The Greater Republic Part 26

Calhoun ranks among the foremost of American statesmen, and as the champion of the South his place is far above any who appeared before or who have come after him. As a speaker, he was logical, clear, and always deeply in earnest. Daniel Webster said of him: "He had the indisputable basis of all high character--unspotted integrity and honor unimpeached.

Nothing groveling, low, or meanly selfish came near his head or his heart."

HENRY CLAY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY CLAY. (1777-1852).]

Henry Clay was born April 12, 1777, in the "Slashes," Virginia. He studied law, and at the age of twenty removed to Kentucky, which is proud to claim the honor of having been his home and in reality his State. His great ability and winning manners made him popular everywhere. He served in the Kentucky Legislature, and, before he was thirty years old, was elected to the United States Senate, of which he was a member from 1806 to 1807. He soon became recognized as the foremost champion of the cause of internal improvements and of the tariff measures, known as the "American System." His speakership of the Kentucky a.s.sembly, his term as United States senator again, 1809-11, and as a member of the House of Representatives in 1811, followed rapidly.

Against precedent, being a newcomer, he was chosen Speaker, and served until his resignation in 1814. He was as strenuous an advocate of the war with Great Britain as Calhoun, and it has been stated that he was one of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Ghent in 1814. The following year he was again elected to the House of Representatives, and acted without a break as Speaker until 1821. He was the most powerful advocate of the recognition of the Spanish-American States in revolt, and but for Clay the Missouri Compromise would not have been prepared and adopted.

Absent but a brief time from Congress, he again acted as Speaker in 1823-25. President Adams appointed him his secretary of State, and he retired from office in 1829, but two years later entered the Senate from Kentucky. For the following twenty years he was the leader of the Whig party, opposed Jackson in the bank controversy, and secured the tariff compromise of 1833 and the settlement with France in 1835. He retired from the Senate in 1843, his nomination for the presidency following a year later. Once more he entered the Senate, in 1849, and brought about the great compromise of 1850. He died June 29, 1852.

Clay's vain struggle for the presidency is told in the succeeding chapter. It seems strange that while he was indisputably the most popular man in the United States, he was not able to secure the great prize. The American Congress never knew a more brilliant debater, nor did the public ever listen to a more magnetic orator. His various compromise measures in the interest of the Union were beyond the attainment of any other man. His fame rests above that which any office can confer. His friends idolized and his opponents respected him. A strong political enemy once refused an introduction to him on the ground that he could not withstand the magnetism of a personal acquaintance which had won "other good haters" to his side. John C. Breckinridge, his political adversary, in his funeral oration, said: "If I were to write his epitaph, I would inscribe as the highest eulogy on the stone which shall mark his resting-place, 'Here lies a man who was in the public service for fifty years and never attempted to deceive his countrymen.'"

DANIEL WEBSTER.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DANIEL WEBSTER. (1782-1852).]

Daniel Webster was born January 18, 1782, at Salisbury, New Hampshire, and died October 24, 1852. He was educated at Exeter Academy and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801. After teaching school a short time in Maine, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and began practice at Boscawen, in his native State. Two years afterward, he removed to Portsmouth, where he speedily became a leader at the bar and served in Congress from 1813 to 1817. At that time he was a moderate Federalist. He settled in Boston in 1818, and a.s.sumed a front rank among lawyers by his argument before the United States Supreme Court in the celebrated "Dartmouth College Case," which involved the obligation of contracts and the powers of the national government. He was congressman from Ma.s.sachusetts from 1823 to 1827, was chairman of the judiciary committee, and attracted great attention by his speeches on Greece, then struggling for independence, and his pleas in favor of free trade.

Webster's fame as an eloquent orator was already established. As such, he was the greatest that America ever produced, and many claim that he surpa.s.sed any who spoke the English tongue. Among his masterpieces were his speeches at Plymouth, 1820, on the bi-centennial; at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument, 1825; and his eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 1826.

When he entered the United States Senate in 1827, he immediately took rank beside the giants, Calhoun and Clay. He was an advocate of the protective tariff of 1823, and in 1830 reached the highest point of thrilling and eloquent logic in his reply to Robert Young Hayne, of South Carolina, who a.s.serted that any State had the right to disobey such laws of Congress as she deemed unconst.i.tutional. Webster's speech is a cla.s.sic, never surpa.s.sed in its way, and the debate won for him the proud t.i.tle of "Expounder of the Const.i.tution."

Naturally Webster opposed nullification, and he and Calhoun had many earnest contests worthy of two such masters of logic. W.H. Harrison appointed him his secretary of State, and he remained with Tyler until 1843. In 1845, he was again sent to the United States Senate, but in 1850 he alienated many of his former supporters by his speech in favor of Clay's compromise measures, He was secretary of State in 1850-52, and his death called out more addresses and testimonials than any other since that of Washington.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1836.

The following was the electoral vote cast in 1836: Martin Van Buren, of New York, Democrat, 170; William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, Whig, 73; Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, Whig, 26; Daniel Webster, of Ma.s.sachusetts, Whig, 14; Willie P. Mangum, of North Carolina, Whig, 11. For Vice-President, Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, Democrat, 147; Francis Granger, of New York, Whig, 77; John Tyler, of Virginia, Whig, 47; William Smith, of Alabama, Democrat, 23. The vote for Johnson as Vice-President was not sufficient to elect him, but he was chosen by the House of Representatives.

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

Martin Van Buren, eighth President, was born December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, N.Y., and died July 24, 1862. He became eminent as a lawyer, and his skill as a Democratic politician caused him to be known as the "Little Magician." He held a number of public offices, being State senator, United States senator, 1821-28; governor of New York, 1828-29; and secretary of State under Jackson, 1829-31, when Jackson appointed him minister to England, but his political opponents secured his defeat in the Senate. Becoming Vice-President under Jackson, he presided in the Senate from 1833 to 1837. Jackson was so pleased with Van Buren that he chose him as his successor. He was the Free Soil candidate for the presidency in 1848, and thereby brought about the defeat of Ca.s.s by Taylor.

The administration of Van Buren was one of the most unpopular we have ever had, and through no fault of his. A great deal of the prosperity of Jackson's term was superficial. He had been despotic, as shown in his removal of the United States Bank deposits and the issue of the specie circular of 1836. Confusion ensued in business, and an era of wild speculation followed a distribution of the surplus in the treasury among the States. The credit system took the place of the cash system, banks sprang up like mushrooms, and an immense amount of irredeemable money was put in circulation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARTIN VAN BUREN.

(1782-1862.) One term, 1837-1841.]

These inst.i.tutions were known as "wild-cat banks," and their method of defrauding the public was as follows: They bought several hundred thousands of cheap bills which, having cost them practically nothing, they used in offering higher prices for public lands than others could pay in gold and silver. They trusted to chance that their bills would not soon come back for redemption, but if they did so, the banks "failed" and the holders of the notes lost every dollar.

The fraud was a deliberate one, but the establishment of the national banking law since then renders a repet.i.tion of the swindle impossible.

THE PANIC OF 1837.

Van Buren was hardly inaugurated when the panic of 1837 burst upon the country. The banks were forced to suspend specie payment, many failed, and mercantile houses that had weathered other financial storms toppled over like tenpins. In two months the failures in New York and New Orleans amounted to $150,000,000. Early in May, a deputation of New York merchants and bankers called upon the President and asked him to put off the collection of duties on imported goods, to rescind the specie circular, and convene Congress in the hope of devising measures for relief. All that the President consented to do was to defer the collection of duties. Immediately the banks in New York suspended specie payments, and their example was followed by others throughout the country. The New York Legislature then authorized the suspension of specie payments for a year. This left the national government without the means of paying its own obligations (since no banks would return its deposits in specie) except by using the third installment of the surplus revenue that had been promised to the States.

The country was threatened with financial ruin, and Congress convened in September. The President in his message proposed the establishment of an independent treasury for the custody of the public funds, and their total separation from banking inst.i.tutions. Such a bill failed, but it became a law in 1840. Congress, however, obtained temporary relief by authorizing the issue of $10,000,000 in treasury notes.

The fact remained, however, that the country was rich, and though much distress prevailed, the financial stress began to lessen as more healthy methods of business were adopted. In 1838 most of the banks resumed specie payments, but the effect of the panic was felt for years. Since the distress occurred while Van Buren was President, the blame was placed by many upon the administration.

At that time the present Dominion of Canada was divided into two provinces, known as Upper and Lower Canada. Dissatisfaction with some of the features of Great Britain's rule caused a rebellion in Lower Canada in 1837. Much sympathy was felt for them in this country, and especially in New York, from which a force of 700 men seized and fortified Navy Island, in Niagara River. There were plenty of loyalists in Canada, who made an attempt to capture the place, but failed. On the night of December 29, 1837, they impetuously attacked the supply steamer _Caroline_, killed twelve of the defenders, set the boat on fire, and sent it over Niagara Falls.

President Van Buren issued a proclamation forbidding all interference in the affairs of Canada, and General Wool was sent to the frontier with a military force strong enough to compel obedience. He obliged the insurgents on Navy Island to surrender and pledge themselves to refrain from all unlawful acts. These vigorous measures soon brought quiet to the border, and England's wise policy toward the disaffected provinces has made Canada one of her most loyal provinces.

The population of the United States in 1840 was 17,649,453, further evidence of the real prosperity of the country. Railroad building went on vigorously, there being fully 4,000 miles in operation at the close of Van Buren's term.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1840.

The following was the presidential vote of 1840: William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, Whig, 234; Martin Van Buren, 70. For Vice-President, John Tyler, 234; E.M. Johnson, 48; L.W. Tazewell, of Virginia, Democrat, 11; James K. Polk, of Tennessee, Democrat, 1.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. (1773-1841.) One month, 1841.]

William Henry Harrison, ninth President, was born February 9, 1773, in Virginia, and was the son of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and afterward governor of Virginia. The son graduated from Hampden-Sidney College, and took up the study of medicine, but was fond of military matters, and, entering the army of St. Clair, he displayed great bravery and skill. He helped General Wayne win his victory over the Indians in 1794, and was rapidly promoted. He became secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1798, and the following year was made delegate to Congress. In 1800, he was appointed governor of Indiana Territory, and was acting as such when he won his decisive victory at Tippecanoe, in the autumn of 1811. An account has been given of his brilliant services in the War of 1812.

He attained the rank of major-general in the regular army, but resigned in 1814. He was congressman from 1816 to 1819, United States senator from 1825 to 1828, and United States minister to the United States of Columbia, 1828-29.

President Harrison wore no hat or overcoat while delivering his inaugural. Although accustomed to the hardships of the frontier, and naturally one of the most rugged of men, he was now old and weak in body. His imprudence, added to the annoyance from the clamorous office-seekers, drove him frantic. He succ.u.mbed to pneumonia and died on the 4th of April, just one month after his inauguration. He was the first President to die in office, and an immense concourse attended his funeral, his remains being interred near North Bend, Ohio.

JOHN TYLER.

As provided by the Const.i.tution, the Vice-President, John Tyler, was immediately sworn into office as his successor. Like many of his predecessors, John Tyler was a native of Virginia, where he was born March 29, 1790. He possessed great natural ability and was a practicing lawyer at the age of nineteen, and a member of the State Legislature at twenty-one. When thirty-five, he was chosen governor of Virginia, and was a United States senator from 1827 to 1836.

Since he was the first President not elected to the office, there was considerable discussion among the politicians as to his precise _status_. It was contended by some that he was chief executive "in trust," and was therefore bound to carry out the policy of his immediate predecessor. Tyler insisted that he was as much the President, in every respect, as if he had been elected by the people to that office, and in this insistence he was unquestionably right.

Tyler quickly involved himself in trouble with the Whigs. They pa.s.sed an act to re-establish the United States Bank, whose charter expired in 1836, though it had continued in operation under the authority of the State of Pennsylvania. President Tyler vetoed the bill. He suggested some modifications, and it was pa.s.sed again, but to the indignant amazement of his party he vetoed it a second time. He was declared a traitor and widely denounced. All his cabinet resigned, with the exception of Daniel Webster, who, as stated elsewhere, remained until 1843, in order to complete an important treaty with England then under negotiation.

THE WEBSTER-ASHBURTON TREATY.

This was known as the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. Our northeastern boundary was loosely defined by the treaty of 1783, and it was finally agreed by Great Britain and the United States to refer the questions in dispute to three commissions to be jointly const.i.tuted by the two countries. The first of these awarded the islands in Pa.s.samaquoddy Bay to the United States; the third established the boundary line from the intersection of the forty-fifth parallel with the St. Lawrence to the western point of Lake Huron. It remained for the second commission to determine the boundary from the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence. The question was a bone of contention for many years, and at last was referred to Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton. These two gentlemen met in a spirit of fairness, calmly discussed the matter, and without the slightest friction reached an agreement, which was signed August 9, 1842, and confirmed by the Senate.

CIVIL WAR IN RHODE ISLAND.

Rhode Island had been governed down to 1842 by the charter received from Charles II., in 1663. This charter permitted only the owners of a certain amount of property to vote. Dissatisfaction gradually grew until 1842, when two political parties were formed in the little State, one favoring a new const.i.tution and the other clinging to the old. The former carried the Legislature, after adopting a State const.i.tution, and elected Thomas W. Dorr governor. Their opponents elected Samuel W. King, and both placed armed forces in the field. When civil war was imminent, the national government interfered and Dorr's forces were dispersed without bloodshed. Dorr was arrested, and on his trial found guilty of treason. He was sentenced to imprisonment for life, but offered liberty on condition of taking the oath of allegiance. He refused, and, in June, 1845, was unconditionally released. Meanwhile, the general dissatisfaction with the colonial charter led to the calling of a convention, which adopted a new const.i.tution, that went into effect in May, 1843.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN TYLER. (1790-1862.) One partial term, 1841-1845.]