CHAPTER LXXIII.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1832.

tuting official station to party intrigue and elevation, and humbling his country before Great Britain to obtain as a favor what was due as a right. He had also been accused of breaking up friendship between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, for the purpose of getting a rival out of the way-contriving for that purpose the dissolution of the cabinet, the resuscitation of the buried question of the punishment of General Jackson in Mr. Monroe's cabinet, and a system of intrigues to destroy Mr. Calhoun-all brought forward imposingly in senatorial and Congress debates, in pamphlets and periodicals, and in every variety of speech and of newspaper publication; and all with the avowed purpose of showing him unworthy to be elected Vice-Pre

receiving the same vote with General Jackson, except that of Pennsylvania, which went to one of her own citizens, Mr. William Wilkins, then senator in Congress, and afterwards Minister to Russia, and Secretary of War. Another circumstance attended this election, of ominous character, and deriving emphasis from the state of the times. South Carolina refused to vote in it; that is to say, voted with neither party, and threw away her vote upon citizens who were not candidates, and who received no vote but her own; namely, Governor John Floyd of

GENERAL JACKSON and Mr. Van Buren were the candidates, on one side; Mr. Clay and Mr. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, on the other, and the result of no election had ever been looked to with more solicitude. It was a question of systems and of measures, and tried in the persons of men who stood out boldly and unequivocally in the representation of their respective sides. Renewal of the national bank charter, continuance of the high protective policy, distribution of the public land money, in-sident. Yet, he was elected- and triumphantly ternal improvement by the federal government, removal of the Indians, interference between Georgia and the Cherokees, and the whole American system were staked on the issue, represented on one side by Mr. Clay and Mr. Sergeant, and opposed, on the other, by General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren. The defeat of Mr. Clay, and the consequent condemnation of his measures, was complete and overwhelming. He received but forty-nine votes out of a totality of two hundred and eighty-eight! And this result is not to be attributed, as done by Mons. de Tocqueville, to military fame. General Jack-Virginia, and Mr. Henry Lee of Massachusetts: son was now a tried statesman, and great issues were made in his person, and discussed in every form of speech and writing, and in every forum, State, and federal-from the halls of Congress to township meetings-and his success was not only triumphant but progressive. His vote was a large increase upon the preceding one of 1828, as that itself had been upon the previous one of 1824. The result was hailed with general satisfaction, as settling questions of national disturbance, and leaving a clear field, as it was hoped, for future temperate and useful legislation. The vice-presidential election, also, had a point and a lesson in it. Besides concurring with General Jackson in his systems of policy, Mr. Van Buren had, in his own person, questions which concerned himself, and which went to his character as a fair and honorable man. He had been rejected by the Senate as minister to the court of Great Britain, under circumstances to give éclat to the rejection, being then at his post; and on accusations of prosti

a dereliction not to be accounted for upon any intelligible or consistent reason, seeing that the rival candidates held the opposite sides of the system of which the State complained, and that the success of one was to be its overthrow; of the other, to be its confirmation. This circumstance, coupled with the nullification attitude which the State had assumed, gave significance to this separation from the other States in the matter of the election: a separation too marked not to be noted, and interpreted by current events too clearly to be misunderstood. Another circumstance attended this election, of a nature not of itself to command commemoration, but worthy to be remembered for the lesson it reads to all political parties founded upon one idea, and especially when that idea has nothing political in it; it was the anti-masonic vote of the State of Vermont, for Mr. Wirt, late United States Attorney-General, for President; and for Mr. Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania, for VicePresident. The cause of that vote was this:

some years before, a citizen of New-York, one and in the subdued style of a business paper. Mr. Morgan, a member of the Freemason fra- Of the foreign relations he was able to give a ternity, had disappeared, under circumstances good, and therefore, a brief account; and prowhich induced the belief that he had been secret-ceeding quickly to our domestic affairs gave to ly put to death, by order of the society, for di- each head of these concerns a succinct considevulging their secret. A great popular ferment ration. The state of the finances, and the pubgrew out of this belief, spreading into neighbor- lic debt, claimed his first attention. The reing States, with an outcry against all masons, ceipts from the customs were stated at twentyand ail secret societies, and a demand for their eight millions of dollars-from the lands at two suppression. Politicians embarked on this cur- millions—the payments on account of the pubrent; turned it into the field of elections, and lic debt at eighteen millions ;-and the balance made it potent in governing many. After ob- remaining to be paid at seven millions-to taining dominion over so many local and State which the current income would be more than elections, "anti-masonry," as the new enthusi- adequate notwithstanding an estimated reducasm was called, aspired to higher game, under- tion of three or four millions from the customs took to govern presidential candidates, subject-in consequence of reduced duties at the preceding them to interrogatories upon the point of their masonic faith; and eventually set up candidates of their own for these two high offices. The trial was made in the persons of Messrs. Wirt and Ellmaker, and resulted in giving them seven votes-the vote of Vermont alone-and, in showing the weakness of the party, and its consequent inutility as a political machine. The rest is soon told. Anti-masonry soon ceased to have a distinctive existence; died out, and, in its death, left a lesson to all political parties founded in one idea-especially when that idea has nothing political in it.

L

CHAPTER LXXIV.

FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT JACK-
SON AFTER HIS SECOND ELECTION.

THIS must have been an occasion of great and honest exultation to General Jackson-a reelection after a four years' trial of his administration, over an opposition so formidable, and after having assumed responsibilities so vast, and by a majority so triumphant-and his message directed to the same members, who, four months before, had been denouncing his measures, and consigning himself to popular condemnation. He doubtless enjoyed a feeling of elation when drawing up that message, and had a right to the enjoyment; but no symptom of that feeling appeared in the message itself, which, abstaining from all reference to the election, wholly confined itself to business topics,

ing session. He closed this head with the fol lowing view of the success of his administration in extinguishing a national debt, and his congratulations to Congress on the auspicious and rare event:

"I cannot too cordially congratulate Congress and my fellow-citizens on the near approach of that memorable and happy event, the extinction of the public debt of this great and free nation. Faithful to the wise and patriotic policy marked out by the legislation of the country for this object, the present administration has devoted to it all the means which a flourishing commerce has supplied, and a prudent economy preserved, for the public treasury. Within the four years for which the people have confided the executive power to my charge, fifty-eight millions of dollars will have been applied to the payment of the public debt. That this has been accomplished without stinting the expenditures for all other proper objects, will be seen by referring to the liberal provision made, during the same period, for the support and increase of our means of maritime and military defence, for internal improvements of a national character, for the removal and preservation of the Indians, and, lastly, for the gallant veterans of the Revo tion."

To the gratifying fact of the extinction of the debt, General Jackson wished to add the substantial benefit of release from the burthens which it imposed-an object desirable in itself, and to all the States, and particularly to those of the South, greatly dissatisfied with the burthens of the tariff, and with the large expendiditures which took place in other quarters of the Union. Sixteen millions of dollars, he stated to be the outlay of the federal government for all objects exclusive of the public debt; so that ten millions might be subject to reduction:

and this to be effected so as to retain a protecting duty in favor of the articles essential to our defence and comfort in time of war. On this point he said:

war.

of taxation under our impost system, have, in the progress of our government, for the lands they occupy, paid into the treasury a large proportion of forty millions of dollars, and, of the revenue received therefrom, but a small part has been expended amongst them. When, to the disadvantage of their situation in this re

labor alone which gives real value to the lands, and that the proceeds arising from their sale are distributed chiefly among States which had not originally any claim to them, and which have enjoyed the undivided emolument arising from the sale of their own lands, it cannot be expected that the new States will remain longer contented with the present policy, after the payment of the public debt. To avert the consequences which may be apprehended from this cause, to put an end for ever to all partial and interested legislation on the subject, and to afford to every American citizen of enterprise, the opportunity of securing an independent freehold, it seems to me, therefore, best to abandon the idea of raising a future revenue out of the public lands.”

"Those who take an enlarged view of the condition of our country, must be satisfied that the policy of protection must be ultimately lim-spect, we add the consideration that it is their ited to those articles of domestic manufacture which are indispensable to our safety in time of Within this scope, on a reasonable scale, it is recommended by every consideration of patriotism and duty, which will doubtless always secure to it a liberal and efficient support. But beyond this object, we have already seen the operation of the system productive of discontent. In some sections of the republic, its influence is deprecated as tending to concentrate wealth into a few hands, and as creating those germs of dependence and vice which, in other countries, have characterized the existence of monopolies, and proved so destructive of liberty and the general good. A large portion of the people, in one section of the republic, declares it not only inexpedient on these grounds, but as disturbing the equal relations of property by legislation, and therefore unconstitutional and unjust."

These are the grounds upon which the members from the new States should unite and stand. The Indian title has been extinguished On the subject of the public lands his recommendations were brief and clear, and embraced within their limits; the federal title should be the subject at the two great points which dis- extinguished also. A stream of agriculturists tinguish the statesman's view from that of a is constantly pouring into their bosom-many mere politician. He looked at them under the of them without the means of purchasing land great aspect of settlement and cultivation, and—and to all of them the whole of their means the release of the new States from the presence of a great foreign landholder within their limits. The sale of the salable parts to actual settlers at what they cost the United States, and the cession of the unsold parts within a reasonable time to the States in which they lie, was his wise recommendation; and thus expressed:

"It seems to me to be our true policy that the public lands shall cease, as soon as practicable, to be a source of revenue, and that they be sold to settlers in limited parcels, at a price barely sufficient to reimburse to the United States the expense of the present system, and the cost arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of accurate surveys and undoubted titles, now secured to purchasers, seem to forbid the abolition of the present system. because none can be substituted which will

more perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable, however, that, in convenient time, this machinery be withdrawn from the States, and that the right of soil, and the future disposition of it, be surrendered to the States, respectively, in which it lies.

"The adventurous and hardy population of the West, besides contributing their equal share

needed in its improvement and cultivation. Donations then, or sales at barely reimbursing prices, is the wise policy of the government; and a day should be fixed by Congress in every State (regulated by the quantity of public land within its limits), after which the surrender of

the remainder should take effect within the State; and the whole federal machinery for the sale of the lands be withdrawn from it. In thus filling the new States and Territories with independent landholders-with men having a stake in the soil-the federal government would itself be receiving, and that for ever, the two things of which every government has need, namely, perennial revenue, and military service. The cultivation of the lands would bring in wellregulated revenue through the course of circulation, and, what Mr. Burke calls, "the political secretions of the State." Their population would be a perpetual army for the service of the country when needed. It is the true and original defence of nations-the incitement and reward for defence-a freehold, and arms to de

fend it. It is a source of defence which preceded standing armies, and should supersede them; and pre-eminently belongs to a republic, and above all to the republic of the United States, so abounding in the means of creating these defenders, and needing them so much. To say nothing of nearer domains, there is the broad expanse from the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean, all needing settlers and defenders. Cover it with freeholders, and you have all the defenders that are required-all that interior savages, or exterior foreigners, could ever render necessary to appear in arms. In a mere military point of view, and as assuring the cheap and efficient defence of the nation, our border, and our distant public territory, should be promptly covered with freehold settlers.

On the subject of the removal of the Indians, the message said:

were, however, rejected, and thus the position of these Indians remains unchanged, as do the views communicated in my message to the Senate, of February 22, 1831."

The President does not mention the obstacles

which delayed the humane policy of transferring the Indian tribes to the west of the Mississippi, nor allude to the causes which prevented the remaining Cherokees in Georgia from accepting the liberal terms offered them, and joining the emigrated portion of their tribe on the Arkansas; but these obstacles and causes were known to the public, and the knowledge of them was carried into the parliamentary, the legislative, and the judicial history of the country. These removals were seized upon by party spirit as soon as General Jackson took up the policy of his predecessors, and undertook to complete what they had began. His injustice and tyranny to the Indians became a theme of political party "I am happy to inform you, that the wise and humane policy of transferring from the vituperation; and the South, and Georgia espeeastern to the western side of the Mississippi, cially, a new battle-field for political warfare. the remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their The extension of her laws and jurisdiction over own consent, and upon just terms, has been the part of her territory still inhabited by a part steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its of the Cherokees, was the signal for concentrating consummation. By reference to the report of the Secretary of War, and to the documents upon that theatre the sympathies, and the interfersubmitted with it, you will see the progress ence of politicians and of missionaries. Congress which has been made since your last session in was appealed to; and refused the intervention the arrangement of the various matters connected of its authority. The Supreme Court was applied with our Indian relations. With one exception, every subject involving any question of conflict- to to stay, by an injunction, the operation of the ing jurisdiction, or of peculiar difficulty, has been laws of Georgia on the Indian part of the State; happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently and refused the application, for want of jurisgains ground among the Indians, that their re-diction of the question. It was applied to to bring moval to the country assigned by the United States for their permanent residence, furnishes the only hope of their ultimate prosperity.

the case of the missionaries before itself, and did so, reversing the judgment of the Georgia State "With that portion of the Cherokees, how- Court, and pronouncing one of its own; which ever, living within the State of Georgia, it has was disregarded. It was applied to to reverse been found impracticable, as yet, to make a the judgment in the case of Tassells, and the writ satisfactory adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint, and to of error was issued to bring up the case; and bring to a termination the difficulties in which on the day appointed Tassells was hanged. The they are involved, that I directed the very liberal missionaries were released as soon as they ceased propositions to be made to them which accom- their appeals to the Supreme Court, and addresspany the documents herewith submitted. They cannot but have seen in these offers the evidence ed themselves to the Governor of Georgia, to of the strongest disposition, on the part of the whom belonged the pardoning power; and the government, to deal justly and liberally with correspondence and communications which took them. An ample indemnity was offered for their

present possessions, a liberal provision for their place between themselves and Governor Lumpfuture support and improvement, and full security kin showed that they were emissaries, as well for their private and political rights. Whatever as missionaries, and acting a prescribed part for difference of opinion may have prevailed respect- the "good of the country "-as they expressed ing the just claims of these people, there will it. They came from the North, and returned to probably be none respecting the liberality of the

propositions, and very little respecting the ex- it as soon as released. All Georgia was outraged, pediency of their immediate acceptance. They and justly, at this political interference in her

affairs, and this intrusive philanthropy in behalf consciousness that, if searched, something would of Indians to whom she gave the same protection be found worse than any thing charged. The as to her own citizens, and at these attempts, only circumstance mentioned by the President so repeatedly made to bring her before the Su- to countenance suspicion was the conduct of the preme Court. Her governors (Troup, Gilmer, bank in relation to the payment of five millions and Lumpkin,) to whom it successively belonged of the three per cent. stock, ordered to have been to represent the rights and dignity of the State, paid at the bank in the October preceding (and did so with firmness and moderation; and, in where the money, according to its returns, was the end, all her objects were attained, and the in deposit); and instead of paying which the interference and intrusion ceased; and the issue bank secretly sent an agent to London to obtain of the presidential election rebuked the political delay from the creditors for six, nine and twelve and ecclesiastical intermeddlers in her affairs. months; and even to purchase a part of the stock on its account-which was done and in clear violation of its charter (which forbids the institution to traffic in the stocks of the United States). This delay, with the insufficient and illegal reason given for it (for no reason could be legal or sufficient while admitting the money to be in her hands, and that which the bank gave related to the cholera, and the ever-ready excuse of accommodation to the public), could only be accounted for from an inability to produce the funds; in other words, that while her returns to the treasury admitted she had the money, the state of her vaults showed that she had it not. This view was further confirmed by her attempt to get a virtual loan to meet the payment, if delay could not be obtained, or the stock purchased, in the application to the London house of the Barings to draw upon it for the amount uncovered by delay or by purchase.

A passage in the message startled the friends of the Bank of the United States, and, in fact, took the public by surprise. It was an intimation of the insolvency of the bank, and of the insecurity of the public deposits therein; and a recommendation to have the affairs of the institution thoroughly investigated. It was in these terms:

"Such measures as are within the reach of the Secretary of the Treasury have been taken to enable him to judge whether the public deposits in that institution may be regarded as entirely safe; but as his limited power may prove inadequate to this object, I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress, under the firm belief that it is worthy their serious investigation. An inquiry into the transactions of the institution, embracing the branches as well as the principal bank, seems called for by the credit which is given throughout the country to many serious charges impeaching its character, and which, if true, may justly excite the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of the money of the people."

This recommendation gave rise to proceedings in Congress, which will be noted in their proper place. The intimation of insolvency was received with scorn by the friends of the great corporation-with incredulity by the massesand with a belief that it was true only by the few who closely observed the signs of the times, and by those who confided in the sagacity and provident foresight of Jackson (by no means inconsiderable either in number or judgment). For my own part I had not suspicioned insolvency when I commenced my opposition to the renewed charter; and was only brought to that suspicion, and in fact, conviction, by seeing the flagrant manner in which the institution resisted investigation, when proposed under circumstances which rendered it obligatory to its honor; nd which could only be so resisted from a

But the salient passage in the message-the one which gave it a new and broad emphasis in the public mind-was the part which related to the attitude of South Carolina. The proceedings of that State had now reached a point which commanded the attention of all America, and could not be overlooked in the President's message. Organized opposition, and forcible resistance to the laws, took their open form; and brought up the question of the governmental enforcement of these laws, or submission to their violation. The question made a crisis; and the President thus brought the subject before Congress:

"It is my painful duty to state, that, in one quarter of the United States, opposition to the revenue laws has risen to a height which threatens to thwart their execution, if not to endanger the integrity of the Union. Whatever obstructions may be thrown in the way of the judicial authorities of the general government, it is hoped they will be able, peaceably, to over