(Ed's Note: Some presidential history coinciding with the arrival of Joseph Resch and his family in America, 1833. Andrew Jackson may have been our seventh president, but he was first in many ways. He was the first populist president who did not come from the aristocracy, he was the first to have his vice-president resign ( John C. Calhoun), he was the first to marry a divorcee, he was the first to be nominated at a national convention (his second term), the first to use an informal "Kitchen Cabinet" of advisers, and the first president to use the "pocket veto" to kill a congressional bill (legislation fails to become law if Congress adjourns and the president has not signed the bill in question). Jackson is a Democrat, which as time moves on, will be the party the Resch family supports as American citizens. As you read this essay, you will see that the politics of yesterday were no less volatile and dynamic as they are today. Jackson displayed great leadership in many of his endeavors, even ones which had significant negative results for the Nation. His policy which eliminated the Bank of the U. S. had significant effects on the expansion of the economy which led to the Panic of 1837. He stood up to the secessionist threats of the South and put them in place for awhile. )
The 1828 presidential election was one of the dirtiest ever, and Jackson believed, with some reason, that his wife Rachel was driven to an early grave by charges of immorality.
All of Jackson's high-handed actions as General were brought up. One notable example was the "Coffin Handbill" featuring pictures of 6 coffins, and describing one-sidedly the story of some soldiers that Jackson had court-martialed and executed. Naturally, Jackson's record of dueling made good print for the opposition.
The most remarkable thing about the Jackson's side though was an unprecedented level of political organization. The new democratic organization kept in close correspondence, built a network of party newspapers, and created all sorts of spectacles, parades and identifying devices.
Symbols of "Old Hickory" were everywhere. Large hickory poles erected in town squares or smaller ones attached to signs, steeples, and fore and aft on steam boats. In New York there was a parade a mile long. Hickory brooms also stood for 'Hickory' sweeping out the filth of corruption.
A different sort of campaigning went on in congress, where Jackson supporters played to the Northeastern manufacturing interests by passing high protective tariffs. Jackson favored tariffs for raising revenue, if kept within fairly modest bounds, as well as to protect industries vital to the country's defense. Jackson walked a thin line on this matter, saying he was for a "judicious tariff" and getting some ridicule for this.
The South was adamantly anti-tariff, and prominent South Carolinians were on the verge of proclaiming a right to "Nullify" offensive national laws, with a threat of succession if Washington intervened by force.
Yet they supported Jackson. Why? Southerners must have seen Jackson as the least of two evils against the Adams-Clay alliance. And Adams was the very stereotype of New England with its disdain for the slave states and the poorly educated South and West. The Democrats also expected Vice President Calhoun from South Carolina to wield great influence. Calhoun was secretly very deeply involved with the most extreme anti-tariff men, the "Nullifiers".
During the campaign, Jackson was mostly out of sight, as was thought proper for a presidential candidate. He was very much involved in the running of the campaign, corresponding with hundreds of local Jackson committees. He did appear at a New Orleans celebration of his victory over the British - the largest public demonstration ever in the US, and unsurpassed for many years.
On election day, in some places, Jackson men marched en masse to the polls, in a celebratory parade. An astonishing fact is that the number of voters counted nearly quadrupled over 1824. Four of the 24 states, including New York, took away property requirements for voting, so that basically all white males could vote. In addition, Jackson was saying "Vote for us if you believe the people should govern". In other words, Democrat meant just what the word implied. Adams' words about not being "palsied by our constituents" certainly reinforced this message.
In December, it had become obvious that Jackson won the election in a landslide. The count was 178 to 83 electoral votes, or 647,276 to 508,064 in the popular vote.
Then tragedy struck. Rachel Jackson had heart pains all through 1828. She seemed to lose much of her will to live from what she knew of the vicious press attacks. One exceptionally bad attack, lead to a sharp decline, and death in a matter of days. Supposedly the attack was brought on by shock over a certain political pamphlet, causing her to collapse in hysterics. She died on December 23.
After a month of seclusion, on January 18, Jackson began a three week trip to Washington. He was dressed in mourning, a 'weeper' of black crepe around his tall hat and hanging down his back. He was greeted by huge throngs of cheering people the whole way, and he slipped by the crowd near Washington to avoid the crush.
Washington's rooming houses were filled well beyond their normal capacity. Daniel Webster said people came from 500 miles away and seemed to think that the country had been "rescued from some dreadful danger".
The inaugural address was one of the shortest in history. An eminent South Carolinian called it "chaste patriotic ... and dignified", while the Democratic press said it "breathes throughout the pure spirit of republicanism of the Jefferson school". Jackson was praised for his stately composed dignity and elegant bearing. Even Daniel Webster had earlier called Jackson the most "presidential" looking of the presidential aspirants.
The inaugural reception was a riotous affair with thousands attending, and Jackson in need of protection against being crushed to death. Several thousand dollars worth of china and glassware were smashed and finally, to draw the crowd outside, it was necessary to bring the tubs of punch and other refreshments outside. The Argus of Western America said "It was a proud day for the people, General Jackson is their own president", and the Argus called him "plain in his dress, ... unaffected and familiar in his manners...".
It takes a rare man to be seen as "stately and elegant", and at the same time be seen by poor frontier farmers as "one of the people". That was much of the attraction of Andrew Jackson.
The personal make up of Jackson's cabinet was a problem from the start. Vice President John C. Calhoun was intensely ambitious at this stage of his career. He had done much to overthrow Adams, such as setting up Duff Green's Telegraph, the strongest national party organ seen up to the time. It is thought that there was some sort of agreement for Jackson to serve one term, and then support Calhoun for 1832.
Calhoun was feeling his influence wane, and his future threatened. The Secretary of State, that stepping-stone to the presidency did not go to Calhoun's ally Virginian Littleton W. Tazewell, as Calhoun wished. Instead it went to Martin Van Buren - as much a Northerner as Adams, also ambitious, and with a reputation for being a political "Magician", or the "Red Fox of Kinderhook".
Meanwhile, Calhoun's political orientation was changing. Before he had been a strong nationalist, but now he was leaning towards the most extreme states rights partisans - the Nullifiers.
He was the anonymous author of South Carolina's Exposition and Protest, a lawyerly argument claiming the state had a right, under some circumstances, to declare a federal law null and to disregard it. This proclamation, aimed at the recent tariff bill, was the opening act of the Nullification Crisis. While Calhoun's partisanship was hidden, Jackson's total opposition to such measures was as yet unknown, and he too was seen as a states righter.
Then there was the old business of Calhoun, in 1818, being among those calling for Major General Jackson's disciplining for seizing the Spanish territory of Florida. Robert V. Remini argues persuasively that Jackson was encouraged in this by President Monroe, through broad but indirect hints. Thus Monroe got a fait accompli that lead to Florida's incorporation as a U.S. territory. Jackson, meanwhile "took the heat" when Henry Clay and others had Jackson called before Congress, and Monroe remained silent.
Jackson chose John Eaton as secretary of War - and old and close friend who had done much to get Jackson elected. Eaton had a problem; he had recently married a young widow in "unseemly haste" after the suicide of her husband, John Timberlake. Timberlake was an officer in the navy, away from home for months or years at a time. Peggy was the daughter of a Washington innkeeper, constantly in contact with men, pretty, lively and forward (offensively so at times). She had had much contact with Eaton, a lawyer who had aided her in that capacity, and who also, with Jackson, stayed at O'Neils when in Washington.
Some believed (and some still believe) Timberlake had killed herself over his wife's infidelity. She was said to have been Eaton's mistress, and in some versions to have carried on affairs with many men, or to have borne children by Eaton. The truth of the matter may never be known.
Washington was quite a small society with elaborate social rituals of one party "calling on" another, and it being a clear insult not to reciprocate. Mrs. Eaton was socially boycotted, with Mrs. Calhoun playing the leading role. Was this a simple matter of aristocratic ladies resenting an "innkeeper's daughter", and perhaps a "loose woman" being put down in the middle of their society?
Calhoun pleaded the principal that women governed such social matters and he could not, as a gentleman, intervene. This is accepted by Calhoun's biographer, Margaret L. Coit, but doubted by the Jackson scholar Remini. Why would Calhoun have sought to drive Eaton out of the cabinet?
Calhoun had actively sought the presidency since 1820, and looked to have a controlling influence in Jackson's cabinet. The Age of Jackson (Arthur M. Schlesinger 1945) says that except for Van Buren and the "negligible" Postmaster General, Eaton was the only cabinet member not for Calhoun in '32. So, the thesis goes, Calhoun attacked Eaton in his weak spot.
Why should any good have come out of this for Calhoun? With his years in the Senate and 12 years in presidential administrations, he may have seen Jackson - the political newcomer as a man to be easily manipulated. It was Calhoun who had established the Democratic party organ, which wrote matter-of-factly of Calhoun succeeding Jackson in '32.
Calhoun may have felt some superiority too, over keeping Jackson in the dark for 10 years as to his role in the uproar over Jackson's actions in Florida, while seeing Jackson maintain an undignified enmity towards others over the old affair. He may have believed the struggle was between him and Van Buren over the "management" of Jackson.
The way in which this all worked out has given rise to another popular theory, which is that Van Buren was the master manipulator behind it all. Van Buren had no wife who would have to chose sides in the war over who to admit in "society". So he could and did give dinners and parties to which Mrs. Eaton was invited. A couple of unmarried foreign ambassadors did likewise, through the Secretary of State's friendly persuasion. This all put the New Yorker in good stead with the president.
Jackson was quite incensed over the slandering of another innocent female, as he saw it, much as his wife had been slandered and driven to her grave (even Jackson's mother was called a "common prostitute" in the campaign).
The onetime frontier brawler and Indian fighter Jackson, and the smooth operating New Yorker Van Buren, were growing very close. They understood each other. It took little time for Van Buren to see Jackson's political ability and excellent judgment in most matters. He did not dream of "managing" Jackson, or soon abandoned the idea.
Parallel with all this, went the beginnings of confrontation with the South Carolina Nullifiers, and the open break with Calhoun, arising from the Florida business.
The Exposition and Protest, of which Calhoun was the secret author, was delivered to the Senate by South Carolina's senators Robert Y. Hayne and William Smith, and their names were thus included in the preamble of the document.
In January 1829, a famous debate took place in the Senate between Hayne and Daniel Webster. Webster's Second Reply to Hayne was for decades the most celebrated speech in American history, used by schoolboys for practice in declamation.
Webster's "First Reply" maneuvered Hayne into a full-blown defense of the nullification doctrine, and his second reply was a massive rebuttal of it, ending with the melodramatic "I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder ...(nor) to hang over the precipice of disunion to see whether ... I can fathom the depth of the abyss below ... When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood."
In other words, he drew the conclusion, as many did, that nullification meant ultimate disunion and/or civil war. Certainly the land was to be drenched one day with "fraternal blood".
On April 13, 1830, Jackson cleared up any doubts as to where he stood. This was at an annual celebration of Jefferson's birthday given by those who considered themselves his political heirs. Those with states rights, nullification, and anti-tariff sentiments planned to make it a rally for their beliefs. Jackson, attended and, after listening to many toasts by the nullifiers, rose and proclaimed: "Our Union: It must be preserved".
Calhoun made clear their differences with: "The Union, Next to our liberty, the most dear. May we always remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the states and distributing equally the benefits and burdens of the Union."
The nullification agitation continued in South Carolina, though without any landmark events for the next two years, until Congress passed a new tariff act, signed by Jackson on July 14, 1832.
Meanwhile, the differences between Jackson and Calhoun took on a more personal (or seemingly personal) note. As said before, Calhoun, in Monroe's cabinet, strongly opposed Jackson's seizure of Florida from the Spanish. Furthermore, Jackson assumed at the time Calhoun, the Secretary of War, had supported him, and Calhoun had let the impression stand whether he said anything to promote it or not.
On May 12, 1830, soon after the Jefferson Dinner confrontation, William Crawford, whom Jackson largely blamed for his censure over Florida, got papers into the hand of Jackson that proved Calhoun had proposed Jackson's arrest and punishment over the Florida affair.
Jackson was determined by this time that the nullifier Calhoun should not succeed him, and this, which probably only confirmed Jackson's suspicions on the Florida affair, provided a means to way to challenge Calhoun.
Jackson sent the Florida correspondence to Calhoun with a note harshly demanding an explanation.
Calhoun responded in a 52 page letter which began "I cannot recognize the right on your part to call into question my behavior". He implied Jackson was being manipulated by others against Calhoun, as if Jackson were politically naive. The letter heavily implied that Calhoun would soon reveal to the public a conspiracy against him headed no doubt by Van Buren.
The Telegraph, long regarded as the administration's voice, had become a liability, being more loyal to Calhoun than to Jackson. It had even given the impression of Jackson as agreeable with the nullifiers.
So, by December 1830, Jackson, with the aid of his "kitchen cabinet" of private advisors, imported Francis P. Blair from Kentucky to launch The Globe, a purely Jackson newspaper.
On February 17, Calhoun took the self-destructive step of publishing via the Telegraph his recent correspondence with Jackson, with text that implied that it was part of a plot against him headed by Van Buren. It brought out into the open all the embarrassing feuds that had been going on in the cabinet, putting the administration up to ridicule.
On February 21, the new Globe labeled Calhoun's diatribe "a firebrand wantonly thrown into the [Democratic] party". It greatly lowered, rather than raising, Calhoun's public esteem, and Jackson concluded "[Green and Calhoun] have cut their own throats and destroyed themselves in a shorter space of time than any two men I ever know".
With Calhoun self mutilated, Van Buren could afford to be out of the public eye. Indeed it was the only thing for him, as much of the public would otherwise see him, in his Secretary of State position, as the triumphant manipulator - just as Calhoun claimed, and the party would be split between Anti Calhoun and anti Van Buren wings.
Van Buren had been accompanying Jackson on his daily exercise rides (after first taking riding lessons). On such a ride, Van Buren says he suggested to Jackson the way out of his dilemma. Van Buren would resign, and the rest of the cabinet would be pressured to follow suit.
Jackson would be freed from the "Eaton Malaria", as some called the affair, yet give no satisfaction to the Calhoun allies, who would also have to leave. Nor would it look like a triumph of a Van Buren faction, which Congress would have rejected, but a neutral dissolution of an incompatible team.
The embarrassing Mr. Eaton, the troublesome Calhoun allies in the cabinet, and the perceived "magician" left the cabinet together.
The resignations took place in April 1831, followed by an ugly brawl in the Washington newspapers, which would have been worse were it not during Congress' adjournment. Ingham and Branch, two ousted Calhoun allies, labeled it all a plot by "the Magician", and broadcast to the world all the charges of promiscuity against Peggy Eaton. Eaton counterattacked and defended his wife's (and his own) honor. He also, after demanding and not getting "explanations" from Ingham, challenged him to a duel and, not given this "satisfaction" from Ingham, threatened and harassed Ingham until he left town.
Nothing like this decimation of a president's cabinet had happened before, and it was seen as a constitutional crisis. By weathering it Jackson set the precedent that a president could exercise such control over members of his cabinet. There was a sense for a while that the Jackson administration was destroyed, but it passed.
Jackson had his new cabinet in place (though unratified) when congress reconvened. The next year and a half were the most eventful of his eight years in power.
The last part of the 1828-29 session, from the time Jackson was Inaugurated, was largely a battle over Jackson's appointments. A major part of his platform was "rotation in office"; he saw a great deal of corruption in the official bureaucracy and threatened to root it out. This generated much fear among the officeholders, and the opposition tried to paint Jackson as a Robespierre instituting a reign of terror. In reality, he only turned about 10% of officeholders out of office, disappointing many of his supporters and still is "credited" with instituting the "spoils system" of rewarding ones political supporters with office.
So whether the appointments were due to a need to replace corrupt officials, or to reward ones party workers, the opposition worked hard at resisting them, and in many cases succeeded.
In 1829-30, there were two major legislative events. The Indian Removal Act forced many Indian tribes to resettle beyond the Mississippi. Jackson was very much behind this bill. It was a cruel measure which caused thousands of deaths by starvation and disease, either along the "Trail of Tears", or in the new territories which were sometimes barren, and an any event strange and unfamiliar territory to the resettled tribes. The best that can be said for Jackson is that the only viable alternative was to leave matters in the hands of the states, and that might not have produced any better result.
The other legislative event was major because of the precedent it set. Jackson vetoed a bill to build the "Maysville Road" to Maysville Kentucky, on the ground of its being a project to benefit only the state of Kentucky, and hence not a project for the national government. This was the first of Jackson's controversial vetoes.
The 1830-31 session of congress is not known for any major accomplishment. Part of the reason is, perhaps, that Calhoun's many followers were neither allied to the administration, nor ready to go into open rebellion. Also, Henry Clay, who could galvanize the opposition had gone into retirement when Adam's defeat ended his cabinet career.
All of this changed in the 31-32 session. Not only did Clay return to the Senate, but in December 1831 the National Republicans nominated him for the presidency. Andrew Jackson too, had a much stronger cabinet, free of bickering, which could help organize and promote his program.
Clay returned to the national spotlight feeling pessimistic about his chances against Jackson. His main hope seems to have been to bring a measure to Congress that would put the administration in an embarrassing position.
Early in this session, Clay proposed a modification of the tariff, lowering it, but leaving the protective elements in. This would have, by lowering revenues, have put off Jackson's intended repayment of the national debt by nearly a year. If Jackson vetoed it, he would disappoint the northern states, like Pennsylvania, whose votes he needed. If he approved it, with its strong affirmation of the protective principal; i.e. that the government was entitled to pass tariffs on imports, whose primary intent was to protect the American manufacturers of the same items, this would drive a very strong wedge between Jackson and all of his Southern supporters, who wanted freedom to choose between American (Northern) goods and European goods.
Unfortunately for Clay's chances, Congress passed a bill making a moderate reduction of both protective tariffs and pure revenue raising tariffs, which Jackson could sign without a total alienation of the South.
Jackson came to the presidency with a jaundiced view of banks in general, and especially the Second Bank of the United States (or "BUS"). This was a bank in private hands with a very special relationship with the government. The government used it as a repository for all its gold and silver, and the bank's bills were accepted as equivalent to gold for any payments to the government.
At this time there was no government issued paper money. Any bill of paper "money" was actually an I.O.U. from a particular bank "redeemable as specie"; specie meaning gold or silver. A puzzling question to the economic novice might be "Why wouldn't everyone convert any paper he had to gold or silver; certainly trusting a bank to redeem it some day had the disadvantage of uncertainty when compared to getting your gold or silver today. Banks did have crises of confidence leading at times to their collapse, or "suspension of payment" in specie.
However that may be, the existence of paper money has been credited with greatly increasing the amount of commerce that could go on. One example of how banking could greatly facilitate commerce is as follows: A farmer wants to buy a farm for $1000. While the farmer can't immediately produce $1000, the banker deems him a "good risk" i.e. concludes that, over time, he will be able to supply the $1000, and something additional ("interest") to make it worth while for the banker to risk his money. So the banker provides the man with a paper or papers that the bank warrants to be redeemable for the $1000, and the man signs a contract to return $1000 plus interest to the bank over time - which the proceeds of the farm will allow him to do. The consequence if he doesn't will be that land is forfeited to the banker.
As long as the bank enjoys trust, the papers supposed to be worth $1000 will be accepted by the former owner of the land, who may either save them, deposit them in a bank, or redeem them.
Had it been necessary for the farmer to carry a pile of gold to the seller, it is quite likely that the bank would not have had it on hand.
Perhaps what I'm saying is too obvious, or on the other hand, it may be largely wrong.
One function of the BUS, which most historians say it performed well (though Jackson didn't think so) was to maintain the stability of all the circulating currency. Under normal conditions it was believed, and the rule generally held good, that a bank should have immediate access to "specie" worth one fifth the value of the bills it put into circulation. This was thought, and generally proved, sufficient for the bank to be able to redeem the claims that would be made on it. In theory, everyone could try to redeem their bills on the same day so that even a "solid" bank, by these standards would be unable to fulfill its pledge, but under normal circumstances this did not happen. However, a bank that had immediate access to only a tenth or a twentieth of the specie value of its circulating bills was a real danger to itself and to its clients. The BUS would try to detect such situations in the making, and when detected, would buy up large quantities of the paper of the offending bank, and present them for redemption. Thus the bank which tried to lend far more money than it could reliably stand behind might be put in embarrassing straights which would stop them from such activities.
One result of this was that the bank had two kinds of enemies. One kind was exemplified by Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton; i.e. those who basically considered gold and silver the only legitimate form of currency. The other class of enemies were bankers, or their business partners, who were kept by the BUS from involvement in risky schemes (which they probably thought they were entitled to attempt).
There were also quite legitimate causes for concern about the BUS. It did enjoy an advantage over other banks; and for this, it paid little price of accountability to the government. Also, with its unaccountability and great money power, it could in effect bribe candidates or occupants in office, or buy newspapers to campaign for those friendly to its interests. When its existence was threatened, in the 1832 election year, it did these things on a large scale.
Jackson came into office believing that the bank, in its current form, was a menace and that something had to be done about it. Though bold when committed to a course, he did not, tend to rush into things. And there is good reason to suppose he might have only set out to constrain rather than destroy the bank, if the other side had shown a will to compromise.
For his second cabinet, he had even appointed Louis MacLane, who was pro bank, secretary of the treasury. And his message to Congress at the start of the 1831-2 was conciliatory. The opposition could not know this for sure though, and could well be supposed that Jackson considered war on the bank an unpopular issue, and meant merely to keep out of the debate until after the election, (almost surely his last) when he might, with perhaps even more allies in Congress, to kill the bank.
Clay considered the bank issue, if it could be made an issue, to be in his favor.
In 1836, the bank would die, or cease to be national bank, if not rechartered by congress. Clay, Webster, and others convinced Nicholas Biddle, the bank's President that it could be rechartered in 1832 with the present congress, and Jackson's need (so they though) to avoid the issue in order to be re-elected. But Clay and Webster indicated they could not be so sure of the recharter (and they might lose interest in the matter) if it were put off until after 1832.
If Jackson did veto the bill, he might lose the critical votes of Pennsylvania, the home of the bank, and other states with a strong commercial interest. Or, as Biddle might see it, as least bring in a veto proof majority in Congress for the bank.
Roger B. Taney, Jackson's Attorney General said "Now as I understand the application at the present time, it means in plain English this - the Banks says to the President, your next election is at hand - if you charter us, well - if not, beware of your power".
Probably this move, understood just as Taney put it, convinced Jackson that no compromise could be made with the bank.
An odd anti-Jackson combination was taking shape in Congress. The proponents of Tariffs and of the U.S. as a nation with national transportation projects, joined their most extreme ideological opponents, headed by Calhoun. The most extreme of these, including Calhoun, claimed a state's right to declare federal laws (especially tariffs) Null, and secede from the Union if the Union sought to force them to comply.
The first major act of these "strange bedfellows" was, in January 1832, the rejection of Martin Van Buren for Ambassador to Great Britain. He had been appointed in the congressional recess and served since the summer. He'd been a fine secretary of state. No one could doubt he was well qualified for the job. The action seemed like little more than the National Republican's indulgence of Calhoun's personal feud with Van Buren. In fact a tie vote was artificially contrived so that Calhoun could exercise the Vice-president's right of breaking such ties. This only made it easy for Jackson to have Van Buren, rather than Calhoun, as Vice President in his next term.
In January too, a formal proposal was made to recharter the bank. Administration forces in Congress did all they could to obstruct its passage, or buy time, while the administration press worked on public opinion. They launched an investigation into the bank, turning up much pressure exerted on journalists and politicians. In June the recharter bill passed both houses, and soon after, Jackson vetoed the bill, and accepted it as an election issue. When Van Buren returned from Europe, after several weeks of visiting following the news of his Senate rejection, he found a haggard Jackson declaring "The bank, Mr. Van Buren is trying to kill me but I will kill it".
The veto message was a stirring campaign document, one of the most powerful ever, though some have said it smacked of demagogy, or class warfare. Part of it went "...when the laws undertake to add to ... make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society - the farmers, mechanics, and laborers ... have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government". That is about as demagogic as it gets, and very mild indeed by modern standards.
The constitutional justification of the veto, contained in the message, is generally considered poor. Jackson was still hedging a bit, not quite asserting that the Constitution unconstitutionally gives the president the right to veto a bill. He was still rationalizing his veto on the grounds that he considered the Bank unconstitutional, despite the Supreme Court's ruling to the contrary. A modern president would avoid the issue of constitutionality as beside the point.
Biddle compared Jackson's veto message to "the fury of a chained panther biting at the bars of his cage ... a manifesto of anarchy, such as Marat or Robespierre might have issued to the mobs". And he and his allies were well satisfied that it would prove Jackson's undoing. This only proved how little they understood the electorate.
On September 26, 1831, the first national convention in American History nominated William Wirt for president under the banner of the Anti-Masonic Party. This strange and short lived party formed partly because of the apparent murder of William Morgan, an ex-mason, who had tried to publish the Masons' secret rituals, and denounced them.
Political Anti-Masonism may have also represented an attempt to harness the growing anti elitism, and as it happened, both major candidates for president were or had been high in the Masonic order. The Masons do seem to have been a kind of social network of great use to the climber in society. It did seem to many that politicians and judges who were Masons were letting alleged conspirators off easily.
The Anti-Mason candidate, Wirt was close in principals to Henry Clay, the National Republican candidate, and regretted having to run against Clay. The Anti-Masons, in fact, drew heavily from the ranks of National Republicans. Some Anti-Masonic and National Republican strategists felt the two parties needed each other to beat Jackson, and tried to get both parties to nominate the same man for president. Clay could have renounced the Masons and run with the Anti-Masonic party, as many did. Clay scorned the Anti-Masons, and would not approach them, though entertained some hopes that Wirt might send support his way.
The two parties remained separate, and the National Republicans nominated Clay for president in December. The Democratic party also held a convention almost half a year later, in May. They made Van Buren the Vice Presidential candidate, and Jackson's candidacy was taken for granted.
The Jackson Democrats continued to weld together a most impressive organization, and the Democratic press worked overtime to sway public opinion against the bank. They also continued the parades, glee clubs, Hickory pole raisins and other morale boosting ploys for the party. The bank reprinted and distributed speeches of Clay and Webster, and even Jackson's Veto Message, which they erroneously thought was bad for Jackson. The bank also used more or less outright bribery, such as loans to journalists and politicians. At any rate, newspapers, living on ads paid for by conservative businessmen, were 2/3 - 3/4 in favor of the bank.
In the end, Jackson won 55 percent of the popular vote, and 219 electoral votes to Clay's 49 and Wirt's 7. John Floyd of Virginia got South Carolina's 11 votes.
The tariff bill of 1832 disappointed the pro-tariff Henry Clay, but it also disappointed the anti-tariff Nullifiers. They had hoped that with their proclamation of the principal of Nullification, and the Vice President being the author of the principal, and Jackson's partial tendencies towards States rights -- Jackson and the Congress would go a long way in their direction. But the reduction of the tariff was too little, Calhoun was losing power, and Jackson, with his stance of "The Union must and will be preserved" was on his way to reelection.
On October 22 1832, the South Carolina legislature declared a convention on November 19, to decide whether the state would, according to Calhoun's formula, Nullify the new tariff. The convention did declare the law null in South Carolina, by a vote of 136 to 26.
Actually, they said the law will become "null", and "no law" after February 1, allowing two months to work out a compromise. The South Carolina legislature also took Robert Y. Hayne out of the Senate and made him governor, replacing a more radical nullifier, while Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency to replace Hayne in the Senate. This all suggests they were looking for a way out the tight spot they had put themselves in.
On December 11, 1832, Jackson published a proclamation giving strong constitutional arguments, written by the Secretary of State Livingston, "... I consider then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed".
It ended in a strong plea and threat which was mostly pure Jackson: "Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent [the execution of the laws] deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves... Their object is disunion. But be not deceived by names. Disunion by armed force is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful consequences; on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall the punishment. On your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict you force upon the Government of your country... I adjure you ... to retrace your steps."
Most of the nation responded to this with wild enthusiasm. Jackson claimed he could have 100,000 men on the side of the Union in a matter of weeks. Still, the South Carolina legislature authorized its Governor to call a draft, and appropriated $200,000 for arms. Jackson's actual military moves were on a fairly large scale, but careful, and calculated to avoid confrontation while negotiations went on.
Meanwhile a battle went on in Congress. Jackson was skillfully wielding threats and promises. On January 8, the administration submitted a bill, known as the Verplanck bill after one of Van Buren's allies, which cut the tariff in half over two years. On the 16th Jackson also sent to Congress the "Force Bill" (often called the "Bloody Bill"), to get Congressional approval for deploying the military to put down armed rebellion. It was another ringing Jacksonian propaganda document, and made Jackson the "first and only statesman of the early national period to deny publicly the right of succession (Remini, Life... p246)".
The Verplanck Bill was rejected by Nullifiers and Clay's pro-tariff men. Then came a move to save Calhoun's face and take credit away from Jackson. Clay stood up to propose a "Compromise bill", and was seconded by Calhoun. The bill was, in fact, much less of a tariff reduction (at least until nearly 10 years out) than the administration bill. Clay got a friend in the house to deftly swap his bill for the Verplanck bill and it was quickly passed, taking the administration by surprise. The Senate then passed this bill with the nullifiers perversely lending their support.
Meanwhile the Force Bill had passed in the Senate 32-1, with nearly all the nullifiers having walked out to avoid casting any vote. And on March 1, the Senate passed the "Compromise Tariff" and the House passed the Force Bill 149-48.
In South Carolina, with such face saving as the revised tariff gave them, the legislature rescinded the nullification proclamation against the tariff. They also declared the Force Bill to be null - a petty act since Jackson no longer had any need for a Force Bill.
On May 6, Jackson and his entourage embarked on a tour of the country, mostly in the Northeast, where pro Union sentiment was especially strong. He was greeted by huge cheering crowds wherever he went, and received an honorary Doctorate of Law from Harvard, to the disgust of John Quincy Adams. He finally had to cut the trip short due to "bleeding at the lungs", at least partly due to the bullet he had carried in his chest for more than 20 years.
Soon after, at this zenith of his popularity, Jackson set out the ensure the demise of the Second Bank of the United States. The Bank's money still gave it enormous power, and Nicholas Biddle was more desperate than ever to preserve the bank, as later events would show.
Jackson had already kicked his pro-bank Secretary of the Treasury, McLane, upstairs to the more prestigious State Department (Livingston was willingly made ambassador to France). McLane's replacement was William J. Duane, at first thought to be amenable to Jackson's bank position. He also said he would resign should he be unable to carry out the President's policy.
In the summer of 1833, Amos Kendall went on a trip around the country looking for banks into which the Federal banking deposits could be deposited should they be withdrawn from the BUS. While some banks were afraid of the BUS's vengeance, or refused on principle to accept the deposits, the trip proved that there were plenty of banks which would agree to hold government funds despite the BUS's wrath. When Jackson told Duane to begin transferring Federal deposits to other banks, however, Duane refused, and would not resign. Jackson dismissed Duane, and he left, establishing another Jackson precedent - the firing, without pretense of resignation, of a cabinet member.
Roger B. Taney then replaced Duane, a man who enthusiastically supported the destruction of the BUS. As the withdrawal of funds went forward, the bank began a severe tightening of funds, restricting loans, and calling in as many debts as it could. The opinion of Remini, Bowers and others is that this went far beyond anything justified by the reduction in the banks funds, and that the bank in fact deliberately engineered a panic. The panic was real, causing wide-spread loss of jobs, and grinding to a halt of industry.
At first, National Republicans accepted the panic as being caused by the withdrawal of bank funds. As it continued and deepened, the country became more polarized. It was in this period (in 1834) that the National Republicans assumed the name of Whigs, the name, since the 17th century of the English party against an all powerful king, and for giving the highest authority to Parliament. Thus they labeled Jackson "King Andrew I", and drew political cartoons depicting him as a king, with a scepter labeled "Veto".
Before 1834 was over, however, many former friends of the bank became disgusted at its conduct, and even the governor of Pennsylvania economically aided as it was by the Bank in Philadelphia, denounced the bank. Webster separated himself from the other National Republicans on this issue, spoke out against it (as he had spoken out against Nullification), and became, for a while, a good friend of the Democratic administration.
In the end, the BUS was stripped of the funds which the government had placed in its keeping. It lost its friends, including Clay, and quietly lost its standing as a national bank. It was rechartered as a state bank in Pennsylvania, but only lasted a few years after that.
The Whig organization, under Clay, continued to mature, and party lines became ever more rancorous during the 1834 election.
This helped complicate the greatest foreign crisis of the administration. The U.S. had for many years tried to get reparations from France for damage by the French to American shipping during the Napoleonic Wars. In July 1831, a treaty was finally signed stipulating payment of 25 million francs in six annual installments.
When the first payment came due, it was found that payment required an appropriation by the French Chamber of Deputies (more or less their Congress or Parliament). And that appropriation had never been made. When this became apparent, early in 1833, Jackson sent Edward Livingston, who had just resigned as Secretary of State, to France to obtain "prompt and complete fulfillment" of the treaty.
Nothing much happened until the President in his December 3, 1833 address to Congress, expressed his "deep regret" that the terms of the treaty remained unfulfilled. "Should I be disappointed in the hope ... the subject will be again brought to the notice of Congress in such manner as the occasion may require". Three months later, after two months of sitting in committee, the bill to fulfill the treaty was defeated by the Chamber of Deputies 176-168.
The French government declared they would seek a reversal in the next session of the Chamber. As there was to be a summer session, Jackson said he would wait for the result, and report the result to congress when it met in December. But the Chamber declared they would not take up the matter until their winter session; meaning Jackson would have to face Congress with the issue unresolved.
In his December 1, 1834 message to Congress, Jackson stated "It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a prompt execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in negotiation about the payment. The laws of nations provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well settled principle ... that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to the other... This remedy has been repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France herself toward Portugal under circumstances less questionable".
The French ambassador to the U.S. was recalled, and his counterpart, Livingston, was offered his passports, though not forced to leave.
In April 1835 the Chamber agreed to pay only if "the Government of France shall have received satisfactory explanations of the Message of the President of the United States ...". This was considered unacceptable, and Livingston withdrew.
Jackson's first response was "It would be disgraceful to explain or apologize to a foreign Government for anything said in a message (to Congress). It is the summit of arrogance in France, and insulting to us as an independent nation to ask it, and what no american will ever submit to".
The Whig Southern coalition denounced the presidents words as rash, and worse, refused authorization of a moderate amount to be used for armaments should hostilities break out during the congressional recess. This action (by the Senate; the House having made the appropriation) was met with a fierce denunciation by Jackson's old enemy John Quincy Adams (Adams was now serving in the lower House, as he would do till his death in 1848 in the middle of a speech).
In the December 7, 1835 message to Congress, Jackson gave the French their face saving device. After reviewing the events, and justifying U.S. actions, he said "The conception that it was my intention to menace or insult the Government of France ... unfounded". He also defended his message and denied that any nation had a right to question it. "The honor of my country shall never be stained by an apology from me for the statement of truth and the performance of duty".
Shortly thereafter, the French Chamber of Deputies authorized payment. This established America as entitled to the same respect as European powers. The Whigs, who had hoped to profit from painting Jackson as a reckless warmonger, were badly disappointed.
There were a few smaller diplomatic victories won by an unusual combination of firmness and tact, on the part of Jackson and his excellent Secretaries of State - Van Buren, Livingston, and McLane.
Andrew Jackson's era radically changed the American party system and methods of electioneering. The firmness, and some would say violence of his positions and methods gave birth to a new strong opposition (Anti-Jackson party), the Whigs, who were soon to copy the populist methods and "hero and man of the people" approach to defeat his successor, Martin Van Buren.
His presidential actions left the presidency much stronger than it had been, and he strengthened the idea of the United States as a nation, rather than a number of states with an agreement to act in concert, which agreement they might renounce some day.
His popularity, and the knowledge of how close he was to Van Buren, gave the latter an easy ride to the White House, though Van Buren, who did not capture the imagination of the masses, later became one of the few Democrats to lose office to a Whig.
He attracted the adoration of some and the hatred of others, as no other president had. He was cheered as a hero wherever he went. He was also the first president to be the target of an assassination attempt, albeit by a madman who thought he was heir to the British throne. The man fired two pistols at Jackson, both of which misfired. Jackson would have taken after the man with his cane had his friends not held him back.
He lived, despite chronic sickness and a bullet in his chest, to be seventy-eight years old, and died peacefully at home on June 8, 1845.
Text prepared by Hal
Morris based mainly on: Robert V. Remini´s, The Life of Andrew Jackson
for From Revolution to Reconstruction