THE

CHAPTER LII.

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1829-1837.

HE new President was a military hero-a man of great talents and inflexible honesty. His integrity was unassailable; his will like iron. He was one of those men for whom no toils are

too arduous. His personal character was impressed upon his administration. At the beginning, he removed nearly seven hundred office-holders, and appointed in their stead his own political friends.

2. In his first

message the President took ground against rechartering the

Bank of the

United States.
He recommend-

ANDREW JACKSON.

ed that the old charter should be allowed to expire by its own limitation in 1836. But the influence of the bank was very great; and in 1832 a bill to recharter was passed by Congress. The

President opposed his veto; a two-thirds majority in favor of the bill could not be secured, and the new charter failed.

3. In the congressional session of 1831-32, additional tariffs were levied upon goods imported from abroad. By this act the manufacturing dis

tricts were fa

vored at the

expense of the

agricultural States. South Carolina was specially offended. A convention of her people was held, and it was resolved that the tariff-law of Congress was null and void. Open resistance was threatened in case the officers should attempt to collect

DANIEL WEBSTER.

the revenues at Charleston. In the United States Senate the right of a State to nullify an act of Congress was boldly proclaimed. On that question had already occurred the great debate between Colonel Hayne, senator from South Carolina, and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. The former appeared as the champion of State rights, and the latter of constitutional supremacy.

4. The President now took the matter in hand and issued a proclamation denying the right of a State to nullify the laws of Congress. But Mr. Calhoun, the Vice-President, resigned his office to accept a seat in the Senate, where he might defend the doctrines of his State. The President, having warned the South Carolinians, ordered a body of troops under General Scott to pro

ceed to Charleston. The leaders of the nullifying party receded from their position, and bloodshed was avoided. Soon afterward Mr. Clay secured the passage of a bill providing for a gradual reduction of the duties until they should reach the standard demanded by the South.

5. In the spring of 1832, the Sac, Fox, and Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin began a war. They were led by the famous chief, Black Hawk. The lands of the Sacs and Foxes had been purchased by the government twenty-five years previously. The Indians, however, remained in the ceded territory. When at last they were required to give possession, they refused to comply. The government insisted that they fulfill their contract, and hostilities began. The governor of Illinois called out the militia. General Scott was sent with troops to Chicago, to cooperate with General Atkinson. The latter waged a vigorous campaign, defeated the Indians, and made Black Hawk prisoner. The captive chief was taken to Washington and the great cities of the East. Returning to his own people, he advised them to make peace. The warriors abandoned the disputed lands and retired into Iowa.

6. Difficulties also arose with the Cherokees of Georgia-the most civilized of all the Indian nations. The government of the United States had promised to purchase the Cherokee lands for the benefit of Georgia. The pledge was not fulfilled; and the legislature passed a statute extending the laws of the State over the Indians. At the same time, the Cherokees and Creeks were denied the use of the State courts. The Indians appealed to the President for help; but he refused to interfere. He recommended the removal of the Cherokees to lands beyond the Mississippi. THE INDIAN TERRITORY was accordingly organized in 1834. The Indians yielded with great reluctance. More than five million dollars were paid them for their lands. At last General Scott was ordered to remove them; and during the years 1837-38, the Cherokees were transferred to their new homes in the West.

The trouble

7. More serious was the conflict with the Seminoles. arose from an attempt to remove the tribe beyond the Mississippi. Hostilities began in 1835, and continued for four years. Osceola and Micanopy, chiefs of the nation, denied the validity of a former

cession of Seminole lands. General Thompson was obliged to arrest Osceola and put him in irons. The chief then gave his assent to the old treaty, and was liberated, but immediately entered into a conspiracy to slaughter the whites.

8. Major Dade, with a hundred and seventeen men, was now despatched from Fort Brooke, on Tampa Bay, to reinforce General Clinch at Fort Drane, seventy-five miles from St. Augustine. Dade's forces fell into an ambuscade, and were all massacred except one man. On the same day Osceola, with a band of warriors, surrounded a storehouse where General Thompson was dining, and killed him and four of his companions.

9. On the 31st of December, General Clinch defeated the Indians on the Withlacoochie. On the 29th of February, 1836, General Gaines was attacked near the same battle-field; and again the Seminoles were repulsed. In October Governor Call of Florida, with two thousand men, overtook the savages in the Wahoo Swamp, near the scene of Dade's massacre. Here the Indians were again defeated and driven into the Everglades.

10. In the mean time, the President had put an end to the Bank of the United States. After vetoing the bill to recharter that institution, he conceived that the surplus funds which had accumulated in its vaults would better be distributed among the States. Accordingly, in October of 1833, he ordered the funds of the bank, amounting to ten million dollars, to be distributed among certain State banks designated for that purpose. The financial panic of 1836-37, following soon afterward, was attributed by the Whigs to the destruction of the national bank and the removal of the funds. But the adherents of the President replied that the panic was attributable to the bank itself.

11. In 1834 the strong will of the chief magistrate was brought into conflict with France. In 1831 the French king had agreed to pay five million dollars for injuries formerly done to American commerce. But the government of France neglected the payment until the President recommended to Congress to make reprisals on French merchantmen. This measure had the desired effect, and the indemnity was paid. Portugal was brought to terms in a similar manner.

12. In these years, several eminent statesmen fell by the hand of death. On the 4th of July, 1831, amid the rejoicings of the national anniversary, ex-President Monroe passed away. In the following year, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, died at the age of ninety-six. A short time afterward, Philip Freneau, the poet of the Revolution, departed from the land of the living. On the 24th of June, 1833, John Randolph of Roanoke died in Philadelphia. In 1835 Chief-Justice Marshall breathed his last, at the age of fourscore years; and in the next year ex-President Madison, worn with the toils of eighty-five years, passed away. On the 16th of December, 1835, a fire broke out in New York city and laid thirty acres of buildings in ashes. Just one year afterward, the Patent Office and Post-office at Washington were burned.

13. In June of 1836, Arkansas, with a population of seventy thousand, was admitted into the Union. In the following January, Michigan territory was organized as a State and added to the Republic. The new commonwealth brought a population of a hundred and fifty-seven thousand. In the autumn of 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected President. As to the vicepresidency, no one secured a majority, and the choice devolved on the Senate. By that body Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was chosen.

RECAPITULATION.

Character of Jackson.-He fills the offices with his political friends.-Opposes the rechartering of the United States Bank.-Vetoes the bill.--The tariff ques、 tion again.-South Carolina attempts nullification.-Debate of Webster and Hayne.-The President's proclamation.-South Carolina recedes from her position.- Mr. Clay's tariff compromise.--The Black Hawk War breaks out.-Generals Scott and Atkinson drive the Red men to submission.-The difficulty with the Cherokees.-Scott compels their removal to the West.-A Second Seminole war. The arrest of Osceola.-Dade's massacre.-Murder of General Thompson.— Clinch defeats the savages.-Gaines on the Withlacoochie.-Battle of the Wahoo Swamp.-The President orders the distribution of the funds.-A panic follows.The President is vituperated.-He brings France and Portugal to terms.-Deathlist of eminent men.-Fires in New York and Washington.-Arkansas and Michigan admitted into the Union.-Van Buren elected President.