Chapter 6 of 48 · 3912 words · ~20 min read

Part 6

Adams was attacked also because of his liberal views on the questions of protection and public improvements, although Jackson had sustained nearly or quite the same views by his votes in Congress. Adams had no trained political leaders; his Cabinet was divided even on the question of supporting himself, and the ideal statesmanship that Adams worshipped was not calculated to school and equip great politicians. Chiefly through the efforts of Martin Van Buren the supporters of Crawford were brought into the support of Jackson, a feat that was probably not difficult from the fact that Clay, the Secretary of State under Adams, was not friendly with Crawford.

The Congressional caucus was not thought of, and Adams became a candidate to succeed himself by resolutions of Legislatures and mass-meetings. Calhoun, who was the Vice-President under Adams, was accepted by the friends of Jackson and received nearly as large an electoral vote as his chief. It was a contest between the dignified statesmanship of that day and the Democratic element of the country. Adams was accepted as the National Republican candidate and Jackson was supported under the flags of Republican Democracy, and in some sections of Democracy alone. It was this contest and the success of Jackson that crystallized the Republican party of Jefferson into the Democratic party that then had the ablest political leaders of the nation.

The friends of Adams seem to have been confident of his re-election, and a majority of the States chose their electors by popular vote. It was a battle between the Democratic hero of New Orleans, the friend of the people, and the aristocratic power of the Republic. With Jackson’s great prestige and Adams’s feebleness in resources to support himself in the great contest before the people, it is not surprising that Jackson was elected by a very large popular and electoral majority. The following is the popular vote where a direct vote was had in the several States between Jackson and Adams:

══════════════════╤══════════╤═══════════════ STATES. │ Jackson. │ Adams. ──────────────────┼──────────┼─────────────── Maine[8] │ 13,927 │ 20,733 New Hampshire │ 20,922 │ 24,134 Vermont │ 8,350 │ 25,363 Massachusetts │ 6,016 │ 29,876 Rhode Island │ 821 │ 2,754 Connecticut │ 4,448 │ 13,838 New York[8] │ 140,763 │ 135,413 New Jersey │ 21,951 │ 23,764 Pennsylvania │ 101,652 │ 50,848 Delaware[9] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Maryland[8] │ 24,565 │ 25,527 Virginia │ 26,752 │ 12,101 North Carolina │ 37,857 │ 13,918 South Carolina[9] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Georgia[9] │ 19,363 │ No opposition. Alabama[9] │ 17,138 │ 1,938 Mississippi[9] │ 6,772 │ 1,581 Louisiana[9] │ 4,603 │ 4,076 Kentucky[9] │ 39,397 │ 31,460 Tennessee[8] │ 44,293 │ 2,240 Missouri │ 8,272 │ 3,400 Ohio │ 67,597 │ 63,396 Indiana │ 22,257 │ 17,052 Illinois │ 9,560 │ 4,662 ├──────────┼─────────────── Totals │ 647,276 │ 508,064 ══════════════════╧══════════╧═══════════════

[8] Chosen by districts.

[9] By Legislature.

The majority for Jackson was so decisive both in popular and electoral votes that the verdict was accepted by the country, and the vote was counted and declared by Congress without any incident worthy of note. The following table presents the vote in detail for President and Vice-President in the Electoral College:

═══════ │ STATES. ────── Maine │ New Hampshire │ Vermont Massachusetts │ Rhode Island │ Connecticut │ New York │ New Jersey │ Pennsylvania │ Delaware │ Maryland │ Virginia │ North Carolina│ South Carolina│ Georgia │ Alabama │ Mississippi │ Louisiana │ Kentucky │ Tennessee │ Ohio Indiana │ Illinois │ Missouri │ Totals ══════ ═══════╤════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════════════════════════════ PRESIDENT. ║ VICE-PRESIDENT. ├───────────────┬────────────╫──────────────┬─────────────┬────────────── │Andrew Jackson,│John Quincy ║ John C. │Richard Rush,│William Smith, │ Tenn. │Adams, Mass.║Calhoun, S. C.│ Penn. │ S. C. ────────┼───────────────┼────────────╫──────────────┼─────────────┼────────────── 1 │ 8 ║ 1 │ 8 │ ―― ―― │ 8 ║ ―― │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 ║ ―― │ 7 │ ―― ―― │ 15 ║ ―― │ 15 │ ―― ―― │ 4 ║ ―― │ 4 │ ―― ―― │ 8 ║ ―― │ 8 │ ―― 20 │ 16 ║ 20 │ 16 │ ―― ―― │ 8 ║ ―― │ 8 │ ―― 28 │ ―― ║ 28 │ ―― │ ―― ―― │ 3 ║ ―― │ 3 │ ―― 5 │ 6 ║ 5 │ 6 │ ―― 24 │ ―― ║ 24 │ ―― │ ―― 15 │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― 11 │ ―― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ―― 9 │ ―― ║ 2 │ ―― │ 7 5 │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― 3 │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― 5 │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― 14 │ ―― ║ 14 │ ―― │ ―― 11 │ ―― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ―― │ 16 │ ―― ║ 16 │ ―― │ ―― 5 │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― 3 │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― 3 │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― ├───────────────┼────────────╫──────────────┼─────────────┼────────────── │ 178 │ 83 ║ 171 │ 83 │ 7 ════════╧═══════════════╧════════════╩══════════════╧═════════════╧══════════════

The campaign of 1832 resulting in the triumphant re-election of Jackson developed a more confused condition of politics in the nation than had ever been presented. The Federal party was dead, and did not even pretend to maintain its organization in any of the States. The Republican party was divided between the National Republicans and the Democratic Republicans, who followed Jackson, and finally adopted the flag of Democracy. Jackson’s first administration had been anything but a peaceful one. An open quarrel had broken out between Jackson and Vice-President Calhoun, and Jackson was not only a good hater, but a good fighter. He was largely influenced by Van Buren, who was his Secretary of State, and who was one of the most sagacious political managers of his day. He aimed to succeed Jackson as President by having the Jackson administration enlisted in his favor, and his first step toward that end was to overthrow Calhoun, and Jackson emphasized his hostility to Calhoun by dictating the nomination of Van Buren for Vice-President.

A considerable number of prominent old Republicans who had supported Jackson had become alienated from him because of the intensely partisan qualities of his administration and because of his aggressive interference in the Cabinet scandal resulting from Mrs. Eaton’s social ambition as the wife of a Cabinet minister. Scandals were multiplied in Washington about the Jackson Kitchen Cabinet, of which Amos Kendall was regarded as the chief, but with all the disturbance in the National Capitol, the people of the country were sturdy in their devotion to Jackson, as was proved by his large majority, both in popular and electoral votes, over Clay, who was confessedly the ablest leader of the opposition.

This contest brings us to the introduction of the National Convention. The first political national convention held in this country was called to meet in Philadelphia in September, 1830, by a number of prominent anti-Masonic leaders. The anti-Mason party had sprung up suddenly and attained great power in the North, as it was the only outlet for the old Federalists, most of whom were in sympathy with the opposition of the new party to Masonic and all other secret societies.

The death of William Morgan, who, it was claimed, had been murdered by the Masons for revealing the secrets of the order, was most dramatically presented in the political organs of the day, and the new party speedily absorbed most of the opposition elements to the Democracy in the Northern States. The anti-Masonic national convention that met in Philadelphia in 1830 was presided over by Francis Granger, of New York, and was composed of 96 delegates, representing New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, and the Territory of Michigan. This convention was held more than two years before the Presidential election, for which it was expected to nominate candidates for President, but instead of making nominations, it adjourned to meet in Baltimore in September, 1831, when it had 112 delegates, with Indiana and Ohio added to the States presented. John C. Spencer was its president, and William Wirt, of Maryland, was nominated for President, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. Instead of passing a platform, as is now common, the convention issued an elaborate address to the people of the Union.

This action of the anti-Masons was followed by the National Republicans, who met in national convention at Baltimore, on December 12, 1831, with 17 States, represented by 157 delegates. Henry Clay was nominated for President and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. No platform was adopted by this convention, but it followed the anti-Masons by issuing an address to the people of the country in which it was stated that “the political history of the Union for the last three years exhibits a series of measures plainly dictated in all their principal features by blind cupidity or vindictive party spirit, marked throughout by a disregard of good policy, justice, and every high and generous sentiment, and terminating in a dissolution of the Cabinet under circumstances more discreditable than any of the kind to be met with in the annals of the civilized world.”

The Democrats followed the anti-Masons and National Republicans by calling a National Democratic convention, to meet in Baltimore in May, 1832, to nominate a candidate for Vice-President. Jackson was so universally accepted as the candidate of the Democrats for re-election that the convention was not allowed to make a nomination for the first office, but a resolution was passed declaring that the convention “cordially concurred in the repeated nominations that General Jackson had received in various parts of the country for re-election as President.” The convention adopted the two-thirds rule that has prevailed in every Democratic convention from that day until the present time, requiring that “two-thirds of the whole number of the votes in the convention shall be necessary to constitute a choice.”

Van Buren was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 208 votes to 26 for Richard M. Johnson and 49 for Philip P. Barbour. No platform of principles was adopted, nor was an address issued by the convention to the people, but a resolution was passed declaring that “in place of a general address from this body” the delegations should address their respective constituents on the political issues of the day.

Never were two candidates presented for the first office of the nation who so widely differed in their chief qualities. Jackson was a clear-headed man of rugged intellect, of inflexible purpose, a relentless opponent and a devoted friend, while Clay was the most magnetic of all the popular leaders this country has ever produced. No one before or since Clay’s time has approached him in that peculiar quality but James G. Blaine. The hero-worship of Jackson was earnest and always aggressive when summoned to battle, but Clay was beloved and idolized beyond that accorded to any leader of any party in the history of the Republic. He was a most brilliant orator, imposing in presence and gifted in every grace that attracted the multitude, and he was imperious as Cæsar in his leadership. His friends battled for him with matchless enthusiasm, but Jackson was so strongly entrenched in the confidence of the masses that he won an easy victory over the Sage of Ashland.

The contest was one of unusual violence and defamation, and it was doubtless aggravated by the personal enmity that existed between Jackson and Clay. The veto of the bill rechartering the Bank of the United States had greatly disturbed financial circles, and it was believed in the early part of the struggle that the financial and business interests of the country would endanger Jackson’s success, but the popular prejudice against banks in that day was so great that Jackson largely profited by the open opposition of his former supporters who were interested in maintaining a national financial institution. The anti-Masonic electoral ticket was adopted by the National Republicans in several of the States, and it is specially shown in the popular vote of Vermont, where Clay appears to have carried the State, and yet the electoral vote was given to William Wirt, the anti-Masonic candidate. Had it been possible for the electoral vote of that State to elect Clay President, it would have been cast for him.

The number of electors had been enlarged by the new apportionment, and Delaware had provided for the choice of electors by a popular vote, leaving South Carolina as the only State to appoint electors by the Legislature. That State continued the system of the legislative choice of electors without interruption until the civil war of 1861. Several of the States also abandoned the election of delegates by the district system, Maryland alone adhering to it. In Alabama there was no electoral ticket opposed to Jackson, and the popular vote is not attainable. Georgia was also without an anti-Jackson electoral ticket, while Missouri, that was friendly to Clay in 1824, seems to have made no battle for him against Jackson. The following is the popular vote, as nearly as it can be ascertained:

═══════════════╤══════════╤════════ STATES. │ Jackson. │ Clay. ───────────────┼──────────┼──────── Maine │ 33,291 │ 27,204 New Hampshire │ 25,486 │ 19,010 Vermont │ 7,870 │ 11,152 Massachusetts │ 14,545 │ 33,003 Rhode Island │ 2,126 │ 2,810 Connecticut │ 11,269 │ 17,755 New York │ 168,497 │ 154,896 New Jersey │ 23,856 │ 23,393 Pennsylvania │ 90,983 │ 56,716 Delaware │ 4,110 │ 4,276 Maryland │ 19,156 │ 19,160 Virginia │ 33,609 │ 11,451 North Carolina │ 24,862 │ 4,563 South Carolina │ ――――――― │ ――――――― Georgia │ 20,750 │ ――――――― Alabama │ ――――――― │ ――――――― Mississippi │ 5,919 │ ――――――― Louisiana │ 4,049 │ 2,528 Kentucky │ 36,247 │ 43,396 Tennessee │ 28,740 │ 1,436 Missouri │ 5,192 │ ――――――― Ohio │ 81,246 │ 76,539 Indiana │ 31,552 │ 15,472 Illinois │ 14,147 │ 5,429 ├──────────┼──────── Totals │ 687,502 │ 530,189 ═══════════════╧══════════╧════════

There was some ragged voting for President and much more for Vice-President. Jackson received 219 votes in the Electoral College to 49 for Clay, 11 for Floyd, and 7 for Wirt, given by Vermont, and which would have gone to Clay had they been needed. South Carolina, under the influence of Calhoun, refused to vote for either Jackson or Van Buren, but cast the electoral vote for John Floyd, of Virginia, for President, and for Henry Lee, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. Van Buren was not acceptable to all the friends of Jackson, as the Pennsylvania Democratic Convention positively instructed the electors to vote for William Wilkins for Vice-President, which instructions were obeyed in the Electoral College, and a convention of Jackson men had been held in June, in Charlottesville, Va., and nominated P. P. Barbour, of that State, for the Vice-Presidency, with Jackson for President. A like convention was held, composed of delegates from a number of counties in North Carolina, in which Jackson and Barbour were nominated, but Barbour did not reach the dignity of support in the Electoral College.

There were no disputes as to the return of the electoral colleges, and the vote was declared by Congress as follows:

═══════════════╤═════════════════════════════╦═════════════════════════════════════════════ │ PRESIDENT. ║ VICE-PRESIDENT. ├────────┬─────┬──────┬───────╫──────────┬─────────┬────────┬─────┬───────── STATES. │ Andrew │Henry│John │William║ Martin │ John │William │Henry│ Amos │Jackson,│Clay,│Floyd,│ Wirt, ║Van Buren,│Sergeant,│Wilkins,│Lee, │Ellmaker, │ Tenn. │ Ky. │ Va. │ Md. ║ N. Y. │ Penn. │ Penn. │Mass.│ Penn. ───────────────┼────────┼─────┼──────┼───────╫──────────┼─────────┼────────┼─────┼───────── Maine │ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― New Hampshire │ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Vermont │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 ║ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 7 Massachusetts │ ―― │ 14 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 14 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Rhode Island │ ―― │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Connecticut │ ―― │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― New York │ 42 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 42 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― New Jersey │ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Pennsylvania │ 30 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 30 │ ―― │ ―― Delaware │ ―― │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Maryland │ 3 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― ║ 3 │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Virginia │ 23 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 23 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― North Carolina │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― South Carolina │ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ―― ║ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ―― Georgia │ 11 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Alabama │ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Mississippi │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Louisiana │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Kentucky │ ―― │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Tennessee │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Ohio │ 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Indiana │ 9 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 9 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Illinois │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Missouri │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ├────────┼─────┼──────┼───────╫──────────┼─────────┼────────┼─────┼───────── Totals │ 219 │ 49 │ 11 │ 7 ║ 189 │ 49 │ 30 │ 11 │ 7 ═══════════════╧════════╧═════╧══════╧═══════╩══════════╧═════════╧════════╧═════╧═════════

Jackson’s second administration was even more tempestuous than the first. His nullification proclamation that convulsed the country from centre to circumference, and the first “pocket veto” in the history of the country by which he had killed the Land bill, were among the later acts of his first administration, and entered very largely into the bitterness of political dispute that continued during his second term. Both were denounced as violent usurpations, and it is doubtful whether any but Andrew Jackson could have made the record he left on both of those vital issues.

He had vetoed the recharter of the United States Bank during his first term, and supplemented that hostility to the institution early in his second term by the removal of the Government deposits from the bank. His Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Duane, resolutely opposed the removal of the deposits, but Jackson would not brook opposition, and in order to carry out his new financial policy, he accepted Duane’s resignation and appointed Roger B. Taney, who was in accord with the President, and who was finally rewarded by his promotion to the Chief Justiceship of the United States.

He had devoted followers in Congress; he was absolute master of Congressional action during his second term, and he was heartily supported by the great mass of the people, a very large portion of whom regarded him as the model patriot and the infallible political oracle of the nation. They loved his courage and his pugnacity, and as he always was the winner, they had every inspiration to rejoice over the triumphs of their devotedly worshipped leader.

Strange as it may seem, the first evidence of the weakness of Jackson’s popular strength was exhibited in his own State of Tennessee, where Hugh L. White, a Senator from that State, was nominated to succeed Jackson as President by the Tennessee Legislature. Jackson was much disturbed by it. When the question was before the Legislatures of Alabama and Tennessee, copies of the Washington _Globe_, the organ of the administration, containing severe assaults upon Senator White, were franked to the members of those Legislatures by the President himself; but notwithstanding all Jackson’s efforts to make Van Buren his successor, Tennessee voted for Judge White by 10,000 majority.

Upon his retirement from the Presidency in 1837, he imitated Washington by a farewell address to the American people, that was received by a large majority as second in reverence only to the farewell address of Washington. His health was feeble when his stormy eight years of Presidential rule were ended, and after the inauguration of Van Buren he retired to “The Hermitage,” his home, near Nashville, in Tennessee, where he died on the 8th of June, 1845.

THE VAN BUREN-HARRISON CONTEST

1836

The national contest of 1836 that made Martin Van Buren President gave birth to a new political organization known as the Whig party. The opposition to Jackson agreed only in opposing Jackson, but it was not possible to unite on any national policy. The strongest organized element of the opposition was the anti-Masonic party, that was very powerful in the North, but among the opponents of Jackson were many who, like Mr. Clay, were Masons of high degree, and they could not act with a political party that made anti-Masonry one of the cardinal principles of its faith.

[Illustration: MARTIN VAN BUREN]

The National Republican party practically perished with the defeat of Clay in 1832, and a very large majority of its members were not in sympathy with the anti-Masons. These conditions led to the organization of the Whig party in 1834, and it gradually absorbed all the old National Republicans, Federalists, anti-Masons, and all the other varied forms of opposition to Jackson. Its name and its declaration of principles were declared by a number of leading men in 1834, and it gradually developed in strength until it was the leading factor in the support of Harrison in 1836, and won the election of Harrison by an overwhelming majority of both the popular and electoral votes in 1840. The Whig party maintained itself as one of the ablest political organizations the country has ever had, but it was much more noted for its conservative restraints upon the Democrats than for the successful establishment of its policy in the administration of the Government. It elected two Presidents, Harrison and Taylor, but neither seriously impressed the policy of the Whig party upon the nation. It practically perished in 1852, when it made its last great battle for General Scott for President, and carried but four States.

As the contest of 1836 was approached the various elements of opposition to Jackson felt confident that they could poll a majority of the popular vote, but there was no possibility of their uniting upon any one candidate without suffering great loss in their popular following. It was decided, therefore, that instead of attempting to unite the opposition to Jackson on one candidate, they would support several candidates who were particularly strong in their respective localities, with the hope that a majority of the electors might thus be chosen who would unite in the election of the strongest of the opposition candidates.