The Greater Republic Part 25

JACKSON'S FIGHT WITH THE UNITED STATES BANK.

One of the President's unbearable aversions was the United States Bank.

He believed that its strength had been exerted against him, and in his first message to Congress, in December, 1829, he charged that it had failed to establish a uniform and sound currency and that its existence was contrary to the spirit of the Const.i.tution. Its charter would expire in 1836, and Congress pa.s.sed an act renewing it for fifteen years.

Jackson vetoed the measure, and the two-thirds majority necessary to pa.s.s it again could not be obtained.

By law the deposits of the bank were subject to the secretary of the treasury, who could not remove them without giving Congress his reasons for the step. Jackson ordered his secretary to remove the deposits, and when he very properly refused, the President removed him. He made Roger B. Taney, afterward chief justice of the United States, his new secretary of the treasury, and that pliable official promptly transferred the deposits to certain banks that had been selected.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1832.

Although the fight caused much excitement, and the action of Jackson was bitterly denounced, it added to his popularity, as was proven in the presidential election of 1832, when the following electoral vote was cast: Andrew Jackson, 219; Henry Clay, of Kentucky, National Republican, 49; John Floyd, of Georgia, Independent, 11; William Wirt, of Maryland, Anti-Masonic, 7. For Vice-President, Martin Van Buren, Democrat, of New York, received 189 votes; John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, National Republican, 49; Henry Lee, of Ma.s.sachusetts, Independent, 11; Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, Anti-Masonic, 7; William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, Democrat, 30. On the popular vote, Jackson had more than a hundred thousand in excess of all the others in a total of one million and a quarter. It was a great triumph for "Old Hickory."

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAMUEL HOUSTON.

One of "Old Hickory's" volunteers, afterward famous in the Texan War for Independence.

(1793-1863).]

It rarely happens in the history of any country that the government finds itself in the possession of more money than it wants. It became clear, however, that not only would the public debt soon be paid, but a surplus would accrue. In view of this certainty, Henry Clay secured the pa.s.sage of a bill in 1832, which reduced the tariff, except where such reduction came in conflict with home labor. Several years later, the surplus, amounting to $28,000,000, was divided among the States.

BLACK HAWK WAR.

In the year named occurred the Black Hawk War. The tribes known as the Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes lived in the Territory of Wisconsin. The Sacs and Foxes made a treaty with the United States in 1830, by which they ceded all their lands in Illinois to the government. When the time arrived for them to leave, they refused, and the governor called out a military force to compel them to remove beyond the Mississippi. Black Hawk, a famous chieftain of the Sacs, left, but returned at the head of a thousand warriors, gathered from the tribes named, and began a savage attack upon the settlements. The peril was so grave that the government sent troops under Generals Scott and Atkinson to Rock Island. On the way thither, cholera, which had never before appeared in this country, broke out among the troops and raged so violently that operations for a time were brought to a standstill.

When Atkinson was able to do so, he pushed on, defeated the Indians, and captured Black Hawk. He was taken to Washington, where he had a long talk with President Jackson, who gave him good advice, and induced him to sign a new treaty providing for the removal of his people to the Indian Territory. Then Black Hawk was carried on a tour through the country, and was so impressed by its greatness that, when he returned to his people, he gave no more trouble. It is worth remembering that both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln served in the Black Hawk War.

NULLIFICATION MEASURES IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

South Carolina had long been soured over the tariff measures, which, while they helped the prosperity of other sections of the Union, were oppressive to her, because there were no manufactures carried on within her borders. When Congress, in the spring of 1832, imposed additional duties, she was so angered that she called a convention in November, at which her governor presided. The new tariff was declared unconst.i.tutional, and therefore null and void, and notice was given that any attempt to collect the duties would be resisted by South Carolina, which, unless her demands were granted, would withdraw from the Union and establish herself as an independent government. Other States endorsed her action and the situation became serious.

President Jackson hated the tariff as much as South Carolina, but his love for the Union was unquenchable, and, having sworn to enforce the laws, he was determined to do it in the face of any and all opposition.

Because Vice-President Calhoun sided with his native State, Jackson threatened to arrest him. Calhoun resigned, went home, and was elected United States senator.

President Jackson issued a warning proclamation on the 10th of December, but South Carolina continued her war preparations, and the President sent General Scott, with the sloop-of-war _Natchez_, to Charleston, with orders to strengthen the garrison in the harbor. Scott displayed great discretion, and won the good-will of the citizens by his forbearance and courtesy. The other Southern States condemned the rash course of South Carolina, within which gradually appeared quite a number of supporters of the Union. Then Clay introduced a bill in Congress, which became law, providing for a gradual reduction of duties until the 30th of June, 1842, when they were to reach a general level of twenty per cent.

Calhoun, now a member of the Senate, supported the compromise, and the threatened civil war pa.s.sed away for the time.

SECOND SEMINOLE WAR.

Trouble once more broke out with the Seminoles of Florida. The aggravation, already referred to, continued. Runaway slaves found safe refuge in the swamps of the State and intermarried with the Indians. A treaty, known as that of Payne's Landing, was signed in May, 1832, by which a number of chiefs visited the country a.s.signed to the Creeks, it being agreed that, if they found it satisfactory, the Seminoles should remove thither. They reported in its favor, but the other leaders, incensed at their action, killed several of them, and declared, probably with truth, that they did not represent the sentiment of their people, and doubtless had been influenced by the whites to make their report.

The famous Osceola expressed his opinion of the treaty by driving his hunting-knife through it and the top of the table on which it lay.

It being clear that the Seminoles had no intention of going west, President Jackson sent General Wiley Thompson to Florida with a military force to drive them out. The Indians secured a delay until the spring of 1835, under the promise to leave at that time; but when the date arrived, they refused to a man. Osceola was so defiant in an interview with General Thompson that the latter put him in irons and held him prisoner for a couple of days. Then the chief promised to comply with the terms of the treaty and was released. He had not the slightest intention, however, of keeping his promise, but was resolved to be revenged upon Thompson for the indignity he had put upon him.

In the month of December, 1835, while Thompson and a party of friends were dining near Fort King, with the windows raised, because of the mildness of the day, Osceola and a party of his warriors stole up and fired a volley through the windows, which killed Thompson and four of his companions. Before the garrison of the fort could do anything, the Seminoles had fled.

DADE'S Ma.s.sACRE.

On the same day of this tragical occurrence, Major Francis L. Dade set out with 140 mounted men to the relief of General Clinch, stationed at Fort Drane, in the interior of Florida, where he was threatened with ma.s.sacre. Dade advanced from Fort Brooke at the head of Tampa Bay, and was not far on the road when he was fired upon by the Indians from ambush. Half the men were killed, including Major Dade. The remainder hastily fortified themselves, but were attacked in such overwhelming numbers that every man was shot down. Two wounded soldiers crawled into the woods, but afterward died. "Dade's Ma.s.sacre" caused as profound a sensation throughout the country as did that of Custer and his command forty years later.

The Seminole War dragged on for years. General Scott commanded for a time in 1836, and vigorously pressed a campaign in the autumn of that year; but when he turned over the command, in the spring of 1837, to General Zachary Taylor, the conquest of the Seminoles seemingly was as far off as ever. Taylor attempted to use a number of Cuban bloodhounds for tracking the mongrels into the swamps, but the dogs refused to take the trail of the red men, and the experiment (widely denounced in the North) was a failure.

In October, while Osceola and a number of warriors were holding a conference with General Jessup under the protection of a flag of truce, all were made prisoners, and Osceola was sent to Charleston, and died in Fort Moultrie in 1838. The war dragged on until 1842, when General Worth, after it had cost $40,000,000 and many lives, brought it to an end by destroying the crops of the Seminoles and leaving to them the choice between starvation and submission.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OSCEOLA'S INDIGNATION.]

GREAT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMFORTS OF LIFE.

The steam locomotive, of which we have given a brief history, came into general use during the presidency of General Jackson. When he left office 1,500 miles of railway had been built, and many more were being laid in different parts of the country. It wrought a social revolution by bringing all parts of the country into close communication, making settlement easy and the cost of moving crops slight. Anthracite coal was tested in 1837, and, because of its great advantages, was soon widely used. McCormick's reaper was patented in 1834, and gave an enormous impetus to the cultivation of western lands. In the early days fire was obtained by the use of flint and steel or the sun-gla.s.s. Friction matches appeared in 1836, and quickly supplanted the clumsy method that had been employed for centuries.

On the night of December 16, 1835, New York City was visited by the most destructive fire in its history. The weather was so cold that the volunteer fire department could do little to check the conflagration, which destroyed 648 buildings, covering seventeen blocks and thirteen acres of ground. The value of the property lost was $20,000,000.

THE COUNTRY IN 1830.

The population of the United States in 1830 was 12,866,020, and the postoffices, which in 1790 numbered only 75, had grown to 8,450. The sales of the western lands had increased from $100,000 to $25,000,000 a year, a fact which explains the rapid extinguishment of the public debt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WESTERN RAILROAD IN EARLIER DAYS.]

Two States were admitted to the Union, Arkansas in 1836 and Michigan in 1837. The former was a part of the Louisiana purchase, and was originally settled by the French at Arkansas Post, in 1635. Michigan was the fourth State formed from the Northwest Territory, and was first settled by the French at Detroit in 1701.

Abolitionism a.s.sumed definite form in 1831, when William Lloyd Garrison, in his Boston paper, _The Liberator_, demanded the immediate abolition of slavery. Anti-slavery societies were organized in different parts of the country and the members became known as abolitionists. The South was incensed by the agitation, which reached its culmination in the great Civil War of 1861-65.

FRANCE AND PORTUGAL FORCED TO TERMS.

President Jackson impressed his personality upon everything with which he came in contact. We had been pressing a suit against France for the injuries she inflicted upon our commerce during the flurry of 1798, but that country was so laggard in paying that the President recommended to Congress that enough French vessels should be captured to pay the bill.

France flared up and threatened war unless Jackson apologized. A dozen wars would not have moved him to recall his words. England, however, mediated, and France paid the debt. Portugal took the hint and lost no time in settling a similar account with us.

President Jackson, imitating Washington, issued a farewell address to his countrymen. It was well written and patriotic; but his last official act, which was characteristic of him, displeased many of his friends.

The speculation in western lands had a.s.sumed such proportions that the treasury department, in July, 1836, sent out a circular ordering the collectors of the public revenues to receive only gold and silver in payment. This circular caused so much confusion and trouble that, at the beginning of 1837, Congress modified it so that it would have given great relief. Jackson held the bill in his possession until the adjournment of Congress, and thus prevented its becoming a law.

The stormy years of Jackson's presidency brought into prominence three of the greatest of Americans. All, at different times, were members of the United States Senate, where their genius overshadowed those who under other circ.u.mstances would have attracted national attention. These men were John Caldwell Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster.

JOHN C. CALHOUN.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN C. CALHOUN. (1782-1850).]

The first named was born near Abbeville, South Carolina, March 18, 1782, and, graduating at Yale, studied law and early developed fine qualities of statesmanship. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1811, and became at once the leader of the younger element of the Democratic party. He was a vehement advocate of the war with Great Britain, and, in 1817, was appointed secretary of war under Monroe, serving to the close of his presidency. It has been shown that he was elected Vice-President with Adams. Elected again with Jackson, the two became uncompromising opponents, and he resigned in 1832, immediately entering the Senate, where he was accepted as the leader of the "State rights" men.

His services as senator were interrupted for a short time when, in 1844-45, he acted as secretary of State in Tyler's administration. He was determined to secure the admission of Texas and by his vigor did so, in the face of a strong opposition in the North. He re-entered the Senate and resumed his leadership of the extreme southern wing of the Democratic party. He died in Washington, March 31, 1850, while Clay's compromise measures were pending.