XIV.

VAN BUREN.

THE closing acts of General Jackson's first administration were his proclamation and message on the subject of nullification, which did him infinite credit, and his "pocket veto" of the land bill, which had passed the House of Representatives by 96 to 40 and the Senate by 23 to 5 votes, by which he assumed the right of an absolute veto for the first time in American political history. His first important act during his second term was the removal of the deposits from the Bank of the United States in direct violation of law. In order to effect this change, he was forced to make two changes in the Secretaryship of the Treasury before he could find an officer willing to aid him in his scheme. The personal influence of the President was constantly felt in Congress, where he was supported by a strong and trustworthy body of adherents composing a majority of the House of Representatives, but, owing to the hostility of State Rights senators, constituting only a minority of the upper branch. Among the people, too, he was regarded as a demi-god. Not only were his acts approved, but his sturdy obstinacy and fearless pugnacity gave him favor with the masses of the people such as no other President before him or since his time has enjoyed.

But the Opposition was earnest and active. The largest section of it was organized in 1834 as the Whig party. According to the "Whig Almanac" for 1838, the party as then constituted comprised: "(1) Most of those who, under the name of National Republicans, had previously

been known as supporters of Adams and Clay, and advocates of the American system; (2) Most of those who, acting in defence of what they deemed the assailed or threatened rights of the States, had been stigmatized as Nullifiers, or the less virulent State Rights' men, who were thrown into a position of armed neutrality towards the administration by the doctrines of the proclamation of 1832 against South Carolina; (3) A majority of those before known as Anti-Masons; (4) Many who had up to that time been known as Jackson men, but who united in condemning the high-handed conduct of the Executive, the immolation of Duane, and the subserviency of Taney; (5) Numbers who had not before taken any part in politics, but who were now awakened from their apathy by the palpable usurpations of the Executive, and the imminent peril of our whole fabric of constitutional liberty and national prosperity."

It was not to be expected that a party composed of such various elements would be able to unite on one candidate with heartiness; and, as the event proved, it was necessary that some time should elapse before anything like homogeneity could be given to the organization. Nullification was not popular among the Whigs of the North, nor did the State Rights' people of South Carolina and other States care about the war on the bank and the removal of the deposits. But, leaving the Opposition for a time, let us see what steps were taken to unite the Democracy. It was no secret that the President desired that Mr. Van Buren should be his successor. It was rumored at one time, and quite generally believed, that he contemplated resigning and leaving the presidential office to the Vice-President, but that he abandoned this project in order the better to secure the succession to Van Buren. However this may have been, it is certain that an opposition to Van Buren, not unlike that which had existed in

1831 and 1832, threatened to make itself felt and to thwart the President's plans. It manifested itself in the President's own State of Tennessee, where, in January, 1835, the legislature formally presented Judge Hugh L. White, then a senator from Tennessee, as a candidate to succeed Jackson. On the day when this action was expected to be taken, there was placed on the desk of every member of the Tennessee legislature a package containing three copies of the Washington "Globe," in which was a series of gross attacks upon Judge White. The peculiarity of this circumstance lay in the fact that these precious documents bore the frank of the President, and some of them were addressed in his own hand.

The convention system had been tried once and had served the purpose; and, as the White movement was making progress elsewhere, - for the legislature of Alabama also nominated him, and all the Tennessee delegation with two exceptions were in favor of him,- the President wrote to a friend in February, 1835, advocating the holding of a national convention for the nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President. The convention was called and held, in Baltimore, on the 20th of May in that year. Twenty-two States were represented, and upwards of six hundred delegates were in attendance, but the manner of choosing delegates was not what it is in our day. More than half of all those present were delegates from Maryland, and the convention was rather like what is now understood by the term "mass meeting" than like a convention of the present time. In the voting, however, each State was allowed only a number of votes equal to its delegation in Congress. On the first ballot Martin Van Buren received every vote as the candidate for President. Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was nominated for the vice-presidency, also on the first ballot, by 178 votes to 87 cast for William C. Rives of Virginia. He

thus had barely more than the two thirds which the rule of the convention required to effect a nomination. Previous to the voting a motion had been carried, but was afterwards reconsidered and rejected, that a majority should be sufficient to make a choice. Even after the nomination had been made, the delegates from Virginia refused to abide by the result, and declared that Virginia would not support Colonel Johnson. Although the business of the convention was small in amount, and although its sessions were brief, the meeting was a most exciting one, and did not promise much for the harmony of the party in the election that was to take place the next year. No platform was adopted.

The Opposition wisely determined not to attempt a concentration of their strength, but to take advantage of all elements of local hostility to the administration, in the hope of throwing the election into the House of Representatives. General William Henry Harrison was nominated by a meeting at Harrisburg, Penn.; Judge John M'Lean of Ohio by the legislature of that State; Daniel Webster by the Whigs in the Massachusetts legislature; South Carolina was safe to vote for some opponent of Jackson; and Tennessee, if no other State, would give its electoral vote to Judge White.

There were two Opposition candidates for the vicepresidency. One of them, Francis Granger of New York, was placed upon the ticket with Harrison in most of the States. He was an old Anti-Mason, and had been the candidate of the party for governor of New York. His nomination was a concession to that wing of the Whig party. It is a curious fact that one convention of AntiMasons adopted Mr. Van Buren as a candidate, but its action excited only derision. In those States where Judge White was the Opposition candidate, John Tyler of Virginia was made the candidate for the second place on the

ticket. In Massachusetts, where Mr.Webster was the choice of the Whigs for the presidency, Mr. Granger was supported.

The scheme was a promising one, and it came near success; but the margin of safety was on the side of the Democratic party once more, largely owing to the strictness of party discipline, and the determined use of the national patronage to perpetuate the Jackson dynasty under a new head. The battle between the contesting forces was a bitter one. Mr. Van Buren was the embodiment of all that was objected to on the part of the Whigs against General Jackson; and, on the other hand, the Democrats, honestly believing that the administration in power had acted for the best interests of the country, could find no words too severe to denounce those who would undo its work. They made it a special accusation against the Whigs that they were for the bank; and, while it was true of the most of them, and, considering what the bank had done for the currency, and the great disasters which followed its overthrow, it was greatly to their credit that they were, they had not quite courage enough to avow their principles in the face of the manifest, but strange, hostility of the people to "Biddle's bank."

As had happened in 1832, the early autumn elections did not promise a sweeping victory for the Democrats, and they even gave hope to the Opposition that the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. Ohio and New Jersey, which had given their votes to Jackson four years before, were carried by the Whigs. The Democratic majority in Pennsylvania was uncomfortably small, and in Maine there was no choice of a congressman at the September election in any one of the eight districts. But the Democrats worked with extraordinary energy after these preliminary reverses and saved the day, although they came out of the contest with a largely re duced majority.