue room," whose light is so trying to the complexion that
few ladies vrill linger a moment in it. Beyond that is the bril
liantly Ughted "east room," in which the guests promenade, and
it fiUs vrith people intenffingUng informaUy, a lively "scene
of bowing, talkffig, laughing, ogling, squinting, squeezing, etc."
In the room are many of the notables of the city, congressmen
with their wdves, senators, army and naval officers wdth swords
and umforms, and persons of distinction. The laffies are hand
some, or not, as nature made them, but they are uffifomoly
dressed wdth elegance, mostiy m satin gowns wdth here and there
a mantle of rich siUi and vdvet. Ices, jeffies, vrine, and lemonade
are passed contmually among the guests; and at eleven o'clock
VM,l„t9t.

712 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
supper is served. Into a large dining-room enter the guests.
A table, or counter, surrounds the space set so as to allow the
company to sit outside of its perimeter, next the waU. Witffin
tffis square is a smaUer table from wffich food and (hrink are
served. Of each sort there is an abundance. "I can't describe
tffis supper," says our informant; "I am not capable of it.
I can only say it surpassed everything of the kmd I ever saw
before, and that we had everything. Tffis party coffid not have
cost the President much short of $1,500.'"
Jackson's dinners were generous and ffi good form. Gen.
Robert Patterson, of Phfladelphia, gives us tffis impression of
one he attended: "At 4 o'clock, we went to the President's.
The party was small, comprisffig only the General's famfly and
ourselves. The dinner was very neat and served in exceUent
taste, while the wines were of the choicest quaUties. The
President himself dined on the simplest fare; bread, milk and
vegetables. After dinner took a walk through the grounds
about the 'White House' which are laid out wdth much neatness
and order, and fiUed with a number of shrubs and flowers."'
The foUowdng items from ffis personal accounts of 1834 wifl
show how amply his table was spread: October ist, he had
twelve pounds of veal, forty-nffie of beef, and nineteen cents'
worth of hog's fat. October 2nd, he had eight pounds of mutton,
forty pounds of beef, and twenty-five cents' worth of sausages.
October 3rd, it was twenty-two pounds of mutton and twenty
pounds of beef. October 4th, he had six pounds of sweetbreads,
sixteen pounds of mutton, tffiee pounds of lard, $1.10 worth of
beef, and twenty-five cents' worth of veal. For drink he was
charged on October 13th, wdth one barrel of ale and haff a band of
beer, and on the 31st, with another barrel of ale. October ist,
he bought tffi'ee gaUons of brandy, two gaUons of HoUand gm,
'John Fairfield to his wife, December 25, 1835, from the Fairfield Mss. in the possession of Miss Martha
Fairfield, Saco, Me..
'General Patterson's diary, in possession of Mr. Lindsay Patterson, Winston-Salem, N. C.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 713
and one gaUon of Jamaica spirits. October 13th, he bought
three bottles of Chateau Margeaux, a Uke quantity of Chateau
Lafitte, and a dozen bottles of London porter. October 22nd,
he had two gallons each of brandy, Jamaica spirits, and HoUand
gin.' Some idea of the furnishing of the President's House under
Jackson may be had from an inventory made March 24, 1825.
The contents of each room appear in faithful description and
are here reproduced because I know of no other such reliable
account. In the entrance haU were four mahogany settees, two ,
marble consul tables, two elegant brass fenders, one oUcloth
carpet, one thermometer and barometer, and one "lamp vrith
branches wants repair." In the large levee room were four
large mahogany sofas and twenty-four large mahogany arm
chairs — aU "unfinished," — eight pine tables, one door screen,
one paper screen partition, one mahogany map-stand, one
"common" wash-stand, basin and ewer, one pine clothes-press,
and a book case in three sections. In the "EUiptical Drawdng
Room" were one "large glass and gilt chandelier, elegant," two
gilt brovm noirrors, one gilt consffi table, marble top, two china
vases, one elegaiit gilt French mantel clock, four bronze and
gflt candelabras wdth eagle heads, pair of bronze and gflt andirons,
two sofas — gflt and satffi — with twenty-four chairs, four settees
and five footstools to match a large French carpet, double silk
vrindow curtains with gflt-eagle corffices and six smafl curtain
pins, and with two fire screens ffi gflt and satin, two bronze
candlesticks, and shovel and tongs. Beside the two rooms
mentioned, there were on the first floor a "YeUow Drawdng
Room," a "Green Drawdng Room," large and smaU diffing-
rooms, a cffina closet, a pantry, and a porter's room. There
were a "ffist service" of two hundred and seventy pieces of
French cffina, a " second service, dessert," of 157 pieces of crim-
'Jackson Mss.

714 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
son and gilt cffina, a service of wffite and gilt cffina of 232 pieces,
a wffite and gilt French china tea service contaiffing 156
pieces, a blue cffina dinner service of 66 pieces. The soUd
silver consisted of 28 dishes in tffiee sizes, one coffee and two
teapots, one um, two large tureens with buckskffi cases, one
sugar (hsh, eight castor roUs, one set of castors, five nut crackers,
vrith spoons, forks, fish kffives, etc. Among these was one large
chest vrith 167 pieces, most of wffich were soUd sflver. Another
case had 150 pieces of French plate, and there was a French
gilt dessert set of 140 pieces. In the basement were the kitchens,
the steward's rooms, the servants' hafl, servants' rooms wdth
the scantiest furniture, this bemg a sample: "No. i, one cot,
worn out, one mattress, worn out, one short bench." On the
second floor were the family sleeping quarters vrith six furnished
bedrooms, and private drawing and (hressing rooms. No mention
is made of bath rooms, and the iUumination of the house was
by candles and lamps.'
Jackson was never a careful spender, and through tffis trait
as well as by an abundant hospitality he used aU his presidential
salary, $25,000 a year. When he left Wasffington he was poorer
than he entered it. "I i;eturned," he said, "vrith barely mnety
dollars in my pockets. Beacon for my fanuly and com and oats
for the stock to buy, the new roof on my house just rebffilt
leaking and to be repaired. I carried $5,000 when I went to
Wasffington: it took of my cotton crop $2,250, with my salary,
to bring me home. The burffing of my house and furffiture
has left me poor.'" The "Hermitage" wdth its contents was
bumed in 1834.' He ordered it rebuUt, accor(Ung to the old
plans. His receipts from his farm during ffis absence were
very smaU.
As ffis administration progressed Jackson became deeply
'See inventory in the House of Representatives Library, of Congress.
'See endorsement on Rev. A. D. Campbell to Jackson, March 17, Z837, Jackson Mss.
'Jackson to Vaa Buren, October 27, 1834, Van Buren Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 715
engrossed in its controversies. Visitors were Uable to have
from him hot outbursts of wrath against Biddle, Clay, or Cal
houn. His particular friends learned to ignore such displays,
but other persons found them disagreeable. A caller who
aUuded to contemporary politics might have a halrangue on the
decay of liberty.' It soon dawned on the pubUc that the Presi
dent was feeUng the effects of the strain on him. Victor as he
was, sorrow pressed him down, and he was much alone. De
fiantly he watched his beaten foes, who dared not renew the
battle as long as he was in power.
The two terms of the presidency brought ffim continued iU
health. Chronic indigestion made it necessary to cUet strictly,
and but for an iron wiU he could hardly have lived through the
period. Beside this, he suffered continuaUy from the wounds
he received in the Benton and Dickinson duels. For his most
distressing attackg his-Javorite remedyucgas _blgediiig^_jnd he
insisted on_usingjt even when he could iU afford the weakenmg
^ctST The vrinter of 1832-33 was very trying; and in the
following spring and summer its (Ufficulties were increased by
the death of Overton and Coffee, two of ffis oldest and best
loved friends. More than tffis, the period saw the culmination
of the nuIUfication movement and the opemng of the controversy
over the removal of the deposits. Together they brought great
depression. "I want relaxation from busmess, and rest," he
said, "but where can I get rest? I fear not on this earth."'
Of Coffee's death he said: "I mourn his loss wdth the feehngs
of David for ffis son [sic] Jonathan. It is useless to mourn.
He is gone the way of all the earth and I wiU soon foUow ffim.
Peace to ffis manes." '
It was May 6th of tffis year that Robert B. Randolph, a
lieutenant of the navy, discharged for irregularities ffi his ac-
'Sargent, Public Men and Events, U., 31; Howe, Life of Bancroft, I., 193.
¦Jackson to Van Buren, January 6, 1833, Van Buren Mss.
'Ibid to tMi, Jnly 24,;t833, Van Buren Mss.

^

716 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
counts, assaulted Jackson ffi the cabin of a steamboat at the
Alexandria dock. Randolph felt aggrieved for some words
ffi the President's letter approving the disiffissal. He found
the object of his wrath seated at a table; and when Jackson, who
(Ud not know ffim, rose, Randolph thmst out ffis hand with the
ffitention, as he later asserted, of puffing the President's nose.
Bystanders interfered and bore the irate Ueutenant to the shore.
Newspapers of both parties deplored the affah. Jackson saw
in it a plot to humUiate ffim and believed that Duff Green was
privy to it.' The affair brought from him an outburst of ffis old-
time indignation wffich he expressed in the foUowffig words to
Van Buren:
If this had been done [*. e,, if he had been told that Randolph
approached], I would have been prepared and upon my feet,
when he never would have moved with life from his tracks he
stood in. Still more do I regret that when I got to my feet,
and extricated from the bunks, and tables, that my friends
ffiterposed, closed the passage to the door, and held me, untfl
I was obliged to teU them if they ffid not open a passage I would
open it with my cane. In the meantime, the vfllaffi, surrounded
by ffis friends, had got out of the boat, crjdng they were carry
ing him to the civil authority. Thus again I was halted at the
warf . Solomon says, ' 'there's a time for afl tffings under the
sun," and ff the dastard wffi only present himseff to me, I wdU
freely pardon ffim, after the mterview, for every act or tffing
done to me, or he may thereafter do to me. "
This interview, so interestmgly conceived, was never
brought into reality.
The protest of Southerners in 1835 agamst chcffiating aboU
tion Uterature in the South also was a disturbmg factor. KendaU,
since 1835, postmaster-general, was asked to exclude such matter
from the maUs on the ground that it was mcen(Uary: he dared
'Jackson to Van Buren, May 19, r833. Van Buren Mss; Niles, Register, XLIV., 170.
ybid to ibid. May 12, t833. Van Buren Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 717
not arouse the North by complymg. His decision was m the
spirit of the Missouri Compromise, which gave each section what
it asked witffin its ovm limits. He decided that abolition
Uterature might be mafled m the North but need not be deUvered
in the South. Jackson seems to have taken little interest in
the compromise, but it affected him pohticaUy. The extreme
Southerners, most of them foUowers of Caffioun, held meetmgs
which could have no other object than to comnoit the Southern
people to resentment. No man in Southem policies dared oppose
the meetmgs; for to urge that the abohtionists be tolerated was
political suicide in that section. The bolder of the leaders went
so far as to say that Jackson was blamable because he let tffis
menace develop in the nation.'
Jackson deprecated the alarm of the South and thought that
the agitation there was unwdse, not only because it imperiled
his own policies through party dissension, but also because it
threatened disunion. John Randolph, old but undimiffished in
his opposition to Calhoun, reahzed how much Jackson meant
for the preservation of nationahty. "I can compare ffim to
notffing," said the Virgiman in ffis last iUness, "but a sticking-
plaster. As soon as he leaves the Government aU the impurities
existing in the country will cause a disruption, but whfle he
sticks the uffion wdU last."'
In 1836 the forces of sectionahsm were not strong enough
to affect the elections. Neither cUd Clay, Jackson's arch foe,
feel strong enough to defeat hhn. He withheld ffis hand and
trusted those democrats who objected to the elevation of Van ,
Buren to produce enough cUsorganization to defeat the favorite.
The defection showed ffist ffi Tennessee, where Van Buren was
identified with the friends of Eaton and Lewis. Both these
men were unpopffiar in the state, and Eaton's foes formed
'Cf. Judge R. E. Parker to Van Buren, August 12, 1835, Van Buren Mss.
'Abram Van Buren to Martin Van Buren, June 3 (or 5), r833. Van Buren Mss.

7i8 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
an efficient organization when, under Gmndy's able leadership,
they defeated ffis hopes of the senate ffi 1833. Governor Car-
roU gave the New Yorker fair warnmg that if he wished the
state he shoffid concffiate Grundy.'
The threatened disruption took shape in December, 1834,
when a majority of the Teimessee members of the national
house of representatives endorsed Judge White for President.
Jackson was so greatly surprised at tffis evidence of cUvision that
he refused at first to believe ffis old friend would forsake him.
Other states foUowed the lead of Tennessee. White's boom
seemed propitiously launched, but it gained no force ffi the
North and Northwest, where it was not desired to see another
Tennessee President. Hanison, of LwUana, and Webster got
endorsement ffi their respective sections, and the opponents
of Van Buren began to hope they coffid tffiow the election mto
the house. But they coffid not shake the hold of the strong
macffine wffich the Jackson managers had buflt up. The
results showed 170 votes for Van Buren and 124 for afl ffis
opponents. It was a party triumph, but vrith it was a drop of
bitterness: Tennessee went for Wffite and wdth it went Georgia,
on which Jackson lavished aU ffis care ffi the matter of the
Cherokees. Harrison's vote was cffiefly in the Northwest and
Webster's in New England. South CaroUna threw her vote
away on Mangum, a Southem wffig, but the Jackson organiza
tion maintained its hold on North CaroUna, Virgiffia, Penn
sylvaffia, and New York, aU old repubUcan states, who together
cast no of the 148 electoral votes necessary to a choice.
From the election in November events hurried on to the
meeting of congress in December. The last annual message,
December 5th, was in a tone of triumph. Of the issues before
the country in 1829, aU had been settled to Jackson's satisfaction.
Internal improvements were relegated to the background, the
'Wm. Carroll to Van Buren,jMarch ii, 1833, Van Buren Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 719
tariff was compromised and the "American system" was checked,
the Bank of the Uffited States was closing up its affairs, nffili-
fication was laid low, foreign affairs were on a satisfactory basis
and our prestige was heightened, the national debt was dis
charged and revenues were abundant beyond expectation, the
irritating situation ffi Georgia was pacified, and above aU the
party orgaffization was established on a splendid popular basis.
Tffis totality of achievement was so great that it was hardly |
discredited by the anxiety that came from the Mexican situa
tion and from the uncertain state of the currency. The paffic
of the foUovring year was not yet discerffible. The message
closed wdth an expression of gratitude "to the great body of
my fellow-citizens, in whose partiaUty and indffigence I have
found encouragement and support in many (Ufficffit and tryffig
scenes through wffich it has been my lot to pass during my
political career. ... All that has occuned during my admin
istration is calculated to mspire me wdth increased confidence
in the stability of our mstitutions." '
When tffis message was written he had taken steps for a more
formal farewell. The idea was in his mind in 183 1, before he
decided to stand for reelection.' He recurred to it in 1836,
and October 13th wrote to Taney, now ffis cffief agent in pre
parmg such papers, asking for assistance. The subjects he
vrished to treat, he said, were the glorious union and the
schemes of dissatisfied men to dissolve it, the drift toward
monopolies, the attempts to "adulterate the currency" wdth
paper money, the rage for speculation and stock-jobbffig, and
aU other tffings which tended to corrupt the simple virtue wffich
was left us by the fathers. The danger he foresaw for the
spirit of union especiaUy alarmed ffim. "How to impress the
pubUc," he said, "vrith an adequate aversion to the sectional
'Richardson, Messages and Pafers of fhe Presidents, IU., 259.
¦Jackson to Van Buren, December r7, t83r. Van Buren Mss.

720 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
jealousies, the sectional parties, and sectional preferences wffich
centring on miscffievous and ffitriguing incUviduals, giye them
power to disturb and shake our happy confederacy, is a matter
wffich has occupied my own thought greatly." He asked Taney
to "throw on paper" ffis ideas on these subjects. Taney wdU
ingly complied and promised to bring the resffit with him when
he came to Washffigton about New Year's to open the regffiar
term of the supreme court.' The Farewell Address, issued
March 4, 1837, foUows closely the copy which is preserved m
Taney's handwriting in the Jackson manuscripts.
The wffigs declared it presumptuous and self-conceited for
this ignorant old man, as they caUed him, to send out a fareweU
address in imitation of Wasffington. The extravagance of
their criticism cUscredited their argument and, as in other cases,
brought sympathy to its object. Jackson as the leader of
a great party might with propriety assume to give them advice.
But his advice in itself was not remarkable. The appeal for
union was weU conceived, but it was overcast by the other pomts
ffi the document, points which were after all but the re-stated
argument of a thousand democratic stumps in the precedmg cam
paign. But the address pleased the democrats, and many a
copy on wffite satin was laid away as a valuable memento of the
time. Ere the people of Washington read the address they crowded
the famous "Avenue" to see its author, pale and trembUng
from disease, ride up to the place at wffich he laid down ffis
office. Thescene gratified ffis soul. The oath was adnoiffistered
by Cffief Justice Taney, twice rejected by the senate but now in
office through an awakemng of popffiar opinion: it was taken
by Van Buren, who also had been made to feel the effects of the
senate's ire. The plaudits of the great multitude were cffiefly for
the outgoing President. The polite and unruffled Van Buren
'Jackson to Taney, October 13th; Taney to Jackson, October 15 and 27, 1836, Jackson Mss.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 791
aroused little enthusiasm; but the frank, convinced, and hard-
ffitting man at his side had either the love or the hatred of
men. For weeks before ffis exit from office he was overwhelmed
by visitors, delegations, and addresses from organizations to
express approval of ffis course and good wiU for ffis future.
When he left Washington on March 7th, his journey was impeded
by the demonstrations of his friends. Eighteen days later he
arrived in Nashvffie.
Writing to his successor he characterized his term of office
as foUows: "The approbation I have received from the people
everjrwhere on my return home on the close of my official life,
has been a source of much gratification to me. I have been
met at every point by numerous democratic-republican friends,
and many repenting whigs, wdth a hearty welcome and ex
pressions of 'weU done thou faithful servant.' Tffis is traly
the patriot's reward, the summit of my gratification, and wffi
be my solace to my grave. When I review the arduous admffiis
tration tffiough which I have passed, the formidable opposition,
to its very close, of the combined talents, wealth and power of
the whole aristocracy of the United States, aided as it is, by the
monied monopolies of the whole country wdth their corrupting
influence, with wffich we had to contend, I am truly thankfffi
to my God for tffis happy result. ... It displays the vhtue
and power of the sovereign people, and that aU must bow to
their wUl. But it was the voice of this sovereign wdU that so
nobly sustained us against this formidable power and enabled
me to pass through my administration so as to meet its appro
bation." No words of the author could characterize Jackson
better than these from his own pen. They give a sincere and
faitMul explanation of ffis inner self, and they are unconscious
of their ovm egotism.
'Jackson to Van Buren, March 30, t837. Van Buren Mss.

CHAPTER XXXIII
CLOSING YEARS
The eight years of Jackson's retirement, en(hng vrith ffis death
on June 8, 1845, brought ffim little of the rest he desired. With
keen eyes on public affairs he found abundant cause for har
assment in the panic of 1837, the long dravm out fight for the
sub-treasury, the whig triumph of 1840, the quanels of Tyler,
the obtmsion of the slavery controversy, the question of Texan
annexation, the restoration of the New Orleans fine, and the
ecUpse of Van Buren in 18/^.4. In each of these questions he
took the greatest interest, sometimes giving advice that coffid not
be taken, and scolding because it was not foUowed, but usuaUy
contenffing for a vigorous prosecution of his former policies.
In private affairs he had much anxiety. Bad health, wffich
is particularly distressfffi to a man of seventy, continued to
harass him. Probably it was offiy ffis strong wdU that kept
him aUve most of these years. His business entanglements had
to be cleared by the sale of outlying lands so that to be free of
debt he brought his holdings down to the "Hermitage" tract
alone, on wffich with ffis 150 slaves he must support himseff,
the fanaily of his son, and the slaves themselves. His house
was the object of pilgrimage for many travelers, some of them
attached friends and some merely curious strangers. AU were
received wdth hearty demonstrations of welcome. Famfly,
slaves, and visitors taxed the resources of the fertfle farm to
its utmost.
His reception by ffis neighbors on his return was most cordial.
They met ffim as he neared the "Hermitage," forced ffim to
722

CLOSING YEARS 723
aUght from ffis carriage, and read ffim addresses of welcome.
A youth speaking for the chUdren said the descendants of ffis
old solchers and friends hailed him and would serve under ffis
banner. Cffildren and loyalty ever aroused ffis deep interest,
and hearing this speech he bowed ffis head on his cane, while
tears rained from ffis eyes and from those of the bystanders.
He feU easily into the old life. Neighbors respected him
even if they opposed ffim politicaUy. His fanaily pleased Viim
greatly: the chfldren of ffis son appealed to ffis heart: and old
friends were received wdth the utmost graciousness. For his
slaves he ever had the patriarch's care and authority. In 1839,
when four of them were arrested on a charge of murder, he
thought they were persecuted by ffis enemies through spite
and spent much time and money in acqffitting them.' His
manner of hfe was now sober as became ffis age and station.
Cock-fighting, taU swearing, and other youtffiul laxities were
forgotten. He retained ffis love of a gopd horse, and gave
himself eamestly to the welfare of his colts, but not wdth the
enthusiasm of former years.
He was hardly at home before the paffic of 1837 was upon the
country. The Specie Circular of July, 1836, wffich drew money
from the East to pay for Westem lands, and the (Ustribution of
the surplus revenue, by which nearly ffine miffions must be
transferred quarterly from locaUty to locaUty were undoubte(Uy
two immeffiate causes. But beffind both was a long series of
land speculation, Western boonung, extravagant expen(Utures,
wdth general over-confidence and some disastrous crop failures.
AU the New York banks but three suspended specie payment
on May loth, and the banks elsewhere immediately foUowed
theh example. Since by law the government coffid receive
only specie and the notes of specie-paying banks, and smce
the smaU amount of specie vvas largely m ffi(hng, the govem-
'Jukion to BUIr, Februaiy ao, 1839, Jadcson Mn.

724 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ment, though out of debt tffiough Jackson's rigid pohcy, had not
enough moijey to transact its business. Much of what it had
on hand was locked up ffi banks wffich coffid not vrithstand the
tide of depression. A further embarrassment was due to the
fact that govemment funds could legaUy be deposited offiy in
banks wffich paid specie for their notes, and the adnoimstration
was thus forced to care for its funds, since none of the banks
met this requirement. Whigs declared the Sp^ecie Circular
responsible for the evil of the day and began the old trick of
sending committees to Wasffington to ask the President for
relief. So strong was the tide that many democrats began
to say that the circffiar ought to be rescinded at least tempo
rarily. Van Buren withstood the demand, much to the gratifi
cation of Jackson, who watched ffim closely. Business men
turned to the expedient of private money. Various pubUc
and private corporations issued their tokens of crecUt; and one
of the strflcmg resources was several kinds of copper medals
the size Of a cent which passed as such generaUy. They had
mottoes of poUtical sigmficance. One with the mscription,
"Executive Financierffig" depicts a strong box mscribed "sub-
treasury" being canied off on the back of a tortoise, whfle
on the reverse is shown a very lively mule with the legend,
"I foUow ffi the steps of my illustrious predecessor." Anotiier
design is favorable to the democrats; on one side is the ship
Constitution w\\}n\h.ewoxd?,, "Van Buren, MetalUc Currency," '
and on the other is shown a strong box above which rises Jackson,
sword in hand, evidently guarding the treasure. Around the
design are the words, "I take the responsibility."
Though Van Buren would not rescind the Specie Circular, he
caUed congress in extra session for the first Monday ffi Sep
tember. It seemed a good opportuffity to adopt Jackson's
cherished poUcy of a "complete (Uvorce of the Government
from aU banks," both as to currency and as to the deposit

CLOSING YEARS 7,25
function. He recommended, therefore, the issue of ten mUUons
of interest-bearing treasury notes, to be receivable with specie
for government dues, and he also suggested the creation of a
series of sub-treasury offices to hold and pay out pubUc funds
without recourse to banks. The first suggestion was enacted
ffito law. It was an emergency measure, but something like
it was necessary. The second was fficorporated in the ffist
sub-treasury biU, generally known as the "divorce bffi," and
failed in the house after passing the senate. The democrats con
trolled the house, but they were not uffited ffi their ideas on
this subject, and Van Buren was not masterful enough to force
them to do his vrill.
These matters could not but interest Jackson deeply. At
the first suggestion of trouble he urged Van Buren to be firm.
"You may rest assured," he said, "that nineteen-twentieths
of the whole people approve it [the Specie Circular] — aU ex
cept the speculators and their secret associates and partners.'"
Referring to con<htions ffi Mississippi, where slaves were selling
for one tffird of the former prices, and state bank-notes were
15 per cent, below par, he said that the govemment woffid
have been in a wretched con(Ution ff it had continued to receive
for its lands the notes of banks wffich depended on such condi
tions. "Let the President," he observed, "take care of the cur
rency or the admiffistration wiU be shook to the centre." As
to the panic, it "wiU pass away as soon as aU the overtraders,
gamblers in stock and lands, are broke. Hundreds are yet
to fafl." And agaffi, "You know I hate the paper system,
and beheve aU banks to be cormptiy adrmffistered. Theh
whole object is to make money and Iflie the aristocratic mer
chants, if money can be made aU's weU."'
His letters to Van Buren and Blair were read by many of ffis
'Jackson tp Van Buren, March as, 1837, Van Buren Mss.
¦Jackson to Blair, April 9, 18, 94, June s, 1837, Jackson Mss.

726 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Washington friends and continuaUy gave advice, insistently,
as ffis nature was, but with such continued expressions of affec
tion that no one could have suspected ffim of cUctation. Some
former democrats left the party when the sub-treasury was
proposed, and this gave him real pain. When some of the
deserters set up a so-caUed democratic paper caUed the Madi-
sonian, he pronounced it a "Trojan Horse, intended to cut the
Republican waU into the citadel, and by diviffing 3deld to the
federal sffin-plaster party, the entire RepubUcan fortress."
When he saw indications that Caffioun was coming back to the
party he exclaimed, "Be careful of Catffine!'"
^ The year 1838 brought severe iUness. There was a swelUng
ffi the head, vrith deUrium, after wffich came sores. For a time
ffis Ufe was despaired of, but vrith the spring he recovered and
"had hope," as he said, "to Uve to see the Government di
vorced, a mensa and thora, from aU Banks."'
By this time Van Buren had returned to the sub-treasury,
urging its estabUshment and a metaffic currency in his regffiar
annual message in December, 1837. The senate took up the
matter, passing a sub-treasury bffi after a long debate. The
democrats were in a majority in the house, but were not umted.
They woffid not pass the senate biU and notffing was done on the
subject. When this happened the crisis of the paffic was past. By
August 13th, most of the banks had resumed specie payment
and business was approacffing normal conditions. But the
arguments of the wffigs made a strong impression on the pubUc,
and the congressional elections showed democratic reverses.
That party ffid not lose the house, but its majority was reduced
to eight wdth seven seats contested. By seizing these doubtful
additions the democrats made themselves safe on party measures,
'Jackson to Bhdr, September 27, 1837, Jai^son Msi.
'Ibid to ibid. Match >6, r838, Jad:son Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 727
although they laid themselves open to the charge of partisansffip.
But their forces were united on the sub-treasury. In January,
1840, the senate passed the biU hastfly and sent it to the
house, where the wffigs managed to delay the vote tiU the end
of June, but not to defeat it ultimately. They sought to affect
the elections. They predicted that the results in November
would favor their cause, and events showed how well they cal
culated. The sub-treasury, from wffich the democrats hoped
so much, and which eventuaUy proved a serviceable piece of
machinery, went into operation on July 4th, which was not
long enough before the election to change results.
The long delay in the house was due to the lack of uffited
effort in the democrats. Van Buren was not the man to force
a majority to do his wdll; and Jackson became keeffiy alive
to' the weakness of the situation. When he noticed that al
though the party had a clear majority it took two months to
organize the house, he exclaimed: "It has truly sickened me
to see the disgraceful proceedings of Congress by the opposition
and the want of uffity in the Republican party to check and put
such disgraceful proceedings to our country down." June
27th, when the struggle was near the end he urged that party
discipUne be employed and that the biU be forced through.
What woffid one think, he asked, of a general who gave fur
loughs to ffis soldiers when the enemy was drawn up before
him in Une of battle? If members were absent wdthout permis
sion let them be brought back by the sergeant-at-arms; for
"it is no time for the Democratic party to use deUcacy or usual
comity to those who have combined to destroy our Govern
ment.'" But the ultmoate triumph of the "divorce bffi" gave
him much pleasure, although it was soon offset by the chagrin
wffich the wffig victory produced. That event surprised him
greatly. In October, 1838, he predicted that Clay would
'Jackson to Blair, Februaiy >s and June 97, 1840, Jackson Mss.

728 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
not run as the candidate of ffis party and that Van Buren
would not have opposition, imless the wffigs put up Harrison,
who "wifl be scarcely a feather, as Ohio is lost to him.'"
About this time he was asked to get a noi pros entered ffi the
inffictment of Randolph, who assaulted him m 1833.' He
refused to interfere on the ground that he had not indicted
Randolph, and he disdained to redress wrong ffi such a manner.
"I have to this old age," he said, "compUed wdth my mother's
advice to mdict no man for assault and battery or sue him for
dander.'" But he added that he hoped Randolph, if convicted,
would be pardoned.
The September days brought a visit from Mrs. Blair and her
daughter, and about the same time came KendaU to examine
the large coUection of papers Jackson had preserved for the
historian. He was about to begin a hfe of the hero, a work
destmed to abandonment before it reached a vital stage in the
lffe of its subject. In the same autumn died Colonel Earl,
the painter, whose cffief occupation during the last ten years
of ffis Ufe was to paint portraits of Jackson. He was not an
industrious worker. Many of ffis orders came from poUtical
admirers of the President, who thought thus doubly to recom
mend themselves to favor, both tffiough flattering Jackson and
through the personal influence of the artist over hhn. Many
of these orders were unfiUed when the painter cUed. He Uved
with the general for years and was ffis constant compamon,
a geffial and conficUng personage ffi whom Jackson took great
deUght. He was shocked by Earl's death and wrote to ffis
other friend, Blair: "I am taught to submit to what Providence
chooses, wdth humble subrffission. He giveth and he taketh
away, and blessed be ffis name, for he doeth aU things weU."*
'Jackson to Van Buren, October at, 1838, Van Buren Mss.
'See above, II., page 715.
¦Jackson to Van Buren, December 4, 1838, Van Buren M38.
'Jackson to Blair, October 22, 1838, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 729
At times his letters become renoiffiscent. Thanking Blair
for past loyalty, he said: "The a;id you gave me ffi my adminis
tration, in the most trying times, wiU not be soon forgotten by
me — not whflst I live. There was no temporizing with either;
tmsting as we did to the virtue of the people, the -real people,
not the poUticians and demagogues, we passed tffiough the most
responsible and trying scenes, sustaffied by the bone and sffiew
of the nation, the laborers of the land, where alone, in these days
of Bank rule, and ragocrat' corruption, real virtue and love of
Uberty is to be found. May there be no temporizing by the
present, no hotchpotch with the Banks, and the same people
wiU be found nobly supporting the present — esto perpetuam."
There was a gleam of the old ffie of self-assertion in 1839.
Van Buren, mindfffi of ffis chances ffi the foUowdng year, planned
a tour throughout the Southwest. He spoke of visiting Jackson,
but Polk feared that the opposition in Tennessee would take
this as outside dictation. The question was referred to Jackson
for decision. He repUed with bluntness. The apprehensions,
he said, were grouncfless. He wanted to see Van Buren, the
democrats of the state wanted to see him, and he himself would
meet the visitor at Mempffis and conduct him to NashviUe.
"My course," he told ffis friend, "has been always to put my
enemies at defiance, and pursue my own course."' Van
Buren's projected tour was abandoned, and that ended the
doubts which had been raised.
Richard Rush sent from England a letter on duelUng by the
Earl of Clarendon. Jackson endorsed on it, "The views of
the Earle are those of a Christian but unless some mode is adopted
to frovra dovra by society the slanderer, who is worse than the
murderer, aU attempts to put dovra dueUffig wdU be vam. The
murderer only takes the life of the parent and leaves ffis character
'An allusion to " rag-money."
'iottt to ibid, January 29, 1839, Jackson Mss.
•Jackson to Mair, February 20, 1839, Jackson Mss; Jackson to Van Buren, March 4. iSsS, Van Buten.MH,

730 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
as a goodly heritage to his children, whilst the slanderer takes
away his good reputation and leaves him a living monument
to his children's disgrace. — A. J."'
To Blair he wrote:
I sincerely thank you for the correction of that unwar
rantable statement on oath of old Ringgold. There never was
more gross falsehoods than he has stated. Govemor had my
deposition taken. But as it (Ud not suit him and give the nega
tive to aU which it appears Ringgold has deposed to, Mr. Butier
writes me the Govemur woffid not produce it. What a set of
vffiains we were surrounded vrith ffi Wasffington. Foes exterior
with daggers in their hearts. No wonder then that the con
fiding Barry feU a victim to their treachery and (Ushonesty.
Even Mayo, that the secretary of war and myself kept literaUy
from starvmg, under the assurance of friendsffip, purlomed my
confidential letter, handed it to Adams to do me an injury.
Tffis wifl recoil upon these confederate scamps heads, I hope.
Say to my friend Key to spare them not as the receiver of stolen
goods is as bad as the thief.'
Mayo, it shoffid be said, was sffing Blair for saying ffi the Globe
that the letter aUuded to was stolen, and Francis Scott Key,
with whom Jackson had friendly relations wffile President, was
V Blair's counsel. Gouverneur was Monroe's son-in-law.
^ The campaign of 1840 opened gloonoily for Van Buren.
The confused state of the finances, the growdng power of the
abolitionists in close Northern states, and the general desire
to repu(Uate a man who had no real strength aside from that of
ffis predecessor all contributed to his weakness. He was a
relentless politician and in ffis rise to power had pushed aside
so many of that class that he had no deep hold on them. Un
like Jackson, he had none of that boldness wffich charms the
people. And yet he was the embodiment of the Jacksoman
'Rush to Jackson, August 12, 1837, Jackson Mss.
'Jackson to Blair, June s, 1839, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 731
policies, which the whigs were trying to reverse, and he must
be kept at the head of his party.
His opponents were in several groups, some of them Clay
wffigs and some of them democrats who would not accept
Clay's leadership. These groups dishked one another too
much to march under the banner of Clay, the old line wffig,
and it was seen that Van Buren could be defeated offiy under
the leadersffip of a man against whom there were not so many
mveterate enemies. It thus happened that the wffig conven
tion nommated Harrison, of Offio, with Tyler for vice-president,
a state-rights Virginian who repudiated Jackson partly on the
doctrine of anti-nuUification and partly because he felt that
the President assumed too much power in ordering the removal
of the deposits. The democrats esteemed Harrison slightly
and made the mistake of saying so in terms of undisguised
contempt. He was a prosperous farmer of simple taste and the
opposing papers exaggerating ffis poverty made him a man of
no account. A disappointed Clay supporter was heard to say
that if the candidate were given a pension of $2,ocx> a year,
plenty of hard cider, a log cabin, and a coon, he woffid give
up all pretension to the presidency. A democratic corre
spondent sent tffis gleefuUy to a democratic paper: other papers
of the same party took it up, enlarging on the idea. One of
them represented the ladies of the District of Columbia as
raising money "to supply the 'war-wom hero' with a suit of
clothes. If you have any old shoes, old boots, old hats, or old
stockings, send them on and they will be forwarded to the
'Hero of North Bend."" The whigs accepted the issue on this
basis ar;id the famous hard-cider campaign was the result. It
became so potent that in 1841 Polk was defeated for govemor
of Tennessee by a man of no abiUty whose cffief performance on
the stump was to arise wdth the most comical manner, draw from
'Quoted by McMaster, Bistory ofthe United States, VI. , 386, Harrison lived at North Bend, 0.

732 .THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
ffis pocket a wffig coonskm, gently stroke it wdth his hand,
and say, "Did you ever see such fine fur?"' The democrats
had shown how to appeal to the masses ffi one way, but their
opponents now found a more successful way ffi seekmg to arouse
popular enthusiasm for a plaffi farmer candidate. Their success
disgusted Jackson, who spoke with contempt of "the Logg
Cabm, hard cider, and Coon humbuggery."
Although the democrats had no trouble to select their canffi
date for President, they had the greatest embarrassment m
regard to the can(Udate for vice-president. R. M. Johnson,
the incumbent, who ffi 1837 was only carried by a vote ffi the
senate, desired redection. Jackson and ffis particffiar foUowdng
desired Polk for the place. So strong a contest appeared Ukely
that the nommating convention decided to name no one, trusting
the issue again to the senate, where the party was safe. Jackson
heard of the plan before it was adopted and opposed it ffi several
letters as strongly as he coffid. It subjected the party, he
said with entire honesty and good sense, to the same criticism
that it used so effectively against its opponents in 1836 —
that as neither cancUdate coffid be elected nobody need vote
for them.'
Durffig the campaign Caffioun and Van Buren chew closer
together, and it was then that Jackson sent the latter the letter,
already quoted' ffi which he acquitted ffim of stimulatffig the
quarrel of 1830. It was written more to serve Van Buren than
to reUeve Caffioun. The latter was commg into ffis own. The
passing of Jackson and of ffis prot6g6 removed the barrier by
which the South CaroUffian was shut out of the democratic
party. Tyler's administration, the Texas question, and the
growth of sectionaUsm ffi the South gave him the chance to <hs-
'Garrett and Goodpasture, Bistory of Tennessee, 19a.
¦Jackson to Blair, February t5 and April 3, 184a, Jackson Mss.
•Jackson to Van Buren, July 3r, 1840, Van Buren Mss. See above, Bt., St4

CLOSING YEARS 733
solve ffis alUance with Clay and become again a leader of the
democrats. To the old man at the "Hermitage," racked by cUsease and
(hsappointed in many ways, the opemng events of the new ad
ministration seemed onoinous. He expected the whigs woffid
pass a bank bill and urged that the democrats give notice as
soon as it passed that they woffid fight for its repeal. He
characterized Clay, without apparent occasion, as "always
a swaggering, unprincipled demogogue, boldly steppffig into
ffifficulties, but meaffiy sneakffig out.'" He expressed ffis opmion
of Harrison's military ability ffi the exclamation, "May the
Lord have mercy upon us, if we have a war durffig ffis Presi
dency." General Scott he caUed "a pompous nuffity."
The death of Harrison gave ffim pleasure, wffich he did not
attempt to disguise from his friend Blair. "I anticipated tffis
resffit," he said, "from the causes you have named. He had
not sufficient energy to drive from ffim the office hunters, and
he was obliged to take stimulants to keep up the system. This
vrith fatigue brought on the complaint wffich carried him hence.
A kind and overruUng providence has interferred to prolong
our glorious uffion and happy repubhcan system wffich Geffi.
Harrison and his cabinet was preparmg to destroy under the
direction of the profligate demogogue Henry Clay. . . .
The Lord ruleth, let the people rejoice.'" He (hd not beUeve
Tyler woffid surrender ffimself to Clay.
The foUovring observation, also, is mterestmg, coming from
Jackson: "The Geffi. [Harrison] had not sufficient energy to
say to ffis heads of departments you shaU not disnuss officers
without my approba,tion, not remove any wdthout a fair hearing.
. . . Had he removed the ffist member of ffis cabinet, as I
should have done, who attempted it without ffis orders, he
'Jackson to Van Buren, March 3t, 1841, Van Buren Mss.
'Jackson to Blair, April 19, r84i, Jackson Mss,

734 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
woffid have been spared by providence." ' Some aUowance must
be made for the hritation of a man old and ffi, but that done,
he stffi remains ffi such utterances as tffis — and ffis letters
at tffis stage are fuU of them — a capricious man, whose anger
overrides ffis sense of justice as weU as ffis mteUectual con
sistency. When Tyler quaneled with Clay ffi the summer of 1841 he
drew near to the democrats, who received ffim glacUy. Jackson
thought to faciUtate the approach by a letter congratulating
the President on ffis position in relation to a bank. The Vir
giman replied unctuously. He was pleased, he said, "that
the plaucUts of the mffititude have received the endorsement
of the sage ffi his closet."'
But the purposes of Jackson and Tyler were wddely apart.
Signs of the times indicated that the enthusiasm of 1840 was
passing, and the democrats began to have hopes for 1844.
Jackson mtended that Van Buren shoffid have the nonaination
for vindication and as the logical can(Udate. Tyler hoped that
he would be able to appear as the regular democratic candidate.
It was preposterous that he who defeated the democrats in
1840 should aspire to lead them four years later, but Tyler was
capable of ffiogical plans. Some democrats encouraged ffis
hopes, but Jackson put ffis veto on them. He was wdffing,
he said, to receive Tyler as a peffitent, but not to make ffim
head of the democratic church until he did penance for the
sins of 1840.' He was then most earnest for Van Buren and
said that if that gentleman were elected he would go to Wash
ffigton in ffis old "Constitution" carriage and ffimself escort
his friend to the capitol to take the oath of office. '
But Calhoun had also to be dealt wdth. He had no love for

'Jackson to S. J. Hays, May 4, r84i. Transcripts m Library of Congress.
^^ler to Jackson, September 20, 1842, Jackson Mss.
lijackson to Blair, August 18, 1843, Jackson Mss.
*Jackson to Blair, November 25, 1842, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 735
Van Buren, although he was now a loyal party man. He led
a convinced Southem group who talked of nominating him
for President when the democratic convention met in Baltimore
m May, 1844. They probably knew this coffid not be done,
but they were ffi a position to make trouble for other can(Udates,
and they insisted that the interests of the South be respected.
That they might accomphsh their purposes the better they urged
the annexation of Texas with great vigor. It was the kind of
question to develop their strength iri the South, and they cared
little about the effects elsewhere. It was an ormnous affah for
any can(hdate who rehed on support in both sections of the
country. Jackson was now wamfly m favor of annexation. He seems
to have forgotten that there was as much likeUhood that bringing
up the question now would damage Van Buren's chances as in
1836. Perhaps the (Ufference lay ffi the fact that ffi 1836 he
was better advised. He let his opimon be known; and the
enemies of ffis favorite took advantage of it. They began to
urge annexation, and Aaron V. Brown, a Tennessee congressman,
wrote him early in 1843 to know ffis views on the matter. His
reply was fuU and positive. Texas was ours, he said, by the
Loffisiana purchase; and although he consented to the Florida
purchase in 1819 as the best that coffid be done under the cir
cumstances, he now censured Monroe's govemment for tffiowdng
away an opportuffity to increase the national domaffi, and he
attributed that action to Northern jealousy of the rismg power
ofthe South and West. Jackson said ffis change of opiffion
came when, after he was President, he discovered from Erving's
correspondence that Spam would have given up Texas in 18 19,
He caused to be made a series of extracts to that purport, and they
survive among ffis papers. John Qffincy Adams vrith accustomed
vigor attacked ffim in a speech, and Jackson burst forth ffi an
unbecommgly angry reply in the form of a letter to Gen.

736 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Robert Armstrong.' Perhaps the pubhc took Uttie mterest m
tffis renewal of an old conffict.
It was a day when promment poUticians were not above
playing tricks on one another, and Van Buren's opponents
concealed the letter to Brovm nearly a year, and ffi March, 1844,
gave it to the pubhc vrith the date changed to 1844. They
had recently seen some cautious utterances of the New Yorker
agamst immeffiate annexation, and they thus hoped to show
that Jackson and ffis protege were at variance on the important
question. When the Van Buremtes saw the situation they
hurried one of their number to the "Hernoitage" to lay the whole
case before its master; and in due time came a second letter
from Jackson on annexation. He repeated aU ffis former argu
ments, but added a strong endorsement of Van Buren, who, it
was said, coffid be trusted to do what ought to be done ffi the
situation. It is doubtfffi on wffich side the advantage now lay, had not
the affair been given a decided tum by two letters, one from
Clay and the other from Van Buren. The Kentuckian wrote
Aprfl 17, 1844, a letter from Raleigh, N. C, ffi wffich
he said: "I consider the annexation of Texas at the present
time as a measure compromisffig the national character, ffivolv-
ing us certaiffiy in a war with Mexico, probably vrith other
foreign powers, dangerous to the ffitegrity of the Uffion, inex
pedient in the present financial conffition of the country, and
not cafled for by any general expression of public opimon."
Tffis letter pleased the North, but that advantage was later
undone by a second letter m wffich he tried to please ffis Southern
foUowers. A Uttie earUer than tffis W. H. Hammett, an unpledged
Mississippi delegate to the democratic nonoinating convention,
asked Van Buren's views on the same question. The New
'Parton, Life of Jackson, HI., 662.

, CLOSING YEARS 737
Yorker was suspicious of the request, and got SUas Wright to
talk with the questioner. Hammett protested good faith and
said he was informed that Van Buren was for annexation.
He was assured he should have an answer, and Van Buren, some
what unwiffingly, as it seems, wrote a very good letter, in wffich
he gave reasons why Texas should not be annexed at present.
He urged our neutral obligations, and evfls corffing from a lust
for power, and said that if there came a real probabffity that
Texas woffid f aU into EngUsh hands the American people woffid
rise unanimously against it. He also said that ff the question
should be forced on ffim as President he woffid foUow the wdU
of the American people as expressed in congress. The fact
that these two letters, so similar in sentiment, came so nearly
at the same time has given rise to the suspicion that there was
an agreement between the writers that if it were necessary to
speak they would speak as they did. Van Buren's letter was
sent to Wright, who gave it to Hammett ffi Wasffington. Both
men, wdth some others tme to the leader, considered it a fine'
stroke and had it printed at once.'
The country at large was of a decidedly contrary opiffion.
Jackson gives us a grapffic picture of how the news came to
Nashvffie, and it may serve for an ffiustration of the effect ffi
other Southern commuffities. May 4th, the democrats ffi the
town caUed a meeting to endorse annexation. The place was
fuU of people of both parties; for neither wffigs nor democrats
dared opeffiy oppose tffis pohcy. Early in the day came a
mafl wdth papers containing Clay's letter. It was received
with chagrin by ffis friends and with joy by ffis opponents.
Later ffi the day came another mafl, and Van Buren's letter
was in it. Gloom now settled on the faces of the democrats.
The meeting (hssolved wdth httle demonstration on either side.
'Wright to Van Buren, April tt and 29, 1844, Van Buren Mss. The letters are sammarized by McMaster,
History of the United States, VII., 328-330.

738 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
Jackson was so deeply grieved that he became iU. "I woffid
to God I had been at Mr. V. B. elbow when he closed ffis letter,"
he wrote to Blair. " I woffid have brought to ffis view the proper
conclusion. We are afl in sackcloth and ashes." By the proper
conclusion he meant that although the writer's views were as
stated, yet in a case of supreme necessity he would favor annexa
tion. Jackson became convinced that Benton induced Van
Buren to write the letter, but he gave no reason for the opiffion.'
A few days showed the seriousness of the situation. Advices
from the states south of Tennessee began to come suggestmg
Polk for the candidate and inquiring for a good Northem man
to run vrith him. "My heart bleeds to hear them, but the ffie
is cast I fear," said Jackson; and he closed a fourth long letter
to Blair on this subject in saying: "I write you now, fearfffi
that my complaint, if not checked, may soon deprive me of
the strength. I hope for the best, but wdth calm resignation say
' The Lord's wdU be done. "" Thus it happened that Van Buren's
promising hopes came to an end and the Baltimore convention
named Polk for its candidate.
There was much intrigue beffind the defeat of Van Buren,
and he himself attributed his misfortune to that fact. "If
I coffid think with him" [Jackson], he wrote to Blair, "that my
Texas letter controUed the proceedings at Baltimore, I woffid
have a much better opmion of the actors in them. But tffis I
could abundantly show was not the case, if the play were worth
the candle. How much like the old man it is to be so enthely
engrossed with a single idea, and that always a pregnant one.
But wffilst he is fighting the British and Mexicans, we wdU fight
the Whigs.'"
In the meantime Texan annexation came before the senate.
Tyler favored tffis policy as much as Calhoun, and he lent himself
'Jackson to Polk, June 97, t844. Folk Papers, Library of Congress.
'Jackson to Blair, May 7, 11 (2 letters), and t8, r844, Jackson Mss.
•Van Buren to Blair, October 5, 1844; Mss., Library of Congress.

CLOSING YEARS 741
to the plans of the Southemers. A smaU party of aboUtioffists
m Texas m commumcation vrith bretffien of the same opiffion
in England formed a plan by wffich the British govemment
was to be asked to pay for the slaves then in that state on con
dition that Texas should declare for emancipation. Such a
move would give England a strong hold on the country, and it
was beheved would lead to British occupation. Tyler was
informed of the project, and although the British miffistry
disclaimed any purpose to support the plan, he woffid not be
lieve that it was no menace to American hopes. ,j
The Texans desired American annexation, but they were not ^
wiffing to seem to press it. Van Zandt, their agent in Washing
ton, m the winter of 1843-1844 suggested that Texas would
ask for annexation if assured that two thirds of the senate
woffid favor a treaty for that purpose. He proposed, also,
that Jackson write to President Houston, of Texas, makmg
the offer. Judge Catron, of the supreme court, a Tennesseean,
inqffired and satisfied himself that the senate was favorable,
reported the fact to Jackson, who wrote at once to Houston.
A week later Catron became convmced he was mistaken and so
mformed Jackson, who declined to communicate that informa
tion to Houston, saymg that the treaty ought to be offered any
way and that if tffis was done American opinion woffid demand
that the rich province be secured. Jackson added that he would
close ffis eyes in peace if Texas were ours.'
Jackson got Houston's reply by the hand of W. D. MiUer,
Houston's private secretary, authorized to talk to the venerable
ex-President wdth the utmost freedom. The resffit was a letter
to a promment man in Washffigton, probably Catron, ih which
Jackson said: "The present golden moment to obtain Texas
must not be lost, or Texas must, from necessity, be thrown mto
'(^tron to Jackson, March 9, 1845. Catron puts the date 1833 or 1834, but he evidently meant to say
1843 or 1844. For this phase of the Texas question, see Executive Documents, 38th congresst ist session, vol
ume VI., No. 27t. The Jackson letter is at page to9. ^

7383 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
the arms of England, and be forever lost to the Uffited States."
He based ffis opiffion on the assurance of Houston that Texas
having offered annexation tffiee times would, ff now rejected,
never agree to it again.
Houston ffid what was expected, vvritmg Jackson a long letter
in wffich he urged reasons for securing Texas at once. Tyler,
acting tffiough ffis secretaries of state, Upshur and later Caffioun,
pushed on the preparation of a treaty, and presented it to the
senate AprU 22, 1844. By tffis thne the extreme Southemers
were vigorously demandmg its approval, and the aboUtioffists
ffi the North as vigorously urging its rejection. It cannot
be doubted that each side looked cffiefly at the bearmg of the
matter on the slavery question. So strong was the protest
agaffist it that the moderate men in each party were opposed
to the treaty, and it was rejected by a vote of tffirty-five to
sixteen. But neither Tyler nor ffis foUowers thought that the
matter was settled.
Jackson's letters at tffis time were fffil of annexation. One
of them was to the President, who repUed to it on Aprfl 14th,
vrith the assurance that the treaty of annexation was about to
go to the senate. What that body woffid do he woffid not say,
but the question was so powerfffi that it must sooner or later
break dovm opposition. Tyler added: "For the part, my
dear sh, that you have taken in tffis great matter, you have
offiy added another claim to the gratitude of the country. God
grant that you may Uve many years to enjoy the gratitude
mcident to the reflections on a well-spent Ufe." '
Benton's attitude toward annexation is mterestmg. January
1 6th, when it was newly urged, he wrote to Jackson ffi haste
and confidence, supporting it warmly. "I tffink the annexation
of Texas depends on you," he said; and he wanted Jackson to
get Houston to authorize the submission of a treaty. "It is now
'Tyler to Jackson, April 14, 1844, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 741
more than twenty years," he continued, "since I had the honor
to present your name, for the presidency, to the first Democratic
meetmg in the union, and I have supported you from that day
to this, and as I grow older, I feel every day, mcreased and
mcreasmg confidence, m the wdsdom of the great measures of
your administration."'
But Benton soon realized the hand of Calhoun, for whom he
ever had distmst; and he refused to vote for the treaty when
it appeared. He placed his opposition on the ground that it
meant war with Mexico, and he made a three days' speech
to that effect. He pronounced the treaty, with its wdde boun
daries for Texas, an outrage on a neutral power and a seffish
scheme to advance the presidential aspirations of Caffioun, the
secretary of state, under whose supervision it was prepared.
Writing to Jackson a few days later he said that his speech
would show aU ffis objections to the treaty but one, and that
it concealed a plan for "the dissolution of the union and the
formation of a Southern confederacy to include Califomia.
We are in a bad way here [in Washington] about as we were in
1824-25. . . . Smce the medting of Congress a nest of mem
bers pf Congress have been at work to nuffify the wiU of the
people in the person of Mr. Van Buren, and now they [are] at
work to nffilify the convention, and break it up vrithout a nomi
nation, or vrith the nomination of some one whom the people
have rejected. Offices, one hundred miUions of Texas lands^
ten miUions of Texas stock, are making fearfffi havoc among
our pubUc men." *
Benton's outspoken words led to a bitter encounter in the
senate with McDuffie, who spoke for Caffioun; and the papers
told how after it was over the old Jacksonian encountered John
Qffincy Adams, holdmg out ffis hand and saying: "We are
'Benton to Jackson, January to, 1844, Jackson Mss.
'Benton to Jackson, May 28, 1844, Jackson Mss. See also Meigs, Life of Benton J44-349

742 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
both old men, we must now uffite and save the Constitution."
When Jackson saw these words in the newspapers he wrote:
"Do my dear Mr. Blair hfform me ff this can be true. If it is
I want no better proof of ffis derangement, and it poUticaUy
prostrates him."
When Benton made the charge that poUticians held Texas
land, he coffid not have known that Jackson himseff held such
property. A. J. Donelson, now Miffister to Mexico, writmg
to his old patron, said, December 24, 1844, that W. D. Mffier,
Houston's private secretary, was lookmg after Jackson's land
claims in Texas and that they were located about eighty mfles
from the tovm of Washington, ffi that state. Mfller made a
visit to the "Hermitage" early in 1844.* Whether Jackson
acquired these claims by purchase or by gift does, not appear; but
he coffid not have had them before tffis question came up,
since there are in his letters several references to ffis property,
and nothing is said there about possessions in Texas before 1844.'
Tyler's attitude toward the whig program brought Jackson
to tffink weU of him, and his position on annexation made the
two men friends. As the campaign of 1844 progressed it be
came of increasing importance that the Virgmian shoffid give
up his pretensions to the Presidency; and at Polk's request
Jackson undertook to persuade him to that step. He gave
such a request tffiough Major Levris, and Tyler acceded to it
in a letter to Jackson. He made no conffitions, but suggested
that ffis foUowers be received by the democrats vrith considera
tion. He was particffiarly anxious that Blah and Benton be
mduced to cease denouncmg him and ffis supporters.' He
continued to show ffis favor to Jackson, who was now of great
importance to the cause of annexation. In the autumn he

'Jackson to Blair, June 24, 1844, Jackson Mss.
>A. J. Donelson to Jackson, December 24, 1844, Jackson Mss.
Tyler to Jackson, August i8th, September r7th, Polk to Jackson, July 23, 1S44, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 743
appointed A. J. Donelson, Jackson's former private secretary,
minister to Mexico. He was bent on securing Texas in the
coming session of congress. Every effort was made to keep
the Texans m a frame of mind favorable to annexation, a task
probably not so (Ufficffit as appeared, and when congress early
in 1845 passed the joint resolution for that purpose, he signed
it on March xst, wdth much pleasure. Jackson also considered
it a great acffievement; Polk was pleased that a vexatious affair
was not left over for ffis admiffistration. It was the last matter
of pubhc interest wdth wffich Jackson was promdnently connected.
In their private relations the years of Jackson's retirement
were not happy. A few of ffis friends stfll loved him, among
them Blair, Van Buren, and Lewds. But many others forgot
him as soon as he ceased to be the commander of a political
army, wdth the power to make himself obeyed and the ability
to give rewards. As man after man turned against Van Buren,
he took the desertions as personal injuries to ffimself.
His relation wdth Majpr Levris, which was clouded by the
latter's attitude toward the bank controversy, was straffied
for some time after March 4, 1837. Van Buren did not remove
Levris from ffis au(htorship, but left him without influence.
Jackson advised ffis friend to return to his estate ffi Tennessee,
but the suggestion was not followed. Levris (Ud not gaffi ffi
favor with the new administration, and finaUy, ffi 1839, Jackson
ffinted that he had better resign before he was forced out in
obedience to the prmciple of rotation ffi office. Tffis brought
a long protest from the neglected auditor. He adnaitted that
he was out of favor, but it was due to ffis enemies who poisoned
the mmds of those who shoffid be gratefffi. Shortiy after Van
Buren's mauguration he caUed on the President and tried to
converse wdth him in the "frank and unreserved manner we
had been in the habit of doing before our intercourse had been
embanassed and clouded vrith distrust." But Van Buren's

744 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
cold manner satisfied the caller that his alienation was complete.
Lewis thought this ingratitude; for no one had stood by the
New Yorker when he needed a friend more steadily than he.
Let Jackson say if Van Buren had foUowed "the precept of
our divine Saviour, wffich teaches us to do unto others as we
would they shoffid do unto us. The coldest heart woffid scarcely
be incompetent to appreciate my fedffigs when I ffist (Uscovered
the petrifying change ffi the deportment toward me, on the part
of one for whom I had labored night and day, and on account
of whom I had drawn on my devoted head the opposition's
fiercest lightning." ' We can feel for Lewds. He was a tool, ,
but a faithfffi one. He had served Van Buren weU in 1832
and earlier. But ffis day was past and he was cast aside. In
ffis letter he used some sharp reproaches for Jackson, whom also
he thought ungrateful; but these brought a reply equally
outspoken.' The upshot of tffis stage of the matter was rather
to clear the atmosphere; and after that the two men retumed
to sometffing of their old intimacy. They exchanged letters
at regular mtervals as long as Jackson lived.
s The years of retirement brought financis-l embarrassment,
the announcement of wffich gave grim joy to ffis eneimes.
It was fit, they said, that he should suffer in the catyclasm he
himseff brought on others. But his troubles were not due
to ffimself. Unwise management by ffis son, Anchew, Jr.,
brought an accumffiation of debt. Jackson said most charac
teristicaUy that it came from the machinations of his enemies,'
but he deternuned to pay the indebtecffiess, although to do so
would leave him shorn of aU ffis property except the "Hernut-
age" tract. He sought to borrow in various places, but there
was Uttle money to be had in the West, and from recent experi-
'Lewis to Jackson, August 30th; Jackson to Lewis, August r3, r839, Mss. in New York Public Library.
'Jackson to Lewis, Septembjr 9, October rp, r833, Mss. in New York Public Library. Many other letters
which passed between the two men are in the same collection.
¦Jackson to Kendall, May, 23, r842, Cincitmati Commercial, February 5, 1879.

CLOSING YEARS 745
ences the Eastern capitaUsts would not lend in that section.
He secured $6,000 from ffis old friend, Plauch6, of New Orleans,
but $10,000 mpre was needed. One day Blair heard Lewds
say that the general needed tp bpnow. He wrote at once to
offer $10,000 to be forwarded as soon as the appropriation biU
passed. He perhaps saw the fitness of lending to his old patron
some of the profits on the fat printing contracts wffich he got
through that patron's favor. The loan was arranged at 6
per cent, interest, although Jackson offered 7 per cent.;
and it was to be repaid in three annual instalments. Blair's
partner. Rives, insisted on sharing the honor of makffig the
loan. They generously made the accommodation as much
like a gift as possible, and extended it when the first payment
was npt met. It was still unpaid in 1855. In his gratitude to
Blair, Jackspn sent him a ffily out of one of ffis blooded mares,
caffing her "Miss Emuckfau," after one of ffis battles against
the Creeks.'
March 10, 1842, Senator Linn, of Missouri, introduced a
bifl to remit the fine of $1,000 laid on Jackson for contempt of
Judge HaU in New Orleans, ffi 18 15. It aroused bitter opposi
tion from the wffigs. They made it a point of civfl poUty to
refuse, and Jackson made it a point of personal honor to insist
as a means of vindication. The cUscussion was prolonged for
two years, Linn d)dng in the interval. It was ably cpntinued
under the leadersffip pf C. J. IngersoU, who ten years earUer
was a leacUng lawryer for Biddle in the bank controversy. Stephen
A. Douglas, then a young member of the house, made a speech
in favor of the biU.' At last the fine was remitted by a law
approved on February 16,1 844. The fine wdth interest amounted
to $2,732; and Jackson sent $620 of it to Blah, $600 to pay
interest on the loan and $20, and he pla3^ffily said, for the
'Blair to Jackson, January i8, Jackson Mss. Jackson to Lewis, February aS, March 30, Ji, April 3, 93.
June 2, r842, Mss. in New York Public Library.
'Johnion, Lift of Douglas, 69-79.

746 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
"outfit of Miss Enouckfau," who was with foal by Priam. The
debate on the fine gave him great concem. " My dear Blair^*'
he wtPte whfle it progressed, "I can say to you coiffidentij^
unless reUeved from some of my afflictions under wffich. I now
labor I cannpt remain long here. If providence vriU spare. me
to hear of your election [as prmter to congress], and to see the
result of the vote in congress on the subject of the fine impcised
by Judge HaU I wdU be thankful. I hope my friends will pre^
it to a final vote."'
Sj^ Durffig the period of rethement Jackson was an object of
veneration to many people. Admhers named their chilchen
fpr him, asked for ffis autograph, and so many wrote to request
a lock of ffis hair that he adopted the custom of keeping
the dippffigs when he had it cut. A South CaroUman writing
for a l()ck proposed to put it ffi a thousand-doUar locket and
pass it dovra to ffis son as a valuable heirloom. A Phfladelphia
gentleman wrote from his Waffiut Street residence in a anii^
stram, and thanked God as well as Jackspn that he ovmed so
great a treasure. John Y. Mason, secretary of the navy, was
another who expressed gratitude for a lock of the gen^l'is
hair. The approach of Polk's mauguration revived the old 'man's
interest iii politics. Judge Catron said that Jackson was re
sponsible for the election because it was he who secured: tiie
withdrawal of Tyler.' In securing that action, he undoubtedly
brought the two vrings of the party together, pledging Polk
to reasonableness and securing through Tyler the cooperation
of the extreme Southerners. The latter now deshed Caffiouit
for the cabinet, but Jackson urged that it should not be granted
them. "You could not get on wdth him," he said. "England
is the place for ffim, there to combat with my Lord Aberdeen,
'November 22, 1843, Jackson Mss.
¦Catron to Jackson, November 13, 1844, Jackson Mss.

ANDREW JACKSON IN 1845. AGE 78
From a daguerreotype by Dan. Adams, of Nashville. Taken a few weeks before Jackson died.
In the background are seen the pillows on which was propped the invalid's
body when the picture was made

CLOSING YEARS 747
the aboUtion question." He also suggested that Sflas Wright
be not offered a cabinet position for the present.'
Office-seekers sought ffis intercession with the President-elect,
among them KendaU, m financial straits. He wanted the
Spaffish noission, then filled by Irving. He wrote Jackson for
ffis influence, sayffig it would be necessary to remove G. W.
Irvine [sic]. Jackson was complaisant and wrote Polk as
desired. "There can be no deUcacy in recalUng Erwin," he
said, "he is offiy fit to write a book and scarcely that, and he
has become a good Whig." ' G. W. Erving was minister to
Spam when Jackson invaded Florida ffi 1818; and it seems that
the general was not qffite clear ffi ffis mmd as to the dffierence
between the two men.
The state of affairs in regard to Oregon aroused ffis keenest
anticipations. When he knew of England's demands, aU his
spirit rose ffi protest. May 2nd, five weeks before he died, he
wrote to urge Polk to be firm, saying: "This bold avowal by
Peele and Russel of perfect claim to Oregon, must be met as
boldly, by a denial of their right, and confidence in our ovra —
that we view it too plain a case of right on our side to hesitate a
moment upon the subject of extending our laws over it, and
populating it wdth our people. Permit me to remind you that
during the canvass I gave a thousand pledges for your courage
and firmness, both in war and m peace, to carry on the adminis
tration of our govemment. This subject is intended to try
your energy. Dash from your hps the councils of the timid
on tffis question, should there be any ffi your council. No
temporizing wdth Britain on tffis subject now — temporizing
wifl not do.'"
Some of ffis enenoies said that Jackson's mind weakened in
'Jackson to Polk, December i6, t844, Polk Paters, Library of Congress.
'Jackson to Polk, December 13, r844; Kendall to Jackson, December 2, 1844; Polk Paters, Library of
Q>ngress. ¦JtcksoD to Folk, May 9, 1845, Polk Paters, Library of Congress.

748 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
old age. His letters on ordinary topics show that he lost some-
thffig of the power of sustained energy, but on each matter
wffich interested him the outcome of his mental activity was
clear and positive; and the words just quoted show that on a
subject wffich appealed deeply he thought as vigorously as ffi ffis
palmiest days. His ringffig caU to Polk has, ffi fact, aU the
Napoleonic ffie of ffis early mffitary proclamations.
^~- In Jackson's old age he fulfiUed the pronoise he had long
sffice made to ffis wdfe to join the Presb3^erian church. This he /
did early ffi the year 1839 ^.t the end of a series of revival ser
vices and wdth the usual manffestations of conversion. For tffirty-
five years before he became President, he said, he was accustomed
to read at least three chapters of the Bible dafly.' Such a man
coffid not have been at any time indffierent to religion as an
intellectual fact, however little it may have affected ffis outward
conduct. Wffile President he attended the Presbyterian church
regffiarly. Mrs. Calhoun, mother-ffi-law of the distffigffished
South Carolinian, once said that if Jackson were elected President
in 1824, she woffid spend the foUowffig wdnter ffi Washington,
in order to see a President who woffid go to church. Of her,
it was once said that she and Jackson were " the offiy mdependent
characters" ffi Washffigton.' In the passages ffi tffis book quoted
from ffis letters are abundant evidences of a pious attitude m
bearmg sorrow and of dependence on 'God ffi thnes of great
danger. These feeUngs increased wdth old age and wdth the
approach of death: they do not seem to have been more fre
quent after the date of his conversion. Nor is there any notice
able decrease after that date ffi the angry epithets he hurled at
ffis opponents. Clay and Adams to the day of ffis death were
unforgiven, and some of his last utterances were to pronounce
them falsifiers. Rehgion was offiy one of ffis emotions.
'Parton, Life of Jackson, m., 633- See alsb, B. F. Butler to Jackson, March 16, 1839, Jackson Mss.
¦Rev. E. S. Ely to Jackson, January 98, 1829, Jackson Mss.

CLOSING YEARS 749
Next tp ffis devotion to ffis wdfe Jackson's best friendsffip
was with Blair. From the beginning of his retirement to the
end of ffis hfe he wrote regularly to ffis friend ffi Wasffington.
Hardly a week passed without a letter. In 1842 both Blair and
Lewis visited the "Hermitage," and Van Buren came also on
ffis tour ffi the South. The visits brought cheerfffiness for a
time; but the progress of (Usease prevented real happmess.
Eyes fafled, cUzzmess and weakness became more notable, and
at last ffi the wdnter of 1844-45 came <h:opsical symptoms. To
the doctors it indicated a failure of functions which precedes
the end. They knew not how to control them, and the dropsy
developed throughout the spring.
The letters to Blah wdtness in many ways the advance of the
ffisease. The patient, who knew the sigffificance of ffis symptoms,
reported faithfuUy aU that bore on them. His handwritffig,
bold and large ffi or(hnary times, now shows ffis advancing
weakness. The characters never lose theh size, but they get
a greater slant, the loops run down and up to a point, and the
Unes are made wdth a fine waver wffich leaves its zigzag through
out their entire course. But for aU that, every detafl to the
crossing of t's and dotting of i's is complete, except that now and
then a word is ffiadveftentiy onoitted.
The last letter of the series is dated May 26th, two weeks
before he died. It contains some ffiformation for C. J. Inger
soll, in regard to the invasion of Florida, and after that comes
to ffis health. Describing it he says: "Tffis is my dtuation,
and in what it may result God only knows. I am resting pa-
tientiy under the visitations of providence, cahffiy resigned
to his wdll. It would be a miracle shoffid I be restored to health
under aU these afflictions. The Lord's wdU be done."
June 8, 1845, he died peacefuUy and two days later was buried
by the side of his vrife m the "Hermitage" garden. The long
iUness had attracted the attention of the whole country, and

750 THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON
many friends came to say fareweU. By ffis own vrish the funeral
was as simple as possible. An Oriental sarcophagus popffiarly
said to have once contamed the bones of Alexander Sevems,
the Roman emperor, was offered ffim ffi March, 1845, for ffis
ovra body. He refused it, saying: "My repubhcan feeUngs
and principles forbid it, the simplicity of our system of govern
ment forbids it." Memorial services were held by ffis friends
ffi many cities. Some bitter partisans would not attend them,
even as he ffimseff woffid not attend a simflar meetmg ffi honor
of John MarshaU. But with the majority of the people ffis
death was a genuine sorrow. To them he was a real hero —
a persomfication of a great cause, and the passmg of ffis influence
was a national loss.
Time has softened some of the asperities of the epoch m wffich
he Uved. The American who now knows how to estimate the
Ufe of the Jacksonian era wffi take sometffing from the preten
sions of ffis enemies and add sometffing to the virtues ffitherto
accorded ffis partisans. Jackson's lack of education, ffis cmde
judgments ffi many affahs, ffis occasional outbreaks of passion,
ffis habitual hatred of those enermes wdth whom he had not
made friends for party purposes, and ffis crude ideas of some
poUtical poUcies — aU lose some of thdr mf eUdty in the face
of ffis brave, frank, masterly leadersffip of the democratic
movement wffich then established itself in our Ufe. Tffis was
ffis task: he was adapted to it; he did it faitMuUy, conscien
tiously, ably. Few American Presidents have better Uved up
to the demands of the movement wffich brought them mto
power.

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, G.4EDEN CITY, N, Y.

INDEX

INDEX

Adair, John, at New Orleans, 190, 196, 203,
224
Adams, John Quincy, defends invasion of
Florida, 268; presidential candidate, 23o,
289;.defends arrest of CaUava, 314; sup
port in 1824, 325; supported by Jackson,
326; alleged bargain with Clay, 356-363;
¦Jackson's attitude toward, 365; elected
President, 365; his diary on the bargain'
with Clay, 367-370; first annual message,
381; relation to Panama Congress, 383;
characterizes his opponents, 403; con
soles Clay, 403; defeated in 1828, 404;
leaves presidency, 409; tries to check
spoils system, 442; the Jackson-Calhoun
rupture, 516; on Eaton-Ingham squab
ble, 528; on Jackson's nullification mes
sage, 567; supports "force bill," 576;
report on the bank, 617; and West
India trade, 656-658; on Jackson's Har
vard degree, 638; efforts to purchase
Texas, 673; and the Mayo letter, 678;
on Texas annexation, 735; reported re
conciliation with Benton, 741.
"Address to the People of South Carolina,"
SS.I, 562
Alabama, removal of Indians from, 685,
687, 688
Allison, David, 34
Ambrister, R. C, taken by Jackson and
executed, 254, 257-259; diplomatic re
sults, 259, mentioned, 234, 269
Amelia Island, occupied by Gaines, 244
Anderson, Patten, and Burr, 42, 46, 49
Anti-Jackson group (1825), 373
Anti-slavery literature, circulation in mails,
716
Apalachicola River, a British rendezvous,
128; fort on, 235
Appointments to office, in Florida, 299, 300;
practice of early Presidents, 437; of
Monroe, 438; of J. Q. Adams, 442; of
Jackson, 443-457; old men in office, 439,
see Spoils System
Arbuthnot, Alexander, attitude toward the
Seminoles, 240; thought to be Woodbine,
241; taken by Jackson, 254; tried and

executed, 255, 258; diplomatic results,
253; mentioned, 234, 251, 269
Archer, W. S., on Jackson's cabinet, 415
Arms at New Orleans, 190, 205, 231
Armstrong, Major F. W., 537
Armstrong, John, dismisses Natchez ex
pedition, 84; ofifers command to Jackson,
122
Artillery, battle of, at New Orleans, 187
Atwater, Caleb, 396
Austin, S. F., land grants in Texas, 675;
appeals for Texas, 680
Autosee, battle of, 112
Avery, Waightstill, 12 B
Balch, Alfred, 503, 540, 604
Baldwin, Henry, rejected for secretary of
the treasury, 412
Baltimore Convention (1832), 542
Bancroft, George, on the public service,
456; at the White liouse, 710
Bank of the United States, the second,
and Jackson's inaugural address, 430;
in his first annual message, 477, 601;
provisions of charter, 585; opposition to,
586; early history, 586-589; relation
to political parties, 588, 589, 597, 623;
proposition to re-charter, 598; Jack
son's plan for, 602-604; reports of com
mittees on (1830), 60s; plans to re
charter, 6io, 611, 612; new charter
passed, 617; vetoed, 618-620; effect of
veto, 620-621; in the election of 1832,
622; charges against, 622-629; its lobby,
623; connection with the press, 624;
postpones the three per cents., 627;
removal of deposits, 631-648; govern
ment directors, 643 ; question of re-charter
persists, 682; "divorce bill" passed, 726,
727, 729
Bankhead, Charles, and French affairs,
672
Barataria Bay, 146
Baratarians, history of, 149; their dealings
with Nicholls, 150; driven from Grande
Terre, 152; at New Orleans, 153, 175
Barbour, James, against Jackson, 367

753

754.

INDEX

Barbour, P. P., not taken into Jackson's
cabinet, 413, 4iS; mentioned, 542
Bargain, the Clay-Adams, 356-363; Jack
son denounces it, 379
Baring Brothers and the three per cents.,
628
Barrancas, blown up, 140; surrendered to
Jackson, 263
Barry, W. T., appointed postmaster-gen
eral, 418; and cabinet reorganization,
523, 526; on removal of deposits, 634
Barton Thomas, P., and French diplomacy,
669, 670, 672
Bathurst, Lord, repudiates Nicholls's
treaty, 237
Battles; Tallushatchee, 97; Talladega, 98;
Autosee, 112; Emuckfau Creek, 113;
Enotachapco Creek, 113; Tohopeka, n6-
118; New Orleans, 176-203
Bayou Bienvenue, British laud by it, 171
Beasley, Major, at Fort Mims, 91
B6Iize, fort at, 144
Bennett, James Gordon, 625, 640
Benton, Jesse, quarrel with Jackson, 68;
opposes Jackson's candidacy, 393
Benton, Thomas Hart, quarrel with Jack
son, 68; military ambition, 68, 86; aide to
Jackson, 82; appointed lieutenant-col
onel, 87, in; reconciled with Jackson,
351; favors Jackson in 1825, 363; on the
patronage, 387, 3S8; publishes Jackson's
defence, 518; on tjie Hayne-Webster
debate, 552; on nullification, 578; on the
expunging resolutions, 653-655; course
on Texas annexation, 738, 740; reported
reconciliation with Adams, 741
Berrien, John M., appointed attomey-
general, 415; interview with Jackson
in Eaton affair, 467; dismissed from the
cabinet, 526; controversy over removal,
530. 562
Beverley, Carter, letter on alleged bar
gain, 390
Big Warrior, visit to Nicholls, 136
Biddle, Niciolas, becomes president of
the bank, 587; his policy in Ports
mouth bank case, 593-597; tries to win
Jackson, 597; moves for re-charter, 598;
interview with Jackson, 599; does not
understand Jackson, 600; plans for re
charter, 610; asks for new charter, 614;
abuse of his power, 622, 626; gets pe
titions against removal, 640; relation to
govemment directors, 643; responsibil
ity for panic, 646, 651, 652; fears per
sonal violence, 653
Binney, Horace, acts for the bank, 617
Bissell, Captain, 47, 48

Blair, Frank P., selected for party editor,
513, 540; opposition to bank, 587, 609,
633; relations with Jackson, 705, 748;
Jackson on aid from, 729; lends money
to Jackson, 745
Blair, Mrs. Frank P., Jackson's friendship
for, 70s; .visits the "Hermitage," 728
"Bloody bill,'' see "Force Bill."
Blount, William, governor of territory, 25;
expelled from senate, 34; leader of
Tennessee faction, 74; would promote
Jackson, 78
Blount, Willie G., leader of Tennessee
faction, 74; selects Jackson to command
Natchez expedition, 80; and the Fort
Strother mutiny, 103, 104, 107; re
proached by Jackson, 109-111
Blue, Major, 143
Bowlegs, 23s, 253
Brackenridge, Henry M., alcalde of Pensa
cola, 316; mentioned, 300, 302, 303, 304,
30s, 306, 307
Bradford, Samuel, 521
Branch, John, appointed secretary of the
navy, 414; McLane on, 414; interviewed
by Jackson in Eaton affair, 467; dis- | '
missed from cabinet, 526; slighted in
Nashville, 530 * *
Brearly, Colonel, 243
Breathitt, George, sent to South Carolina,
564
Brent, Daniel, 411
British expedition against New Orleans,
planned, 161-162; arrives at Cat Island,
167; lands by Bayou Bienvenue, 171;
attacked December 23, 176; advance
against city, 180-203; departure, 203;
takes Fort Bowyer, 208-211
Bronough, Dr. J. G., 296, 300, 305, 320
Brooke, Colonel George M., 302, 304
Brown, Aaron V., letter on Texas from
Jackson, 735, 736
Brown, General Jacob, 231
Brown, John, protest against "pompous
perade," 408
Buchanan, James, on alleged Clay-Adams 1 1
bargain, 356, 357
"Bulletin of Home Bound Pat-ry-otSj/'. o.
105 note I. " ¦ '.' J
Burnet, David G., on Texas annexation,
678
Burr, Aaron, his scheme dibcussed, 37-43 >
relation with Jackson, 43-47
Burrows, Silas E., 625
Butler, Anthony, minister to Mexico,
&74-i576 ¦ '
Butler, B. F., relation to Van Buren, 524;
appointed attomey-general, 646

INDEX

7SS

Butler, Colonel Robert, 214, 302, 305
Butler, Colonel Thomas, arrested by Wilk
inson, 50
BuUer, Thomas L., 217

\

Cabinet, Jackson's, organization of, 409-
420, 475; criticism of, 416; its good
qualities, 419; dissolution of, 520-539;
Jackson's relation to, 475
Caddo Indians, .679
Cadwalader, General Thomas, makes
friends with Jackson, 404; visit to Nash
ville, 590; flatters Jackson, 591, 617;
concerned with the three per cents.,
627, 628
Calhoun, John C, secretary of war, 245;
. . a;uthorizes pursuit of Seminoles, 245;
oil Jackson's invasion of Florida, 267,
278; candidate for presidency, 280, 289;
his support, 324, 331, 333; relation to
Jackson, 326; and_ Pennsylvania, 331,
j333; urged for vice-presidency, 333;
on Jackson, 335; threatens to form
_:'^cjpj)osition, 370; supports intemal im-
" "prbvements, 373, 479-482;
Attacks Adams as "Onslow," 386; on
Adams and patronage, 389; reelected
vice-president, 405; influence in cabinet-
fliaking, 410, 411, 412, 417, 419; review of
, relations with Jackson, 497; character
istics, 498; concerned in the Jackson-
Southard squabble, 501; breach with
,- Jackson, 503-519; reconciled with Van
Biiren, 514, 732; effect of his pamphlet
against Jackson, 520; Jackson's opinion
of after the quarrel, 530; early political
' career, 544-547; espouses nullification,
548, 554; at J'efferson birthday dinner,
SSSi openly leads nullification, 556, 560;
on the compromise tariff, 574, 575;
a.gainst the "force bill," 575; on the
bank question, 605, 606; on removal of
¦ the deposits, 635; his bill to extend
charter, 652; on removal of Indians, 686;
'relation to pro-slavery party, 717;
in the election of 1844, 734, 735;
;,. annexation of Texas, 735, 738, 741; and
Polk's cabinet, 746
CaUioun, Mrs. Floride, admiration for
Jackson, 748
CaU, R. K., 300
CaUava, Don Jos6, govemor, surrenders
West Florida, 297; at odds with Jackson,
298; dispute with Vidal heirs, 301;
arrested by Jackson, 302-309; complains

to Spanish minister, 308; papers seized
309; applies for habeas corpus, 310; de
parture for Washington, 313
Cambreleng, C. C, on Jackson's cabinet
(1829), 417; against the bank, 609,
612; mentioned, 550, 577, 578
Camden jail, Jackson imprisoned in, 10 
Campaign of 1824, 322-349
CampbeU, G. W., relations with Jackson,
66, 76, note 4, 591
CampbeU, Rev. J. M., 462
CampbeU, J. W., 527, 612
Canning, George, and West India trade,
659
CaroUna, armed schooner at New Orleans,
176, 178, 179, 180, 183, 184
Carolinas, Scotch-Irish in, 3
CarroU, WiUiam, quarrel with Benton 67;
hastens to New Orleans, 170; arrival,
17s; his troops armed, 206; mentioned
"3, 718
Cass, Lewis, appointed to cabinet, 537, 541 ;
and the Verplanck biU, 574; and the
bank, 612; against removal of deposits,
634; does not resign, 64s; minister to
France, 670, 672
Catawba Indians, 4
Catawba River, 4
Catron, John, 739, 746
CatteraU, Professor R. C. H., 616
Caucus, opposition to, 338; endorses
Crawford, 339
Chef Menteur, 145, 167, 170, 171
Cherokee Indians at treaty of Fort Jackson,
124; awarded land taken from Creeks,
281; removal from Georgia, 684-692; cul
ture of, 685
Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, case of 686,
688, 689
Cheves, Langdon, not admitted to Jack
son's cabinet, 412, 415; president of the
bank, 587; mentioned, 545
Chickasaw Indians, at treaty of. Fort
Jackson, 124; removal of, 684, 692
Choctaw Indians, at treaty of Fort Jack
son, 124; removal of, 684, 692
Civil Service, inefficiency under Adams,
439; under Jackson, 457
Claiborne, General F. L., 113
Claiborne, W. C. C, appointed territorial
govemor, 33; wamed against Burr
45, 51; on loyalty of Louisianians, 147;
efforts against Baratarians, 150; at odds
with Louisiana legislature, 158; quarrel
with Jackson, 208, 215, 219-221
Clarendon, Earl, on duelling, 729
Clay, Henry, attorney for Burr, 42; can
didate for presidency, 280, 289, 324, 335;

7S6

INDEX

against invasion of Florida, 283-286; on
Dr. Coleman letter, 348; as President-
maker, 350; declares for Adams, 352, 353 ;
reasons for this action, 353,370; attempt
ed reconcUiation with Jackson, 352;
charged with bargain, 356; offered secre
taryship of state, 366, 367-370; senate
vote against his confirmation, 370; goes
into anti- Jackson party, 376; connection
with Panama Congress, 383; denies
charges of bargain, 390; would leave
cabinet, 403 ; Van Buren on, 543 ; and com
promise tarffi, 574; favors re-charter of
bank, 613; in election of 1832, 622; and
removal of deposits, 635; caUs for paper
read in cabinet, 648; resolutions
against Jackson, 648, 653; biU to dis
tribute surplus, 693-696; resolutions on
French affair, 670; election of 1840,
731; relation with Tyler, 733; his Texas
letter, 736, 737
Clajrton, John, and the bank, 617
Clinch, Colonel, 238, 239
Clinton, De Witt, toasted by Jackson, 287;
turns to Jackson, 400; death of, 401
Clouet, Colonel, 217
Clover Bottom, 36, 46
Cobb, Joseph B., speech against Jackson,
283
Cocke, General John, commands second
division, 94; faUs to cooperate with
Jackson, 98, 99
Cochrane, Admiral, proposes expedition
against Louisiana, 162; informs Jackson
of peace, 211
Coffee, General John, 21, 35; in Benton
quarrel, 69; in Natchez expedition, 80, 81;
described, 81; hurried forward against
Creeks, 93; serves against Creeks, 96; at
battle of TaUushatchee, 97; aids Jackson
in mutiny, 102; deserted by brigade, 106;
at Tohopeka, 116; camp near Baton
Rouge, 165, 168; summoned to New
Orleans, 170; in battie of December 23,
178; runs Creek line 236, 237; on Eaton-
Ingham squabble, 528; his death, 715
Coleman, Dr. L. H., correspondence with
Jackson, 345-347, 397
Contractors, Jackson's trouble with, 95
Conway, General George, 56, 76
Cook, D. P., and election of Adams, 363
Cooper, Dr. Thomas, advice to Van Buren,
418; mentioned, 548, 550
"Coosa fever," 212
Com Tassel, case of, 689
Cotton-bales at New Orleans battle, 188,
note 2
Cowan, David, 299

Coweta, 112
CraUfi, R. H., 518
Crawford, James, s, 6
Crawford, W. H., willing to sacrifice Texas
to get Florida, 272; presidential candi
date, 280, 289; beginning of quarrel
with Jackson, 281; Jackson's opinion of,
290; Jackson's dislike of, 319, 320, 372;
chances in 1824, 324, 335; stricken with
paralysis, 349; attempted reconciliation
with Jackson, 351; tus faction goes to
Jackson, 377; and state rights, 375;
hatred of CaUiotm, 378; and the "four
years law," 404; attitude toward inter
nal improvements, 482; trying to defeat
Calhoun, 502; reveals cabinet secrets
to Jackson, 512; his party in South
Carolina; 548, 550
Creek Countiy, importance of, 88
Creek Indians, condition of in 1813, 88;
alliance with British, 89; begin hostiU
ties, 90; plans to subdue, 91; war against,
90-100, 112-120; effects of campaign
against, 118; at treaty of Fort Jackson,
123; and treaty of Ghent, 233; fugitives
in Florida, 233; boundary line surveyed,
236, 237; outrages in 1815, 237; Nicholls's
treaty with, 234; repudiated by Lord
Bathurst, 237; removal of, 684, 692
Creek, fugitive, see Seminoles
"Crisis, The," by TurnbuU, S49
Cumberland VaUey, settlement of, 15
Cupples, WUliam, 12, 13
Cuthbert, Alfred, 704
Cuthbert, John, 704 D
DaUas, George M., 615, 621
Dauphine Island, 203, 209
Dearbom, Heniy, Ja«ison on, 49
Debt, pubUc, payment of, 692
December 23, battie of, 176
Democratic party, birth of, 475
Deposits, removal of from the bank, 631-
654; KendaU on, 633; opinion of cabinet
asked, 634; urged on Duane, 638-640;
petitions against, 640; McLahe's com
promise, 640-641; removal ordered by
Taney, 645
Dickson, WiUiam, 45, 47
Dickinson, Charles, duel with Jackson,
61-64
Dinsmore, Silas, quarrel with Jackson, 65-
67
Diplomacy, Jackson's, 657-683
Ditto's Landing, 93, 95
"Divorce biU," see sub-treasuiy.

INDEX

757

Divorce in Virginia and North Carolina,
20, note I
Doherty, Major, at Tohopeka, 117
Donelson, A. J., 540, 709, 742, 743
Donelson, Mrs. A. J., mistress of White
House, 461, leaves on account of Eaton
affair, 473; retums, 473; mentioned, 709
Donelson, John, founder of West Ten
nessee, 15, 7s; death, 17
Donelson, Stokely, concemed in Glasgow
land frauds, 58
Drafts, branch, 588
Drayton, Col. WiUiam, recommended by
Jackson for Monroe's cabinet, 339; of
fered cabmet position (1829), 536, 537;
against nuUification, 567
Duane, WUUam, 632
Duane, WiUiam J., appointed secretary
of the treasury, 632, 636; resists Jack
son's plans, 638-640; dismissed from
the cabinet, 644
DueUing, Jackson on, 729
Duncan, Abner L, 217, 228
Duidap, General R. G., advice to Jaekson,
460; disgusted at Lewis, 460, 507,
S39 E
Earl, R. E. W., 728
Eaton, John H., friendship for Jackson,
279; part in cabinet-making, 410, 412,
415; appointed secretary of war, 413,
S34. S36, 538; protest Of Tennesseeans
against, 416, 460; marriage, 459, 461;
removal from cabinet pronounced nec
essary, 521; resigns, 523, 524; squabble
with Ingham, 526-528, 562; desires
Tennessee senatorship, 533; later career,
S38, 717; his Indian policy, 6 6
Eaton, Mrs. John H., marriage, 459, 461;
reception in society, 462, 464, 4^^- and
cabinet reorganization, 524; mentioned,
523,526,529,530,539 . ; „ ^
"Eaton Malaria," characterized, 458, 469;
transferred to Tennessee, 472; charged
by Jackson to Calhoun, 462, 473; effects
on CaUiouh, 438; Lewis's part in, 460;
given political turn, 463; taken before
cabinet, 463, 467; relation to nullifica
tion, 55 1
Editors, appointment of to office, 450
Edwards, Ninian, minister to Mexico, 673
Elections, 1824, 349; 1825, 362-365; 1828,
404; 1832, 62a; 1836, 717, 718; and Texas
annexation, 682; 1838, 652, 736; 1840,
730
EUis, Powhatan, 676, 677

Ely, Rev. E. S., protests against Mrs.
Eaton, 462
Emuckfau, battle of, 113, 114
"Emuckfau, Miss," 74s, 746
EngUsh Tum, 145, 146
Erving, G. W., minister to Spain, 265, 267,
747
Erwin, Captain Joseph, horse-race ar
ranged with Jackson, 61
Everett, Edward, pronounces spoils sys
tem inevitable, 442
"Exposition," Calhoim's, 550, 557, 562
Expunging resolutions, 653-655

Fairfield, John, describes Jackson, 709,
711
FareweU Address, 719
Federalists, attempt to win votes of, 339
Fine, Jackson's, at New Orleans, imposed,
228; remitted, 745
Florida, plan to occupy, 79; Spain's weak
hold on, 89; neutrality violated, 128,
132, 13s; Jackson desires to invade it
(1814), 128; acquisition of, 233; Jackson's
plan to enter (1818), 245; expedition in,
253-267; negotiations to purchase, 265,
443; Spain's protest against invasion of,
266; purchase completed, 271; treaty
proclaimed, 294; Jackson govemor of,
294, 318; handed over by Spain, 297;
Jackson's powers, 295, 311, 316; branch
of bank in, 590
Floumoy, Brigadier-General, 127
Floyd, General, 112
Forbes, Colonel, mission to Havana, 295
Forbes and Co., 301, 309
"Force biU" mtroduced, 572, 573; op
posed by Calhoun, 575; passed, 576;
nuUified by South Carolina, 577
Forsyth, Jolm, and Kremer's charges, 361;
letter to Hamilton about Calhoim, 507,
508, 509, 555; and French diplomacy,
669, 670
Fort Bourbon, 145
Fort Bowyer, repulse of British at, 133-
135; loss of, 208-211
Fort Charlotte, 133
Fort Crawford, 242
Fort Deposit, erected, 93
Fort Gadsden, 258, 261
"Fort HUl Letter," SSI
Fort Jackson, erected, 119; treaty at, 123,
233; mutiny at (1814), 213
Fort Mims, taken by Creeks, 91
Fort Montgomery, 140
Fort St. Charles, 146

758

INDEX

Fort St. Philip, 145, 146, 167; bombarded
by British, 202
Fort Scott, erected, 238, 239
Fort Strother, erected, 96; suffering at,
99; mutiny at, 99-106
Fort WiUiams, erected, 115
Fortier, Colonel, 218
Fowltown, attacked, 244, 251
Francis, the Prophet, visits England, 237;
taken by Jackson, 254; executed,
2SS
French citizens in New Orleans, conffict
with Jackson, 224
French spoUation claims, 663-673
Fromentin, Eligius, appointed judge in
Florida, 300, issues habeas corpus for
CaUava, 310; summoned before Jackson,
312; removed from judgeship, 313;
Monroe's attitude toward, 319
Fulton, WiUiam, Jackson's letter to, 677,
678

Gadsden, Captain James, concemed in
squabble with Swift, 289
Gaines, Gen. E. P., ordered to New Orleans,
148; command on Florida frontier, 232,
233; fears Creek war, 236, 237; and pas
sage of the Escambia, 242; presides over
court martial, 257; relation to Texas
revolution, 679
Gales and Seaton and the bank, 624, 643
GaUatin, Albert, denied office under
Jackson, 412, 418; negotiates in regard
to West India trade, 658
Galveston, fflibustering at, 242
Garfon, and Negro Fort, 238, 239
Geer, Andrew, testimony on Jackson-
Sevier quarrel, 60
GentiUy, plains of, 145, 167, 170, 221
Georgia, mUitia sent against Creeks, 91,
95, 118, 143; attitude of toward nulli
fication, 571; removal of Indians from,
685-692; in election of 1836, 718
Gibbs, Major-General, 162, 192, 193, 194,
19s, 196
Glasgow land frauds, 57
Globe, The, established, 513
Gordon, Captain, 129
Grande Terre, 149
Green, Duff, party editor, 378; on abuse
of patronage, 389; retaliates for attack on
Mrs. Jackson, 394; sulking, 479; in
fluence on Calhoun and Jackson, 499;
pries open cabinet secrets, 529; and
Texas revolution, 677; mentioned, 512,
526, 624

Grundy, Felix, against Dinsmore, 67;
defeats Eaton for senator, 538; plan for
a bank, 592; influence in Tennessee, 718
"Gulger," 109
Gunboats at New Orleans, 147, 169
H
HaU, Brigadier-General, 96
HaU, Judge Dominick, 153, 208; arrested
by Jackson, 225; fiines Jackson, 228;
fine remitted, 745, 746
Hamflton, James, jr., on Jackson's cabinet,
415, 416. 418; on Jackson's inauguration,
424; a Crawford man, 548; and nulli
fication, 552, 557
HamUton, James A., and cabinet making,
410, 419; secretary of state pro tempore,
411; criticizes Jackson's cabinet, 415;
on the trip to New Orleans (1828), 506,
507; visits Georgia, 506; fumishes plan
for bank, 602; writes reply to McDuffie's
report, 605; opposed to bank, 612
Hammett, W. H., 736
Hanging Rock, battle of, 10
Harris, Rev. John, mutinies, 213
Harrison, W. H., and the Indians, 77;
presidential candidate, 731; Jackson
on his death, 733
Hartford Convention, Jackson on, 340,
343
Hawkins, Benjamin, Creek agent, 89, 119,
23s
Hayne, Andrew P., 291, 402
Hayne, R. Y., on Panama Congress, 385;
on tariff, 398; offers courtesies to Mrs.
Jackson, 404; and Jackson's cabinet,
415; early political career, 546, 548;
debate with Webster, 552; tries to in
fluence Jackson, 553, 558; dinner to, SS7;
desires nuUifier for district-attorney, 560
Hays, Colonel Robert, 21, 26, 17s, 204
Hermes, 133, 135
"Hermitage," becomes home of Jackson,
3S; new house buUt, 318; bumed, 714
Hernandez and the purdiase of Texas, 675
"Hickory Ground," 90, 95, 119
Hill, Isaac, rejected by senate, 478; elected
senator, 478; agamst the bank, 593, 619
HimoUimico, captured and executed, 254,
2SS
Hinds, Major, commands Mississippi dra
goons, 165; at New Orleans, 178, 183,
185; pursues the British, 203
Hoffman, Michael, 578
Holmes, Gabriel, govemor of Mississippi,
212
Horse-Shoe Bend, battle of, 116

INDEX

759

Houston, Sam, at battle of Tohopeka,
117; part in Jackson-Calhoun quarrel,
501; and Texas revolution, 677, 678,
681; and Texas annexation, 739, 740
Huger, D; E., 556
Humbert, General, 154, 201
"Hunter's HiU, " Jackson's home, 19, 35
Hutchings, John, 35, 137
Huygens, Madame, and Mrs. Eaton, 466,
467
Huskinson, William, and colonial trade, 658

Inauguration (1829), 421-425; address,
425-431
Indians, southwestem, removal of, 684-692
Indian Territory, established, 692
IngersoU, C. J., and the bank, 615; and
Jackson's fine, 745; seeking historical
material, 749
Ingham, S. D., for Calhoun, 331; con
nected with Kremer's charges, 361; ap
pointed secretary of the treasury, 412,
416; relation with Eaton affair, 466, 467,
468; dismissed from cabinet, 526;
squabble with Eaton, 526-528, 529, 562;
concemed with the charges against the
Portsmouth branch bank, 593-597
>Innerarity, John, 301
Insolvent office-holders, dismissed by
Jackson, 448
Intemal improvements, sketch of, 479-
483; Jackson's views on, 483-485; Mays
viUe road biU, 485-489; effects of veto
on intemal improvements, 489-495
Irving, Washington, friend of Van Buren,
641; Jackson on his mission to Spain, 747

Jackson, Andrew, genealogy, 4, note i;
birth, s; birthplace, 5-7; early traits,
7, 12, 14; education, 8; revolutionary
services, 9; alone in the world, 11; be
gins to read law, 12; early practice, 12;
arrives in Tennessee, 16; solicitor for
Mero District, 17; marriage, 17-21;
capacity as a lawyer, 20, 22, 32; re
lation to frontier 21; habits, 21; ap
pearance as young man, 22; arrest of
Bean, 24; attomey-general for Mero
District, 25; judge-advocate, 26; dele
gate to constitutional convention, 26;
elected to congress, 28; political views
(1797) 28; opposed to Washington, 30;
associations in congress, 31, 33; elected
geaator, 32; on the bench, 32; fafls to get

govemorship of Orleans territory, 33;
relations with Jefferson, 33, 50, 52;
as a merchant, 34, 35; buys and seUs
slaves, 35, 66; involved in debt, 34;,
relations with Burr, 43-47; devotion of
the mUitia to, 48, 52; supports Col.
Thomas Butler, 50; his opinion of
Secretary Dearbom, 50; at Burr trial, 52;
his feeUng against WiUcinson, 53;
quarrel with Sevier, 55; duel with Dick
inson, 61; quarrel with Dinsmore, 65;
quarrel with the Bentons, 67; proposes
to leave Tennessee, 70; loses touch with
state poUtics, 71
Early miUtary career,73; elected major-
general of miUtia, 75; zeal for war against
England, 78; address to mihtia, 79;
Natchez expedition, 80-86; command
against Creeks, 92; organization of army,
94, 96; plan of campaign, 94; battle of
TaUadega, 97; deals with mutiny, 99-106;
deserted by army, 106-108; his opinion
of Govemor Blount, 109; reorganizes
army, 109, in; battie of Emuckfau, 113;
recommended for regular rank, 114;
advances to Fort WiUiams, 115; battle
of Tohopeka, 116; ends Creek war, 118;
ideas of peace, 120; return to NashviUe,
120; brigadier-general in regular army,
122; seventh miUtary district, 123; at
treaty of Fort Jackson, 123;
The defense of Mobile, 126; desires to
enter Florida, 128; correspondence with
govemor of Florida, 129; attack on Fort
Bowyer, 134; proclamation to people
of Louisiana, 135, 155; takes Pensacola,
13S-143; leaves Mobile for New Orleans,
143; deals with the Baratarians, 129, 130,
131, 153; enlists free negroes, 155; learns
of danger of New Orleans, 162; idea of
New Orleans defense, 162; arrival at
New Orleans, 166; learns of arrival of
British, 167; proclaims martial law, 174;
Battle of December 23, 1 76-181; forti
fies position, 182; withstands attack on
December 28, 185; artiUery battle of
January 1, 187; his battle lines, igi;
forces engaged, 192; battle of January 8,
192-200; attitude toward Kentucky
rmUtia, 201; refuses to pursue British,
203; miUtary capacity of, 205, 206;
British view of, 206; responsibUity for
loss of Fort Bowyer, 210; plans to retake,
211; ignores news of peace, 211; wiU not
pardon mutineers 214; quarrel with
Louisiana legislature, 215; quarrel with
Govemor Claibome, 218-221; recovery
of slaves, 221; sUghted by legislature.

760

INDEX

223; arrest of LouailUer and HaU, 225;
fined for contempt of court, 228; returns
to NashviUe, 231;
Commands southem division, 231;
desire for Florida, 244; leads army in
Seminole war, 245; asks authority to enter
Florida, 24s; expedition against Semi
noles, 253-268; trial and execution of Ar
buthnot and Ainbrister, 254-258; conduct
defended by Adams, 268; approves Flor
ida treaty, 272; pacified by Monroe,
273-278; position in Tennessee, 278;
suggested for presidency, 279, 289;
quarrel with Crawford, 281; meets
diarjes in V/ashington, 282; report of
committees on invasion of Florida,
289, 291; visits Phfladelphia, New York,
and Baltimore, 289; diJerence with
General Sv/ift, 289; opinion of Crawford,
290; reply to Lacock report, 291; charge
of land speculation in Florida, 292;
retires from army, 294;
Govemor of Florida, 294-318; receives
Florida, 297; at odds witii CaUava, 2j8;
estabUshes civil govemment, 299; ar
rests CaUava, 302-309; at odds with
Fromentin, 310; autiiority as Govemor,
311; administrative achievement, 315;
resi;3ls govemorship, 317; in returement
318; cools toward Monroe, 319;
PoUtical views, 323; plans to nominate
him, 326, 327; nominated by Tennessee
legislature, 328; loses in Louisiana legis
lature, 330; support in Pennsylvania,
331-334; proposed combinations with,
337; letter to Monroe about ofuce
appointments, 339-344; on Hartford
Convention, 340, 343; career as senator,
344; on the tariif in 1824, 343, 349;
electoral vote in 1824, 349;
ReconciUation with Benton, 351; at
tempted reconciUation withCrawf ord and
Clay, 351; attitude toward Adams, 354;
bearing of, 355; alleged bargain between
Clay and Adams, 356-363, 390; changes
attitude toward Adams, 365-367; his
poUtical ability, 379; resigns senatorship,
380; position on tariff, 391; disapproves
attack on Mrs. Adams, 394; part in his
own campaign, 395; New Orleans ceh-
bration, 402; elected president, 404;
death cf Mrs. Jackson, 406; goes to
Washington^ 408, 409; refuses to caU on
Adams, 409;
Making Ja cabinet, 409-420, 421; inau
guration, 421-425; inaugural address 425-
431; rece.ves Van Buren, 433; his ap
pointments to office, 443-445; removals

from office, 445-450; on the appointment .
of editors, 449-451; appointment of
Swartwout, 452-455; defends Mrs. Eaton
462-463, 467-470; his relation with the
capital, 470; first annual message, 476;
views on intemal improvements, 483;
veto of MaysviUe Road biU, 489; bad
health 503, 7iS. 722; breach with
Calhoun 503-519; cabinet reorganization,
521-539; observes the Eaton-Ingham
squabble, 529; on CaUioun and Branch,
530; fondness for Van Buren, 531, 541;
offers^ White cabinet position, 533-537;
renominated, 540; relation to nulli
fication, 549-550, 552-555, 556-561,
564-574, 577, 579-580; definition of
state rights, 561, 569, 579-580, 581-583;
aroused by nuUifiers, 564-573; issues
nuUification proclamation, 564, 568;
abiUty as statesman, 584;
Early attitude toward bank, 589-590,
592; reply to Cadwalader, 591 ; and Ports
mouth branch bank, 597; interview with
Biddle, 599; bank mentioned in first
annual message, 601, 604; plan for a
bank, 602-604, 606, 607; mentions bank
in second annual message, 607; in third
annual message, 610; reassures John
Randolph, 612; on biU for re-charter,
613-620; vetoes bank biU, 617; the
election of 1832, 622 ; removal of deposits,
633-646; visit to New England (1833),
637; degree from Harvard, 638; relation
with Duane, 638-640, 644; petitioned to
restore deposits, 647; refuses to send
congress paper read before cabinet,
648; Clay's resolutions against, 648; ex
punging resolutions, 653-655;
Negotiations for West India trade, 661;
quarrel with France, 667-672; efforts
to purchase Texas, 673-677; relation to
Texas revolution, 676-683; results of
diplomacy, 683; relation with Georgia
Indians, 686; attitude toward courts,
690, 691; opinion of MarshaU, 691; pays
pubUc debt, 692-693; distribution of
surplus, 693-697; favors specie currency,
697, 725;
Personal characteristics, 7oo-72i;behef
in democracy, 721; compared with WeU
ington, 702; intimate advisers, 703-705;
attitude toward women, 706; described
by others, 708; entertains at White
House, 710-713; expenses in White
House, 714; temper, 715; attacked by
Randolph, 715; attitude toward anti-
slavery literature, 717; last annual
message, 718; FareweU Address, 719;

INDEX

761

leaves Washington, 721; results of his
administrations, 721; restoration of fine,
722; reception in Tennessee, 722; Ufe
in retirement, 723; panic of 1837, 725-
727; observes political affairs, 727, 733;
religious views, 82, 204, 728, 748; on
dueUing, 729; relations witii Blair, 729,
730; on campaign of 1840, 731; on death
of Harrison, 733; on annexation of Texas,
735-737; on Van Buren's Texas letter,
737; financial embarrassments, 744; de
cUning health, 746; urges Polk not to
have Calhoun in cabinet, 746; on Oregon
question, 747; death, 749
Jackson, Andrew, the elder, 4, 5
Jackson, Andrew, the younger, 707, 744
Jackson, Mrs. Elizabeth, 4, 5, 7, 10
Jackson, Hugh, 4, 10
Jackson, Mrs. Rachael Donelson, marriage
to Robards, 17; marriage to Jackson, 19;
her infiuence on him, 20; her letters^ 121;
visit to New Orleans, 231; at Pensacola,
296; helps office-seekers, 299; in Wash
ington, 35s; marriage questioned by
Adams papers, 394; iUness and death,
405; her quaUties, 406; tribute from
Lafayette, 407; Jackson prays before
her picture, 407; smoked a pipe, 461;
"Hermitage" sad without her, 472;
and General Cadwalader, 590
Jackson, Robert, 4, 10
Jackson, Sarah York, 707
Jackson party, composition, 377; two
sections in (1825), 378; supports tariff of
1828, 391; divided in cabinet makmg,
411
Jay treaty, Jackson's views on, 29
Jefferson, Thomas, and Col. Thomas
Butler, 50; estimate of Jackson, 329;
birthday dinner, ssi
Johnson, R. M., his opinion of Lewis, 432;
favors MaysviUe Road, 487; statement in
behalf of Calhoun, 515; candidate for
vice-presidency in 1840, 732
Johnston vs, Mcintosh, 690

Keane, Major-General, at New Orleans,
162, 195, 207
KendaU, Amos, appointed auditor, 449;
in "Kitchen Cabinet," 457; A. Balch
on, 540; opposed to bank, 587, 600,
6og, 61Z, 619, 633; active in removal of
deposits, 633, 636, 637; writes papers for
Jackson, 650; and Texas revolution, 680;
and anti-slaveiy literature, 716; desires
to be minister to Spain, 747

Key, Francis Scott, on Jackson's inaugu
ration, 422; against Mayo, 730
Kentucky, early spirit of revolt in, 39;
Nicholls's proclamation to people of,
133; miUtia at New Orleans, 190, 197-200,
201
King, Rufus, 292
"Kitchen Cabinet," foreshadowed, 399;
members of, 457, 540; mentioned, 85,
^ 538,703
Kremer, George, and the Monroe letter,
341; approached by Buchanan, 356;
charges of bargain, 359-363

Lacassonges, Michael, 53
Lacock, Aliner, report of committee
against Jackson, 287, 290, 291
Lafayette, George W., 665, 666
Lafayette, Marquis de, and Jackson, 358;
estimate of Mrs. Jackson, 407
La Fourche, part of New Orleans defenses,
145
Lafitte, John, his piracy, 130, 149; history
of, 150; dealings with Nicholls, 150;
proposition to Governor Claiborne, 151;
defeated at Grande Terre, 152; Li Jack
son's army, 153
Lambert, Major-General John, in British
expedition, 162; arrival at New Orleans,
189; commands reserve at New Orleans,
193, 195; offers truce, 202; withdraws
the army, 203; takes Fort Bowyer, 209;
refuses to deliver fugitive slaves, 221
"Land office money," 698
Lithen, Sarah, 6
Laval, Captain, wounded at Pensacola, 139
Lawrence, Major WiUiam, defends Fort
Bowyer, 133-135; loses Fort Bowyer, 209
Lee, Major Henry, and Jackson's speech
at New Orleans, 403; rejected for chief
clerk, 411; rejected for consulship, 411;
and Jackson's inaugural address, 431;
on Duane, 632
Legare, Hugh S.", 556
Leigh, B. W., 571
LesUe, Mrs., and the LesUe tradition, 6, 7
Letcher, R. P., confers with Adams ia
behalf of Clay, 3(58; and the compromise
tariff, 576
Lewis, Joel, 56
lewis. Major W. B., working for Jackson's
poUtical advancement, 379; and the
letter to Monroe, 339, 340; influences
Parton's story, 399; relation to Jackson,
400; aids in cabinet making, 410; con
nection with Lee, 411, 41a; favors Van

762

INDEX

Buren, 417, 541, 742, 743; his influence
resented, 431; relation with office-seekers,
445; relation to Eaton affair, 460; Dun
lap on, 460, 507, S39; promotes breach
with Calhoun, 506-509; and cabinet
reorganization, 523; part in Eaton-
Ingham squabble, 527; loses influence in
"Kitchen Cabinet," 54°; urges Van
Buren's nomination, 541; bank director
at NashviUe, 591; favors Biddle, 597,
598, 600, 608, 612; influence on Jack
son, 705; unpopular in Tennessee, 717;
later relations with Jackson, 743
Lieber, Francis, visit to Jackson, 708
Lines, Jackson's, description of, 183, 184,
185, 186, 190-192; on the west bank, 198
Linn, Dr., senator from Missouri, on Jack
son's fine, 745
Lister, Jesse, tavem biU of, 13
Livingston, Edward, in congress with
Jackson, 30; relation with Baratarians,
150, 152; heads New Orleans committee,
154; desires to be Jackson's aide, iS4,
note i; welcomes Jackson to New Or
leans 166; sent to recover slaves, 202;
and the Vidal estate, 309; on Jackson's
cabinet, 432; offered mission to
France, 432, 434; secretaiy of state,
533, 536; Jackson opinion of, 541;
probable author of nuUification proc
lamation, 569, 578; favors the bank,
608, 610, 612, 615, 616; minister to
France, 632, 636, 667-669; against re
moval of deposits, 634; desires to re
tum to France, 672
LouailUer, opposed to martial-law, 225;
arrested by Jackson, 225
Louis PhiUppe, 665
Louisiana, lo3ralty questioned, 147, 154,
216; refuses to endorse Jackson, 330;
claims under purchase treaty, 664
Louisiana, legislature of, dash with Jack
son, 174, 223
Louisiana miUtia, service against British,
158, 159, 2i6, 224
Louisiana, armed ship, in battie of New
Orleans, 176, 178, 183, 184, 185, 186
Louisianians, NIchoU's proclamation to,
132
Lowndes, WilUam, 545, 546
Lowrie, Walter, 342 M
Macay, Spruce, 12
McCdeb, W. F., on Burr conspiracy, 41,
note I
McCuUoch vs. Maryland, 586

McDuffie, George, and bank, 605, 606, 615;
mentioned, 548, 561, 650, 741
Mcintosh, Creek chieftain, 253
Mcintosh, Major General, 143, 211
McLane, Louis, rejected for Jackson's
cabinet (1829), 412, 416, 419, 432; on
Branch's appointment, 414; on Jackson's
cabinet, 417; secretary of the treasury,
524, 536, S41; relations with the bank
question, 608, 610, 611; Jackson on, 611,
612, 613, 615; opposes removal of de
posits, 632, 634, 639; secretary of state,
632, 636; proposes compromise on re
moval, 640; Van Buren intercedes for,
642, 645; negotiations about West India
trade, 659-662
McLean, John, to be postmaster-general,
412; becomes justice of supreme court,
418
McKemy, George, 5, 6
McNairy, John, judge in Mero District,
16, 26
Macon, Nathaniel, relations with Jackson,
31; carries North Carolina for Virginia
interest, 325; resolutions on the patron
age, 387, 388
McQueen, Creek chieftain, escapes to
Florida, 119
McRea, Lieutenant-Colonel, in New Or
leans, 147, 148
Madison, James, on MaysviUe veto, 493
Marable, Dr., and Texas revolution, 677,
678
Marcy, WiUiam L., 542, 652
MarshaU, John, Chief Justice, on Cherokee
case, 690; Jackson on, 691
Martial law, proclaimed in New Orleans,
174, 216; its scope uncertain, 227
Martignac ministry, 663
MartinsviUe, North Carolina, 12, 13
Mason, Jeremiah, and Portsmoutii branch
bank, 593
Mason, I John Y., gets lock of Jackson's
hair, 746
Mason, S. T., relation with Jackson, 31
Mayo, Dr. Robert, letter on Texas, 677,
678, 730
Maysville Road biU, 485-489
Mecklenburg County, 4
Mero District, 16, 74
Mexico,^ negotiations to purchase, 673-678;
American claims against, 677
MiUer, W. D., 739, 742
MiUtia organization in Tennessee, 74
Missionaries, Georgia, case of, 689
MobUe, operations around, 126-143; Brit
ish plans to seize, 132, r6i, 162, 163, 165,
167; defenses of, 133

INDEX

763

Monroe, James, supported by Jackson for
President, 54; against occupation of
Florida (1814), 142; caUs out miUtia,
163; responsibUity in battle of New
Orleans, 206; negotiations to purchase
Florida, 243, 255, 267; and the Rhea
letter, 247; position on Jackson's in
vasion of Florida, 267, 268, reassures
Jackson, 273-278; and General Swift,
289; appoints Jackson governor of
Florida, 294; attitude toward Fromen
tin, 319; Jackson's letter to in regard to
appointing federalists, 339-344; appoint
ments in Florida, 438; Jackson's letter to,
on appointments, 444; involved in South
ard quarrel, 501; statement for Calhoun,
5i5;negotiationsfor West India trade,637
Montgomery, Major, kiUed at Tohopeka,
117
MontpeUer, Alabama, 296
Morgan, General David B., at New
Orleans, 197
Mutiny, at Fort Strother, 99-106, mutineer
executed, 212-215 N
Nashville, settiement of, 15; Burr at, 42,
43, 44, 46
Negroes, enlisted in New Orleans, 155
Negro Fort, erected, 128; presented to
Indians, 235; seized by negroes, 238;
destroyed by Clinch, 239
New England and the twS, 392
New Orleans, defenses of, 144, 146;
neglected by Jackson, 148; rich booty in,
153; meeting for defense, 154; expe
dition planned against, 161; naval forces
at, 165; arrival of Jackson, 166; landing
of the British, 171; martial-law, pro
claimed, 173; fighting around the city,
176-203; departure of the British, 203;
Jackson acclaimed in city, 204; arms in,
205; would Jackson bum the city?
316-219; Jackson fined for continuing
martial law in, 227-229; anniversary of
battle celebrated (1828), 401, 500
New York, politics in 1825-1828, 400;
spoils system in, 441
NidioUs, Colonel Edward, arrives in Flor
ida, 131; his purpose, 132; organizes
Indians, 136; protector bf tiie Seminoles,
234; retum to England, 237, Adams on,
368, 369;
Nickajack expedition, 31
Noah, M. M., 635
Nominations, Jackson's rejected by senate,
478

North CaroUna, foUows lead of Virginia,
325; against nuUification, 581
NuUification, influence on Calhoun's career,
504, 516; rise of, 546-549; period of
hesitancy, 549-561; active measure be
gin, 561; nullification convention, 563;
the relation with the tariff, 546-548;
origin of, 549 ; Calhoun's statement of
doctrine of, 550-552 ; movement launched
563-564; relation to other Southem
states, 565; mentioned in Jackson's
message (1832), 566, 567; legal means of
opposing, 565; Jackson's proclamation
against, 568; responses of states, 570;
ordinance suspended, 571, 577; signifi
cance of movement, 583;
O
Office-seekers, besiege Jackson, 409, 432;
505; suffering among, 446
"Old Hickory," nickname given, 86
Onis, Spanish minister, on invasion of
Florida, 265, 266
O'Neal, Peggy, see Mrs. Eaton
Osborn vs. the Bank, 586
Overton, John, 17, note 1, 18, 399, 715
Overton, General Thomas, 63, 529

Pageot, A., chargS d'af aires, 669
Pa£enham, Sir Edward, in command
British expedition, 161, instructions,
162; arrival at New Orleans, 183;
kiUed in battle, 195
Palmerston Lord, reception of Van Buren,
544
Panama Congress, 383-387
Panic of 1837, 723
Parton, James, on Jackson's birthplace,
6; his idea of Jackson, 23
PatcheU, Edward, on Jaickson's nom
ination, 331
Patronage, abuse of, charged against
Adams, 387
Patterson, Daniel T., Commodore, 147,
165, 166; erects and serves batteries on
west bank of river, 186, 198, 199, 200,
201
Patterson, General Robert, visits Jackson,
712
"Peg. O'Neal," see Mrs. Eaton
Pennsylvania, Jackson's support in, 331-
334
Pensacola, stormed by Jackson (1814),
139; taken by Jackson, (1818), 261;
Adams on its capture, 270, 271; Jackson
enters as govemor, 297

764

INDEX

Percy, Captain, attack on Fort Bowyer,
133
Petites CocquiUes, fort at, 144, 146
Pettigm, James L., opposed to nulli
fication, 556
Pierce's Stockade, 137
Pinckney, C. C, 545
Pinckney, Gen. Thomas, in the Creek war,
91, 111, 112, 114, 116, 119, 120, 122, 127
Pinkney, WiUiam, 292
Pizarro,_ Spanish minister, and Florida
negotiations, 265, 267, 270; demands
pumshment for Jackson, 267, 270
"Plowboy," race horse, 61
Poinsett, Joel R., against nuUification,
556, 564, 567, 573, 577; dinner to, SS7;
minister to Mexico, 673, 674
PoUgnac ministry, 663, 664, 665
PoUtics, personal in 1825, 376; a new stage
imder Jackson, 437
Polk, James Knox, relations with Jackson
movement, 396, 592; chairman com-
mitttee of ways and means, 650; demo
cratic leader, 731, 732, 742, 743
Polk, WilUam, 341 ,
Pope, Governor, of Arkansas, 677
Pope, Worden, and LouisviUe branch bank,
623
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bank at,
593-597
Postmaster-general, made cabmet position,
413
Potter, North Carolma, 5
Power, Tyrone, describes Jackson, 708
Prophet, the, 77

Randolph, R. B., attacks Jackson, 715,
728
Randolph, John. Jackson's early admi
ration for, 33, 53; on aUeged bargain,
383; plan for a bank, 592; against bank,
612; on Jackson, 717
Randolph, Dr. P. G., 527
Rasin, battle of, 90
Rawdon, Lord, 9
Reeves, Professor Jesse S., on Butler as a
minister, 675
Reid, Major John, aide to Jackson, 82;
helps Jackson suppress mutiny, 102
Removals from office, 445, 447, 454; pro
tests against, 449
Revolution, the, in the Waxhaws, 9
Rhea, John, Jackson's supposed letter from,
247, 248, 249, note I
Ringe, John, 692
Ringgold, Tench, 508, 730

Rip Raps, visited by Jackson, 471, 525,
639, 644
Ritchie, Thomas, attacks Adams, 383;
on Jackson's cabinet, 420; Randolph,
John, on, 420; mentioned, 525, 533
River aux ChSnes, 145
Rives, W. C, appointed minister to
France, 435; retums to United States,
632; negotiations abroad, 663-667
Roane, Archibald, supports Ja^son, 57, 74
Robards, Lewis, 17, 18
Robards, Sarah Donelson, see Mrs. Rachel
Donelson Jackson
Roberts, Brigadier-General Isaac, in Creek
war, 96, 107
Robertson, General James, founder of
NashviUe, 15, 16, 26, 75
Robinson, F. J., 658;
Ross, Jolm, 692
Rush, Richard, on execution of Arbuthnot
and Ambrister, 260; mentioned, 538,
729
Rotation in office, a democratic doctrine,
441. 4SS

Sabastiani, French minister, 666
St. John, Bayou, 145, 146
St. Marks, Seminoles at, 252; taken by
Jackson, 253; garrisoned by Americans,
260; a subject of diplomacy, 270, 271
Salisbury, North CaroUna, 12
San Jacinto, battie of, 679
Santa Anna, and Texas, 675; letter to
Jackson, 682
Sargent, Nathaniel, describes Jackson, 709
Scotch-Irish, settiements of, 3
Scott, John, votes for Adams (1825),
363
Seminole Indians, protected by NichoUs,
237; lose fort, 238; at war with the
govemment, 240-264; negotiations about
266-271; investigation in congress, 281-
292
Sergeant, John, relations with the bank,
614
Sevier, John, attacks the Indians, 16;
quarrel witii Jackson, 34, 55, 74
Sherbume, Colonel, Jac^on desires him
appointed, 444
Slavery, relation to nuUification, 547
Slaves, escape to British at New Orleans,
221
Smith, Daniel, senator, 45, 52
Smith, WiUiam, and South CaroUna poU
tics, 546, 548
"Smoke-tail," 108

INDEX

76s

Southard, S. L., aUegations against Jack
son, 395. soo
South Carolina, poUtical condition before
nuUification, S4S-S48; nuUificalion in,
548-583 '
Southwest Territory, organized, 25
Spain and Creek Indians, 89; protests the
invasion of Florida, 266
Specie circular, issued by Jackson, 697-
699; attempt to repeal, 723, 724
Spofls system, fostered by new conditions,
441; in various states, 441; a develop
ment, 456
State rights, Jackson's idea of, 561, 569
Stevenson, Andrew, fpeaker of the house,
392, 475, 521, 650; no part iri cabinet
making, 413, 415
Sub-treasury, 725, 726, 727
SuppUes, scarcity at Fort Strother,-99-ioo,
101
Surplus revenue, Jackson's views on, 429,
477, 693-697; distribution pf, 693, 697
Surry County, Jackson admitted to
practise law, 12
Suwanee, taken by Jackson, 253
Swann, Thomas, in Dickinson-Jackson
quarrel, 61
Swartwout, Samuel, appointment of, 452;
defalcation, 453

TaUadega, battle of, 97
TaUushatchee, battle of, 91
Tammany, Jackson the guest of, 287
Taney, Roger B., enters cabin :t, 537, 540;
opposed to bank, 608, 612, 633; favors ,
removal of deposits, 634; becomes secre
tary of the treasury, 644; orders deposits
removed, 645; reasons for his action,
646; personal relations with Jackson,
647, 650; chief justice, 647; Clay's
resolution against, 649
Tariff, Coleman correspondence, 343-349,
397; law of 1828, 391-393; in Jackson's
first annual message, 476; cause of nuIU
fication, 546-548; resistance planned in
Charleston, 560; law of 1832, 562; law of
1833, 574-577
Tarleton, General, 9
Taylor, Governor John, 556
TazeweU Henry, 31
TazeweU, L. W., ignored for cabmet, 413,
415; offered English mission, 434; re
lation to party, 566
Tchifonte, 147, 165
Tecumseh, leads discontented Indian, 77;
visits Creeks, 89

Te Deum, sung in New Orleans, 204
Telegraph, The Daily, 378, 512
Tennessee, settlement of, 15; becomes a
state, 26; spirit of revolt, 39; state
poUtics, 73; miUtia organization, 74;
miUtia under Jackson (1814), 136;
legislature nominates Jackson, 327; re
moval of Indians from, 685; and the
election of 1836, 717, 718
Tennessee-Alabama Une of communi
cation, 88, 119
Tennessee, West, settlement of, 15
Terre aux Boeufs, 145
Texas, reUnquished to get Florida, 271;
negotiations to purchase, 673-678; revo
lution in, 677; annexation of, 678, 732,
735-743; Jackson on annexation, 735
Thornton, Colonel, operations on west
bank, 189, 192, 197-203
Three per cents., postponed, 627
Tippecanoe, battle of, 77
Tohopeka, battle of, 113, 114, 116
Toland, Heniy, investigates the bank, 632
Toussard, Consul at New Orleans, 224
Trade, see West India trade
Treaty of Ghent, concluded, 208; news of
it at New Orleans, 211, 225, 227; its
bearing on the Creeks, 233; ignores
trade, 656
Treaty with France (1831), 665
"Truxton," race-horse, 61
Tuckaubatchee, councfl at, 89
Turkey Town, 95
TurnbuU, R. J., author of "Crisis," 549,
551
Tyler, John, opposes "force biU," 576;
his administration, 732; approved by
Jackson, 734-742; on Texas annexation,
739, 740; withdraws from presidential
canvass, 742, 746
Twelve Mile Creek, 5
Twiggs, Major, attack on Fowltown, 244
U
"Union, our! it must be preserved!" 555
Union County, North Carolina, 5

Van Buren, Martin, at Tammany dinner,
287; plans in election of 1825, 364; joins
Jackson party, 377, 378; opposes Panama
Congress, 384; relation to tariff of 1828,
392; tries to win Clinton faction, 401;
appointed secretary of state, 410;
against Calhoun in cabinet making, 411,
412, 416; on Jackson's cabinet, 416, 417,

766

INDEX

432; Dr. Copper's advice to, 418; ar
rival in Washington, 432; reception by
Jackson, 433; opposes Swartwout, 452;
on Eaton affair, 458; friendly to Mirs.
Eaton, 464; against internal improve
ments, 482, 484; confers with Jackson
about, 484-489; seeks to involve Madi
son in Maysvflle veto, 493; displacing
Calhoun, 497; growth of his faction,
499; Balch on candidacy of (1828), 503;
resigns from cabinet, 522-524; not con
cemed in Jackson-Calhoun breach, 513-
515; helps reorganize cabinet, 525;
mmister to England, 525, 532; Jackson's
fondness for, 531, 535; letter from Jack
son, 532; political capacity of, 532;
nominated for vice presidency, 540-542;
rejected by senate, 542; leaves England,
544; relation to nuUifiers, 550, 557, 558; at
Jefferson birthday dinner, 554; and tariff
compromise, 574, 577; attitude toward
nuUification, 579-581; and the bank, 605;
on removal of deposits, 631, 640; con
sulted by Jackson, 637, 640-643; tries
to save McLane, 642; negotiation for
West India trade, 659-662; advice on
French affairs, 667; relation to the
purchase of Texas, 674; relation to
annexation of Texas, 682, 683; estimate
of Jackson, 701, 702, 703; ii^uence on
Jackson, 704; in the election of 1836,
717; inaugurated, 720; defeated in 1844,
722; on the panic of 1837, 724; his party
leadership, 727; proposed visit to Ten
nessee, 729; election of 1840, 730-733;
election of 1844, 734, 736; Texas letter,
736, 737; on his own defeat, 738; later
relations with Lewis, 743
Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 364
Van Zandt, Mexican minister, 739
Vaughan, Sir Charles, befriends Mrs.
Eaton, 464; aids Van Buren in England,
544
Verplanck bfll, 574
Vidal estate in smt, 301, 302, 309
Vfller6's plantation, reached by British,
173
Virginia, ignored by Jackson faction, 377,
413, 415, 420; leadership in South,
547, 566; attitude toward nuUification,
565, 571, 580
Virginia-New York alliance, composition
of, 323
Virginia-Kentucky resolution, relation to
nullification, 549, 552, 566

W
Walkup, General, 6
War of 1812, miUtia law, 78
Warrior, Big, Indian chieftain, 236, 340
Watkms, Tobias, defaulter, 446
Waxhaw, Creek, 4, 9, 10; meeting-house,
4, 5
Weathersford, submits to Jackson, 119
Webb, J. Watson, 625
Webster, Daniel, on office-seekers, 421;
on Jackson, 478; debate with Hayne,
552; opposes nuUification, 575; 583;
bill to extend bank charter, 652
WelUngton, Duke of, compared with Jack
son, 702
West India trade, negotiations conceming,
656-663
White, Brigadier-General, fafls to support
Jackson, 98, 99
White, Hugh L., on the bench, 33; and
cabinet making, 410, 413; refuses
cabmet position, 533, 534; plan for
removal of deposits, 636; in the election
of 1836, 718
White, Manuel, tries to recover fugitive
slaves, 222
White House taken by inauguration mob,
423; domestic Ufe in, under Jackson, 709-
713; interior furnishing, 713-714
Whitesides, Jenkins, senator, 53, 70
Wilkinson, General James, and Burr,
39, 41, 42, 53, 54; and the Natchez
expedition, 83, 85; mentioned, 127
WUliams, D. R., 556
WilUams, Col. John, commands thirty-
ninth regiment, 87; in Creek campaign,
111, 114, 115; senator, 250; defeated for
senatorship, 337
Winchester, Brigadier-General James, 47,
143, 210
Wirt, WilUam, defends invasion of Florida,
268; defends Cherokees, 689
Wolf, Governor, of Pennsylvania, 652
Woodbine, Capt. George, his career with the
Indians, 132, 136, 234, 254, 255, 268, 269
Woodbury, Levi, on Jackson's cabinet
(1829), 432; offered mission to Spain, 434;
^aelds to HiU, 478; enters cabinet, 537;
and Portsmouth branch bank, 593; on
removal of deposits, 634; mentioned, 564
Woods, John, executed for mutiny, 115
Wright, Silas, at sea on Verplanci biU,
582; on removal of deposits, 640, 641;
and Van Buren's Texas letter, 737

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